2025 Peer-reviewed articles
The Clash of Trade Ideologies: Revisiting the Battle of Liaoluo Bay through the Lens of Hans Putmans’ Interpretation of Vrijen Handel and the Ming Tributary System
By Lap Kan Au, Ph.D. student, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)
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© 2025 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 28, Fall 2024/Winter 2025
Abstract: This paper examines Hans Putmans’ interpretation of vrijen handel (free trade) within the framework of the Dutch East India Company, contrasting it with the Ming Empire’s tributary system. The study argues that Putmans’ concept of vrijen handel must be understood in the context of the early seventeenth century. Only through this historical lens can we fully grasp the ideological conflict between vrijen handel and the tributary system, as well as its role in precipitating the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633. The significance of this research lies in its potential to reshape our understanding of early modern trade interactions, offering new insights into how ideological conflicts shape trade practices and historical events. By analyzing these interactions, the study deepens our comprehension of VOC-Ming trade relations within the broader context of colonial expansion
Keywords: vrijen handel, free trade, Battle of Liaoluo Bay, tributary system, Ming Empire, Dutch East India Company, VOC, vrijhandel, Mare Liberum
About the Author: Lap Kan Au is doctoral candidate at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).
Edited by Birgit Schneider; special thanks to the anonymous peer reviewers.
Pursuing the Global in a Local Setting: Particularistic Silences in the Teaching, Deconstructing, Researching, and Writing of Asian History
By Yang Huei Pang, Senior Lecturer, Singapore University of Technology and Design
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© 2025 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 28, Fall 2024/Winter 2025
Abstract: This essay draws on Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s idea of “silencing the Past” to explore three historical episodes and their implications for teaching history. Firstly, it critiques William Bundy’s biased Cold War account of the Vietnam War, revealing the author’s political agenda and its impact on historical interpretation. Secondly, it reflects on the complexities of conducting oral history of survivors of the Second World War, considering both personal experiences and potential state agendas. Lastly, it examines British imperialism through a local lens, highlighting present-day concerns in a modern metropolis. These episodes illustrate the interconnectedness of global and local history in the classroom, prompting questions about narrative construction, counter narratives, and pedagogical approaches. By delving into these topics, this essay aims to enrich the teaching of Asian history, particularly in the context of Singapore.
Keywords: historicity, history pedagogy, historiography, oral history, Sino-U.S. rapprochement, imperialism, Second World War, Vietnam War, Singapore
About the Author: Yang Huei has taught at Singapore University of Technology and Design since 2012. His monograph, Strait Rituals: China, Taiwan, and the United States in the Taiwan Strait Crises, 1954–1958 is published by Hong Kong University Press (2019). In this work he argues that the Taiwan Straits Crises could be understood as an evolution towards tacit accommodation via symbiotic ritualization. Simply put, it was a strenuous process, which a series of “lessons” was learnt over time. He has also contributed to academic journals such as inter alia, Modern Asian Studies, Asian Affairs, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory, Small Wars & Insurgencies, and more. He has also reviewed a dozen of monographs and edited volumes. His next project concerns the cultural interstices apropos of technological exchanges among Taiwan, China, and the United States in the late 1970s. Buffeted by seismic changes of leadership in all three nations, the adaption process adopted by all parties is the cornerstone in understanding the shape of the current East Asian nexus.
Edited by Birgit Schneider; special thanks to the anonymous peer reviewers.