Draws together Australian historical scholarship on Chinese women, their gendered migrations, and their mobile lives between China and Australia.

This edited collection draws together Australian historical scholarship on Chinese women, their gendered migrations, and mobile lives between China and Australia. While the number of Chinese women in Australia before 1950 was relatively small, their presence was significant and often subject to public scrutiny. Moving beyond traditional representations of women as hidden and silent, this book demonstrates that Chinese Australian women in the twentieth century expressed themselves in the public eye, whether through writings, photography, or political and cultural life. Their remarkable stories are often inspiring, and sometimes tragic, serving to demonstrate the complexities of navigating female lives in the face of racial politics and imposed categories of gender, culture, and class. This collection also offers a comparative perspective, connecting women’s experiences in Australia with those in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction: Chinese Australian Women, Migration, and Mobility

Part One: Gendering Chinese Australian Histories

2. Reading Gender in Early Chinese Australian Newspapers

3. Chinese Australian Brides, Photography, and the White Wedding

4. The Emergence of Chinese Businesswomen in Darwin, 1910–1940

5. Chinese Australian Women’s Experiences of Migration and Mobility in White Australia

Part Two: Women’s Lives in China and Australia

6. Exception or Example? Ham Hop’s Challenge to White Australia

7. Missing Ruby

8. Alice Lim Kee: Journalist, Actor, Broadcaster, and Goodwill Ambassador

9. Mary Chong and Gwen Fong: University-Educated Chinese Australian Women

10. Daisy Kwok’s Shanghai: Life in China before and after 1949