China's Century of Revolutions by Professor Wang Gungwu

In 2011, China will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai geming, commonly called the 1911 Revolution. The original meaning of the word geming, the righteous Heaven-mandated removal of a previous regime, applied accurately in the eyes of the majority of Han people to the fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty. But the word was also used by the Japanese to translate the modern concept of revolution. For the rest of the century, this richer concept was more difficult to control. It was associated not only with the violent overthrow of monarchical systems (for example, the French and Russian revolutions) but also with the total transformation of socio-economic and even intellectual conditions of peoples and nations. For the most part in China, it was assumed that revolution meant total victory on the battlefield whether between warlords or between armed political parties. Other adjectives added new dimensions to the concept, extending to economic, social and cultural revolutions. Some of these challenged ancient ideas and practices, others focused on imposing new values, yet others transformed the lives of most Chinese people but, in the name of revolution, none could escape the use or threat of violence. Only by its return to reform after the revolution is over has China been able to find another road to wealth and power. The question I shall try to answer is, how much did China need its revolutions?

Wang Gungwu is University Professor, National University of Singapore; Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University. His books since 2000 include The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy (2000); Dont Leave Home: Migration and the Chinese (2001); Anglo-Chinese Encounters since 1800: War, Trade, Science and Governance (2003); Diasporic Chinese Ventures Edited by Gregor Benton and Liu Hong (2004); China and Its Cultures: From the Periphery (2007, in Chinese); Chinese Civilization and Chinas Road Ahead (2007, in Japanese translation). He recently edited Nation-building: Five Southeast Asian Histories (2005); and (with Zheng Yongnian) China and the New International Order (2008).

He is a Fellow and former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; Member of Academia Sinica and Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science; and Commander of the British Empire (CBE). He has received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Cambridge, Hong Kong, Melbourne, ANU, Sydney, Monash, Griffith, and Hull. In Singapore, he is Chairman of the East Asian Institute, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Heritage Centre; Board Member of the Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Professor Wang received his B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degrees from the University of Malaya in Singapore, and his Ph.D. at the University of London (1957). From 1986 to 1995, he was Vice-Chancellor (President) of the University of Hong Kong.

Date: 12 Jan 2010
Time: 19:00 - 20:30
Venue: Asian Civilisations Museum
Ngee Ann Auditorium, Basement 1
1 Empress Place

Category:

Education

Tags:

• NUS
• Asia Research Institute
• Wang Gungwu
• Revolutions
• Asian Civilisations Museum

[StroonsGlen]

Definitive, insightful and unforgettable -- China: A Century Of Revolution is an astonishingly candid view of a once-secret nation.

[XIceLitNickX]

Loved it