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South China Morning Post
21 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
How China's diaspora became both an asset and a source of anxiety
Wang Gungwu – one of Asia's most respected historians and a pioneering scholar of the Chinese diaspora – explores in Roads to Chinese Modernity: Civilisation and National Culture how China evolved into a modern nation navigating reform and globalisation. In this excerpt, Wang traces how, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reformers and revolutionaries such as Kang You-wei, Liang Qichao and Sun Yat-sen began rallying support from overseas Chinese communities. Once dismissed as disloyal exiles, these migrants soon came to be seen as both a strategic asset and a political risk in China's rise. The overseas Chinese attracted wide attention when political figures like Kang You-wei, Liang Qichao and Sun Yat-sen reached out to engage them about the future of China . Whether the message was to seek reforms or to overthrow the regime, these Chinese were responsive to the calls for help. Some of those who had recently come from China had anti-Manchu backgrounds, while others were ashamed that it was repeatedly defeated by the West, and alarmed that China was backward and getting poorer. This not only affected their pride but also their status and security abroad, especially those who already felt discriminated against in one way or another. Even though some in the Southeast Asian colonies became rich despite this, they were successful only because they were very adaptable and willing to take many risks. Many others were not so fortunate and ended up destitute. Under the circumstances, the more successful merchant classes were ready to help their idealistic kinsmen from their birth country to connect the outside world with China and help it become modern and competitive. As a result, more Chinese officials and politicians became aware that these external communities could be assets in China's future development. It is interesting to recall that Europeans trading in Southeast Asia had long been conscious of the range and vitality of Chinese entrepreneurship. From the 16th century on, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and later British writers had been describing, some in considerable detail, the valuable role of Chinese merchants, their versatility and skill. Although none of the studies were systematic, these records led to studies of Chinese potential as partners and competitors, as cheap labour, as immigrants, but eventually also as threats to colonial and imperial interests. Later, and elsewhere in the Americas and Australasia , the reactions were different. Chinese labour was considered cheap and crime-ridden, and for decades the numbers allowed to stay were severely cut down. During the first half of the 20th century, the Republican Chinese government could do little to help them. Thus, in most of these places, the Chinese who remained had almost become 'invisible people'.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Why China's leaders seek a culture that is both modern and distinctly Chinese
Renowned historian Wang Gungwu's Roads to Chinese Modernity: Civilisation and National Culture traces China's transformation from an ancient civilisation into a modern nation-state shaped by revolution, reform and global engagement. Drawing on decades of scholarship and his unique perspective as an overseas Chinese intellectual, Wang reflects in this excerpt on Deng Xiaoping's legacy and the enduring challenge facing China's leaders today: how to build a modern national culture that embraces global ideas while remaining recognisably and distinctively Chinese. The genius of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 was to see that China could not go down the road of revolution again. The word he used was 'reform'. By this, he was asking the Communist Party to recognise that the revolution had been successful in 1949; the time had come to consolidate what had been achieved by learning from the lessons and mistakes of the past. When Deng called for 'reform and opening up', there was a national sigh of relief. The idea of no more revolutions was something so welcomed by most people that it may be described as the secret of China's success in the decades that followed. What is still unclear, however, is whether the new generation of leaders are free of the idea that Chinese culture is holistic. When I talk about the quest for a new cultural identity, I am not certain whether the Chinese people have really moved away from the heritage of culture as a holistic unity. Why do I stress this? Because it is a new challenge to build a new culture that can stand by itself in the world today. Globalisation has made the world much smaller. New ideas are transmitted very rapidly. They include some of the most advanced ideas in science and technology, which all the Chinese admire and are willing to learn without any hesitation whatsoever. For many, this has demonstrated to them that globalisation has enabled the world to be one. There is a global process going on and one day, some kind of global culture that all human beings could subscribe to and believe in might be created. I am not yet sure if that is part of the popular vision among the Chinese today. There are many signs which suggest that the Chinese deeply hanker for the kind of civilisation they once had, of which they were so proud. I think that old cultural identity is truly gone. But maybe some valuable parts of it could be recovered and given new life by incorporating new ideas that are coming from elsewhere. With new mixtures or compositions, China could build something that will be distinctively, if not uniquely, Chinese.
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Why China's leaders still seek a culture that is both modern and distinctly Chinese
Renowned historian Wang Gungwu's Roads to Chinese Modernity: Civilisation and National Culture traces China's transformation from an ancient civilisation into a modern nation-state shaped by revolution, reform and global engagement. Drawing on decades of scholarship and his unique perspective as an overseas Chinese intellectual, Wang reflects in this excerpt on Deng Xiaoping's legacy and the enduring challenge facing China's leaders today: how to build a modern national culture that embraces global ideas while remaining recognisably and distinctively Chinese. Advertisement The genius of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 was to see that China could not go down the road of revolution again. The word he used was 'reform'. By this, he was asking the Communist Party to recognise that the revolution had been successful in 1949; the time had come to consolidate what had been achieved by learning from the lessons and mistakes of the past. When Deng called for 'reform and opening up', there was a national sigh of relief. The idea of no more revolutions was something so welcomed by most people that it may be described as the secret of China's success in the decades that followed. What is still unclear, however, is whether the new generation of leaders are free of the idea that Chinese culture is holistic. When I talk about the quest for a new cultural identity, I am not certain whether the Chinese people have really moved away from the heritage of culture as a holistic unity. Why do I stress this? Because it is a new challenge to build a new culture that can stand by itself in the world today. Globalisation has made the world much smaller. New ideas are transmitted very rapidly. They include some of the most advanced ideas in science and technology, which all the Chinese admire and are willing to learn without any hesitation whatsoever. For many, this has demonstrated to them that globalisation has enabled the world to be one. There is a global process going on and one day, some kind of global culture that all human beings could subscribe to and believe in might be created. I am not yet sure if that is part of the popular vision among the Chinese today. There are many signs which suggest that the Chinese deeply hanker for the kind of civilisation they once had, of which they were so proud. I think that old cultural identity is truly gone. Advertisement But maybe some valuable parts of it could be recovered and given new life by incorporating new ideas that are coming from elsewhere. With new mixtures or compositions, China could build something that will be distinctively, if not uniquely, Chinese.
