Author: Jacob Hill
Australia and China have a complicated relationship, to put it mildly. Trade between the two nations is vital to our economies. But at the drop of a hat, the Chinese will snub our beef and wine while Aussies say they won’t buy their cheap plastic garbage.
The USA complicates things: Australia is its lapdog and China is taking the ‘enemy’ spot left vacant by the USSR. So we simultaneously sabre-rattle and shake hands, each acknowledging the geopolitical importance of the other.
In many ways our cultures are interwoven, yet we remain staunchly apart. And China’s influence in Australian history is not insignificant, but it’s a story not often told. While the Brits first discovered Australia in 1770, the continent was known well before then. The Dutchman Willem Janszoon was actually the first Europeans to step onto Australia near Mapoon in 1606.
But there is evidence to suggest the Chinese were coming to Northern Australia since the 1400s! This is due to a map dated 1477 that shows parts of northern Australia and distinctly Chinese pottery shards (or sherds, as archaeologists prefer to spell it…) from the 1500s have been found in the Torres Strait Islands.
This is backed up by British explorer Matthew Flinders when exploring the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1802. Unlike the Aboriginals along the eastern coast, the supposedly uncontacted people of northern Australia were familiar with iron tools and firearms.
He also saw pottery and bamboo latticework that not only did southern Aboriginals not possess, but was conspicuously Chinese in design. Plus, the sea cucumber (trepang) was popular in China in the 1600s – and is usually found along the north Australian coast. But maybe there were intermediaries between the Chinese and Aboriginals, like Makassar or Majapahit. After all, China received Roman glass and Rome received Chinese silk when they weren’t even aware of the other’s existence.
But China and Australia would begin trading directly in the 1800s thanks to Britain’s colonial endeavours…
“FREE TRADE IS JESUS CHRIST”
As noted above, trade between China and Europe had been going on for centuries via the Silk Road. But the first direct trade between Europe and China began in 1517 when Portuguese sailors set up trading posts in Tamão (Hong Kong) and Canton (Guangzhou). The Portuguese and Chinese clashed often, but nonetheless Macau was leased to Portugal in 1557.
England started trading with China in the 1600s via Canton. However, trading was burdensome and frustrating; Chinese cultural norms and trading regulations were difficult to understand, offensive to English sensibilities, or both. Plus, the Chinese didn’t show much interest in English wares. And so, England and China traded only occasionally, especially since England was descending into civil war.
That is, until the British effectively took over India after the British East India Company won the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The distance had been vastly reduced and the cost of shipping dropped. More importantly, Britain gained access to a commodity the Chinese wanted: opium.
Opium production spread across India to satiate the Chinese market (as well as the global market). Britain finally got what it wanted in return: porcelain, silk, silver and, above all, tea (although tea is native to India, China had a monopoly on the market until British India began cultivating it).
But it was difficult to get a pulse on this enigmatic nation. Despite sharing a border, there was only one port (Canton) available for trade and China refused access to foreigners beyond the port. The British did not understand Chinese law, government, cultural attitudes, religion(s), societal structure or their motives.
Attempts to understand the Chinese were blocked, so the British had to rely in centuries-old accounts from explorers like Marco Polo or Gaspar da Cruz, but they were writing about totally different dynasties (Mongol-led Yuan and Han-led Ming respectively). The British were dealing with the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, a minority group remarkably different from the majority-Han population. It was a messy picture indeed.
The Chinese did not understand the British either. More importantly, they had no interest in trying to understand the British. In fact, they came across as haughty and arrogant in their dealings with Britain. They demanded Britain enforce Chinese laws on British citizens on Chinese soil (!) and approached Britain not as an equal partner, but as a lord would approach a subject (The Chinese name for China, 中国, literally means the Middle Kingdom, as in the centre of the universe! Maybe the attitude stems from here…).
But as long as the opium trade continued, this lack of understanding didn’t matter.
However, China entered a time of economic and political woes, which especially affected Canton (Guangzhou). And even though opium had been used for centuries, addiction in China skyrocketed. This hurt the economy further (if you’re unfamiliar, opium essentially puts you in a numb stupor for hours – it’s the same plant heroin and morphine is derived from). The health issues stemming from addiction exacerbated the issue.
