Ethnic Chinese Communities in Southeast Asia: History, Dialects,

Politics and Business

Coordinators: A/P Wong Sin Kiong and Dr Chung Raung-fu, Department of Chinese Studies

Background and Scope of the Reading Group

The study of Southeast Asian Chinese is one of the key areas of research of the Department of Chinese Studies. The Chinese in Southeast Asia Research Group of the Department is an interdisciplinary research group, focusing research on various issues related to history, religion, literature, linguistics, politics, business and other cultural and socio-economic issues of Southeast Asia Chinese. Members of the group consist of our existing faculty members and graduate students who are involved in the teaching and research of Southeast Asia Chinese. Some colleagues and graduate students from Departments of History and English, and research fellows from the ARI have also participated in our regular activities. The research group has served as a mechanism to stimulate more research effort from our faculty members and graduate students and to facilitate research activities in the Department/Faculty/University.

Reading sessions are the key component of the activities of the research group. The Reading Group “Ethnic Chinese Communities in Southeast Asia” will make best use of the structures already created through the research group and will bring together NUS faculty members and graduate students of diverse disciplines to critically discuss issues on various aspects of ethnic Chinese communities in SEA. Members are bilingual in English and Chinese and therefore reading materials and discussion may be in English or Chinese or both.

Initial Reading List

  • Yen, Ching-hwang, The Ethnic Chinese in East and Southeas Asia: Business, Culture and Politics
  • Wu Xiao-an, Chinese business in the making of a Malay state, 1882-1941: Kedah and Penang
  • Mak Lau Fong, The dynamics of Chinese dialect groups in early Malaya. Also 麥留芳《方言群認同：早期星馬華人的分類原則》。
  • Heather Sutherland, The making of a bureaucratic elite: The colonial transformation of the Javanese priyayi

Meeting Schedule and Events

  • 29 Oct 2008: members of the reading group met and planned for activities for the next five months
  • 2 Dec 2008: read and discuss the book by Yen Ching-hwang, The Ethnic Chinese in East and Southeast Asia: Business, Culture and Politics. The author, who is from Australia, will come and join the discussion.
  • Early Jan 2009: read and discuss the book by Wu Xiao-an, Chinese business in the making of a Malay state, 1882-1941: Kedah and Penang. The author, who is from Bejing and currently in Singapore, will join the discussion.
  • Early Feb 2009: read and discuss the book (tentatively) by Heather Sutherland, The making of a bureaucratic elite: The colonial transformation of the Javanese priyayi. The author, who is from the Netherland, will come and join the discussion.
  • Early March 2009: read and discuss the book by Mak Lau Fong, The dynamics of Chinese dialect groups in early Malaya. Also 麥留芳《方言群認同：早期星馬華人的分類原則》。 The author, who is from Taipei and currently in Singapore, will come and join the discussion.

List of Participants

  • A/P Wong Sin Kiong (chswsk@nus.edu.sg)
  • Dr Chung Raung-fu (chscr@nus.edu.sg)
  • A/P Bao Zhimin (Department of English)
  • A/P Huang Jianli (Department of History)
  • A/P Lee Chee Hiang (Department of Chinese Studies)
  • A/P Lee Cher Leng (Department of Chinese Studies)
  • Dr Wu Xiao-an (Department of Chinese Studies)
  • Dr Yang Bin (Department of History)

In addition, there will be a core group of graduate students actively involved in this group, and most of them are students of the faculty members involved.