Culture

By Simone van Nieuwenhuizen

Note: This article appeared in the December edition of China Matters' blog, YP Stance on December 1 2017.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in The Australian Institute of International Affairs’ blog, Australian Outlook, on October 11 2017.

On August 1 the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winner Mei Fong to discuss her book, One Child, with former chief political correspondent for SBS Television, Catherine McGrath.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in Sydney Today (Chinese) on June 16 2017.

Australian media have been in a frenzy this month over allegations that the Chinese government is seeking to undermine Australian sovereignty.

On April 6 2017 the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the University of Technology Sydney, presented a seminar on Chinese historiography in Australia. 

Chinese history scholars Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, University of Sydney; Professor Wanning Sun, University of Technology Sydney; Dr Michael Williams, Western Sydney University; and Professor Kam Louie, University of New South Wales, discussed the current state of Chinese history scholarship and the new directions it is taking.

By Bob Carr

No sweeter duty for a Premier. A convention centre packed with families, their youngsters being praised as the highest achievers in the end-of-school exams. A happy annual ritual.

Looking back, one thing stands out about the annual awards for young scholars: the steady rise, in my years, in the number of students with Chinese names (and those with Indian and Vietnamese names).

A report commissioned by the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), written by Dr Jane Orton, reveals the lack of Australian students enrolling in Chinese language study.

- Since 2008 the number of students learning Chinese in Australian schools has doubled to 172,832 – this is 4.7 percent of total school student numbers.

- There has been an overall drop over the past eight years of some 20 percent in the number of non-background classroom learners taking Chinese to around just 400.

On April 21 2016 the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) launched a report on Chinese language study in Australia.

The report, 'Building Chinese Language Capacity in Australia', commissioned by ACRI and written by Dr Jane Orton, highlights the gaps in Australia's Chinese language capacity and how these can be bridged, through careful and considered analysis.

1. The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper recognizes the need for an increased linguistic capacity within the Australian population: “Relying on the language capabilities of Asian-Australians for all of Australia’s relationships and engagement will not be adequate. Proficiency in more than one language is a basic skill of the 21st century”.[1]

2. In 2015 3,694,101 students attend school in Australia.[2] Of those:

Australia Piano Quartet (APQ), UTS Ensemble in Residence, has established a reputation as one of Sydney's premier chamber music ambassadors.

Their concert “Stories from China”, performed on August 6 2015, showcased the best of Chinese-Australian new work, including pieces from internationally-renowned composer Liza Lim and the young erhu specialist Nicholas Ng. Cutting-edge Australian composer Alex Pozniak created a special collaborative new work combining traditions from East and West.

The pieces performed were: