Wang Gungwu

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Wang Gungwu (simplified Chinese: 王赓武; pinyin: Wáng Gēngwǔ) (born October 9, 1930)[1] is an academic who has studied and written about the Chinese diaspora. He was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, and grew up in Ipoh, Malaysia. He studied history in the University of Malaya, Singapore, where he received both his Bachelor and Masters degrees. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of London (1957) for his thesis on The structure of power in North China during the Five Dynasties. He is a former teacher at the University of Malaya (in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur) before going to Canberra in 1968 to become Professor of Far Eastern History in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at Australian National University. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1986 to 1995.

[edit] Positions held and books written

Currently Wang is University Professor at the National University of Singapore, and also Chairman of the Managing Board of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He was formerly Director of the East Asian Institute[2]. Wang was a Distinguished Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies where he is now Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He is also an Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University, Canberra. Wang is an active writer who has written The Chineseness of China (1991), China and the Chinese Overseas (1991), Community and Nation: China, Southeast Asia and Australia (1992), a new edition of Nanhai Trade: The early history of Chinese trade in the South China Sea (1998), China and Southeast Asia: Myths, Threats and Culture (1999), The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy (2000), Joining the Modern World: Inside and Outside China (2000), Don't Leave Home: Migration and the Chinese (2001), Anglo-Chinese Encounters since 1800 (2003), and Divided China: Preparing for Reunification, 883-947 (2007). He has objected to the use of the word diaspora to describe the migration of Chinese from China, because it is inaccurate and has been used to perpetuate fears of a "Chinese threat".[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ WANG, Gungwu International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.
  2. ^ NUS East Asian Institute, Director profile. Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
  3. ^ Asian Affairs interview with Wang Gungwu. Retrieved on 2006-05-16.
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