Features
I’m an Indigenous Chinese Australian!
Published
2 years agoon
I’m an Indigenous Chinese Australian! (Part 1)
This year marks my 30th year living in Australia. Through writing, volunteering, and social dancing, I’ve made countless friends from all walks of life: Australians, Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Malaysians, North Americans, Indians, New Zealanders, and even South Africans. I’ve had great teachers, good friends, bad influences too, all from across the globe. Life has been vibrant, interesting, and long. However, I regret that not one of my friends is an Indigenous Australian, and I know very little about Indigenous communities, their culture, and traditions. This regret often leaves me feeling empty, as though something is missing. Over the years, I’ve only met two Indigenous women: one was a friend’s girlfriend whose grandmother was Indigenous, but she was fair-skinned with delicate features, and there was no outward sign of her Indigenous heritage. The second was Professor Marcia Langton AO, a professor at the University of Melbourne. I first saw her in 2008 when I interviewed the famous Australian painter Zhou Xiaoping (see my article “In Search of Dreams in the Indigenous Dreaming World” in Issue 85 of Sameway). I met her again at a Lunar New Year banquet at Zhou’s house the same year. In 2012, at the screening of a film about Zhou Xiaoping (see my article “Ink and Ochre” in Issue 314 of Sameway), I met Professor Langton again, but both times, I missed the chance to speak with her. In recent years, this sense of loss and regret has grown stronger, eventually prompting me to begin a quest to learn more about the First Nations of Australia.
Indigenous Australians, a term that refers collectively to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, are the descendants of the original inhabitants of Australia before European colonization. The term “Indigenous Australians” is a broad one, encompassing many different groups with significant distinctions between them. They may not share close connections or common origins, with each community having its own unique culture, customs, and language. It’s estimated that when Europeans first arrived, there were around 250 Indigenous languages. Now, only about 120 to 145 languages remain, most of which are endangered, with only 13 considered secure. Most modern Indigenous Australians speak English that is influenced by Indigenous vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammatical structures, a form known as Aboriginal English. Estimates of the population at the time of European settlement vary, with some suggesting between 318,000 and 1,000,000 people. They mainly lived in the southeast, which mirrors today’s population distribution. The current Indigenous population is 798,365, with 73% identifying as Christians, 24% having no religion, and 1% adhering to traditional Indigenous beliefs. There is no academic consensus on the relationship between the first inhabitants of the Australian continent and modern Indigenous Australians. However, most scholars agree that the earliest human remains found in Australia date back between 64,000 and 75,000 years, making them descendants of the earliest groups to leave Africa for Asia. Since 1995, the Aboriginal flag—red and black with a yellow sun—and the Torres Strait Islander flag—blue and green with a headdress symbol—have been recognized as official national flags in Australia. (Note 1)
Last week, through a friend’s introduction, I had the opportunity to learn more about Indigenous culture via several Australian television programs. The stories I’ll share here are based on ABC broadcasts (May 2020).
The Aboriginal Chinese Doll
I’m Brenda, an Elder of the Bidjara-Wakka Wakka nations. At 68 years old, I’ve always been curious about Chinese culture. Why? Because my grandmother used to call me “Chinese Doll.” I found the answer when I was four years old. It was the first time I discovered that I had Chinese ancestry. One day, while playing with other kids, I asked my grandmother, “Why do you call me Chinese Doll?” She told us that we were descendants of Chinese people. We continued asking, and she explained that my great-great-grandfather was Chinese. I grew up in Gayndah, a small town about 350 kilometres north of Brisbane, where my mother’s family are the traditional custodians of Wakka Wakka Country. Apart from that conversation with my grandmother, Lucky Law, and the taste of the fried noodles my mother May used to make, I knew very little about my Chinese roots, and even less about my mysterious Chinese great-great-grandfather. I couldn’t learn much from Lucky, as marriages like hers were seldom discussed back then. I only asked that day out of curiosity, but that curiosity has stayed with me, leaving a big gap in my life.
The First Generation of Chinese Shepherds
I’ve worked as a part-time teacher at a public school in Queensland for nearly a decade. A few years ago, I started exploring my family history in my spare time. My family tree reveals that one branch can be traced back to my great-great-grandfather John Law. He arrived in Australia around 1842 as a shepherd from Xiamen. He worked in the Gayndah region, where he apparently met my great-great-grandmother, and they married. It turns out I’m about one-fourteenth Chinese. In the 1840s, around 3,000 Chinese labourers, mainly men and boys, were transported from Xiamen to Australia to work as shepherds, spreading across modern-day Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Dr. Maxine Darnell has been tracing the history of these shepherds, who were brought under five-year contracts and worked under harsh conditions as part of the first organized wave of Chinese labour to Australia. They helped meet the labour shortage after convict transportation to Australia ceased in the 1840s, before the influx of Chinese gold seekers in the 1850s and 1860s. As contract labourers, they were bound to their employers, unable to freely leave for the goldfields like many free workers. While little is known about the reasons behind their migration, it coincided with China’s recovery from the Opium War, when the lure of a better life must have been appealing. The story of labourers seeking a better life is a timeless one.
