Volume 1: Contemporary Chinese Literature in Singapore and Malaysia

Editor: Luo Futeng

This volume contains nine theses written by graduates of SUSS Chinese Bachelor and Master programmes. The contents are divided into two broad categories. The first category examines the thoughts and developments of the different genres of Chinese literature in Singapore and Malaysia. Examples include the influence of the Nanyang University Poetry Society on Singapore Chinese literature, and the struggle of the 'left-wing' Malayan Chinese literature. The second category covers the analysis of Chinese literature written by authors from Singapore and Malaysia. These authors include Yeng Pway Ngon, Chen Qing Shan, Shang Wan Yun, Xi Ni'er, Lim Lian Geok, Ly Sing Ko and Tham Yew Chin. The writers are novice critics who present a refreshing perspective to the analysis.

第一册：《新马华文文学研究新观察》

主编：罗福腾

收入本册的九篇论文，几乎全部选自新加坡社科大学中文课程毕业生的学士和硕士学位论文。根据内容大致可以分为两类。

一类是有关新马文学流派、思潮与发展的宏观描述。包括“南大诗社”与新华文艺、马华左翼文学的奋斗经历等论题。

另一类论文是有关新马华文作家作品的解读和分析的。讨论的作家英培安、陈晴山、林参天、商晚筠、希尼尔、林连玉、李星可、尤今等。论文作者都是初出茅庐的文学评论新手，对新马文学作家作品的分析与解读也体现了作者们独有的全新观察。

Volume 2: Chinese Language Usages in Singapore

Editor: Luo Futeng

The eight theses in this volume delve into the usage of Chinese language in Singapore’s context. The topics discussed include conversational Chinese, Chinese nomenclature for residential buildings and signage; complimentary and condolence messages in Chinese newspapers; Chinese language broadcasting; as well as assessment of translation.

In what ways do Mandarin or Chinese-dialect speaking patients converse with doctors? What are the characteristics of the Chinese nomenclature of residential buildings in Singapore? What sociolinguistics can you observe from the Chinese names used by hawker stalls? How has the usage of the congratulatory and condolence messages in Chinese newspapers changed over the years? How should the English-Chinese translation in Singapore be assessed? The explanations and answers to the above questions can all be found in this volume. These articles have not only expanded the extent of applied research on Chinese language in Singapore but also provided useful suggestions on its usages.

Volume 3: Chinese Language Education in Singapore

Editor: Luo Futeng

The main research theme of the eight dissertations in this volume is the developments and changes of the policies, curriculum, and assessment of Chinese language textbooks used in primary schools, secondary schools, and junior colleges over the past decades.

The compilation of local Chinese language textbooks is an important component of the Chinese language teaching system. What changes have primary schools' general Chinese language and higher Chinese language textbooks undergone over the past decades? How did secondary school Chinese language textbooks evolve in tandem with the changes in the government's language policies? What are the changes in the classical Chinese essays used in junior colleges? The authors have put in immense efforts in the compilation and research of Chinese language, and we trust you will be able to obtain a clearer picture of the answers to the above questions after reading this volume.

The authors of this volume have all gone through the local education system and have a good grasp of the developments of the Chinese language textbooks in Singapore.

Volume 4: A Study of the Changing Perceptions of China in Singapore and Malaysia, 1949-1965

Author: Lu Hu

Singapore/Malaysia and China experienced political transformations during the period of 1949 to 1965. The flow of migrants, investment, goods, and printings declined significantly while the exchange of ideas and concepts assumed an unprecedented vitality and became the main form of interaction. The emergence of various changing perceptions of China such as 'New China', 'Communist China' and 'Rising Asian Power' among the Chinese in Singapore/Malaysia became a prominent element of such phenomena. The presence, changes, and conflicts of these perceptions of China were internalised as dynamic forces, influencing to varying extents racial relations, political evolution, cultural integration, foreign policy, and even the formation of Malaysia in 1963. This book suggests new understandings of the role of the China factor in the post-war history of Singapore and Malaysia.

Volume 5: The Old Supreme and Civilised Empire: Images of Great Britain as Portrayed by Karl F. A. Gützlaff (1803-1851)

Author: David K Y Chng

Karl F. A. Gützlaff (1803-1851) was by far the most colourful and controversial Protestant missionary. He played an important role in Sino-Western relations during the first half of the nineteenth century, as a historian put it, "for two decades, [he] had a part in almost every major event on the China coast". He was a prolific writer. Besides works written in English, Dutch, and German, he produced 63 Chinese religious and secular works.

