Description
As someone who has studied history for much of my life, I have found the past fascinating. But it has always been some grand and even intimidating universe that I wanted to unpick and explain to myself. Wang Gungwu is one of Asia’s most important public intellectuals. He is best-known for his explorations of Chinese history in the long view, and for his writings on the Chinese diaspora. With Home is Not Here, the historian of grand themes turns to a single life history: his own. Wang writes about his multicultural upbringing and life under British rule. He was born in Surabaya, Java, but his parents’ orientation was always to China. Wang grew up in the plural, multi-ethnic town of Ipoh, Malaya (now Malaysia). He learned English in colonial schools and was taught the Confucian classics at home. After the end of WWII and Japanese occupation, he left for the National Central University in Nanjing to study alongside some of the finest of his generation of Chinese undergraduates. The victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist Party interrupted his education, and he ends this volume with his return to Malaya. Wise and moving, this is a fascinating reflection on family, identity, and belonging, and on the ability of the individual to find a place amid the historical currents that have shaped Asia and the world.
Read More
Wang Gungwu, an Australian historian of Chinese descent, illuminates his life, from childhood to his return to Malay, from Ipoh, to the University of Malaya in Singapore. Interspersed in his history are remembrances of his mother—“memories of fifty years”-who loved her China and hoped to return. Soon after Wang’s parents married they left for Southeast Asia. In Java political loyalties were complicated with Javanese, Dutch, and Chinese. He lived among non-Chinese, Hakka, Cantonese, and Hokkien. His father, a teacher provided classical literature and Confucian thought while they waited for the hoped for trip back to China. While waiting he attended a local English School. The Japanese invasion killed the dream of return. When war came to Malaysia it carried nightmares. He recounts his time during the Japanese occupation. At 14, he listened avidly to their small radio, even though it meant death if caught. He felt important during that time, because he was able to pass on information to the community. Unable to continue his colonial education, he spent a lot of time roaming around the town, a pastime that brought benefits, like self-discovery. He realized that he was not inclined to pursue theories and abstract ideas, but preferred to deal with personal dispositions and social phenomena. The week before he left to study in Singapore, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Annotation ©2019 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Read Less