|
|
Preface
This book examines the representation of the Chinese in Australian fiction from 1888 to 1988. It begins with an overview of the Chinese in Australian and Chinese history, followed by a theoretical examination of how the Chinese are made the Other by Orientalism, racism, and ethnocentrism. It discusses literary texts written over a period of a hundred years from 1888 to 1988, two significant dates for the Chinese in Australia. The study is divided into three major periods: 1888–1901, 1902–1949, and 1950–1988. The first part deals with initial attempts to represent the Chinese in fiction as the bad Other by early Bulletin writers, Australian responses to the rise of the fear of the ‘Yellow Peril’ in ‘invasion literature’, and the imperialist will to assert power over the Chinese in writings set in China by Anglo-Australian writers.