Biographical Information

Education:

Courses I have taught in the Department

Undergraduate Courses:

Postgraduate Courses:

Journal Editorship:

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Research Profile

During my undergraduate years, I did short-term field research among an Orang Asli (aborigines in Malaysia) community and the hill people in north Thailand [see “Kampung Ulu Grik: A Senoi-Negrito Resettlement in Perak,” in Three Studies on the Orang Asli in Ulu Perak, 1973 (mimeo), and my chapters in Farmers in the Hills edited by Anthony R. Walker (1975)]. These research experiences exposed me to unfamiliar cultures and cultivated my interest in learning about diverse cultural ways of life, and implanted in me a life-long interest in indigenous/minority peoples. The study of ethnicity was just becoming important in anthropology in the early 1970s, and so for my doctoral research I chose to study the Malay-speaking localized Chinese in Melaka, Malaysia, called Baba, describing cultural change and identity. This led me to the study of Chinese overseas throughout the 1980s when I conducted research in different parts of Malaysia. I continued to follow studies on the Orang Asli, and now and then made press statements or spoke about their plight. By 1989 I returned to doing research on indigenous people, the Badeng Kenyah in Sarawak in particular. I visited many ethnic communities in Malaysia, motivated by my interest in meeting as many ethnic groups as possible. I kept abreast, as far as possible, of the publications on Chinese overseas, Orang Asli, and different ethnic groups in Malaysia. I have also kept abreast of the anthropology of China, an interest which began from my undergraduate years. Thus, when I moved to teach at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, it was only sensible that I linked up my study of Chinese in Southeast Asia with the study of Chinese in Southern Fujian, whose language I speak. My research trips to Fujian have been in Yongchun county, Nan'an county and Quanzhou city. More recently, I have begun to study the overseas Chinese farms in Fujian and Yunnan, including a community of "returned overseas Chinese" from Bali, who continue to speak Balinese among themselves. Because of my interest in minorities, I have also visited a number of minorities in different parts of China. My interests have been quite diverse, focusing on Chinese and non-Chinese, from Malaysia to China, and covering quite a number of ethnic groups. The problem I have faced in keeping up with these diverse ethnographic areas is catching up on readings on Chinese overseas, China anthropology, Orang Asli studies, and studies on peoples in Borneo. But the satisfaction I get from meeting diverse ethnic categories of people and learning something about their cultural ways of life is most rewarding.

New Publications:

Also:

2009 Skilled Craftsmanship from Interior Borneo: Badeng Traditional Crafts and Their Future. In Pika-Pika: The Flashing Firefly: Essays for Pauline Hetland Walker (1938-2005) by her Friends in the Arts & Social Sciences, ed. Anthony R. Walker, pp. 219-237. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation.

2009 從費孝通的著作思考 人類學的若干問題 (Reflections on A Few Anthropological Issues from the Works of Fei Xiaotong)。載<<費孝通與中國社會學人類學>> (In Fei Xiaotong and Sociology-Anthropology in China) 。馬戎、劉世定、邱 澤奇、潘乃谷主編 (edited by Ma rong et. al.)。北京 (Beijing)：社會科學文獻出版社。pp. 677-686。

2008 Rural Urbanization and Urban Transformation in Quanzhou, Fujian. Anthropologica 50(2): 215-227. (Written by Chee-Beng Tan and Yuling Ding).

2008 The Concept of Indigenous Peoples and Its Applications in China. In The Concept of Indigenous Peoples in Asia: A Resource Book, ed., Christian Erni, pp. 241-254. IWGIA Document No. 123. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation (AIPP).

2008 Tofu and Related Products in Chinese Foodways. In The World of Soy, eds., Christine M. Du Bois, Chee-Beng Tan, and Sidney Mintz, pp. 99-120. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

2008 Introduction: The Significance of Soy. In The World of Soy, eds., Christine M. Du Bois, Chee-Beng Tan, and Sidney Mintz, pp. 99-120. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. [Written by Sidney W. Mintz, Chee-Beng Tan, and Christine M. Du Bois]

2008 國家疆界、華人文化與認同 (State Boundaries, Chinese Culture and Identities) 。載李元瑾主編《跨越疆界與文 化調適》[In Lee Guan Kin, ed., Crossing Border and Cultural Adaptation]。Singapore: Centre for Chinese Language and Culture, Nanyang Technological University.

