December 16, 2021

Chineseness and the Cold War: Contested Cultures and Diaspora in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong (Routledge, 2021), edited by Associate Professor Xu Lanjun (NUS Chinese Studies) and Associate Professor Jeremy E. Taylor (University of Nottingham), explores the different notions of “Chineseness” during the Cold War through the examination of specific case studies of the “Chinese cultural Cold War” in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. These competing notions of “Chineseness” were played out in many areas – from bookstores, cinemas, music halls, classrooms, and sport clubs, to places of worship across the region in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The book also explains how the events of the Cold War continue to affect arguments about the extent of Chinese influence and “Chineseness” in Southeast Asia and the wider region today.

Read the book here.