Research interest of some of our PhD students Chin Hsuen Wei Education: National Taiwan University; National University of Singapore; University of 陈 雪 薇 Wisconsin-Madison Research Interest: Sinophone Studies; Overseas Chinese Studies; Modern Chinese Medicine and Socio-cultural History Thesis Title: Constructing Mahua wenxue (1945-2000) Supervisor: A/P Yung Sai Shing and Dr Xu Lanjun It is commonly known that the so-called mahua wenxue, Malay(si)an Sinophone literature, originated with the rise of nativism among Chinese community in British Colonial Malaya. However, such a narrative may not be self-evident. In my proposed dissertation, I will try to investigate how mahua wenxue was formed through various articulations of that very discourse by numerous agents. Geng Yong 耿 勇 I did my undergraduate degree in Henan University. I entered the East China Normal University in 2011 and got a master degree in 2014. Starting from the undergraduate, the history of Ming is my strong research interest. My research interests focus on the historiography,cultural history and political history of Ming. Thesis Title: Social Change and Diversification of Historiography Development: the Historiography in Late Ming Dynasty during the Turning Period Supervisor: A/P Lee Cheuk Yin My thesis proposes to explain the relationship between the historiography in late Ming and the political culture, the scholars' mentality and imperial examination system, present its era's position and own characteristics. Hsu Yu-Yin 徐 郁 萦 I am Yu-Yin from Taipei, Taiwan. I graduated from National Taiwan university of Art. Before studying in Singapore, I had worked at Oriental Post, the Chinese newspaper in Perth, West Australia for a couple years. It was absolutely great experience for me to lead a different life far from my hometown. However, the new environment made me think of those questions about cultural adaptation. It became startup for me to pay close attention to issues relating to transnational migration, especially religious connections of immigrant groups. My recent research interests are religions of overseas Chinese, transnational religious network, and Chinese Buddhism in East Asia.
Thesis Title: Buddhist interaction in Ningbo, China Supervisor: A/P Su Jui-Lung My Master s thesis, A Case Study of Master Guangqia (1901-1994): Transnational Teaching of Dharma and cultural exchanges in the 20th century, had just been completed in the end of 2013.The thesis investigates the life history of Master Guangqia as a case study. Its aim is to examine his return trips to China and demonstrate the connections that Master Guangqia established between Singapore and China. The next research that I am going to do will still focus on Buddhist monks, but I would like to see Buddhist development and interaction in Ningbo, one of the most important commercial ports in China. The thesis will examine religious activities and social networks of Japanese and Korean Buddhist monks in Ningbo. Lai Yu-Ju 賴 郁 如 I am from Taiwan. I received my BA degree from National Pingtung University of Education, (2004) and completed my MA degree at National Kaohsiung Normal University (2009). I am interested in the study of Hakka culture and Chinese in Southeast Asia. Dissertation Title: Culture, Dialect Groups and the State- Kinship Practices of Singaporean Chinese Supervisor: A/P Wong Sin Kiong This research seeks to illustrate the phenomenon that Singaporean Chinese (which was referred as Overseas Chinese before 1965) organized themselves by forming clan associations. Both groups of Chinese in Singapore and China might use the same ways to form clan or kinship groups, but we need to pay attention to the different situations they had to deal with. For example, the emergence of Nation States after 1950s and the new registration rules for clan associations in Singapore. Moreover, under the Bang( 幫 群 ) background of Singapore in the colonial period, it is important to compare that if there are different methods for forming clan associations between the dialect groups, especially between Hakka and Hokkien groups. Based on the discussion of the emergence of Nation States as well as the Bang background, this research tries to conclude the models of the construction and transformation of the Chinese clan associations. Lu Shuang 吕 双 I come from Inner Mongolia. I received my B.A. degree from History Department of Xiamen University and my M.A. degree in Chinese Studies from NUS. I am interested in Chinese history. My research focuses on the history of the Ming princes and the local society.
