Towards a Modern Diasporic Literary Tradition: The Evolution of Australian Fiction from 1894 to 1912

Haizhi Luo

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master by Research at the University of

School of Humanities and Languages Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of New South Wales

April 2017

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet

Surname or Family name: Luo

First name: Haizhi Other name/s:

Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: MA(Research)

School: School of Humanities and Languages Faculty: Faculty of Arts and SocialSciences

Title: Towards a Modern Diasporic Literary Tradition: The Evolution of AustralianChinese Language Fiction from1894 to 1912

Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) Fiction, as one of the earliest diasporic Chinese literary genres as well as the most neglected one in current scholarships, is the focus of this research project. The thesis examines Chinese language fictionpublished in the three earliest Australian Chinese language newspapers from 1894 to 1912, when Australian Chinese diaspora experienced an initial plethora of urban cultural development. Through the thesis, I propose to show the incipient evolution of Australian Chinese language fictionand argue that the beginning of Chinese Australian writing should be redefined to the turn of the 20th century given its original and exemplary contribution to the development of a diasporic literary tradition in Australia. During these years, Australian Chinese language fictionevolved froma production largely derivative of the narrative tradition, to a modern and localised form through the influence and inspiration of the late Qing revolution in fiction. This achievement can be witnessed in the employment of modern narrative techniques and structures, in the incorporation of local lives and events into the stories, and in the hybridity of themes that mix traditional and modern interests such as exile and ethnic unity, which are rare in late Qing Chinese fictionbut essential to the concerns of post-colonial and diasporic cultural studies.

Demonstrating the value of early Australian Chinese language fictionoffers a fresh angle to enrich our knowledge of the life experienceof early Chinese migrants. It also reconnects such diasporic narratives with the modernising development of late Qing fictionin as well as other early Chinese diasporic fiction, thus providing us an opportunity to discuss their mutual interaction and influence, as well as their role in the transnational development of world Chinese language literature. More importantly, it demonstrates how the localising process of the diasporic Chinese literary tradition began in Australia by supplementing the stories and other imaginative accounts of early Chinese migrants into the national literature of Australia, showing an alternative historical image of the Australian Chinese communities and a diversified vision of Australia's social and cultural experience that was taking place already over a century ago.

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ABSTRACT

Research of Australian Chinese language literature is an expanding field in both the studies of world Chinese language literature (or Sinophone literature as other scholars may call it) and ethnic literature in Australia. Yet despite a history of over 150 years of Chinese migration to Australia, recent studies only focus on the production of Australian Chinese language literature of the past three or four decades, whereas its early development remains virtually untouched by research up until now. Therefore, fiction, as one of the earliest diasporic Chinese literary genres as well as the most neglected one, is the main focus of this research project. Tracing this back to the turn of the 20th century, when Australian Chinese diaspora experienced an initial plethora of urban cultural development, this thesis examines Chinese language fiction published from 1894 to 1912 in the three earliest Australian Chinese language newpapers in and . They are The Chinese Australian Herald (, 1894- 1923), The Tung Wah News (, 1898-1902)/The Tung Wah Times (, 1902-1936) and The Chinese Times (, 1902-1905/, 1905-1914). This thesis proposes to shows the incipient evolution of a diasporic literary tradition in the local communities in Australia.

Through the thesis, I argue that the beginning of Australian Chinese language literature should be redefined as the turn of the 20th century due to the considerable amount of fiction published in local newspapers and its original and exemplary contribution to the development of a diasporic literary tradition in Australia. During the two decades from 1894 to 1912, Australian Chinese language fiction evolved from a production strongly derivative of the classical Chinese narrative tradition, to a modern and localised form through the influence and inspiration of the late Qing revolution in fiction. This achievement can be witnessed in the employment of modern narrative techniques and structures, in the incorporation of local lives and events into the stories, and in the hybridity of themes that mix traditional and modern interests, including ideas such as exile and ethnic unity, which are rare in late Qing Chinese fiction but essential to post- colonial and diasporic cultural formations. My research also uncovered Duoqi Du ( , The Vice of Polygamy). Not only it is the first novel produced by a local Chinese

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author, it overturns the current academic conclusion that the first appearance of the local Chinese novel only came into being in the late 20th century; the themes and the narrative techniques applied in this novel also epitomise milestones in the modernising and localising development of early Australian Chinese language fiction.

Demonstrating the values of early Australian Chinese language fiction offers an until now unexplored angle to enrich our knowledge of the life experience of early Chinese migrants, it also reconnects such diasporic narratives with the modernising development of late Qing fiction in China as well as other early Chinese diasporic fiction, giving rise to an opportunity to discuss their mutual interaction and influence, as well as their role to the transnational framework of the development of world Chinese language literature. More importantly, it demonstrates how the localising process of the diasporic Chinese literary tradition began in Australia at the turn of the 20th century by supplementing the discourse of early Chinese migrants into the national literature in Australia, showing an alternative historical image of the Australian Chinese communities and a diversified vision of Australia’s social and cultural experience that was taking place already over a century ago.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I offer my sincere thanks to my supervisors, Dr Yi Zheng and Dr Jon von Kowallis from the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales, who guided me through my postgraduate research with their knowledge, understanding and encouragement. I am indebted to Dr Yi Zheng for her patience and flexibility to accommodate my study needs as a part-time research student, allowing me the room to work in my own way whilst steering me in the right direction. My appreciation also goes to Dr Jon von Kowallis for his expert on translation and valuable comments.

I would also like to thank Dr Kow Mei Kao from , who initiated me into this project and who has constantly helped me with useful resources. I would like to thank Dr Mark Stiles and his wife, Lee Whitmore, a great Australian animation artist, for their unfailing encouragement. I am especially grateful to Dr Mark Stiles who directed me to the connections between Australian history, the Australian literary experience and my research topic, and who also edited my thesis.

My profound gratitude also goes to my partner, Jingjing Ma, for his unconditional support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without him.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to the early Chinese migrants in Australia, who left these wonderful stories about their journeys and life experiences, so that we can commemorate this particular part of history and be inspired as late-comers on the pathway of settling in Australia.

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NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION

All Chinese-English translations are the author’s unless otherwise noted.

This thesis uses Hanyu for transliteration of Chinese terms, names and phrases, except when different conventions or preferred spellings already exist, as is frequently the case in , and overseas Chinese diasporic communities in terms of personal names and proper names. The ordering of Chinese names follows their conventional forms: family names first, followed by given names.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

Originality Statement…………………………………………………… ii Copyright and Authenticity Statement………………………………… iii Abstract………………………………………………………………...... iv Acknowledgements……………………………………………………... vi Note on Translation and Transliteration………………………………. vii

Chapter 1. Introduction………………………………………………. 1 1.1 Critical reviews of current studies of Australia Chinese language Literature………………………………………………………... 3 1.2 Theoretical framework in world Chinese language literature, Sinophone studies, and Chinese narrative tradition…………...... 7 1.3 Thesis structure………………………………………………..... 18

Chapter 2. The Early Prosperity: A Full Landscape of Australian Chinese Language Fiction at the Turn of the 20th Century...... 20 2.1 Foundation of early Australian Chinese language fiction: the birth of Chinese language press in Sydney and Melbourne...... 20 2.2 Australian Chinese language fiction from 1894 to 1912...... 25

Chapter 3. The Early Evolution of Australian Chinese Language Fiction: Drawing on the Late Qing Experience...... 54 3.1 Innovations and inventions in genres and themes...... 57 3.2 Evolutions of narrative techniques and structures...... 65 3.3 The elevation of fiction in its status and functions...... 84

Chapter 4. Conclusion...... 95 4.1 Pathways of localisations: a comparison between the early developments of Australian Chinese language fiction and Australian English language fiction...... 96

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4.2 From local to transnational: early Australian Chinese language fiction and other diasporic Chinese language fiction in the development of world Chinese language literature...... 107 4.3 Conclusion...... 118

Bibliography...... 121 Appendix I: Catalogue of Australian Chinese Language Fiction from 1894 to 1912...... 131 Appendix II: Translated Fiction Published in Australian Chinese Language Press from 1894 to 1912...... 151 Appendix III: Stories with Foreign Contents Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction between 1894 and 1912...... 152 Appendix IV: Local Stories Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction between 1894 and 1912...... 154 Appendix V: List of Fiction Written by Mainland Chinese Novelists and Reprinted from Other Chinese newspapers...... 156

ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction

There is a growing interest in Australian Chinese (language) literature in the fields of diasporic studies, Australian literature and overseas since the turn of the 21st century. In Australia, it follows the increasing focus on Asian Australian writing and more recently, the multicultural and transnational turn in Australian literary studies. Wenche Ommundsen, for instance, describes Australian literature as a movable cultural feast: constantly enriched by new arrivals and the ‘conversation’ between different literary and cultural traditions (2004). She maintains that Australia’s transnational literary heritage is also multilingual with linguistic, formal, generic and cultural influences from other traditions (2012:3-4). Robert Dixon also advocates the need of Australian literary studies to be more aware of non-Anglophone traditions (2007:17) and a transnational approach to chart the international migration and local adaptation of literary forms in genre-based research (2007:23-24). Chinese Australian writing, as part of Asian Australian writing, has been recognised as an important and growing category within Australian literature since the 1990s1, and have contributed significantly to the cultural and linguistic multiplicity, in Michael Jacklin’s words (2009:3), in the multicultural and transnational dimensions of Australian literature considering the long history of Chinese migration to Australia.

Fiction produced in the Australian Chinese diaspora at the turn of the 20th century is the subject of my research in this thesis. It is one of the earliest diasporic genres in Chinese Australian writing, present scholarships tend to focus heavily on the contemporary English language fiction written by local Chinese authors.2 While a large part of Chinese language writings goes unnoticed, this is especially the case with Chinese language fiction produced in the early days of local Chinese communities more than a hundred

1 Wenche Ommundsen (2011) has summarised the status of current research of Chinese Australian writing and listed a sizeable body of literary criticism in this field. 2 Brian Castro (born in Hong Kong in 1950 and has lived in Australia since 1961), Hsu-Ming Teo (born in in 1970 and immigrated to Australia in 1977) and Ouyang Yu (born in China in 1955 and arrived in Australia in 1991), for instance. 1 years ago, which laid the foundation for Chinese Australian Writing but has long been ignored in research.

My research aims to enrich the established knowledge of the history and development of Chinese language fiction in Australia by filling a gap in the study of Chinese language writings produced in the early Australian Chinese diaspora, and to restore the full landscape of how Chinese language fiction sprouted, set root in Australia, and subsequently evolved towards a modern diasporic literary tradition through its initial development.

It is important to give an accurate nomenclature to these early Chinese language writings as departure for my discussion. The study of Chinese language fiction produced in Australia falls into the categories of Chinese Australian writing as well as overseas Chinese literature. However, the naming of both categories remains debatable: Chinese Australian writing can be accounted for under the rubric of diasporic writing, multicultural writing, ethnic writing or transnational literature, but the problem is that none of these terms can clearly specify the language used. For example, Chinese Australian fiction or diasporic Chinese fiction can also contain works written in English or other community languages as long as the author is Australian Chinese; whereas the term of overseas Chinese literature leads to two easily-confused Chinese terms of huaren wenxue (, literally the literature of people of Chinese origin) and huawen wenxue (, literally Chinese language literature). As the study of overseas Chinese literature gains depth with time, overseas Chinese language literature, as a more crystallised concept that points to the language of the research subject, has become established in academia3 for the reason that its subject of study only deals with

3 Discussions of the concepts of Chinese literature and Chinese language literature can be read in a number of publications and papers published in various journals of Chinese literature. To name a few as examples, Chen Xianmao’s accounts (1999) of the definition, characteristics and development prospect in the first chapter of his book Haiwai Huawen Wenxueshi (, History of Overseas Chinese Language Literature), Taiwanese scholar Gong Pengcheng’s (2004) Morang Huawen Wenxue Dengyu Huaren Wenxue (, Don't Equate Chinese Literature with Overseas Chinese Literature), Rao Pengzi’s paper (2008) Haiwai Huawen Wenxue Zai Zhongguo Xuejie De Xingqi Jiqi Yiyi (,The Rise and Significance of the Studies of Overseas Chinese language Literature in Chinese Academic Arena), and Australian Chinese writer He Yuhuai’s (2010) Guanyu Huawen Wenxue De Jige Wenti ( , Some Issues of Chinese Language Literature). 2 texts written in Chinese. Literature produced by Chinese migrants but in other languages such as English is still part of Chinese Australian writing or overseas Chinese literature, but is no longer subsumed into the category of Chinese language literature. Following this proposition and based on the materials I have collected from the early Australian Chinese language press, I will adopt the concept of Australian Chinese language fiction and Australian Chinese language literature in my discussions in this thesis.

1.1 Critical reviews of current studies of Australia Chinese language literature

It is generally recognised and agreed4 in current academic circles that Australian Chinese language literature did not begin its development until the 1980s against the background of the Australian government’s multi-cultural policy and the resumption of Chinese migration, as well as the resurrection of the Australian Chinese language press. This formulation is probably partially true as we have witnessed the burgeoning of Chinese language literature development in Australia starting from the 1980s to the present. The reputable cultural figures who continue their writings in Australia and promising writers who have arisen from newer generations of Chinese migrants and students have both contributed to the boom of Chinese language fiction, poetry and prose in Australian Chinese communities.5 The appearance of quality literary works has won Australian Chinese language literature acclaim as a significant development in overseas/world Chinese language literature, and made it a focus of research in this field with increasing influence.

4 Qian Chaoying states that the rise of Australian Chinese language literature was marked by a number of literary events in the1980s and 90s (Rao (eds), 2009:186). Other books such as Chen Xianmao’s (1999), Gong Zhong’s (2000) and Ma Sen’s (2015) systematic introduction of the history and development of overseas/world Chinese language literature hardly mention any Chinese literature in Australian earlier than the 1980s. Similar views are also shared in some Australian Chinese scholars’ studies such as Mabel Lee (1998), Huang Yonglian (2001), He Yuhuai (2001, 2010), Zhang Jingfan (2001, 2011). 5 To name a few of the cultural figures: Liang Yusheng (, 1926-2009), who earned his fame as a master of or chivalric novels in Hong Kong and China, continued his writings after he migrated to Australia in 1987; Zhao Dadun (, 1918-2016), who was an educator in Hong Kong and Vietnam, is well-known for his classical Chinese poetry after moving to Sydney in 1983. As for the newer generation of writers, the contemporary Chinese poetry of Bing Fu () and Ouyang Yu(), the fiction of Huang Yuye () and Kang Ning (), and the essay of Zhang Aolie () are considered the outstanding pieces of contemporary Australian Chinese language literature. 3 Was the 1980s however the real beginning of Australian Chinese language literature? It is commonly recognised that the history of Chinese migration to Australia can be traced back to the early 19th century6. Also, as a matter of fact, the Chinese language press in Australia had quite an early history and had already made its appearance at the turn of the 20th century in the two cities with the largest Chinese populations: Sydney and Melbourne.

According to a few early attempts at searching for the origin of Australian Chinese- language literature (Liu, 1989; Lai, 1991), the early appearance of Chinese language prose and poetry in Australia over 100 years ago has been evidenced and broadly acknowledged. Liu Weiping, a distinguished scholar of Australian Chinese history, dug out copious records of (, 1873-1929)’s historical visit to Australia between October 1900 and April 1901 from early Australian Chinese newspapers. Liu dedicated two chapters in his book (1989:99-106; 144-177) to elaborating on the establishment of early Australian Chinese newspapers and on relevant materials of Liang Qichao’s activities in Australia including his itinerary, travelogues, poems and writings in various social occasions. Lai Bojiang, the very first scholar to write a general overview of overseas Chinese language literature, had also briefly mentioned some lines of poetry carved on stones found in the places where early Chinese labourers stayed and worked (1991:286). But such attempts are only limited to these findings, fiction and other forms of literature like drama are neither confirmed7 nor mentioned at all.

Without any further investigation into the early Australian Chinese language press, many subsequent studies simply quote or repeat these early findings. Even worse, this small clue to any possible germination of literature is sometimes ignored in discussions of the historical development of Australia Chinese language literature. For example,

6 There are multiple Australian and Chinese official and academic resources in regards to the early Chinese migration history to Australia. To list a few online source for examples: http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/chinatowns-across-australia; http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/ahc/publications/commission/books/pubs/tracking-the- dragon-section-a.pdf; http://www.chinesemuseum.com.au/history. 7 Although Liu modestly acknowledged the appearance of poems, prose and travel writings in early Australian Chinese language newspapers at the turn of the 20th century, he later commented, “I didn’t see any local fiction, it could have been there but I didn’t notice it. I just roughly remembered seeing the serialised novel of Geming Jun (, The Revolutionary Army) by Zou Rong (, 1885-1905)” in an interview conducted by Australian Chinese migrant writer Zhang Aolie (Zhang, 2003:18). 4 Huang Yonglian, who is a renowned Australian Chinese writer and the director of the Sydney Chinese Writers’ Association, once stated that “although Chinese people had arrived in Australia as far as more than 150 years ago, the Chinese language literature was a complete blank for this over-a-hundred-years’ time” (Huang, 2001:23). Chen Xianmao, who specialises in overseas Chinese literature study and has compiled a monumental 4-volumes book on the history of overseas Chinese language literature, even skips those early findings and jumps directly to the “golden age” (Chen, 1999(3):446) of Australian Chinese language literature in the 1980s and 90s, while, in other chapters of his book, the early Chinese language literature from southeastern Asian countries and United State is at least mentioned.

While acknowledging Liu Weiping’s findings of early writings from local Chinese newspapers, Zhang Aolie adopts a more careful description in two of his papers and claims the turn of the 20th century as a “sprouting stage” (2001:7; 2004:54) for the appearance of poems, prose and travel writings during Liang Qichao’s visit in Australia. Liu Xi Rang in his PhD dissertation also shares a similar viewpoint and states that “Chinese-Australian literature started from nonfiction. …… early Chinese-Australian writings were limited to nonfiction works, such as poems, antithetical couplets, diaries, memoirs and autobiographies” in his more recent study of Chinese Australian fiction (2007:69). However, Liu still arbitrarily limits the appearance of the early Australian Chinese language fiction by claiming that “from the gold rush to the 1940s, Chinese- Australians did not create any fiction. ……before the 1990s, no Chinese-Australian wrote fiction in Chinese about their lives in Australia” (2007:69). Even in Ouyang Yu’s latest discussion of the origin of Australian Chinese language literature, he only mentions a few diaries, memoirs or autobiographical types of writings on top of his acknowledgement of the existence of classical Chinese poems as the earliest beginning of Australian Chinese language literature (2016:120-125). No trace of any possible early Australian Chinese language fiction is revealed in his analysis.

5 It was not until the recent Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project on New Transnationalisms: Australia's multilingual Literary Heritage from 2013 to 20158 led by Professor Wenche Ommundsen that scholars in the field of transnational, diasporic and multicultural literatures in Australia has started to gain knowledge of the existence of early Chinese Australian writing. In Huang’s and Ommundsen’s brief survey of the Tung Wah Times () (2015:1-11), one of the earliest Chinese language press in Australia established since 1898, the emergence of the first literary writing in the Australian Chinese diaspora is confirmed. Their compendious analysis of a few short stories and poems published in the newspaper illustrate the functions of these early literary writings as to serve many and varied purposes in the Chinese community in Australia in the early years of Federation including seeking to define its diasporic identity while under considerable pressure from events in both their home and host countries (2015: 2, 8). However, Huang’s and Ommundsen’s analysis is limited to only one of the three earliest local Chinese newspapers in Australia. Without a careful and comprehensive examination of all these three early Chinese language newspapers, the early development of Australian Chinese language literature, especially that of the genre of fiction at the turn of the 20th century cannot be fully accounted for.

When we turn our gaze to the early Chinese literature history of other regions such as Singapore, Malaysia and North America, the appearance of various Chinese literary forms has been confirmed in the local Chinese language newspapers of the late 19th century9. Despite the fact that the urbanisation of Chinese migration also started to flourish in Australia at a similar time and hence gave rise to a fairly large readership of Chinese newspapers, the study of possible early Australian Chinese language literature remains as an uncharted terrain. After reviewing the aforementioned ideas which deny, ignore, undervalue and inadequately account for the existence of early Australian Chinese language literature, I couldn’t help but wonder: When is the real beginning of Australian Chinese language literature? If early Australian Chinese language fiction, which is most neglected in previous studies, indeed exists and has started its first

8 Please refer to the project website http://lha.uow.edu.au/hsi/istr/UOW148231.html hosted by Institute for Social Transformation Research, University of Wollongong for more information regarding this project. 9 See Kow (2005, 2009, 2011), Li (2010) and Yin (2000). 6 development at the turn of the 20th century, how did it happen and relate to the evolution of fiction in mainland China, its parent literature, as well as other overseas Chinese language fiction? And what values and contributions has it brought to the Australian literary experience and the modernising and localising process of this ethnic literary tradition? With these questions in my mind, I investigated the three earliest Australian Chinese language newspapers from 1894 to 1912 in order to further explore the clue initiated by Liu with the hope of finding an answer.

Based on my findings and also as an answer to Ommundsen’s question “When did ‘Asian Australian Writing’ come into existence” (2012:1) from the perspective of Chinese migrants, in this thesis I intend to put forward a completely different exposition to push the timeline of the real beginning of Australian Chinese language literature back to the turn of the 20th century during the initial development of the Chinese language press in Australia. According to the historical records available, there were three Chinese language newspapers at that time: The Chinese Australian Herald (Guang Yi Hua Bao ), The Tung Wah News (changed name to The Tung Wah Times in August, 1902, ) and The Chinese Times (Ai Guo Bao , its was changed to Jing Dong Xin Bao in February, 1905). The establishment of early Australian Chinese newspapers provided a place where educated Chinese migrants and intellectuals from China could continue with their literary creations in the diaspora in Australia. A considerable amount of fiction, poems, folk-play writings and prose can be found in the pages of these newspapers, which, from my point of view, has formed a substantial and inspiring debut of Australian Chinese language literature. Fiction, as a major literary form, occupied a very important position at this stage but was insufficiently studied in current scholarship. Hence it will be extensively investigated in this thesis.

1.2 Theoretical framework in world Chinese language literature, Sinophone studies, and Chinese narrative tradition.

Before proceeding with the discussion of this topic, it is necessary to clarify relevant concepts and theories that set out a systematic framework for my study of Australian

7 Chinese language fiction, as an important genre of Australian Chinese language literature.

The concepts of overseas Chinese language literature and world Chinese language literature

The concepts used in the study of the large amount of Chinese literature produced overseas have developed from the initial and very limited “Taiwan and Hong Kong literature” to the once popular “overseas Chinese language literature” and then to the mostly accepted “world Chinese language literature”10. Among those early attempts to demarcate this emerging subject, Chen Xianmao, who is often considered to be the first person to conduct a holistic study of the history of overseas Chinese language literature, gives a very representative definition of this term as “all literary writings composed using the Chinese language as an expressive device in countries and regions outside of China” (Chen, 1999(1):7) 11. However, the use of the term “overseas” (literally meaning ‘outside of China’) has been subsequently criticised as “less rigorously conceptualised” (Gong, 2000:4) for its historically sinocentric connotation that may give overseas Chinese language literature an inferior or marginal status compared to that of mainland China, which is conventionally regarded as the centre of Chinese language literature.

The criticism of “overseas” is raised in academia along with the introduction of a more extensive term “world Chinese language literature” which represents an evolution of the study of Chinese language literature from a hegemonic discourse of sinocentricism to the advocacy of pluralism, or multiple centres of literary development12. Liu Denghan (2004:134) records in his essay on the pluralism of world Chinese language literature that the notion of “multiple literary centres” was initially introduced by Zhou Cezong in

10 For a detailed account of the transition of these terms, see Qian Hong’s paper Cong “Taigang Wenxue” dao “Shijie Huawen Wenxue” – Yige Xueke de Xingcheng he Mingming (“”“ ”—, Formation and Naming of a Discipline: from “Taiwan and Hong Kong Literature” to “World Chinese language Literature”). 11 This book was firstly published in 1999. However, the theory of his book was developed from his early contribution of Haiwai Huawen Wenxueshi Chubian (A Preliminary Compilation of the History of Overseas Chinese Language Literature), a very primary version of his study published in 1993. 12 For criticisms of “overseas” or sinocentricism in literature, please refer to Gong (2004), Liu (2004), He (2010), and Zhu (2010). 8 1989 with the intention of recognising the importance of Chinese language literature outside of mainland China. Liu also points out that the notion of pluralism or multiple centres is unequivocally a form of existence and a way of development of world Chinese language literature originating from the Chinese diaspora across the world.

While “overseas Chinese language literature” can be included under the umbrella of “world Chinese language literature”, the ‘upgrading’ of this term removes the disparities between inland and outside, centre and margin by acknowledging the status of overseas Chinese literary centres and putting the study of Chinese language literature in a global perspective. For over a century, Chinese language literature in southeastern Asian countries represented by Singapore and Malaysia, and western countries like America and Australia has gradually formed a local literary tradition. These overseas regions could well be considered as literary centres. Together with the traditional literary centres of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, they jointly constitute the vast landscape of global Chinese language literature nowadays.

Gong Zhong (2000:5) provides a clear-cut definition of “world Chinese language literature” that is "classified based on language" and refers to "all literatures that are composed using Han Chinese language as an expressional device within the scope of the world", a slightly modified version compared to Chen’s. Gong’s definition has subtly eschewed the geographical argument of sinocentrism and managed to place overseas Chinese language literature into an equally important context of the mainstream Chinese literature under the rubric “the scope of the world”. The main directions of such research include the interrelations and mutual influences between the Chinese language literature in mainland China and other regions around the world, as well as their common natures and individual features.

Since my intention in this thesis is to probe the actual initiation of Australian Chinese language literature, it will be most suitable to describe it under the framework of the development of world Chinese language literature so that the full history and achievements of this diasporic literary tradition created by Australian Chinese migrants will be valued as a contribution to world Chinese language literature and no longer be

9 stereotypically treated as a sub-branch or a marginal extension of Chinese literature. Similar to other overseas regions such as Singapore, Malaysia and the United States, whose status has already been recognised as essential centres of Chinese language literature, Australian Chinese language literature as a whole also plays an important and indispensable part in the system of world Chinese language literature.

Based on Gong's theory, the prerequisite for the development of world Chinese language literature is Chinese emigration across the world, which subsequently contributes to the “three main pillars” (Gong, 2000:33) bolstering the development of the local Chinese language literature: local Chinese language school, Chinese language press and Chinese cultural and art communities. After my examination of the early Australian Chinese newspapers at the turn of the 20th century on the basis of other evidences supplied in Liu Weiping's and other scholars' studies of Chinese migration history in Australia, I will argue in this thesis for the existence of these three main "pillars" in Australian Chinese communities of that era, and then further demonstrate how the appearance of Chinese language literature in Australia became possible at a time when Chinese language literature also started to emerge in other overseas regions.

The concept of Sinophone Literature

My research into the early Australian Chinese language press and literature possibly falls within the scope of Sinophone studies as its focus is on the Chinese literary productions in the Sinophone communities where early Chinese migrants settled in Australia. The term “Sinophone literature”, with the Chinese translation as “Huayu Yuxi Wenxue ( , back translation is Chinese linguistic system literature)”, is very close to the term “world Chinese language literature” discussed above, nevertheless, we need to bear in mind the subtle undertone carried in its etymological context. As David Wang pointed out (2006:1-2), the corresponding words of Sinophone literature in other linguistic systems are Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanophone or Lusophone literatures. These literatures usually indicate the literary texts produced in the regions other than the native-speaking countries across the world using a language of the suzerain. Good examples are the English literature of West Indies, French literature in

10 West Africa and Quebec, as well as Portuguese literature in Brazil. Such “-ophone literature” generally features a strong colonial or post-colonial imprint. Its formation and development is often a reflection or the consequence of the hegemonic intervention of an external power to the native culture in an overseas region. However, the development of overseas Chinese language literature had faced and undergone a largely disadvantaged environment where the Chinese language mostly appeared as a minority language and has barely obtained an authoritative status in overseas regions13 compared to Anglophone or Hispanophone literature.

Keeping this context in mind, even though “Sinophone” is frequently used by academic writers to mean Chinese-speaking or written-in-Chinese, I believe the use of the term ‘Australian Chinese language literature’ is more appropriate for my study, than ‘Sinophone Australian Literature’ for the reason that the concept of ‘Sinophone’, as explicated by the American scholar, Shu-mei Shih, in her paper, The Concept of Sinophone (Shih, 2011), contains multi-layered implications of historical contents and linguistic multiplicity. In the context of historical processes and postcolonial theories, Shih views Sinophone literature as a situated literature in a given time and place which “exhibits commitment to the place where one resides” and “announces the expiration date of diaspora” (Shih, 2011:717). However, the most common usage of Sinophone in current academic discussions is usually associated with Chinese language literature in a modern, contemporary or post-colonial context. From this point of view, I believe it would be a safer and more appropriate use of Sinophone Australian Literature to describe the present-time Australian Chinese literature which embraces more contemporary features and localised commitments, but possibly not the case of the early development of Australian Chinese language literature over a century ago, especially when the diasporic Chinese communities in Australia were more akin to a “sojourning” status.

As for the linguistic layer, Sinophone writers, in Shih’s opinion, are not limited by monolingualism, ie. the universal/standardised Chinese language writing of Mandarin,

13 The only exception is Singapore. Chinese became one of the official languages when Singapore was officially separated from Malaysia in 1965.

11 but have shown negotiation between different dialects and local or indigenous languages. Jing Tsu also points out an “additional complexity of bilingualism” as the diasporic Chinese writings may involve other national tongues (Tsu, 2010:709). An example given by Jing Tsu is Eileen Chang’s written-in-Chinese novella Jinsuo Ji (1943) and her self-translated English version The Golden Cangue (1967). These works can be discussed under the topic of Sinophone literature even though they have traversed the boundary of Chinese language. Similarly speaking, a Chinese writer who lives in Australia and writes in English may well be considered as Sinophone Australian writer in this context. Based on my reading of early Australian Chinese literature in which all Chinese literary production from the 1890s to the 1900s is written in Chinese with no involvement with English or other indigenous languages’ writings, I believe “Australian Chinese language literature” is a more accurate term to faithfully reflect the content of my findings.

Both Shih and Tsu have also mentioned the differences between Chinese dialects such as and that are reflected implicitly in Sinophone literature. It is the case that the usage of Cantonese words can be observed in early Australian Chinese literature, especially back in the Australia of the late 19th and early 20th centuries where Cantonese Chinese were the main source of Chinese migrants. However, it should be noted that Cantonese, which belongs to the family of Chinese languages, also adopts the same Chinese writing systems/scripts and the same tradition of Chinese language literature. Hence there is no point here to identify Sinophone Australian Cantonese literature or Sinophone Australian Mandarin literature in this context.

History and theories of Chinese narrative tradition

According to my reading of the three available Australian Chinese language newspapers starting from 1894, the literature that appeared in these newspapers is mostly in the forms of classical prose and poetry, fiction and folk drama-script. As far as the Chinese language fiction of this period is concerned, its inheritance of classical Chinese literature can be clearly observed in the themes and genres it adopted, its use of classical language style and traditional narrative skills. In light of the significant influence of the classical

12 Chinese narrative tradition which is also the cultural root of early Australian Chinese language literature, I have applied the following studies to separate fiction out of numerous texts published in these newspapers and to examine its quality and values.

The first resource I utilised is the groundbreaking study on the history of classical Chinese fiction written by Xun (, 1881-1936)14. Not only he had traced the historical origin of Chinese fiction back to over 2000 years ago and attempted to provide his own demarcation of genres out of the complexity of classical fiction, he also summarised the development of different generic types of fiction in a chronological order of Chinese dynasties with a thorough analysis of the historical backgrounds, narrative techniques, merits and demerits of each genre as well as important works. His study covered almost the full range of narrative traditions in Chinese history from the legendary mythology of Pre-Qin era to the development of exposure novel in Late Qing period, including the supernatural tales and anecdotal stories that flourished in Han, Wei and the Six Dynasties, the middle-age advancement of Chuanqi or prose romance in , huaben or prompt-book of Song and Yuan which is deemed the beginning of vernacular Chinese fiction, and a range of outstanding historical, satirical fiction and novels of manners of the Ming and Qing Dynasties which are deemed as the pinnacle of classical Chinese fiction.

According to ’s textual research, the earliest conception of “fiction”, or in Chinese, “xiaoshuo (literally ‘small talk’)” that is close to the later understanding of fiction is defined in a speech of Huan Tan15:

“The writers of xiaoshuo put together odd sayings and small talks, use handy parables to make short stories that are with dictions worthy of reading (for the purpose of) self- cultivation and managing the household.” (Lu, 2011:5)

14 Lu Xun’s study titled Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Shilue (, A Brief History of Chinese Fiction) was originated from the lecture notes he prepared for his teaching in Peking University in the 1920s. His book was firstly published by Beixin Shuju, Beijing in 1925. My reading of this book is based on a re-published version by The Commercial Press in 2011. 15 Huan Tan (, 43 BC–28 AD) was a Chinese scholar and philosopher of the (202 BC– 220 AD). Further reading of his career and life can be seen in Loewe, Michael. (2000), A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC - AD 24), pp. 164–165. The original text of Lu Xun’s quotation is as follow: “”. 13

The word xiaoshuo in early Chinese history was used in reference to “the gossips and talks of the streets from hearsays” (Lu, 2011:6)16. This is also the earliest definition showing how this concept was primarily conceived in China. However humble or “small” as it is, the initial conception of fiction in classical Chinese literary tradition not only illustrates its forms at the beginning, but also points to a way to search for the possible emergence of fiction in the Australian Chinese language press at the turn of the 20th century, where a considerable amount of narrative writings could be found scattered in newspaper pages together with other news texts that are similar to “hearsays of streets”. 17

Among these writings, some can be singled out from news articles by their obvious literary traits. I tend to include this type of literati-processed “news-like” stories in the category of “fiction” or “xiaoshuo” following the Chinese literary tradition as described by Lu Xun. By naming these “news-like stories” as xiaoshuo, I don’t mean to create any confusion by mixing news as fiction here. What my intention in this part is to establish an idea that with the guidance of the traditional conceptual framework of classical Chinese fiction, such narrative writings found in early Australian Chinese language newspapers should be examined in line with the historical forms of classical Chinese fiction. These storytelling forms may involve parables, various tales of supernatural, anecdotic records, parodies, and humorous writings just as Lu Xun exposited in his historical study. It is true that the appearance of early Australian Chinese language fiction is quite different to some extent to the expectation according to the May Fourth paradigm18 or the modern conceptual standards of fiction. However, we must bear in

16 These are Lu Xun’s records of sayings from Ban (AD 32–92, a Chinese historian of the Han Dynasty), the original text is “” 17 For example, Huang and Ommundsen acknowledges the ambiguity of identifying what writing falls under the category of “literary” as opposed to journalistic reporting. See Note 6 in Huang and Ommundsen (2015), p10. 18 The May Fourth paradigm of fiction is recapitulated by David Wang (1997:16) on the basis of the propositions advocated by several known May Fourth reformists; they argue that the modern Chinese literature emerged from the anti-traditionalism prevailing in the May Fourth period and that May Fourth writings were nurtured largely on Western intellectual resources ranging from humanism and scientism. It has also been widely held that modern Chinese literature was dominated by writers’ concern with immediate national crises and that realism was the unique narrative mode expressing this concern. For further reading of May Fourth literature, please also refer to Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era edited by Merle Goldman, Harvard University Press, 1977; 14 mind that such presentation of fiction is also an inheritance from Chinese narrative traditions. As Yi pointed out, “the concept of fiction as a literary form had appeared in China with a history of over two thousand years…hence, it doesn’t require the application of western theory of fiction that came up in the later hundreds or thousands of years’ time to designate its artistry and manifestation” (1998:2). When we look into early Australian Chinese language fiction as a part of the developmental history of Australian Chinese language literature, the connection between these short stories or “pre-modern” classical fiction and the classical Chinese narrative traditions should not be ignored or discarded.

