Speaker: Lei LI, Associate Professor, School of Foreign Studies, Nankai University; BC Ricci Institute–HYI Joint Visiting Researcher Fellowship Program, 2025-26

Chair: M. Antoni J. Ucerler, S. J., Associate Professor, History, Boston College; Director, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History

Discussant: Elizabeth J. Perry, Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government, Harvard University

This presentation explores how the Protestant, German-speaking Basel Mission shaped the modern overseas Hakka diaspora during the late Qing period by facilitating Hakka migration through its ties with the British colonial government in Hong Kong. It shows how missionaries sustained transnational connections with Hakka communities across Southeast Asia and the Americas. Through these religious networks, Christianity became a key resource for adaptation and the formation of a shared diasporic identity.