SUSS launches $1.01m Eddie Kuo Fund for Chinese studies
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Professors Eddie Kuo (left) and Luo Futeng with their book, Unity In Diversity: Language and Society In Singapore, on Oct 11, 2022.
PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE - A new fund to support and promote Chinese language, literature, culture and the arts was launched on March 2 by the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ (SUSS) Centre for Chinese Studies in honour of its hononary adviser, Professor Eddie Kuo.
The Eddie Kuo Fund for Chinese Studies – worth $1.01m, including matching grants from the Ministry of Education – will support local and regional public events, book publications, academic research and visiting scholars.
The first project to be funded will be the translation of the Chinese book “Unity in Diversity: Language and Society in Singapore” into English.
The Chinese version was co-authored by Prof Kuo, who is also the founding director of the Centre, and Assoc Prof Luo Futeng, SUSS former head of Chinese Language and Literature programmes. The translation will be undertaken by Dr Susan Xu, head of SUSS’ translation and interpretation programme, and two other lecturers.
Launched in July 2022, the book studied Singapore’s language planning and bilingual education policies, and issues such as national and racial consciousness. It was one of news weekly Yazhou Zhoukan’s 10 best non-fiction Chinese books of 2022.
Prof Kuo, 82, has written, researched, and discussed extensively on the issues of language, culture and identity in Singapore throughout his career spanning nearly five decades.
He said: “This is really the last lap of my long journey, and what I had not expected is that I would be given a trophy. In spite of all the programmes to support and promote Chinese language and culture, there is still more that can be done.”
The Fund’s selection committee members are Mr Lim Jim Koon, former editor-in-chief of then-Singapore Press Holdings’ Chinese newspapers division; Assoc Prof Foo Tee Tuan, director for SUSS’ Centre for Chinese Studies, and Dr Lee Wee Heong, SUSS’ head of Chinese Language and Literature.
Donors include the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations and individuals such as Mr Kek Boon Leong, the former president of Nanyang Confucian Association.
Mr Kek, 73, said: ”I rallied my friends to donate to this Fund as it is a meaningful cause. I have also seen Prof Kuo’s tireless efforts in advancing Chinese studies and culture.”
Another donor is Mr Kwek Boon Watt, 75, the owner of Music Book Room, which just shuttered at Bras Basah Complex on Feb 28.
He said: ”As someone who is Chinese-educated, I would like to do my part to promote Chinese culture to the younger generations.”
Prof Kuo’s academic career spans three universities and disciplines: sociology at National University of Singapore, communication studies at Nanyang Technological University, and Chinese studies at SUSS.
He is also Emeritus Professor of NTU and Founding Dean of NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. In 2012, NTU had also launched the Professor Eddie C. Y. Kuo Study Abroad Scholarship to help realise his vision of nurturing top communication and information students.