From Hostility to Intermarriage
The interaction between Chinese and Indigenous Australians dates back at least 150 years, though much of this history remains undocumented. Dr. Sandi Robb has been researching the relationships and marriage patterns between Chinese men and Indigenous women in Queensland. According to Dr. Robb, the early relationship between the two communities was fraught with “hostility and fear.” From the Indigenous perspective, the Chinese were unfamiliar people, different in appearance and dress, trespassing on their land without permission, thereby violating Indigenous law. However, over time, Indigenous marriage customs began to break down, and instances of intermarriage with other ethnic groups appeared. By 1890, Indigenous women were often left with no choice but to marry outside their communities due to the loss of traditional marriage partners, often due to violence. Both the Indigenous and Chinese were marginalized and looked down upon by white settlers. John Law was one of the few Chinese shepherds who married an Indigenous woman. Their daughter, Kate Law, married Chinese shepherd James Coy in 1877, and they had 11 children, including my grandmother, Lucky Law.
Indigenous people and Chinese workers formed friendships and connections that bridged their worlds. Both groups faced discrimination, and like today, that prejudice still affects both Indigenous Australians and Chinese. I believe that both groups learned much from each other, including cultural practices and agricultural knowledge related to land and cattle. In Gayndah, there were also orchards and citrus groves. In 2019, the Queensland government recognized the contributions of Chinese shepherds in irrigation and crop production in the Darling Downs region.
The Quest for Chinese Roots
My journey to trace my family history would have been much more difficult without the help of a Chinese friend. In 2018, I met a young Chinese man named Xianyang Tang on Facebook, and we quickly became friends. Over the past two years, with his help, I’ve uncovered many unknown aspects of my family history. Xianyang knew how deeply I wanted to find at least one relative and learn more about my great-great-grandfather’s origins, so he helped connect me with the Luo clan in Xiamen and local Chinese people. However, the search hit a roadblock when we couldn’t confirm which branch of the Luo family my ancestor belonged to, possibly due to the destruction of Luo family records during the Cultural Revolution. Xianyang was moved by my determination to uncover my roots and volunteered to help me. He visited me during my illness and even bought shoes and hats for my children. To me, he’s like family. He believes that my ancestors came from the Luo clan in Xiamen, but the search continues.
I’ve always felt proud of my identity. I have a large family descended from John Law, and none of us has ever denied our Chinese heritage. My dream is to visit China, especially Xiamen, to see it for myself and imagine the footsteps of my great-great-grandfather. While I know a lot about Indigenous culture, I’m part of two cultures, and I’ve decided to explore that other half.
Since the 19th century, Chinese and Indigenous Australians have walked side by side with untold stories!
Hi, I am a Chinese Aborigine in Australia! (II)
Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting CityMag and Ngarrindjeri (multidisciplinary) artist Damien Shen on the program to talk about his upbringing and what it means to be Aboriginal and Chinese.
Yellah Fellah: The Yellow-Skinned Family Man
Yellah Fellah is a colloquialism, an Australian term for yellow people. I, Damien Shen, am what Australians call Yellah Fellah, the yellow-skinned guy. However, my Aboriginal and Chinese backgrounds are deeply connected, and my Chinese heritage played an important role in my childhood. I am not sure where I would be today without the benefit of my Chinese heritage. My father was born in Hong Kong but was sent to boarding school in Adelaide. My grandparents thought the Communists would soon take over Hong Kong, so my father’s sister was sent elsewhere and then he was sent to Australia. I was born in Adelaide and my grandparents, who lived next door, were important people in my childhood. I think as I got older I appreciated more the Chinese side of things, that they were able to build up such structures, things that happened in my father’s life and so on. My Chinese grandmother felt it was her duty to keep order in the home – breakfast would be brought out at a certain time and dinner was always at 6pm. Grandparents provide a safe structure for children to live in. Although proud of my Chinese heritage, I admit that growing up in Australia with undeniable racism against Asians was challenging. I don’t speak Chinese because when my father came here, there was a lot of racism, so he was like, “No, you’re speaking English.” He wouldn’t encourage us to speak Chinese. At home he spoke Cantonese, and my grandparents spoke Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese, and then they would go around the table and speak English to us. I recall my first job at a Chinese restaurant, where it was harder to fit in because I didn’t know the Chinese language. I was perceived as someone with long hair who didn’t speak Chinese, which was almost a bit of a novelty to the Chinese. I was there, but never really connected with the Chinese.
My mother’s Ngarrindjeri ethnicity, my Aboriginal heritage, was also crucial to my childhood. Growing up, I always knew I was part of an Aboriginal community and had many Aboriginal cousins with whom I spent a lot of time. One of those family members was Uncle Moogy. Moogy, who everybody knows – he’s my mom’s brother, so he’s actually my real uncle, and I grew up with him. There were always a lot of children in his house and we always spent the night there, so it was always very fun and memorable and I’m still very close to him. Although I now appreciate my Aboriginal and Chinese heritage, there are still struggles, especially at a young age. When I was in about 10th grade, I encountered a lot of racism in terms of being Asian or Aboriginal – basically, “they” had two ways of dealing with me. Then I changed schools and things changed immediately because I went to a very multicultural school. Suddenly, I didn’t have that pressure to ‘stand out’. It wasn’t until I was older that I started researching my Aboriginal heritage. As you get older, you start to think more about genealogy, history and things like that. …… It’s so fascinating when you look at what it means to be an Aboriginal person with family ties from a genealogical perspective. Anyone you meet, you call each other by name, but you’re not quite sure how far apart we are – are we really cousins? Then, on the other hand, you see what being Aboriginal means politically, historically, what happened to the Ngarrindjeri people, so part of my work deals with that. I looked back at my own life in two different contexts and felt blessed. I was lucky to be able to experience it through two lenses: dual identity, or dual background – it’s an interesting thing. As I’ve experienced, you don’t always fit into the Aboriginal community environment, especially when I was young, I felt that. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten to know more Asian Aboriginal people, and we all look the same.