In 1867 Alexander Wylie produced a comprehensive bibliography of Protestant writings in Chinese entitled Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese. The bibliography lists a Chinese title Da Yingguo tongzhi (A history of Great England) written by Gützlaff. Almost one and a half century later we realised that this piece of information needed to be rectified. As a matter of fact, Gützlaff wrote two separate works with the identical title Da Yingguo tongzhi. One, written in the form of fiction, depicts governmental, religious, and other aspects of England in the 1830s, while the other, written in the form of prose, chronicles the history of England from the conquest of Britannia by the Romans to the times of William IV (reigned 1830-37). A copy of the former is available in the Harvard-Yenching Library while the only copy of the latter believed to exist in the world is housed at the Leeds University Library.

The monograph consists of two parts. Part I deals with dates of composition, and years and places of publication of both Da Yingguo tongzhi. It also examines the politics of the translation of the two terms which appear in both History of Great England. Under the Qing Celestial Empire institution, Great Britain, together with other tributary countries such as Korea, Ryukyu, and Vietnam, was regarded as a small country, and her ruler was deemed equivalent to a Chinese courtier of the second rank. In order to uphold its honour and prestige, Gützlaff adopted the referent "Da-Ying (guo)", literally "Great England", to place England on an equal footing with the Da-Qing (Great Qing) discursively. He also translates the title of the British monarch "king" as "huangdi " (emperor) in Chinese. It then discusses the political implications and impact of the uses of both translated terms that eventually contributed to the demise of the Qing Celestial Empire discourse. Part II presents readers with modern punctuated editions of the two Da Yingguo tongzhi with annotations.

Volume 6: Modernism in Singapore Chinese Literature

Author: Liw Pei Kien

Modernism in Singapore Chinese Literature authored by Dr Liw Pei Kien is an adaptation from her Ph.D. thesis. It is an investigation of the history and development of modernism in the field of Singapore Chinese Literature by various Singapore Chinese authors between the years 1965 to 2000.

This book examines the construction of a pluralistic paradigm and changes in the modernism of Singapore Chinese literature. In doing so, it contributes to a new understanding in the construction of modernity in Singapore Chinese literature.

Volume 7: Wanguo dili quanji jiaozhu (The Annotated Universal Geography)

Editor/Annotator: Chng Khin Yong
Author: Karl F. A. Gützlaff

In the 1830s and 40s, Karl F. A. Gützlaff (1803-1851) was the most prolific Protestant missionary writer. Among his 60 odd Chinese works, Wanguo dili quanji (Universal Geography) was the most outstanding. Published in 1844 by the Chinese Union in Hong Kong, it occupies an important place in the history of Sino-Western cultural exchange. Late Qing scholar-officials Wei Yuan (1794-1857) and Xu Jiyu (1795-1873), authors of the Haiguo tuzhi (Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Countries) and Yinghuan zhilüe (A Short Account of the Maritime Circuit) respectively, based their writings on this rare book. However, for the last three decades, academics believed it was not extant in any libraries. However, in 2003, a copy was discovered by this annotator in Leeds University Library in United Kingdom and hence The Annotated Universal Geography is produced. The preceding introduction in this annotated edition deals with the significant place of the Universal Geography in the histories of geography and thoughts in Modern China; the Chinese new terms that Gützlaff coined; and the misread and misinterpretations Wei Yuan and Xu Jiyu made while reading it.

Volume 8: Our Films, Our Home – Amoy Films and the Changing Amoy Identity in Singapore and Malaysia (1948-1966)

Author: Yeo Min Hui

Amoy-dialect cinema is an understudied fragment of the past that is slowly fading away in our shared collective memory.

By examining extensive first-hand materials and drawing theoretical inspiration from the concept of music and territory by Deleuze and Guattari, as well as from Sinophone Studies, the author maps out the historical development of Amoy-dialect cinema and its ever-changing relationship with the ancestral home village, filling in narrative gaps in Amoy-dialect film history, and engages with the discourse of Sinophone Studies.

