March 14, 2019

Associate Professor Kwa Chong Guan from the NUS Department of History was recently featured in The Straits Times for A General History Of The Chinese In Singapore, a book he edited with Kua Bak Lim, an independent Singapore Chinese historian from the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA).

Supported by the Singapore Bicentennial and National Heritage Board (NHB), the book is an updated, English-language version of the original Chinese edition, which hit the presses in 2015. It traces Singapore’s pre-1819 history, particularly how Singapore Chinese from China, Penang, Malacca, and the Riau Archipelago arrived on the island with other ethnic groups to build a nation. It also highlights 50 prominent Chinese, historical monuments, and artefacts significant to the community, as well as the overlooked role of Chinese secret societies in the building of Singapore’s social fabric. With the book now in English, these stories are finally accessible to the non-Mandarin-speaking population in Singapore and abroad.

According to A/P Kwa, the book tells a distinct story of the Chinese in Singapore and what distinguishes them from other Chinese communities in China and the region. He stresses that in today’s complex world, we want to be clear about our distinct identities – that is, how we are similar yet different from other groups.

A General History Of The Chinese In Singapore (World Scientific) will hit the shelves in June 2019.

Read the full article here.