Yellah Fellah for OzAsia explores storytelling through an Indigenous Asian lens.
Yellah Fellah for OzAsia, an art exhibition curated by Catherine Croll, is on display at the Adelaide Festival Centre in 2023. This fascinating and inspiring exhibition featured the work of four different artists with Asian and Aboriginal traditions. I am exhibiting my own work alongside Gary Lee, Caroline Oakley and Jason Wing to show our personal interpretations of our backgrounds through the art form, which is essentially a gathering of many artists with Asian and Aboriginal traditions. For me, it’s Chinese and Aboriginal, and I think the artists will be proud of this mix of hybrids. I don’t speak for any other artist. …… Having a Chinese and Aboriginal heritage is something I’ve always been extremely proud of. You don’t see as much Aboriginal Chinese in South Australia as you do in the north of Darwin, there’s more of a mix of Asian Aboriginal cultures, but I’ve felt it’s quite unique here for a while now, so that’s cool. Curator Catherine says Asian-Australian relations began centuries before the European colonization of Australia, when Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory began to build a sea cucumber trading network with Malaysia and then on to China. I created a pewter skull fragment at an anatomy lab in Virginia entitled Life Behind the Pen, which is a history of the theft of human remains – many of the Ngarrindjeri people’s remains were stolen and shipped overseas. Uncle Moogy had a huge influence on a large group of Aboriginal leaders who travelled abroad to find these remains and repatriate them to Australia. My work here embodies that idea, and the photographs that Uncle Moogy and I have deliberately taken in this ethnographic way are like a real classic style of documenting things at a certain point in time, kind of like a drama of that history. The artwork called “Portraits” was a personal favorite of City Magazine, black and white portraits of my grandparents, sisters and uncles. Then I was inspired to organize a painting workshop with an American, and I thought, I don’t mind documenting all the stories around my mom. And then on the other hand, I’m going to document my Chinese grandparents and my sister as part of this series, linking the Chinese and Australian Aboriginal elements.
Chinese Aboriginal Women Writers
Not long ago, I saw some exciting news on SBS Chinese TV: Ms. Alexis Wright, a Chinese Aboriginal woman, won $60,000 and the Stella Prize for non-binary writers this year for her novel Praiseworthy, which beat out 227 entries. 2018 is the year that she writes about Aboriginal chiefs. In 2018, her collective memoir of Aboriginal chiefs, Tracker, also won the Stella Prize, making her the first author to win the award twice. She also won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s highest literary prize, for Carpentaria. Described by the New York Times as “the most ambitious and accomplished Australian novel of the century”, the 700-page book has been described as a great book in many ways, telling the story of the John Howard. Howard government’s 2007 military intervention in a Northern Territory community, the story of a small town whose inhabitants have been struck by a haze, and the story of the Aboriginal people who have been forced to live with the government’s military intervention in their community. This is a story of Aboriginal ancestry and ecological disaster. The characters’ reactions to the situation are allegorical, ranging from the comic to the tragic: one man devises a plan to replace Qantas with five million donkeys across Australia, another dreams of being white and powerful, and a third, apparently named Aboriginal Sovereignty, becomes suicidal. The judges were unanimous in stating that readers would be inspired by the aesthetic and technical qualities of Worthy of Praise and struck by Wright’s staccato rhythms of satirical politics, and that the award was rightfully given to Wright.
Challenge Yourself
Wright made a commitment long ago to challenge herself in whatever she writes, and her ambition has grown over the years. She began writing this novel about ten years ago, much of it during her tenure as Boisbouvier Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne. The process required Wright to pause and restart many times as she tried to evoke the slow pulse of central and northern Australia, to capture the scale of the period and the immense difficulties of the time, to challenge the reader’s indifference and to try to replace it with a deeper understanding. In an interview with the Australian Associated Press AAP, Wright pointed out that there is no harm in exercising the brain through the reading of good books. People are happy to go to the gym for a good physical workout, and there is no harm in a good workout for the mind.
Chinese Great-Grandfather & Native Great-Grandmother
“I come from one of the greatest storytelling worlds,” Wright said at the Stella Prize ceremony, “We are a culture of storytelling. Some of the most important, richest and longest-running epical law stories belong to the indigenous cultures of this land.” Wright, 73, is of Chinese descent. His great-grandfather came from Kaiping, Guangdong Province, to make a living in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a remote region in northern Australia, following the gold rush of the 19th century, and later married his Waanyi Aboriginal great-grandmother. Wright was invited to Shanghai for Australian Writers’ Week in 2018 and revealed in a media interview, “My great-grandfather was Chinese, but I don’t know him or the exact location of his hometown. I think it was somewhere in Kaiping, Guangdong. In the 19th century in Kaiping, a lot of Chinese people left their hometowns and went to the United States, Canada and other places to look for gold. Great-grandfather brought a lot of knowledge about China to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and he taught community members about irrigation and farming and growing vegetables.” She made a trip to Guangdong in 2017 to search for her roots, but unfortunately was unable to find any trace of her great-grandfather, after all, it was too long ago. Her books are available in Chinese translation, including the Franklin Award-winning Carpentaria and the full-length novel The Swan Book.
