Chineseness

One of the fundamentals of Chinese Australian history is that for much of the period the concept “Chinese” is as much a made up one as “Australian”. By this is meant that just as many who arrived in the Australian colonies would have considered themselves primarily Irish or Scots, so too did those labelled “Chinese” by these same Scots or Irish consider themselves to be something more specific. Of course, as with everyone, considerations of family, village, dialect, region, nation or empire, not to mention religion, class or education, come into how we both identify ourselves or have an identity imposed on us by others.

Only gradually did wealthier merchants after the 1911 revolution, and after them Australian born people of Chinese heritage, especially as Japanese aggression in China increased in the 1930s, begin to identify and organise themselves on the basis of being Chinese foremost. Village and district of origin however remained of great significance for many, even today.