John D. Wong’s research focuses on the flow of people, goods, capital and ideas. With a particular interest in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta area, he explores how such flow connected the region to the Chinese political center in the north as well as their maritime partners in the South China Sea and beyond.

Studying the China trade in the context of early-nineteenth-century global exchange, his first monograph, Global Trade in the Nineteenth Century: The House of Houqua and the Canton System (Cambridge University Press, 2016), demonstrates how China trade partners sustained their economic exchange on a global scale long before Western imperialism ushered in the era of globalization in a Eurocentric modern world.  In his forthcoming book, Hong Kong Takes Flight (Harvard, 2022), John explores the development of the airline industry in Hong Kong after WWII. His recent publications have appeared in business history journals such as Business History Review and Enterprise & Society, as well as journals with an area studies focus such as the Journal of Asian Studies and Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 

In 2022, John will join the editorial board of Business History.  He has recently launched with the Hong Kong University Press a new book series Asian Business History for which he serves as an editor.  John received his BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Chicago, MBA from Stanford University, and PhD in History from Harvard University. He worked for a number of years in finance and holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).