Bridging the Gaps in Australian History
During an unusual trip to the Northern Territory in 1988, renowned Australian painter Zhou Xiaoping was rescued by three Aboriginal teenagers when he was lost on a vast sandbar, which initiated his intense interest in Aboriginal culture and profoundly influenced his subsequent works, making Aboriginal people the only protagonists of his paintings. Through understanding, respect, and sincerity, he broke the barrier and formed decades of friendship with the Aborigines, making friends with Jimmy Chi, a Chinese Aboriginal musician, and Peter Yu, a professor. (See my articles “Seeking Dreams in the Aboriginal Dream World”, “Ink and Ochre”, and “Exploring Aboriginal History of Chinese Descent” in the 85th, 314th, and 665th issues of The Wayfarer) In 2022 Mr. Zhou initiated a project, Exploring Forgotten History, which is a project to explore the history of Aborigines in China, and to explore the history of the Chinese Aborigines in the world of Aborigines in the world of Chinese culture and culture. In 2022, Mr. Zhou initiated a project entitled “Exploring Forgotten Histories” to study Aboriginal people of Chinese ancestry, the significance of which is to fill in the gaps in Australian history. In the study of Chinese history, there is a large amount of information on the Chinese gold rush, but the relationship between the Chinese and the Aboriginal people is seldom covered. Why is it that in the early gold rushes in Bendigo and Ballarat, Victoria, there were not many intermarriages between the Chinese and Aboriginal people, and why are there not many Aboriginal descendants left behind? This is an important part of our history that we are gradually forgetting. Mr. Zhou’s research and the emergence of Aunty Brenda Kanofski, Damien Shen, Alexis Wright, Jimmy Chi, Peter Yu and other Aboriginal people of Chinese ancestry are like a jigsaw puzzle, putting together a picture of the past that has rarely been talked about or forgotten, showing the rich and complex interactions between the descendants of two of the oldest civilizations in the world, the Bendigo and the Ballarat. It shows the rich and complex interactions between the descendants of two of the world’s oldest civilizations. Will all this contribute to the integration of Australia’s diverse peoples and the harmony of its cultures? We look forward to it!
Knowing, Understanding and Respecting Aboriginal Culture
As we enter the month of May, the message of “Reconciliation” has appeared frequently in the media. What is reconciliation? Why Reconciliation? How to reconcile?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, “Reconciliation” means to end a disagreement or conflict with someone and start a good relationship again. But in Australia the concept of reconciliation is not so simple. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians have always tried to reconcile their differences, and Reconciliation is of great importance and significance to the nation. National Sorry Day is celebrated on 26 May each year, followed by National Reconciliation Week from 27 May to 3 June. The start and end dates of the week are historically significant, and are designed to promote the reconciliation of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The week begins and ends with historically significant dates to promote reconciliation between Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal Australians. This year, the theme for National Reconciliation Week 2024 is ‘Now More Than Ever’, and now more than ever, we have the opportunity to think about how we can use this knowledge and these connections to create a better Australia. Let’s learn and reflect on our shared history, culture and achievements with the Aboriginal community through the presentations of SBS Chinese Aboriginal reporter Mr. Ryan Liddle and CEO of Reconciliation Australia (National Reconciliation Association Chief Executive Officer) Aboriginal Ms. Karen Mundine.
History of Reconciliation Week
Reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians can be traced back to the arrival of the Englishman James Cook in 1770; it is also thought to have begun with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and was formalized with the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Finding that too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were incarcerated and often detained, the commission submitted a report with more than 300 recommendations to address the crisis. While many of the recommendations have yet to be adopted, the last recommendation in the report, No. 339, stands out: initiate a formal reconciliation process. The Aboriginal Reconciliation Commission Bill was passed by Parliament with the support of both the government and opposition parties, and in 2001 the Commission was replaced by a new organization, Reconciliation Australia, which is still in operation today. Before the handover, two key events marked new beginnings, signalling a promising new era. Karen Mundine said: “We’ve seen governors, territory leaders, federal governors and prime ministers from all states come together to make a commitment to the spirit of reconciliation, and what we really need to do is to build positive relationships, to make sure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are seen as Australians, the first Australians, and that we are the oldest continuous culture in the world, and that we celebrate this uniqueness and we are proud of it. We celebrate this uniqueness and are proud of it. Ryan Liddle said: “On this day, this week, Reconciliation Australia was born, this was our starting point, nearly a quarter of a million Australians marched on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation on a freezing cold and windy morning, and it was a truly transformative moment, a moment of unprecedented support from a wide range of communities to usher in a millennium of new opportunities to join together in a common journey to improve race relations. Since then we have had many successes, launching thousands of Reconciliation Action Plans, raising awareness of Aboriginal issues amongst the general public and generally improving the overall image and status of Aboriginal people in Australia.”
