UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies would like to congratulate PhD student Yao Xiao on being awarded the inaugural Hanson Lau Graduate Scholarship.
This annual scholarship has been endowed by Mr. Hanson Lau specifically to provide support for a Master’s or Doctoral student conducting research into the significant contributions that Chinese immigrants have made to life in British Columbia and Canada.
Yao Xiao is a PhD student within UBC’s Department of Educational Studies and his current research topic is Active Chinese Canadian citizenship and the public pedagogy of pride. His research explores the political emotion of pride nested within/without Chinese Canadian identities in the City of Richmond, where ethnic minority Chinese have become the majority.
Positing pride as historical consciousness that informs reparative knowing of the past and forms the moral grammar of Chinese Canadian identities in the present, this narrative research seeks to tell the life stories of Chinese community activists in Richmond and to map the cultural, historical and spatial textures which surround their lives.
When asked why he chose to pursue graduate work in this field, Yao replied, “ I pursue graduate studies so that I will see social issues in more critical eyes and act accordingly. In choosing the program of educational studies, I want to scrutinize and critique aspects of societies that impart oppressive knowledge, and I intend to use my knowledge to initiate justice-based community practices in both China and Canada. Translating learning into human integrity and empowerment is my academic as well as personal mission.”
For endowment founder Hanson Lau, it is his hope that other like-minded British Columbia business people and philanthropists, particularly of Chinese descent, will be inspired to contribute to this endowment. As the endowment grows, so too will its ability to support further research around the history and impact of the Chinese immigrant experience in British Columbia.
If you are interested in contributing to the endowment of this new graduate student award, please contact Development Officer diana.gallivan@ubc.ca.
Hanson Lau has been a well-known and outspoken community crusader in the Lower Mainland for the past 30 years. He immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1966 and obtained a BA in English Literature in 1970 and a Diploma in Education in 1971 from UBC, where he was involved with the student-run Alma Mater Society.
After teaching briefly in Kitimat, he embarked on a distinguished career in Cantonese radio broadcasting for Vancouver’s Chinese community from 1973 to 1998. At the same time, he led several community projects, such as pioneering a 911 phone-translation service, which earned the Federal Government Solicitor-General’s Crime Prevention Award, and promoting new citizens' participation in voting and politics. Lau has also spent years raising money for local charities, as well as for national and international disaster relief campaigns. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012. Lau currently owns and operates Hanson Travel in Richmond.
The Hanson Lau Graduate Scholarship will be awarded annually in the fall. In order to apply, graduate students should submit an affiliated fellowships award application, available through the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website.
See Yao Xiao’s full student profile in the Meet our Students section of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website.