This book of interviews with Professor Wang Gungwu, published to felicitate him on his 80th birthday in 2010, seeks to convey to a general audience something of the life, times and thoughts of a leading historian, Southeast Asianist, Sinologist and public intellectual. The interviews flesh out Professor Wangs views on being Chinese in Malaya; his experience of living and working in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia; the Vietnam War; Hong Kong and its return to China; the rise of China; Taiwans, Japans and Indias place in the emerging scheme of things; and on the United States in an age of terrorism and war. The book includes an interview with his wife, Mrs Margaret Wang, on their life together for half a century. Two interviews by scholars on Professor Wangs work are also included, as are his curriculum vitae and a select bibliography of his works. What comes across in this book is how Professor Wang was buffeted by feral times and hostile worlds but responded to them as a left-liberal humanist who refused to cut ideological corners. This book records his response to tumultuous times on hindsight, but with a keen sense of having lived through the times of which he speaks.

Political, social and economic transformations have marked the 20 years since Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China. To mark the historic handover, the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at Nanyang Technological University invited experts from various fields to share their unique insights on the developments and impact of the last 20 years on Hong Kong and Singapore in a conference in Singapore.This volume is a compilation of speeches and presentations delivered at the conference by such heavyweight experts as Wang Gungwu, Antony Leung and Yang Jinlin on the road travelled and the paths ahead for both cities. This volume is an invaluable collection on Hong Kong and Singapore's past, present and future. Readers can enjoy the salient analysis delivered with great thought and reflective humour.

Humans have been on the move for millennia. They have done so slowly as well as quickly, sometimes involuntarily, sometimes transported by force, often relocated at great cost in lives, but they have always moved. Over the centuries, improved transportation has eased the movement, even in the face of man-made or natural obstacles. But in modern tim

Lee Kuan Yew through the Eyes of Chinese Scholars is a compilation of essays by highly-respected Chinese scholars in which they evaluate the life, work and philosophy of Lee Kuan Yew, founding Prime Minister of Singapore. Presenting a range of views from a uniquely Chinese/Asian perspective, this book provides valuable insights for those who wish to gain a fuller and deeper understanding of Lee Kuan Yew - the man, as well as Singapore - his nation.Marking the momentous event of his death as well as the 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence in 2015, this compilation reflects both the high regard in which Lee Kuan Yew is held across the Chinese-speaking world as well as the reservations of a few. The contributors are all ethnic Chinese from different academic disciplines ranging from a Nobel laureate in physics, Chen-Ning Yang, to historians, economists and political scientists. They include Singaporeans such as Wang Gungwu and Chew Cheng Hai, as well as scholars from China, the US and Hong Kong such as Yongnian Zheng, Ying-Shih Yu, Lawrence Lau and Hang-Chi Lam among others.Originally published in Chinese, this English translation makes the material accessible to a wider English-reading audience.

'The book is engaging, informative, and provocative and can profitably be read by undergraduates and professors alike. You do not have to agree with the dean of China studies to learn from him.'China Review International The book shows how the Chinese are now confident of their capacity to learn all they need from the developed world and are keen to know which parts of the past they would need to build a modern Chinese civilization. They are very conscious of the challenges coming from the United States, and are looking for ways and means to respond to a superpower that wants to preserve its dominant position in the international status quo.The book seeks to explain what China is doing and what its immediate and long-term interests are. It is not to defend or judge China. It does not employ theoretical frameworks that are not appropriate for describing Chinese conditions. It calls for understanding why history is particularly relevant to the Chinese state and most of its people. That way, we also see how the present and hopes for the future changes our perspectives of the past. Related Link(s)

'The book is engaging, informative, and provocative and can profitably be read by undergraduates and professors alike. You do not have to agree with the dean of China studies to learn from him.'China Review International The book shows how the Chinese are now confident of their capacity to learn all they need from the developed world and are keen to know which parts of the past they would need to build a modern Chinese civilization. They are very conscious of the challenges coming from the United States, and are looking for ways and means to respond to a superpower that wants to preserve its dominant position in the international status quo.The book seeks to explain what China is doing and what its immediate and long-term interests are. It is not to defend or judge China. It does not employ theoretical frameworks that are not appropriate for describing Chinese conditions. It calls for understanding why history is particularly relevant to the Chinese state and most of its people. That way, we also see how the present and hopes for the future changes our perspectives of the past. Related Link(s)

Humans have been on the move for millennia. They have done so slowly as well as quickly, sometimes involuntarily, sometimes transported by force, often relocated at great cost in lives, but they have always moved. Over the centuries, improved transportation has eased the movement, even in the face of man-made or natural obstacles. But in modern times, migration has accelerated and its reach has become truly global.Whether it is Turkish "gastarbeiter" in Germany, Japanese "Nisei" in Seattle, Filipinos in Kuwait, or Haitians in Brooklyn, the costs and benefits of human mobility on such a wide and rapid scale are hotly debated. "Global History and Migrations, " the second volume of the Global History Series, explores the historical background of this issue by focusing on recent history, a time when human movements have been at their most dynamic. This book provides a rich, cross-cultural foundation for a more enlightened understanding of migration and its role in the unfolding shape of global history.