The most significant moment was the government’s action on February 13, 2008, when then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in Parliament, “We apologize for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have caused deep grief, pain and loss to our fellow Australians. Prime Minister Rudd apologized to the nation, and as the world watched, there were cries of relief, tears of joy and sadness, and many Australians took to the streets holding up signs that read: I’m Proud to say Sorry! This day is known as National Sorry Day in Australian history. The next big push for reconciliation came about a decade later, in late May 2017, when a citizen-led Aboriginal National Constitutional Conference, including Aboriginal leaders, academics, social activists and others from across the country, worked hard to reach a rare consensus to constitutionally authorize the creation of an Aboriginal voice in Parliament, a treaty, and the establishment of a Truth Commission. For Aboriginal people, this sovereignty is a spiritual concept that has never been ceded or extinguished, and exists alongside the authority of all levels of government.20 In October 2023, a referendum to affirm the Aboriginal and Tortugas Channel Islander National Congress failed, and Australians voted down the establishment of an Aboriginal and Tortugas Channel Islander National Congressional Voice.
Respect for Aboriginal Etiquette
Why is it important to show respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ceremonies? Because an understanding of these ceremonies can affect our behaviour and our relationships with Aboriginal people. Exploring the richness of Aboriginal traditions, getting Aboriginal etiquette right and learning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customs are fundamental to respecting Australia’s heritage and the land we all live on. Mr. Thomas Mayo, advocate and writer for the Kaurareg, Kalkalgal & Erubamle peoples, introduced the five steps to get Aboriginal etiquette right, to reconcile and to become one.
Ⅰ. Introduce yourself appropriately
Julie Nimmo says, “When I introduce myself to other Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, it is important to say what people and family I belong to. When we talk about family, we talk about our ancestors from the past, but when we meet people from another country, we often introduce ourselves as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal Australians”. Thomas Mayo said, “I would introduce myself as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander because of family ties. Torres Strait Islanders are more closely related to Pacific Melanesians, and Aboriginal Australians are from the Australian continent, and we have different cultures and languages.
- Never abbreviate
Properly refer to Aboriginal people by referring to Australia’s first inhabitants through terms such as ‘Aboriginal’, ‘native’, ‘Torres Strait Islander’ and ‘land’, with the first letter of each title capitalized as a sign of respect. Never abbreviate the terms Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander and avoid using acronyms or other pejorative terms that were used in colonial times, as this can really offend Aboriginal people. Do not use acronyms such as “ATSI”, which is an abbreviation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and has historically been used as a pejorative insult to Aboriginal Australians, who are very particular about what they call themselves and can be deeply hurt by hearing offensive terminology.
III. Welcome Ceremony
Before the event begins, people participate in a traditional Welcome to Country ceremony or an Acknowledgement of Country ceremony. The two ceremonies are different. The former is a very important sacred ceremony, conducted by an Elder of the place where you are, welcoming the participants to commemorate the past, and may take the form of speeches, dances, or fireworks. The latter ceremony, which can be conducted by anyone, is an important welcome offered at important meetings. No matter where we come from, we still belong to the land, and recognizing and thanking our guardians and elders shows that we know and respect the land. In the old traditions, an Elder was a respected member of the community who had reached a certain age and had the cultural and intellectual wisdom to teach the people moral behaviour. Elders were usually referred to as “Aunty” and “Uncle” (aunt and uncle) as a sign of respect, and non-indigenous people had to first seek permission to use these titles.
- Don’t judge a person by his or her appearance
Never question or assume a person’s Aboriginal identity based on physical appearance. Many Aboriginal people are survivors of the Stolen Generation. Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes between the 1910s and 1970s. Thomas Mayo said, “It is offensive to ask Aboriginal people about the percentage of their Aboriginal ancestry because the colonizers were trying to assimilate us in this country by reproducing us so that we eventually disappeared. 2008 Prime Minister Rudd apologized to the nation: ”On behalf of my government, I am sorry! On behalf of my government, I am sorry! People were criticized for the colour of their skin, this was called the assimilation policy, where a percentage of Aboriginal blood was measured so that the government could define a person as no longer Aboriginal, but now white. In fact, as long as these people have any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander blood in them, we will consider them Aboriginal, or Torres Strait Islander, because it’s about connection to the Nation’s land, and it’s just as much about what heritage we still have”.
- Don’t be an advocate
Let’s show respect by knowing and understanding Aboriginal culture and never speaking on behalf of Aboriginal people. In order for us to move forward in a very positive and respectful relationship with each other, it is important to listen deeply, but we can also ask questions, as long as they are respectful and come from a place of genuine interest in learning. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a deep knowledge of the land, and by passing on their stories, protocols, ceremonies, and caring for their land – the land, the sea, the waterways, and the sky – through oral traditions, we can learn a great deal about caring for the environment.
I hope that through SBS’s detailed and heart-warming tips, Chinese Australians will recognize, understand and respect Aboriginal cultures, and think about how to contribute to the realization of reconciliation and the integration of Australia’s diverse cultures and ethnicities. After all, Chinese culture is a melting pot of thousands of years of history!
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Features
Australia’s AI Data Centre Boom: Wealth Opportunity or Energy Challenge?