Beginning in 1800, China introduced several measures prohibiting opium importation, production and use, but these regulations were ineffective. Merchants and officials alike ignored the bans since they got nice kickbacks from the illegal trading. When the bans went into effect, ~4500 chests of opium were imported. By 1838-39, over 40,000 chests had been illegally imported.
There was international sympathy for the Chinese and their health crisis and people started to reconsider the virtues of opium (but it would take decades before it was banned globally). But the money from opium was propping up British India. And although it was banned, the Chinese demand remained high and they didn’t want to buy anything else. Plus, the Chinese still had the tea market cornered, so of course opium trade was kept up.
But still, the British were seeking tactful solutions, like establishing official diplomatic relations, opening more trading ports and diversifying trade to reduce the harm opium had on China.
But in March 1839, China would make a fatal mistake that would begin its “Century of Humiliation”: China threatened the lives of British citizens.
Reports flooded London of death threats towards British merchants, including their families, if they didn’t surrender their opium. They were reportedly being forced to hide on British merchant ships to escape death threats from Chinese officials, even if they had nothing to do with opium trading.
China was well within its right to enforce anti-opium laws, but threatening British civilians overstepped all bounds. The biggest navy in the world was furious. This was a terrible move on China’s part, given Britain’s colonial encroachment into Asia (Australia was established in 1788 and the Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) were proclaimed in 1824).
WILL WORK FOR WORK
The ”First Opium War” began in 1839 and ended in 1842. To call it one-sided is an understatement. China was forced to open five “Treaty Ports” in the south and ceded Hong Kong as British territory. National stability worsened, especially in the South where opium consumption was highest. The Taiping rebellion in the 1850s ravaged southern China and killed 20-70 million people.
To make matters worse, another “Opium War” began in 1856, which divided China into areas of influence amongst the European empires. Oh, and the USA and Japan got a piece of the plum pudding too. Decades of embarrassment destroyed the ancient civilisation’s reputation. The Qing Empire could not and would not reverse course and would collapse in 1911, leading to ‘Warlordism’, civil war and foreign domination that lasted into the 1950s.
But that is a story for another time…
For the average southern Chinese person in the mid-19th century, life was tough. Financial prospects were slim. Political turmoil was destabilising. Natural disasters added insult to injury.. Naturally, they took up work wherever they could find it – even if it meant sailing thousands of miles away…
New South Wales ended transportation in 1840 (It was abrogated Australia-wide in 1868), which worsened the already chronic labour shortage. Australia never had institutionalised slavery akin to the USA – The slave trade was banned within the Empire in 1807, and slave labour altogether in 1833. But that didn’t mean Australia did have access to cheap labour…
Indentured labourers were imported to do all the jobs the Settlers didn’t want to do, like digging wells, railway building and land clearing. Many of these indentured labourers were Pacific Islanders, or “Kanakas”, but many Chinese, or “Coolies”, were brought to Australia too.
Once their service was up, they could go back home, but some stayed and attempted to make a life for themselves in Australia. Some even started businesses on the main streets of Melbourne and Sydney, particularly making cheap and effective furniture and trading goods between Australia, Hong Kong and China. However, the Chinese discovered that temporary jobs like shearing or fruit-picking were more secure than regular work or starting a business. This is because seasonal work paid terribly, was unattractive to Settlers, and didn’t require English proficiency.
See, the ‘Celestials’ (as they were often referred to at the time) had difficulty securing work because they were mistrusted. The obvious phenotypical differences aside, everything they did was strange to European Settlers: their languages (mostly southern Chinese languages like Cantonese or Fujianese) , their clothes, their food, and their opium and gambling habits, everything. The recent political turmoil and disastrous military defeats in China solidified their status as ‘inferior’ in the eyes of European Settlers.
Furthermore, all the Chinese in Australia were men – their wives and children had to stay home in China. Due to the racism they encountered, they stuck together, which deepened distrust against them, thus creating an ouroboros of racist suspicion.
Australia was not the only destination for desperate Chinese men. Many left for the Californian Goldrush in 1849, but by the mid-1850s gold could only be sourced by large enterprises. Luckily, a new Goldfield was available…
THE NEW GOLD MOUNTAINS
California was often referred to as 旧金山 – the Old Gold Mountains. Victoria was known as 新金山 – the New Gold Mountains. But while the country was novel, what the Chinese experienced there was anything but…
The first Chinese miners arrived on the Victorian Goldfields in 1854 and were immediately viewed with suspicion from the Europeans. They were scapegoated for all manner of misfortunes; ‘stealing’ claims was a popular accusation against the Chinese. While it’s true the Chinese didn’t start many new claims, they typically worked on claims European miners had abandoned (and often found gold).