Lee Kuan Yew through the Eyes of Chinese Scholars is a compilation of essays by highly-respected Chinese scholars in which they evaluate the life, work and philosophy of Lee Kuan Yew, founding Prime Minister of Singapore. Presenting a range of views from a uniquely Chinese/Asian perspective, this book provides valuable insights for those who wish to gain a fuller and deeper understanding of Lee Kuan Yew - the man, as well as Singapore - his nation.Marking the momentous event of his death as well as the 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence in 2015, this compilation reflects both the high regard in which Lee Kuan Yew is held across the Chinese-speaking world as well as the reservations of a few. The contributors are all ethnic Chinese from different academic disciplines ranging from a Nobel laureate in physics, Chen-Ning Yang, to historians, economists and political scientists. They include Singaporeans such as Wang Gungwu and Chew Cheng Hai, as well as scholars from China, the US and Hong Kong such as Yongnian Zheng, Ying-Shih Yu, Lawrence Lau and Hang-Chi Lam among others.Originally published in Chinese, this English translation makes the material accessible to a wider English-reading audience.

Qiaopi is one of several names given to the "silver letters" Chinese emigrants sent home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These letters-cum-remittances document the changing history of the Chinese diaspora in different parts of the world and in different times. Dear China is the first book-length study in English of qiaopi and of the origins, structure, and operations of the qiaopi trade. The authors explore the characteristics and transformations of qiaopi, showing how such institutionalized and cross-national mechanisms helped sustain families separated by distance and state frontiers and contributed to the sending regions' socioeconomic development. Dear China contributes substantially to our understanding of modern Chinese history and to the comparative study of global migration.

Qiaopi is one of several names given to the "silver letters" Chinese emigrants sent home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These letters-cum-remittances document the changing history of the Chinese diaspora in different parts of the world and in different times. Dear China is the first book-length study in English of qiaopi and of the origins, structure, and operations of the qiaopi trade. The authors explore the characteristics and transformations of qiaopi, showing how such institutionalized and cross-national mechanisms helped sustain families separated by distance and state frontiers and contributed to the sending regions' socioeconomic development. Dear China contributes substantially to our understanding of modern Chinese history and to the comparative study of global migration.

In Interpreting China's Development, leading experts on China provide an overview of this growing superpower, highlighting key issues in the country's political, economic and social development.Underpinned by up-to-date scholarly research yet written in a readable and concise style, this volume of over 40 short chapters offers a very accessible way to understanding the major events and dominant issues that had emerged in China over the last few decades. The essays are grouped under four thematic sections - challenges of governance, growth and structural changes, coping with rising social problems and relations with major powers and neighbours - covering salient topics such as the emerging mode of leadership succession, sustainability of China's high growth, widening inequalities, environmental crisis and the external impact of China's rise.Non-specialists in particular, should find this volume useful in keeping up with China's fast changing developments.

The oneness of China is the norm; periods of divisions are aberrations -- this is how Chinese thinkers, leaders and ultimately the majority of Chinese people have regarded Chinese politics and history for more than 2,000 years. The oneness was never perfect. However, as long as certain minimal conditions were met and the polity which proclaimed that oneness was widely acknowledged, that was enough. Chinese ruling elites adopted this pragmatic approach so they could ensure that the ideal could always approximate China's reality. This fascinating book is a revised edition of a study undertaken to explain what happened during one of the worst periods of divisions in Chinese history -- the Wu-tai (Five Dynasties) period. What were the key factors that helped the centripetal forces to get back to the imperial norm? It begins with the final stage of decline of the Tang dynasty (618-907) and ends 50 years later, when it became clear that the foundations for a last push towards unification was in place.

The Chinese overseas now number 25 to 30 million, yet the 2,000-year history of Chinese attempts to venture abroad and the underlying values affecting that migration have never before been presented in a broad overview. Despite centuries of prohibition against leaving the land and traveling and settling overseas, the "earthbound" Chinese--first traders, then peasants and workers--eventually found new sources of livelihood abroad. The practice of sojourning, being always temporarily away from home, was the answer the Chinese overseas found to deal with imperial and orthodox concerns. Today their challenge is to find an alternative to either returning or assimilating by seeking a new kind of autonomy in a world that will come to acknowledge the ideal of multicultural states.

In pursuing this story, international scholar Wang Gungwu uncovers some major themes of global history: the coming together of Asian and European civilizations, the ambiguities of ethnicity and diasporic consciousness, and the tension between maintaining one's culture and assimilation.

The Chinese state has been the subject of fierce debates since reformers and revolutionaries first fought to redefine it at the end of the Qing dynasty. After the 1912 Revolution, when the idea of “empire� gave way to that of “nation-state,� the Chinese people sought a modern identity, re-designed their governance system and re-wrote their history. Revolution became the source of the legitimacy that the new leaders defended in a world based on state sovereignty. They soon found the task of reconciling their republic with the political culture they inherited extraordinarily difficult. They now sense that their state is neither an empire nor a nation-state and seek to renew the Chinese state through a civilisation of industry and science fused with the best of their heritage. Chinese statehood will also be shaped by the country’s relations with its neighbours, the way its leaders deal with global issues of social justice, its attitudes towards culture and identity among all varieties of Chinese peoples, and the deep sense of history that guides state formation. The author probes into the Chinese perception of its place in world history, and examines the unique features that propel China onto its modern global trajectory. By bringing these themes together, he depicts the travails of renewal that the Chinese have to face and betters our understanding of China’s position in today’s interconnected world.