Published
3 weeks agoon
September 8, 2026The AI data centre boom is becoming one of the most controversial new infrastructure developments in Australia. Global technology giants are investing billions, and even tens of billions, of Australian dollars in the country, driving a data centre construction boom worth more than A$150 billion.
Australia has land, renewable energy and a stable institutional environment, making it an ideal destination in the eyes of technology giants. But the enormous electricity, water and infrastructure demands behind data centres are also testing whether Australia can withstand this technology boom.
Will this data centre boom ultimately become Australia’s next wealth opportunity, or will it lead to higher energy and living costs borne by ordinary Australians?
However, before discussing the AI data centre boom, one premise needs to be clarified. This article is primarily based on the AI development model currently widely adopted by large technology companies — relying on high-performance chips, servers and large-scale data centres to provide computing power.
But AI does not necessarily have to follow only this development path. Take Chinese AI company DeepSeek as an example. Its lower-cost approach to model development has prompted the market to rethink whether AI really needs ever-increasing numbers of chips, computing power and data centres. As AI technology continues to advance, demand for large-scale infrastructure may also change in the future.
Why Are Global AI Giants Suddenly Looking to Australia?
In recent years, Australia has become a popular market for AI data centres worldwide, with technology giants stepping up their investments. Amazon’s AWS plans to invest around A$20 billion over the next five years, while Microsoft has also increased its AI investment in Australia to around A$25 billion. OpenAI plans to build the Stargate computing campus in Sydney, while Project Southgate, involving Nvidia, and Anthropic, the developer of Claude, also have plans for large-scale deployments. Although some projects are still in their early stages, Australia is becoming an important market for global AI companies.
There are actually common considerations behind so many technology giants entering Australia one after another. Australia’s conditions happen to meet the development needs of large-scale data centres.
One of the most direct advantages is land. Large data centres do not necessarily need to be located in city centres. Instead, they require large areas of land, as well as access to infrastructure such as power grids and telecommunications networks. There are still many areas around Sydney and Melbourne that can accommodate large-scale projects, making Australia more capable of accommodating increasingly large data centres than land-constrained markets such as Tokyo and Singapore.
The second factor is energy. Australia has abundant solar and wind resources, while what AI data centres need most is large amounts of stable electricity that can be secured over the long term. This means that when technology companies choose the location of their next large data centre, they are no longer considering simply whether there is enough electricity today, but whether electricity supply can continue to increase over the next decade. As a result, Australia’s enormous renewable energy potential has become an important factor attracting technology companies.
Third, Australia’s relatively stable political and legal environment is also an advantage. Once built, data centres often need to operate for many years, so companies naturally want to invest huge amounts of money in a place where the policy and investment environment is relatively predictable. In addition, Australia has close ties with the United States and possesses submarine cables and telecommunications infrastructure connecting Asia and North America, giving it a certain strategic value in the eyes of global technology companies.
The Energy Cost Behind Data Centres
However, the rapid expansion of data centres has also triggered a backlash in Australian society. These facilities require large amounts of electricity around the clock and use water for cooling. As the number of projects continues to increase, residents are beginning to worry: Where will the electricity and water come from? Can the existing power grid cope? And who will ultimately bear the cost of the additional infrastructure?
These concerns are not unfounded. The Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, estimates that data centres currently account for around 2% of electricity supplied through Australia’s power grid. But as AI demand increases rapidly, related electricity consumption could grow by around 25% per year, reaching approximately 12 TWh by 2030, accounting for about 6% of national electricity supply. By 2050, this could increase further to around 34 TWh, accounting for approximately 12%. In other words, data centres currently account for only a small share of Australia’s electricity demand, but over the coming decades they could gradually become one of the grid’s major electricity users.
Looking at the scale of individual projects makes it easier to understand the size of the issue. For example, in Plumpton, around 30 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, plans are underway to build a massive data centre precinct covering approximately 350 hectares. Around 140 hectares would be used to build four data centres, making the site almost six times the size of Chadstone Shopping Centre, with a maximum power capacity of up to 2.4 GW. This figure could even exceed the electricity demand of some of Victoria’s large traditional power generation facilities.
This is not an isolated case. Australia currently has more than 160 data centres in operation, most of them concentrated in New South Wales and Victoria, while at least another 90 projects are being planned or prepared. AEMO estimates that by 2030, data centres could account for around 11% of available electricity in Sydney, significantly higher than the current figure of around 4%. Melbourne also faces a situation worth watching closely. By then, data centres could consume around 8% of Victoria’s electricity, more than four times the current level.
And this is where AI data centres are most controversial: the issue is not whether Australia has the capacity to supply electricity, but whether Australia can increase generation, transmission and energy storage infrastructure quickly enough when dozens or even hundreds of large data centres emerge at the same time. If data centre growth far outpaces the construction of new renewable energy and grid infrastructure, the AI boom could become not just a technology investment boom, but a race to secure energy supply.
The Resource That Is Often Overlooked: Water
In addition to electricity, data centres have another easily overlooked “hidden cost” — water.
AI servers generate large amounts of heat when operating at high speeds for extended periods, so data centres must continuously provide cooling. Some cooling systems require large amounts of water, and as the computing power and energy consumption of AI equipment continue to increase, cooling requirements may also rise further.
