Will the rise of China change the international system built by the industrial and constitutional democracies of the West of the past centuries? Should China be content with the
maintenance of that system: one of competing nation-states of absolute sovereignty and relative power? Does the Confucian past contain a moral vision that may connect with universal
human values of the modern world? And will the rising China become an engine for a renewed Chinese civilization that contributes to the equity in the international system?
Pondering these fundamental questions, historian Prof. Wang Gungwu probes into the Chinese perception of its place in world history, and traces the unique features that propel China onto
its modern global transformation. He depicts the travails of renewal that China has to face and betters our understanding of China’s position in today’s interconnected world. This collection
of Prof. Wang Gungwu’s thoughts is a must-read for us to contemplate China’s root and routes along its modernization trajectory.
作者簡介
National University of Singapore University Professor; Emeritus Professor of Australian National University and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. He received his B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degree from the University of Malaya (Singapore), and his Ph.D. from the University of London (SOAS). His books since 2000 include The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy (2000); Anglo-Chinese Encounters since 1800: War, Trade, Science and Governance (2003); 移民及興起的中國 (2005); 離鄉別土：境外看中華 (2007). He also edited Global History and Migrations (1997); Nation-building: Five Southeast Asian Histories (2005) and (with Zheng Yongnian) China and the New International Order (2008).