By 1855, 17,000 Chinese lived on the Goldfields. 1/4 of diggers in Ballarat were born in China. The mateship amongst the Europeans was not extended by the Chinese. There were fears of the Chinese destabilising the colony and anti-Chinese riots broke out in Bendigo in July 1854.
In response, the first anti-Chinese legislation was introduced in Australia: Every Chinese immigrant had to pay £10 if they arrived in Melbourne. Seeing as many Chinese went into debt just to arrive in Australia (and £10 was what the average Victorian earned in three months), it worked to deter them from landing in Melbourne. But the next year, there were 12,000 new Chinese arrivals in the Goldfields. How could this be?
Simple: They landed in South Australia and walked 400-600km to the Goldfields. Imagine a single-file line of Chinese as far as the eye can see marching towards the Goldfields, just to avoid a tax! And these Chinese travellers ended up discovering gold in Ararat, much to the chagrin of their European counterparts.
In the late 1850s, just like in California, gold was becoming harder for individuals to extract in Victoria. However, new gold was being discovered throughout New South Wales and Queensland, so Chinese labourers made their way into New South Wales. By 1861, 3.3% of Australian population had been born in China. 24,000 Chinese lived in the Victorian Goldfields and 11,000 lived in New South Wales.
In New South Wales, anti-Chinese riots were common due to fears of economic competition and cultural chauvinism, with the worst recorded attack occurring in Lambing Flat (now Young) in 1861. Thousands of white miners attacked the Chinese camps. Hundreds were injured in the attack and dispossessed, and thousands of Chinese fled the Goldfields.
This paved the way for another anti-Chinese law: The Chinese Immigrants Regulation and Restriction Act of 1861, which was a precursor to the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act, the first federal legislation in Australia. This was the dawn of scientific racism and Australia was engulfed by the illusion of a “White Australia”.
But that is a story for another time…
BIG BAY, MEDIOCRE PROFITS
But as the Goldrushes became less and less profitable, the Chinese largely returned home. Since many already had families in China, they longed to reunite with them. The hostility they faced in Australia also dissuaded them from staying.
Yet some Chinese married and settled in Australia, largely turning to farming and ‘market gardens’, which rose to prominence in the 1870s. Those that stayed went on to influence and enhance Australian culture, despite the White Australia Policy and its attempts to foster an ethnostate.
Melbourne’s Chinatown is an excellent example of Chinese culture having deep roots in Australia. It’s the longest continuous Chinese Settlement outside of Asia, founded in the 1850s on the outskirts of Melbourne – now it’s in the very centre of town! The Chinese who lived there were admired for their furniture-building, fishmongering, and agricultural skills. Despite the colonial (and later federal) discrimination they faced, the Chinese impressed Melburnians with their patience and endurance.
Many descended from the Chinese miners and although they maintained Chinese traditions, they considered themselves Australians, as they were born in the British Empire. Although this argument was denied along racial lines, that spirit of tolerance that pervades Australian society eventually extended its way towards the Chinese. For example, private banks printed money in Chinese, which shows an acknowledgement of the Chinese in Australia and attempted to accommodate a significant minority within the colony.
Chinatown became a popular spot for dinner in the 1920s and this strongly influenced Australian diet. Australians love Asian cuisine now, although they might be shocked to discover their favourite Asian dishes barely resembles their original form, or that they aren’t Asian at all!
Take the dim-sim for example. Often branded as ‘Asian‘, dim-sims were actually invented in Melbourne in 1945. Yes, they’re based on Chinese dumplings, but they are nothing like the stuff you’d find in China – It’s been modified to fit the Australian palate.
So as the Chinese and Australian governments shoot each other dirty looks, it’s important to remember the extensive influence China has had on Australia, which stretches back to before the transformational Victorian Goldrush. While still predominantly European in culture and ethnicity, Australia has slowly been embracing its position as the next-door neighbour of Asia, which is no longer the mystifying land our forefathers considered it to be. Rather, they are our friends and family whom we visit frequently. In fact, 1/5 of Australians claim some form of Asian ancestry.
So with that in mind, let’s keep things civil, 好么？
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