Series: China and the West in the Modern World

Serialised in 1909-1910, The Poison of Polygamy is a rare gem of Australian literature. The first novel of the Chinese-Australian experience, it follows the fortunes of a young man who leaves his wife behind in southern China to seek his fortunes in the Victorian goldfields. In a rollercoaster tale of blackmail, murder, and betrayal, he encounters all manner of perils,...

In the turbulent years of China’s War of Resistance against Japan (1931–1945), a unique and complex narrative unfolded far from the battlefields – in Australia. Patriots and Propaganda: Chinese Australians and the politics of loyalty, 1930s–1940s delves into the intricate web of Chinese wartime propaganda efforts, revealing how the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) and Chinese Australian communities mobilised support for China’s...

Has a united or singular "Chinese Australian community" ever actually existed? If so, is a united community a means to an end or an end in itself? And where might this community sit in contemporary multicultural Australia? In the Face of Diversity offers answers to these questions with the history of more than a dozen Chinese Australian community organisations from...

Benefiting from recently catalogued archival materials, The Flip Side: Old China Hands and the American Popular Imagination, 1935-1985 evaluates the influence of an ensemble of well-known Americans born and bred in China—Pearl S. Buck, Henry R. Luce, Owen Lattimore, and John Hersey—after their return to the United States of America. The children of missionaries, all contributed in significant ways to...

Made in Chinatown delves into a little-known aspect of Australia's past: its hundreds of Chinese furniture factories. These businesses thrived in the post-gold rush era, becoming an important economic activity for Chinese immigrants and their descendants, and a vital part of Australia's furniture industry. Yet, owing to an exclusionary vision for Australia as a bastion of 'white' industry and labour,...