Chinese fiction has gone through a long history ever since its humble origin and has evolved to a variety of forms and genres. When this literary tradition was carried onto the land of Australia by early Chinese migrants, apart from the “small stories” as mentioned above, I also saw supernatural tales like Yiyuan Xueyuan (, The Loyal Ape Wreaks Grievance) and Guigu Xiansheng (,, Mister Ghost Valley), love romances like Pingshui Qiyuan (, Love by Encounters) and Pojing Chongyuan (, Reunion of the Broken Mirror), exotic adventures like Haiwai Qitan (, Strange Tales of Overseas), chivalric stories like Mazei Zhuxiong Ji (, Tale of The Horse Gang Man Wiping out Bandits), as well as serialised novels of manners like Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy) and Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring). Serving the various purposes of self-cultivating, entertaining minds, teaching of virtues, reflecting social lives and exposing vicissitudes as identified in Lu Xun’s analysis (2011:65, 102, 167, 263), these stories carry a familiar didactism that is an important feature of classical Chinese fiction. Traditional writing techniques passing on from Tang prose romances, and the prompt-book practices of Song and Yuan such as tipo (, prefacing the narration with poems or anecdotes) and pianmo chuijie (, ending with a moral preaching) were also popularly employed in early Australian Chinese language fiction.

Another important study I drew upon to examine and judge the substantiality of early Australian Chinese language fiction is Andrew Plaks’s distinction between the two

15 narrative branches in the Chinese context: historiography and fiction. In Plaks’s summary (1977:318), the former “deals primarily with affairs of state and public life while the latter takes up the slack to cover the more individualized and intimate details of the private lives of figures of varying roles or status”. Based on this judgment, I was able to untangle the complexity of the overlapping and bewildering Chinese narrative categories and separate fictional writings from news articles, historical accounts or documentary records in the early Australian Chinese language newspapers.

In Plak’s critical analysis (1977) of the uniqueness of Chinese narrative, he particularly investigated the variations in narrative rhetorical stances, patterns of narrative structure, as well as the characterisation and meaning manifested in Chinese narrative works that are distinctively divergent from the Western literary tradition. For example, the quality of omniscient narrative stance and the consistent impression of didacticism that emphasize judgment over pure narration; the episodic feature of narrative structures that are more concerned with small units and the tendency of composite characters rather than individual figures, evocation of meaning in the overall vision rather than in particular configurations of events. These styles or attributes of Chinese narrative presented in classical Chinese fiction were also carried into the early Chinese language fiction in Australia, which again shows its close cultural affinity with the traditional Chinese literary traditions. The traditional aesthetic pursuit identified by Plaks also enlightened me to the values of early Australian Chinese language fiction by apprehension of its total intelligibility through a broader prospective as an integral entity rather than the mere focus on individual pieces.

On top of the inheritance of traditional Chinese literary tradition, early Australian Chinese language fiction also received nutrition from the literary evolution of Late Qing fiction. The development of traditional Chinese fiction had undergone radical change in the Late Qing and Early Republican era under the impact of the introduction of western novels, and subsequently formed a fad of Xin Xiaoshuo (New Fiction). Chen Pingyuan (2005) conducted a detailed study of late Qing fiction and its creative achievement. The early development of Australian Chinese language literature also began at a similar period of time. Therefore, the obvious influence from the current New Fiction can also

16 be noted in early Australian Chinese language fiction. Almost all genres of Late Qing fiction even including the translated story can find their counterparts in the early narrative writings that appeared in Australian Chinese language newspapers at the turn of the 20th century, such as the many stories about detective, chivalry, court-case, romance, adventures and exposure of official depravity and social scams. Some of them also came with fashionable tags like scam fiction, social fiction, political novel, and so on. Most of the thematic elements of early Australian Chinese language fiction are closely related to political and social lives in mainland China, from which we can read out the underlying purposes in this literature of civil enlightenment, sarcasm or condemnation of iniquity. Again, this is in the same spirit of the didactic and awakening functions of late Qing fiction. As for narrative techniques, the early Australian Chinese language fiction started with an outlook carrying classical narrative traditions. It however gradually developed its new and modern characteristics that are also consistent with the advancements achieved by late Qing fiction. Examples such as the introduction of foreign concepts, characters and even overseas backgrounds, the transfer of narrative stance from omniscient to first/third person, the employment of inversion and psychological writings, and the point of view of spectator or traveller can also be observed in these early Australian Chinese language stories.

Apart from Chen Pingyuan’s theoretical study of late Qing fiction’s achievements and techniques, I also adopt David Der-Wei Wang’s research on the repressed modernity of the fin-de-siecle Chinese fiction at Late Qing period (1997). Inspired by Wang’s re- assessment of “repressed modernity”, I followed his clues to start a rethinking of literary history (1997: 21) as the status of early Australian Chinese language fiction is at a somewhat similar position to what Late Qing fiction used to be. Though the initial development of Chinese language fiction in Australia was neither repressed nor suppressed in the history, its existence has been wittingly or unwittingly denied, ignored by the academic circles of overseas Chinese literature and Australian Chinese history, not to mention its historical and literary values. In Wang’s arguments, he stresses that he is not attempting to downgrade or overthrow the importance of May Fourth literature, but instead to review the multiple possibilities of modernity that are shown in Late Qing fiction. Similarly, I am not going to debate the merits or demerits of the

17 current study of Australian Chinese language literature as part of the world Chinese language literature, nor to exaggerate the significance of Australian Chinese language literature at its beginning stage. My real purpose following David Wang is to restore the missing link in the history of Australian Chinese language literature, with an attempt to find out what genres, styles, themes and figures have been created in the Australian Chinese fictional writings over a hundred years ago.

1.3 Thesis structure

Following this introductory chapter, this thesis will be comprised of three main parts. In chapter two, I will briefly go through the socio-political and historical background of Australian and Chinese migration, as well as the history of the establishment of the early Australian Chinese language press at the turn of the 20th century. Subsequently I will focus on a detailed and comprehensive study of Australian Chinese language fiction from the 1894 to 1912 by examining its genres, styles, themes, authorship and readership, as well as the relationship between early Australian Chinese language fiction and the classical Chinese narrative tradition as an attempt to redefine the beginning of Australian Chinese literature.

Chapter three will then discuss the enlightening influence from late Qing fiction on the continual development of Australian Chinese language fiction towards a modernised and localised literary tradition by reviewing its evolution and innovation in narrative techniques, styles and themes, which is demonstrated in the achievements of its representative works including the milestone novel of manners Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy).

In the last and the concluding chapter, I will recapitulate my findings and further elaborate on the significance of early Australian Chinese language fiction through a comparative review with the Australian literary experience during the late colonial and early Federation period, as well as the concomitant developments of Chinese literary tradition in other overseas Chinese diasporas. Restoring the values of the early Australian Chinese fiction not only offers an up till now unexplored angle to enrich our

18 knowledge of the life experience of early Chinese migrants, and how the localising process of the diasporic Chinese literary tradition begins in Australia at the turn of the 20th century; it also reconnects such diasporic narratives with the modernising development of late Qing fiction in China as well as other early Chinese diasporic fiction, raising an opportunity to discuss their mutual interaction and influence, as well as their role to the transnational framework of the development of world Chinese language literature.

19 CHAPTER 2

The Early Prosperity: A Full Landscape of Australian Chinese Language Fiction at the Turn of the 20th Century

The Chinese language newspaper is a key element in the development of Australian Chinese language literature; Not only has it been of inestimable importance to the rapid growth of literature in the Australian Chinese diaspora (Chen, 1999(3): 444) since the 1980s1, it also witnessed the initial appearance of the literary writings produced by early Australian Chinese migrants more than a century ago. The early establishment of the Chinese language newspaper in the two decades of the 1890s and the 1900s is set against the background of developing Chinese urban communities in the two most populated cities in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne.

2.1 Foundation of early Australian Chinese language fiction: the birth of the Chinese language press in Sydney and Melbourne

Since the late 19th century, the mining rush in Australia gradually subsided and the colonial authorities started to enforce various “head taxes” and restrictions on the entry of Chinese migrants. The number of Chinese in Australia was accordingly in a steady decline, dropping from its peak at nearly 60,000 in 1860s to around 23,000 by the end of 1900s.2 Despite the fact that the Chinese population was decreasing on a nationwide scale, the Chinese communities in major Australian cities had a sizeable development following the trend of increasing urbanisation across Australia. As Paul Jones pointed out, “between 1880 and 1901, the concentrations of Chinese in capital cities across Australia grew two- to threefold” (2005:16). The growing number of urbanised Chinese

1 For further discussions on the relationship between Chinese language press and the contemporary development of Australian Chinese literature, please refer to the papers of Zhang, Aolie (2004) and He, Yuhuai (2010). 2 Numbers are quoted from the analysis of the Chinese population in Australia by Liu, Weiping (1989:40) and Paul Jones (2005:14). 20 migrants laid a solid ground for the emergence of the Chinese language newspaper3, and subsequently the early literary production of the Australian Chinese diaspora.

The attempts to set up a more formal and regularly-published Chinese language press in Australia started in the 1890s.4 By the end of the 1900s, there were three Chinese language newspapers circulating across Australia. Sydney, as a major focus of Chinese migration where the Chinese communities were rapidly developing, had two Chinese newspaper established during this period. The Chinese Australian Herald (Guang Yi Hua Bao , hereinafter referred to as CAH) was first published in 1894 through a partnership of Chinese and Europeans and circulated for almost three decades till 1923. Aiming for a mass readership from the Australian Chinese communities, CAH claimed to use a plain writing style that is intelligible to every reader5. This populist approach is also reflected in its respectable coverage of local events that served Chinese residents’ interests and concerns, and a comparatively neutral political stance in its journalism. Therefore, CAH was quite popular in the Chinese community with about 800 regular subscribers and an estimated circulation of 1000 copies per issue6.

Different from CAH’s emphasis on the local Chinese communities, the establishment of the other two Chinese language newspapers is more connected to the political movements in China at the turn of the 20th century. The Tung Wah News (Donghua Xinbao ) was the second Chinese newspaper in Sydney starting in 1898. It was renamed a few years later in 1902 to The Tung Wah Times (Donghua Bao , hereinafter both The Tung Wah News and The Tung Wah Times will be referred to as TWT) and circulated well over 30 years till 1936. Initially managed and jointly funded by several successful Chinese merchants, TWT was closely related with the NSW Chinese Merchants’ Society7 and the NSW Chinese Empire Reform Association8

3 For further reading of the history of early Chinese language newspapers in Australia, please refer to Liu (1989: 99-105) and Bagnall (2015). 4 The first Chinese language newspaper published in Australia was established by an Englishman Robert Bell in Ballarat, 1856. This newspaper was titled The Chinese Advertiser () and only lasted for 2 years to 1858, consisting mainly of advertisements and government announcements. 5 CAH, Editor’s statement, 18940901, p1. 6 See, Liu (1989), p101-102. 7 The NSW Chinese Merchants’ Society (1903-1912) was the former body of the NSW Chinese Chamber of Commerce (1913-1965). 21 founded in 1899. It had soon become the promotional organ of the Chinese monarchists especially after Liang Qichao’s visit to Australia in 1900.

In 1902, Melbourne, another hub of Chinese migrants, also had The Chinese Times (Aiguo Bao , hereinafter referred to as TCT) come on stage. It was firstly created by an ex-TWT-editor who had different opinions on Chinese politics, and then was taken over by the Melbourne arm of the Chinese Empire Reform Association9 in 1905 with its Chinese name changed to Jingdong Xinbao (). Its English title however remained the same until its publication suspended in 1914.10 The establishment of TCT had branded with distinctive political interests in promoting China’s republican movement and rivalling against TWT’s monarchist advocacy right from its beginning.

These Chinese language newspapers were not only distributed in Australia, but also throughout the Chinese diasporic communities in New Zealand and the Pacific region. However, the actual figures of their circulations are scarcely recorded. Previous studies have estimated that the weekly prints of these papers should run around 800 to 1000 copies each, and up to 6000 copies altogether11. Based on the Chinese population in Australia at that time, it could be safely worked out that there should be one regular reader in approximately every 30 to 40 Chinese migrants. The extensive circulation and comparatively long lastingness of the early Australian Chinese language press prove the fact that they were well received in the local Chinese communities and were a popular channel for the communications of the diaspora.

8 The NSW Chinese Empire Reform Association, active mostly between 1899 and 1911, was affiliated with the international monarchist movement of overseas Chinese chaired by Kang Youwei (1858-1927) and Liang Qichao (1873-1928) and adherent to the cause of maintaining China’s monarchy with constitutional improvement. 9 Although it shares the same English title as its Sydney arm, the Melbourne arm of the Chinese Empire Reform Association was quite radical in Chinese politics and eventually disassociated itself with the Sydney arm and the international monarchist movement due to its preaching of China’s republican movement and revolution. Its Chinese name was changed to Xinmin Qizhi Hui (, literally New Citizens Enlightenment Society) in 1904 and later on to Shaonian Zhongguo Hui (, literally Young China League) in 1911. It eventually became the Melbourne branch of the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1915. 10 It was later on taken over by the Chinese Nationalist Party in Australia and continued to be published under difference Chinese titles as Ping Bao (, 1917), and Min Bao (, 1919-1949). Its publication had moved from Melbourne to Sydney since 1922 and stayed in print till around 1950. 11 The distribution and circulation of the early Chinese language press are briefly indicated in the following studies: Rudolf Lowenthal (1936), Liu Weiping (1989), Huang Yuanshen (1998), Paul Jones (2005) and Mei-Fen Kuo (2008). 22 Mei-Fen Kuo also pointed out another significance of the early Australian Chinese language press that it was the only foreign-language press in Sydney to publish without interruption over three decades from the 1890s to the 1920s (2008: 37). However, these important resources are much less utilised in current research. Prior studies, such as Yu Lan Poon’s examination of the early Chinese language press (1986) and her discussions of a few contemporary issues raised from it (1995), as well as Michael Williams’s general analysis of the first few years of TWT (2003) 12, have mainly focussed on the layouts and publication histories of the newspapers, as well as the political essays, advertisements and news reports published in them. The only exceptions I noticed are Mei-Fen Kuo’s recent papers (2010, 2011, 2013) on a variety of narratives of the early Chinese communities at the turn of 20th century where she has made note of the appearance of the first Australian Chinese language novel and discussed its values13. Still, there is hardly a monograph, nor a chapter in these studies to specifically explore the possible literary writings on these newspapers. With no less than eight pages of each issue, these newspapers contain more than just advertisements and news articles. There is a considerable amount of literature-related content published in these newspapers that has been basically ignored or undervalued by the researchers.

This possibly explains why early Australian Chinese language fiction is never mentioned. Unlike the comparable developments of Chinese language literature in other early overseas Chinese diasporas in America and Southeastern Asia, the status and growth of early Australian Chinese language literature is often overlooked or even denied in the system of world Chinese language literature due to the inadequate investigation of early Australian Chinese language literary materials.

Gong Zhong (2000) theorised the important factors in support of the worldwide development of Chinese language literature as “three major pillars”, which are the

12 See also Qiu Jie’s discussions on the life of Late-Qing Chinese migrants in Australia (2005). Even in a few earlier papers of Mei-Fen Kuo on the early Australian Chinese diaspora and identity (2008, 2009), the contribution of early Australian Chinese language literature is not mentioned nor studied. 13 Kuo makes use of the novel Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy) to account for its connotation on the female, brotherhood and socio-political narratives of the settlement of early Australian Chinese community. However, she has mistaken and incorrectly cited the publication dates of this novel in two of her papers (2010, 2011) and her latest book Making Chinese Australia (2013). She also incorrectly quoted Jiangxia Erlang (), the author of another Australian Chinese language fiction Zuanshi Yuezhi as the author of Duoqi Du (2013:222). 23 Chinese language press, Chinese cultural and art communities and Chinese language schools. He specifically indicated that the existence of early overseas Chinese language literature relies on the supplement pages of the (Chinese language) newspapers (2000:34). Since we have discussed the establishment of the early Chinese language press in Australia, the evidences of the other two pillars supporting the early development of Australian Chinese language literature can easily be spotted if we go through these newspapers carefully enough.

For example, CAH had reported several Chinese couplet writing contests organised by the Sydney National Language Society (/) and the Society of Seeking Folk Practice ()14. It is worth noticing that these two organisations were formed for the purpose of cultural and art activities, which are quite different to other types of tongs and associations based on place of origin, family clan, political or business needs that are usually seen in the early history of Australian Chinese. In addition to this clue, the early establishments of Chinese language schools in Melbourne and Sydney around the years of 1909 and 1910 were further recorded in the local Chinese newspaper at that time. Such reports include articles to promote the importance of Chinese language education, appeals for the funding of school operation, as well as news about the Chinese teachers coming from China and the opening of the school.15

All this evidence clearly suggests the early Chinese migrants were more than labourers and businessmen; educated migrants, intellectuals including bilingual elites and probably cultural figures from China are also a part of the newly developed Chinese communities in Australia. The boom of early Australian Chinese language newspapers at the turn of the 20th century provided an important platform for these people to continue with their literary production.

14 See CAH, 18950816, p4; 19060609, supplement page; 19080404, supplement page. 15 See TWT, 19090313, p2; 19090515, p7; 19100108, p7; 19100226, p7; TCT, 19091023, p10-11. 24 2.2 Australian Chinese language fiction from 1894 to 1912

I have carried out an examination of the initial years of the three earliest Australian Chinse language newspapers from 1894 to 1912, which falls into the timeline of the turn of the 20th century. This roughly twenty years of time is also a crucial period in both the histories of China and Australia as it covers the first ten years of the newly founded Commonwealth of Australia, as well as the last ten years of , the final imperial rule in China. Both countries had undergone drastic changes in their political, economical, and socio-cultural developments. As explicated in Huang’s and Ommundsen’s survey of in the TWT (2015), the early Chinese Australian literary writing can keep the local Chinese communities in touch with events in the homeland at a time of national crisis and enable them to share their feelings of frustration and sadness; it is also instrumental in fostering a sense of solidarity and forging a diasporic identity both within Australia and beyond. Therefore, to what extent this era of vicissitude and uncertainty was reflected in the Australian Chinese language literature of this period and how it facilitated the shaping of local Chinese communities would be quite a meaningful topic for the study of the early Chinese diaspora.

Following the clues indicating the possible appearance of literature in the early Australian Chinese diaspora, my examination managed to identify and recover a solid quantity of literary contents published in the local Chinese newspapers during this period. These findings constitute diversified literary genres such as poetry, fiction, prose, pianwen (, parallel prose), couplets, biographies, banben (, Chinese opera scripts), and folk rhymes represented by Cantonese folk tunes (). However, only a small portion of this vast corpus of early Australian Chinese language literature has been brought to academic attention, for example, the poems and travel essays about Liang Qichao’s visit in Australia (Liu: 1989; Zhang, 2004; Xia, 2007), a few pieces of fiction quoted in Mei-fen Kuo’s studies on early Australian Chinese communities (2010, 2011, 2013), and some early Australian Chinese language stories and poems of the TWT investigated by Huang and Ommundsen (2015). While the majority of literary writing remains an uncultivated land, the lives of the early Australian Chinese diaspora presented in these literary materials as well as the historical and literary values of these

25 Chinese literary writings in the development of Australian Chinese language literature as both a diasporic and a localised ethnic literary tradition are largely overlooked.

By focusing on the Chinese language fiction, for being one of the earliest diasporic Chinese literary genres, published in these local Chinese newspapers from 1894 to 1912, this chapter attempts to restore the missing link in the development of Australian Chinese language literature and the history of the Australian Chinese diaspora.

Based on my readings of the extant pages of the early Australian Chinese language press, a total of 445 texts (See Table 1) can be identified and categorised as fiction or xiaoshuo, which is a more specific and accurate term in Chinese. This number has excluded some confirmed works of known Chinese novelists and the writings noted as a reprint from other mainland or overseas Chinese newspapers. With this reasonable amount, these early stories have constructed an important narrative of the early Chinese diaspora that should never be neglected.

The Tung Wah News / Tung Wah Times 140 The Chinese Times 114

The Chinese Australian Herald 191 Total 445

* Table 1. Australian Chinese language fiction from 1894 to 1912

The early Australian Chinese language press is mostly printed weekly with between eight and twelve pages for each issue. In the initial years of these local Chinese newspapers, there was no specific page layout based on different topics or contents. Accordingly, the writing of fiction was found randomly in the newspaper pages together with other articles such as news reports, political essays and commercial advertisements. It is clear that fiction, as well as other forms of literature like poems and drama-scripts, are generally given less priority as they were generally located after social, political and military updates, and essays on current affairs. In the later development of the Chinese newspaper business in the first ten years of the twentieth century, the number of newspaper pages gradually expanded to include a few supplement pages. The addition of supplement page not only served to accommodate various public announcement and

26 more commercial advertisements for the business needs; it also offered more spaces, usually with a specific section or column, for literature. Since then, fiction gradually increased its appearance in the supplement pages of these newspapers.

Language Styles and Forms

The development of Chinese fiction in the traditional Chinese literary tradition comprises two branches of language system: wenyan xiaoshuo (, fiction written in classical Chinese) and baihua xiaoshuo (, fiction written in vernacular Chinese). Wenyan was once the prevalent written language and deemed as a higher artistic genre in the production of Chinese literature; whereas the writings composed in baihua was mostly associated with popular literature. Patrick Hanan (1967:175) roughly described the main characteristics of these two language styles as referential, denotative and exhaustive for the vernacular; elegant, evocative, concentrated and elliptical for the classical.

In my findings, both language styles were used in early Australian Chinese language fiction, with a majority of them written in classical Chinese. There are only thirteen (the TWT – 2, TCT – 8, the TCT - 3) stories, out of the total of 432 pieces of fiction, that are completely written in vernacular Chinese, and another ten (TWT – 4, TCT – 5, CAH - 1) are written in qianjin wenyan (, a simplified version of classical Chinese in between the formal classical Chinese and vernacular, which is less colloquial in style but maintains a smooth readability). The prevalent use of classical Chinese in early Australian Chinese literary productions is not only because its concentrated yet evocative style can better fit the limited spaces in the local Chinese newspaper pages, it also signifies a close connection between these early Australian Chinese stories and the traditional Chinese narrative traditions.

Hanan (1967:175) has noticed an important change in the vernacular narrative prose showing a growing tendency to use an evocative way derived from the Qing dynasty novels. The shift of the narrative style of vernacular Chinese was further manifested in the rising tide of vernacular movement starting in the late Qing period, during which

27 the status of wenyen in Chinese literature, particularly in the writing of xiaoshuo, had gradually given way to the advocacy of baihua.

The appearance of vernacular or simple classical Chinese stories in the local Chinese newspapers at the turn of the 20th century is more or less a direct influence of late Qing’s vernacular movement in literature. Among the early Chinese language press, TCT has the most supportive, or radical others may say, stand on late Qing’s cultural and political movements in China. When this is shown in the preference of language style in early Australian Chinese fiction, more vernacular fiction is found in TCT than the other two Chinese newspapers.

The appearance of vernacular fiction is also related to the readership. Due to the fact that early Australian Chinese migrants were mostly from the rural towns and villages of province, namely, Cantonese, the local fiction writers were clearly aware of this vast base of readers and thus stories written in the vernacular language of Cantonese were also witnessed.16 Writings in the colloquial form of this South China dialect could have an earthier and more natural effect on the Cantonese migrants in the early Australian Chinese diaspora. For example, Niunv Tanqing17 insinuated the grief and lovesickness of the wives staying back in China’s countryside, longing for their husbands who had gone to make a living overseas, into the story through a replotted conversation between the cow herd and the weaving maid from a traditional Chinese legend. When the story is delivered in this most native and familiar tone of language, it easily produced a catching and empathic effect on its readers. This is exactly the evocative function of vernacular language as Patrick Hanan pointed out in late Qing vernacular fiction. It can also be considered as a very solid attempt of localisation in the early development of early Australian Chinese fiction.

The close link between early Australian Chinese language fiction and the classical Chinese narrative tradition is also reflected in its forms. It has to be noted that a majority of fiction I found appear in the form of short stories, records of anecdotes and

16 This tendency is even more noticeable in the genres of traditional banben (, drama-script) and Cantonese folktunes such as muyu ge (, wooden fish songs), longzhou ge (, dragonboat songs), and yue ou (, Cantonese ballads) found also in the early Australian Chinese language press; 17 Niunü Tanqing (, Love Talks between The Cowherd and His Maid), TCT, 19090904, pp.9-10. 28 conversations, jokes and parodies resembling those commonly found in traditional Chinese biji xiaoshuo (, jottings or literary sketches): most of their lengths are around several hundreds to a few thousands of . The smallest pieces of them, which are both jokes, are even less than a hundred.18 This probably explains why these stories are easily ignored in academic research. On one hand, such narrative writings can conveniently be confused with news articles due to their notable brevity especially when there is no specific labels or columns for literary works in the early Chinese language press; on the other hand, these stories show significant similarities to the features of traditional Chinese xiaoshuo, which has distinctive connotations to the xiaoshuo in modern Chinese literature as well as Western ideas of fiction. 19 As a result, their presentations and values can also be misjudged and underestimated if we review these writings only based on the norms of modern Western literary theories.

The simple form and terse language style of the early Australian Chinese language fiction evinces its cultural derivation of traditional Chinese xiaoshuo. This finding echoes one of the characteristic of the multicultural writing in Australia brought forward by Ommundsen (2004) that the writing of ethnic minority writers tends to derive more directly from their cultural roots and deal with issues of migration and cultural heritage in a straightforward manner without the stylistic and structural sophistication associated with European modernism and postmodernism. It is essential then for us to jump out the constrained perspective of applying westernised or modern fiction theory to these early Chinese language stories, but to acknowledge the influence from traditional Chinese xiaoshuo and examine them in accordance with the criticism and theories of classical Chinese narrative tradition.

In the previous chapter, I briefly mentioned the humble beginning of fiction in Chinese literature history as xiaoshuo, which originally referred to “small talks” or “street

18 Canshang (, Orion and Scorpius, TCT, 19110630, p9) only has 76 Chinese characters; Laokang Zhazhi (, Squeezing Juice out of Chaff, CAH, 19050722, p5), 97 Chinese characters. 19 The differences between xiaoshuo in ancient China and the current usage of xiaoshuo in modern China as a literary genre and the equivalent translation of the Western concept of fiction have been discussed in several authoritative studies. See Mair (1983), Ma (1986) and Gu (2006) for further readings. Especially in the “Chinese Notions of Fiction” chapter in Gu’s Chinese Theories of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System (2006, pp.17-42), Gu has a very detailed and insightful discussion based on previous scholars’ opinions on this topic. 29 gossips”. Developing from this origin, traditional Chinese fiction contains a large corpus of narrative materials recording all sorts of stories, hearsay, anecdotes, events, and notes on miscellaneous subjects, anything that is considered to be insignificant and unofficial compared to the orthodox learning, history and classics. There has been abundant research on this Chinese narrative tradition by discerning Chinese and Western scholars. Luo Fu regarded the writings of xiaoshuo “with the utmost simplicity and perspicuity are the orthodox of this genre”20; Jordan Paper characterised such stories as “recorded in a journalistic fashion” and “usually short and written in a strange but factual incident, more in the style of journalism than fiction”21; Victor Mair even understood xiaoshuo as “to gossip and report” 22. The formal essence of brevity and clarity of the ancient form of Chinese xiaoshuo is also reflected in the stories found in the early Australian Chinese newspapers.

What I want to point out here is that despite the controversy on the nuances between the denotations and connotations of the terms xiaoshuo and fiction, xiaoshuo has been used both by the general public and academia as a literary genre in modern Chinese and as a loose translation of the Western concept of fiction. Moreover, this unique feature of the xiaoshuo tradition not only appeared in the early development of Chinese fiction, it was also carried on through to the late Qing and early Republican fiction at the turn of the early 20th century23. Therefore, when examining Australian Chinese language fiction, we should seriously consider the values and influences of traditional Chinese narrative traditions on these early productions from the Chinese diaspora. Those pieces that culturally inherited the traditional Chinese narrative traditions, however simple or short their forms are, should not be excluded from the study of Australian Chinese language fiction.

20 Luo Fu (, active from the late 18th to early 19th century) was a novelist in Qing Dynasty. His preface to his novel Chenlou Zhi () was often quoted by traditional Chinese xiaoshuo scholars. The words I quoted is from a quotation in Gu (2006), p.34. 21 Quoted in Mair (1983), p.24. 22 Mair (1983), p.22. 23 In The Columbian History of Chinese Literary (Mair(eds), 2001), Rania stated in “The Supernatural” chapter (p.131) that “The tradition of writing about the supernatural continues in the late Ch’ing; Western-style periodicals such as the daily newspaper……also contain familiar chih-kuai material, tales of haunting foxes or moral retribution, in that new frame work”; James M. Hargett also mentioned in the “Sketches” chapter (p.564) that “This pi-chi tradition continued to flourish through the Ch’ing dynasty.” Chen Pingyuan (2010:226) has similar accounts on the popularity of writings of supernatural tales, records of remarks and anecdotes in late Qing period. 30 That being said, there are also much more mature forms of xiaoshuo that appeared in the early Australian Chinese language fiction that make it an important genre of diasporic literature: stories like Xiaseng, Meihua Nv and Chanqing Ji24 represent the novelette forms of classical tales comparable to chuanqi (, prose romance) and the biji xiaoshuo of Ming and Qing dynasties. Serialised fiction such as Zuanshi Yuezhi and Duoqi Du25 are well-developed and sophisticated enough to be called a novel of manners; we can also find the new fashion of fiction writings such as Haiwai Qitan and Yidali Huangzu Zhi Aihechao26 that were up-to-date with the innovations of late Qing new fiction by absorbing the influence of Western fiction into the traditional xiaoshuo form.

Based on the above discussion, the emergence of simplified classical and vernacular Chinese as a narrative language of Australian Chinese fiction after 1905 had already shown a progressive development that is in tune with the revolution of narrative tradition occurring in late Qing fiction at the beginning of the 20th century. This trend is also exhibited in the diversified forms of the early Australian Chinese language fiction, which shows that these writings not only are closely connected to the classical Chinese narrative traditions as their cultural root, they are also up to the date with the development of fiction in late Qing China.

Genres and themes

In light of the connection between early Australian Chinese fiction and the classical Chinese narrative traditions, it is necessary to review the genre history of traditional Chinese xiaoshuo before I proceed to the discussion of the genre of early Australian Chinese fiction. The division of the xiaoshuo genre can be done with respect to different criteria such as length, language, form, content and period of composition. It is easier to

24 Xiaseng (, The Chivalric Monk), 19101231p7, TCT; Meihua Nü (, The Maid of Plum Blossom), TWT, 19100723, p8; Chanqing Ji (, A Tale of Atoning Love), TWT, 19071214, p6. 25 Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring), published in 3 episodes in November, 1910, in TCT; Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy), published in 53 episodes from June,1909 to December 1910 in TCT. 26 Haiwai Qitan (, Strange Tales of Overseas), published in 3 episodes from 19010413 to 19010420 in TWT; Yidali Huangzu Zhi Aihechao (, The Love Tide of the Italian Royal Blood), TCT, 19080620, pp.9-10. 31 divide the traditional Chinese xiaoshuo into wenyan (, classical Chinese) and baihua (, vernacular Chinese) according to the language style; or changpian (, novel) and duanpian (, short stories) according to the length. However, such a simple demarcation is too general to sufficiently describe and reveal the generic nature of Chinese xiaoshuo.27

As a matter of fact, the study of the xiaoshuo genre is always problematic for both Chinese and Western scholars. The controversy is apparently due to the fact that the categorisation of the xiaoshuo genre was never really an independent discipline in traditional Chinese scholarship, but essentially a by-product, in the words of Laura Wu (1995:339), of bibliographers’ cataloguing efforts. In terms of ancient Chinese literati attitudes towards the xiaoshuo genre, Cheng Yizhong (2003) has a good summary of the traditional genre divisions of Chinese fiction, from Liu Zhiji( 661-721)’s classification of ten categories28, to Hu Yinglin(, 1551-1602)’s six branches29 and Ji Yun(, 1724-1805)’s three catchall genres30 in Siku Quanshu (, The Complete Library of Four Sections). As for Western scholars, Robert Hegel (1994:396) offered a division of biji, chuanqi, bianwen (, transformation texts), huaben (, story texts), pinghua (, plainly-told tales) and zhanghui xiaoshuo/changpian xiaoshuo ( , fiction in chapters or novels)based on xiaoshuo’s conventional forms. Y.W.Ma (Nienhauser, 1986:34-35) has gone even further to combine all the criteria and developed a thorough yet excessively detailed and complicated subdivision system under the two major genres of stories and novels.31

27 Chen Pingyuan (2010:206) pointed out in his study of the genres and evolution of Chinese fiction that a demarcation too simple is not the best solution. 28 Pianji (, records on matters), xiaolu (, minor records), yishi (, anecdotes), suoyan (, scrapes of remarks), junshu (, biographies of local elites), jiashi (, family histories), biezhuan ( , unofficial biographies), zaji (, miscellaneous notes), dili (, georgraphical records) and duyibu (, records of cities and towns). 29 Zalu (, miscellaneous accounts of anecdotes), congtan (, miscellaneous notes), bianding (, evidential researches, zhengui (, moral admonitions), zhiguai (, records of anomalies) and chuanqi (, tales of remarkable things). 30 Zashi(, miscellaneous events), yiwen (, unusual hearsay) and suoyu(, insignificant remarks). 31 Ma listed 5 sub-genres under stories which are pi-chi, chuan-chi, pien-wen, hua-pen and kung-an; and another 3 layers of 15 sub-genres and subdivisions under novels by incorporating Sun Kai-ti (, 1898-1989)’ s grouping framework on popular Chinese fiction. 32 It is worth noticing that Andrew Plaks had long pointed out the complexity of the genre demarcation of Chinese fiction. He (1977:316) argued that the difficulty of sorting out the genres and sub-genres of the narrative traditions and failure to constitute a clear generic demarcation in the Chinese context is attributed to the extensive overlapping historical and fictional branches of traditional Chinese fiction32. Chen Pingyuan’s account of Chinese xiaoshuo’s intermingling with history in its origin has further explicated this point (2010:207-211). In his analysis of the grouping and evolution of ancient Chinese fiction (2010:211-233), Chen has discussed respectively several genres represented by bowu (, broad learning of things), suoyan (, inconsequential remarks), yishi (, anecdotes), zhiguai (, record of anomalies) and suibizalu ( , jottings and miscellanies). Chen’s framework is clearly developed in the same strain as the ancient Chinese cataloguing tradition. Although anecdotes or miscellanies as generic types may include various discursive writings that one may find ambivalent, such genre divisions perfectly match with Andrew Plaks’ description of “flexibility” in the positing of the major narrative branches that carries over into the further distinction of the various sub-generic alternatives, and his conclusion that “it is more content categories than formal genres that actually inform the process of narrative composition in traditional China” (1977:318). According to Plaks (1977:323), such emphasis on content categories rather than on formal generic divisions is reflected in the perception of traditional writers and critics of Chinese fiction who have not felt the need to distinguish between the novel and other shorter forms within the general term for prose fiction hsiao-shuo.

