There are competing theories to explain the reasons behind the international competitiveness of manufacturing in Asia. Analysing these different theories will bring important lessons, not just for Asia, but for developing economies the world over.This lucid book studies industries and firms in East Asia and examines the major determinants of their economic performance. With contributions …

Manufacturing Competitiveness in Asia: How Internationally Competitive National Firms and Industries Developed in East Asia Read More »

Researching Migration and the Family draws together a range of methods and practices of value in empirical research on the nexus between “migration” and “family”. The volume first locates these methods within the broad context of the issues surrounding migration and the family in Asia and Europe, giving an overview of the recent issues surrounding …

Researching Migration and the Family Read More »

Between 1880 and 1930 colonial Singapore attracted tens of thousands of Chinese immigrant laborers, brought to serve its rapidly growing economy. This book chronicles the vast movement of coolies between China and the Nanyang, and their efforts to survive in colonial Singapore. Focusing in on one particular occupation, of rickshaw coolie, this study unveils the …

Rickshaw Coolie: A People’s History of Singapore 1880-1940 Read More »

For most of its modern history, to speak of Singapore was to speak of the Singapore River, physical centre of the city and site of the greater part of the colony’s entrepot trade. The river has been transformed over the last 25 years from a polluted industrial sewer choked with traffic to a clean, placid …

The Singapore River: A Social History 1819-2002 Read More »

“Toponymics”, or the study of place-names, provides us a fascinating means of getting “under the skin” of places. Toponyms provide clues to a wide variety of social, cultural, economic and political phenomena and how they change. They may also serve commemorative functions and reflect the power of elite groups to shape landscape meanings. This book …

Toponymics: A Study of Singapore Street Names Read More »

Among the many groups of workers whose labor built Singapore in the 20th century, there may be none as marginalized in memory as the women who travelled from China and Japan to work in Singapore as prostitutes. This study sketches in the trade in women and children in Asia, and–making innovative use of Coroner’s Inquests …

Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore, 1870-1940 Read More »

Summary: Fast-paced economic growth in Southeast Asia from the late 1960s until the mid-1990s brought increased attention to the overseas Chinese and their role in this economic growth. Events that followed, such as the transfer of Hong Kong and Macau to the People’s Republic of China, the election of a non-KMT government in Taiwan, the …

Chinese Migrants Abroad: Cultural, Educational, and Social Dimensions of the Chinese Diaspora Read More »

Summary: The contributors to this volume explore the close relationship between education and the molding of modern immigrant societies through case studies of either Asian migrants or Asian immigrant societies. Examining the schools, kinds of education, and effects of education policies, the volume considers three questions involved in this relationship. First, what is the role …

Asian Migrants and Education: The Tensions of Education in Immigrant Societies and among Migrant Groups Read More »