In the Darkness of a Colonial Singaporean Prison Cell
In the nineteenth century, colonial officials in Singapore were proud of their prison system, and particularly proud of their “convict prison.” This was a place for criminals who had been…
The Differing Customs of the Qing People
I was reading the Khâm Định Việt Sử Thông Giám Cương Mục and found some interesting entries in the year 1663. In the seventh lunar month of that year the…
Tự Đức’s Dismissal of Sĩ Nhiếp
One of the stereotypes which the Nguyễn Dynasty has suffered from is that it was “overly Sinitic/Confucian,” and that this made them impractical to the extent that they could not…
Looking Good in Tents and Paper in 1960s Malaysia
I just came across these articles in the Malay Mail about certain hip fashions in 1963. The first was for "the tent" which apparently girls were "falling for." Girls were…
Localizing the Nation in Early Twentieth Century Vietnam
The concept of the nation, or a nationality, as consisting of a single people living within a defined territory speaking a single language and sharing a common culture is a…
The Problem of Continuity in Early “Vietnamese” Archaeology
Archaeological Highlights, a Vietnamese blog on archaeology, history, methodology, and other issues, has an interesting recent post which questions how the archaeological materials that have been unearthed in Vietnam can…
The Entry of Daoism into Vietnam
So I was reading Wikipedia (“Bad historian!”) and came across the following line in an entry on “Vietnamese Daoism”: “Vietnamese Daoism is Daoism which became localized when it entered Vietnam…
Racially Ambiguous Smokers in 1960s Burma
I don't know much about Burma. I know that women historically did smoke cheroots. I could be wrong, but my sense is that today only elderly women smoke cheroots, and…
O. W. Wolters and the “Reading” of Angkor Wat
Academic fields have paradigms or themes which serve to focus scholarship and define the field. For instance, in the middle of the twentieth century, the idea that China had “responded”…
The Blessed Pigs of Burma
The picture below appeared on the front page of The Nation on 5 February 1962. The caption below the picture stated the following: GOOD DEED FOR EVERYONE’S GOOD: “If we…