When it comes to the genre divisions of early Australian Chinese language fiction, I tend to agree with Plaks perception of “content genres rather than formal genres”. Though genres or sub-genres like zhiguai, yishi, suoyan and zalu can be subsumed into one broad formal category of biji xiaoshuo (, literary sketches or jottings), we should be aware of the context of early Australian Chinese language fiction and the actual materials collected from the local Chinese language press. Due to the restriction of the size and lay-out of the early newspapers, even where there are serialised stories

32 That being said, Plaks managed to provide a list of quasi-generic categories along the narrative continuum from history to fiction based on the level of distinction between truth-telling and fabrication (1977:319). 33 published in quite a few successive issues, most fiction appear in a form resembling the biji narrative tradition: short, concise and involving various topics. Compared to the voluminous corpus of ancient Chinese fiction, the early Australian Chinese language fiction presents a fairly small quantity of works. If we simply base on the conventional form and bracket these local productions into catchall genres like biji, short stories or novels, the specific and valuable generic information of these works will then be easily missed in the academic study of this field.

This reminds me of a major problem I have noticed and would like to avoid from some studies of overseas or world Chinese language literature conducted by the scholars from mainland China. Once they classified the overseas Chinese literary production into the simple structure of “new literature” and “old literature” simply on the basis of their temporal range, then the whole discussion and analysis only revolves on the new, whereas the implications and values of the old are totally ignored just because they are “old”, out-dated or not up to the standard of the new literature.33

Therefore, based on the above-discussed study of the xiaoshuo genre and the actual materials I found on the early Australian Chinese press, I have summarised the most common genres of early Australian Chinese language fiction as listed in the form follow:

Genre in Chinese Genre in English TWT TCT CAH

Zhiguai Supernatural Tales 8 2 17

Zhiren Anecdotes of Persons 33 20 13

Shiqing Stories of Manners 29 17 45

Xienue Humorous Writings 40 34 65

Yuyan Allegories 12 19 13

Zalu Miscellanies 18 22 38

TOTAL 140 114 191

* Table 2. Common genres of Australian Chinese language fiction from 1894 to 1912

33 The most representative case is Chen Xianmao’s (1999) Haiwai Huawen Wenxueshi (《 》History of Overseas Chinese Language Literature). 34 Some of the early Australian Chinese language fiction, especially the earlier ones, were usually published without any signifiers indicating their genre. Adding tags or labels describing the generic type of their writings to the front of the story texts became a common practice of Australian Chinese language newspapers only at a later stage. Reading such labels has provided me with clues on the genre divisions of these stories. Such as the labels of yuyan (, fables), xietan (, humorous talks) and xiaolin ( , forest of jokes) clearly point out the nature of these writings as resembling the ancient Chinese xiaoshuo genres; the other tags such as jinshi xiaoshuo (, stories of current affairs), zhengzhi xiaoshuo (, political fiction) and shehui xiaoshuo (, social fiction) are more from the direct influence of the new fiction of Late Qing that features marking fiction as belonging to various new genres as a break from the stereotyped classical Chinese narrative tradition. The way the author or editor labelled these stories was fashionable enough at the time but has complicated the process of producing proper genre divisions. In order to avoid creating too many tags and confusion, my attempt at classification is built on the classical Chinese narrative tradition with reference to the tags already provided and still focuses on the content genres presented by these early stories.

Zhiguai and Zhiren tales are the two most commonly discussed genres of classical Chinese fiction. These two genres have been a fundamental element of the Chinese narrative tradition and developed in the history of Chinese literature from the entry form or the prototype of the artistry of Chinese fiction to the sophisticated and refined works that are comparable to the concept of modern fiction.

In the genre of zhiguai, which can be translated as supernatural tales or records of anomalies in English, we can see a wide range of narrations of ghost talks, accounts of strange events and records of man with supernatural power or the spirits of fox and other creatures34. Such stories are very much like those usually seen in the long classical Chinese literary tradition represented by Soushen Ji (, In Search of Spirits) of the Eastern Jin (317-420), Jiyi Ji (, Records of Compiled Anomalies) of Tang (618-907)

34 For instance, Guigu Xiansheng (, Mister Ghost Valley), TWT, 18980813,p3; Yiseng (, The Eccentric Monk), CAH, 18970101, p5; Yiyuan Xueyuan (, The Loyal Ape Wreaks Grievance), CAH, 18990812, p5, 18990831, p3. 35 and Taiping Guangji (, Extensive Records of the Taiping Era) of the Northern Song (960-1127). The themes of most of these supernatural tales are very similar to the traditional ones: retribution of karma, allusion to or satire of the reality, encouraging goodness and punishing evil through depicting various paranormal events, haunting of ghost and spirits, and netherworld experiences. Although the religious teaching from Buddhism and is less found in the local zhiguai stories compared to their equivalent in Chinese fiction, the focus on the theme of moral preaching shows that traditional Chinese moralities were still highly valued in the mind of early Australian Chinese migrants.

Meihua Nü (, The Lady of Plum Blossom) and Haiwai Qitan (, Strange Tales of Overseas)35 are the two most outstanding pieces of this genre from early Australian Chinese language fiction. The former tells of a young man’s encounter with a household of mother and daughter who are the avatar of plum blossom spirits; its beautiful writing and the tender depiction of the encounter run in the same groove as the very mature form of this genre such as Jiandeng Xinhua (, New Stories told while Trimming the Wick) of Ming (1368-1644) and Liaozhai Zhiyi (, Strange Tales from the Leisure Studio) of Qing (1644-1911). Especially Haiwai Qitan, an adventurous tale as its title revealed, records the adventures and various strange encounters told by a British seafarer to his Chinese neighbour living in Victoria. Its plot setting could even be considered as a breakaway from the classical supernatural tales as it no longer lingers in the modes of ghosts, spirits and religious karma of the traditional Chinese stories. While the main scenarios describe various monsters’ fights and wonders from the bizarre lands of overseas, it carries a theme of exploration with an audacious spirit that is very rare and extraordinary in this traditional genre of Chinese fiction.

In the classical Chinese narrative tradition, the genre zhiren or anecdotes of persons are mostly in the forms of short entries or jottings, recording the words and deeds of certain historical or cultural figures as some sort of unofficial account or apocryphal narration complementary to the history. From the thematic angle, there is no lack of typical

35 Meihua Nü, TWT, 19100723, p8; Haiwai Qitan, TWT, 190110413, pp.2-3, 19010417, pp.2-3, 19010420, pp.2-3. 36 stories of traditional religious/moral preaching in this zhiren genre of early Australian Chinese language fiction36. What are more observable are those pieces carrying a significant feature of the fin-de-siecle spirit of Chinese literature at the turn of the 20th century: the “persons” or characters that are recorded by these writings were extended to the images of valiant revolutionary37, hypocritical Chinese students studying abroad38, and even exotic figures such as a loyal French soldier39, Japanese female spies40 as well as the British queen41. Such an expansion to the traditional zhiren characters reflect the profound change in Chinese xiaoshuo that started in late Qing under the influence of radical social revolution and the importation of Western cultural and literary theories during that historical era has now spread to the early Australian Chinese language fiction. According to these snippets and anecdotes, we can pick out the onset of how this traditional xiaoshuo genre started its journey towards modernity in an overseas Chinese context. Whether it is about the praise of the revolutionary’s heroic deed, the censure of the pretence of those so-called “progressive youth”, or the account of foreign characters’ loyalty and virtues that are similar to traditional Chinese values, these zhiren stories were intentionally utilised by their authors to carry on the epochal themes of political enlightenment and patriotism in the local Australian Chinese communities.

The next genre shiqing, was referred by Lu Xun as the stories that “usually depict the joys and sorrows, separations and reunions, one’s sudden success or change in human life, as well as the ways of the world to witness the vicissitudes of life, intermingled with the theme of divine retribution but less accounts of supernatural” (2011:167)42. In my

36 To name a few: the revenge of a maiden in the imperial court in Ming Gongren Yishi (, The Anecdotic History of a Court Maid of Ming, TWT, 19080307, p8), an inspiring conversation between a Taoist Monk and a farmer on life and poverty in Gusong Zi (, Master Old Pine, TWT, 19091030, p7), and the snippets of infamies of China’s government officials in Guanchang Benjing Zhi Chouzhuang Liangze (, Two Ridicules of Chasing Shortcuts to Officialdom, TWT, 19050401, p2). 37 Mouguo Gedang Shu Mouzhishi Zhi Zhuanglie (, The Bravery of a Martyr Told by a Revolutionary of a Country), TCT, 19100924, pp.8-9. 38 Riben Mou Nüshi (, Some Lady in ), TWT, 19091113, p8. 39 Kuli Zhong Qinanzi (, A Remarkable Man of Coolie), TWT, 19070528, p8. 40 Zhentan Meiren Tan (, Tales of Spy Beauties), TCT, 19040615, p2, 19040622, p2, 19040706, p2, 19040713, p2. 41 Yinghou Jiali Yangqi Quanshi (, The British Queen Carie Pretending to be a Beggar to Encourage Charity), TWT, 19110107, p7. 42 The original Chinese lines by Lu Xun is “ ”. When translating this sentence, I have made reference of Yang 37 understanding, apart from what has been said in Lu Xun’s interpretation, those stories that tell of love romance, social mores of the era, and the follies of society could also fit into the framework of shiqing, or Stories of Manners. Though not every piece under this generic type in early Australian Chinese language fiction can be deemed as mature and sophisticated in its length and literary technique as the traditional category of Chuanqi or Shiqing Xiaoshuo (novels of manners), I am still inclined to integrate these types of stories into one genre considering the nature of their themes and contents.

In this genre, we can find love tales with distinct characteristics of the social and historical background of the . For example, Pojing Chongyuan (, Reunion of the Broken Mirror) is about a pair of lovers’ parting and reuniting during the Boxer Rebellion in China43; Yidali Huangzu Zhi Aihechao (, The Love Tide of the Italian Royal Blood)44, which depicts an Italian marquis’s commitment of love and daring to break the imperial rule to marry an American civilian lady. Though its writing is still heavily influenced by the traditional theme of scholar-beauty romance; the whole setting of plot development is completely based on exotic characters and events.

There is also an important fiction under this genre named Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring)45 that should not be overlooked. It tells a story of two Chinese labourers defrauded by two Australian prostitutes who cheat them of their precious diamond rings. As a local composition from the Australian Chinese diaspora, not only we can find its connections to the traditional edifying and exhortative stories such as those in Dupian Xinshu (, New Book on Stopping Fraud) of Ming (1368-1644), it also poses a response to the development of one of the very important genres of late Qing fiction, that is, fiction of excoriation which exposes hoaxes and social depravities. By disclosing the ordeal of Chinese migrants’ entrapment by the local prostitutes, it revealed whoring as a common phenomenon among early Australian Chinese migrants,

Xianyi’s and Gladys Yang’s edition of translation of Lu Xun’s A Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Yang, Xianyi; Yang, Gladys. (trans). Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 2009, p220). 43 Pojing Chongyuan, TWT, 19001031, p2. 44 TCT, 19080620, pp. 9-10. 45 3 episodes published in TCT in November, 1910, see Appendix I for the actual publication dates. 38 and further raised a didactic and admonitory theme to the readers of the early Australian Chinese diaspora about its harm.

Apart from love romance and exposure fiction, there is also a large quantity of stories presenting the social mores of the era and the local lives from the hometowns of these Chinese migrants and even the early Chinese communities in Australia, ranging from the trivial accounts of extramarital affairs or domestic disputes46, to the folk customs of wangqing (, Marriage to a Deceased Man) and Shinü (, Stone Woman)47, and to the titbits of local Chinese communities such as winning a sweepstake ticket or an adulterous next door neighbour48. The most representative work is a novel of manners titled Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy) published in TCT in 53 episodes49 from June 5th, 1909 to December 10th, 1910. It has a detailed depiction of the traditional folkways of the Cantonese countryside, and the lives of early Australian Chinese labourers in the mid to late 19th century including their painstaking journey to make a living in the wilderness of Australia. It presents an almost panoramic account of Chinese migrants’ lives in the early Australian diaspora from their struggling beginning in this strange land to their settlement in the Chinese community, and to the different life journey they go on after they return to China with their fortune. While the main aims of the writer clearly match with the current trend of civil enlightenment such as patriotism, unremitting efforts of self-strengthening, and the denunciation of the bad practices of opium, gambling and polygamy, the author also instinctively probed into the themes of ethnic identity, exile and nostalgia, highly valued in the later study of post-colonial diasporic literature, through the main characters’ conversations, thoughts and encounters. The exploration of these themes is a unique feature contributed to early Australian Chinese language fiction by this novel that is probably first seen in the

46 For instance, (, Retribution as the Heavenly Principle), CAH, 18961016, p3; (, The Flesh Pillow), TCT, 19070921, pp.6-7. 47 Daogui Xinniang (, The Bride that Acts Crazy), CAH, 18950329, p3, CAH; Sanshengshi Yuan (, Karma of The Three-Reincarnation Stone), TWT, 19001110, p3. 48 Fu Zi Lai (, Luck Bestowed from Heaven), CAH, 18941228, p6; Liao Bo Yixiao (, Worth A Laugh), CAH, 18950111, p6. 49 Although the ending episode has a subtitle of “52”, however the editor of TCT had wrongly marked the episode numbers starting from Episode 27, please Endnote 3 of Appendix I for the correct number of episodes; 39 contemporaneous late Qing Chinese fiction. It marks an outstanding exemplar of fiction writing in the later development of the diasporic Chinese literature in Australia.

The genre of humorous writing also has a large presentation in early Australian Chinese language fiction. Some are traditional jests about people’s follies50, and witty and glib speeches51 purely for the purpose of amusement. More meaningful and featuring the spirit of the time are the jokes and parodies with a satirical theme that mock debauched officials and rotten government in China, the injustice or disgrace of current policies and affairs, as well as the unfair and unfriendly treatment experienced by the early Chinese migrants in Australia. For example, Wenming Liqi (, The Edged Tool of Civilisation)52 invents a scene from a battle of the First Sino-Japanese War, fantasising about a victory committed by three thousand xiucai53 whose ink-writing frightens the Japanese soldiers and makes them beg for peace. However, the main demand from these xiucai turns out to be a mere teaching position in the Japanese education system. The humour created by such a contrast ridicule the obstinacy and pedantry of the stereotyped traditional Chinese scholars. This story betrays an underlying disappointment with the plight of China. Jieshi Xiaolin (, Joke from the Street Market) 54, which was written in vernacular Cantonese, made fun of the accounts in the TWT through the conversation of street vendors as a sarcastic reply to the conservative royalist ideas advocated by TWT during their debate on Chinese political ideologies.

Although traditionally the genre of allegory is a different form of writing to jokes and parodies, these two genres of early Australian Chinese language fiction can be jointly discussed. Most of the allegories share similar satirical and enlightenment motifs to some extent with the humorous writings; whereas some humorous writings also utilise allegory as a rhetoric device. For example, in Youmin Zhuan (, The Life of Youmin), a fictional character named youmin (the dawdler) living in the Opium Town,

50 For instance, Shuyao (, The Rat Poison), TWT, 19070323, p8; Bianzi Chengjing (, Queue Turning into a Spirit), TWT, 19120309, p8. 51 Shizhou (, Eating Congee), TWT, 19120309, p8; Tiemian (, The Iron Face), TCT, 19110603, p9; Kezi Xiaotan (, The Laugh Talk about Teaching Son), CAH, 18970924, p6. 52 TWT, 19070615, p8. 53 Xiucai , a title referring to those who had passed the first degree of China’s traditional official examination; 54 TCT, 19110923, p.6-7. 40 was created metaphorically to criticise the image of those idling Chinese opium smokers; in the parody named Laoxiong (, The Old Bear), the animal images of bear, tiger, lion and panther were used as an allegory of the Western powers coveting China’s benefits.55

Among all the allegorical stories recorded in the early Australian Chinese language newspapers, there is only one parable with the theme of traditional religious teaching, which is a Buddhist edification story to extricate readers from the obsession with money56. The focus of all other allegories and fables was mainly on the corrupt customs and the predicament of late Qing China. In these works, images such as “the sleeping country”, “the bandits’ realm”, “the gambling dice town” and “a wealthy landowner whose assets were embezzled by his eastern neighbour and visitors”, as well as anthropomorphised figures like the troops of ants and bookworms were created as allusions to the absurd and benighted reality of contemporary China.57

The last genre I would like to discuss in this part is the miscellanies, ie. zaji ()or zalu () in Chinese. This term generally refers to the collections of all sorts of miscellaneous and possibly inconsequential writings including anecdotes, literary jottings, unofficial records of history and biography, and trivial talks and speeches. These texts may be able to find a category from other genres of xiaoshuo depending on their themes and contents, or just simply be unclassifiable. The same situation applies here in early Australian Chinese language fiction. There are also a number of short entries or minor records that neither belong to news, prose, nor to any other major literary genres. I tend to subsume all these writings into “miscellanies”, which can be deemed as a loose or catchall genre under the broad definition of xiaoshuo according to classical Chinese narrative traditions.

55 Youmin Zhuan, TWT, 19060414, p6; Laoxiong, TCT, 19120727, p9. 56 Qianmeng (, The Dream of Money), TWT, 19060908, p6. 57 See Shuiguo (, The Sleeping Country), TWT, 19040406, p2; You Shuixiang Ji (, A Journey to the Sleeping Town), CAH, 19010518, p3; Daozei Shijie Ji (, Tale of the Bandits’ Realm), TCT, 19120914, p9; Sifangxu Ji (, Story of the Square Dice Town), CAH, 19060623, p4; Yibing Taodu Ji (, Tale of Ants’ Troop Conquering Bookworms), CAH, 19001006, p2. 41 These writings include, for instance, hearsay of sensational stories such as a dog saving its master’s life from the attack of kangaroo58; scraps of remarks or dialogues that satirise or condemn social injustice59; records of what one sees and hears in a tour or a battle60, as well as accounts of various unofficial history or anecdotes such as the origin of (, a plucked string Chinese musical instrument) and the quirky events of Russian anarchists61. Some of these narrations, such as Duwu Kewei (, The Frightful Poison) and Hu Wei Yan Wang (/, The Death of Tiger Caused by Opium) 62, are very close to the local lives here in Australia. Even though they were labelled as xiaoshuo in their appearance on the newspapers, the former is more like a scientific note sharing the experience of using opium to protect farmers from the invasion of dingoes; whereas the latter further developed the idea of the first piece and continued to demonstrate its toxicity by telling a story of how opium can kill a tiger. This again shows the “flexibility”, as described by Andrew Plaks, of the Chinese narrative tradition in genre division.

As I have indicated earlier in this section, parts of the early Australian Chinese language fiction also came with various labels indicating their genres and themes that are innovations to the classical literary traditions. This speaks of the situation that early Australian Chinese fiction once kept pace with late Qing fiction’s development in China.

In other words, we can even further classify the genres of early Australian Chinese language fiction according to the late Qing fiction’s styles, for instance, satirical fiction, fiction of exposure, heroic cycles, court-case fiction, and novels of manners. However, doing so can simply increase the complexity of the genre division of early Australian Chinese language fiction and become confusing and ineffective by giving too many names of genres and subgenres. In order to fully reflect early Australian Chinese connections with classical Chinese narrative traditions, I will stick to my generic

58 Mengshou Jingren (, The Shockingly Fierce Beast), CAH, 18950517, p4. 59 Yueyuan Xinyu (, New Talks from ), TCT, 19021105, pp.2-3. 60 You Yanchang Ji (, Record of a Tour to Saltfield), TCT, 19100205, p9; Guoliujiao Guanzhan Ji (, Watching the Battle of Guoliujiao), TCT, 19030715, p2. 61 Pipa Xiaoshi (, A Brief History of Pipa), TWT, 19091120, p8; Xuwudang Lishi Tan ( , A Talk on the History of Anarchist), TWT, 19090619, p8. 62 Duwu Kewei, TWT, 19081219, p7; Hu Wei Yan Wang, TWT, 19090206, p8. 42 categorisation as outlined in Table 2 and leave the specific influences of late Qing fiction for the discussion in the next chapter.

Authorship and readership

It is noteworthy that the authors of most of the early Australian Chinese language fiction are unidentified. Among all the stories retrieved from the early Australian Chinese newspapers, those with a name of the author or contributor account for less than one third of the total number. This is another example of the imprint of classical Chinese literary tradition on early Australian Chinese language fiction. In the history of classical Chinese literature, xiaoshuo is generally given a lower status compared to other literary forms such as poetry and prose; hence traditionally-minded Chinese literati in the past tended to regard writing xiaoshuo is an inconsequential deed and avoid naming themselves as a novelist or a writer of fiction. However, this situation was changed during the late Qing period under the impact of Western fiction. The status of xiaoshuo was quickly elevated in both the commercial market and in literary circles, and the concept of xiaoshuo also became closer to the modern sense of fiction. The number of fiction with author names identified was then noticeably increased. In the case of the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction, the names of fiction writers also increased in the local newspapers during the first ten years of the 20th century.

The names of fiction writers recorded in the early Australian Chinese newspapers are either traditionally-worded such as “Banxian Zhuren ((, lit. The Half-idle Master)”63, “ Yusheng (, lit. The Oratorical Scholar from Siming)”64; or being metaphorical reflecting the themes or spirits of their writings such as “Rexue Ren (, lit. The Warm-blooded Man)”65, “ Shi (, lit. Scoffing at the World)”66. However, the real identities behind these pseudonyms are most unlikely to be recognised due to the lack of useful clues for further investigation. The only exception is

63 CAH, 18950111, p6. 64 TWT, 19070420, p8. 65 TWT, 19010327, p2. 66 TWT, 19110826, p7. 43 those which can be easily confirmed as of established mainland Chinese fiction writers such as Bao Tianxiao (, 1876-1973), under his pen name Xiao () or Tianxiao () and Chen Jinghan (,1878-1965), under his pen name Leng ()67. Apart from that, some names are just a simple phrase indicating the native place of the writer, for example, “Jinyou Laihan (, lit. A Letter from a Friend from Tianjin)”68 and “Shunde Chencun Youren (, lit. A friend from Chencun, Shunde)”69. There might be only one or two that can be surmised to be the real names of the author, such as “Xinyang Shen Ding (, Shen Ding from Xinyang)” 70 and “Cai Wangyao ()” 71.

As an attempt to explore more clues of the possible writers of early Australian Chinese language fiction, I have also resorted to a number of reference works including the catalogues of late Qing fiction and Chinese popular fiction, and biographical dictionaries for late Qing and early Republican figures. 72 However, my cross-referencing of these resources yields no valuable inputs on the pen names or pseudonyms I recovered from the newspapers so far. Hence, to the best of my knowledge, I can only come up with a possible conclusion that the authors behind these pen names are most likely educated Chinese residents living in the early Australia diaspora who wrote and contributed their writings to the local Chinese newspapers. Pen names such as “Tianya Ke (, lit. Guest from the Edge of the Sky)”73 and “Nan Ren (, lit. Man from/of South)”74 subtly imply the sojourning identity of the author’s status. Other examples such as “Yaoluo Bu Zheng Xiong (, lit. Brother Zheng from the

67 There is also a pen name “Xing An ()”, author of Waifubu (, The Department of Foreign Attachment), TWT, 19080229, p8, 19080307, p8. Tian Xingliu (, 1874-1958), a late Qing early Republican Chinese poet of the South Society also used Xing An as his sobriquet (as listed in a poem published on Guangyi Cong Bao in , issue no.255, 19101231). However, whether there is any link between Tian and the author of Waifubu remains unknown as no records of this short story are found in the collections of Tian’s writings nor the catalogues of late Qing fiction available. 68 TWT, 19001031, p2. 69 CAH, 18961204, p4. 70 TCT, 19080215, p6. 71 TWT, 19081219, p7. 72 Please refer to the “primary source” section in the bibliography for a list of the catalogues I used. 73 TWT, 19060414, p6. 74 TWT, 19080222, p7. 44 Town of Yalwal)”75 and “Zhaoli Bu Cixin Wuneng Zi (, lit. Man of Mercy-Heart and Incapability from the Town of Junee)”76 clearly point out the name of the Australian town the author was from. The authors’ naming styles together with the narrations of local Australian lives reflected in their works77 have supplied evidence for my inference on their identity as the writers from local Australian Chinese communities.

Based on this finding, the majority of stories with no authors can also be considered as genuine narrations produced by early Australian Chinese migrants as these compositions were published only in the early Australian Chinese language press and have no records in other overseas or mainland Chinese resources. Although the true identities of the unnamed writers of these stories remain unknown and are basically impossible to recover, it is reasonable to assume that the editors of these early Chinese newspapers in Australia could be the possible authors of these diasporic stories. Being well conversant in Chinese and profoundly educated in traditional Chinese learning, these editors had every resource to write and publish their works in the newspapers they were appointed to. One supporting eveidence is the author name of Niunü Tanqing ( , Love Talks between The Cowherd and His Maid)78 appearing as “You Gong ( )”, a possible homophonic pseudonym of Wong Yew Gong (, ?-?) who was the editor of TCT at that time.

The editors of early Australian Chinese newspapers were a group of bilingual elites represented by Johnson Sun (, 1868-1925, also known as Sun Junchen) of the CAH and politically-affiliated intellectuals employed from mainland China such as Tang Caizhi (, 1880-1966, also known as Tong Choi-chih) of the TWT and Wong Yew Gong of TCT. Mei-fen Kuo has detailed Johnson Sun’s educational background in both Hong Kong and London and described his life experience as

75 Guanggun Piancai (, A Hoodlum’s Money Swindle), CAH, 18970709, p5. 76 Qianshi Yuanchou (, The Rancour from Prelife), CAH, 18970730, p6. 77 For examples, Cixin Wuneng Zi’s Rancour from Prelife records a manslaughter case in Junee committed by newly-arrived Chinese migrants; Banxian Zhuren’s Liao Bo Yixiao and Chen You’s Yinfu Zhenqing ( , The Truth of Underworld, CAH, 18950118, p4) both tell of stories happened in the local communities of Townsville; 78 TCT, 19090904, pp.9-10.

45 “combined both Chinese and Western cultures” (2008:38). Sun worked as a journalist, the proprietor as well as the main editor of the CAH, especially after another Chinese editor Lee Caizhang () died in late 1896. Chang Luke (, ?-?, also known as Chong Luke), who was initially the journalist and editor-in-chief of TWT and later on founded TCT in Melbourne, may act in a similar half-proprietor-half-editor role like Sun. He could be another good example of bilingual elites capable of literary production in the Australian Chinese diaspora, considering his capacity of managing the newspaper business, however, little is known about his life and educational background apart from the shift of his political stance on China from a monarchist to a revolutionary in turn of the 20th century.

As for other editors of the early Australian Chinese language press, I managed to identify one common background based on the available historical materials that they are all well versed in classical and traditional learning, despite their different political standing. Lee Caizhang, whom was deemed as “traditionally- minded”79 by Johnson Sun, had exhibited his excellence in classical Chinese literature as he had organised Chinese couplet-writing contests in Sydney and won prizes80. Wong Yew Gong and Lew Goot-chi (, ?-?), the Chinese editors of TCT, were both school teachers in China before they came to Melbourne. In the TWT, Wu E’lou ( , ?-?) was commented as a “multi-talented old-fashioned literati”81 ; And Tang Caizhi had received both classical Chinese learning and western education in Hunan Current Affairs School () before he went to Japan for further studies and was sent to Sydney by Liang Qichao.

The Chinese editors’ proficiency and competence in traditional Chinese culture and historical resources are also manifested in Mei-fen Kuo’s study (2013) where she has cited examples of how the three earliest Australian Chinese newspapers interpret the Confucian ideology and heritage in their narratives for the shaping of Chinese migrants’ ethical identity, nationalism and modernity. The Chinese editors undoubtedly played an

79 Originally published in an interview on Daily Telegraph, 18961006; quoted in Kuo (2008:38). 80 CAH, 18950816, p4, 18960221, p4. 81 See Footnote 28 in Chiu & Yeung (1999: 9). 46 important role in this respect through their literary and writing skills in composing article and selecting stories for this purpose.

Deeply influenced by the contemporaneous waves of civil enlightenment and political reforms in late Qing China at the turn of the 20th century, the early Australian Chinese newspapers also set their goals or tenets such as “bringing expostulation and benefits to people’s minds ()”82, “increasing people’s wisdoms and knowledge ()”83 or “chastising the unjust and denouncing the imperious ()”84. Poon (1995), Chiu & Yeung (1999), Qiu (2005) and Kuo (2011, 2013) have individually analysed the early Australian Chinese language press’s pursuit of broadening the Chinese migrants’ knowledge of modern Western society and lifestyle and the support of China’s social and political developments. While these investigations are mainly of news and political essays, one aspect that has long been neglected is that similar endeavours exist in the literary writings in the newspapers, too. In my findings of early Australian Chinese language fiction, a large number of stories published in the press catered for the needs of civil enlightenment as explained above. In these stories, we can find various mimicries of the social injustice and official depravity, true portrayals of the harms of gambling and opium smoking, records of Chinese migrants’ strivings in this new country, and inspiring narrations to encourage patriotism and promote ideas of China’s political advancement. It is quite obvious that the publishing of such stories targets the interests of and appeals directly to the mass readers of the early Australian Chinese diaspora.

Although the early Australian Chinese press unanimously put civil enlightenment as their foremost claim, they catered to a different readership when selecting fiction for publication. As I pointed out earlier in this chapter, CAH aimed for a mass readership from the Australian Chinese communities and stuck to a rather neutral stance on China’s politics. Therefore, there is less coverage of political disputes in its fiction. Instead, a large proportion of ghost tales, humorous writings, miscellaneous accounts of

82 CAH, Editor’s statement, 18940901, p1. 83 TWT, A Brief Note of The Tung Wah News (), 18980629, p1. 84 TWT, The New Age of Our Newspaper (), 19031107, p2. 47 street hearsays, and sensational stories from both local communities and hometowns in China were published throughout the first 20 years of the CAH. The CAH’s preference for such stories could certainly be considered evidence of its populist approach that helped gain it popularity in the grass-root stratum of the Chinese diaspora.

Also based at Sydney, the TWT had a close connection to the affluent businessmen and China’s monarchist movement right from its beginning. Its Chinese editors such as Wu E’lou and Tang Caizhi were traditionally educated intellectuals with strong affinities with Kang Youwei (, 1858-1927) and Liang Qichao, the two reputed leaders of China’s monarchist movement. Accordingly, TWT targeted a more educated readership that is relatively conservative in cultural values against the radical revolutionary ideas of China’s politics advocated by TCT in Melbourne, its major newspaper opponent concerning the promotion of China’s political and social movement. Hence, we find a lot more classical content such as the scholar-beauty romance, literary jottings with historical and personal anecdotes typically suited to the aesthetics of traditional literati. The criticism of political themes and traditional Chinese culture is also comparatively milder than that of TCT.

TCT in Melbourne obviously adopted more progressive approaches to distinguish itself from the pro-monarchist TWT and the Chinese-politics-apathic CAH in its publication of fiction, such as the choice of language style and its clear-cut support of the revolutionary movement in China. The editors of TCT was likely to take account of the demographics of early Australian Chinese migrants and hence embraced vernacular Chinese, or more accurately vernacular Cantonese, as the language of their fiction. Not only has TCT the most vernacular stories among these three early local Chinese newspapers, it also shows attempts to modify the language style in order to cater for its readers. For example, Shuo Menshen (, On Door-Gods)85 is a reprint of a story published in Dagong Bao (), an influential Chinese newspaper in the early Republican period of China ; it is however clearly indicated that this writing was typically modified from standard Beijing Mandarin to colloquial Cantonese. This

85 TCT, 19021217, p2. 48 progressive approach is also reflected in the selections of themes in TCT’s fiction, sentimental romances, supernatural accounts and street gossips were cut to very little in coverage compared to the other two newspapers. Whether it appeared as a fable, a joke, a record of anecdote or a story of manners, almost every piece of fiction published in TCT carries a purpose or a function to satire, expose, exhort or denounce on behalf of the civil enlightenment and socio-political advancement of Chinese people.

In the case of similar themes in fiction, the TWT’s approach is clearly different from that of TCT. Take the assassination stories as an example; this type of writing was a direct result of the late Qing trend of nihilistic fiction and had appeared on both the TWT and TCT. Eguo Nüxia (, The Female Assassin of Russia)86 in the TWT tells of a Russian chief warden being assassinated by a young maiden for his cruelty in treating prisoners. At the end of the narration, the writer concludes

The so-called Revolutionaries, they exist when you (the authority) think they exist; they don’t when you don’t. If you insist to create them out of thin air, and indulge on hunting and killing (them). They are thence forced to commit assassination.

The author emphasised that the perception of assassin or revolutionary appears “out of thin air” and wrote an admonition to remind the authority not to dwell on such thing. When it comes to another piece titled Xuwudang Lishi Tan , A Talk on the History of Nihilistic Gang)87, it is nothing like an historical record but an account of various mysterious and magical tricks of Russia’s Red Hand Gang. This type of narration completely overturned the original purpose of late Qing’s nihilistic fiction for the political arousal of the general public. Instead, it had become a strange talk or an urban legend that is nothing more than an exotic supernatural tale.

86 TWT, 19080222, p7. 87 TWT, 19090618, p8. 49 The treatment of TCT on the same theme is significantly different to the TWT due to its consistent backing of China’ revolutionary movements. Pudi Ansha Ji (, Record of the Assassination of Portuguese Emperor)88 , which is a translated fiction by Leng (), vividly depicts the horrifying scenes of the assassination. Leng ended the story by commenting:

Be it a noble emperor, or an ordinary man, they all ended up in merely flesh and blood. There is inequality of power no more.

Such comments conform to the anarchistic attitudes promoted by late Qing’s nihilistic fiction that defy authority and pursue the utmost equality even in an extreme way. Another story of Mouguo Gedang Shu Mouzhishi Zhi Zhuanglie ( , The Bravery of a Martyr Told by a Revolutionary of a Country)89 presents a much more straightforward account of the fearless and gallant integrity of the revolutionary. The revolutionary patriot’s act to turn himself in after killing a corrupt officer and bravely face his execution as a glorious martyr was eulogised by the writer as “heroic”.

Another theme that can be compared here is the portrayal of the “female spy”. In the light of the TWT’s conservative views inherited from traditional Chinese culture, the female spy is described in a derogatory way in Nüzhentan Lianhuaniang (, Lady Lotus, the Female Spy)90. It tells of Lotus, a Polish lady who was paid by the government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to seduce the leader of the Hungarian revolutionary party and who eventually destroyed him. Huang’s and Ommundsen’s interpretation of this story is inaccurate as they have read it as an espousal of the feminist agenda featuring the depiction of a courageous and intelligent Polish woman detective (2015:5)91. Clearly they fail to grasp the real intention of the author, who

88 TCT, 19080418, p9, 19080425, p9. 89 TCT, 19100924, pp.8-9. 90 TWT, 19100820, p8, 19100827, p8, 19100903, p8, 19100910, p8. 91 Huang and Ommundsen even incorrectly translated the title of this story as “The Woman Detective-Ms Lotus Flower”. The word “Zhentan ()” here is referring to “spy” rather than “detective” according to the storyline. 50 laments the damage caused by the lust for female beauty and chastises the protagonist at the end of the text

Oh, Lotus! How vicious! You are such a fine lady; how dare you use the blood of the partisan to buck for your own gold!

The author’s comment stands in sharp contrast to the attitude conveyed in TCT’s Zhentan Meiren Tan (, Tales of Spy Beauties)92, which includes three small stories of how Japanese female spies used their wits and charms to pry for valuable military and diplomatic information for the Japanese government, the author not only highly praises and admires the discreet and meticulous efforts shown in Japan’s intelligence service, the selfless endeavours of these female spies are also acclaimed as deeds of patriotism. The author wrote:

Out of their (the female spies’) enthusiasm and loyalty (to the country), they would not hesitate to sacrifice their bodies.

