Southeast Asia in China

Ying-Kit Chan is research fellow for the International Institute for Asian Studies at Leiden University. Chang-Yau Hoon is associate professor and director of the Centre for Advanced Research at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Preface Part I: Historical Entanglements: Chapter 1: At the Crossroads of Empire and Nation: Nanyang Volunteers in Wartime China Chapter 2: Ethnicity and Frontier Studies in Southwest China: Pan-Thai Nationalism and the Wartime Debate on National Identity, 1932-1945 Chapter 3: Traversing the Migrant Corridor: Singapore's First Ambassadors to Thailand Part II: Contemporary Engagements: Chapter 4: Southeast Asian Studies in China: The Politics and Geopolitics of Knowledge Production Chapter 5: Responding to China's Soft Power and People-to-People Exchange: The Case of Indonesia Chapter 6: Southeast Asian Capital in China: The Role of the State and the Chinese Diaspora

This unique volume is a significant contribution to understanding Southeast Asia's relations with China. Rather than viewing the relationship through the too-familiar perspective of China's impact on the region, this thoughtful and well-researched study reverses the analysis to examine Southeast Asia's roles in, and impact on, China over time. It is a necessary corrective to existing scholarship and a welcome addition to the field, which should be read by all those seeking to understand the "inner history" of interactions between Southeast Asian societies and China. David Shambaugh, George Washington University -- David Shambaugh, The George Washington University and The Brookings Institution A valuable and overdue assessment of the neglected side of the China-Southeast Asian connection - Southeast Asian influence in China. Using a multi-disciplinary lens and reflecting sensitivities and forces beyond conventional geo-politics, it is the story of diplomats, labourers, capitalists, scholars, philanthropists and students from "China's south" who have had a significant impact on politics, economy, and matters of entangled identities and citizenship, in their home countries and land of distant origin. An unsentimental and self-confident view from the periphery, it speaks to the multitude of interactions that have shaped contemporary international relations and revealed the limits and possibilities of Southeast Asian agency. Stimulating for regional and international relations specialists alike. Professor Paul Evans, HSBC Chair in Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia -- Paul Evans, author of Field Notes from the Edge: Journeys through Britain's wilderness