To celebrate the release of the February 2019 issue of Australian Foreign Affairs 5, Are We Asian Yet? contributing author Linda Jaivin writes about how we ought to be able to relate better to Chinese culture than we do given there are 1.2 million residents or citizens who identify as ethnic Chinese in Australia and Mandarin is the second-most commonly spoken language after English. Geography, trade and investment, geopolitics and climate change are among the things that bind Australia to the People’s Republic of China, sometimes to our advantage, sometimes to our discomfort. The obstacles to greater cultural engagement range from language barriers and the politics of fear to simple perplexity at some of the Communist Party’s soft power efforts.

Linda Jaivin, Australian Author, Translator of Chinese Films and Visiting Fellow, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University wonderfully prepared talk was presented by Professor Sue Trevaskes, Griffith University followed by an ‘in-conversation’ between Professor Caitlin Byrne, Director, Griffith Asia Institute and Mr Jonathan Pearlman, Editor, Australian Foreign Affairs who delved into the questions and themes at the centre of the latest edition of Australian Foreign Affairs 5 Are we Asian yet?

Watch the #PerspectivesAsia seminar online.

Perspectives:Asia is presented by the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University and the Australian Centre of Asia-Pacific Art (ACAPA) at QAGOMA. Previous Perspectives:Asia seminars are also available online.

Images:Joe Ruckli