Nanyang Reading: Literature, Ocean, and Islands

The most important literary text to explore the local customs and culture of Nanyang

Using the records of the past century to imagine the Nanyang experience;
Observe the interaction between the Chinese and the natural environment, geopolitics, history and culture.
Establishing a new framework for understanding Chinese literature, the book includes 82 articles by 80 authors, covering a wide range of texts and exploring diverse language styles.

Edited by David Wang (Chair Professor, Harvard University) and Kao Chia-chien (Associate Professor, Department of Chinese, National Taiwan University)

=Features of this book=

★Using oceans, straits, islands, and peninsulas as its perspective, literature as its channel, and text close to local customs as its conception, this book, through paths and perspectives under different geographical meanings, provides an in-depth reading of the distinct human geography, history, and cultural pulse of modern Southeast Asia.
★Representative Selection, Transcending Genre, Country, and Language: This book's selection primarily features Chinese writing, with translations into Malay, Indonesian, English, and Tamil included. The collection encompasses both classical and vernacular Chinese, regardless of genre. Furthermore, the selection is not divided by nationality, encompassing local Southeast Asian writing, writing from China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, as well as tropical literature and diaspora texts from Taiwan, Europe, and the United States. Beyond its representativeness, the book transcends the genre and language limitations of commonly read texts. Through this broader range of Southeast Asian texts, we hope to offer a distinct yet deeply rooted perspective on the world of Southeast Asia.
★Guidance by famous experts, familiar with the context of the text: At the end of each article, a brief title and author profile are written to guide and facilitate readers to enter the context of the text.

=Asking about Nanyang=

Where is Nanyang? — The term originated in the late Ming Dynasty and generally refers to the coastal areas of southern China, as well as the Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, archipelagos, and countless islands in the South China Sea region—present-day Southeast Asia.
★ Seeking a Survival in Southeast Asia—Due to the rapid population growth of the Ming Dynasty, many people living along the southeastern coast continued to move south and west in search of new farmland and housing. They traveled by boat to the coastal areas of Indochina, the Philippines, and the Indonesian archipelago to engage in business and labor, and even intermarried with the locals and settled there.
★The site of the colonial competition between the East and the West in the past, and the site of international political and economic struggle today - until the 21st century, the "Nanyang" region remained the core arena for China's confrontation with the world, with operations such as the South China Sea maritime rights, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the New Southbound Policy emerging one after another.

=About This Book=

Nanyang was once the first choice for Chinese immigrants, a site of competition between Eastern and Western colonial powers, a necessary passage along the Maritime Silk Road to Indo-Europe, the starting point of revolutions or the end point of exile, and a stage for the intersection of Chinese and Western races and cultures.

The Nanyang Reading Book is divided into four volumes:

The Peninsula—Tangshan meets Southeast Asia: A Chinese ambiance in a foreign land. The mountains, jungles, and rivers of the Indochina Peninsula hold captivating historical stories: Chinese mechanics during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the remains of soldiers buried in the forests, the anti-communist National Salvation Army bases in the Golden Triangle, and leftist forces deep within the Malay rubber forests. Ethnic Chinese communities of all sizes are scattered across the peninsula, and the last Malayan Communists in southern Thailand are struggling to return home. The state capital, Kuala Lumpur, a jumble of five different cultures, tells the story of the joys and sorrows of a generation of immigrants...

Straits—a battleground for merchants and military strategists. The South China Sea is crisscrossed by shipping lanes. Port cities on both sides of the Strait of Malacca flourished thanks to its strategic location and became a hub for ethnic Chinese. Late Qing and Republican exiles passed through Singapore, leaving behind poetry and prose. From the 1930s to the 1950s, young Chinese from the Malay and Indonesian colonies, such as Wang Xiaoping, Hei Ying, and Han Meng, returned to their homeland via Singapore to join the revolution. Intellectuals of different generations settled in Singapore, and it was also the birthplace of overseas secret societies and revolutionary forces.

The final destination of the Nanyang culture lies between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Maritime Silk Road is far busier than the terrestrial Silk Road. In the 21st century, it has received attention due to the Belt and Road Initiative of the Chinese government.
What was the situation like when mainland China was no longer a safe haven and intellectuals and patriots drifted and took up residence in foreign lands? Kang Youwei, Qiu Fengjia, Qiu Shuyuan, Xu Nanying, Yu Dafu... became the first group of expatriates in modern China.

Islands—The Farthest Chinese Have Ever Set Foot: The South China Sea boasts over 25,000 islands and archipelagos. Borneo is the homeland of Taiwanese-Chinese writers Li Yongping and Zhang Guixing; Sumatra is synonymous with the mystery of Yu Dafu's life and death; during the Pacific War, Taiwanese volunteer Chen Qianwu traveled to New Guinea and Java; Phu Quoc Island off the coast of Vietnam once housed the last isolated troops retreating from the Kuomintang-Communist War; and the ghostly cries of the forgotten defenders of Cimu Beach in the Spratly Islands echo...

"Nanyang" is the Chinese-speaking world, but also the non-Chinese-speaking world; it is the "human" world, but also the world of wind and soil, mountains and sea.

2022-09-03

麥田

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