Chinese diaspora – Jinghua Qian

26 Nov 202226 Nov 2022

Hard Read

My audio piece for Powerhouse Museum’s Oscillations project is finally out! It’s a chewy little story about sino/trans inscrutability, visibility and representation. Massive thanks to sound and story wizard Jon Tjhia, and everyone whose voices and ideas are part of this work: Atong Atem, Oliver Reeson, Kate Bagnall and Tim Sherratt, and my glorious chorus. So proud of this. Listen here.

What does it cost to be visible? Chinese and trans people shift in and out of focus in Australia’s historical records – appearing and disappearing, code-switching, oscillating. Through the lens of turn-of-the-century portrait photography, Jinghua Qian looks at the privilege and burden of representation and the luminous power of inscrutability.

22 Oct 202025 Oct 2020

Senator Eric Abetz’s controversial questions about loyalty rattle Chinese communities in Australia | ABC News

‘I can condemn him all I like … Xi Jinping isn’t sitting around wondering what a queer performance poet in Footscray thinks of his policies.’

I was on ABC today commenting on Chinese Australians being called to condemn the CCP. I talked about conditional citizenship as a form of racial profiling. Read the story by Bang Xiao and Stephen Dziedzic here.

30 Sep 2020

NüProfile: Jinghua Qian on why ‘China-watching’ is problematic, and unbelonging in Australia | NüVoices

I chatted to NüVoices – an international media collective focused on women and China – about writing, diaspora, and why I’m not necessarily interested in inclusion.

Big thanks to interviewer Annabelle Jarrett for making sense of my late-night ramblings over Zoom and editor Jessie Lau for setting this up!

27 Aug 2020

Yellow peril isn’t what it used to be

My Meanjin piece from the Summer 2019 issue is now online if you’re interested. It’s a review of The Chinawoman, a book about a white woman sex worker who was murdered in 1856 Melbourne, and it’s also a reflection on Chinese-Australian history, Aboriginal deaths in custody today, who is worthy of protection, who is disposable, and how that’s shifted.

10 Aug 202029 Aug 2020

Chinatown Melbourne is a one-way street that took a turn

‘Between Australia’s hunger to spin its immigrant communities into a simple, palatable narrative, and the PRC government’s mission to absorb the accomplishments of overseas Chinese into its own national history, the richness and complexity of Chinese Australian life can get lost.’

Read my feature on Chinatown and Melbourne’s Chinese communities in Culture Trip.

28 Jun 202013 Apr 2022

Underfoot: underground histories from Footscray 3011

Finally it’s launch day!

Underfoot presents four virtual audio tours through Footscray’s past. Liz and I bring an intimate lens to local history as we wander the streets and the archives looking for people like us: queers, migrants, radicals and artists. There are some big conversations about capitalism, nationalism and settler nativism, as well as some finely aged gossip.

Each track comes with a map, transcript, photos and notes so you can either explore these places in real life (observing social distancing!) or just enjoy the stories while staying home. You can even dive into some historical research yourself if you’re so inclined.

Here it is: Underfoot.

25 Jun 20205 Aug 2020

Playlist: Music of the Sinosphere

My second playlist for Peril magazine’s You Don’t Sound Asian project explores music from around the Sinosphere: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and beyond.

‘Unlike the pandemic, the playlist doesn’t have a case definition or an epicentre. It’s just an endless filament of sound, the connections between the tracks both tenuous and elemental. It’s as open-ended as Chineseness could be.’

Have a listen – and check out my other playlist, Teacup in a Storm, as well.