Yang Bin
杨斌

Years of Stay at HYI

Sep 2011 to Jul 2012

May 2022 to Jul 2022

University Affiliation (Current)

University Affiliation

Yang Bin is Professor, Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong. He was previously Professor at the University of Macau and an associate professor in the History Department, National University of Singapore.  His dissertation, “Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE–Twentieth Century CE),” was awarded the 2004 Gutenberg-e prize by the American Historical Association, and was published by Columbia University Press. His research articles have been accepted by journals including Modern Asian Studies, Journal of World History, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, The China Quarterly, and China Report.

Professor Yang’s paper “‘Exodus: Lotus Seals and Sealings in a Transregional Perspective” received the first prize at an international forum on images, seals, and sealings organised by the Xiling Seal Art Society in November 2018, and he was admitted to the Xiling Seal Art Society (西泠印社). Founded in 1904, the Xiling Seal Art Society is arguably the only scholarly organisation from the late Qing dynasty that has survived until the present day. The society is dedicated to the practice and studies of traditional Chinese seals, sealings, stone and metal artifacts, paintings, and calligraphy. His English monograph Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money: A Global History, supported by the Publication Grant of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, was published by Routledge in December 2018. Professor Yang’s Chinese monogprah 饶宗颐新加坡大学执教考 (Jao Tsung-I in Singapore (1968-1973): Life, Research, and Chinese Scholar Diaspora) was published in summer 2018, by Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, Hong Kong University.

Current Research Projects and Interests: Maritime China

Recent Publications

English Monographs

Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money: A Global History (Routledge, Hardback 2019; Paperback 2020).

Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE–20th Century CE). N Y.: Columbia University Press, 2009 (Hardcopy).

_____. 2008 (Gutenberg-eBook: http://www.gutenberg-e.org/yang/index.html)

Chinese Monographs

《季风之北, 彩云之南 (Between Winds and Clouds)》Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2023.

《人海之间:海洋亚洲中的中国与世界 (Between Men and Seas)》. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2023.

《海贝与贝币:鲜为人知的全球史 Haibei yu Beibi: Xianweirenzhi de Quanqiushi (Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money: A Global History》,with major revisions (Beijing: Zhongguo Shekewenxian Chubanshe, Oracode, 2021).

《流動的疆域:全球視野下的雲南與中國Liudong de Jiangyu: Quanqiushiye xia de Yunnan yu Zhongguo》(Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan),with new “Prologue” and “Afterwords”, trans. by Han Xiangzhong (Taibei: Baqi Wenhua, May 2021).

Shangzuo Chuanjing Shi yi Wei: Rao Zongyi Xinjiapo Daxue Zhijiao Kao 上座傳經事已微:饒宗頤新加坡大學執教考 (Jao Tsung-I in Singapore, 1968–1973: Life, Research, and Chinese Scholarly Diaspora) (Hong Kong: Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, Hong Kong University, Summer 2018).

Book Awards

2024 《季风之北, 彩云之南 (Between Winds and Clouds)》awarded “Book of the Year (2023),”第九届单向街书店文学奖年度图书 (One Way Street Book Award)

2024 《海贝与贝币:鲜为人知的全球史》(Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money, Simplified Chinese Version) awarded the Asian Book Awards 2023—Best Asian Books of the Year (The category of humanities, social sciences, and science technology books with the theme of Asia), the Koran Publishers Society

2023 《海贝与贝币:鲜为人知的全球史》(Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money, Simplified Chinese Version)awarded the Horizon Prize for Historical Writing 第二届文景历史写作奖 (10 books, 2023), Beijing; 《人海之间:海洋亚洲中的中国与世界 (Between Men and Seas)》on the 10 lists of 2023 Best or Top-10/20 Books in China including 《中华读书 报》China Reading Weekly (Beijing), 《文汇报》the Wenhui Daily (Shanghai), 第一财经 China Business Network (Shanghai); 《新周刊》 New Weekly 刀锋图书奖 (Guangzhou);《南方日报》The Nanfang Daily (Guangzhou), Guangxi Normal University Press; 《季风之北, 彩云之南 (Between Winds and Clouds)》on the three lists of the 2023 Top 10 Books in China.

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