Dong Weikai (Mr)

Proposed Thesis Title: Dharma for the Lay: The Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association, 1927–Present
Supervisor: Associate Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia

I pursued a B.A. in Chinese Studies (Honours) at Xiamen University Malaysia. During my undergraduate studies, I developed research interests in Chinese popular religion, Chinese Buddhism, and the Chinese diaspora through my experience as a research assistant at the Centre for Research on Southeast Asian Chinese Documents. From 2022 to 2024, I was trained in the study of history and religion at the Department of History, NUS, as a Master’s student in Asian and Global History.

With the generous support of the Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery Scholarship in Buddhist Studies, I am grateful to pursue my second Master’s program at NUS. My research aims to examine how the circulation of knowledge, people, and capital through the Buddhist network of the South China Sea has influenced the emergence and localization of lay Buddhist communities within overseas Chinese society in maritime Southeast Asia. Through this inquiry, I hopes to contribute to scholarship on Chinese Buddhist studies, Buddhist Modernization, and Chinese diaspora identity.

In my leisure time, I enjoy slowing down my pace of life. When I’m not working on assignments or research, you can find me chatting with uncle and auntie at a hawker center or temple, sipping a cup of Kopi-Siew Dai or Teh-O Kosong. I can be reached at weikaidong@u.nus.edu.