The book records the history of Amoy-dialect cinema in three main periods, taking readers on a journey back to the celebrated era of Amoy-dialect cinema from the 1940's to 1960's.

Volume 9: Building and Strengthening Singapore's Early Childhood Education Research

Edited by Sin Joo Ee

This book is a compilation of the best nine theses from the inaugural batch of students in the Master of Education in Early Childhood Education (Chinese) programme, a collaboration between Beijing Normal University (BNU) and SUSS. It is also the first book published on this topic, that is, early childhood Chinese education in the Singapore context.

Topics covered by these experienced teachers in early childhood education include: 1) professional development, identity, and teaching amongst early childhood Chinese teachers in Singapore and 2) the effects of teaching methods, curriculum, and tools on the development of children.

Volume 10: Towards an Environmental Ethics: a Study of Ecology Writing in Malaysia and Singapore's Chinese Poetry and Proses (1976-2016)

Author: Teo Sum Lim

This book aims to raise concern and awareness about the ecological environment of the land we live in by using the method of ecological criticism. With ecological criticism, people worldwide will continue to defend our landscape of rivers and mountains, rethink the organic connections between ecology and nationalities, ecology and humanities, and globalisation and modernisation.

The author disassembles "environmental ethics" into four categories: political ethics, humanistic ethics, social ethics and scientific ethics. Along these lines, this book summarises Malaysia and Singapore’s Chinese ecological writing into four major areas, and these four areas of ethics not only constitute the ultimate environmental ethics of man and nature, but also form the core of this thesis, that is, "towards an environmental ethics".

Volume 11: Unity in Diversity: Language and Society in Singapore

Authors: Eddie C. Y. Kuo, Luo Futeng

The authors present a holistic observation of the implementation and progress of Singapore’s language planning and bilingual education policies since the nation’s independence. This is done through analysing data gleaned from years of national census and large amounts of historical facts, and setting the research from sociolinguistic perspectives.

The authors explore the current state of languages used by the four main local ethnic groups, and analyse linguistic attitudes, language of choice within the household, and the related cultural, educational, and economic factors. They also discuss important social sciences issues such as national consciousness, racial consciousness, and self-identity.

Volume 12: Protestant Missionaries and Chinese New Terms: Da-Ying and Other Translated Chinese Names

Author: Chng Khin Yong

This book comprises five dissertations by the author on his research into vocabularies used in Chinese writings and translations by Protestant missionaries during the first half of the 19th century.

The first thesis presented in the book discusses the translated Chinese name for “Great Britain” – “da-ying-(guo)”, which is widely seen in publications and news media nowadays. Through the study of history, diplomatic paperwork of the Qing imperial government, history of ideas, and lexicology, the author meticulously traces the origin of the translated name, and events related to its use in early years.

The other four dissertations explore the Chinese terms used by Protestant missionaries namely Robert Morrison, William Milne, Karl Fiedrich August Gutzlaff, and Divie Bethune McCartee. Such terms span across a vast number of subjects that include names of places, religions, astronomy, geography, politics, and names of animals. The author sheds light on the sources of some of these terms and the creation of new terms by the missionaries.

Volume 13: Building and Strengthening Singapore's Early Childhood Education Research II

Edited by Sin Joo Ee

This book is a compilation of eight theses by the students from the first and second cohorts of the Master of Education in Early Childhood Education (in Chinese) programme, a collaboration between SUSS and Beijing Normal University. The theses are on early childhood education in the Singapore context.

Topics covered by the theses include the speech, psychological and behavioural aspects of preschoolers, children’s books and curriculum implementation, impact of COVID-19 on preschools, guardians’ selection of enrichment classes for toddlers, and last but not least, adaptabilities of preschoolers on first days of school. These theses aim to explore substantive issues in Singapore’s early childhood education and offer practical value to the reader.

Volume 14: Research on Central Provident Fund System of Singapore —Based on Historical Institutionalism

Author: Xiao Jinxi

This book offers a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the CPF system from a historical institutionalism perspective. It examines the system's institutional framework, management and operations, security plans and operational mechanisms, underlying core concepts, patterns and mechanisms of development and change, driving forces behind its evolution, system efficacy, external environment for its continued operation, existing issues, and challenges faced since its establishment in 1955. 

This pioneering study enriches and develops the theoretical research on the CPF system from a historical institutionalism perspective and has achieved some innovative research outcomes.