Compared to the old-fashioned “beauty-is-beastly” view held by the fiction in the TWT, this story in TCT clearly displays a distinctively affirmative attitude towards the theme of the female spy.

TCT’s support of revolutionaries is also embodied in its relatively larger amount of allegories and humorous writings compared to the other two local Chinese newspapers at the turn of the 20th century. Obviously, the function of humour and allegorical writings to satirise social reality was highly valued by the authors and editors of TCT. In the genre of fiction of manners, TCT has less coverage of the traditional scholar-beauty love romances and trivial accounts of neighbourhood hearsays, but published more stories about the lives of early Australian Chinese migrants. One of the most outstanding pieces of this kind is the serialised novel titled Duoqi Du (, The Vice

92 TCT, 19040615, pp.2-3, 19040622, p2, 19040706, p2, 19040713, p2. 51 of Polygamy) as mentioned before, which carries a spirit of literary realism and fully exhibits the cultural customs and lifestyle of early Chinese migrants following their journeys starting from leaving home for Australia, then the perilous expedition in the vast wilderness, to the struggle to establish their business and then returning home with their fortune.

Through this analysis of the forms, genres, themes and other aspects of early Australian Chinese language fiction, I have examined the multiple possibilities and diversified development of local compositions of fiction. However trivial and assorted their forms and contents are, they should not be ignored or undervalued as most of these stories carried the didactic themes of patriotism and enlightenment which are the focus of the whole Chinese society in that era, and thus served an important function for the local Australian Chinese readers in the spreading of knowledge and the cultivation of community and ethnic cohesion.

In addition, these stories also offer us a new angle to enrich our understanding of the early Australian Chinese diaspora and its literature through the appearance of some unique Australian elements in these xiaoshuo writings. For example, the detailed depiction of kangaroo and its way of attacking in Mengshou Jingren, and the use of opium to keep dingoes away by Australian farmers in Duwu Kewei, are both the contributions of local Chinese writers in Australia. From this we can see that local literary production had started to take root in this “otherland”, which is very likely to lead to the beginning of a native literary tradition. The novel Duoqi Du is evidence of this with its exploration of diasporic themes and the hybridity reflected in its integration of traditional Chinese culture and the new lifestyle in Australia.

The development of early Australian Chinese language fiction undoubtedly has absorbed nutrients from the classical Chinese narrative traditions as its cultural root. This chapter has presented a detailed analysis of how traditional Chinese fiction set foot in the early Australian Chinese literature. I have also mentioned the heavy influence of late Qing fiction and its literary movements on early Australian Chinese language fiction. How this interaction with late Qing fiction inspired the achievements of early Australian Chinese language fiction will be further investigated in the following chapter. 52 CHAPTER 3 The Early Evolution of Australian Chinese Language Fiction: Drawing on the Late Qing Experience

While diasporic Chinese fiction set foot in Australia following the waves of Chinese migrants in the late 19th century, narrative fiction in China was simultaneously going through a radical development in the wake of the effervescent political and literary movement of the late Qing period. Late Qing is a historical era from the First Opium War in 1840 to the downfall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, a turbulent period in Chinese history, which witnessed the decline of old tradition and the strong impact of Western learning. As an autogenous response to Western influences and the challenges brought about by modernisation, a multitude of literary breakthroughs, reforms and innovations sprang up from the interstices of the loosening traditional literary framework, exhibiting early signs of the modernisation of Chinese literature.

Late Qing fiction, which refers to the fiction produced in this period and culminating at the turn of the 20th century, is an important literary genre that addresses this challenge. However, the achievement and historical importance of late Qing fiction in the modernising process of Chinese literature has long been overshadowed by the paradigm of the May Fourth literature1 and is only recently being re-assessed and thoroughly studied through the efforts of a number of influential scholars from both overseas and mainland China.2 In the history of the evolution of Chinese fiction, the May-Fourth literature is usually given, especially by the scholars from mainland China, the official status as the decisive beginning of modern Chinese fiction. The values of late Qing fiction were often a belittled subject of study in most of the 20th century. However, with the rediscoveries and indepth studies of late Qing fiction over the past three decades, there are increasing arguments for the role of late Qing fiction in the modernity of

1 See Footnote 18, Chapter 1. 2 The first integral study on late Qing fiction was Wanqing Xiaoshuo Shi (, The History of Late Qing Fiction written by A Ying (, 1900-1977) in 1937). However, late Qing fiction’s historical importance and innovative contribution to the development of Chinese fiction was not valued and brought to the forefront by the academics until after the 1980s-90s period following the representative studies of Milena Doleželová-Velingerová (1980), David Der-Wei Wang (1997), Patrick Hanan (2004), and Chen Pingyuan (1990, 2005).

54 Chinese literature that the creative attempts of late Qing fiction writers had essentially heralded the onset of modern Chinese fiction.

The historical significance of late Qing fiction lies in its experimental approaches and new perspectives that not only provocatively transformed and renewed the face of classical Chinese xiaoshuo, but also foreshadowed the subsequent literary revolution in the succeeding May Fourth era. 3 The translation and introduction of Western fiction from the late 19th century largely expanded the genres and themes of late Qing fiction, and gave rise to the revival and reform of the traditional vernacular fiction and short story. Upon the impact of Western fiction, the perennial narrative structure and techniques of classical Chinese xiaoshuo tradition were enriched by the use of interleaved narrative sequence, the rise of non-plot elements such as scenery and psychological depiction in narrations, and the switch from the traditional oral-telling omniscient narrator to more restricted stances such as first and third-person narrators. The change of Chinese literati’s attitude towards the function, orientation and duty of fiction also facilitated the professionalisation and commodification of fiction writing in late Qing China, and as such the status of fiction was elevated and the forthcoming ascent of fiction to the centre stage of Chinese literature was made possible. With all these achievements, late Qing fiction emerged as a nexus of the transition of Chinese fiction from the traditional form to its modern evolution.

More importantly, late Qing fiction also has a cross-cultural significance. In Doleželová- Velingerová’s view, the evolution of late Qing fiction is a crucial process and an important stage of fundamental cultural transformation taking place not only in China, but throughout the whole of Asia (Mair, 2001:600). Like her predecessors in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, Doleželová-Velingerová incorporates late Qing fiction into the historical framework of modern Asian literature (Doleželová-Velingerová, 1980:4). By taking into account the historical background of the late Qing period and the turn of the 20th century, this cultural transformation distinguished by late Qing fiction is then interpreted by David Wang (1997:18) as the “beginning of a modern era”.

3 For discussions on the status and historical significance of late Qing fiction, please refer to Doleželová - Velingerová (1980:3-17; 2001:697-731); Wang (1997:1-52), Chen (2005:20-23).

55 During the turn of the 20th century, late Qing fiction writers experienced the most personal encounters of China’s entry to the modern age and the changes brought to this old empire under the incursion of the Western economic, military and cultural powers. According to David Wang (1997:18), late Qing fiction writers found themselves already in a drastically changing world and a volatile society. Amongst the ongoing worldwide traffic in intellectual, technological and political-economical goods, the evolution of Chinese literature no longer can exclude itself and operate in relative isolation like before. Therefore, due to late Qing fiction’s global relevance and immediate urgency to enter into a modern era, late Qing fiction writers had to face the task brought by this cultural transformation of immediately grasping and responding to the developments and influences of the West (Wang, 1997:18).

Likewise, when the global relevance of this cultural transformation towards the modern age is examined against the situation of the Chinese diasporas in Australia, one can find that the turn of the 20th century is a very sensitive yet crucial period of time for the history and transformation of the Chinese migration and Australia itself. Not only because of the foundation of the Commonwealth symbolising Australia’s transition from former British colonies to a unified modern nation, it also witnessed the beginning of the urbanising and modernising process of local Australian Chinese communities following the nationwide tendency. Mei-fen Kuo’s study (2013) has also indicated how the shaping of modern imagined Chinese community started in 1890s colonial Sydney through her analysis of several symbolic events recorded and advocated by CAH, a local Chinese language press based in Sydney. These events include the western-style manifestation of commercialism and the publication of Anglo-Chinese calendar poster, the promotion of clock-time, holidays and festivals according to the Western calendar, as well as the two major Chinese ceremonial processions conducted in 1897 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Charity Carnival. Kuo’s study of the early Australian Chinese communities and the ethnic newspaper provides a solid and pertinent local example of the global relevance of Doleželová’s observation of cultural transformation. This ethnic cultural development was then stimulated by this modernising process of Australian Chinese diasporas. Against this background, we have witnessed the establishment of the early Australian Chinese language press and the founding of Chinese schools and cultural societies for the local Chinese communities; all contributed to the beginning of

56 Australian Chinese literature, a diasporic ethnic literary tradition. The Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century, as a popular genre of this diasporic literary tradition, gives us a chance to look at how the early Australian Chinese fiction writers got their inspiration from the late Qing fiction and responded to this significant trend of Asian cultural transformation towards modernisation through the prospect of literature.

Following the discussion of the previous chapter, Australian Chinese-language fiction, as one of the earliest diasporic Chinese literary genres, made a rapid progress over the two decades of the 1890s and the 1900s, which is also the time of the culmination of the development of late Qing fiction. Starting out by carrying on the classical Chinese literary tradition, the initial development of Australian Chinese language fiction would not achieve its early burgeoning without the stimulus of the robust late Qing fiction. By drawing on the experience and achievements of late Qing fiction, Australian Chinese language fiction strode through its incipient development from a simple mimesis of classical Chinese xiaoshuo to the beginning of localised literary productions and innovations.

3.1 Innovations and inventions in genres and themes

Australian Chinese language fiction didn't come on stage until 1894 after the birth of The Chinese Australian Herald, the first Chinese language newspaper following the urbanisation trend of the Chinese diaspora in Australia. Then, following the increasing contacts of Chinese intellectuals between overseas Chinese communities and mainland China,4 the monumental wave of late Qing's cultural transformation also reached down to the Chinese communities in Australia. With the inspiration of late Qing fiction's achievement, Australian Chinese language fiction was able to gradually wear off its birthmark of the classical Chinese xiaoshuo appearance, and develop at a tremendous pace to keep up with the modernising tendency of Chinese fiction.

4 Australia was one of the important hubs of the overseas Chinese royalist movement. Liang Qichao, who was a prestigious Chinese monarchist and reformist at the time and meanwhile the leader of late Qing’s new fiction movement in the literary circle, had visited Australia in 1901 in order to raise support from the local Chinese communities.

57 The early development of Australian Chinese language fiction basically followed the trajectory of the development of late Qing fiction. As indicated in Wu’s (2003) and Chen’s (2005:69) analysis of the rise of late Qing fiction, newspaper is the fertile soil for the growth of fiction and has a real impact on its development. In the scenario of the Australian Chinese diaspora, the local Chinese language press, as a fruitful outcome of urban cultural development of the early Australian Chinese communities, is the only soil to produce local Chinese language fiction.

In previous chapters, we learned that there were three Chinese newspapers published, which are the Chinese Australian Herald (CAH), the Tung Wah News/Times (TWT) and the Chinese Times (TCT), in Australia at the turn of the 20th century, operated by local Chinese elites and intellectuals who came from mainland China and had various ties to the political organs of late Qing China. Reprints of articles from other newspapers in mainland China and overseas Chinese settlements as well as contributions from well- known novelists in China can often be found in these newspapers5. With constant communication between the diasporas and China, it is no surprise that early Australian Chinese language press could keep abreast with the latest news of the social and literary development of late Qing China.

This up-to-date connection with late Qing firstly influenced the local production of Chinese fiction in its genre development. In Wu Xi’s (2003) study of Shen Bao (), which was one of the most influential mainland Chinese newspapers in terms of the development of fiction during the late Qing period, Wu provided a summary of the genres of fiction published in this newspaper such as huaji (, humorous), zhentan (, detective), shishi (, current affairs), youxi (, parody or burlesque), yuyan (, allegories), shehui (, social manners), yishi (, anecdotes), yanqing (, love romance), qiqing (, bizarre romance), and so on. This example is sufficient to reveal the diversity of new fiction genres created by late Qing writers. Correspondingly, in the CAH, TWT and TCT, apart from the usual xiaoshuo, tancong (, miscellaneous accounts), zalu (, mischellaneous records), yuyan, xiaolin (

5 The works of some big names of Chinese novelists such as Xiao or Tianxiao, aka, Bao Tianxiao (, 1876-1973) and Leng, aka, Chen Jinghan (, 1878-1965) were also published in early Australian Chinese press, see Appendix V.

58 , forest of jokes) and xietan (, humorous talks), we can also find a similar diversity of fiction genres: duanpian (, short stories), jinshi ( recent affairs), shishi (current affairs), xiezhen (, fiction of reality), shehui (social manners), lishi (, historical fiction), yuyan xiaoshuo (allegorical fiction), and occasionally even more meticulously sub-divided genres like the short story of current affairs and short social fiction.

In addition, there are also stories with a translator name next to the title or a paragraph of translator’s comments at the end. These signifiers indicate their genres as translated fiction6. The popularity of translated fiction is a significant phenomenon of late Qing fiction as it facilitated the importation and dissemination of Western fiction and consequently propelled the profound changes leading to the modernisation of Chinese fiction. The appearance of translated fiction in early Australian Chinese language fiction again shows the depth and extent of the influence led by the evolution of late Qing fiction. Although these unconventional fiction genres produced by early Australian Chinese writers are still no match for the exuberant generic types of late Qing fiction, it is important to realise that with the facilitation of the cultural and intellectual importations from late Qing China to the local Australian Chinese communities7, local Chinese writers had consciously started to pursue the innovations of late Qing fiction, which further stimulated the development of local fiction production.

The trend of innovations originated from late Qing fiction also presents in the evolution of the materials and themes of early Australian Chinese language fiction. Following the influence of late Qing fiction, those xiaoshuo published in the local Chinese newspapers during this period soon evolved from the middlebrow accounts of street hearsays, anecdotes and strange talks to the mainstream forms and genres similar to late Qing fiction, comprising a variety of jokes and parodies that satirise corrupt customs and

6 See Appendix II Translated Fiction Published in Early Australian Chinese Language Press from 1894 to 1912. 7 The cultural importations here I am referring to the Chinese editors of these early Australian Chinese newspapers who were literati hired from mainland China. With their knowledge of the late Qing Chinese culture, the ideas and concepts of late Qing fiction would undoubtedly be integrated into the articles they composed and selcted for the local Chinese newspapers. Together with the contributions and reprints of fiction from Chinese writers and other late Qing Chinese newspapers, they jointly fuelled the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction.

59 decadence, stories of spies and revolutionaries that inspire and enlighten people’s thoughts and ideas, as well as fiction that expose and excoriate the grotesqueness of social norms. The change in the orientation of content and themes in early Australian Chinese language fiction showed not only the stimulation to local Chinese writers by late Qing fiction, but also how it facilitated the evolution of early Australian Chinese language fiction from classical xiaoshuo to a more modernised form of Chinese fiction.

Given that the early Chinese communities in Australia at the turn of the 20th century basically consisted of first-generation migrants and sojourners, the local Chinese writers still kept a close focus on the political news and social situation of late Qing China and hence produced a large number of stories about the hometowns of the Chinese migrants. Be it the exposure of the hardships of Chinese people, the satirical sketch of the grotesqueness of China’s officialdom, the criticism of social injustice, the tribulations of romance in turbulent times, or the eulogy of patriotic martyrs, the themes of most early Australian Chinese language fiction are more or less in the same strain of late Qing fiction to serve the educational purposes of eliminating the outmoded practices and unhealthy habits of Chinese people, enlightening their wisdom and publicising political ideals and the spirit of self-strengthening and patriotism, which in a way contribute to the community-building and the nurturing of modern spirits in the early Australian Chinese diaspora.

What is more important during this evolving process is that, by riding the tide of literary innovations and renovations led by late Qing novelists, the early Australian Chinese writers had intentionally launched various attempts in combining the local life experience with the influence of late Qing fiction into the composition of native Chinese fiction in Australia. As a result of their efforts, the development of Australian Chinese language fiction in turn of the 20th century primarily exhibited its own native and diasporic feature rather than completely becoming a sub-branch of what was happening in China itself.

Specifically, we can see that the characters and places of the stories in early Australian Chinese language fiction are no longer restricted to the miscellaneous news and street talks from the hometowns of the Chinese migrants but show a diversified constitution instead. The plots of these stories can occur in China, in Western countries and even in

60 the local Chinese diaspora in Australia and Southeastern Asia. A variety of foreign characters of local Australian Chinese migrants also emerged in the narrations of early Australian Chinese language fiction. Based on a brief count of these stories, the foreign countries and regions that appeared include Britain, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, America, Latin America, Arabia, Japan, Siam, Luzon and Rangoon. The exotic characters are even more eye-dazzling ranging from the British Queen or the Italian Royal family, to heroic figures such as a British explorer, a Japanese reformer or a Russian nihilist, and to ordinary people such as a French merchant, a beauty in Latin America or a Thai witch doctor. 8 As a remarkable achievement among all these changes, when the Chinese fiction writers started to make use of lives and experiences in Australia, a mixed variety of local characters such as Chinese migrant workers, businessmen and literati, as well as Caucasian farm owners, Australian onlookers, housewives and even local prostitutes had become the subject to portray in their compositions, showing characteristics of a literature based on typical settler colonial experience.9

With the impacts of Western scientific achievements and their strong economic and military powers observed by late Qing fiction writers, enlightening wisdoms and broadening the vision of Chinese nationals thus became one of the principal themes originating from late Qing's New Fiction trend. Led by this notion, the innovation of late Qing fiction not only prompted the inclusion of new characters and new places beyond the traditional realms of classical Chinese xiaoshuo, it also brought forth the use of various new technologies and inventions and consequently the birth of the earliest Chinese fiction of science fantasy. The early development of Australian Chinese language fiction may not provide fertile soil for the rise of science fantasy fiction, however, the same clue of writing something new is still found in the existing stories. For example, the X-Ray scan, electric lamp and pencil were all utilised by the local Chinese writers as a metaphor for social criticism.10

8 See Appendix III: Stories with Foreign Contents Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction from 1894 to 1912. 9 See Appendix IV: Local Stories Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction from 1894 to 1912. 10 See Zhaobing Jing (, Disease-scanning Mirror), TWT, 19061006, p6; Yiqiao Butong ((, Impenetrable Dullness), TWT, 19090828, p6; Maozhuizi Rang Meiqideng Heian Ji ( , Mr.Brushpen’s Blame on Gas Lamp’s Turning Dark), CAH, 19120427, p4; Ni Yanghaobi Zhi Qianbi Shu (, A Simulated Letter from Goat Hair Brush to Pencil), TWT, 19071207, p7.

61 We have to also take into consideration that the first batch of Australian Chinese writers are either of the first generation of Chinese migrants or intellectuals who were hired to work and stay in Australia during the turn of the 20th century. When they set foot on this exotic continent for the first time, the surrounding environments, landscapes and the lifestyles they observed would naturally become a “newer” experience to them. Then, when this newer experience was reflected in their writings, it brought an unprecedented level of detailed depictions of local Australian lives and landscapes to the early development of Australian Chinese literature and even to the tradition of Chinese literature: the very first detailed depiction of kangaroo in Mengshou Jingren11, the record of using opiums to repel dingoes in Duwu Kewei12, the vivid wilderness landscapes and the thrilling first encounters of Chinese coolies/settlers with the “dark barbarians” (the aboriginal people) in Duoqi Du13. All these unique details of Australia not only add brand-new lives and customs to the content of late Qing fiction and traditional Chinese literature, they also represent the beginning of a rudimentary local literary tradition.

The signs of localised writings can also be observed in these early stories that are of the same genres or similar themes as late Qing fiction. For example, in the same form of humorous writings, Lok Dap Mei yu Lok Dap Him zhi Bijiao (, The Comparison between “Lock up Me” and “Lock up Him”)14 mocks the difficulties a Chinese labourer’s language problems cause him adversity when he arrives in Australia; Jieshi Xiaolin (, Joke from the Street Market)15 utilises a short conversation among three local Chinese peddlers to satirise the political disputes between the two major Australian Chinese newspapers, the Tung Wah Times and the Chinese Times, which was a sensational event for the Chinese communities at that time. In the same form of fictional exposure, Guanggun Piancai (, The Unmarried Swindler)16 describes a Chinese labourer who returns to Hong Kong with the fortune he earned in Australia but who is soon bamboozled by an impostor who claims to be his unmarried

11 Mengshou Jingren (, The Shockingly Fierce Beast), CAH, 18950517, p4. 12 Duwu Kewei (, The Frightful Poison), TWT, 19081219, p7. 13 See Episode 14 of Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy), TCT, 19090918, pp.9-10. 14 TCT, 19090529, p10. 15 TCT, 19110923, pp.6-7. 16 CAH, 18970709, p5.

62 nephew; Zhuanshi Yuezhi , The Diamond Rings)17 tells of a trap set by Caucasian prostitutes in Sydney to defraud two hardworking Chinese men of their money and precious diamond rings. Both pieces aim at alerting the local Chinese migrants of the realistic dangers they could encounter in their daily lives. In the same form of narrating current affairs, Wulong (, Dragon Dance) and Wulong (, Lion Dance), two short entries under the tag of Shehui Jing (, Social Mirror)18, through the discussions of two Australian onlookers of a splendid parade of Dragon and Lion Dance organised by local Chinese associations, subtly points out the distressing situation of China in international politics; whereas Lushui Yinyuan (, Casual Love Affairs)19 was clearly a literary creation written in traditional romance style based on the local news about a Sydney housewife’s extra-marital affairs.

These examples show the pioneering efforts of resident Chinese writers to integrate local experience into their writings. These persistent trials then brought the appearance of Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy), a mature novel of manners that can be considered as a milestone to the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction, and fully reflects the lives and struggles of early Chinese migrants. Apart from the popular late Qing themes such as patriotism, self-strengthening and enlightenment, Duoqi Du, due to its focus on the Australian Chinese diaspora, started to explore themes that are often discussed in later post-colonial diasporic literature. One example is the conversation between the two newly-arrived Chinese labourers journeying across the wilderness in Victoria. Chengnan (, lit. Journey to the South) and Binnan (, lit. Guest in the South) who are uncle and nephew have both come to Australia to make a living: Seeing no resting areas in the front, but only boundless wilderness when looking back, Chengnan at this moment was dismal and frustrated. He thought to himself: The industry and technology of our country are weak, our mining business is also stagnant. So we, the impoverished, had to put our lives at risk and come adrift in this barren continent; all for the purpose to make a living. Recalling the past days back in my mother country, I

17 3 episodes published in TCT in November, 1910, see Appendix I for the actual publication dates. 18 TCT, 19090417, p10. 19 CAH, 19011214, p5.

63 dug well and ploughed in the fields, went out to work and went home to rest. Day and night, I lived with my white-haired parents at home. What a happy time it was. Like now, how sad and grievous will my parents be if they know about my plight of this moment…… (Binnan) asked: “You never showed any distress since you came all the way from Guichen Bay. Why are you in such a deep sorrow now?” Chengnan said: “our country has been subjugated for several hundred years and is subject to the autocratic government of the foreign race. (This government) only cares for carnal pleasure but takes no consideration of its people’s livelihood. Now that we have to suffer to earn our living, how can (I) not painfully deplore!” …… Binnan finished reading, then sighed downcastly: “In this critical moment of life and death, we’ve got no time to think of the national affairs.” Chengnan replied: “Since the Manchurian invaded China, with a mere population of five million people, they do no farming and weaving, but are fed with the resources of our country. Today, our people are impoverished and our finance is crumbled so we had to earn our living overseas. We can’t say this is not the reason.”20

…… ()

”……

The whole dialogue and the psychological depiction of Chengnan not only reveal the arduous journey of Chinese labourers’ first settlement in Australia, it also depicts a mixture of traditional and modern themes: the nostalgia of exile, the patriotic outcry for the nation’s scourge of being subjugated by the Manchurian rulers, and the denunciation of the Qing government's despotism and pillaging of the Chinese people.

20 TCT, 19090828, pp.8-9.

64 The diasporic experience has contributed to this thematic hybridity to resonate with local Australian Chinese readers as they generally shared the journey Chengnan makes in this novel. This mixture of themes combined with the local experience is unique to Australian Chinese literature, and even can be considered an innovation beyond the realm of late Qing fiction.

The hybridity of themes of early Australian Chinese language fiction is also reflected in its development of traditional Chinese literary motifs by integrating local or historical background. For example, Niunü Tanqing (, Love Talks between The Cowherd and His Maid)21 is a short story written in vernacular Cantonese and developed from the famous Chinese folklore of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid. It is quite clear that the motif of this short story originated from the narrative tradition of lovesickness in ancient Chinese xiaoshuo that is about the woman missing her lover on expedition. However, when the scenario was transferred to the diasporic Chinese communities at the turn of the 20th century, the Maid would be left alone at home while her husband was planning to make a fortune by labouring at the Gold Mountains overseas. So the Maid expressed her worries through her blunt yet evocative dialogue with her husband. The challenges she worried about such as the hardship of physical labouring overseas, the even farther distance separated by oceans and her fears of her husband not being able to withstand the dazzling temptations of the Western world have renewed this tradition with a realistic implication for local readers.

3.2 Evolutions of narrative techniques and structures

Late Qing fiction is now credited with an inaugural significance in the progress of modernising Chinese fiction as it had initiated the transition of traditional narrative patterns. Chen Pingyuan has specifically examined this transition through three major aspects which are narrative time, narrative stance and narrative structure22. By taking advantage of the techniques from translated Western fiction and absorbing the merits of

21 TCT, 19090904, pp.9-10. 22 For further reading, please refer to Chapter 2-4 in Chen’s Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Xushi Moshi de Zhuanbian (, The Transformation of Narrative Patterns of Chinese Fiction, 2010, pp.33-126).

65 classical Chinese narrative traditions, late Qing fiction writers experimented with many innovations in the three major aspects of narrative patterns: the employment of flashback, interposed and non-linear narration to break through the static narration in natural time sequence of traditional Chinese fiction; using first and third-person restricted stance and even impersonal discourse to gradually replace the prevalent omniscient narrator; shifting the plot-focused narrative structure due to the rise of a variety of non-plotting segments such as scenery depiction, psychological analysis, remarks and discussion as well as the fusion of jokes, anecdotes, interlocutions, epistles and travelogues into the narration.

The birth and development of Australian Chinese language fiction happens to be in the same era of late Qing fiction, though in its initial years, the appearance of Australian Chinese language fiction still carried significant traits of classical Chinese fiction. The Chinese language fiction that appeared in the Chinese Australian Herald and the Tung Wah News before 1900 is mostly short stories reminiscent of literary sketches, anecdotes, and other humorous or allegorical writings. Even where there are a few social stories and chivalric tales that are comparatively longer, their narrative structure and techniques are not distinct from classical Chinese fiction23. The progress of early Australian Chinese-language fiction in narrative patterns and techniques was not made until after the beginning of the 20th century along with the increasing communications and influences from late Qing fiction.

Development of Narrative Stances and Narrative Sequences

Firstly, one noticeable difference between late Qing fiction and traditional Chinese fiction in narratology is the accommodation of at least three different narrative stances, the omniscient, first-person and third-person narrator. The concurrence of diverse narrative stances is considered by Doleželová-Velingerová (1980:73) as a breakthrough in the development of modern Chinese fiction. In the case of early Australian Chinese language fiction, the restricted narrative stance represented by the typical angle of a traveller or a bystander, which is popular among late Qing writers, is also quite

23 For example, Yiyuan Xueyuan (, The Loyal Ape Wreaks Grievance), CAH, 18990812, p5, 18990831, p3; and Mazei Zhuxiong Ji (, Tale of The Horse Gang Man Wiping out Bandits), TWT, 19000124, p2, 19000127, p2.

66 common. Take the first-person narrator for example, You Shuixiang Ji (, Record of Travelling in the Sleeping Town) 24 is an allegory about “Me” travelling in Huaxu State after getting drunk; in Huangjin Chan (, Zen of Gold)25 , the spectacle of a welcoming ceremony for an eminent monk organised by local officials was depicted through the author’s eyes in the story as an onlooker; Maishu Ji ( , Records of Selling Books in Hangzhou) 26 records what “I” saw in Hangzhou’s book markets after the 1898 Reform and “my” discussions on the best- selling genres, readers’ preferences and the degradation of the old-fashioned scholars. This angle of traveller’s record or onlooker’s accounts can also be narrated in a third- person stance such as the drunken guest’s dream of a netherworld military revolt against King Yama’s political reform in Zuimeng Chuanqi (, Tale of A Drunken Dream)27, the telling of the exectuion of a heroic martyr by a revolutionary narrator in Mouguo Gedang Shu Mouzhishi zhi Zhuanglie (, The Bravery of a Martyr Told by a Revolutionary of a Country)28, Youshi Zi’s (, lit. Man concerning current affairs) witnessing of saltwork land being grabbed by the gambling houses in You Yanchang Ji (, Records of Travelling to the Saltwork)29.

Another noticeable progress is the impersonal discourse narration in Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring)30. Its storyline is developed through the objective depictions of the characters’ behaviours, facial expressions, and the dialogues between the Bag-carrier and Stick-holder, the two prostitutes Lily and Ferrari, as well as among these four characters. There is no subjective narration or psychological analysis provided by the narrator, nor even any remarks and comments that are usually seen in late Qing fiction. The whole story is basically narrated in a purely objective third-person

24 CAH, 19010518, p3. 25 TCT, 19081010, p9. The same title with unknown author also appeared in Shi Bao (, 1904-1930, ) on 19080901, according to Liu Yongwen’s Wanqing Xiaoshuo Mulu (, Catalogue of Late Qing Fiction, 2008:148). The publication on TCT is later than the one on Shi Bao, it is possible that this could be a piece of duplicate submission from the same manuscript. Wu Xi (1999) has made note of the multiple appearances of the same fiction and attributed this phenomenon to the editors’ and authors’ wish of using fiction as a tool of propaganda for their political beliefs, as well as the push for more economic benefits. 26 TWT, 19070420, p8. 27 TWT, 19010327, p2. 28 TCT, 19100924, pp.8-9. 29 TCT, 19100205, p9. 30 See Footnote 17.

67 stance. This is quite an innovative achievement in terms of narrative angle that is rare even in the contemporaneous late Qing fiction.

Early Australian Chinese writers also showed their capability of switching narrative stances in their works. For instance, Yandu Liangyou zhi Tanqing (, The Talks between The Pals of Smoker and Gambler)31 begins with “I” listening to the conversations between the smoker and the gambler, then third-person is used during their actual dialogues, at the end, “I” joined in the debate and the narration is turned back to first-person; in Haiwai Qitan (, Strange Tales from Overseas) 32, the beginning is narrated in the third-person about a local Chinese elder’s conversation with his British neighbour, then the focus of the story is shifted to the first-person narration by the British neighbour of his overseas adventure; whereas in the novel Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy), the author was already able to switch easily back and forth between the omniscient narrator and the restricted third-person narrator in the story.

Because local newspapers were the only platform for publication, the length of early Australian Chinese language fiction is restricted by the size and layout of newspaper pages.33 Local Chinese fiction writers were left limited space to manipulate the narrative time in these short stories. Therefore, flashback, as a popular technique applied by late Qing writers, does not find much presence in early Australian Chinese language fiction. There are only a few pieces that have used this narrative methods such as Chanqing Ji (, A Tale of Atoning Love), Eguo Nüxia (, The Russian Female Assassin) and Mazhiyin (, The Print of the Webbed Fingers)34. Chanqing Ji begins with the author awakening from a dream and then his recollection of the past romance evoked by this dream, but this is nothing new but the flashback narratives usually found in classical Chinese literary sketches. Only the flashbacks applied in Eguo Nüxia and Mazhiyin are more in the form of this narrative technique that originated in

31 TCT, 19090829, p9. 32 TWT, 19010413, pp.2-3, 19010417, pp.2-3, and 19010420, pp.2-3. 33 It was not until 1909 that long serialised fiction or novel made their appearance in local Chinese newspapers: Zuanshi Yuezhi of 3 episodes and Duoqi Du of 53 episodes. Before 1909, the longest size of fiction is not more than 4 episodes including Zhentan Meiren Tan, Nüzhentan Lianhuaniang and Qie Mingbo, a translated ficton of Bao Tianxiao. 34 Chanqing Ji, TWT, 19071214, p6; Erguo Nüxia, TWT, 19080222, p7; Mazhiyin, TCT, 19071012, p6.

68 Western detective fiction and once very popular in late Qing. Eguo Nüxia first depicts the sensation caused by the death of a high-ranking official in a Russian inn, then follows the process by which the female nihilist assassin committed her attack. Whereas in Mazhiyin, another detective story, readers were first told about the bridegroom’s death on the wedding night, then the details of the story were re-assembled step by step through the discovery of several coincident findings and the course of tracking down the real murderer. Mazhiyin hence achieved an intricate plot-style that wass highly acclaimed for the genre of detective fiction by late Qing writers.

These two examples are typical of the “unexpected or unusual beginning”35 that is overwhelmingly pursued by many late Qing fiction writers so as to differentiate their work from traditional Chinese fiction. However, a majority of the early Australian Chinese language fiction still stick to temporal sequence in their narrative pattern. In order to achieve the effect of an “unexpected/unusual beginning”, the local Chinese fiction writers in Australia chose a different path, by starting the narration with a direct and detailed depiction of the story’s surrounding sounds and scenes as an attempt to break away from the traditional but stereotyped opening using idiomatic phrases or citing classics or lines of poetry to introduce the story. I have named this “thunder throwing approach”, one easily associated example from late Qing fiction is Cha Gongke (, Checking Classworks)36, an experimental short story by Wu Jianren (, 1866-1910). A few examples from early Australian Chinese language fiction further illustrate this:

“Tang~tang~, Tang~tang~”, rang the summoning plates. Now are the hours of Shen. A county magistrate poked his head out from the red crepe quilt in a rosewood bed. “Duty’s off!”, he rumbled. At the sound, handsome footmen retreated, pretty maidens entered, approaching with smoking lamp and pipe, then burned an opium bubble as big as a red date……

35 This concept is firstly raised by Liang Qichao in Chinese as “ Yiqi Zhi Tuwu (()”, quoted in Chen Pingyuan (2010), p38; 36 Published on The 8th Issue of Yueyue Xiaoshuo (, Montly Fiction) in April, 1907;

69 (

——Jinyan Ling (, The Order of Smoking Ban) 37

There are beds lying in the dark room. The breeze is refreshing and the moonlights are bright. In the midst of lamp shades and smoking pipe noise, the sounds of crying and sighing are suddenly heard. The voices of remorse and rage are concurrently raised. How strange! How strange! Then the voices of mutual solacing, consoling, whispering, cheering, are all brought up together again. How strange! How strange! Finally, several people joined their voices and yelled: “Angry! Angry! Angry!” ……. ( (

——Yanjing Moufan (, The Rebellion of Smokaholic) 38

“Cha~~~”, (the sound) reached to the outside. Listen, it’s not like wiggling (sounds). When it reached to the eardrum, a state of dreariness was felt. Soon wisps of smokes were seen swarming out from the gaps of windows. Not fragrant nor stinky, when it reached to nasal canals, one’s mind would become murky. To take a peep inside, there are four couches in the middle with two people crouching on each. Three Chinese characters can be used to describe (this scene): the smoke lamp is like the shape of “”, the smoke pipe is like the shape of “”, and the body (of the smoker) is like the shape of “”. Their speech sound like muttering and whispering, all in twisting nasal tones. There is one sitting up, with both shoulders raised, holding a twist of paper in the right hand, a hookah in the left hand, almost dozing off, a gentle murmuring arising from his throat. ((

37 TWT, 19071005, p8. 38 TWT, 19071221, p6.

70 (( ((

——Heijibu (, Opium Smokers) 39

“Roong~roong~roong~”, then (it) muted. In an instant, (it) rumbled again. Eh, where was this sound from? From the train. Why did it fall silent then rumble again? It took a stop. Two men were standing next to the railway tracks …… …… ——Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring) 40

The first three examples provide vivid portraits of the sounds and scenarios of opium smoking, creating an immersive experience that enables readers to feel like they are at the scene. The opening of Zuanshi Yuezhi can even be compared with the panning of a camera in modern cinematography. Following the sound of the approaching train, the camera of narration then moves to the two protagonists standing next to the tracks. Although it is written in the language of classical Chinese, the narrative techniques and structure is presented very much as a fiction in a modern sense.