Thesis Title:Representing the State or the Local? The History of Ming Princes in Shanxi Supervisor: A/P Koh Khee Heong I am interested in Ming princes who were a very important group in Ming society. Different with Tang and Song, the Ming princes were located throughout the empire s provinces; therefore, the relationship between the princely institution and local society was highly important in Ming. Unlike previous studies that only reviewed them as a distinguished group from the local society, I will focus on the interactions between Ming princes with both the state and various local groups. More attention will be paid on how they lived in the local society and dealed with the local affaires, which might largely diverge from the plans or orders of the central government. Mao Zhaohui 毛 朝 晖 I was born in Hengyang, Hunan province, and now settle down in Singapore. I have been studying under A/P Lo Yuet Keung for years. My research interests include Chinese intellectual history, Confucian philosophy, study of Confucian classics, study of the Hundred Schools of thought, and local teaching of Chinese language. Meanwhile, I spend spare time to promote Confucian thoughts and traditional Chinese culture in local society. Thesis Title: Ablation of Study of Confucian Classics and Its Reconstruction--The Role of Tang Wenzhi in the History of Study of Confucian Classics in Modern China Supervisor: A/P Lo Yuet Keung In the past two thousand years, the Confucian Classics were regarded as "constant way 常 道 ". Why and how did the study of Confucian classics collapse in modern China? Some attribute it to the impact of the modern western scholarship. Some consider it results from the ablation of Confucian scholars themselves. The second opinion was based on the investigations on the New Text school 今 文 经 学 and the Old Text school 古 文 经 学 of study of Confucian classics. Moreover, there did exist some other schools and scholars such as Tang Wenzhi 唐 文 治, a prominent scholar in the field of study of Confucian classics. Therefore, the two above mentioned mainstream opinions are yet to be reexamined. In addition, what values can the study of Confucian classics contribute to modern Chinese scholarship? Is the reconstruction necessary and possible? All these questions are deserved to be further explored. Based on the case studies of Tang and other Confucian scholars, we can have a more comprehensive understanding and a clearer picture of the ablation of study of Confucian classics in modern China. This study might also shed light on the possible development of study of Confucian classics in contemporary China. Show Ying Ruo 苏 芸 若 Born and raised in Johor, Malaysia, I received my B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from Fudan University and M.A in Sinology from SOAS, University of London (U.K). My research interests include popular
religion of Ming and Qing periods, gender perceptions on religious ideas, Buddhist philosophy, and the history of Southeast Asia Chinese. Thesis Title: Gendered Narratives as in Religious Text: The Depiction of Female Deities in Sectarian Scripture Baojuan (Precious Scrolls) Supervisor: A/P Su Jui-Lung My research aims to investigate the interaction of religious ideas and gendered narrative as manifested in baojuan texts. Baojuan had been widely used as sectarian scripture during Ming and Qing periods was not a case of coincidence. The active construction of sacredness in terms of female deities has to do with gendered social roles in history. My thesis focuses on textual narrative of female deities in baojuan text, in a way to position baojuan as unique genre in both Chinese vernacular tradition and religious context. Tang Dongli 唐 冬 莅 Education: Huazhong Normal University; National University of Singapore. Research interests: Chinese Classical Poetry and Theory Thesis Title: The classical-style poetry during Late Qing and Early Republica Fu Zhou Supervisor: A/P Lam Lap This study will explore the continuity and the transformation of Chinese classical-style poetry during Late Qing and Early Republica, in contrast with the revolution in the world of poetics and the rise of a vernacular language movement. Wang Xueshen 王 学 深 I come from Beijing, China. I received my B.A. degree in Beijing Technology and Business University, and my M.A.degree in Renmin University of China, the Institute of Qing History. I am interest in Chinese History, especially, Qing dynasty. My research focus on political history and civil service examination. Thesis Title: Research on Maoji of the Examinations in the Qianlong Reign of the Qing Dynasty Supervisor: A/P Koh Khee Heong Maoji was a long-lasting cheating method of the civil service examination of ancient China. Maoji reached its zenith in the Qianlong period. It prevailed the whole Qianlong period, with various causes and ever-changing cheating ways. Although the Emperor paid much attention to it and took strict measures to forbid it---whoever conducted this would be bound to be severely punished. This thesis traces the concept and history of Maoji, probes its causes, classifications, and investigates its social influence and the specific methods, which Emperor Qianlong took to check it. Thus this thesis expounds this social phenomenon of the whole Qing dynasty to us, with a thorough study of Maoji in the Qianlong period. Wu Qi I was born in China and brought up in Singapore. I have a liking for classical
武 琦 Chinese literature and religion. Thesis Title: A Study of City Experience and Poetry Composition Supervisor: A/P Su Jui-lung My research interests are inspired by questioning how the development of Chinese poetry responded to the emergence of city space in ancient China. This research intends to examine literature about Jiankang (modern Nanjing) of Six Dynasties and Chang an (modern Xi an) of Sui (581-618) and Tang in order to establish a tradition of city writing of medieval China. The goal of this research project is to reveal the dynamics between city life and literati men who live in city, to discern how city experience influenced poetry composition, and how literati perceived and reconstructed their city experience in poetic writing. Zhou Si 周 思 Literature is my passion, so it is the happiest thing for me to take it as my major. I got my B.A degree from Fudan University (2011) and completed my M.A degree at Washington University in St.Louis, US (2013). My research interests include modern and contemporary Chinese literature and film. Thesis Title: Reminiscence and Imagination of Childhood in the Twentieth Century Chinese Literature Supervisor: Dr Xu Lanjun I want to include the representative and excellent childhood Sino-phone writings, fictive or autobiographical, in prose or verse, from May 4th Movement to the 90 s in my research in order to address questions such as how the concept of childhood evolved from May 4th to the 90 s, how the different genres and narrative styles affect the construction of childhood, what the significance of childhood writings in the twentieth century China, and etc. Zhou Yang 周 洋 I received both my bachelor s and master s degrees from Shanghai International Studies University (P. R. China), in 2009 and 2012, respectively. My research interests include Chinese dialectology, historical linguistics, and linguistic typology. My dissertation focuses on the causes of word order variations across modern Chinese dialects. Thesis Title: The Causes of Word Order Variations across Chinese Dialects Supervisor: A/P Shi Yuzhi Word order variations are at different structural levels of modern Chinese dialects. The current study addresses the major principles and mechanisms contributing to the word order diversity of Chinese dialects. Three aspects are taken into consideration: 1) systematic developments in the history of Sinitic grammars; 2) universal principles on the evolution of grammar; and 3) language contact.