Chinese in Australian Fiction, 1888–1988 By Ouyang Yu

My research has located altogether twenty-two books⁹ written about this fascinating history of the Chinese in Australia, fourteen of which are by Australians, four by Australian-Chinese, and four by Chinese, either from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or mainland China. Some concentrate on the anti-Chinese movements and various aspects of the White Australia policy,¹⁰ some on regional studies of the Chinese in Australia,¹¹ others on the interrelationship between the two countries.¹² Australian-Chinese studies focus either on the Chinese way of life in Australia or their migration pattern.¹³ The studies by Chinese from outside Australia concern themselves more with the aspect of racism and the Chinese in Australia.¹⁴ One study deals with the surprising topic of the Chinese contribution to Australian military history,¹⁵ another with the life of a historical Chinese personality¹⁶ (indicating the potential for biographical research), and one on the self-representations of the Chinese in Australia.¹⁷

Academic research has produced MA and PhD theses on various aspects of the Chinese in Australia, including regional studies, such as G. A. Oddie’s The Chinese in Victoria, 1870–1890;¹⁸ Australian attitudes toward China, such as Sabine Hedwig Willis’s The Formation of Australian Attitudes toward China, 1918–1941;¹⁹ Lachlan Strahan’s Australia’s China: 1941–1965;²⁰ and others on subjects ranging from Australian missionaries in China to Australian images of China and Australian recognition of China.²¹

With all the studies conducted on the Chinese in Australia and various aspects relating to them, one notices very little critical study of the representations of the Chinese in Australian literature. The only extensive treatment seems to be Colin Mackerras’s Western Images of China,²² which, strictly speaking, does not study the literary representation of the Chinese by Australian writers. Other studies, such as The Asian Image in Australia²³ and The Yellow Lady: Australian Impressions of Asia,²⁴ are mainly concerned with the images of Asia as a whole.²⁵