Dear friends and colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome you to the amazing city of Hong Kong on behalf of the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong, as we host the 7th Biennial Conference of the Asian Shakespeare Association. We are honoured to be collaborating with the ASA, which has a fine tradition of examining Shakespeare’s works in the Asian context, foregrounding Asian perspectives, histories, and performance traditions and developing a more equitable and plural understanding of Shakespeare’s global life. Our thanks go to the Association for entrusting us with the important work of hosting the conference this year.
Hong Kong presents a rich and vibrant environment to ponder the conference theme, “Shakespeare between Worlds: Portal and Pathways”. The city is rooted in a long history as a gateway between East and West, a pathway from tradition to modernity. This history is vividly reflected in the very architecture of the environment, from traditional temples to British colonial-era buildings and more modern infrastructure. Shakespeare has always travelled – across languages, cultures, media, and histories – and it is fitting that the ASA conference has now found its way to one of China’s key windows onto the world.
An especially exciting feature of the conference is the collaboration with the Tang Shu Wing Theatre Studio and the Hong Kong International Shakespeare Festival. You will have the opportunity to enjoy a range of innovative theatre performances that are bound to offer yet another perspective and stimulate deeper engagement with the timeless themes of Shakespeare, as these are understood in the Asian context. We are very grateful to Tang Shu Wing Theatre Studio for their seamless collaboration.
We hope that you enjoy the conference and have time to enjoy the city as well. Hong Kong is a place full of interesting paradoxes and contradictions, excellent food and new experiences. Not only is it a bustling, dynamic, modern city but also a centre for the Arts, and perhaps surprisingly, some of the best urban hiking in the world. We wish you a productive and enjoyable stay!
Kind regards,
Christoph A. Hafner
Head of Department of English, City University of Hong Kong
Convenors:
Reto Thomas Edgar WINCKLER, City University of Hong Kong
Jason Eng Hun LEE, Hong Kong Baptist University
Executive Assistant:
LAM Kai Chak Frank
Administrative Team:
Cecilia CHAN
WONG Hiu Man
Student Team:
Ka Chun CHIN
Ellyza Joyce ESPIRITU
LAU Tsz Kiu
Kousar NAIMA
Kousar SAIRA
Shakespeare Between Worlds: Portals and Pathways—7th Conference of the Asian Shakespeare Association
Hong Kong, 12-14 June 2026
Shakespeare today exists across and between multiple worlds. After centuries of circulation in Asia, his works inhabit diverse locales and cultural formations in constantly shifting forms, fully embedded yet never contained. Neither wholly virtual nor strictly embodied, historically distant yet urgently present, Shakespeare continues to thrive through performance, pedagogy, and critical thought. Asian Shakespeare scholarship has both interrogated and celebrated this transnational vitality, foregrounding new constellations of artistic practice, collaboration, and cultural exchange.
Yet what once seemed self-evident can no longer be taken for granted. The portals Shakespeare has opened—linking geographies, cultures, politics, artistic practices, and media—are increasingly fragile in the face of contemporary challenges. In this context, the Asian Shakespeare Association invites scholars to Hong Kong to reflect on both recent developments and enduring questions in Shakespeare studies in Asia and beyond, and to reaffirm the importance of sustained dialogue.
Organized in conjunction with the Tang Shu Wing Theatre Studio’s Hong Kong International Shakespeare Festival, the conference will bring together scholars, students, and practitioners for an event that integrates rigorous scholarly exchange with the opportunity to experience outstanding international Asian Shakespeare performances.