Australian scholars push to rekindle interest in China

Open minds in China

While academics in Australia are lamenting the declining interest in China Studies, the reverse is true in China. Australian Studies programs at Chinese tertiary institutions have been flourishing in recent decades.

From humble beginnings in the 1980s, there are nearly 40 Australian Studies centers at universities throughout China — one of the highest concentrations in the world.

"It is quite remarkable," said the University of Canberra's Richard Hu, joint editor of the book How Australia is Studied in China.

"China has arguably the largest community of Australian Studies in the world," the professor told China Daily.

However, not much is known about this phenomenon, including its emergence, rationale, interests, influences, and the implications for strategic Australia-China engagement in a region of increasing challenges and uncertainty.

The book is a collection of essays by leading academics which, Hu says, goes some way to unpacking how Australia is taught, learned, researched, communicated, and promoted in China.

"There are multiple reasons why Australian Studies has become so popular in China," Hu says. "They range from historical to cultural reasons. Language is also another reason. Australia is an English-speaking country, and English is very popular in China so Australian Studies is a good fit," he said.

The historical reasons stem from when China began to open its doors to the world in the 1970s, Hu said.

In 1972, the Australian government, led by then prime minister Gough Whitlam from the Labor Party, established diplomatic relations with China.

The following year, Australia opened its first embassy in the People's Republic of China.

The Australian and Chinese governments subsequently signed a cultural exchange agreement, and in 1979 China sent nine scholars to study at the University of Sydney, Hu said.

The scholars were Du Ruiqing, Hou Weirui, Hu Wenzhong, Hu Zhuanglin, Huang Yuanshen, Long Rijin, Qian Jiaoru, Wang Guofu and Yang Chaoguang. They came from some of the most prestigious universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an, Suzhou, and Chongqing.

They were all awarded a Master of Arts in Australian literature and linguistics from the University of Sydney, with their graduation ceremony featured in the pages of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Jan 9, 1981.

"These scholars took this knowledge back to China and became leaders of English education in China," Hu said. "Because of their influence they laid the groundwork for Australian Studies in China."

He said Australian Studies programs in China have become a model for other countries to follow.