Wang Gungwu Research Articles

The making of Malayans: life-writing and memory work by Wang Gungwu and He Jin

ABSTRACT Using an autobiographical studies framework, this paper outlines the persistence of a Malayan nation-of-intent through contemporary life-writings which revisit the 1950s–60s. The imagined nation constituting the Federation of Malaya and Singapore is central to two texts by ethnic Chinese writers with contrasting ideological leanings—Home is Where We Are by Wang Gungwu and Margaret Wang, and The Mighty Wave by He Jin. As putative citizens of this nation-of-intent, they textually perform nation-building by narrating their involvement in formal institutions and grassroots capacity-building. In outlining key elements of nationhood such as language, political participation, and historical consciousness in both texts, distinct conceptions of Malayan political subjectivities emerge through the performative and relational aspects of both texts. Overall, this paper draws attention to political implications while demonstrating the relevance of the “Malaya as method” approach in literary studies.

Two Outstanding Articles Share Wang Gungwu Prize for 2023

Two Outstanding Articles Share Wang Gungwu Prize for 2023

BOOK REVIEW: Wang Gungwu and Malaysia, by Danny Tze and Ken Lee Kam Hing

BOOK REVIEW: Wang Gungwu and Malaysia, by Danny Tze and Ken Lee Kam Hing

Article about Sun Yatsen’s Pan-Asianism Speech Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2022

Article about Sun Yatsen’s Pan-Asianism Speech Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2022

Wang Gungwu and Malaysia ed. by Danny Wong Tze Ken and Lee Kam Hing

Wang Gungwu and Malaysia ed. by Danny Wong Tze Ken and Lee Kam Hing

Conclusion

Conclusion

Article about Male Cosmetic Surgery in China Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2021

Article about Male Cosmetic Surgery in China Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2021

On Home Is Where We Are by Wang Gungwu with Margaret Wang

On Home Is Where We Are by Wang Gungwu with Margaret Wang

Demic Diffusion, Diplomatic Sociability, and an Emergent Trans-National Political Culture in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Northeast Asia

Demic Diffusion, Diplomatic Sociability, and an Emergent Trans-National Political Culture in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Northeast Asia Nicolas Tackett An increasing volume of scholarship has examined the question of sinosteppe cultural exchange. Indeed, it is not difficult to identify elements of a common culture shared by political elites on both sides of the border. But whereas there is an extensive tradition of writing about sino-steppe culture as concerns the Tang, with its mixed Särbi-Chinese "northwestern" aristocracy, and also as concerns the Mongol Yuan, somewhat less has been written on the intervening tenth and eleventh centuries, an era dominated by the competition between the Khitan Liao, Chinese Song, and Tangut Xia states. This article will focus on three less well-known examples of trans-border diffusion dating to this intervening period: 1) the bidirectional diaspora of people from Hebei and Hedong and its impact on Song and Liao elite culture; 2) the incorporation of steppe ethnic categories into Song political discourse; and 3) the adaptation of a particular Chinese model of imperial sovereignty at multiple Eastern Eurasian courts. These examples offer an opportunity to rethink the forms, dynamics, and mechanisms of cultural diffusion across the steppe frontier. Traditional Chinese political theory imagines the civilizing sway of the imperial center as spreading out like wind over grass, to cite a well-known passage from the Analects.1 But assuming we do not ourselves believe that wind can serve as a vehicle to disseminate culture, it is necessary to come up [End Page 125] with a clearer understanding of the dynamics of cultural transmission, one that takes into account the historical particularities of tenth- and eleventh-century Northeast Asia. The Hebei-Hedong Diaspora and the Demic Diffusion of Mortuary Culture The decades following the Huang Chao Rebellion and the collapse of the Tang Dynasty were marked by very large-scale migrations of people. The best-known migrants, alluded to in countless accounts of the "Tang-Song Transition," are those who relocated to south China, thereby contributing to the great southward demographic shift of the Chinese population. But perhaps equally significant, especially in terms of their immediate impact on the politics and elite culture of the tenth and eleventh centuries, was the exodus of migrants out of Hebei and Hedong to other parts of the north. As we will see, individuals from this swathe of territory north of the Yellow River would come to play a disproportionately large role at the courts of both the Song and the Liao dynasties. One consequence of these migrations was a new metropolitan elite culture shared by both the "Chinese" Song and the "Khitan" Liao. The first large wave of migrants from Hebei and Hedong accompanied the Shatuo invasion of north China. In the final years of the Tang, the Shatuo Turk Li Keyong 李克用 (856–908) had built up a power base around Taiyuan in central Hedong. Over the course of the Later Liang Dynasty (907–923), his successor, Li Cunxu 李存勗 (884–926), expanded Shatuo control into neighboring Hebei. Whereas most of the military commanders of the emergent regime had steppe origins, the civilian administrative staff included large numbers of local Chinese. Thus, when the Shatuo invaded all of north China in 923, overthrowing the Later Liang and establishing their own new dynasty, the Later Tang, large numbers of people from Hebei and Hedong came in tow. The impact of the 923 invasion on the composition of the political elite was striking, as Wang Gungwu first noted several decades ago.2 Table 1 presents data from standard history biographies. It identifies the regions of origin of officeholders of the most important Henan-based regimes of the tenth century, [End Page 126] Click for larger view View full resolution Table 1. Region of origin of officeholders with standard history biographies (by regime) including the Five Dynasties, as well as the subsequent Song Dynasty. The data reveals a sharp increase in the representation of men from Hebei and Hedong immediately following the 923 Shatuo invasion. The fraction of officeholders from these regions continued to increase through mid-century, reaching a peak of 68% under the Later Han Dynasty. It only declined late in the century, primarily...

