Director of the East Asian Institute and Faculty Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore; Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University.
He attended the National Central University in Nanjing, and received his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master’s Degrees from the University of Malaya in Singapore and his Ph.D. from the University of London (1957). He was Professor of History at the University of Malaya until 1968 and The Australian National University (1968-1986), where he was also Director of the Research of Pacific Studies (1975-1980). From 1986 to 1995, he was Vice-Chancellor (President) of the University of Hong Kong. He was elected Member of Academia Sinica; Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Science; and Fellow and President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; he is also Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.
Among his recent books in English are The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy (2000); Don’t Leave Home: Migration and the Chinese (2001); Anglo-Chinese Encounters since 1800: War, Trade, Science and Governance (2003); Diasporic Chinese Ventures (2004). He edited Nation-building: Five Southeast Asian Histories (2005).