Professor Hon received a BA in history from the University of Hong Kong, a MA in Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in History from the University of Chicago. He had taught for 25 years in the United States, beginning as an assistant professor in Hanover College in southern Indiana and ending as a full professor in State University of New York at Geneseo. He returned to Hong Kong to teach at City University of Hong Kong from January 2017 to June 2021. Over the four-and-half years, he reestablished academic links with the Chinese academic communities. He joined UIC in August of 2021 and is happy to be a member of the robust UIC community.

Professor Hon specializes in the study of the Yijing (Book of Changes) and its voluminous commentaries. He has also published books and articles on Neo-Confucianism of the Song-Ming period and modern Chinese thought. Being a global travelor who has moved from city to city, continent to continent, in the last four decades, he is deeply attracted to the transcultural and transnational exchanges that are happening in our world today. In both teaching and research, he makes global perspective alive, enriching, and empowering.

Professor Hon has taught a wide variety of courses in the last three decades including American history, ancient civilizations, Chinese history (modern and pre-modern), East Asian History, European cultural heriage, historiography, world classics, and world history. At City University of Hong Kong, he taught PhD seminar on research methods. 

Besides teaching in classroom, Professor Hon gave lectures around the world on the Yijing (Book of Changes). During the Covid-19 pandemic, he gave online lectures on the meanings of the Yijing in times of crisis.

As the program director of Chinese Culture and Global Communication (CCGC) at UIC, Professor Hon is building a curriculum to train undergraduate students to be rooted in Chinese culture and creative in connecting with people around the world.