Infrastructure Australia estimates that a large data centre of around 250 MW could use an amount of water each year equivalent to the household water consumption of between 5,000 and 35,000 homes, depending on the efficiency of its cooling system. Sydney Water also estimates that if the currently proposed data centre projects are developed on a large scale, Sydney’s data centres could require around 90 billion litres of water each year by 2035, equivalent to approximately 15% to 20% of Sydney’s current water supply.
For a country already facing drought, population growth and climate change, this is not a small figure. When data centres compete with households, agriculture and other industries for the same water resources, the question is no longer simply whether Australia should develop AI, but how many resources Australia actually has available to support this AI boom.
The impact of data centres therefore extends far beyond the technology sector. It involves energy, water resources, land and urban planning, and could ultimately affect the cost of living for ordinary households.
The Australian Government’s Solution
Faced with the electricity, water and infrastructure pressures created by the rapid expansion of data centres, the Australian federal government is attempting to establish nationwide rules.
In March this year, the government first announced a policy framework for data centre and AI infrastructure developers, covering areas including energy, water resources, national interest, local employment, research and innovation. In July, it proposed nationwide AI data centre standards. Last month, the National Cabinet also agreed to develop nationally consistent mandatory standards for energy, water resources and land use, with the government planning to legislate formally in early 2027.
The core concept of the policy is straightforward: data centres can invest in Australia, but they cannot leave the additional costs to society. The government wants large data centres to bear the costs of additional electricity supply and grid connections themselves, have the ability to adjust their electricity consumption when the grid is under pressure, reduce water consumption, and take into account the impact of projects on housing, schools, farmland and nearby communities.
One of the most closely watched requirements is the “bring-your-own-power” requirement. Under this approach, new large data centres would need to use renewable energy as their primary electricity source, together with sufficient backup power to ensure stable operations even when wind or solar generation is insufficient. In other words, the federal government wants to ensure that data centre expansion does not run ahead of Australia’s energy transition.
However, the federal government’s direction is not fully accepted by all states. Queensland and the Northern Territory want to use existing coal and gas-fired generation facilities to supply electricity to data centres. The reason is practical: these large projects represent enormous investment and economic activity, and state governments worry that if regulations are too strict, companies may invest elsewhere.
As a result, the latest national proposal ultimately retains some flexibility. The data centre standards do not completely rule out coal and gas. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that if state governments can demonstrate that their existing coal and gas generation mix can provide cheaper electricity than renewable energy, the federal government would consider limited exemptions.
Can the Government’s Plan Really Solve the Problem?
On the surface, the federal government’s plan appears to have answered the most fundamental question: data centres cannot use public resources without limits, and the additional costs of energy and infrastructure should also be borne by companies themselves. But the real challenge is that requiring data centres to “bring their own power” does not mean Australia will suddenly have more electricity as a result.
Even if technology companies are willing to invest in solar, wind or batteries themselves, these energy projects still require land, transmission lines and other grid infrastructure. Planning, approval and construction can also take years. In other words, if data centres are built faster than renewable energy and grid infrastructure can expand, even if companies are willing to pay the associated costs, they may not be able to obtain enough clean energy in time.
More fundamentally, data centres are only one part of Australia’s future growth in electricity demand. As electric vehicles become more widespread, households gradually switch to electric appliances, businesses become further electrified, and the population continues to grow, overall electricity demand will also increase. Therefore, even if the government successfully limits the impact of data centres on the grid, this policy alone cannot solve Australia’s broader electricity supply problem.
The challenge Australia faces is not simply “what kind of electricity should data centres use?” It is whether the country’s entire electricity system can keep up with continuously rising future demand. If the construction of renewable energy, batteries and transmission networks continues to lag behind demand, even the strictest data centre standards may only limit electricity consumption without actually increasing supply.
Therefore, whether this policy succeeds will ultimately depend not only on whether the government can establish rules, but also on whether Australia can build the necessary energy and infrastructure in time before AI investment reaches a large scale. Otherwise, “bring your own power” could ultimately become a promise that sounds reasonable but may not be easy to fulfil.
Another Test: National Security
In addition to energy and water resources, the rapid expansion of AI data centres also raises another issue that cannot be ignored — national security and data security.
Data centres store and process large amounts of sensitive information, including government information, corporate data and personal information. As AI computing increasingly relies on large-scale data centres, if these facilities are subjected to cyberattacks, data breaches or even interference by foreign forces, the impact may extend beyond individual companies and potentially involve Australia’s critical infrastructure and national security.
Especially when large data centres are operated by overseas technology companies, the Australian government needs to consider not only how much investment these companies bring, but also who controls these infrastructure assets, where the data is stored, and the extent to which Australia can maintain control over its own AI computing capacity.
If the government focuses only on the speed of investment while failing to establish appropriate regulation and supporting measures in time, the economic opportunities brought by AI could also come with new social and security costs.
The Economic Opportunities Brought by Data Centres
CommBank estimates that data centre investment will become an important driver of growth in Australian business investment over the coming years. In 2026 and 2027 alone, related investment is expected to contribute around 0.2 percentage points to real GDP growth each year.
From construction through to ongoing operations, data centres will also create jobs, including for electricians, engineers, cooling system technicians, construction workers, network engineers and facilities management personnel. As large-scale projects are progressively developed, demand for relevant skilled workers in Australia will also increase.
