This book is a collection of essays in honour of Professor Wang Gungwu. Professor Wang is not only a great historian on Chinese history in general and the Chinese overseas in particular, but has much wider influence through remarkable domain crossing, namely spatial crossing characterised by geographical straddling between inside and outside of China, temporal crossing from the ancient past to the contemporary, inter-disciplinary crossing from history to the social sciences, and intellectual crossing from the academia to public activism. He has been a long-lasting source of inspiration for understanding some of the most pressing and complex issues in our times, including the nature of China's rise and its implications for the regional and world order. In a nutshell, this book presents Wang as a highly active educator-scholar who has achieved the highest academic standard as well as far-reaching influence over issues that concern all walks of life.
By focusing on the theme of Chineseness and China's modernity, this book adds depth to the analysis of China's rise and its implications for the region and the world. It contains a chapter providing the most comprehensive and updated review of Wang's scholarship thus far. Another chapter demonstrates how Wang, based on his deep understanding of Chinese civilisation and history, articulates a distinct view of the world order that differs from either the thesis of "Thucydides's trap" or the advocacy of mutual accommodation. Interestingly, this book also includes a chapter that highlights Wang's "Southeast Asian-ness", suggesting that Wang's scholarship cautions against not only western-centric views towards China, but also Sino-centric views towards Southeast Asia. In short, this edited volume is both a reference book for understanding Wang's scholarship and an extension of his scholarship to the analysis of China's growing international influence and its implications for the world order.
Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction
Contents:
- Introduction (ZHENG Yongnian and ZHAO Litao)
- Approaches to History and Domain Crossings of a Pioneering Scholar: Wang Gungwu and His Scholarship (HUANG Jianli)
- The Southeast Asian-ness of a China Scholar (Anthony REID)
- History Meets Policy in the Age of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping (Paul EVANS)
- Globalisation and the Chineseness of the Chinese State (ZHENG Yongnian)
- "Chineseness" in History Textbooks: The Narrative on Early China (QIAN Jiwei and Ryan HO)
- The Logic of Political Reform in China: 1978–2018 (ZHENG Yongnian)
- Party Modernisation and Bureaucratic Reform in the Era of Xi Jinping (Kjeld Erik BRØDSGAARD)
- Decline and Repositioning of the Communist Youth League in China (SHAN Wei and CHEN Juan)
- Indigenous Technology as Chinese Modernity (ZHAO Litao)
- The Use of History in Divided China: Diverging Reappraisals of the Kuomintang in Mainland China and Taiwan (QI Dongtao and Ryan HO)
- Cross-Strait Relations in the Wake of Taiwan's January 2016 Election: Taiwan's Narratives (John F COPPER)
- A Nanyang Approach to the Belt and Road Initiative: Malaysia and Its Dilemmas (LIU Hong and LIM Guanie)
- Beijing's New Policy Towards the Chinese Overseas: Some Reflections (Leo SURYADINATA)
- China's Rise, Globalisation 4.0 and Innovative Global Governance (WANG Huiyao)
Readership: Academics, professionals, policy-makers and students interested in China's Economic Modernisation and Structural Changes.
ZHENG Yongnian is Professor of Political Science at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. He is Editor of Series on Contemporary China (World Scientific Publishing) and Editor of China Policy Series (Routledge). He is also the Editor of China: An International Journal and the co-editor of East Asian Policy. He has studied both China's transformation and its external relations. His papers have appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Political Science Quarterly, Third World Quarterly and China Quarterly. He is the author of numerous books, including Market in State, The Chinese Communist Party as Organizational Emperor, Technological Empowerment, De Facto Federalism in China, Discovering Chinese Nationalism in China and Globalization and State Transformation in China, and coeditor of dozens of books on China's domestic development and international relations including the latest volumes China Entering the Xi Era and China and International Relations: The Chinese View and the Contribution of Wang Gungwu. Besides his research work, Professor Zheng has also been an academic activist. He served as a consultant to United Nations Development Programme on China's rural development and democracy. In addition, he has been a columnist for Xinbao (Hong Kong) and Zaobao (Singapore) for many years, writing numerous commentaries on China's domestic and international affairs. Professor Zheng received his BA and MA degrees from Beijing University, and his PhD at Princeton University. He was a recipient of Social Science Research Council-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1995–1997) and John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2003–2004). He was Professor and founding Research Director of the China Policy Institute, the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom (2005–2008).
ZHAO Litao is Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. He obtained his PhD degree in sociology from Stanford University. His research interests include social stratification and mobility, sociology of education, social policy, technology and innovation, with a regional focus on China. His research has appeared in China Quarterly, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Journal of Contemporary China, International Journal of Educational Development, Built Environment, Social Sciences in China, Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, China: An International Journal, Frontiers of Education in China, Issues and Studies, and so on. He has authored, edited or co-edited many books, including China's Development: Social Investment and Challenges (2017), China's Social Development and Policy (2013) and China's Great Urbanization (2013). He is one of the associate editors of China: An International Journal and also serves on the editorial board of East Asian Policy.