Dr Chan’s research is in the area of cross-disciplinary studies of Hong Kong literature and cinema, as well as Chinese modern literature and poetry. He joined the Institute in 2009 and was awarded funding for a General Research Fund project in 2011.

As an active writer, Dr Chan has produced nearly 20 publications in the past three years. His accomplishments in the development of Hong Kong literature can be seen from the articles he wrote in 2011, which include “Layalist Existence of Hong Kong Friction in the 1950s: Zhao Zifan’s Struggle of Humanism, Zhang Yifan’s Chun dao Tiaojingling and Ruan Lang’s Mou gong guan san ji, Cao Juren’s Jiu dian” (一九五○年代香港小說的遺民空間：趙滋蕃《半下流社會》、張一帆《春到調景嶺》與阮朗《某公館散記》、曹聚仁《酒店》)；”New Democratic Literature and the Cultural Turn of Hong Kong after World War Two: From the Novel Ren hai lei hen to the Movie In the face of Demolition” (新民主主義文藝與戰後香港的文化轉折──從小說人海淚痕到電影危樓春曉)；”Modern Poetry Movement of Taiwan and Hong Kong under the Influence of the Cold War” (冷戰局勢下的台、港現代詩運動：以商禽、洛夫、瘂弦、白萩與戴天、馬覺、崑南、蔡炎培為例)；”Utopia Imagination and the Open Enigmatic Language” (烏托邦想像與開放的隱語)；and “The Disintegration of My City: Hong Kong Literature 1950-2005” (解體我城：香港文學1950-2005).

Since 2010, Dr Chan has also been an organizer of the Hong Kong Literature Reading Group, which provides a good opportunity for academic sharing and exchange between Institute staff and renowned scholars and writers in the field. In all, Dr Chan has made a remarkable contribution to the development of Hong Kong literature.