Webinar Transcript — Chinese Diaspora in the Modern World: In Conversation with Wang Gungwu

Webinar Transcript — Chinese Diaspora in the Modern World: In Conversation with Wang Gungwu

Article on Tibet in Meiji Japan and Qing China Wins 2020 Wang Gungwu Prize

Article on Tibet in Meiji Japan and Qing China Wins 2020 Wang Gungwu Prize

Ink of Nostalgia: A Review Article of Home is Not Here, Dear China, and Recent Scholarship on China and the Chinese Overseas

Abstract This article reviews Wang Gungwu, Home is Not Here (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2018) and Gregor Benton and Hong Liu’s Dear China: Emigrant Letters and Remittances, 1820–1980 (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2018) in terms of how they reflect and revisit recent scholarship on China and the Chinese overseas published in English. Adopting different approaches, both books feature family correspondence within Chinese migrant families. This new focus unpacks concepts between ethnicity and language, and between family and homeland in migrants’ identity-making. Beginning from these studies, the article defends “Chinese overseas” as an intellectual concept and as a framework that allows an examination and comparison of the connections between China and its migrants as well as their descendants worldwide. In conclusion, the article argues that diasporas are made up of those who have left home but who miss that home, touching on the concept of nostalgia. Passing down the sense of nostalgia through successive generations via narrating, writing, and verifying, both in Sinophone and other languages, is a way by which Chinese diasporas construct their heritage. The process of retelling, rewriting, and reworking family heritage keeps the idea of home alive, wherever it might be, and whether or not it still exists.

Wang Gungwu with Margaret Wang, Home is Where We Are, Singapore, Published under Ridge Books imprint by NUS Press, National University of Singapore [2021], 300 p., Bibliography, Appendix, Index, Plates. ISBN 978-981-325-132-8 (casebound).

Wang Gungwu with Margaret Wang, Home is Where We Are, Singapore, Published under Ridge Books imprint by NUS Press, National University of Singapore [2021], 300 p., Bibliography, Appendix, Index, Plates. ISBN 978-981-325-132-8 (casebound).

Decolonizing the History Curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore by Kevin Blackburn and Zonglun Wu

