Nanyang
Essays on Heritage

Wang Gungwu (Author)

9789814786515

Hardback, published 30 April 2018

232 pages
21 x 14.8 x 1.4 cm, 0.385 kg

"Anyone fortunate enough to hear Wang Gungwu, one of the East Asian region’s most prominent historian give a lecture, always hopes that the words spoken on that occasion will be published one day for later generations to enjoy. [...] This volume discusses Southeast Asia and Chinese heritage, provides deep and personal insights on the beginnings of Malaysia and Singapore, and examines China’s and the region’s post-colonial history. As a testament to Professor Wang’s ability to excite his fans, although the book offers much juicy food for thought, it leaves them still hungry for more." — Ooi Kee Beng, Executive Director, Penang Institute

This volume is a book of reflections and encounters about the region that the Chinese knew as Nanyang. The essays in it look back at the years of uncertainty after the end of World War II and explore the period largely through images of mixed heritages in Malaysia and Singapore. They also look at the trends towards social and political divisiveness following the years of decolonization in Southeast Asia. Never far in the background is the struggle to build new nations during four decades of an ideological Cold War and the Chinese determination to move from near-collapse in the 1940s and out of the traumatic changes of the Maoist revolution to become the powerhouse that it now is.