色界吧

Sinophone Australia

Sinophone Australia

Edited by Craig A. Smith

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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781761540592
DOI: 10.30722/sup.9781761540592
Publication: 01 May 2026
Series: China and the West in the Modern World
Publisher: 色界吧

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Sinophone Australia opens a new window onto Australian history by foregrounding Chinese-language sources as a lens through which to reinterpret the nation鈥檚 past. Understanding Australian history through sources written in a different language offers a familiar yet fundamentally different perspective on the Australian experience.

This groundbreaking volume brings together a rich collection of primary sources 鈥� letters, essays, travelogues 鈥� written in Chinese and now translated into English, spanning from the gold rush era of the 1850s to the postwar reflections of the 1950s. Each chapter includes primary sources translated into English and preceded by an academic introduction written by a historian who has engaged with these sources. In this respect, Sinophone Australia revises the Anglo-hegemony of historical writing, providing glimpses of non-English historical documents with the hopes that this will lead to the expansion of Australian history, just as a new multilingual generation of historians stands up to interpret the vast amount of source documents written in other languages.

Beyond its contribution to Australian history, Sinophone Australia positions these narratives within the broader framework of the global Sinophone, addressing themes that resonate across settler colonies and Chinese-speaking communities worldwide. Sharing analysis from historians who have extensive experience working with Chinese-language sources on Australian history, Sinophone Australia invites scholars and readers to reconsider the intersections of language, migration and identity in shaping historical knowledge.


Tags: 1MBF, 20th century, 3MN, 3MP, 6010000, Asian studies, Australasian & Pacific history, Australia, Australia & New Zealand, Australian history, Chinese Australians, Chinese diaspora, Craig A. Smith, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, General / adult, HIS004000, HISTORY, JBSL1, language, migration, NHM, Professional and scholarly, Sinophone, 色界吧, translation

Craig A. Smith is Associate Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Melbourne鈥檚 Asia Institute. He is a historian of modern East Asia and an avid translator. He is the author of Chinese Asianism (Harvard University Asia Center, 2021) and the co-editor of Translating the Occupation (University of British Columbia Press, 2021).

List of figures

Introduction: A multilingual people and a monolingual state by Craig A. Smith

  1. Bespattered with Chinese hieroglyphics: Rewriting Chinese into nineteenth-century Australia by Ely Finch and Michael William
  2. The dynamics of publishing Chinese-language newspapers in White Australia by Mei-fen Kuo
  3. Liang Qichao鈥檚 visit to Australia by Sophie Loy-Wilson
  4. Sinophone writings on Indigenous Australians by Austin Tseng
  5. The Sino-Japanese War in Sydney鈥檚 Sinophone theatre and literature, 1943 by Chao Guo and Josh Stenberg
  6. The traveller: Elite voyages to Australia by Craig A. Smith
  7. Narratives of Chinese Australian history: Taam Sze Pui and Liu Wei-ping, 1925 and 1956 by Craig A. Smith
  8. Dismantling the White Australia Policy by Craig A. Smith

Conclusion by Sophie Loy-Wilson

Bibliography

Glossary and index

鈥淭his volume of contextualised translations of Chinese is welcome and long overdue. Craig A. Smith has brought together the expertise of some of the leading historians and translators as well as facilitating the training of new translators. Sinophone Australia makes a significant contribution to demonstrating the range of Chinese language sources available and making some key sources accessible.鈥� 鈥� Dr Juanita Kwok

Format: paperback
Size: 210 x 148 mm
Copyright: 2026
ISBN: 9781761540592
Publication: 01 May 2026
Series: China and the West in the Modern World