This “thunder throwing approach” is more or less an evolution of the popular rhetorical method found in late Qing fiction to begin a story with scenery depictions. The only difference is that the approach used by local Australian Chinese writers focuses more on the narration of sounds than on the landscapes.

The Rise of Episodic Narrative Structure and Non-plot Elements

As an attempt to diversify the narrative structure, scenery depiction is another common device used in early Australian Chinese language fiction. For example, the openings of Huangjin Chan (, Zen of Gold), Yandu Eryou Zhi Tanqing (, The Talks between The Two Friends of Smoker and Gambler), Shaofu Lei (, Tears of the Young Housewife) and Waifu Bu (, Department of Foreign

39 TCT, 19081117, pp.9-10. 40 TCT, 19101105, p8.

71 Attachment)41 are all about the sights of a morning outing or a stroll at dusk leading to the formal storylines. The depiction of “the clear blue sky, breezy and refreshing” and the subsequent image of a withered and poverty-striken young housewife in Shaofu Lei constructs a sharp contrast to intensify the mishap of her encounters; and the gloomy sunset-scape silhouetted in Waifu Bu with “the marking dark clouds, fading glows of setting sun, the arrays of ravens croaking in the wind” is an implied metaphor for China’s political situation as a background for the story. Using scenery depiction to start a story has effectively set off an elemental atmosphere for the storyline development in these works.

The status and function of scenery depiction is further explored and employed as the centralised narrative structure in fiction like Qingyang Gang (, Qingyang Port)42, You Yanchang Ji () and Guan Maiyi Ganyan (, Reflections After Watching Street Performances)43. The storylines in these three fiction had become secondary to the authors’ concentration on the depictions of landscapes or scenarios of the story. This approach is often utilised by both the late Qing and early Australian Chinese fiction writers to display folk lifestyles and social reality in their works through the eyes of an audience or a traveller. Chen Pingyuan commented it as “using travelogue technique to write fiction”. 44

Chen Pingyuan also indicates in his analysis of the narrative patterns of late Qing short stories that “the evolution of short stories from emphasising the sagittal plane to the horizontal plane, is not purely aiming at the centralisation of time, but representing a general tendency of modern fiction featuring the rise of non-plot elements and the attenuation of the function of plot” (2005:156)45. Given that a majority of early Australian Chinese language fiction is short stories, Chen’s insight into the

41 Shaofu Lei, TCT, 19081003, p7; a suspectable duplicate of the same title appeared on Shi Bao, 19080813; Waifubu, TWT, 19080229,p8, 19080307, p8. 42 TCT, 19080125, pp.6-7. It could be a work of Bao Tianxiao as the same title written by Xiao also appeared on Shi Bao, 19071128. However, TCT didn’t record any author name unlike its publication of other Bao Tianxiao’s submissions. 43 TWT, 19070223, p6. 44 For further discussion, please see Chapter 8 The Narrative Function of Traveller in Chen’s (2005) Zhongguo Xiandai Xiaoshuo De Qidian, pp. 236-257; 45 Chen’s concept of “non-plot elements” is probably developed from the term “non-event unit” raised by Andrew H. Plaks (1977);

72 developmental tendency of modern Chinese fiction could well be utilised to interpret the narrative structure of the large amount of episodic short stories in early Australian Chinese language fiction. Among these short stories, only a few46 maintain an integral storyline due to their resemblance to classical Chinese literary sketches or Chuanqi; whereas the rest are mostly narrated in the “horizontal plane” structure focusing only on the depiction of one or several episodic scenes or scenarios. Citing the aforementioned stories as example, Lok Dap Mei Yu Lok Dap Him Zhi Bijiao tells of a small conflict when two Chinese labourers land in Australia for the first time; Niunv Tanqing records a dialogue on the date of the cowherd and his maid on the Chinese Valentine’s Day; Mouguo Gedang Shu Mouzhishi zhi Zhuanglie focuses heavily on the final moment of the martyr’s execution; and Jinyan Ling mainly depicts a hilarious spectacle of opium- smoking yamen constables arresting smokers for smoking opium. Even in an imitation of one of the Chinese masterpiece by the name of Yi Honglou (, The Remnant Story of The Red Mansion) 47, the satire of the late Qing government is constructed in a brief episode of the straitened fiscal difficulty striking the once influential Jia family.

This “horizontal plane” narrative structure is most prevalent in the genres of humorous writings and in anecdotes of persons and miscellanies, which take up a large part in the spectrum of early Australian Chinese fiction. The wide application of the horizontal plane structure further leads to the appearance of "cluster structure"48, which is a collection of episodes of similar themes. Early Australian Chinese fiction writers also accepted this method of joining episodes into one form of fiction, for example, Guanchang Benjing zhi Choutai Liangze (, Two Ridicules of Chasing Shortcuts to Officialdom), Guanchang Xianxing Ji (, The Exposure of the Official World), Jingshi Hutuchong Liezhuan (, Collected

46 For example, Meihua Nü, TWT, 19100723, p8; Caozhou Nü (, The Boat Girl), TWT, 19111104, p8; Xiake Ji (, Tales of The Chivalrous Man), TWT, 19120224, p11; 47 TCT, 19080314, pp.6-7, 19080321, pp.8-9. 48 In Chen Pingyuan’s word, Jijinshi (), see Chen’s (2005) discussions in Section 2, The structural type of Cluster of Chapter 5 Cluster and Episodisation in Zhongguo Xiandai Xiaoshuo De Qidian (The Outset of Modern Chinese fiction, “”“ ”), pp.136-148.

73 Profiles of Morons in the Capital), Zhentan Meiren Tan (, Tales of Spy Beauties), Shehuijing (, Social Mirror), etc.49

Due to the length restriction of short stories, early Australian Chinese fiction writers perhaps have very little space to explore and experiment with the modernisation of the traditional plot-focused narrative structure. Instead, they managed to go through an alternative way to reform the narrative structure of early Australian Chinese language fiction by turning to late Qing's preference of “horizontal plane” or episodic narrative structure. The popularity of the cluster or episodic narrative structure is closely linked with the tendency of publishing fiction in the booming newspaper industry at the turn of the 20th century. The employment of this episodic narrative structure such as the "horizontal plane" of a single scene or the cluster type of multiple episodes50 enabled fiction writers to find a convenient way to accommodate the restriction of the newspaper style of writing by diminishing the oral storytelling tone and de-emphasising the traditional emphasis on storyline, and then elevating the non-plot elements in fiction narratives. Apart from the scenery depiction, the rise of non-plot elements, in Chen’s theory (2005:16; 2010:94-126, 150-194), also refers to the increasing practice of integrating jokes, anecdotes, epistles, interlocutions or remarks into fiction. Inspired by this trend of late Qing fiction, the use of these non-plot elements also blossomed in the first two decades’ development of Australian Chinese language fiction.

I have indicated in the previous chapter that the genre of “humorous writings” takes up the largest presentation in the general framework of early Australian Chinese language fiction51. Whether they are depicting a piece of interesting gossip, absurd deeds and acts, or petty banter, all these jokes, humorous talks, exposés and grotesque accounts are

49 Guangchang Benjing zhi Chouzhuang Liangze, TWT, 19050401, p2; Guanchang Xianying Ji, TWT, 19100312, this is a collection of two snippets of the exposed bureaucracy, not the same fiction as Li Baojia (, 1867-1906)’s famous fiction of the same name, which is also the late Qing exemplar of the fiction of cluster structure; Jingshi Hutuchong Liezhuan, TWT, 19120420, p8; Zhentan Meiren Tan, see Footnote 40 in Chapter 2; Shehui Jing, see Footnote 18 of this chapter. 50 In terms of the "horizontal plane"-type of short stories appeared in early Australian Chinese language fiction following the trend of late Qing's counterparts, I agree on Chen Pingyuan's interpretation that: (this type of short stories) is mostly created through an angle of recording jokes or anecdotes. Even though it can be called an "episode", it resembles more of the "sketch-book" type of stories that is well- established in Chinese narrative tradition, and more of an expansion and transformation of the writings of jests and anecdotes. It can be viewed as a rudiment of modern short story, but not that type of short story with a "revolutionary" episodic structure. See Chen (2005:159 & 2010:165). 51 See Table 2 in Chapter 2.

74 mostly the record of a short dialogue or funny scene with fairly simple storylines. Of equally simple structure, there are also stories in the form of a colloquy. It is common to find dialogues of question and answer between two characters or extended conversations among several people in early Australian Chinese language fiction, such as the interrogation of the burglar by the high official in Youdao Yu (, Moral Speech of The Burglar)52, the debate between the smoker and the opium vendor in Tao Yanzhai (, Dunning for Smoking Debts), the dialogue between the classical Chinese speaking Manchurian officer and the colloquial rickshaw puller in Churao Kecai (, A Boor’s Remarks), the discussions among street peddlers on a local newspaper dispute in Jieshi Xiaolin (, Joke from the Street Market) and many more.53 The actual focus of the authors in these works lies in the contents of the dialogues rather than the storylines these dialogues belonged to.

The employment of epistles in fiction shows another aspect of the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century. Weixin Haojie Zhi Yanshi ( , The Amorous History of The Hero of Restoration)54 records two letters to Kirino Toshiaki (, 1838-1877) sent by two ladies who adore him. The soulful and affectionate lines in these letters and Kirino’s determination to disregard them highlight the heroic image of his noble pursuit of national revival rather than his personal love affairs. Other examples include epistolary stories in a simulated first-person narrator style such as Ni Yanghaobi Yu Qianbi Shu (, A Simulated Letter from Goat Hair Brush to Pencil)55, Xini Furong Xianzi Liubie Pai’ Yanjing Shu ( , A Parodic Letter by The Opium Fairy for The Smokaholic’s Parting for Australia) Ni Pai’ao Yanjing Fu Furong Xianzi Liubie Shu (, The Simulated Reply by The Smokaholic to The Opium Fairy’s Parting Letter)56, Ni Sunxingzhe Yilingzi Zhi Wak Hai Bio Shu (

52 Youdao Yu, TWT, 19061215, p5; A short story of the same title also appeared in Nanfang Bao (, 1905-1908, Shanghai), 19061028. However, it was not marked out as reprint in TWT, hence it could be another example of duplication submission as discussed in Footnote 25. 53 Tao Yanzhai, TWT, 19070518, p8; Churao Kecai, TCT, 19021112, p3; Jieshi Xiaolin, TCT, 19110923, pp.6-7. 54 TWT, 19070309, p8. 55 See Footnote 9. 56 These two letters are published in TCT on 19100924, p9 and 19101001, p9.

75 , A Simulated Letter from The Great Sage and The God of Medicine to Wak Hai Cheng Bio Temple) and Ni Beidi Tianhou Fu Kong Hock Bio Shu ( , The Simulated Reply from The Northern Emperor and The Celestial Mother to Kong Hock Keng Temple).57 Similarly, these epistles are very simple in storyline, but serve the purpose of expressing the author’s opinions or remarks through the mimetic stance of the figures who wrote these letters. According to Chen Pingyuan (2010:188-189), the mimesis of letters is rarely seen in classical Chinese fiction. Even by the time of late Qing fiction writers, they would still rather turn the contents of a letter into the storyline through an oral narrator than record its lines directly in the story text. Therefore, the appearance of these simulated epistolary texts in early Australian Chinese language fiction is obviously another step towards the modernisation of Chinese fiction.

One important contribution of the extensive use of non-plot elements represented by the use of joke, interlocution and epistle is that the fiction writers can shift the narrative focus and the readers’ interest from the traditional plot development to the authors’ comments, judgements and emotions straightforwardly expressed through these forms. Early Australian Chinese fiction writers had promptly mastered this technique from their late Qing peers. The insertion of authorial remarks in early Australian Chinese fiction is partially done in a omniscient narrator’s tone through some half-new-half- traditional phrases like “yeshishi yue (, The Unoffical historiographer remarks)” 58, “lun yue (, It is commented that)” 59, and “jizhe yue (, The reporter says)” 60. More discussions, criticisms and comments are conveyed through the letters and dialogues voiced by the story characters. In Qihuangjia Shuo (, Speech of A Herbalist)61, the root cause of the sickening state of China is the topic of “my” discussion with the herbalist; In Yandu Eryou Zhi Tanqing (, The Talks between The Pals of Smoker and Gambler), the harms of smoking and gambling is

57 There two letters are published in TWT on 19070202, p8. 58 For example, Shaofu Lei and Weixin Haojie Zhi Yanshi. 59 Guanwei (, Pomp of A Bureaucrat), TCT, 19081017, pp.9-10; It could be another duplicate submission of the same title appeared in Shi Bao, 19080910, with the author's name as Yan Nong (). Again, there's no author's named provided in TCT, unlike other reprints and contributions where the original author's name will be marked. 60 Examples are Erguo Nüxia and Nüzhentan Lianhuaniang. 61 CAH, 19000106, p2.

76 disclosed in the dialogue between the smoker and the gambler; In Guifang Xinjiujie Zhi Bili (, The Proportion of New and Old in Boudoir)62, the “new woman’s” or feminist pursuit of knowledge, freedom and equal rights is expressed through the speech of a hair-combing maiden; also in the aforementioned letters between The Great Sage, The God of Medicine and The Northern Emperor, The Celestial Mother, a tit-for-tat debate on the motifs of public welfares and civil enlightenment is simulated between these two temples.

Over the first two decades’ development of Australian Chinese language fiction, we have witnessed the progress of using episodic or horizontal plane in narrative structure, and the rise of non-plot elements including scenery depiction, interlocution, epistle and remarks in narrative techniques. Just like the case of late Qing fiction, these developments in early Australian Chinese language fiction exerted a powerful impact on the inveterate omniscient narrative stance and plot-focused narrative structure of classical Chinese narrative traditions. Undoubtedly the innovative narrative techniques and patterns achieved by late Qing fiction played an important part in this early development of Australian Chinese language fiction. Under the influence and inspiration of late Qing fiction, the appearance and quality of Australian Chinese language fiction managed to develop rapidly from habitual accounts inherited from and deeply-rooted in classical Chinese narrative traditions such as karma and retribution, scholar-beauty romance, records of anecdotes and strange talks, to a more modernised framework that is in pace with the evolution of late Qing fiction and closely sticks to the modern themes of political affairs, civil enlightenment, patriotic ideals, reforms and self- strengthening.

The Significance of Duoqi Du's Narrative Achievements

Based on the above discussion, it is meaningful for us to examine the narrative pattern of Duoqi Du, ie. The Vice of Polygamy, the only serialised full-length novel in early Australian Chinese fiction and learn why it can be deemed as a milestone of the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction.

62 TWT, 19070105, p8.

77 First of all, Duoqi Du’s narrative time and plot structure basically follow the traditional linear narrative along with the chronological sequence of the lives and encounters of the protagonist Shangkang, his wife Ma and concubine Qiaoxi. The novel begins with a prologue accounting for the benefits of monogamy and the harms of polygamy to justify the main theme of this story. Then this is followed by:

This most miserable and saddest story from the countryside is hereby cited as a mirror to the society. The details of the whole story are best known to me, so I am just faithfully expatiating on this story. I tend not to use any allegoric or figurative devices but to slightly change the names (of the figures) for the sake of courtesy.

Although the traditional cliché of the storyteller is not seen, a tinge of the oral storytelling still lies between the lines. The author’s emphasis on the faithful narration of the story is a typical presentation of the historiographical rhetoric in classical Chinese narrative attempting to increase the historical veracity of the fiction.63 After this is a sentence promoting the content of this story:

If one has lived in this place long enough, (memories comparable to) the first half of this story still linger in one’s mind, recollections come back as soon as one reads it. The second half and the ending of the story is profoundly meaningful, woeful, mournful, shocking and horrifying. 64

Interestingly, the author appeared to be quite concerned about losing readers’ interest of a lengthy serialised novel and specifically added these advertising words into the texts. The opening paragraph of Duoqi Du had already unfolded as a hybrid of the new and

63 For detailed discussions about the rhetoric of oral story telling and historiography in Chinese narrative traditions, please see Andrew H. Plaks’s (1977) Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative, pp.325- 329. 64 These two examples are from Episode 1, TCT, 19090605, p.10.

78 old narrative features before us, a typical epitome of the transition of Chinese fiction from the traditional to a modernised development.

That being said, when the formal story begins, the author of Duoqi Du was capable of using comparatively innovative narrative techniques inspired by the evolution of late Qing fiction. The story starts with the account of the meagre lives of Shangkang and his wife Ma in Cantonese countryside (Episodes 1-8), then followed by the painstaking journey to seek a livelihood in Australia (Episodes 8-23) of Shangkang and his two fellow townsmen Chengnan and Binnan, with a depiction of Ma’s forlorn life in China (Episodes 19-22). Then from Episodes 24 to 2765, Shangkang return to China and settles down by adopting his son Jinniu and jointly running a store with Chengnan. Episode 28 is a chapter connecting the first half and the second half of the story by fast-forwarding the plots including Shangkang and Chengnan’s second journey to Melbourne to operate a business, Ma raising Jinniu alone in the countryside, and Shangkang’s intention to find a second wife after he manages to make a comfortable life in Australia. The leading narrative sequence of the first half of the story clearly follows the perspective of Shangkang's encounters. The secondary sequence of Ma's country life was simultaneously developed and crossed in and out of the narration of the main storyline.

Starting from Episode 29, the story moves into the second half and focuses on the background of Qiaoxi and the arrangement of her marriage to Australia. Upon arrival, she soon abandons her fiancée Gongluo and starts to go out with Shangkang (Episodes 29-36). A diversion of Gongluo’s suicide after Qiaoxi breaks up their arranged wedding is inserted in Episode 33. Then from Episode 37 to Episode 45, Shangkang marries Qiaoxi as his second wife and thereby sells off his Melbourne business and returns to China. The point of view of the narration gradually moves from Shangkang to Qiaoxi during these episodes. During the story of Shangkang and Qiaoxi’s marriage in Melbourne, the author intentionally makes use of the flashback technique in Episode 41

65 This part actually consists of 5 episodes. On TCT, there are numbering errors after Episode 26 on 19091225, the subsequent episode on 19100115 was wrongly marked as 25. Then on 19100122 the episode number went back to 27, the rest of episode numbers remained in this order till the end of the novel. Therefore, the episode on 19100105 should be Episode.27, and 19100122 Episode 28, and the final 19101210 Episode 53. However, in order to avoid further confusions when referring back to the source text, I still follow the original episode number in my citations in this essay. Please see Appendix I for the specific date of each episode.

79 to pinpoint the guileful and unscrupulous nature of Qiaoxi. First is the scene of Qiaoxi being caught in the act of adultery by the neighbours, then the actual adultering course of her and how she lied and covered up the act is recounted.

From Serials 45 to 52, the storyline approaches the end; in a tragic finale Ma and her new-born baby with Shangkang are poisoned and killed by Qiaoxi, Shangkang becomes depressed and dies of grief. When Qiaoxi plans to murder Jinniu, her scheme is exposed and she is forced to drown herself by the angry townsmen. The sad endings of the protagonists of the story strike the readers’ mind by admonishing the vice of polygamy. This novel not only vividly and extensively portrayed the journeys of the ordinary Chinese labourers between the two countries, but also offered a landscape of the social manners of both the Cantonese countryside and the early diasporic Chinese communities in Australia. Clearly the author is well aware of the use of various narrative devices such as flashback, flashforward, non-linear and interposed narrations to diversify the narrative time and improve the flow of events. Through the elaborate design of the plot, the individual destinies of the characters and the twists in their lives is presented to the readers in an orderly and coherent manner.

In terms of the narrative stance of Duoqi Du, the omniscient narrator is only used in the introduction of the story’s background or to convey the author’s judgements and remarks. The storyline is mainly narrated through a third-person stance following various characters in different parts of the story. The third-person narrative stance conveniently enables the characters to be embodied through their individual acts and dialogues.

The author of Duoqi Du also excels in using psychological depictions that match the characters’ roles. Non-event units such as poems and letters are also employed to assist with the portrayal of the main characters’ personalities.

For instance, Shangkang behaves like two different persons when he talks to his compliant wife Ma and in front of his younger, prettier yet more imperious concubine Qiaoxi. His responses to his wife are disdainful and he easily replies in anger to Ma’s caring words. But when Qiaoxi confronts him, he is always humble and timid in his tone and manner. A vivid image of a philanderer is hence created through the distinct

80 contrast of Shangkang’s utterances. His townsman Chengnan, a well-mannered and educated man, is set by the author to play the most positive role in the story. Therefore, most of the author’s ideals and didactic opinions are conveyed through Chengnan’s speeches. In his first excursion to the wilderness in Victoria, Chengnan composes three classical Chinese poems full of lament for his homeland, and hope for the self- strenghthening of China66. Chennan also appears later in the story as a wise friend who offers farsighted advice on Shangkang’s family arrangements67. The guileful and unruly personality of Qiaoxi, the main protagonist in the second half of the story, is also shaped through the glib and ingratiating manner in her every conversation. When she returns to China and see Ma for the first time, there is an impressive account of her psychological actions and speech at that moment:

At this moment, Qiaoxi found Shangkang still in his wife’s bedroom. The sour, the brackish, the bitter, the pungent, all blended together and stuffed in her chest. She was on the verge of burst out, but didn’t dare to act imprudently as she thought to herself that this is the first time she came (to the household). (

However, when she realises that being a concubine requires her to go through certain traditional rituals to pledge her inferiority to Ma, she soon snaps at her by shouting:

I am formally married to my husband overseas, not comparable to a concubine. Who’s this yokelish woman, how dare you come to humiliate me! 68

A penetrating image of Qiaoxi is thus evoked through her sudden anger and shrewish language.

Apart from the skillful shaping of characters, Duoqi Du also renders detailed depictions of Australian landscapes and native features. For example, the bleak beauty of the

66 See Episode 11, TCT, 19090828, pp.8-9, and Episode 12, TCT, 19090904, p9. 67 Episode 25, TCT, 19100115, pp.9-10. 68 These two examples are from Episode 45, 19100820, p.9, TCT;

81 outback sunset is delicately described through the vision of Chinese labourers at their first excursion across the vast wilderness in Victoria:

Alas! The forests in the far sight all turned into trees of flames, exactly like the crimson maples in July under the splendour emanated from the evening glow. Looking back to the setting sun at the edge of the sky, it is as if a fireball out of the smelting furnace casting down in the creeping weeds and wild haze. The reflected sunlight and the afterglow fashioned such an adorable evening scene. 69

This is a vivid depiction of the Australian landscape for the first time in Chinese fiction.70 Other unique Australian features can also be seen in the story of Shangkang and Chengnan’s first contacts with aboriginal people and with a fierce beast with “head like bear and body like tiger” which can gnaw on human’s head.71 Not only are these narrations unprecedented in the long history of Chinese literature, they also set a pioneering example of a native Australian Chinese narrative tradition.

Although the author of Duoqi Du had come straight to the point at the very beginning that no allegoric and figurative devices were to be used, didactic comments fill in the end of every little plot. When Shangkang’s mother dies after taking the wrong Chinese herbs and a huge sum of money is spent on the Taoist funeral ceremony, the author remarks on the outdated and ignorant customs of Chinese nationals72; After Shangkang and his peers are saved from the wild beast, they all bow and ask the blessings of the Chinese gods. The author uses Chengnan’s thoughts to criticise Shangkang and the others for being superstitious73. Similarly when Ma receives a letter from Shangkang and has to request others to read it due to her illiteracy, the author again laments the

69 Episode 14, 19090918, p.9, TCT; 70 The earliest depiction of Australian landscape is first seen in the poem of Yingwu Ditu (, Map of the Land of Cockatoo) by Shu Wei (, 1765-1816) who had written the lines based on his imagination after viewing a Western world map. See Shu Wei (1991:574-576); 71 The aborginal people is referred as “dark barbarians” in the story, see Episodes 14-15, TCT, 19090918, p.10, 19090925, p.9; For the beast attack, see Episode 13, TCT, 19090911, pp.9-10. It is quite possible that the beast they encountered could be from the image of a Tasmanian tiger; 72 Episode 4, TCT, 19090626, p.10. 73 Episode 13, TCT, 19090911, pp.9-10.

82 weakening of female education in China74; at the time when Chengnan and Binnan are preparing to form a township-affiliated association before their return to China, the author gives a speech to Binnan to express the ideas of ethnic identity and unity for Australian Chinese migrants:

Binnan said: “Now the compatriots of our country …… is huge in number. However, we are unorganised and undisciplined, having neither notions of solidarity towards our compatriots, nor ability to deal with foreign affairs. Therefore (we) suffered setbacks and humiliations from the white people. This is truly worrisome. However, if (we) want solutions to this situation, (we) must first strive for the notions of solidarity. To cultivate our notions of unity and solidarity, (we) have to seek for a place for assembly and unity. Our people who travelled and stayed here are mostly from the four counties. Hence I advocate to found a Four Counties Association as the venue of our organisation and unity.”

75

In Duoqi Du, the author’s comments and the characters’ speeches are both utilised to advocate ideas that are far beyond the theme of the vice of polygamy suggested by the title. These ideas cover a wide range of motifs popular at the turn of the 20th century including stopping the corrupt customs such as smoking opium and gambling, patriotism, civil enlightenment, woman’s rights and even those usually discussed in post-colonial literature such as nostalgia and ethnic unity. Not only does this text show progress in narrative techniques no less than the achievements of late Qing fiction, it also plays a role as a piece of literature to arouse the readers’ reflections on the above themes and potentially facilitate the modernisation of local Chinese communities in Australia. Therefore, Duoqi Du is well placed to be a novel in the modern sense and a milestone in the development of Australia Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century.

74 Episode 21, TCT, 19091106, pp.9-10. 75 Episode 23, TCT, 19091127, p.10.

83 3.3 The elevation of fiction in its status and functions

The beginning of Australian Chinese language fiction appeared in the newspaper pages with a mixture of other writings such as news and political essays. Its content was mostly occupied with various strange tales and anecdotal stories, resembling early newspaper fiction in late Qing China. According to Chen Pingyuan (2005:159, 265)76, the favoured use of street talks and anecdotes in early Chinese newspaper fiction can be interpreted through the popularity of publishing fiction in newspapers. Records of street talks and hearsay stories feed readers’ appetites and hence promote sales. Therefore, late Qing writers often incorporate literary jottings or records of jokes and anecdotes in their compositions.

Early Chinese newspaper fiction often comes in a form that is partly fiction, partly news, partly records of oddities and anecdotes. Though its maturity and function as a literary genre is not yet comparable to the later xin xiaoshuo (new fiction) of late Qing, it is now deemed an extension of the classical Chinese narrative tradition of xiaoshuo in the publication of modern Chinese newspapers. Zhang Lihua (2011:33-35) strategically names this type of stories as “short-length fiction” and describes this oddities/anecdotes-focused generic feature as an interpenetrating ambiguity between “news” and “fiction” in early Chinese newspapers before the development of these two forms of writings into independent genres. Chen Pingyuan (2005:143) also indicates that the publication of fiction in newspapers and the rise of the press industry has blurred the boundaries of different literary forms, the interweaving of fiction and other literary forms thus becomeing a spontaneous tendency. Be it an ambiguity or an interpenetrating /interweaving course, both descriptions present the transitional form of Chinese fiction in the process of moving from a classical narrative tradition towards the centre stage of modernised literature. When this transitional posture also appears in the inauguration of Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century, it

76 Yuan Jin also indicated in Zhongguo Xiaoshuo de Jindai Biange (, The Modern Reform of Chinese Fiction) that most late Qing fiction writers had a habit of collecting street talks and hearsays as their writing materials. See Yuan, 1992:52;

84 implies a possibility of a modernised evolution of Australian Chinese language fiction right from its beginning.

This transitional form of Australian Chinese language fiction soon started to change after entering the 20th century. The evolution of Australian Chinese language fiction in the 1900s not only reflects the development of its narrative structure and techniques as discussed earlier, it also demonstrates the elevation of its status and function from an ambiguous state mingling with news and anecdotes to an important literary genre that served the purpose of improving government and civil enlightenment. It is worth noticing that Liang Qichao’s visit to Australia between 1900 and 1901 played a crucial role in the evolution of early Australian Chinese language fiction due to his visit’s objective effect on the development of the early Australian Chinese press as well as Liang Qichao’s powerful influence in the revolution of late Qing literature at home. Although the purpose of Liang’s trip in Australia was to seek support from Australian Chinese migrants’ for the monarchist movement77, the rise of the Tung Wah Times (TWT) and the Chinese Times (TCT) were closely connected with this visit: the TWT soon became the promotional organ of the NSW Chinese Empire Reform Association, a branch of the overseas Chinese monarchist movement led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. One of TWT’s editors, Tang Caizhi, was a student of Kang and Liang and was sent from Japan to Sydney to assist with the editorship of TWT in 1902. Also inspired by Liang Qichao’s thoughts on democracy and revolution, Chang Luke, an editor of the TWT in its earlier days, even went further to compete with the propaganda of the TWT by founding TCT in Melbourne. (Kuo, 2010:166)

The after-effect of Liang Qichao’s visit also led to the upswing of local support for the reform of China and the enlightenment of Chinese people as well as increased

77 For further readings of Liang Qichao’s visit and the Chinese monarchists’ activities in Australia, please refer to Zhao, Chang & Zhang, Qiusheng, (2007:64-68), Liang Qichao yu Aozhou Baohuanghui (Liang Qichao and the Chinese Monarchist Associations in Australia); Yeung, Wing On, (2014:246-251), Liang Qichao Nanyou yu Baohuangre Shengwen (Liang Qichao’s Visit to the South and the Upswing of Chinese Monarchist Movements); Kuo, Mei-fen, (2011:165-167), Huaqiao’ Narratives and Political Alliances of Urban Chinese-Australian Communities in the Early Twentieth Century. In terms of literary works produced during Liang’s visit in Australia such as poetry, travolgues, epistles and potilical essays, please refer to Liu, Weiping, (1989:144-177), Liang Qichao de Aozhou zhi Xing (Liang Qichao’s travel in Australia), and Xia, Xiaohong, (2007:37-41), Xunzhao Liang Qichao Aozhou Wenzong (Searching for the Literary Traces of Liang Qichao in Australia).

85 communication between the local press industry and the press in mainland China and in other overseas Chinese diasporas. The publication of Chinese writers’ contributions and reprints of fiction from other overseas Chinese newspapers also became a fairly common phenomenon in early Australian Chinese newspapers in the first ten years of the 20th century78. On the basis of the escalating cross-Chinese-diasporic communication together with Liang Qichao’s prestige in Chinese press and literary circles79, it is undoubtedly possible that local Australian Chinese writers could be motivated and inspired by Liang’s literary advocacy and the revolution of fiction he initiated. Aroused by this trend in late Qing new fiction, the local Chinese writers and newspaper editors renewed their knowledge on the status and function of fiction and hence led the way in the early development of Australia Chinese language fiction with their works.

In Liang Qichao’s definition of the status and function of fiction in his Lun Xiaoshuo yu Qungzhi zhi Guanxi (, On the Relationship Between Fiction and the Government of the People), he states that “The revolution of the government of the people must begin with the revolution of fiction. The renovation of the people must begin with the renovation of fiction”80. He further elucidated his points in Bianfa Tongyi – Lun Youxue (, The General Proposal for Reform – On Primary Education) that “(Fiction) can be used to explicate the divine teachings (of ) at its uttermost, or as a prosaic account for histories and miscellanies; it can arouse people from our recent national humiliations, and also extend to foreign affairs. As to the corruptions of officialdom, the scandals from the imperial examination system, the obstinate addiction of opium smoking and the abusive treatment of feet- binding, all these deformities can be exposed thoroughly and the fin-de-siecle mores can be inspringly uplifted. The benefits of fiction thus are immeasurable.”81 These

78 The contributions from Chinese writers even include some big names of Chinese novelists in late Qing’s literary circle such as Bao Tianxiao () and Chen Leng (). See Appendix V. 79 For Liang Qichao’s influence in late Qing’s literary and press circle, see Chen, Yushen (2003:127-135). 80 The original Chinese text is: . This translation is quoted from Gek Nai Cheng’s version (Denton, ed. 1996:75). 81 The original Chinese text is: .

86 statements obviously gave a boost of the function of fiction compared to the traditional notions of xiaoshuo in classical Chinese literary tradition, and largely facilitated the major reform of late Qing fiction. Liang’s pursuit of “renovation of people” found echoes with the ideas upheld by the leaders of the early Australian Chinese language press. As mentioned in chapter 2, the Chinese Australian Herald (CAH) referred to its principle as “bringing expostulation and benefits to people’s minds” 82, where as the TWT stressed “increasing people’s wisdoms and knowledge” and “chastising the unjust and denouncing the imperious” 83, and TCT also claimed that it was “a sincere newspaper that spearheads the efforts to enlighten civil wisdom so the nation will have more men of knowledge, and to promote the important principles of moral and manners so the nation will have less unruly citizens” 84. When these tenets were implemented in the local fiction published in these early Australian Chinese newspapers, it facilitated the development of fiction as an important genre in the nascent Australian Chinese literary tradition.

The elevation of the status of early Australian Chinese language fiction was first demonstrated in the evolution of its function. Looking through the Australian Chinese language fiction before 1900, there are only a few pieces such as Sanzi Tanyan ( , Three Men’s Talk on Smoking) and Qihuangjia Shuo (, Speech of A Herbalist) 85 that focus on corrupt customs and social problems; others are almost all about various street gossips, sensational stories collected from Chinese towns and villages. Then, at the first ten years of the 20th century, especially after Liang Qichao’s visit to Australia between 1900 and 1901, stories exposing or denouncing all sorts of depravities, corruptions and harmful addictions soon flourished on the local Chinese press, whereas the number of stories about traditional romance, supernatural tales, and records of hearsay largely decreased. This is mostly obvious in the TWT based in Sydney and TCT based in Melbourne. The TWT soon became the promotional organ of Chinese monarchist movement after Liang Qichao’s visit, and quickly presented a fresh

82 See Footnote 82 of Chapter 2; 83 See Footnote 83 and 84 of Chapter 2; 84 Origin of The Chinese Times (), TCT, 19020205, p2. The original Chinese text is “ ”. 85 Sanzi Tanyan, TWT, 18980727, p4; Qihuangjia Shuo, CAH, 19000106, p2. There are a few other stories exposing street scams that are more similar to the tradtional edifying stories, see Appendix I;

87 appearance in the fiction it published. For example, during the two months of October and November in 1900, we can still find two traditional romance stories Pojing Chongyuan (, Reunion of the Broken Mirror) and Sanshengshi Yuan ( , Karma of The Three-Reincarnation Stone)86 in the TWT’s pages. By the first quarter of 1901, we are then also able to read the satire of the Dowage Empress and her conservative officials from a fable named Yaozhang Ji (, Tale of Evil Deers)87, and the encouragement of monarchist undertakings through the underworld’s success in political reform in Zuimeng Chuanqi (, Tale of A Drunken Dream)88.

