The publication Robert Zhao Renhui: Seeing Forest, Volume 1 of 2 accompanies Robert Zhao Renhui’s eponymous exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 20 April to 24 November 2024, curated by Haeju Kim and organized by Singapore Art Museum. In addition to conceptual sequences of Zhao Renhui’s images and curator Haeju Kim’s essay, this companion book gathers an assemblage of texts from various times, authors, contexts, and sources. Organized in the “Reader” section at the center of the volume, these archival pieces range from publications going as far back as 1883 to being as recent as 2020. Juxtaposing scientific and philosophical analyses with artistic interventions, storytelling, and critical reflection, the selection echoes and reverberates an interest in different ways of knowing mobilized by . Two newly commissioned essays, by environmental historian Marcus Yee and writer Jeffrey Kastner, offer in-depth meditations specifically on the artist’s practice and current intervention. As a special treat, in the concluding piece, Zhao interviews his friend and long-standing collaborator Yong Ding Li about their respective and shared experiences of working across art and ecology in Singapore.

A new supercomputer spells doom for Taiwan... Amid the explosion of computer technology in the 1990s, nothing comes close to Apogee – a software program able to process human speech in any language, paving the way for pilotless planes, driverless tanks and a global communications network limited only by human imagination. China, soon to resume control of Hong Kong, is now obsessed with an even greater prize in its long march to Pacific supremacy: Taiwan. The outcome is not in doubt, as long as China can secure Apogee – but there’s a problem. The software belongs to Ducannon Young Electronics in Taiwan where Mat Young, son of owner Simon, represents his autocratic father. Simon sees little beyond the limitless profits Apogee will generate, but his less hard-boiled son has become embroiled with a Taiwanese actress whose loyalties are hard to read. All sides will go to any lengths to get inside Mat’s head, convinced that his unique position must give him access to Apogee’s secrets. But Mat knows nothing, and not even the horrors of the torture chamber known to history as the Gates of Exquisite View can change that... A chilling high-stakes technothriller from ‘the heir-apparent to Le Carré’, perfect for fans of Robert Ludlum and Martin Cruz Smith. Praise for The Gates of Exquisite View ‘There is rarely a moment to pause for breath between the agonizingly suspenseful events in a thriller that is worthy of its genre’ Publishers Weekly

The game has begun, Hong Kong is the prize. Britain’s surrender of Hong Kong to China has been set for 1997. But not everyone is happy. Russia, in particular, dreads the catastrophic upheavals – strategic, economic and political – that must follow. The KGB plot to ensure that China will inherit only a worthless shell, racked by social and financial instability. Pitted against them are the elite cadres of Chinese Intelligence – the Mahjong Brigade. They need an insider, and their chosen instrument is Simon Young, Hong Kong’s pre-eminent British tycoon. Simon soon finds that his unparalleled commercial skills count for little in the spy world. Who to trust? Even his beautiful Chinese wife, Jinny, has secrets to conceal... A compelling financial espionage thriller from the acclaimed author of The Man Called Kyril. Praise for The Mahjong Spies ‘Intricate, tense, rich in characters, incident, drama and intriguing details of life in its exotic locale. Trenhaile will please the most ardent fans of spyfare with this gripping story’ Publishers Weekly ‘John Trenhaile has struck gold... a gripping tale of high finance and intrigue’ Manchester Evening News

Intercultural dialogue is often invoked in vague reference to a method that can build cross-cultural understanding and facilitate global policy-making. This book clarifies the theoretical foundations of intercultural dialogue and demonstrates the practical significance of intercultural value inquiry, combining the perspectives of philosophy, conflict research, religious studies, and education.

It was a long journey—in more ways than mere geography—from a childhood in Northern Ireland to becoming the most influential foreigner in 19th-century China. This historical novel follows the life of Robert Hart, whose career in China spanned more than half a century during the turbulent last decades of the Qing dynasty. As the Qing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service, Hart was involved in many major events of late Imperial China. While negotiating his way through civil dissent and foreign conflicts, he played an instrumental role in the country's modernization. A rare foreigner who learned the language and developed a deep interest in and sensitivity to the culture, Hart had a passion for his adopted country but continually struggled in his dual role as British subject and employee of the Chinese government. Hart's personal life was not without its own challenges as he grappled with his relationship with his Chinese lover and the children he had with her, as well as his British wife and their family together. Long periods of conflict, loneliness and doubt lurked behind the professional triumphs for which he became world-renowned. Based on exhaustive historical research, the story is enlivened by dialogue and plot elements suggested by the author's deep knowledge of Hart and the country and times in which he lived. The reader will be rewarded with insight into this pivotal period in Chinese history through the lens of the life of one fascinating individual.

This book approaches the subject of contemporary art by exploring the social embeddedness and identities of Singaporean artists. Linking artistic processes and production to both personal worlds and wider issues, the book examines how artists negotiate their relationships between self and society and between artistic freedom and social responsibility. It is based on original research into the discourses and artistic practices of local artists, with a special focus on emerging artists and artists whose work and perspectives engage with questions of identity. Reimagining contemporary Singapore and their place within it, artists are asserting their multiple and heterogeneous self-identities and contesting hegemonic norms and notions, as they negotiate and adapt to the world around them. This book is relevant to students and researchers in the fields of cultural studies, media studies, art, sociology of art, arts education, and race and ethnicity studies.

"In this succinct yet ample work, Zhao Tingyang as one of China's most distinguished and respected intellectuals, provides a profoundly original philosophical interpretation of China's story. Over the past few decades, the question "where did China come from?" has absorbed the thoughts of many of China's best historians. Zhao, keenly aware of the persistent and pernicious asymmetry in the prevailing way scholars have gone about theorizing China according to Western concepts and categories, has tasked both Chinese and Western scholars alike to "rethink China." To this end, Zhao introduces what he terms a distinctively Chinese centripetal "whirlpool" model of world order to interpret the historical progression of China's "All-Under-Heaven" Tianxia identity construction on the central plain of China. In this book, Zhao forwards a novel and compelling thesis on not only how we should understand China, but also until recently, how China has understood itself"--