The pioneering expert in Nepal Studies in Beijing, Professor Wang Hongwei, has passed. He was 91.
According to Chinese media, Professor Wang, a renowned expert on South Asian affairs and a Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, passed away in Beijing in mid-October.
Born in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, in 1934, he graduated from Peking University in 1955. He was among the first scholars to systematically conduct Nepal Studies and was proficient in both English and Nepali. He frequently conducted field research across Nepal, including Kathmandu.
Professor Wang authored many significant works, including Nepal, the Mountain Kingdom, The Ethnicity of Nepal, and The Himalaya Complex: A Study of China-India Relations—essential references for South Asian studies.
The Himalaya Complex won the 1999 National Social Science Fund Project Outstanding Achievement Award, and Nations: Nepal received the 2008 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award. His monographs, such as Nepal: The Developing Mountain Nation and Contemporary Nepali Politics and Diplomacy, have deep academic value and have supported China-Nepal cooperation and national policy-making regarding Nepal.
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