Since its founding in 1902, TCT had set as its goal to “expose the hidden depravities and evils and advocate the righteousness and virtue” and to “refresh social mores and educate wisdom”89. Thus in the very first year of TCT’s publication, we have seen a number of jotting-style stories and fables with satirical and critical functions. Taking the two vernacular accounts of Suhua Qinao (, The Popular Saying of Begging for Reproach) and Suhua Biandu (, The Popular Saying of the Harm of Manchu Queue)90 for examples, though they both adopted the traditional literary sketch form of Suoyan (, insignificant remarks), the former fictionalised the anecdote of Wang Wenshao (, 1830-1908), one of Late Qing’s senior court officials, being scolded by the imperial court as a satire on his incompetence and shameless speech; while the latter recorded a street hearsay of a Chinaman’s queue braid bitten by a goat to mock the clumsiness of the Manchu queue hairstyle. There is also a fable titled Kelian Chong (, The Pitiful Bug)91 using the bug as a metaphor for Chinese people in deep distress so as to censure the invasion of China by other nations and grieve for the numbness and slavishness of the mental state of Chinese people. These works still drew heavily on the forms of classical Chinese narrative traditions, however, their up-to-the- minute themes of satire and awakening showed that the authors’ attitude towards the function of fiction had evolved. During the initial ten years of the 20th century, we can

86 Pojing Chongyuan, TWT, 19001031, p2; Sanshengshi Yuan, TWT, 19001110, p3. 87 TWT, 19010306, p3. 88 TWT, 19010327, p2. 89 Origin of The Chinese Times II (), TCT, 19020212, p2. 90 Suhua Qinao, TCT, 19020326, p3; Suhua Biandu, TCT, 19020402, p3. 91 TCT, 19020312, p2.

88 find all sorts of stories with various exhortative, satirical, exposing or critical themes every year in all three local Chinese newspapers, sufficient to show us the eagerness of early Australian Chinese authors to convey their thoughts and ideas about civil enlightenment.

The enlightening function of fiction can be explained in Liang Qichao’s words as “to expose all the abnormalities and uplift the decadent social mores”. Accordingly, most early Australian Chinese language fiction developed its storylines revolving around the irony, exposure and condemnation of malpractices, depravities, swindles and corrupt customs. There are too many for me to recount piece by piece here as plenty of these stories can be easily found in the early Australian Chinese language newspapers, and those cited in the previous discussions of the contents, themes and genres of early Australian Chinese language fiction have provided sufficient examples.92

Another way to embody the use of fiction in enlightenment is to propagate popular themes such as equality, patriotism, self-strenthening, education, and so on through the conversation of the characters in the stories or the author’s remarks added to the texts. Hence we are able to see the pursuit of contemporary womens’ rights in Guifang Xinjiujie Zhi Bili (, The Proportion of New and Old in Boudoir)93 and Niunü Tanqing (, Love Talks between the Cowherd and His Maid)94, the discussions on the importance of education in Hua Shaonian (, The Flower-like Teenager)95 and Kuixing Jiaoyu (, Kuixing and Education)96, the expectation of Chinese nationals’ arousal and revitalisation in Shuiguo (, The Sleeping Country)97 and Shixing (, Awakening of the Lion)98, as well as the eulogy to the patriotic deeds of the protagonist in Kuli Zhong Qinanzi (, A Remarkable Coolie Man)99

92 For a full list of all Australian Chinese language fiction published from 1894 to 1912, please see Appendix I. 93 See Footnote 59. 94 See Footnote 20. 95 TWT, 19081024, p6, 19081121,p8. 96 TCT, 19080321, p9. Kuixing is the Chinese name of the four stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper; it also refers to the god of examination in ancient . 97 TCT, 19040406, p2. 98 TWT, 19071026, p7. 99 TWT, 19070528, p8.

89 and Mouguo Gedang Shu Mouzhishi zhi Zhuanglie (, The Bravery of a Martyr Told by a Revolutionary of a Country)100.

The above methods used by local Australian Chinese writers to enhance the edifying function of fiction are also common practice in China. Drawing on the experience of late Qing fiction, the early Australian Chinese fiction writers started to incorporate their observation of local Australian lives into their works, such as the joke caused by a Chinese labourer’s misunderstanding of English in Lok Dap Mei yu Lok Dap Him zhi Bijiao (, The Comparison between “Lock up Me” & “Lock up Him”)101, the loss of an Australian farm owner from the toxicity of opium in Duwu Kewei (, The Frightful Poison)102, and the swindle of Chinese labourers by local prostitutes in Zhuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Rings)103, not to mention the outstanding novel of Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy) in which the multiple themes of civil enlightenment, womens’ rights, quitting smoking, patriotism and self-strengthening were integrated into the protagonists’ lives and journeys in both Australia and China. By fusing the local life experience into the function of fiction, it enables early Australian Chinese fiction to easily strike an empathic and inspiring chord among local Chinese readers with the contents they were familiar with. Not only has it further expanded the themes in local Chinese fiction productions, a unique feature of civil enlightenment from the perspective of diasporic literature was thus added to the values of early Australian Chinese language fiction.

The elevated importance of fiction also embodies in its close connection with current affairs. Such an intimate affinity between fiction and current affairs on one hand is an influence from Late Qing Fiction’s synchronicity with historical events; on the other hand, we should also take into consideration the ambiguous state between fiction and news in the initial development of newspaper-published stories as discussed earlier. As a result, the appearance of a certain fiction itself is to some extent a record of what one sees and hears in this era. Early signs of basing a story on recent Chinese historical

100 See Footnote 27. 101 See Footnote 13. 102 See Footnote 11. 103 See Footnote 17.

90 events can be found at the beginning stage of Australian Chinese language fiction with examples such as, in Laonian Huazhu (, The Elderman’s Wedding Night)104, the wedding night delayed for almost 50 years caused by the chaos of the Taiping Rebellion and The First Sino-Japanese War, and in Pojing Chongyuan (, Reunion of the Broken Mirror)105, the romantic reunion of a wealthy family’s daughter and a young scholar after the Boxer Rebellion.

In Wu Xi’s (1997) comments on the development of late Qing fiction, he states “the synchronicity of historical events in fiction production accounts for the fact that Chinese literati no longer relied merely on the form of verse, and had started attempts to use the form of fiction to reflect people’s thoughts and aspirations of the era. This is not only a breakthrough of fiction moving up onto the stage of literature and to combine with current affairs, but also demonstrate that the form of fiction has already been accepted by authors and is in the gradual process of being accomodated by readers.” Wu’s account has affirmed the progress and elevation of status of the development of late Qing fiction.

Following the spread of the trends of late Qing fiction, local Australian Chinese authors who had always concerned about the situations in China soon grew accustomed to this way of producing fiction. The development of Australian Chinese language fiction in the 1900s had led to stories that respond to the social and political situation in China, from social news such as the rape and abduction case of a Beijing government official106 or the various responses of ordinary Chinese people towards the government’s smoking-ban order107, to momentous historical events such as the Russo-Japanese War, the abdication of the last Qing emperor and the founding of Republic of China. The local Chinese newspapers even took different angles in how they recorded these events in their fiction works. In the case of the Russo-Japanese War for example, the TWT focused on the hardships brought to the Chinese people in the two sketches of Guochi

104 CAH, 18970910, p5. 105 TWT, 19001031, p2. 106 Liu Zhushi (, Secretary Liu), TWT, 19070420, p8. 107 For example, Tao Yanzhai, see Footnote 50; Jinyan Ling, see Footnote 35; Heijibu, see note 37; Yanguan Zhongren Yu (, Utterances of the People in the Opium House), TWT, 19070921, p8.

91 Lu (, Records of National Humiliations)108; whereas TCT utilised this opportunity to propagate patriotism and sacrifice for the country through Zhentan Meiren Tan’s (, Tales of Spy Beauties)109 depiction of how the female Japanese spies had contributed to the winning this war. As to the downfall of the Qing dynasty, TCT’s Xin Mengzi (, The New Mencius) , which appeared in a form mimicking the style of Confucian classics, satirised the backstage deals of the desperate Qing government in its final days through a fabricated dialogue between the Prince Regent and an old ape.110 The CAH also published an allegorical story titled Maozhuizi Rang Meiqideng Heian Ji (, Mr.Brushpen’s Blame on Gas Lamp’s Turning Dark) to insinuate the dark reality that the former Qing imperiality whose pernicious influence still lingered after the birth of the Republic of China, as well as two other burlesque writings111 about this epoch-making event and further extend the discussion to the abolition of religious authority and ridicule the appointment of the new military governor.

Apart from the focus on China’s political situation, early Australian Chinese fiction also set their eyes on the news happening around them in the local communities. Stories like Liaobo Yixiao ((, Worth a Laugh) and Xiongdi Lunhuan (, Brothers’ Amour in Turns)112 are both adapted from local news in town, demonstrating an early attempt of localisation by Australian Chinese authors. Along with the promotion of fiction’s function in civil enlightenment, local circumstances and events were further utilised to educate and inspire local Chinese readers in early Australian Chinese language fiction, such as the bystanders’ commentaries on the dragon and lion dance in Bendigo’s Easter Parade in Shehui Jing (, Social Mirror)113 to parody China’s plight in international politics, and the interlocution in Jiayi Wenda (,

108 TWT, 19041224, s1. 109 See Footnote 36 in Chapter 2; 110 TCT, 19120427, p9. Ape, yuan, is a homophonic association in Chinese of the name (, 1859-1916), who is the most powerful imperial court official in the final days of Qing’s reign. 111 See Qiangpo Pusa Tuiwei Xuanyan (, Declaration of Forcing the Abdication of Bodhisattva), CAH, 19120323, p5; and Yanyou Lianming Ju Dayanjing Wei Dudu Chuandan( , Flyer of the Joint Nomination by Smokers of The Smokaholic for the Military Governor), CAH, 19120413, p6. 112 Liaobo Yixiao, CAH, 18950111, p6 ; Xiongdi Lunhuan, CAH, 18950426, p2. 113 See Footnote 17.

92 Questions and Answers of Joe Blokes)114 on the Immigration Registration Act of 1901 to alert Chinese residents to be careful when disclosing their arrival time in Australia.

In 1911, there was a contentious debate on Chinese political ideologies between the pro- monarchist TWT and the pro-revolutionary TCT and the local Chinese communities they represented. Editors and writers from each party not only battled in words through writing articles and composing folk-tunes, they also turned fiction into a verbal weapon. Fenshen Suigu Yijie ((, A Say on Body Smashing to Pieces)115 was a parody published by the TWT to vilify TCT’s editors; while TCT produced a sacastic account titled Jieshi Xiaolin (, Joke from The Street Market)116 as a counter-attack. Although using fiction as a tool of defamation might have sidetracked readers from the enlightening purpose of Chinese fiction itself, the propaganda function of fiction was clearly recognised by local Chinese fiction writers and was an obvious enhancement of the status of traditional xiaoshuo narratives.

The combination of local news or historical events in fiction writing at this stage was still an occasional appearance and yet to yield more fruitful works from this approach. However, these preliminary attempts initiated by early Australian Chinese fiction writers should be valued as a constructive exploration on the way of the localisation of Australian Chinese literary tradition. By fusing historical events or current affairs with fiction, be it for the purpose of denouncing, indoctrination, mockery or just making fun, these stories demonstrate that fiction not only could be a medium of expressing one’s views and thoughts, it could also be used as a tool for the awakening of the Chinese people.

Throughout its development in the first ten years of the 20th century, fiction published in the early Australian Chinese newspapers is already comparable to other literary genres like poetry, prose and folk-drama scripts in the quantity and quality of its contents. Early Australian Chinese writers had also learned to utilise the narratives of

114 CAH, 19110218, p5. 115 TWT, 19110916, p7. 116 See Footnote 14.

93 fiction in combination with social and political situations to expose scandals, lampoon injustice, condemn depravities and enlighten readers. All these evolutions of the functions of fiction clearly indicate the elevation of fiction’s status in the development of the Australian Chinese literary tradition. In the conceptual framework of early Australian Chinese language literature, fiction has evolved from the “xiaoshuo” traditionally used for the purpose of recording anecdotes and entertainment to an important diasporic genre that reflected local Chinese lives in details and broadened and inspired local Chinese residents.

94 CHAPTER 4

Conclusion

The birth of Australian Chinese language fiction and its ensuing development towards a modern ethnic literary tradition was prompted by the urbanisation of Chinese communities across Australia and the dynamic movement of late Qing fiction. The early evolution of Australian Chinese language fiction is indeed a cross-cultural phenomenon reflecting cultural transformations across Asia and Australia at the turn of the 20th century1. Therefore, it is important for us to examine the values of early Australian Chinese language fiction in a transnational context through a comparative review of the Australian literary experience at the turn of the 20th century, as well as the diasporic literary traditions from other overseas Chinese communities.

Robert Dixon once indicated (2004:35) that an overwhelming majority in the field of Australian literary studies are interdisciplinary, involving some form of comparative and cross-cultural research. It is increasingly driven by and being dispersed into other neighbouring form of scholarships. Hence, my comparative discussion in this chapter, on one hand, is an attempt following Dixon’s assertion of the importance of cross- cultural comparisons that Australian literary studies needs to be more aware of non- Anglophone traditions (2007:17). On the other hand, it also embraces the “transnational imaginaries” in Australian literary studies which signals a shift in critical thinking towards an enquiry in to the global, national and local interconnectedness, which feeds into the literary experience both at the point of creation and the point of reception (Ommundsen, 2012:2). And in the case of my research in this thesis, the early Australian Chinese language fiction is both a point of creation as it brought forth an ethnic literary tradition in Australian Chinese diaspora and a point of reception for the Chinese literary heritage and influence it absorbed and its interaction with the local literary experience in Australia.

1 See my discussion of the cross-cultural importance (Doleželová-Velingerová, Mair (eds), 2001:600) and global relevance (Wang, 1997:18) in chapter 3.

95 4.1 Pathways of localisations: a comparison between the early developments of Australian Chinese language fiction and Australian English language fiction

The comparison between the early developments of Australian Chinese language fiction and Australian English language fiction is based on the theories that the literary tradition engendered from Australian Chinese language fiction is the “significant other” in the relational matrix of the imagination of national culture (Featherstone, 1996:57-58; quoted in Huggan, 2007:38); and that the localised Chinese literary tradition also falls into the category of migrant writing, which, in Huggan’s conceptual framework(2007:ix), is one of the three strands of Australian writing2 that constitute the postcolonial literature of Australia.

The Australian literary experience during the late 19th century and the turn of the 20th century witnessed the heyday of colonial writing and the rise of literary nationalism. However, this radical development of national literature has been criticised over the past few decades for its propensity toward racism showcasing the Anglo-Celtic whiteness core culture and Eurocentric literary tradition (Hodge & Mishra, 1990; Hage, 1998, 2003; Huggan, 2007), and being inadequate to understanding Australian literature (Carter, 2007). If we re-examine the canons of Australian literature in the current scholarship (Ommundsen, 2007, Dixon, 2007; Jose, 2009; Jacklin, 2009), we find it increasingly multicultural in the sense that it has gradually come to incorporate ethnic and cultural elements from the diverse communities that make up the migrant nation, and transnational in reach across national and cultural borders (Huang & Ommundsen, 2015:9). According to Huang and Ommundsen, the value of literary traditions in languages other than English is also considered as Australian to the extent that they reflect the experience of particular migrant communities and circulate in those markets; they also speak to the mainstream culture with voices and views that are highly relevant to intercommunal understanding (2015:9).

2 The other two strands of Australian writing in Huggan’s theory are settler writing and indigenous writing. It is worth noticing that Yuanfang Shen (2001) pointed out in her monograph on two autobiographical scripts of early Australian Chinese migrants the authors’ sense of being a pioneer or a participant in the development of Australia. In other word, Shen’s analysis further indicates that early Australian Chinese writing also shows characteristics of settler’s narrative.

96 Therefore, the comparative study of the parallel development between early Australian Chinese language fiction and Australian fiction of the late colonial and early federation period, which happens at the turn of the 20th century, offers a valuable insight from a unique perspective of an ethnic minority to the multicultural landscape of the national literature of Australia, showing how the early Chinese migrants cope with with their resettlements within the Australian social and cultural settings while maintaining the bonds to their homeland.

As far as the national literary tradition is concerned, John McLaren (1997:1) states that the tradition in Australia, from a background of former British colonies, remains tied to the imperial centre by the inherited institutions, and culturally both by the language and by the forms in which their cultures express themselves. The form of the novel remains tied to its origin in the early stage of imperialism. This statement has implied from the angle of cultural development the strong connection between Australian fiction and British literature since the colonial period. Further on this subject, Ken Stewart (Pierce (ed), 2009:7-33) provides a very detailed account of how British conventions and ideology such as neoclassicism, romanticism and the various styles and sentiments of Victorian literature projected and shaped the incipient development of Australian literature. The effect of the romantic school poet Robert Southey’s Botany Bay Eclogues (1793) on later Australian writing in the romantic perception of the nature of Australia, the arcadianism of pastoral fiction and the convict as a hero or victim in fiction is one good example (Pierce (ed), 2009:11). The influence of romantic and melodramatic adventure stories such as the novels of Scott and Dickens was also strong in Australian fiction in the 19th century, too (Kramer, 1981:6). An earlier critic, H.P. Heseltine (1962:36-37), described this stage of heavy British influence on the development of Australian literature as a period of imitation of the models provided by the parent civilisation in the passage of what was once a colonial culture to national independence and maturity. To speak from this perspective, colonial writers such as Kendall, Clarke, Boldrewood and even the later Furphy3 could be read as imitators to a certain degree

3 Heseltine called the early Australian poets like Harpur, Kendall and Gordan “imitators” which are followed by the nationalists of the ’nineties and the turn of the century (1962:37). Vance Palmer even criticised the novels of Clarke and Boldrewood which formed the stream of Australian writing that came from the traditional source, and the literary inheritance of the race as “having very little to do with the developing life of the country” (1954:108); In a more recent study, Robert Dixon also indicates Joseph

97 due to the techniques, styles and plot-settings they imitated or inherited from the romantic tradition of the Victorian period in their works.

Judging from this perspective, the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction is comparable to the rise in the English language fiction of the colonial Australian literary experience. The birth of Australian Chinese language fiction remains tied to its parent culture, the classical Chinese literary tradition, especially the tradition of xiaoshuo; and its subsequent evolution in the 1900s was hugely inspired and influenced by the movements in late Qing fiction in China. Throughout my discussions in the last two chapters, I have presented a large number of stories and writings that imitate and inherit the themes, styles and appearances of classical Chinese xiaoshuo and late Qing fiction. Though the Chinese migration to Australia is never deemed “colonisation”, and Chinese culture as that of an ethnic minority that has never been mainstream in society, the evolution of this ethnic literary tradition follows a similar path as the colonial Australian literary experience to root its development in the fertile soil of the parent civilisation.

If colonial writing were mere imitations, there would not be an Australian literature but merely a sub-branch of what was happening in England. After the initial stage of importing and imitating British literary tradition, the development of Australian literature went through a period of intense and sometimes acrimonious debate about nationalism (Heseltine, 1962:37) and started a process of defining the national identity and setting canons for the national writing to distinguish it from the models borrowed from English literature.

While Australian English language fiction was actively progressing from a colonial heritage towards a national literary tradition, Australian Chinese language fiction, was also heading towards a modern and localised literary tradition. During this passage of localisation, there is much mutually conversable experience between the parallel developments of Australian fiction and Australian Chinese language fiction in the decades spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.

Furphy’s profound absorption in the classics of British literature including Shakespeare, Sterne, Dickens and the King James Bible (2009:230).

98 First of all, the evolution of literature in Australia was prompted by both the wave of urbanisation and the rise of local publishing. The gold rushes starting from mid-19th century brought in a large influx of migrants and precipitated the subsequent urban growth in Australia. As an outcome of urban cultural development, Susan Martin (Bennett and Strauss et al (eds), 1998:95) has observed a significant occurrence across the latter third of the nineteenth century in Australia that is the increasing local publication of Australian writing, and the serialisation of local fiction in national and regional papers and magazines, and Martin suggests that this signifies a shift in the context of these fiction works, from addressing and describing a British outpost to Britain toward addressing and invoking a national identity to itself.

That being said, Elizabeth Webby (2000:50) however points out the real dilemma of book publishing in Australia that “for much of the 19th century, and indeed afterwards, Australian readers were mainly interested in books by English authors and Australian authors were largely dependent on the English publishing industry”. According to Webby, the main source of the publishing of Australian writing lies in the local newspapers and magazines which flourished from the 1860s and regularly serialised novels by Australian authors, as well as printing poems, short stories and essays.

Robert Dixon (Pierce (ed), 2009:227) also shares this idea that the industry of Australian book publication in the late colonial and early federation period was indicative of thinness; his remark offers a solid justification for the paucity of publication of magazines, books and anthologies in the early Australian Chinese diaspora due to a much smaller readership of Chinese migrants. Therefore, the publication of Australian Chinese language fiction during this period can only be found in the three earliest local Chinese newspapers, which, as a direct outcome of the urbanisation of Australian Chinese communities, are the only and most important platform for the connection between local authors and reader. It was through these newspaper pages that I managed to recover a considerable amount of short stories and several serialised works including the milestone novel Duoqi Du, which jointly give a thriving picture of the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction.

The publishing of local Chinese writing in newspapers was akin to what the Australian literary experience had gone through in its establishing period. For instance, the

99 representative colonial novels such as His Natural Life (1870-72) by Marcus Clarke and Robbery Under Arms (1888) by Rolf Boldrewood were also firstly serialised in the Australian Journal and the Sydney Mail respectively to gain a wider readership from newspapers. In terms of short stories, they were even more dependent on newspapers for first publication than other literary genres in Australian fiction (Bennett, in Pierce (ed), 2009:156). This history proves the fact that the rise of a publishing industry is an inseparable link in the development of literature in Australia and in the shaping of a national or ethnic cultural identity for both the colonial settler literary tradition and the literary tradition of ethnic migrants.

Secondly, the editors from the local press play an equally crucial role to the developments of both the English and Chinese language fiction in Australia. Apart from providing channels for local authors to present their works to local readers, the significance and necessity of local newspapers or magazines is also reflected in their editors’ roles in selection of writings, promotion of literary themes and piloting the direction of literary development.

Kerry Goldsworthy (Webby (ed), 2000:105) remarks that for fiction writers in Australia in all eras, the kind of fiction that had the best chances of survival, in both the short and the long term, was the kind encouraged by editors and publishers. He also comments that in turn-of-century Australia, the few (editors and publishers) who did exist had disproportionate power over what sort of literature would be published. A typical case in point is the eminent J.F. Archibald4 and A.G. Stephens5 of the Bulletin whose names are commonly associated with the nineties’ legends. Being a journalist, editor, writer and nationalist advocate at the same time, this multi-talented editorial duo has transformed the Bulletin and facilitated the national literary development with their encouragement and preference for original writing and opposition toward imitation of the old Anglo-Australian conventions. Through their endeavours, the Bulletin not only grew into an outlet for the rising nationalist sentiments with emerging local writers such as Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, Barbara Baynton and Joseph Furphy who were later

4 For the life and achievement of J.F. Archibald, please refer to Wilde, Hooton & Andrews (eds) (1994:40). 5 For the life and achievement of A.G. Stephens, please refer to Wilde, Hooton & Andrews (eds) (1994:716-717).

100 on admired as the legend of the nineties6, it also accomplished a change from the enthusiasms of Kingsley and Boldrewood to the dry, laconic understatement of the anecdotal style and the emergence of an Australian voice in the ballad and short story (Mitchell, in Kramer (ed), 1981:68-69).

Just as Archibald and Stephens’ advocacy and preference for the works of nationalist writers had assisted the progress of the exploration of national identity and the maturity of Australian literature, their contemporaneous editors from the Australian Chinese language newspapers played a similarly important part in the early development of Australian Chinese-language literature. A quick association is Sun Juncheng () of The Chinese Australian Herald and Chang Luke () of The Chinese Times, whose roles can be comparable to Archibald’s as they were each the proprietor and editor for their individual newspapers. In chapter 2, I have studied the authorship and readership of early Australian Chinese language fiction and indicated that the prevalent pursuits of “civil enlightenment”() or “revolution of the government of the people”( ) arising from late Qing reforms and revolutionary movements were spreading to the Chinese diasporas in Australia and shared by the local Chinese intellectuals including the editors of the local Chinese language press. As a result, these ideals greatly influenced the themes and genres of early Australian Chinese language fiction through the editors’ writing and selection of stories that catered for their political and literary aspirations. A significant amount of fiction that satirises, exposes and excoriates various debauched governance, depravities, injustices, swindles and corrupt customs was thence published in the local Chinese newspapers as attempts to increase local Chinese readers’ knowledge and wisdom, and to cultivate their minds on the ideas of unity, patriotism and national strengthening. Similar to the efforts of Archibald, Stephens and their peers in transforming the development of Australian literature in a nationalist direction, the character of the initial development of Australian Chinese-language fiction was formed to a large extent by this type of writing, promoted by the editors of the local Chinese language press.

6 The legend of the nineties is commonly known as the Australian legend (Huggan, 2007:55). Please also see Palmer (1954), Ward (1958), and Nile (ed) (2000) for further readings.

101 Another interesting finding from the comparison between Australian English language and Australian Chinese language fiction is the coinciding evolution of narrative techniques and themes. For example, the appearance of vernacular Chinese as the language of writing and the first-person narrator as a new narrative angle in the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction echo the pioneering use of colloquial first person narrator in Rolf Boldrewood’s works and hence of the Australian vernacular as a literary style in the subsequent works of Henry Lawson and Joseph Furphy. Short stories appeared in early Australian Chinese language fiction with news- like, anecdotal jottings and those with episodic structure also find characteristics reminiscent of the journalistic origin and sketchy style of Henry Lawson’s yarning fashions such as scanty plot, laconic narration, and flat artistic expression.

The short story apparently was a popular form of fiction favoured by both Australian English and Chinese writers at the turn of the century. According to Bennett’s analysis (2009:171), the short story has served as a vehicle for immigrants and travellers in Australia since the early 19th century. Between 1900 and 1930 many writers in newspapers and magazines followed the influence of the Bulletin in encouraging anecdotal, ‘up-country’ narratives which highlighted the idiosyncrasies of Australian people and places. To some extent, this statement is also applicable to the coeval local Chinese language short story, not because of the influence of the Bulletin, but for the vast account of anecdotal entries in early Australian Chinese language fiction itself. The short story was also consciously used by local Chinese writers as a vehicle to narrate their Australian experience through a similar narrative perspective of migrant, traveller, or even settler as suggested by Shen (2001). Appearing as anecdotal records or literary re-processing based on local news, these early Chinese stories reveal both the exotic Australian landscapes and the Chinese migrants’ rural and urban lives. Their up- country encounters are also part of these narrations, such as the accounts in Mengshou Jingren, Duwu Kewei and Jinkuang Gushi7 demonstrate.

7 Mengshou Jingren (, The Shockingly Fierce Beast), CAH, 18950517, p4; Duwu Kewei ( , The Frightful Poison), TWT, 19081219, p7; Jinkuang Gushi (, An Old Story in the Gold Mine), CAH, 19080516, pp.2-3.

102 This has brought us to another feature that is influential to both the developments of Australian fiction and the local Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century: the growing focus on Australian elements. Goldsworthy (Webby (ed), 2000:105-106) noted that writers like Henry Lawson, Miles Franklin and Joseph Furphy were interested in depicting what was “Australian” from an insider’s point of view; hence the Australian landscape and ideas about the Australian “national character” moved to the foreground in fiction around the turn of the century. For example, the stories and characters in Lawson’s and Furphy’s work are distinctive in their representation of place and people, as well as in their exemplification of the values of rural life, mateship, individual qualities of independence, fortitude and egalitarianism, which are deemed as aspects of the Australian legend and have been influential in the way literature presents Australia (Kramer, 1981:12).

The nationalism of Australian fiction at the turn of the 20th century is certainly a process of the localisation that heralded the post-colonial development of Australian literature. It is noteworthy that this localising tendency also sprouted in Australian Chinese language fiction at a similar period of time. Likewise, local Chinese writers in Australia started to set eyes on the depiction of distinctive Australian elements in their stories. Therefore, we are now able to reread the dealings of local prostitutes8, the records of aboriginal lives9 and the miners’ fight in Clonburry Gold Mines10, the portrayal of native Australian animals like the kangaroo, dingo and possibly Tasmanian tiger11, as well as the vivid bush realism displayed in Duoqi Du including the outback landscape, the encounter with aboriginal people, and the struggles of Chinese labourers in the wilderness.

More significantly, these localised stories produced by the early Chinese migrant writers also convey themes corresponding to the ethos of the Australian legend. Such as the

8 Liaobo Yixiao (, Worth for A Laugh), CAH, 18950111, p6; Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring), published in 3 episodes in TCT from 19101105 to 19101119. 9 Laihan Zhaodeng (, Publication of a Incoming Letter), CAH, 19031114, p6. 10 Jinkuang Gushi (, An Old Story in the Gold Mine), CAH, 19080516, pp.2-3. 11 For the depiction of kangaroo, see Mengshou Jingren, Mengshou Jingren (, The Shockingly Fierce Beast), CAH, 18950517, p4; For dingo, see Duwu Kewei (, The Frightful Poison), TWT, 19081219, p7; For the possible confrontation with Tasmanian tiger, see Episode 13 of Duoqi Du, TCT, 19090911, pp.9-10.

103 commitment a Chinese labourer kept to his workmate after winning the lottery ticket in Fu Zi Tian Lai (, Luck from Heaven)12, the preaching to young Chinese men in local communities on cherishing friendship rather than enmity in Qianshi Yuanchou (, The Rancour from Prelife)13, as well as the advocacy of diligence, solidarity and mutual backing and encouragement among Chinese migrants in Jinkuang Gushi and Duoqi Du, are themes derived from the code of brotherhood in traditional Chinese culture and continued to be inherited by the early Australian Chinese migrants who actually share similar values of personal devotion, comradeship and mutual support displayed in the Australian self-image of “mateship”14. The qualities of mateship were gradually developed through the bushmen’s surviving journey of the hardness and starkness of the Australian wilderness and hence formed part of the Australian identity. As for early Chinese labourers who worked in the outback, they had to face the same difficult environment plus with an additional challenge of biased and oppressed treatment from the white-dominant society due to their racial background. Therefore, the qualities of solidarity and mutual support promoted in the localised stories in early Australian Chinese language fiction are not only crucially important for their survival in this country, but also constitute a valuable ethnic extension to the meaning of “mateship” in the shaping of Australian identity.

Together with the awareness of national identity, mainstream Australian writing in the nineties also displayed a robust, egalitarian spirit expressed with sardonic humour (Lansbury, 1970:1). Similarly, in the contemporaneous Australian Chinese language fiction, humour is a popular device employed by early local Chinese writers and takes up a large quantity in publication compared to other genres of fiction of this time. Apart from the merely amusing jokes resembling those of classical Chinese xiaoshuo tradition and more importantly, the satirical stories influenced by late Qing fiction, some humorous accounts, such as the scorn of the harlotry of the neighbour’s wife in Liaobo Yixiao (, Worth a Laugh)15, the verbal irony expressed through the Caucasian

12 CAH, 18941228, p7. 13 CAH, 18970730, p6. 14 For a detailed definition of “mateship” including its connotation and implication in the Australian context, please refer to the entry of “mateship” in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (Wilde, Hooton & Andrews (eds), 1994:519-521). 15 CAH, 18950111, p6.

104 goldminers’ conceited boasting about their defeat of Chinese miners in a fight in Jinkuang Gushi (, An Old Story in the Gold Mine), and particularly the bitter mockery of the predicaments local Chinese migrants had experienced in Lok Dap Mei yu Lok Dap Him zhi Bijiao (, The Comparison between “Lock up Me” & “Lock up Him”)16 and Zuanshi Yuezhi (), are also tinged with a sardonic style similar to that of classic Australian humour. This sardonic humour from local Chinese stories is based on the real experiences of local Chinese migrants and the clash between the traditional Chinese values and the white Australian culture and lifestyles, featuring a hybridity incorporating the satire of social reality that originated in late Qing fiction and the typical sardonic humour that comes from the Australian context.

We should not ignore the value of the egalitarian pursuit from the Chinese migrants’ perspective that is conveyed through the overtone of the localised stories represented by Jinkuang Gushi and Duoqi Du. In Jinkuan Gushi, on one hand the Caucasian miners’ arrogant provocation of excluding yellow men from the mines reflects the anti-Chinese sentiments arising from the late 19th century in Australia; on the other hand, the astuteness, valour and united strength shown by the Chinese miners in their fight against the violent instigation and their victory over the Caucasian miners actually suggest an attitude that Chinese migrants are not inferior to the white Australians and are equally entitled to the acquisition of resources. The implication of such an egalitarian spirit is also seen in the depiction in Duoqi Du of the characters’ mining and business operations. While stressing that the venture of Chinese labourers is no less than that of the whites17 and everyone is entitled to access the gold resources18, the author of Duoqi Du further raises the idea that Chinese migrants also have the same collective consciousness such as caring-for-the-public, self-independence and unity; and describes an independent and fair-go manner of the Chinese migrants’ mining, farming and commercial operations with local Australians19.

16 TCT, 19090529, p10. 17 Episode 15, TCT, 19090925, p9. 18 Episode 18, TCT, 19091016, pp.9-10. 19 Episodes 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, TCT, please see Appendix I for the specific date of each episode.

105 This voice for an equitable right to access resources, a fair-go manner of business dealings, and the civic virtues also honoured by early Chinese migrants embodies a special race egalitarianism that blends the influence of the patriotic (anti-Western colonialism) and self-strengthening ethos in late Qing China into the discourse of early Chinese migrants against the anti-Chinese sentiments and the subsequent restrictions imposed under the white-dominant culture of Australia at the turn of the 20th century. Therefore, not only does it mark a clear difference to the class egalitarianism of the Australian legend such as the spirit in Henry Lawson’s fiction, it also combats the racial stereotypes20 in Australian literary representation of Chinese, and echoes the later reflection and criticism of this nationalistic legend of the nineties for its racism and being “exclusive, narrow and hierarchical” (Nile, 2000:1) under the contemporary rhetoric of multiculturalism and Asianisation.21

As Kramer (1981:12) stressed, “a national literature it is implied, will be recognisable by its treatment of local subjects, themes and landscapes”. The use of local materials is the requisite practice in the construction of the national literary tradition of Australia. This experience of localisation can also shed light on the development of early Australian Chinese language fiction from the initial imitation of the parent culture to the important genre of a localised literary tradition. In terms of the aspects like the impetus from the urban cultural development and the rise of the local publication industry, the editors’ role in the preference of the styles and themes of fiction, and the utilisation of local materials, the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction has taken a similar path to that exemplified by the contemporaneous Australian fiction. However, the alterity and hybridity of migrant or ethnic writing also emerges in early Australian Chinese language fiction in certain comparable themes such as mateship, sardonicism and egalitarianism. By incorporating the ethos of late Qing literary and political movements and the realistic life experience of early Chinese migrants, the Australian

20 For further discussions on the racial stereotypes of Chinese, see Broinowski (1992:1-39) and Ouyang Yu (2008). For example, according to Ouyang Yu’s examination of Chinese images in early Australian English writings (2008:110), Chinese is described as “dirty, diseased, conservative and backward” and the Chinese stereotypes emerged from the Bulletin writing and persisted in various forms in later Australian writing represent “by nature, , the sensual Chinaman, the dirty and diseased Chinaman, the money- grabbing Chinaman, the vindictive Chinaman, and the comic Chinaman; and by occupation, they generally represent the lower order and a depraved lot, such as gamblers and opium smokers”. 21 For the criticism of the white hegemony in Australian literature, please see the chapter of “interrogating Whiteness” in Huggan (2007), pp.71-107.