Reviewed by: Decolonizing the History Curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore by Kevin Blackburn and Zonglun Wu Jason Ng Sze Chieh and Yeow-Tong Chia Decolonizing the History Curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore. by KEVIN BLACKBURN and ZONGLUN WU. London and New York: Routledge, 2019, 201pp, ISBN 978-1-138-39165-9 Decolonizing the History Curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore aims to examine the process of decolonization of the school history curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore. It argues that the struggle to 'decolonize' the school history syllabus in Malaysia and Singapore, began, ironically, early in the 1930s when the British colonial authority sought to create a loyal English-educated Malayan elite by employing a 'Europe-centric' history syllabus in its schools that promoted imperial citizenship. The objective, nonetheless, is to strengthen its colonial hold over British Malaya (this included Singapore prior to 1957) and to safeguard its economic enterprises. Yet even then there was dissatisfaction by the elites over the syllabus' over-emphasis on European achievements while remaining silent about the land they were raised on. Although attempts were made by the so-called 'scholar-administrators' from the Malayan Civil Service to shift the syllabus towards a more 'Malayan-centric' viewpoint by inserting elements of local history, the syllabus was still firmly written using what Dutch colonial historian Jacob van Leur described as histories 'observed from the deck of the ship, the ramparts of the fortress, the high gallery of the trading house' (p. 2). Most fascinatingly, the accelerated decolonization of Malaya's education system post-World War II was a result of aggressive nationalist indoctrination by the Japanese occupiers. This resulted in the local population rejecting the return of pre-war colonial education policy and voicing a greater demand for a new syllabus that reoriented the people towards a more 'Malayan outlook' as part of preparations for eventual self-rule. Just as the book's authors suggest, the monumental efforts by C. N. Parkinson and K. G. Tregonning, two outstanding historians who relentlessly championed the 'Malayan outlook' in the history syllabus, made it clear that Malaya's future was to be multiracial and multicultural. Tragically, their efforts have been criticised purely on the fallacious grounds that because they were not Malayans, they were therefore lacking the requisite cultural and social sensibilities when drafting changes in the syllabus. However, the proteges they had trained in the University of Malaya's History Department (Wang Gungwu, Zainal Abidin Abdul Wahid, and Khoo Kay Kim) would carry the torch and continue to push for further 'decolonization' by writing a syllabus that, for the first time, was about Malaya. In Singapore, Hsu Yun Tsiao of Nanyang University prepared a syllabus that was heavy on Chinese historical figures and events, in order to appeal to the overwhelmingly Chinese population of the island colony. Therefore, the 'Asia-centric' history syllabus that came into being placed much emphasis on World History while drastically reducing the British imperial content. The result was that students became overburdened with too much information about the world and too little about their relationship with the land of their birth and the stakes each held over its future. The contrasting population makeup and diverging political demands in the Federation of Malaya (and later Malaysia) and that of Singapore post-independence meant that the history syllabus had to be co-opted from the original, which lay great stress on the multiracial and multicultural post-colonial nation-building [End Page 232] objectives, to one that serves the political needs of the developmental state. The turning point came about in Malaysia following the bloody riots of 13 May 1969 in which a complete revision of how history should be taught occurred with the old multiracial and multicultural dream of the nation's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, excised and replaced with a history syllabus that was described by Malay nationalists as 'Malaysian-centric'. The old syllabus was seen as a legacy of colonialism despite its purported 'decolonized' nature. The special position of the Malays, in particular an emphasis on their culture and tradition, became a predominant theme in the new 1978 history syllabus while still incorporating elements from the old 1961 syllabus. Gone were the contributions...

Nanyang: Essays on Heritage, by Wang Gung-wu

Nanyang: Essays on Heritage, by Wang Gung-wu

GLOBALISATION AT THE CROSSROADS? THE REVIVAL OF NATIONALISM AND IDENTITY POLITICS

This article is a revised and expanded version of the author’s keynote address for the inaugural International Conference on Politics and International Studies (ICPIS) 2018, held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The title reflects the official theme of the said scholarly congregation, which deliberates on the contested notions of globalisation and the phenomenon’s related outcomes, including its much touted hegemonic, universal liberal qualities, which have elicited a backlash that has seen the revival of nationalism and identity politics during the last few decades. That globalisation has arrived at a crossroads and the thought of what might lie ahead is what this paper seeks to ponder, through the prism and critique of both recent as well as older works by the likes of Francis Fukuyama, Charles Taylor, Wang Gungwu and Samuel P. Huntington. More specifically, it critically explores the evolution and progress of globalisation from both historical and international relations (IR) perspectives, explicating watershed eras in the long cycle of modern international history that had as much facilitated as hindered the realisation of a universal liberal consensus, or liberal triumph. Although concluding that globalisation has been stopped in its tracks, the article nevertheless, expresses concerns regarding the limitations of Western-oriented IR as a discipline in comprehensively grasping the complexities of post-globalisation dynamics shaped by cultural-ideational specificities, not to mention, the fallacy of overemphasising on “identity politics” as a “master concept” in explaining all that is happening in contemporary world politics. Instead, it contends on the need to review existing analytical frameworks, while exploring new “logics” in the quest to construct new paradigms to help make sense of a post-globalisation, post-liberal, probably post-Western era.

Article about Beauty and Belonging in Papua, Indonesia Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2019

"Article about Beauty and Belonging in Papua, Indonesia Wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2019." Asian Studies Review, 44(2), p. 163

Schooling Diaspora: Women, Education, and the Overseas Chinese in British Malaya and Singapore, 1850s–1960s by Karen M. Teoh

