Gungwu Wang

Biography

Professor Wang Gungwu is currently University Professor at the National University of Singapore and formerly Director of the East Asian Institute; a historian of China and Southeast Asia and an authority on the Chinese diaspora. He held several academic positions before his appointment as Professor Far Eastern History at the Australian National University (1968-86). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1986-95. He was President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities from 1980 to 1988.

His books since 2000 include The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy (2000); Don’t 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); Divided China: Preparing for Reunification, 883-947 (2007); Renewal: The Chinese State and New Global History (2013); Wang Gungwu: Educator and Scholar (edited by Zheng Yongnian and Phua Kok Khoo, 2013), and Another China Cycle: Committing to Reform (2014).
Wang Gungwu was appointed an Officer (AO) in the General Division of The Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday 2018 Honours List for distinguished service to tertiary education as an academic and researcher, particularly to far eastern history and the study of the Chinese diaspora, and to the enhancement of Australia-Asia relations.