This book is a record of Mr Tan Lark Sye's remarkable contribution to the founding of Nanyang University.Hailing from Jimei, Fujian Province of China, Mr Tan Lark Sye (1897 - 1972) was a leading rubber industrialist in Southeast Asia. Being a social activist, he believed in the value of education. As Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s, he fought for citizenship for the Chinese in Singapore, and for the Chinese language to be one of Singapore's official languages. Mr Tan's most outstanding contribution, however, was the initiating of the founding of Nanyang University in 1953. He donated SGD5 million, which was a colossal amount at the time, to its building fund, as well as 523 acres of land for its campus on behalf of the Hokkien Huay Kuan.This collection of essays is based on a Chinese publication in 1997 on the occasion of Mr Tan Lark Sye's centenary birthday by Nanyang University Alumni Association of Hong Kong. It contains essays by outstanding Nanyang graduates and speeches by Mr Tan. It elaborates on how Mr Tan advocated to establish the Nanyang University while facing various difficulties. It tells of the life stories of Mr Tan. It is a must-read for those interested in the history of Nanyang University and the legendary life of Mr Tan.

Through a broad range of case studies spanning from imperial monuments to rural residences, Malayan Classicism puts forward a fundamentally new understanding of classical architecture in the Asian colonial context. Across Malaysia and Singapore, thousands of historic buildings are richly ornamented with motifs drawn from Ancient Greece and Rome - as plump volutes, lush acanthus leaves, and neat rows of dentils decorate mosques, palaces, government buildings and innumerable terraced shophouses. These classical details jostle with ideas drawn from other architectural traditions from across Asia in a style that is unique to the region. Presenting the first comprehensive account of what was, prior to World War II, Malaya's most widespread architectural style, Malayan Classicism explores how the classical architecture of the British Empire was transmitted, translated, and transformed in the hands of local builders and architects. Addressing a critical gap in the scholarship, this book charts the metamorphosis of an imperial language of power into a local vernacular style, and provides a new way of reading classical architecture in a post-colonial context that will be applicable throughout the Global South.

A General History of the Chinese in Singapore documents over 700 years of Chinese history in Singapore, from Chinese presence in the region through the millennium-old Hokkien trading world to the waves of mass migration that came after the establishment of a British settlement, and through to the development and birth of the nation. Across 38 chapters and parts, readers are taken through the complex historical mosaic of Overseas Chinese social, economic and political activity in Singapore and the region, such as the development of maritime junk trade, plantation industries, and coolie labour, the role of different bangs, clan associations and secret societies as well as Chinese leaders, the diverging political allegiances including Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities and the National Salvation Movement leading up to the Second World War, the transplanting of traditional Chinese religions, the changing identity of the Overseas Chinese, and the developments in language and education policies, publishing, arts, and more.With 'Pride in our Past, Legacy for our Future' as its key objective, this volume aims to preserve the Singapore Chinese story, history and heritage for future generations, as well as keep our cultures and traditions alive. Therefore, the book aims to serve as a comprehensive guide for Singaporeans, new immigrants and foreigners to have an epitome of the Singapore society. This publication is supported by the National Heritage Board's Heritage Project Grant.Related Link(s)

Singapore gained independence in 1965, a city-state in a world of nation-states. Yet its long and complex history reaches much farther back. Blending modernity and tradition, ideologies and ethnicities, a peculiar set of factors make Singapore what it is today. In this thematic study of the island nation, Michael D. Barr proposes a new approach to understand this development. From the pre-colonial period through to the modern day, he traces the idea, the politics and the geography of Singapore over five centuries of rich history. In doing so he rejects the official narrative of the so-called 'Singapore Story'. Drawing on in-depth archival work and oral histories, Singapore: A Modern History is a work both for students of the country's history and politics, but also for any reader seeking to engage with this enigmatic and vastly successful nation.

"Colonial legacies in knowledge production affect the way the world is represented and understood today. However, the subject is rarely attended. The book, Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Studies of China and Chineseness: Unlearning Binaries, Strategizing Self, is about the colonial construction of intellectual perspectives of the colonized population in terms of the latter's approach to China and Chineseness in the modern world. Relying on the available oral histories of senior China scholars primarily in Asia, authors from various postcolonial and colonial sites present these multiple routs of self-constitution and reconstitution through the use of China and Chineseness as category. The revealed manipulation of this third category, romantically as well as antagonistically, is easier than straightforward self-reflection for us all to accept that, coming to identities and relations, none, even subaltern, is politically innocent or capable of epistemological monopoly. Through comparative studies, it shows a way of self-understanding that does not always require discursive construction of border or cultural consumption of any specific "other""--

"This is a bold project recording the lives of a particular group of Southeast Asians. Most of the people whose biographies are included here have settled down in the ten countries that constitute the region. Each of them has either self-identified as Chinese or is comfortable to be known as someone of Chinese ancestry. There are also those who were born in China or elsewhere who came here to work and do business, including seeking help from others who have ethnic Chinese connections. With the political and economic conditions of the region in a great state of flux for the past two centuries, it is impossible to find consistency in the naming process. Confucius had stressed that correct names make for the best relationships. In this case, Professor Leo Suryadinata has been pursuing for decades the elusive goal of finding the right name to give to the large numbers of people who have, in one way or another, made their homes in, or made some difference to, Southeast Asia. I believe that, when he and his colleagues selected the biographies to be included here, they have taken a big step towards the rectification of identities for many leading personalities. In so doing, he has done us all a great service." - Professor Wang Gungwu, National University of Singapore