Reviewed by: Schooling Diaspora: Women, Education, and the Overseas Chinese in British Malaya and Singapore, 1850s–1960s by Karen M. Teoh Ngu Ik Tien Schooling Diaspora: Women, Education, and the Overseas Chinese in British Malaya and Singapore, 1850s–1960s, by Karen M. Teoh. Oxford University Press, 2018, ISBN-13: 9780190495619 The history of female education in Southeast Asia has long been an under-researched topic. Karen Teoh's book has filled this gap by presenting the schooling experiences of the daughters of an immigrant community in Malaya and Singapore from the 1850s to 1960s, and with a focus on a politically turbulent period in the middle of the twentieth century. These women became the first batch among their community to receive a modern education, which then exposed them to modern Asian politics characterized by anti-colonialism and ethno-nationalism. Some of them, through education, became involved in the socio-political struggle of their times, which changed them forever. As such, we can conclude that this book is more than an account of modern female education, but also a sophisticated analysis of how multiple socio-political forces of the time constructed people's identity and determined their destiny. In this case, the people are female members of the diaspora who lived among Southeast Asians. Teoh locates her research subject against a complex background where British colonial officers, Western Christian missionaries, and communal intellectual leaders came onto the scene at a time of ideological battles, depicted by her as 'a century of British Imperialism, Chinese and Southeast Asian nationalism, and patriarch'. She dug into this time period by tracing the moral and ideological origins of two types of girls' schools in Malaya and Singapore. One was founded by Western Christian missionaries and the other by ethnic Chinese leaders who were highly Anglicized in terms of their cultural preferences. The two types of schools make a good comparison given their proximity, founders, distinctive curriculum and student demographics; this gives readers a glance at the historical development of two typical girls' schools in the region. Teoh's research indicates that ethnic identity could be so entrenched that it could overshadow gender identity. This pattern is not particular to the educated overseas Chinese women in the middle of the twentieth century. It has been replicated in many societies, including advanced democracies like the United States. Her research shows that classroom or modern formal education was mostly responsible for constructing these women's identities. The Chinese-medium schools, in particular, were primarily responsible for promoting ethnic-nationalism and political participation among their female students. The establishment of these girls' schools reflects the ideological base of the founders' quest for modern Chinese female education. Rather than training the young female students to become better mothers, the schools' founders showed more interest in nurturing modern female citizens similar to their male counterparts. Both were entrusted with the same responsibilities for saving their nation from Western imperialism. That explains why the schoolteachers and teaching materials from China contained less gender-specific knowledge than the curriculum of the mission girls' schools. With significant numbers of politicians and scholars, Teoh also acknowledges the rise of ethno-nationalism among Chinese students and agrees that it posed a threat to political stability and the British government. However, Teoh does not simply label the trend as evil development as many have done. Instead, she reviews the colonial education policy through a contemporary cosmopolitan perspective [End Page 174] which acknowledges the importance of pluralism in cultural policy, especially the cultural rights of immigrants. Her research reminds us that the cultural tension between natives versus immigrants, and between the ethnic majority and minority is an old issue which has not yet been resolved. The problem will continue to haunt us who are living in the twenty-first century, where the world has become more culturally diverse than in the twentieth century. The book also recognizes a nuance in the ethnic politics of Malaya and Singapore, the intra-ethnic tensions among the Chinese as a result of attending schools with different mediums of instruction and cultural orientation. Prominent scholars such as Wang Gungwu, Tan Chee Beng and Heng Pek Koon have also captured the division among Chinese...

“I Have an Accent in Every Language I Speak!”: Shadow History of One Chinese Family’s Multigenerational Transnational Migrations

According to scholar and Professor Wang Gungwu, there are three categories of Chinese overseas documents: formal (archive), practical (print media), and expressive (migrant writings such as poetry). This non-fiction creative essay documents what Edna Bonacich describes as an “middleman minority” family and how we have migrated to four different nation-city states in four generations. Our double minority status in one country where we were discriminated against helped us psychologically survive in another country. My family history ultimately exemplifies the unique position “middleman minority” families have in the countries they migrate to and how the resulting discrimination that often accompanies this position can work as a psychological advantage when going to a new country. We also used our cultural capital to survive in each new country. In particular, this narrative highlights the lasting psychological effects of the transnational migration on future generations. There is a wall of shame, fear, and traumas in my family’s migration story that still pervades today. My family deals with everything with silence, obfuscation, and anger. It has taken me twenty years to recollect a story so my own descendants can know where we came from. Thus, this is a shadow history that will add to the literature on Sino-Southeast Asian migration and remigration out to the United States. Specifically, my family’s migration began with my grandfather leaving Guangdong, China to Saigon, Vietnam (1935), to Hong Kong, (1969) (then a British Colony), and eventually to the United States (1975). This article explains why my family migrated multiple times across multiple generations before eventually ending up in California. Professor Wang urges librarians, archivists, and scholars to document and preserve the Chinese migrants’ expressive desires of migrant experiences and this expressive memoir piece answers that call.

Article about breastfeeding in Indonesia wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2018

Article about breastfeeding in Indonesia wins Wang Gungwu Prize for 2018