陳明銶教授於香港出生，高中畢業後赴笈美國，1966年獲愛荷華州立大學歷史、經濟學和政治學學士學位，1970年獲華盛頓大學中國歷史碩士學位，1975年以25歲之齡獲頒斯丹福大學歷史博士學位。1976-1980 及1999-2009年間兩度任職胡佛研究所研究員，負責管理香港文獻庫項目，2009年起擔任東亞研究中心的訪問學者及傑出學人。

陳教授曾於香港及世界多間高等院校擔任教研職位，1980-1997年在香港大學任教，期間曾兩度當選最佳教師。陳教授致力研究工運、中外關係、粵港澳區域史，編著超過20本學術書籍，出版超過100篇論文，亦曾擔任不同出版社的叢書編輯及期刊評審的工作，當中包括由陳教授擔任主編，經由ME Sharpe及香港大學出版社聯合出版發行的 "Hong Kong Becoming China" 叢書系列 。1997年退休後，陳教授專注研究粵港澳區域史，透過舉辦不同的學術會議及活動，推動世界各地學者及政商界專家就相關議題作交流。

陳明銶教授於2018年10月逝世，終年68歲。

Prof. Chan Ming Kou was born in Hong Kong. Upon graduation from high school, he pursued his tertiary education in the United States, and was awarded BS in History, Economics and Political Science from Iowa State University in 1966, MA in Chinese History from the University of Washington in 1970, and PhD in East Asian History from Stanford University in 1975 at age 25. He served as the Hoover Institution Research Fellow from 1976-1980 and 1999-2009, where he managed the Hong Kong Documentary Archives Project. He had been the visiting scholar and distinguished practitioner of the Center for East Asian Studies since 2009.

Prof. Chan had his teaching and research footprints in various higher education institutes worldwide. During his tenure at the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Chan was elected as the “Best Teacher” twice. His research specialized in the areas of Labour union historyChinese history, Sino-foreign relations and studies on Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong. He authored and edited more than 20 academic volumes and over 100 articles or book chapters. He was actively engaged with editorial and peer-review activities. He was the general editor of "Hong Kong Becoming China" series, published by ME Sharpe and HKU Press. Upon his retirement in 1997, Prof. Chan remained as a vibrant researcher in Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau Studies, with over 10 scholarly books published. He organized a series of Hong Kong-related events and conferences during 2017-2018 to facilitate academic exchange among fellow researchers and professionals.

Prof. Chan Ming Kou passed away in October 2018 at age 68.