2007 Introduction: Chinese Migration, Research and Documentation. In Chinese Overseas: Migration, Research and Documentation, eds. Tan Chee-Beng, Colin Storey and Julia Zimmerman, pp. xiii - xv.  Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.

2007 Teaching and Documentation of Chinese Overseas Studies. In Chinese Overseas: Migration, Research and Documentation, eds. Tan Chee-Beng, Colin Storey and Julia Zimmerman, pp. 201-254.  Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. (Written by Tan Chee-Beng and Ann S. Chiu).

2007 Nyonya Cuisine: Chinese, Non-Chinese and the Making of a Famous Cuisine in Southeast Asia. In Food and Foodways in Asia: Resource, Tradition and Cooking, Sidney C.H. Cheung and Tan Chee-Beng. London and New York: Routledge.

2007 “Confucianism.” In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, vol. 2, pp. 668-672, ed. G. Ritzer. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.              

2007  “Buddhism in a Multi-religious World: The Need to be Socially Engaged.” In Religious Pluralism in Democratic Societies: Challenges and Prospects for Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States in the New Millennium, ed., K.S. Nathan, pp. 107-122.  Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

2007  “Introduction: Chinese Overseas, Transnational Networks, and China.” In Chinese Transnational Networks, ed., Tan Chee-Beng, pp. 1-19. London and New York: Routledge.

2007   “The Shishan Ye People in Malaysia and the Ancestral Homeland in China.” In Chinese Transnational Networks, ed., Tan Chee-Beng, pp. 73-91. London and New York: Routledge.

Books Written and Edited:

2008 The World of Soy. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press. Edited by Christine Du Bois, Chee-Beng Tan and Sidney Mintz.

2007 Chinese Overseas: Migration, Research and Documentation. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. Edited by Tan Chee-Beng, Colin Storey and Julia Zimmerman.

2007 Food and Foodways in Asia: Resource, Tradition and Cooking. London and New York: Routledge. Co-edited by Sidney C.H. Cheung.

2007 Transnational Chinese Networks. London: Routledge. Edited by Tan Chee-Beng.

2006 (陳志明、丁毓玲、王連茂主編) <跨國網路與華南僑鄉：文化、認同和社會變遷>。香港：香港亞太研究所。[Transnational Networks and Qiaoxiang in South China: Culture, Identity and Social Change, edited by Chen Zhiming (Tan Chee-Beng), Ding Yuling and Wang Lianmao.]

2006 Southern Fujian: Reproduction of Traditions in Post-Mao China. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. Edited by Tan Chee-Beng.

2004  Chinese Overseas: Comparative Cultural Issues. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

2002  Chinese Minority in a Malay State: The Case of Terengganu in Malaysia. Singapore: Eastern University Press.

2001  Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. Co-edited, David Y. H. Wu and Tan Chee-Beng.

2000  The Chinese in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. Co-edited, Lee Kam Hing and Tan Chee-Beng.

1999  Bibliography of Studies on Fujian with Special Reference to Minnan. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (jointly compiled with Zhang Xiaojun). (Chinese and English)

1995  Dimensions of Tradition and Development in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya (Malaysia): Pelanduk Publications. Co-edited with Rokiah Talib.

1994  Communal Associations of the Indigenous Communities of Sarawak: A Study of Ethnicity and National Integration. Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Malaya.

1993  Chinese Peranakan Heritage in Malaysia and Singapore. Kuala Lumpur: Fajar Bakti.

1988  The Baba of Melaka: Culture and Identity of a Chinese Peranakan Community in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya (Malaysia): Pelanduk Publications.

1985  The Development and Distribution of Dejiao Associations in Malaysia and Singapore: A Study on a Chinese Religious Organization. Occasional Paper No. 79, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.

Publications by Categories

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