Place names often reveal the histories not only of localities and their inhabitants but also of the languages in which they were coined. In the naming practices of Hong Kong villages, towns and streets, a variety of languages have been at work. Names revealing phonological, grammatical or semantic characteristics of languages other than Cantonese can be traced to early settlers like the Zhuang, Miao, She or migrants from other parts of China such as Hakka, Min and Wu speakers. British colonialization also left its imprint. While many western names were transliterated into Chinese, local appellations were also romanized according to different spelling systems, which captured contemporary linguistic features. In this project, Hong Kong place names recorded in maps and documents from the last two to three centuries will be systematically studied to delineate language evolution during the period, and the renaming of places will be analyzed within a socio-linguistic perspective.

晚宋時代，理學漸趨官學化，並且通過學校和科舉等途徑對晚宋文學產生了直接的影響。 理學家試圖將文學納入其理學系統中，重新建立文學正統；文學家則一方面接受理學的影響， 另一方面卻試圖捍衛文學自身的傳統。這樣在理學與文學之間就產生了緊張關係，兩者既互相衝突， 也互相吸收，由此造成了晚宋文壇的新面貌。本項目擬在理學與文學關係的背景下，通過對晚宋創作團體、 文學創作及文學理論批評的研究，揭示晚宋文學的獨特面貌及其對後世文學的影響。