Below the Line Episode 7
The Conversation87.9 MB(download)
In this episode of our election podcast Below the Line, our expert panel speak to a Chinese media expert about how the Chinese-Australian community is being courted in the campaign.
In 1901, there were almost 30,000 Chinese men in Australia but fewer than 500 women. Despite their small numbers, emerging research reveals surprising stories of Chinese Australian women’s lives.
From Cantonese sausage on the goldfields, to mid-century sweet and sour pork, to today’s delicate xiao long bao, Chinese food in Australia has come a long way.
Lindy Lee sees beauty in a moon drop, a speck of dust caught in a beam of light, and fragments of molten bronze. A new exhibition arcs over the entire trajectory of Lee’s career.
There are already disturbing reports of racism against Asian Australians. History shows this will get worse in a recession, unless our political leaders step in.
As the rhetoric around Chinese interference in Australia intensifies – most recently with the Gladys Liu allegations – Chinese-Australians have become ‘collateral damage’.
Even if only 130 Australians of non-Chinese heritage can speak Mandarin fluently, there are many more if you count those of Chinese heritage. And a level of fluency is not the only measure of success.
Fook Shing spent 20 years as a Melbourne gumshoe. He policed the thriving Chinese community – claiming opium as an expense – but was never promoted above his entry rank of detective third class.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne