Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41)
While most studies of industrialisation and modernisation in Singapore have focused on the post-1960 period and the role of the new nation-state, multinational corporations, and government-linked companies, Lim Peng Siang's business career shows that these processes and engagements were already...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168687 |
| _version_ | 1811688933995577344 |
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| author | Goh, Jeremy Koh, Keng We |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Goh, Jeremy Koh, Keng We |
| author_sort | Goh, Jeremy |
| collection | NTU |
| description | While most studies of industrialisation and modernisation in Singapore have focused on the post-1960 period and the role of the new nation-state, multinational corporations, and government-linked companies, Lim Peng Siang's business career shows that these processes and engagements were already under way before the Second World War. This study seeks to foreground the dynamics of industrialisation and modernisation in the historiography of Chinese business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and Southeast Asia through examining Lim's business career. It shows how the projects of industrialisation and modernisation that Lim and his contemporaries embodied extended beyond business and the economy, and were entangled in broader cultural, sociopolitical, and urban forces and developments in Singapore and other parts of colonial Southeast Asia, maritime Asia, and the world-at-large between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His experiences highlight the pitfalls of assuming a simple traditional–modern dichotomy, and any essentialistic and ethnic constructions of culture, and the discourses surrounding business strategy, behaviour, and thought. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:40:05Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/168687 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:40:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1686872023-06-21T07:32:12Z Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) Goh, Jeremy Koh, Keng We School of Humanities Nanyang Centre for Public Administration Business::General Humanities::History::Asia Chinese Business Chinese Overseas Industrialization Asia While most studies of industrialisation and modernisation in Singapore have focused on the post-1960 period and the role of the new nation-state, multinational corporations, and government-linked companies, Lim Peng Siang's business career shows that these processes and engagements were already under way before the Second World War. This study seeks to foreground the dynamics of industrialisation and modernisation in the historiography of Chinese business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and Southeast Asia through examining Lim's business career. It shows how the projects of industrialisation and modernisation that Lim and his contemporaries embodied extended beyond business and the economy, and were entangled in broader cultural, sociopolitical, and urban forces and developments in Singapore and other parts of colonial Southeast Asia, maritime Asia, and the world-at-large between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His experiences highlight the pitfalls of assuming a simple traditional–modern dichotomy, and any essentialistic and ethnic constructions of culture, and the discourses surrounding business strategy, behaviour, and thought. Published version 2023-06-15T02:36:18Z 2023-06-15T02:36:18Z 2023 Journal Article Goh, J. & Koh, K. W. (2023). Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41). Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 54(1), 89-115. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S002246342300019X 0022-4634 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168687 10.1017/S002246342300019X 1 54 89 115 en Journal of Southeast Asian Studies © 2023 The National University of Singapore. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Business::General Humanities::History::Asia Chinese Business Chinese Overseas Industrialization Asia Goh, Jeremy Koh, Keng We Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title | Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title_full | Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title_fullStr | Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title_short | Industrialisation and Chinese big business in colonial Singapore, Malaya, and China: the transnational enterprises of Lim Peng Siang (1904–41) |
| title_sort | industrialisation and chinese big business in colonial singapore malaya and china the transnational enterprises of lim peng siang 1904 41 |
| topic | Business::General Humanities::History::Asia Chinese Business Chinese Overseas Industrialization Asia |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168687 |
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