Shortlist and Winner IBP 2019 Chinese Language Edition

Organising Institute: Center for Global Asia (NYU Shanghai) and Fudan University
Sponsor of the IBP 2019 Chinese Language Edition: Shanghai Academy for Social Sciences
Secretary: Tansen Sen
Acting Secretary: Weilin Pan
Reading Committee – Humanities: Tiangang Li and Tansen Sen
Reading Committee – Social Sciences: Ming Chen and Ke Zhang

Winner of IBP 2019 Chinese Language Edition

Feng-mao Li, Transforming ‘Sacred Religion’ into Daoism: Festival, Belief, and Culture in the Chinese Society of Malaysia. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2018. (李丰楙：《从圣教到道教：马华社会的节俗、信仰与文化》，台北，台大出版中心)

This book is a fascinating study of the religious practices among the ethnic Chinese population in Malaysia. Li weaves together an intriguing analysis of Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian beliefs and festivities in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, and Pulau Pinang. Using ethnographic and textual research, Li convincingly demonstrates the role these practices serve to preserve the Chinese identity in Malaysia, and also leads to the creation of the category of ‘Daoism’ in the Malaysian citizenship registration system. The research is superb and the writing is fluid and gripping. It is a major contribution to the fields of Southeast Asian as well as intra-Asian studies.

Honorary Mention

Qi Han, Understanding the Heaven: Jesuits and the Spread of Astronomy in China. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2017. (韩琦：《通天之学：耶稣会士和天文学在中国的传播》，北京，三联书店出版社)
In the past two decades, few scholars have made more contributions than Qi Han to the theme of the Jesuits and astronomy in the Ming and Qing periods. This book shows the breadth and depth of the author’s research on the theme. It is one of the masterpieces on the history of Chinese science published in recent years, which would deepen our understanding of the cultural relationship between China and Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries.

Shortlist IBP 2019 Chinese Language Edition

Wai Siam Hee, Post-Malaysian Chinese-Language Film: Accented Style, Sinophone and Auteur Theory. Taipei: Linking Books Co., 2018. (许维贤《华语文学在后马来西亚：土腔风格，华夷风与作者论》，台北联经。)

This is perhaps one of the first studies that examines how a group of locally born-and-raised film directors in Malaysia produces a series of Chinese-language films, especially through a heavily . In addition to providing insights into the production, consumption and dissemination of Chinese-language films in Malaysia and abroad, it presents detailed analysis of the process of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation of Malaysian and Singaporean films within the diaspora and against diaspora boundaries. It is a noteworthy contribution to the growing field of Sinophone studies.

Bo Zhong Li, Fire Guns and Cheque Books: China and East Asia in the Early Era of Economic Globalization. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2017. (李伯重：《火枪与账簿：早期经济全球化时代的中国与东亚世界》，北京，三联书店出版社。)
Singling out a new type of violence and international trade as the major characteristics of the early economic globalisation, Li has painted a panoramic picture of China and East Asia from the late-fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Drawing insights from the fields of economic and military history of China, Li has successfully connected the scattered dots of politics, military, economy, religion, and culture and placed China and East Asia in the larger picture of the great global changes.

Kuan-chun Lin, Between Gifts of Jade and Silk and Weapons of War: a Historical Study on the Tang-Tibet Relationship. Taipei: Linking Books Co., 2016. (林冠群；《玉帛干戈：唐蕃关系史研究》，台北，联经出版事业有限公司)
This is one of the very few books that has examined the relationship between Tibet and Tang China from the perspective of the former. It presents new and innovative ways to examine historical sources on the interactions between the Chinese dynasties located in the Central Plains and their neighbouring polities. It is an important contribution both to the history of the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty.

Weiguo Sun, From ‘Honoring the Ming’ to ‘Submitting to the Qing’: the Transformation of Choson Korea's Attitude towards Qing China, 1627-1910. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2018. (孙卫国：《从“尊明”到“奉清”，朝鲜王朝对清意识的嬗变》,台大出版中心)
This book examines the history of Sino-Korean relations from the mid-seventeenth century to the early twentieth century by focusing on the changing perception and attitude of Choson Korea towards Qing China. Sun makes excellent use of textual sources in both Chinese and Korean to depict the crucial moments in the Sino-Korean political and cultural exchanges that gradually transformed the relations of Choson Korea and Qing China both materially and ideologically. This expands our understanding of pre-modern East Asian world order that has been long clouded by the Western concept of suzerainty. It is a must read for students and scholars of the Sino-Korean relations as well as East Asian diplomatic history.