106 landscapes, local inhabitants and the ideas and values expressed in these localised stories, they constitute a discourse of early Chinese migrants that should not be undervalued in both the studies of ethnic literature and migration history in Australia.

4.2 From local to transnational: early Australian Chinese language fiction and other diasporic Chinese language fiction in the development of world Chinese language literature

While early Australian Chinese language fiction has shown its potential of a development towards a localised literary tradition that can also contribute to the Australian literary experience through the perspective of ethnic writing, we should also take into account the dual nature of Australian Chinese language fiction as both a form of ethnic writing and a form of diasporic literature that has importance for the development of world Chinese language literature. The early localising attempts of Australian Chinese language fiction in effect support current mainland Chinese scholars’ theory of the “pluralism” or the “multiple literary centres” on the existing framework of world Chinese language literature22 by illustrating the process of how a local Chinese literary centre started to grow in Australian Chinese diaspora. After years of development, contemporary Australian Chinese language literature has flourished from the 1980s onwards. It not only enables Australia to become a local Chinese literary centre in the domain of world Chinese literature, but also forms an important part of ethnic writing in Australia now. However, when scholars comment on the historical development of Australian Chinese language literature, most of them only trace its beginning back to roughly four decades ago after the resurrection of Chinese migration to Australia. Any possible connections between the incipient stage of Australian Chinese language fiction and its contemporary development are either overlooked or underestimated.23

22 See my discussion of the conceptual framework of world Chinese language literature in 1.2, Chapter 1. 23 See my discussion in 1.1 in Chapter 1.

107 Nonetheless, according to my examination of the achievements of early Australian Chinese language fiction, the truth is that the modernisation of narrative techniques and the localising exploration manifested in these early Australian Chinese language stories have already demonstrated a good beginning for its development later on. For example, with regards to the literary achievements of contemporary Australian Chinese language fiction, the most important themes such as exile, struggle and anxiety of identity, and the popular depictions of gambling and sexual/marital relationships, can be traced to their origin in the Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century.24 For example, quitting gambling was a popular theme of civil enlightenment in the Chinese language fiction at that period: Fu Zi Tian Lai (, Luck from Heaven )25 record the experience and thoughts of a local Chinese resident winning a sweepstake ticket; other stories and parodies26 admonish people of the harm of gambling. It thus reveals a historical detail that gambling has always been a part of local Chinese lives from the early diasporas to now. As for the themes of various extra-marital or sexual affairs and familial relationships, there are also stories of the same category found in early Australian Chinese language fiction such as the records of sex scandals that happened in Sydney’s local communities27, the experience of buying prostitutes28, as well as the conflicts between the two marriages in China and in Australia depicted in the most representative novel Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy). Even the theme of homosexuality, which is still considered an avant-garde and edgy topic in contemporary Australia Chinese literature, was also brought up in an euphemistic way in early Australian Chinese language fiction such as the depiction of lesbianism in the folk names of “Shinü (, stone woman)” and “Jingnü (, frigid woman)”.29

24 For discussions on the literary themes of contemporary Australian Chinese language fiction, please see He (2001), Zhang (2001), Liu (2007), Qian (2009) and Ouyang (2016) for further readings. 25 CAH, 18941228, p6. 26 For example, Yandu Eryou Zhi Tanqing (, The Talks between The Two Pals of Smoker and Gambler), TCT, 19090829, p9; Zhuangjiao Shuo (, On Picking the Best Corner), TCT, 19100319, p9; Sifangxu Ji (, Story of the Square Dice Town), CAH, 19060623, p4; Jin Buhuan (, Unchangeable with Gold), CAH, 19120413, p6. 27 For example, Xiongdi Lunkuan (, Brothers’ Amour in Turns), CAH, 18950426, p2; and Lushui Yinyuan (, Casual Love Affairs), CAH, 19011214, p6. 28 See Zuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring). 29 Sanshengshi Yuan (, The Karma of The Three-Reincarnation Stone), TWT, 19001110, p3. It tells of a story of two combing maiden living together in the name of sworn sisters; Jingnü Lun (, On Frigid Women), TWT, 19091028, p2, comments on the lesbian phenomenon at that time.

108 According to Liu Xi Rang’s analysis of contemporary Australian Chinese fiction (2007:7, 45), it reflects the life of tribulation in exile, the culture shock that migrants face while finding their place in Australia, and the struggle by those in the Chinese diaspora in Australia. Zhang Aolie (2001:10) summarises the soul of the Australian Chinese narrative writings as “the cultural identity of the Chinese migrants living in this otherland, which include a renewed perception of the Chinese culture, the personal experience of the Western culture, the inspection and interpretation of the clash and fusion of both cultures, people’s choices about existential behaviours in multiculturalism, as well as the sense of belonging for the subsistence of migrants. Deep inside it consists of anxiety, perplexity and pain; of yearning, nostalgia and homesickness; of apperception, struggling and endeavours”.30 We can draw clues of the rudimentary exploration of these sentimental themes from early Australian Chinese language fiction, too. The aforementioned Lok Dap Mei yu Lok Dap Him zhi Bijiao ( , The Comparison between “Lock up Me” & “Lock up Him”)31 and Zhuanshi Yuezhi (, The Diamond Ring) implied a layer of uneasy and anxious sentiment caused by the unaccustomed experience and the clash between the Chinese and Western cultures. The milestone novel Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy) even has a more extensive reflection of these topics. The yearning for homeland and the resentment of daily reality that emerged during the main characters’ wanderings and encounters with danger in the Australian wilderness denote the themes of nostalgia and exile that are common in diasporic writings. Whereas the characters’ advocacy of the unity and self-strengthening of Australian Chinese migrants in the same story points to the problem of cultural discrepancy and ethnic identity faced by Chinese migrants in Australia. As for the storyline depicting the character’s journey from a humble miner to a successful businessman, it represents the experience and life trajectory of a certain group of early Australian Chinese migrants who made their living from early struggles to later success through one’s endeavours. These findings from the early stories written by local Chinese writers have established the historical origin of the

30 Zhang’s original words in Chinese are: “ , ”. 31 TCT, 19090529, p10.

109 contemporary developments of Australian Chinese language fiction, and further affirm Liu Denghan’s argument (2004:134) that the pluralism of Chinese language literature is a way of development originating from the Chinese diasporas across the world.

If we go across the border to look at the general development of diasporic Chinese language fiction in other overseas Chinese communities, we can also observe ongoing communications between local Chinese press and other Chinese newspapers from both mainland China and overseas32. This may possibly indicate the early connections of local Chinese writings between Australia and other overseas Chinese diaspora. It is noteworthy that the urban culture of Chinese migrants started to grow almost synchronously across the Asian and North American regions since the late 19th century. This phenomenon is represented by the rise of local Chinese cultural groups33 and Chinese language press in these diasporas. Similar to the development of early Australian Chinese language press, the local Chinese print industry in overseas Chinese diasporas such as Singapore and North America also thrived at the turn of the 20th century. In Singapore, which was still a British colony and part of Malaysia, there were several Chinese newspapers such as Lat Pau (, 1887-1932), Sing Po (, 1890- 1898), Thien Nam Shin Pao (, 1898-1905), Thoe Lam Jit Poh/Union Times ( /, 1904-1946) and Chong Shing Yit Pao (, 1907-1910); whereas in North America, quite a number of Chinese newspapers were successively published in Chinese populated cities such as Honolulu, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver and so on.34 Based on Gong Zhong’s “three pillars” theory35, I have already pointed out in my earlier discussions on the early Australian Chinese language press that the thriving of local Chinese newspapers is the inevitable factor and a crucial channel for the existence and evolution of local Chinese language literature. The early

32 See Appendix V List of Fiction Written by Mainland Chinese Novelists and Reprinted from Other Chinese newspapers. 33 For example, Li Kui mentioned (2010:12) that at the end of the 19th century, there were traditional cultural activities in Singapore organised by social groups such as “Huixian She (, Scholar- Gathering Club)” and “Huiyin She (, Poetry-chanting Club)” and literary contests published on Lat Pau. As discussed in Chapter 2 of this paper, similar activities also appeared in the local Chinese communities in Australia. Therefore, it is notable that Chinese cultural groups had become a popular phenomenon in overseas Chinese diasporas at the turn of the 20th century. 34 For further reference on the early American Chinese language press, please refer to the explanatory note no.4 of Chapter 5 in Yin Xiaohuang’s Chinese American Literature since the 1850s (2006:201). 35 Gong (2000:33), also see my discussion in 1.2, Chapter 1.

110 local Chinese newspapers in these overseas Chinese communities are hence very important resources for scholars of world Chinese language literature and diasporic Chinese studies to explore and uncover local literary writings that appeared during this period.

However, due to the long-standing demarcation of “New Literature” and “Old Literature” in the May Fourth paradigm, in addition to the difficulty of accessing historical resources from overseas Chinese diasporas, the current scholarship on world Chinese language literature has overwhelmingly been focusing on the “New Literature”, that is, literary works that appeared from 1919 till now36. Any other literary productions in the Chinese language produced in the emerging overseas Chinese diasporas since the late 19th century but before 1919 are branded “old-style literature” and therefore rarely studied37. It was only until recent years that these early overseas Chinese writings had been explored by a few researchers from overseas and mainland China, such as Yin Xiaohuang’s study of Chinese American literature since the 1850s (2006), Kow Mei- Kao’s (2005, 2009, 2011) and Li Kui’s (2010) examinations of the early fiction on Lat Pau () and other Singaporean Chinese newspapers, as well as Mei-fen Kuo’s (2010, 2011, 2013) interpretations of a few pieces of early Australian Chinese language fiction from a perspective of socio-cultural study.

My findings of early Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century is another exploratory step that further complements the transnational framework of the world Chinese language literature in its early evolution, and enriches current scholarships of early diasporic Chinese writings. Therefore, it would be meaningful to conclude my thesis with a comparative discussion between my findings and other early local Chinese language fiction in overseas Chinese diasporas like Singapore (Malaysia) and America on their individual path towards a modernising and localising

36 See Footnote 17 in Chapter 1 and my discussion of “Genres and themes” in Chapter 2. 37 The only exceptions are the study of the classical Chinese literature produced in Japan, Korea and Vietnam which is always a subject of study under the name Yuwai Han Wenxue (, the extraterritorial literature of Han Chinese). However, these three countries are historically considered in the Sinosphere where they received heavy influence from traditional Chinese culture and had a comparatively long history of using Chinese as the language for literary productions since the ancient times. I tend not to include these studies in my discussion here due to the fact that the social context and history of cultural development in these countries are predominantly different to the emerging overseas Chinese diasporas in the late 19th century such as Singapore (Malaysia), Australia and America.

111 development. Not only because such a dialogue exemplifies Doleželová-Velingerová’s theory of fundamental cultural transformation across Asia and David Wang’s idea of the global relevance38 of the evolution of Chinese fiction, it also deepens our knowledge of the role of Australian Chinese language literature in the origin of pluralism and early localisation of world Chinese language literature, and in understanding the Australian literature at the turn of the 20th century of which it is a part.

In this exploratory process, one important source that we should not ignore or undervalue is the literature that appeared in the local Chinese language newspapers of the early Chinese diasporas. Kow (2009:38) asserts that the appearance of Chinese language fiction in Singapore begins with (those) published in local newspapers. Li (2010: 64) has termed the sprouting stage or the origin of Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese language literature as “baokan wenxue (, newspaper literature)”, whereas Yin (2000:158) also acknowledges most Chinese-language newspapers in America contained some forms of literary work. Together with my recovery of the local literary works published in the three earliest Australian Chinese newspapers, these findings have proved the buttressing role of Chinese language press in the nascent development of native Chinese language literature. More importantly, the local Chinese newspaper fiction, as one of the representative genres of the newspaper literature in the early overseas Chinese diasporas, has ineffaceable value in the transition from an imitation of classical Chinese literary tradition to a form of writing with localising features.

The birth and early development of diasporic Chinese language fiction in the local Chinese newspapers on one hand reveals the spreading of the boom in newspaper fiction in late Qing China to overseas Chinese diasporas. On the other hand, it also shows that the nascent local Chinese language fiction quickly casts off the heavy imprint of the classical Chinese literary sketches by absorbing the achievements of late Qing fiction through the platform of newspapers. From the hybrid form of a mixture of news and fiction to the new fiction genres that is in pace with late Qing fiction, and the gradual appearance of stories with localised characteristics, this trajectory displays the

38 See my discussion at the beginning of Chapter 3.

112 typical pathway of the development of diasporic Chinese language fiction towards modernisation and localisation.

Australian Chinese language fiction at the turn of the 20th century is a typical demonstration of this developmental process. Studies by Kow and Li of early Singaporean Chinese language fiction embody a similar transitional process. Li Kui (2010:15-43) in his analysis on the fiction in Lat Pau () points out that, apart from the imitation of classical Chinese fiction in its narrative forms and genres, there also appeared fiction with strong local Singaporean/ Malaysian characteristics in both the stories in traditional jotting style and the popular fiction that are similar to the late Qing fashion. Kow Mei Kao puts it even more straightforwardly that the newspaper fiction at that time shows “propensity of a gradual localisation with a trait of the characteristic of colonial literature” (2009:40) and “is the origin of the Chinese language fiction of the Republic of Singapore” (2009:77). One example cited in Kow’s paper (2009:68) is a story titled Jinsuo Lianhuan () which sets the background in Kreta Ayer39. It tells of the twists and turns of a Hong Kong courtesan’s life from Singapore to Australia and back to Singapore. This can be comparable to Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy), the milestone novel in the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction, which also records the experience of early Chinese migrants between Cantonese countryside and Australia. Both novels are set in a transnational background with complicated storylines that reflect the reality faced by overseas Chinese, representing the level of progress of diasporic Chinese language fiction published in newspapers. The appearance of this type of novel also indicates the change of the focus of local Chinese language fiction from the classical tradition of recording street hearsays and anecdotes from China to a localised awareness with more accounts of local lives.

Kow and Li both mention the creativity of colonial features in early Singaporean Chinese language fiction, but do not elucidate this feature in their research. Based on my investigation of early Australian Chinese language fiction, I interpret this unique

39 Kreta Ayer (), now located in the district of Outram, is the most historic Chinatown in Singapore.

113 feature as a cultural hybridity that emerged in its early modernising and localising development. Cultural hybridity is an important concept in the theory of colonial/post- colonial studies. Homi Bhabha (1994:5) explicates this idea as “the interstitial passage between fixed identifications opens up the possibility of a cultural hybridity that entertains difference without an assumed or imposed hierarchy.” We may as well perceive the Chinese literary tradition and the native cultural tradition in overseas diasporas (be it Australian, Singaporean or North American) as two different fixed identifications. When these two traditions confront and interact with each other in the diasporic context, a kind of cultural hybridity is spawned and can be reflected in the literature such as fiction in a certain period of time. Werbner (2001:136) further interprets this concept as “the same object or custom placed in a different context acquires quite new meanings, while echoing old ones”. My analysis of the themes, styles and narrative techniques of early Australian Chinese language fiction has already exemplified this feature in the appearance of newspaper fiction in a hybrid form of news and jotting styles, the accounting of diasporic living experience in the traditional genre of literary sketches, the literary themes incorporating new and old ideas, as well as the expression of Australian literary tenets in local Chinese language fiction. These are exact embodiments of this cultural hybridity that blends the new and the old, the Chinese and the overseas/diasporic elements together. This feature of cultural hybridity shows that early Australian Chinese language fiction as a diasporic writing is more than a mere extension of the overseas development of Chinese fiction, and is already on its way of developing towards a localising literary tradition.

If we apply the theory of cultural hybridity to early Singaporean Chinese language fiction, examples can also be found through the characteristics identified by Li: the stories reflecting the Singaporean social status in the form of traditional literary sketches (2010:20); the news-style fiction that sources writing materials and remarks from news and political essays (2010:37); the new development of traditional themes in the Southeast Asian diasporas and the depiction of the language, landscape and characters filled with Singaporean features (2010:24). These features clearly exhibit a hybridity that is generated by the Chinese literary tradition in the new socio-cultural environment. Kow’s statement (2009:41) of “a new and alternative colonial literature … conceived in

114 the new environment of writing” provides a cut-to-the-point annotation to the cultural hybridity that appeared in the Singaporean Chinese language fiction of this period.

Due to the limited resources available in Australia on the study of early North American Chinese language fiction, I could only base my discussions on Yin Xiao-huang’s monograph (2000) on Chinese American literature. Even though Yin’s study has a strong focus on the Chinese American writings in English, we can still draw clues from his brief discussion of the early development of North American Chinese language literature. For instance, he (2000:159-160) holds that the tone and themes of Chinese language writings are similar to literature published in China and that the work of early Chinese immigrant authors was modelled closely on classical Chinese literature and traditional Chinese storytellers: concise sentence structure and a literary vocabulary, which then turned the writing into replicas of classic Chinese literature. Yin also mentions a story published in a Chinese newspaper in San Francisco about a Chinese literati’s experiences in a brothel. Having failed at his career in the “Gold Mountain”, he fails yet again when he is turned away by a local prostitute who thinks scholars penniless and worthless. This account not only records the life details of Chinese migrants in local communities, but also conveys a hybrid theme of lamentation that further extends the traditional Chinese literati’s frustration for one’s talents being unrecognised to add to an inspection of their traditional ideals and pursuits under the new social environment overseas.

Yin (2006:159) indicates these stories render a strong sense of nostalgia for the homeland. Similar to my analysis of the sentiment represented in Niunü Tanqing ( , Love Talks between The Cowherd and His Maid)40 and Duoqi Du, this emotional theme is generated in the context of travelling far across the oceans and living as an ethnic minority in the overseas diaspora. Hence the traditional theme of expatriates’ homesickness in classical Chinese literature is upgraded to a connection that is up-to- date with the reality faced by early overseas Chinese migrants. There is also another very important point in Yin’s comment (2000:159) that “even stories that seem to be irrelevant to these subjects (of homeland) were penetrated by such messages (of

40 TCT, 19090904, pp.9-10.

115 nostalgia)”. The theme of nostalgia that originates from classical Chinese literary tradition but is expressed through subjects extraneous to the tradition exactly expresses the hybridity brought forward by the clash of two different cultures. It is noteworthy that Yin actually observed the frequent appearance of similar themes in works by early Chinese immigrants (2000:159). This possibly indicates that the emergence of cultural hybridity in localised writings is not a single incidence in early North American Chinese language fiction. Therefore, Yin’s hasty judgement of the works by Chinese immigrants of this period as “replicas of classic Chinese literature” (2000:160) is flawed and unconvincing as the study of the unique characteristics of cultural hybridity conveyed in these works is clearly neglected in his analysis. These early Chinese language writings should deserve a more attentive examination in order to properly reveal their actual value.

When it comes to the fiction about the life experience of American migrants of a similar period, I should also include Fanmei Huagong Jinyue Wenxuji ( , The Anthology of the Literature on the Anti-American Boycott Movement) compiled by Ah Ying (1900-1977) in my discussion here. It is a compilation of poems and novels depicting early Chinese migrants’ journey in America. Although the novels within are primarily published in the newspapers in mainland China during the 1900s, they are very likely to be “the records of the happenings of sojourning in America narrated by people who travelled to America”.41 It’s quite clear that the authors of these novels had lived their lives in colonial communities in America so the experience reflected in these stories can also be compared to that of the early Australian Chinese language fiction under the framework of world Chinese language literature.

As the title of this book indicates, the main focus of these novels is to highlight the suffering and pain of Chinese labourers’ encounters in America and criticise the exploitation and discrimination against the Chinese in the western world. Whereas in the case of early Australian Chinese language fiction, local Chinese authors not only paid attention to the hardship and the unfair treatment of early Chinese migrants as

41 Ah Ying (1962:11) mentioned this point in the preface of this book when citing one of the novel Ku Shehui (, The Bitter Society) as an example. His original words in Chinese is “ ”.

116 these still are important themes of the local Chinese stories, they also included other aspects of local lives in their writings such as conflicts between neighbours, titbits in local newspapers, prostitution and extra-marital affairs, as well as business and cultural activities. These localised accounts are of unique values and set early Australian Chinese language fiction apart from the novels in The Anthology of the Literature on the Anti- American Boycott Movement. Moreover, in these local stories, we can notice the writers’ attempts to depict outback adventures in an explorer’s perspective and record the mundane lives in the Australian diasporas through the vision of local residents or bystanders. These attributes further show the possibility of early Australian Chinese language fiction participating in the development of Australian literature through the forms of migrant writing and settler writing as denoted in Huggan’s conceptual framework.

The early evolution of Australian Chinese language fiction coincides with the turn of Australian literature from colonial writing to the establishment of its nationalism. Their individual pathways of development in the Australian continent crossed in and out, and from the intersections, we are able to observe the involvement and values of Australian Chinese language fiction as a nascent ethnic literary tradition in the integral development of national literature, and to explore the influence and inspiration of the native national literature on the development of ethnic writings. However, it is regrettable that there is no scholarly study to the best of my knowledge that has conducted a comparison between the developments of diasporic Chinese language fiction and the mainstream colonial literature in Australia at the turn of the 20th century.

The first section of this chapter provides my analysis on the themes and developmental paths of both the early Australian Chinese language fiction and the contemporaneous Australian English language fiction, which can be deemed as a first attempt to explore their interactions. Based on the outcome of my exploratory investigation, the diasporic Chinese language literature produced by local Chinese migrants and the post-colonial development of the mainstream literature in the colonial states should not be viewed as two completely separate processes. The early Australian Chinese language fiction has enriched the themes, forms and minority discourses of Australian literature through a unique perspective of ethnic literary tradition. Therefore, the writing of early Chinese

117 migrants, as Elaine H. Kim (quoted in Yin, 2000:3) finds, “functions as a social statement and historical document and reaches beyond the realm of literary merit and artistic values. It provides unique access to understanding the sensibilities of members of a frequently misunderstood minority group”. The literature produced by early Chinese migrants is capable of injecting reliable knowledge and informative accounts of the early life of Chinese migrants to the mainstream literature in the colonial states and presents a vision of the Chinese migrants’ experience and feelings typical of the period. Undoubtedly it contributes an additional asset to the development of national literature.

4.3 Conclusion

In this thesis, I have reviewed the historic background and current status of the study of Australian Chinese language fiction and pointed out the deficiency in current scholarship that overlooks and undervalues the development of Australian Chinese language fiction between the 1890s and the 1900s. Based on the conceptual framework of world Chinese language literature and the theories on the narrative traditions from classical Chinese fiction to late Qing fiction, I have uncovered well over four hundred pieces of literary work that can be categorised in the genre of fiction from the three earliest local Chinese newspapers The Chinese Australian Herald, The Tung Wah News/Times and The Chinese Times. Then, I have conducted a detailed and extensive examination of the language style, forms and genres, narrative techniques, literary themes and functions, as well as possible authorship and readership of these stories against the background of the social development of Australia and the historical transition in Chinese fiction. As a result, my findings restore a full picture of the development of Australian Chinese language fiction in its earliest stage, and more importantly, reveal its value and significance to the development of the local ethnic Chinese literature, world Chinese language literature and Australian literature.

Due to the restrictions of time and available resources, my investigation of the early development of Australian Chinese language fiction only focuses on the works produced between 1894 and 1912, a timeframe of roughly two decades. This era gave rise to the development of local Chinese language press, which is the only platform to

118 publish Chinese language fiction in Australia during this time. The flourishing history of the local Chinese language press lasted till its decline after the 1930s and the fall in Chinese population as the consequence of the Immigration Restriction Act issued by the Australian government in 1901. However, we should never deny or ignore the subsequent progress of Australian Chinese language fiction and the whole Australian Chinese language literature in the decades after the 1900s. According to a brief sampling of the local Chinese newspapers afterwards, there even started to appear supplements specifically catered for literary works in Min Bao (, The Chinese Times, 1919-1949)42 and Mun Kwok Poo (, The Chinese Republic News, 1914-1937) under the title of Minbao Zazhi (, Min Bao Magazine) and Xiandai (, Modern Times) respectively. It is clear that even if the local Chinese population was declining, there was still space for the continual development of Australian Chinese language fiction in the first half of the 20th century. My research in this thesis has paved the road for the prospective investigation of Australian Chinese language literature published in local Chinese newspapers in the first half of the 20th century on the basis of my examination of its initial development. By presenting the value of early Australian Chinese language fiction, I hope my findings can attract more academic interest in the further study of this subject so that the entire history and development of Australian Chinese language literature from its beginning to now can be fully presented.

This thesis demonstrates that the development of local Chinese language literature in Australia started in the 1890s and has a longer history than the late twentieth century as claimed in those studies that restrict themselves in the stereotyped framework of new and old literature. During the two decades’ development from the 1890s to the early 1900s, Australian Chinese language fiction evolved from a production with strong inheritance of the classical Chinese narrative tradition, to a modernising and localising writing by absorbing the influence and inspiration of the late Qing revolution of fiction. My research also uncovered Duoqi Du (, The Vice of Polygamy). Not only it is the first novel produced by a local Chinese author, it overturns the current academic conclusion that the first appearance of the local Chinese novel only came into being

42 The original The Chinese Times with Chinese name as Jingdong Xinbao () ceased to circulate in 1914, Min Bao () is its successor using the same English title and continues to publish from 1919 to 1949;

119 until the late 20th century.43 The themes and the narrative techniques applied in this novel also epitomise milestones of the modern and localised development of early Australian Chinese language fiction.

Appeared as the onset of the literary tradition of Chinese Australian writing, the nascent development of early Australian Chinese language fiction correlates the beginning of local Chinese fiction in Australia with the concomitant literary evolution in late Qing China, the cultural transformation across Asia and Australia, as well as the transnational framework of the development of world Chinese language literature. It also presents the responses of the early Australian Chinese diaspora to the pressure, change and crisis from both Australian society and their homeland through the themes and topics depicted in these early stories, manifesting a valued characteristic of “global, national and local interconnectedness” (Ommundsen, 2012:2). All these achievements and qualities of early Australian Chinese language fiction have laid a solid foundation for its eventual evolution from a diasporic literary tradition to a localised ethnic literature by supplementing the stories and imaginative accounts of early Chinese migrants into the national literature of Australia, showing an alternative historical image of the Australian Chinese communities and a diversified vision of Australia’s social and cultural experience that was taking place already over a century ago.

43 These incorrect accounts about the first Chinese language novel produced in Australia can be seen in articles such as Zhang (2001,9), Zhuang (2003, 57) and Liu (2007:63, 163).

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Appendix I

Catalogue of Australian Chinese Language Fiction Published from 1894 To 1912

List of Abbreviations Language Style: CC: Classical Chinese VC: Vernacular Chinese SC: Simple Classical Chinese Genre: AG: Allegories - yuyan AP: Anecdotes of Persons - zhiren HW: Humorous Writings - xienue ML: Miscellanies - zalu SM: Stories of Manners - shiqing ST: Supernatural Tales - zhiguai

The Tung Wah News /The Tung Wah Times

Language Title Author Date & Page Genre Style 1898 Mabian Shuqi 18980629, p4 CC SM Shenggui Xingxiong 18980723, p4 CC ST Xuefa Weiseng 18980727, p2 CC SM Sanzi Tanyan 18980727, p4 CC ML Contribution from Guigu Xiansheng Friend 18980813, p3 CC ST Miaoji Ganqi 18980924, p2 CC SM Jiaren Nan Zaide 18981224, p2 CC SM 1899

131

Si Wei Duoqing 18990104, p2 CC SM Written by the Reporter Zhuo Huangjiaoji of the Provicial Captial 18990114, p2 CC SM Fengliu Jiahua 18990224, p2 CC SM Fojian Folai 18990225, pp.2-3 CC AP Fengfu Zhiyi 18990708, p3 CC SM 1900 Shuyong Biangui 19000127, p2 CC ST Se Ling Zhi Mi Chazhou Lvyin Shenchu 19000801, p2 CC SM Letter from a Tianjin Pojing Chongyuan Friend 19001031, p2 CC SM Sanshengshi Yuan 19001110, p3 CC SM 1901 Yaozhang Ji Zheqiu 19010206, p3 CC AG Zuimeng Chuanqi Rexue Ren 19010327, p2 CC ST 19010413, pp.2-3 Haiwai Qitan 19010417, pp.2-3 CC ST 19010420, pp.2-3 Zhanghaike Tan 19010608, p3 CC ML Fengliu Suojiao 19010904, p3 CC SM Laishi Jinsheng 19010918, p2 CC ML Baozai Ersun 19010918, p2 CC ML Yinqian Erze 19011109, p3 CC ML 1902 - 1905 Caishen Rumeng 19020531, p3 CC HW Letter from the Capital Fengchen Renwu Visitor 19020611, pp.2-3 CC AP Bagu Xiansheng Zhuan 19031212, p2 CC AP Xingrong Laoxuejiu 19040319, s1i CC AP Guochilu (Fujia Nü, Bangren Qi) 19041224, s1 CC ML (, )

132

Yuanyu Liangzhi 19050311, p2 CC SM Guanchang Benjing Zhi Choutai Liangze 19050401, p2 CC AP 1906 Ziyue Gonsi Shoupan Gaobai 19060113, p6 CC HW Caibo Xingjun Wanggu Daju 19060113, p6 SC HW Youmin Zhuan Tianya Ke 19060414, p6 CC AG Yi Mang Yin Mang 19060414, p6 CC ML Ji Songshi 19060414, p6 CC ML Zaoshen Haoxi Biyan Yapian 19060512, p6 CC, VC HW Banlu 19060512, p6 CC HW

Jieyan Yao 19060901, p6 CC AG

Qianmeng 19060908, p6 CC AG

Zhaobing Jing 19061006, p6 SC HW

Youdao Yu 19061215, p5 CC AP

1907

Ku Shiwen 19070105, p6 CC HW Gewai Shengren 19070105, p6 CC HW Laoer Diguo 19070105, p6 CC HW Guifang Xinjiujie Zhi Fanbili Mei An 19070105, p8 CC SM Mozao Gongming Xue Xia 19070112, p6 CC HW Xin Yaoming Zacu 19070126, p8 CC HW Ni Sunxingzhe Yilingzi Zhi Yuehaimiao Shu 19070202, p8 CC HW

Ni Beidi Tianhou Fu Pao Guangfumiao Shu 19070202, p8 CC HW Lengxue 19070202, p8 CC HW

133

Fuzi Wuhui 19070209, p6 CC HW Fufu Shuangwang 19070209, p6 SC HW Guan Maiyi Ganyan 19070223, p6 CC SM Xuexian 19070223, p7 CC HW

Nianfo 19070223, p7 CC HW Jinshi San Shenxian Zhuan 19070309, p6 CC HW Weixin Haojie Zhi Yanshi Mei An 19070309, p8 CC AP Shuyao 19070323, p8 CC HW

Xiaoyun 19070413, p8 CC AP Hangzhou Maishu Ji Siming Yusheng 19070420, p8 CC SM Liu Zhushi 19070420, p8 CC AP

Pianju Bian Bian 19070504, p6 CC SM Qiezei Tubao 19070511, p8 CC SM SidaTianwang Weixin Yian 19070511, p8 CC HW Xuesheng Dao 19070518, p7 CC AP

Tao Yanzhai 19070518, p8 CC SM Shangye Mingjia Bulanma 19070528, p8 CC AP Nü Pianseng 19070608, p8 CC SM Wenming Liqi 19070615, p8 CC HW Zhu Baitie 19070615, p8 CC HW Zhongguo Da Shuixuejia 19070615, p8 CC AG Yanjiu Shezhan 19070713, p8 CC AG Yadong Zhi Fujia 19070720, p8 CC AG Jin Sheng 19070727, p8 CC HW

Laopo Yanshui 19070831, p6 CC SM China Gemingmao Zha 19070914, p8 CC HW Yanguan Zhongren Yu 19070921, p8 CC SM Jinyan Ling Chan Hui 19071005, p8 CC SM

134

Zhongguo Zhi Zhishi 19071012, p8 CC AP Rexin Zaoren 19071019, p6 CC HW

Tangsanzang 19071019, p6 CC HW

Xiren Yishu 19071019, p7 CC ST

Shi Xing 19071026, p7 CC AG Ni Yanghaobi Yu Qianbi Chan Hui 19071207, p7 CC HW Shu Canqing Ji Mei An 19071214, p6 CC SM

Yanjing Moufan 19071221, p6 VC HW

1908 Zhongguo Zhi Zhishi Chan 19080118, p8 CC AP Xinyang Shending Jie Yinzhai 19080125, p8 CC AG

Eguo Nüxia Nanren 19080222, p7 CC AP 19080229, p8 Waifu Bu Xing An CC ML 19080307, p8 Ming Gonren Yishi Yazhong 19080307, p8 CC AP Zhucui Zhi Fu Zha 19080411, p6 CC HW

Xiama 19080418, p8 CC ML

Shan She 19080718, p6 CC ML

Zhang Xianzhong 19081010, p6 CC AP

Duwu Kewei Cai Wangyao 19081219, p7 CC ML

1909 HuWei Yan Wang Translated by the editor 19090206, p8 CC ML Zheng Xiong 19090605, p8 CC SM

Mou Xianhuan 19090605, p8 CC HW Xuwudang Lishi Tan 19090619, p8 CC ST Xiucai Dahuiyi 19090721, p6 CC ML Sengguan 19090721, p7 CC AP

Yiqiao Butong 19090828, p6 CC HW

Kechang Yu 19091002, p6 CC ML

Gusongzi 19091030, p7 CC AP

135

Riben Mou Nüshi 19091113, p8 CC AP Mao Huoqi Zhi Xiaozhuan Liang Buqi 19091120, p6 CC AG Pipa Xiaoshi 19091120, p8 CC ML Zhang Honghong Jiqu 19091218, p6 CC AP Gu Zhi Shange Zhe 19091218, p6 CC ML 1910

Zhu Yinseng An 19100101, p8 CC SM Hongyangluan Zhi Nüjiang Liuliu 19100312, p6 CC AP / Gou Zhi Caipan 19100312, p8 CC AP Xiangji Xiaosizi Fapei Zhi Yuanyin 19100312, p8 CC AP Yuyin (Old Translation) Shuang Yishi 19100319, p6 CC AP Guanchang Zhi Banbu 19100430, p8 CC HW Lunyu Meihua Nü 19100723, p8 CC ST 19100820, p8 Nü Zhentan Lianhuaniang 19100827, p8 CC AP 19100903, p8 19100910, p8 Xuepian Ji 19101112, p7 CC SM

Dao Baoen 19101119, p7 CC SM

Dianjinshu 19101210, p8 CC AG

Xiaseng 19101231, p7 CC AP

Jiuwen Yishu 19101231, p8 CC AP

1911 Yinghou Jiali Yangqi Quanshi 19110107, p7 CC AP Nanwu Dacidabei Guanshiyin 19110121, p8 CC HW Kuli Zhong Qi Nanzi 19110128, p8 CC AP Jiyuan Biji 19110729, p8 CC AP

Laoxiu Zhuan 19110819, p8 CC AG Yanqiang Jiuming Xiao Shi 19110826, p7 CC ML

136

Shoucainu Zhuan Yang Han 19110902, p8 CC HW Fenshen Suigu Yijie Shi Yao 19110916, p7 CC HW Caozhou Nü Man Gong 19111104, p8 CC SM

1912

Xiake Ji 19120224, p11 CC AP

Bianzi Chengjing 19120309, p8 CC HW

Shizhou 19120309, p8 CC HW

Jiang Guanhua 19120420, p7 CC HW Jingshi Hutuchong 19120420, p8 CC AP Liezhuan Nannü Pingdeng 19120608, p8 CC HW Yin Changheng Zhongle Meirenji 19121130, p7 SC AP

The Chinese Times

Language Title Author Date & Page Genre Style 1902

Taijian Suohui 19020205, p7 CC, VC ML

Shenger Huanqi 19020205, p7 CC SM

Kelianchong 19020312, p2 CC AG

Suhua Qinao 19020336, p3 VC ML Miandian Caifeng 19020402, p2 CC SM Suhua Biandu 19020402, p3 VC ML

