Wang Gungwu

Wang Gungwu (; born 9 October 1930), also written Wang Gung Wu, is a Chinese Australian historian, sinologist, and writer specialising in the history of China and Southeast Asia. He has studied and written about the Chinese diaspora. An expert on the Chinese tianxia ("all under heaven") concept, he was the first to suggest its application to the contemporary world as an American tianxia. He is the recipient of many honours and awards, including the Tang Prize.

Early life and education Wang Gungwu, also written Wang Gung Wu, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to well-educated ethnic Chinese parents from Jiangsu and Zhejiang:

Wang completed his secondary education in Anderson School, an English medium school in Ipoh, learning Chinese classics and history at home from his father. He was also editor of the student newspaper and president of the Students' Union, and published a collection of his poetry during this time. published as a book in 1963.

Career Wang taught at the University of Malaya as a lecturer in history, first in Singapore and then at the Kuala Lumpur campus from 1959.

In 1968 he went to Canberra, Australia, to become head of far eastern history in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) at the Australian National University (ANU), a position he held until 1975, and then again from 1980 until 1986. For five years between 1975 and 1980, he was director of RSPAS.

He was the founding chair of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS.

Discussing the idea of China and Chinese identity, Wang observes, "Almost every aspect of Chineseness underwent considerable change during the past 3,000 years . . . and any effort to outline them without reference to time and the processes of change before the modern era must be inadequate."

Other activities

Wang helped with the founding of the Malaysian political party Gerakan, but he was not personally directly involved in the party's activities. He later said that he was not interested in a political career, but helped his friend and co-founder of the party, Tan Chee Khoon, to help draft the party's constitution.

Wang was a key figure in the establishment of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in 1976 and served as president.

He served as president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities from 1980 to 1983.

In 2022, Wang was senior fellow at the Diplomatic Academy at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an adviser to the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Social Science Research Council. In 1988 he was appointed Professor Emeritus of ANU. On 14 June 1991, Wang was made Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), for "public and community services in Hong Kong". In 1994, Wang was awarded the Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize by the Japanese city of Fukuoka. This is an honour "bestowed to a small number of NUS tenured faculty for their outstanding leadership to the University and community". From 2010 until 2013, he was rector for a residential college in uTown catering exclusively for the NUS University Scholars Programme. he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa). In June 2018, Wang was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, "For distinguished service to tertiary education as an academic and researcher, particularly to far eastern history and the study of the Chinese diaspora, and to the enhancement of Australia-Asia relations". In June 2020 Wang was awarded the Tang Prize in Sinology. The organisation, which is based in Taiwan, said that his work had "significantly enriched the explanation of the Chinese people's changing place in the world, traditionally developed from an internalist perspective or relation to the West". Wang was acknowledged for his work in "developing world-class research institutions in Singapore". The award also recognised his publication of "pioneering works on the history of China, South-east Asia, and East Asia, as well as the Chinese diaspora in South-east Asia and Singapore, providing invaluable insights for policymakers". As an NUS alumnus, Wang was lauded for "his dedication to Sinology, his remarkable intellect, his trailblazing vision, and his public contributions". The honorary doctorate celebrates the long-standing contributions and value that Wang's scholarly insights bring to Singapore, Southeast Asia, and the world. His memoir Home Is Where We Are topped the English creative non-fiction category. Home Is Where We Are is the second part of his memoirs, and spans 20 years, beginning with Wang's time at the University of Malaya.

Legacy

In 2010, Wang gave his collection of Southeast Asian books and private archives to ISEAS, as well as donating $150,000 to NUS to set up an academic award which bearing his name. Others who have delivered the lecture include: January 2023: Gabrielle Wang, author February 2024: Ming Long, business leader and chair of Diversity Council Australia February 2025: Melissa Wu, Olympic diving champion

In film

Wang discussed the demise of the Qing dynasty in the 2011 film China's Century of Humiliation, directed by Mitch Anderson.

He also addresses the topic of US-China Relations during China's century of humiliation in a 2021 MOOC entitled US-China Relations: Past, Present and Future.

Selected bibliography