BIODATA Prof Wang Gungwu

BIODATA Prof Wang Gungwu A teacher, scholar and researcher, Emeritus Prof Wang Gungwu was born in Surabaya, Indonesia on 9 October 1930. He grew up in Ipoh, Perak. After completing secondary school in Ipoh’s Anderson School, he furthered his study at the National Central University in Nanking, China. He then studied History at the University of Malaya, Singapore where he received his Bachelor of Arts (1953) and Master’s degrees (1955). He holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1957). His PhD thesis was on ‘The structure of power in North China during the Five Dynasties’. While in London, on December 21, 1955, he married Margaret Lim Ping-ting with whom he has one son and two daughters. Upon returning to Southeast Asia, he began his lecturing career at the University of Malaya, Singapore (1957-59) and then continued at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (1959-68), rising to become Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of History. In 1968, he went to Canberra to take up the position of Professor of Far Eastern History in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) at Australian National University (ANU) where he later served as Director of RSPAS. He was at the ANU until 1986 and was conferred an Emeritus Professorship by the Australian National University, Canberra in 1988. Prof Wang served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1986 to the end of 1995. With his vision and support, this university established the Hong Kong University Foundation for Educational Development and Research, the first foundation of its kind at the local tertiary education level, to foster stronger links with the community and enhance this university's capacity for teaching and research. After his retirement from Hong Kong University, he was appointed Chairman of the Institute of East Asian Political Economy in Singapore from 1996-97; Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies from 1996-2002; and Director, East Asian Institute and Faculty Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore from 1997 to 2007. He is currently a University Professor (since 2007) and Chairman of the East Asian Institute and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Prof Wang has received several awards during his illustrious career. He was awarded the Commander of the British Empire, or CBE, by Governor David Wilson of Hong Kong in 1991. He received from the Government of Singapore, the Public Service Award in 2004 and the Public Service Star Award in 2008. His scholarly contributions earned him numerous Honorary Doctorates from various universities across the globe. Among them are the Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from Monash University, Melbourne (1993), the Australian National University (1996), and from the University of Melbourne (1997); and the Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) from the University of Sydney (1991), the University of Hull (1998), the University of Hong Kong (2002), the Open University of Hong Kong (2007), and from the University of Cambridge (2009). Over the past 45 years or so, he has been invited on numerous occasions to deliver named lectures in prestigious universities all over the world, such as Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, Peking University, University of Melbourne, Academia Sinica, George Washington University, University of California, and London School of Economics. Prof Wang has written many books and articles that focus on Chinese history and the history of the Chinese overseas, especially in Southeast Asia. .

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