Wuda Tiandi 19020709, p4 CC ML

Yatong Tongsi 19020723, pp.2-3 SC SM

Xiaohua Jieyi 19020827, p2 CC HW

Wugui 19021008, p2 SC AG

Cuiniao 19021008, p2 SC AG

Yueyuan Xinyu 19021105, pp.2-3 CC ML

Churao Kecai 19021112, p3 CC, VC ML

Liangshan Biejie 19021210, p2 CC HW

137

Ji Wenti 19021217, p2 CC AP

1903

Xingui Jiaoren 19030114, p2 CC HW Li Lianying Yishi 19030218, p4 CC AP Xiaolin Zaji 19030401, p3 CC HW

Xiaolin Zaji 19030415, p3 CC HW

Buxue Qinshou 19030527, p3 CC ML

Zuizong Hongfu 19030527, p3 CC ML

Yeshi Suilu 19030527, p3 CC ML

Xiaolin Zaji 19030603, p3 CC HW

Rechang Kexiao 19030610, p3 CC AP Guoliujiao Guanzhan Ji 19030715, p2 CC SM Jueke Xiaobing 19031028, p2 CC HW

Pan Meixi 19031111, p2 CC AP

1904 Shoujiugui Zhuan 19040106, p2 CC AG Egui Gaozhuang 19040203, p2 CC ST

Shuiguo 19040406, p2 CC AG Xianluo Shenyi Ji 19040615, p2 CC ST 19040706, p2 Jiyuan Shuxie 19040615, p3 CC SM 19040615, p3 Zhentan Meiren Tan 19040622, p2 CC AP 19040706, p2 19040713, p2 Xingchen Gaozhuang 19040817, p4 CC AG Daren Weidao 19041012, pp.2-3 CC HW

1905

Yuyan 19050211, s1 CC AG

Qitan 19050211, s1 CC AG

Yuyan 19050218, s1 CC AG

Yuyan 19050218, s1 CC AG

Yuyan 19050408, s1 VC AG

138

Yuyan 19050422, s1 SC AG

1906 Dadan Xinshaonian Chongzhuang Laoxuejiu 19060210, s1 CC HW 19061201, s1 Yuyan CC AG 19061206, s1 1907 19070105, s1 Efurong Zhuan CC AG 19070112, s1 Pian Zhi Pian Shu Qi 19070615, pp.6-7 CC SM Wugui Danao Beijing 19070803, pp.6-7 CC HW Gaoli Gushi Yize 19070914, p6 CC ML Xila Gushi Yize 19070914, p6 CC ML Moguo Jinshi Yize 19070914, p6 CC ML Shunde Qitanzi Rouzhen 19070921, p67 CC SM Ma Zhiyin Shu Qi 19071012, p6 CC SM

1908

Qingyang Gang 19080125, pp.6-7 CC SM Xinyang Shen Ding Jie Yinzhai ii 19080215, p6 CC AG Wujingguang Zhuren 19080314, pp.6-7 Yi Honglou CC SM 19080321, pp.8-9 Kuixing Jiaoyu Yan Nong 19080321, p9 CC ML Mou Liuxuesheng Zhi Fang Roujun 19080328, p10 CC AP Yanshi Shishi Duanpian Mou Tongling Yi Yuan 19080328, pp.9-10 CC AP Chaizizhe Yan 19080530, p8 CC ML Yidali Huangzu Zhi Aihechao 19080620, p910 CC SM Shaofu Lei 19081003, p7 CC SM

Huangjin Chan 19081010, p9 CC SM

Guanwei 19081017, pp.9-10 CC AP

Heijibu 19081117, pp.9-10 CC SM 19081114, pp.8-9 Meihua Nü CC AP 19081121, p10 1909

139

Wanjia Denghuo 19090206, p10 CC HW Caishen Baoqiong 19090206, p10 CC HW Wulong 19090417, p10 CC ML

Wushi 19090417, p10 CC ML Lok Dap Mei Yu Lok Dap Him Zhi Bijiao 19090529, p10 CC HW Yike Daoyuan Jing Mi 19090814, pp.10-11 CC HW

Yinci Jiansheng Jing Yin 19090814, p11 CC HW Yandu Liangzhou Zhi Tanqing 19090829, p9 CC HW Niunü Tanqing You Gong 19090904, pp.9-10 VC HW Baodang zhi Zouzu, Baodang zhi Kaidao Gong 19090918, p10 CC HW Yubei Changyue 19090925, p11 CC HW Xingfeng Mingyue 19090925, p11 CC HW See endnote for Duoqi Du specific dates of the SC SM 53 episodesiii 1910 You Yanchang Ji Qing Nian 19100205, p9 CC SM Zhuangjiao Shuo 19100319, p9 CC HW Feizhou Mansu Zhi Yiban 19100416, pp.9-10 CC ML Tebie Tiaochen 19100507, p9 CC HW

Zuozei Zuoguan 19100507, p9 CC HW

Wuguan Huiyi 19100625, p9 CC AG Liangren Huhuan Qiqi 19100716, p9 CC ML Qiwen Funü Chan’e Zhi Yiwen 19100716, p9 CC ML Guanmin Wenda Guolai Ren 19100730, p9 CC HW 19101105, pp.8-9 Jiangxia Erlang Zuanshi Yuezhi 19101112, pp.8-9 CC SM 19101119, pp.8-9 Mouguo Mouzhishi Zhi Zhuanglie 19100924, pp.8-9 CC AP Sun Tong 19100924, pp.9-10 CC AP

140

Xini Furong Xianzi Liubie Paiao Yanjing Shu 19100924, p9 CC HW Shaping Cilang Ni Paiao Yanjing Fu Furong Xianzi Liubie Shu 19101001, p9 CC HW Tandang Hechang 19101001, pp.9-10 CC AP Ding Yunheng 19101008, p9 CC AP

Si Anren 19101008, p9 CC AP

Wang Juren 19101008, p9 CC AP

Zhao Tingguan 19101008, p9 CC AP

He Weiwen 19101008, pp.9-10 CC AP

Chou Guijuan 19101022, pp.8-9 VC HW Bianfa Yifu Dahui Yi’an 19101105, p9 CC HW Zheng Chenggong 19101126, p9 CC AP Kushu Yu Kuli Zhi Bijiao 19101126, pp.9-10 CC HW 1911-1912 Guannao Xinniang Zhi Xiaobing 19110218, p6 CC HW Baohuang Fushouling Liang Qichao Zhi Huishi Pingmin 19110311, p7 CC AP Ji Yibaisishi Nianqian 19110318, p7 Xinhai Baibing Shi 19110325, p7 CC ML 19110401, p7 19110408, p7 Diao Su Dakuo Wen Guomin 19110325, p7 CC HW Qu Dumo Wen 19110408, pp.6-7 CC HW Yue Wumu Zhi Ganren Zhishen 19110408, p7 CC AP Sifen Wulie 19110415, pp.6-7 CC ML Xiyu Gongqiu Cangni Yanfu Shu 19110415, pp.7-8 CC HW Qingguo Zaiju Jinling Yishi 19110415, p8 CC ML Tiemian 19110603, p9 CC HW

Canshang 19110603, p9 CC HW

141

Jieshi Xiaolin 19110923, pp.6-7 VC HW

Xin Mengzi 19120427, p9 CC AG

Laoxiong 19120727, p9 CC AG Daozei Shijie Ji 19120914, p9 CC AG

The Chinese Australian Herald

Language Title Author Date & Page Genre Style 1894

Zhaoxu Qiwen 18941109, pp.4-5 CC SM

Yigui Cuiren 18941123, p5 CC ST

Wupeng Taisui 18941123, p5 CC ST

Gou Yao Leigong 18941228, p6 CC SM

Fu Zi Tian Lai 18941228, p7 CC SM

1895

Ningjun Guaitan 18950105, p6 CC ST

Pianyan Zheyu 18950105, p6 CC SM Banxian Zhuren Liao Bo Yixiao 18950111, p6 CC SM Yinfu Zhenqing Chen You 18950118, p4 CC ST

Jiansu Qiwen 18950301, p5 CC SM

Fuxin Ebao 18950301, p5 CC ST

Fengliu Daoxue 18950315, p4 CC SM Shuangya Chunhui 18950329, p2 CC SM Ze Huan Naihe 18950329, p2 CC SM

Daogui Xinniang 18950329, p3 CC SM

Botu Maimu 18950329, p3 CC SM Tian Jia Zhi Nian 18950329, p7 CC SM Xiongdi Lunhuan Letter from Friend 18950426, p2 CC SM Xiajia Huangshan 18950517, p2 CC AP

142

Mengshou Jingren 18950517, p5 CC ML Daoxue Yixiao 18950913, p4 CC ML

Suyuan Shenxue 18951004, p5 CC SM Huangzhou Tanxie 18951220, p4 CC ST 1896

Jia Buneng Qi 18960124, p4 CC SM

Wutao Gujing 18960124, p4 CC SM

Miaoyu Xizheng 18960207, p4 CC HW

Yeyou Jishi 18960329, p3 CC ML

Linggui Yanyi 18960410, p4 CC ST

Yaoyi Huizhi 18960501, p2 CC ST

Xunqie Xiaobing 18960605, p2 CC HW

Fushui Sanshou 18960807, p3 CC SM

Ji Er Xie Wang 18960911, p4 CC ST

Yuan Ren Gurou 18961002, p4 CC AP

Miaoji Tuoshen 18961002, p5 CC SM Tiandao Haohuan 18961016, p3 CC SM Yinshu Wushi 18961016, p4 CC SM

Fufu Lihe 18961120, p45 CC SM Friend from Chencun, Chenyu Fanxin Shunde 18961204, p4 CC SM 1897

Yiseng 18970101, p5 CC ST

Bai Bige 18970115, p5 CC SM

Wuxia Yu 18970225, p5 CC SM Guanggun Pincai Brother Zheng of Yalwal 18970709, p5 CC SM Cixin Wuneng Zi of Qianshi Yuanchou Junee 18970730, p6 CC SM Shengsi Guaishi 18970820, p5 CC ST

Chimeng Wuyan 18970827, p4 CC SM

Hu Qin Xiaonü 18970827, p4 CC ST

143

Laonian Huazhu 18970910, p5 CC SM

Kezi Xiaotan 18970924, p6 CC HW

1898 Nü Zhong Qianfu 18980107, p2 CC SM Guoshi Qiyuan 18980715, p3 CC SM

Ji Dai Shu Wang 18980805, p3 CC ML

Weixuan Zaishi 18980909, p5 CC SM Zhou Xianyun Xiaozhuan Yilou Ciren 18980909, p5 CC AP Wulan Qi’er 18980909, p5 CC SM

Kuhai Qinglian 18980909, p5 CC SM

1899

Shipo Tianjing 18990421, p5 CC SM

Xizi Yinguo 18990610, p4 CC SM 18990812, p5 Yiyuan Xueyuan CC ST 18990831, p3 Yinshi Jiahuo 18990816, p4 CC SM

1900 CC

Qihuangjia Shuo 19000106, p2 CC ML

Xiguo Helai 19000519, p3 CC ST

Pingshui Qiyuan 19000929, p3 CC SM

Yibing Tadu Ji 19001006, p2 CC AG Cixiansheng Shulue Mengyun Jilu Zhuren 19001103, p2 CC AG Liupu Shixie 19011117, p3 CC ML

1901 Ji Dashisiong Miaofa 19010202, p2 CC AP Tanchang Xiaobing 19010223, p14 CC HW Quankui Yiwen 19010316, p2 CC AP

Laoyan Wuhua 19010413, p2 CC SM

Riri Xiaohua 19010504, p3 CC HW

You Shuixiang Ji 19010518, p3 CC AG

Cailiang Zhenjie 19010601, p4 CC AP

144

Visitor from Taiwan Feibiao Lu 19010928, p5 CC SM Lushui Yinyuan 19011214, p5 CC SM

1903

Yixia Kefeng 19030620, p4 CC SM

Maitou Sishu 19030711, p3 CC ML Chen Xiang from the Laihan Zhaodeng Town of Angledool 19031114, p6 CC SM Xiangke Suotan 19031128, p2 CC ML

Yeshi Haoshi 19031219, p2 CC ML

1904

Lianyi Yixin 19040312, p4 CC SM

Xueshi Xintan 19040514, p5 CC ML

Hua Ciqi 19040514, p5 CC ML Shenfei Xiangtong 19040514, p5 CC ML Bieyou Huixin 19040521, p5 CC ML Wangxiong Xiaohua 19040702, p5 CC HW Haoge Yangpai 19040730, p5 CC ML Zhu’er Chengxiao 19040730, p5 CC ML Hunli Qiwen 19040910, p5 CC ML Tebie Zhi Taijian 19041224, p5 CC ML 1905 Guanchang Xiaohua 19050304, p4 CC HW Zaojun Bianfa 19050318, p3 CC HW

Zhengfu Miaoyu 19050318, p3 CC ML

Gui Xue Xiaolin 19050408, p3 CC HW

Chunjiu Qingke 19050408, p4 CC ML Bajing Xiansheng 19050408, p4 CC HW Shenmiao Duchang Zhi Bifang 19050408, p4 CC HW Jedie Congtan 19050408, p5 CC ML

Mou Dianshi 19050415, p4 CC AP

145

Naoxiu Congtan 19050415, p4 CC ML Kuangsheng Biequ 19050415, p5 CC ML Miaoyu Yanzhongding 19050415, p5 CC AP Fei E 19050422, p3 CC AG

Muyou Pici 19050422, p5 CC HW

Pusa Jieqian 19050422, p5 CC HW Juanguan Xiaotan 19050422, p5 CC HW Piaoke Xiaolin 19050422, p5 CC HW

Yisheng 19050429, p5 CC HW Xuhuanong Xiaotan 19050429, p5 CC AP 19050506, p5 Moumu Xiaotan 19050513, p4 CC HW

Heren Shengzi 19050520, p5 CC ML Diandao Renqing 19050520, s1 CC ML Yuan Shikai 19050520, s1 CC AP

Jiangshu Xintan 19050520, s1 CC HW Zheng Laozhaopai 19050527, p5 CC HW 19050603, p5 Sanjiao Xiaotan CC AG 19050617, p5 Rushi Fengchao 19050617, p4 CC AG

Haoyong Mingci 19050617, p5 CC ML

Poti Xiaobing 19050617, p5 CC HW

Taishou Zhi Wu 19050617, p5 CC HW

Mianmi Duhou 19050617, p5 CC HW

Xianglao Caizi 19050617, p5 CC HW

Xinli Xiaotan 19050624, p5 CC HW Juanguan Xiaobing 19050624, p5 CC HW Waishang Xiaobing 19050701, p5 CC HW Jieyu Xiaoshan 19050701, p5 CC HW

Hanlin Xiaobing 19050701, p5 CC HW

Laokang Zhazhi 19050722, p5 CC HW Nuli Touxian Zhi Biaobang 19050729, p5 CC ML

146

Guanchang Shipin 19051014, p5 CC ML Xuetang Xiaohua 19051104, p5 VC HW Wuzi Xiaotan 19051104, p6 CC HW

Tiaoxiao Tumen 19051104, s1 CC HW Longshe Nanzhuo 19051111, p5 CC ML Shen Chao Xianling 19051202, s1 CC HW 1906

Lunyu Xietan 19060127, p18 CC HW Wangding Xiaobing 19060127, p18 CC HW Kaoshi Xiaotan 19060324, p4 CC HW

Fanghu Guishan 19060331, p5 CC HW

Jixiang Xiaohua 19060414, p5 CC HW

Tielu Xintan 19060602, p4 CC HW

Ruyi Xiaotan 19060609, s1 CC HW

Sifangxu Ji 19060623, p4 CC AG

Youxue Xiaotan 19060630, s1 CC HW Tianchuan Xiaotan 19060707, s1 SC HW Pa Chi Dacan 19060804, p5 CC ML

Tiejiang Daizhao 19060908, p5 CC HW

Shikuan Hualing 19060922, p3 SC ML

Lunyu Zhifu 19060922, p5 CC HW Manhan Jiuxi Qingke 19061013, p5 CC HW Fanwei Xiaobing 19061110, p5 CC HW

1907

Xiti Bian’e 19070119, p6 CC HW

Chaimi Yamen 19070216, p17 CC HW

Diyi Haopin 19070316, p5 CC ML Daoguang Huangdi Yishi 19070330, s1 CC AP Zuojiao Shidai 19070608, p5 CC ML Nizhao Tongzijun Pingluan Xi 19070723, s1 CC HW / 147

Yanjin Liugai Qimi Gaoshi 19070810, s1 CC HW Shifu Shizi 19070914, s1 CC AP

Yi Lu Dai Hong 19070921, s1 CC HW

1908

Pianshu Rixin 19080104, p2 CC SM Quanjuan Dufu Zhi 19080118, s1 CC HW Xiaohua Linsheng Jushou Kongmeng Dingping 19080125, s1 CC HW Zhubi Wuren 19080201, p7 CC ML Yanjiu Zhenggong Xiewen 19080215, p2 CC HW Fengzhi Xiyan 19080215, p5 CC HW

Fengzhi Jieyan 19080215, p5 CC HW

Jinkuang Gushi 19080516, pp.2-3 CC SM

1909 Choufeng Xiaotan 19090213, s1 CC HW Qiefei Jiji 19090320, p6 CC ML Yishi Zhenggong Ji 19090626, p5 CC AG Cuxin Tiezi 19091023, p4 CC HW

Zhengshi Nü 19091120, p6 CC ST

Biguo Ji 19091218, p2 CC AG

Guoguo Ji 19091218, p2 CC AG

Pigu Fu 19091218, s1 CC ST

Tan Cheng 19091218, s1 CC ST

1910 Qingchi Zhangtianshi Shifa Yi Zhuan Guoyun 19100115, s1 CC HW Fengjun Zhuan 19100122, p6 CC AG Yanzhong Youdian 19100409, p5 CC HW Shuojing 19100409, p6 CC, VC HW

Ziyou 19100409, p6 CC, VC HW

Pingdeng 19100409, p6 CC, VC HW

148

1911

Jiayi Wenda 19110218, p5 CC ML Riben Xiaji Shangzhi Aiguo 19110617, p3 CC AP 1912 Qiangpo Pusa Tuiwei Xuanyan 19120323, p5 CC HW Yanyou Lianming Ju Dayanjing Wei Dudu 19120413, p6 CC HW Chuandan Nüzi You Ziyouquan 19120413, p6 CC ML Jin Buhuan 19120413, p6 CC ML Maozhuizi Rang Meiqideng Hei’an Ji 19120427, p4 CC AG Jiayi Tan Xinzhongguo Caizheng Zhichu Lun Zheng Dianhong 19120706, s1 CC ML Chongguan Ji 19120817, s2 CC AG

149

Endnote: i S – supplement page; ii It is the same fiction as the one published in the Tung Wah Times on 19080125, p8; iii The published date and page for each episode of Duoqi Du. The episode number was incorrectly marked on TCT since 19100115. Hence I put the correct episode number in bracket for reference:

Episode No Date & Page Episode No Date & Page 1 19090605, p10 27(28) 19100122, pp.9-10 2 19090612, p10 28(29) 19100129, p8 3 19090619, p10 29(30) 19100226, p8 4 19090626, p10 30(31) 19100305, pp.9-10 5 19090710, p10 31(32) 19100326, p9 6 19090717, pp.9-10 32(33) 19100402, p8 7 19090724, p10 33(34) 19100409, p10 8 19090807, pp.9-10 34(35) 19100416, pp.9-10 9 19090814, p10 35(36) 19100423, p9 10 19090821, pp.9-10 36(37) 19100430, p9 11 19090828, pp.8-9 37(38) 19100507, p10 12 19090904, p9 38(39) 19100514, p9 13 19090911, pp.9-10 39(40) 19100521, p9 14 19090918, pp.9-10 40(41) 19100604, p9 15 19090925, p9 41(42) 19100625, p9 16 19091002, p9 42(43) 19100716, p9 17 19091009, p9 43(44) 19100723, pp.9-10 18 19091016, pp.9-10 44(45) 19100730, pp.8-9 19 19091023, p10 45(46) 19100820, pp.8-9 20 19091030, p10 46(47) 19100924, p8 21 19091106, pp.9-10 47(48) 19101001, pp.8-9 22 19091113, pp.9-10 48(49) 19101008, pp.8-9 23 19091127, p10 49(50) 19101015, p8 24 19091204, p9 50(51) 19101022, p8 25 19091218, pp.8-9 51(52) 19101029, p9 26 19091225, pp.10-11 52(53) 19101210, pp.8-9 25(27) 19100115, pp.9-10

150 Appendix II

Translated Fiction Published in Australian Chinese Language Press from 1894 to 1912

Date & Page of Title Translator Note Newspaper

19040615, pp.2-3; Zhentan Meiren 19040622, p2; Accounts of Japanese female spies. Tan Unknown Abridged translation from an 19040706, p2; American news story. 19040713, p2; TCT

19060428, p6; Translated by Chinese novelist Bao Qie Ming Bo 19060505, p6; Tianxiao (, 1875-1973), a Xiao () 19060512, p5; suspected translation from Mark 19060519, p6; TWT Twain’s work. Story of an assassination of the Portuguese emperor. The translator is Pudi Ansha Ji 19080418, p9; very likely to be Chen Jinghan ( , Leng () 1878-1965) as Leng is his usual 19080425, p9; TCT penname. However, this piece is not seen in the current collections of his works.

Shuang Yishi Yuying An Italian story of two chivalrous and 19100319, p6; TWT high-minded friends saving each ( ) other’s life. 19100820, p8; Nü Zhentan 19100827, p8; Lianghua Niang The Reporter A record of the deeds of a Polish female () 19100903, p8; spy. 19100910, p8; TWT

* TWT – The Tung Wah News; The Tung Wah Times TCT - The Chinese Times&

151

Appendix III

Stories with Foreign Contents Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction between 1894 and 1912

The Tung Wah News /The Tung Wah Times

Title Author Date & Page Foreign Contents

Haiwai Qitan 19010413, pp2-3; 19010417, A British seafarer living in

pp2-3; 19010420, pp2-3 Victoria Weixin Haojie Zhi Mei An Kirino Toshiaki, a Japanese figure Yanshi 19070309, p8 () in Meiji Restoration Ni Sunxingzhe Yilingzi Zhi Wak Hai Bio Shu Pao Wak Hai Cheng Bio and Kong 19080202, p8 Hong Keng are two Chinese () Ni Beidi Tianhou Fu temples in Singapore Kong Hock Bio Shu Bianbian A hoax happened in Mandalay, Pianju 19070504, p6 () Burma Shangye Mingjia Bulanma 19070528, p8 A French merchant

Xiren Yishu An overseas Chinese story in 19071019, p7 Luzon,

Eguo Nüxia Nanren A female nihilist assassin in 19080222, p7 () Russia An Arabic story about a horse Xia Ma 19080418, p8 saving its master Shan She 19080718, p6 Hunter William from Switzerland An account of two woman Zheng Xiong 19090605, p8 fighting for a man in Rio, South America Xuwudang Lishi Tan Quirky events of the Russian red- 19090619, p8 hand gang

Riben Mou Nüshi A Japanese lady who fell in love 19091113, p8 with a Chinese student studying in Tokyo

152

Shuang Yishi Yuying A philosopher Timon and his 19100319, p6 () friend in Syracuse, Sicilia, Italy Lady Lotus, the Polish female spy, Nü Zhentan was hired by the Austro- 19100820, p8; 19100827, p8; Hungarian Government to Lianhua Niang 19100903, p8; 19100910, p8 sabotage the Count of Hungary who is a leader of Hungarian Revolutionaries. Yinghou Jiali yangqi Quanshi 19110107, p7 Caroline, the British Queen / The patriotic deed of a Parisian Kuli Zhong Qi Nanzi 19110128, p8 civilian Pierre

The Chinese Times

Title Author Date & Page Foreign Characters Zhentan Meiren Tan 19040615, p2; 19040622, p2; The activities of four Japanese

19040706, p2; 19040713, p2 female spies in Russia and Europe Xianluo Shenyi Ji 19040615, p3; 19040706, p2 Record of a Thai witch doctor Records of two old stories from Zalu 19070914, p6 Korea and Greece, and one recent affair in Mexico

Yidali Huangzu Zhi A love romance between an Italian Royal family member and Aihechao 19080620, pp.9-10 the daughter of a US congressman

The Chinese Australian Herald

Title Author Date & Page Foreign Characters

Kezi Xiaotan A joke from Singapore about 18970924, p6 father-son education

Yiyuan Xueyuan A murder case of Chinese worker 18990812, p5; 18990831, p3 in Rangoon Friend from Xiguo Helai A supernatural experience of a Khuba 19000519, p3 Chinese miner in

153 Appendix IV

Local Stories Recorded in Australian Chinese Language Fiction between 1894 and 1912

Date & Page of Title Author Note Newspaper

Fu Zi Tian Lai A sweep ticket winning 18941228, p7, CAH experience of two New South Wales Chinese residents. The author from Townsville Liaobo Yixiao Banxian Zhuren contributed a story about the 18950111, p6, CAH prostitute of a local boatman’s daughter.

You Laihan Record of the adulterous Xiongdi Lunhuan event between a Chinese , 18950426, p2, CAH resident’s wife and two young (Letter from friend) men.

Mengshou Jingren First depiction of Kangaroo in 18950517, p5, CAH Chinese literature. Quli Bu Cixin Qianshi Yuanchou A manslaughter case among Wunengzi 18970730, p6, CAH young Chinese labourers who just came to Australia.

Lushui Yinyuan Record of a Sydney woman’s 19011214, p5, CAH extra-marital affairs An miner tells of the fight of Chinese gold Jinkuang Gushi 19080516, p2-3, miners against the white CAH people in Cloncurry Gold Mines over 40 years ago

Duwu Kewei Cai Wangyao Record of the use of opium to 19081219, p7, TWT poison dingoes by Australian farmers. Two local Australian Shehui Jing (Wulong, onlookers’ remarks on the Wushi) 19090417, p10, TCT dragon dance and lion dance (, ) in an Easter Carnival in Bendigo.

Lok Dap Mei Yu Lok An ironic scene of the new- Dap Him Zhi Bijiao coming Chinese labourers’ 19090529, p10, TCT awkward situation due to their misuse of English when they first landed in Australia.

154 A full-length novel detailed depicts the local lives and 53 serials from unique scenes of Australia Duoqi Du 19090605 to through the journey and 19101210, TCT experience of a Chinese countryman and his peers.

19101105, pp.8-9 A hoax set up by two local Zuanshi Yuezhi 19101112, pp.8-9 prostitutes to defraud two

19101119, pp.8-9, Chinese men of their TCT diamond rings. Mocking some reporters of Fenshen Suigu Yijie Shi Yao Australian Chinese newspaper 19110916, p7, TWT for being too capricious and a windbag. Three street peddlers’ Jieshi Xiaolin 19110923, pp.6-7, discussions to insinuate a

TCT local newspaper debate between TWT and TCT.

* TWT – The Tung Wah News; The Tung Wah Times TCT – The Chinese Times& CAH – The Chinese Australian Herald

155

Appendix V

List of Fiction Written by Mainland Chinese Novelists and Reprinted from Other Chinese newspapers

Title Date/Page Author Note

The Tung Wah News /The Tung Wah Times - TWT Reprinted from Guowen Bao ( Zhennü Renzan Ji 18990805, p2 , 1897-1900) in Tianjin ( ). Mazei Zhuxiong Ji 19000124, p2 Reprinted from Xunhuan Bao (

19000127, p2 , ?-?). Qungui Xiaotan Reprinted from Caifeng Bao ( 19000523, p2 , 1898-1911) in Shanghai. Baijia Zi Yu Reprinted from Caifeng Bao ( Shoucai Nu 19000627, p2 , 1898-1911) in Shanghai. Wuse Daren Reprinted from Youxi Bao ( 19020510, p3 , 1896-1910) in Shanghai. Ji Yinjie Geming Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao ( 19040406, s1 , 1901-1910) in Shanghai. Written by famous Chinese novelist Bao Tianxiao (, 1875-1973). Zhang Tianshi Tianxiao 19050121, s1 Also published in Shi Bao ( Eastern Times, 1904-1939, Shanghai) on 19041117. Guangdong Xuejie Reprinted from the column of Zhi Yaomo 19050429, s1 “Xiaoxian Lu ()” in Shang Bao (, ?-?). 19060428, p6 Translated Translated by Bao Tianxiao. Also 19060505, p6 Qie Mingbo by Xiao published in Shi Bao from 19060304 19060512, p5 to 19060307. 19060519, p6 Wuyan Xiansheng Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19060624. 19060818, p6 Xiao Written by Bao Tianxiao. Aiguo Shaonian Hui Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19060708. 19060908, p6 Xiao Written by Bao Tianxiao. Xuye Xuetang Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19060826. 19061006, p5 Xiao Written by Bao Tianxiao. Also published in Shi Bao, Gaotou Zhi 19061017. No author name Lishi 19061208, p5 Unspecified specified. It’s attributed to Bao Tianxiao according to Teruo Tarumoto (2002). It was marked in TWT as reprinted Gelao Hui Zhi Falv from Hu Bao (), which is 19070720, p8 the very first name of Hubao (, 1882-1899) in

156

Shanghai. It was also published in Zhongwai Ribao (, 1898-1911, Shanghai) , 19070609, under the genre of Lishi Xiaoshuo (, Historical Fiction). Author unknown. Mou Kezhan (Zhentan Zhi Written by famous Chinese novelist Tanzhen) 19080111, p6 Leng Chen Jinghan (, 1878-1965). Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19071125. Mangren Duhui Written by Chen Jinghan. Also 19080314, p3 Leng published in Shi Bao, 19080124. Written by Chen Jinghan, under the genre of Shishi Xiaoshuo ( Qiqie Ling 19080523, p6 Leng , fiction of current affairs). Also published in Shi Bao, 19080406. Branded Shehui Duanpian Xiaoshuo Mou Xuesheng Yu Ming Gong (, social short story) Mou Jiaoyuan 19080530, p6 in TWT. Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19080323. Mou Xianling Written by Bao Tianxiao, also 19080613, p8 Xiao published in Shi Bao, 19080420. Dacheng Jiao Reprinted from Shi Bao, 19080531, 19080718, p8 Author unknown. Also published in Shi Bao, Hua Shaonian 19081024, p6 Rongjun 19080616, under the genre of Jiaoyu 19081121, p8 Xiaoshuo (, Educational Fiction). The Chinese Times - TCT Shuyou Xiaqi Reprinted from Yue Bao (, 19020409, p3 1885-1889, Hong Kong). Reprinted fromTa Kung Pao ( , 1902-1925) in Tianjin. Shuo Menshen Originally in Mandarin Chinese. 19021217, p2 The editor of TCT adapted into vernacular Cantonese for local Cantonese readers of TCT. Ji Li Lianying Reprinted from Huanxun Bao ( 19030218, p2 Chuchu Shiji ). It’s likely to be a typo of 19030225, p3 Xunhuan Bao (). Yuyan Bajiu Reprinted from Su Bao (, 19030408, p3 1896-1903) in Shanghai. Reprinted from Zhongwai Xinbao (, 1856-1861) in Ningbo (). It’s very likely to be Huyang Shijia 19030520, p3 a typo of Zhongwai Ribao ( , 1898-1911, Shanghai) due to the long gap of the publication years. The same as Wu Zhiying (1868- Nüxia Qiujin Yishi Wu Zhiying 19070907, p6 1934)’s work titled Ji Qiu Nüxia Yishi (). Pudi Ansha Ji 19080418, p9 Leng Translated fiction by Chen Jinghan.

157

19080425, p9

Written by Bao Tianxiao under the Yundong Jia 19080606p8 Xiao genre of Shishi Xiaoshuo, also published in Shi Bao on 19080411. Mou Xianling The same story as published in 19080613p8 Xiao TWT on the same date. Yudong Yeren Also published in Shi Bao, Biyesheng 190808101, pp.7-8 19080616. Reprinted from Bao Tianxiao’s biji 19081205, pp.9-10 Yang Shinü Bao Tianxiao collection Qiuxing Ge Biji ( 19081212, pp.8-9 ). Ming Taizu Zhi An entry from Li Yuerui (1862- Li Yuerui Moji 19101210, pp.9-10 1927)’s biji collection Chunbing Shi Yesheng (). Tongshi Zhi Gongyi Lin Huiru An entry from Mindai Yiwen ( 19101217, pp.8-9 ). Wang Jiang Qiqun An entry from Chaoye Xintan ( Hunshi Tan 19120803, pp.9-10 ). The Chinese Australian Herald - CAH Reprinted from Weixin Ribao ( Zhenjie Kefeng 18951206, p3 , 1879-1909) in Hong Kong. Yangxi Xunfu Reprinted from newspaper from 18960207, p4 Hong Kong. Shi Dai Tianshou 19010112, p4 Reprinted from Weixin Ribao. Shentong Tanxian Reprinted from newspaper from 19040813, p5 Hong Kong. Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao ( Mao Xie 19050401, p5 , 1901-1910). Gebian Fangjiao Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Zhi Xiaohua 19050408, p4 Kong. Hutu Zhixian 19050408, p5 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Ji Caishen Wen 19050415, p4 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Juan Wupin Xian 19050527, p5 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Qiwen Miaoxiang 19050603, p4 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Daoyuan Bushizi Zhi Kexiao 19050805, p5 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Zhang Zhidong Reprinted from newspaper in Nianlao Ruhuacong 19050909, s1 China. Anecdotes of Zhang Zhidong (, 1837-1909 ). Funü Gailiang 19051028, s1 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Kuixing Jiekuan 19051104, p6 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao.

158

Wumai Renmian 19051104, p6 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Caishen Canhe 19051111, p3 Huaguang Zougao Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao.

This is a reply to the parody Huaguang Fuzou “Caishen Canhe Huaguang Zougao” Caishen Gongzhe published on the same date. Gaodi 19051111, p6 However, it was not marked as a reprint from Xiaolin Bao. It is possibly a mimetic response written by local authors. Guibao Yuchao 19051111, p5 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Jinyue Xiaotan 19051118, p6 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Jinyue Xiaotan 19051125, p6 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Tian’en Wuhui 19051209, s1 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Tebie Lishu 19060714, p5 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Wenxing Huixie Reprinted from newspaper in Hong 19060721, p5 Kong. Shi Wei Gong Bian 19060825, s1 Reprinted from Xiaolin Bao. Du Yuanshuai Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Li Junlingzhuang 19061201, s1 Kong. Baozhi Xingxiao Fa Reprinted from newspaper in Hong 19061208, s1 Kong. Shiban Shuyong Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Juan Zhawen 19070202, s1 Kong. Ze Xiezilou Housheng Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Zhi Landuo 19070323, p3 Kong. Qiangua Liyong Reprinted from newspaper in Hong 19070330, s1 Kong. Chuangban Jinü Baoxiang Gongsi Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Xiaoqi 19070629, s1 / Kong. Wei Qiangshou Moudai Gongju Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Zhuodao Baogao 19070713, s1 Kong. Tebie Zhenji Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Yichang 19070720, p4 Kong.

159

Shengtong Jiyi Yaoqiu Songjing Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Kaoshi Gongqi 19070803, s1 Kong. Mengzi Yangmo Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Yanyi 19080509, s1 Kong. Written in vernacular Chinese. Zhengjie Gaoshi Qiyu Reprinted from newspaper in Hong Zhi Keshen 19080606, s1 Kong. Bainian Xiaotan Reprinted from newspaper in Hong 19090417, s1 Kong. Xinnian Xiaotan Reprinted from newspaper in Hong 19110325, s1 Kong.

160