Bind Us in Time: Nation and Civilisation in Asia

With the quick pace of social and political transformation brought on by the global technological and economic changes which took place in the 19th and 20th centuries, historians have become conscious of how the nation state has come to dominate all civilisations in a fraction of the time it has taken the world's civilisations to develop and evolve. This book seeks to convey how we may be time-bound: that while we should honour the time taken to build civilisations and bind ourselves to their best achievements, it is also vital to recognise the short amount of time we have to ensure that peoples living within state boundaries come to bind with each other as modern nation states. This study reflects the author's conviction that although Asians require nation states to deal with the exigencies of modernisation, the rich heritage of Asian civilisations gathered over centuries should not be neglected but remain a vital part of the region's well-being, perhaps in the provision of "time-proven values and symbols which might actually help unify a nation".Wang Gungwu is the author of 'Bind Us in Time: Nation and Civilisation in Asia' with ISBN 9789812102454 and ISBN 9812102450.