JUNE 2021 | ISSUE 8
At the Crossroads of East and West
The East and the West of the world have grown to be increasingly intertwined in today’s globalised world, albeit with rising conflicts and misunderstandings on multiple grounds.
In this issue of THINK, international experts and academics share their views — from the perspectives of history, economics, philosophy, education, arts and culinary arts — on how the world has and should continue to navigate the intersection between the East and the West, and what should be done to build a better future for the generations to come.
In this issue:
- Interview with Prof Wang Gungwu – Redefining Notions of East and West
Prof Wang Gungwu, Chairman of the East Asian Institute at NUS, provides a historical compass to guide our understanding of the notions of and intersection between the East and the West; - A Thucydides Fallacy: The New Model of Power Relations for Southeast Asia, the US and China
Prof Danny Quah, Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics at NUS’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, weighs in on the role SEA nations can play in determining how the world order evolves amidst the heightened US-China conflict; - Western Love, Chinese Qing – A Philosophical Interpretation of the Idea of Love in Romeo and Juliet and the Story of Liang-Zhu (or The Butterfly Lovers)
Former Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Prof Cheung Chan-Fai compares the idea of love in the Western and Chinese cultures through the two classic love stories; - Observing Disintegration
Chris Oestereich, writer and lecturer at Thammasat University’s School of Global Studies in Thailand, laments the stark division observed among his fellow Americans in comparison to the Thais during the COVID-19 pandemic
… and many more.
