Civilisation

Speaking at a recent talk co-organised by Yale-NUS College and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, Professor Wang Gungwu gave a lecture titled "What Does it Mean to be Ethnically Chinese in Singapore?", pondering what Singapore is, what “Chinese” means, and finally, what it means to be Chinese in Singapore. This is an edited transcript of his speech.

Despite the CCP’s efforts at arriving at new answers with socialism with Chinese characteristics, fundamental issues since Deng Xiaoping’s time and new issues of this era have not been solved. Maybe it is time to recognise that ideology for party governance may not be the best fit for national governance, says EAI senior research fellow Lance Gore. Instead, what is more effective could be constant innovation and seeking common understanding with the people in adherence with common human values.

Researcher Wei Da observes that amid increasing US-China tensions and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, US strategists are rethinking the way they see China and Russia. This revised worldview keenly shapes their calculations of various flashpoints, not least the Ukraine war and the Taiwan issue.

Lance Gore explains why navigating China’s “new era” requires out-of-the-box thinking on managing the knowledge economy, such as redefining employment and value beyond the capitalist labour market, and managing the uneven distribution of creativity and innovation. Moreover, the country needs to be wary of a reversion to large-scale centralisation of power and rule by the voice of one.

China is reopening after three years of it zero-Covid policy, but the ongoing development raises fundamental questions about the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, says East Asian Institute senior research fellow Lance Gore. The project needs to be grander, if it is to provide some universal significance for the Third Axial Age. Among other things, it might be worthwhile for China to pay attention to developing the personal and social levels of the nation, and to sow the seeds of building a healthy, mature society.

Amid the frequent refrain of building a digital civilisation in China, Chinese academic Zhang Tiankan warns of the natural progression assumed in digital progress leading to greater civilisation. Innovations such as facial recognition technology or human tracking devices are placed in the hands of man and can be used for good or evil.

George Yeo, Singapore’s former foreign minister, delivered the Goh Keng Swee Lecture on Modern China to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute on 15 December. In covering issues of the day such as China-US rivalry, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the South China Sea, he concludes that a multipolar world is good for both China and the US. This is the full transcript of his speech.

East Asian Institute senior research fellow Lance Gore observes that “Xi Jinping Thought” is really Leninism of the 21st century, or an amalgam of dictums that bear the risk of stifling social vitality and creativity. Not only that, a high concentration of power is a strength but also a weakness if cadres are afraid of deviating from the views of “the great leader”.

Ensconced in Dapu village in Chishang, a Hakka enclave where air-drying is a common way to preserve food, art historian Chiang Hsun muses about the ways that Chinese and others around the world have ingeniously learnt how to preserve food for long periods of time from methods ranging from pickling to salt-curing and air-drying. In food preservation as in life, time builds character and patience often yields rewards.