HISTORY: History Society Journal 2023

Book excerpt: The History Society Journal publishes original, mind-provoking and scholarly research undertaken by students from HKU. HSJ aims to promote history among students through in-depth studies of historical topic and provide an academic platform for our students to publish and express their opinions on topic of the year and other historical topics. This year’s topic of the year of the HSJ is Struggle between the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie: Did Cold War really end in 1991? We have always heard the words such as Proletariat and Bourgeoisie when we are reading the history of Russia, more specifically, the Soviet Union, however, what exactly do they mean? Not many people know the meaning of such words that has strong communistic origins. In fact, Proletariat and Bourgeoisie mean People with no assets and People with assets respectively. The struggle between them was often regarded as events that happened in the past, especially during the period between 1945 and 1991, after the collapse of the Japanese Empire and before the demise of the Soviet Union, but is that really true? The collapse of the Soviet Union is widely viewed as the end of the Cold War. Frankly speaking though, the argument that Cold War is a continuous event even till this day is not something made up by some random nobodies in the basement of their parent’s house, but something that is being brought up from time to time by different critics across the world. It is often referred to as The Second Cold War, or the New/Neo Cold War, often involving in the United States, China and Russia, the primary successor state of the former Soviet Union. As a resident of Hong Kong, a city which is very close with the states mentioned above, be it economical or geographical, it would be necessary for us to acknowledge the influence and consequences of the actions in this new “Silent” War, in order for us to cope with the events and develop alternative ways to survive in this dangerous and hazardous world. Submission of original, scholarly research articles is open to undergraduates from students at HKU. For further information, feel free to communicate with the History Society at [email protected].