EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW • 人物專訪 2022 UMAGAZINE 26 • 澳大新語 51 As one of the first scholars to advocate studying China from its border areas, Prof Yang began to study the history of Yunnan province during his doctoral studies, and chose it as the topic of his doctoral thesis. During his fieldwork in Yunnan, Prof Yang learned about the use of cowrie money in inland Yunnan in ancient times. He then told his supervisor about his findings upon returning to the United States. ‘My supervisor mentioned to me the history of cowrie money in West Africa and it provoked my interest in studying cowrie money. Later, I began to conduct in-depth studies on this topic and wrote three articles about the rise and fall of cowrie money in Yunnan, Yinxu, and Asia, respectively,’ says Prof Yang. ‘I thought I had put all my points in the articles, but then I made so many new discoveries that I wrote another book, Cowrie Shells and Cowrie Money: A Global History, to analyse them in detail.’ While most scholars separate Chinese history from world history, Prof Yang hopes to provide a link between the two disciplines: ‘China is within the world, not outside of it,’ he says. Prof Yang’s book begins with the first use of cowrie shells as currency in the Maldives before chronologically analysing the circulation of cowrie money in different regions. Supported by archaeological records, travelogues, and codices from around the world, the book highlights the inter-regional ‘Of the more than 250 species of cowries, only Monetaria moneta, commonly known as “money cowry”, and a small number of Monetaria annulus, commonly known as “ring cowrie”, were selected to be cowrie money,’ says Prof Yang. ‘When the cowries are fully grown, their shells are of similar size, about 1.5 to 2 cm in length and 0.8 cm in width, as if they are manufactured in assembly lines, which is also the main reason why they became currency in India and West Africa. Moreover, weighing only about 1 gram each, the cowrie shells are light, portable, and difficult to break. They can be easily weighed, measured, and counted, making them an excellent choice as a medium of exchange for small transactions.’ A Sea Shell Linking Chinese History and World History Born in Zhejiang province, Prof Yang completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Renmin University of China in the 1990s and his PhD at Northeastern University in Boston in 2004. He taught at the Renmin University of China and the National University of Singapore before joining UM in 2017, and he became the head of the Department of History in July 2021. Prof Yang is passionate about the study of Chinese history, global history, maritime history, and the history of science and medicine. He is also the only member of the Xiling Seal Art Society at UM. 楊斌教授以「印度洋來的『寶貝』」為題演講，介紹海貝和貝幣的歷史。 Prof Yang Bin gives a talk titled ‘“Treasured Shells” from the Indian Ocean: Cowries in Early China’
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