I wrote a little explainer on mooncakes for Broadsheet and the free print mag Domain Review. Happy Mid-Autumn Fest everyone.
Underfoot at Williamstown Library
Okay I am the worst because I keep forgetting to promote anything until it’s already sold out! But if you managed to snag a ticket, Liz and I are doing another local history talk with the beautiful folks at Williamstown Library.
Williamstown, Underfoot
Thursday 18 July 2024
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Williamstown Library
104 Ferguson Street
Williamstown VIC 3016
Book here
Today, Williamstown is best known as a picturesque seaside suburb, but its past was anything but tranquil.
Join local historian Liz Crash and writer Jinghua Qian as they delve into Willy’s hidden histories, uncovering tales of gambling dens, Chinese laundries, lady boxers, waterfront brawls, brothel sponsorship chaos, and Australia’s worst morgue. You can also discover how to unearth these buried stories yourself.
Liminal Vol. II
I have a piece in Liminal’s second anthology and it’s my very first collage, a sort of annotated time capsule from Chinatown, Melbourne in the 1880s, 1930s and 1980s. Pre-order here to get 200+ pages of Asian Australian excellence including art, poems, essays, fiction, comics, conversations & more.
Loaded | The Saturday Paper
I reviewed the new audio play of Loaded, Christos Tsiolkas’s debut novel that shot through my veins two decades ago as a queer migrant teenager living in North Richmond.
A local’s guide to Seddon | Time Out Melbourne
My suburb guide for Seddon is finally out! Just in time for you to check out these places as they reopen after lockdown. It was really fun eating my way through the neighbourhood for research purposes.
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.
Event: Queer futures | Dancehouse
Sat 2 Feb 2019
5 pm to 6 pm
Dancehouse
free (booking required)
http://dancehouse.com.au/performance/performancedetails.php?id=311
As queer culture becomes more and more a global phenomena, for both queer and non-queer communities, what does being queer really mean? Is being queer simply what you are or what you do? This discussion will explore what might be lost or gained through such shifts in meaning and how queer histories inform queer futures holistically.
Jinghua Qian, Isabella Whāwhai Waru and Nunzio Madden in conversation with Quinn Eades. Part of the public program attached to the performance season of Dancing Qweens.
Jinghua Qian 