However, data centres remain a highly capital-intensive industry. A single facility can involve billions of Australian dollars in investment, but once built, it does not require a large workforce. Meanwhile, core hardware such as AI chips, GPUs, servers and high-end networking equipment currently relies heavily on overseas imports.
In other words, overseas technology companies can invest in and build data centres in Australia. Australia can certainly benefit from construction, engineering, land, energy and some tax revenues, but the higher-value technologies, products and profits within the AI industry supply chain may not all remain locally.
Therefore, what Australia should truly seek is not simply how much investment data centres themselves can bring, but how these infrastructure assets can be used to further expand the domestic AI industry.
Letting Data Centres Drive the Development of Different Australian Industries
As demand for AI computing continues to increase, data centres can provide Australian businesses, universities, research institutions and start-ups with greater access to GPU computing power and cloud resources, making it easier for local AI technologies to move from research into commercialisation. The government’s “Buy Australian AI Partnership” also aims to increase the adoption of Australian AI products by local businesses and banks, further expanding the domestic AI market.
If these investments can form closer partnerships with local businesses, talent and research institutions, Australia could further develop talent and technology on the basis of its existing AI industry, and even take locally developed AI products to overseas markets.
At the same time, the enormous energy demand of data centres could also drive another supply chain.
AI requires stable and large amounts of electricity. In the future, demand for solar power, wind power, battery storage, transmission equipment, transformers, microgrids and energy management technologies will all increase. With its advantages in land and energy, Australia is well positioned to further develop the energy and infrastructure needed to support AI computing.
If this cycle can be established, the benefits brought by data centres will go beyond the investment itself. Technology companies’ demand for electricity and computing power can drive the development of renewable energy, the power grid and related technologies, while more advanced infrastructure can in turn improve the competitiveness of other businesses and industries.
Conclusion: Can Australia Become the AI Hub of the Southern Hemisphere?
For a country with vast land, relatively low population density and abundant energy resources, AI data centres are actually well suited to development in Australia.
But faced with investments worth billions or even hundreds of billions of Australian dollars, Australia does not need to move as quickly as possible. It needs to make more careful choices. The government should not focus only on investment and economic growth and rush to accept every data centre proposal. Instead, when approving large data centres, it should also take a long-term planning approach and assess the risks that future data centre expansion could pose to energy, the environment and national security.
More importantly, the costs of the AI boom cannot ultimately be passed on to Australian residents. Whether it is pressure on electricity and water resources, public infrastructure expenditure, or the impact of land development, carbon emissions, environmental pollution and ecosystems, ordinary households and local communities should not be made to bear the costs of large-scale technology investment.
If Australia can attract AI investment while requiring companies to bear the corresponding energy, infrastructure and environmental costs, and transform investment into the long-term development of local talent, research and the AI industry, data centres could bring more than just another infrastructure boom. They could allow Australia to make use of its land, energy, talent and existing AI advantages and, as AI reshapes the global industrial landscape, establish a more competitive and sustainable development model.
Only when a balance is achieved between economic opportunities and social and environmental costs will Australia have the opportunity to move from being a destination that attracts global AI investment to becoming an AI hub in the Southern Hemisphere that connects Asia with global markets and possesses domestic AI capabilities.
Features
How a Deadly Flash Flood Exposed the Himalayas’ Climate Crisis
Published
3 weeks agoon
September 7, 2026On August 26, a massive glacier and mountainside collapse struck the Himalayan region along the border between Nepal and Tibet, China. Huge volumes of ice, rock, soil and floodwater surged downstream through the river valleys at high speed, destroying roads, bridges, homes and hydropower infrastructure.
The disaster occurred in a high-altitude, mountainous area with extremely complex terrain, making rescue operations exceptionally difficult. As of August 31, the reported numbers of deaths and missing people in Nepal and Tibet were still rising rapidly, with figures varying between different sources. According to Reuters, the death toll had approached 800, while more than 3,000 people remained missing. Many of those missing were hydropower workers, local residents and travellers making pilgrimages to the Himalayas.
What makes this disaster particularly shocking is not only the scale of the destruction, but the fact that it occurred in an environment that is changing rapidly.
Scientists have long warned that global warming is making high-altitude regions increasingly unstable. Glacier retreat, thawing permafrost, changes in mountain structures, and the growing number of unstable glacial lakes may all increase the risk of landslides, ice avalanches and floods that were once relatively rare.
In other words, this is not a disaster that can simply be understood as “ice suddenly melting on the mountain.” It is more like a warning sign: when climate change begins to alter an entire mountain range, it is never only the ice on the mountains that is affected. The entire lifeline made up of mountains, rivers, farmland, cities, dams and people is affected as well.
And this lifeline connects nearly two billion people across Asia.
The “Third Pole” Is Losing Its Ice
When people talk about global warming, the Arctic and Antarctic are usually the first places that come to mind. Shrinking Arctic sea ice and collapsing Antarctic ice shelves have become some of the most recognisable images of climate change. But in another part of the world lies another vast frozen region.
Stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, the Hindu Kush Himalaya contains the largest reserves of snow and ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic, and is therefore often referred to as the “Third Pole.”
These glaciers are not simply enormous blocks of ice sitting on mountains. They form a vast natural reservoir. Snow accumulates during winter and gradually melts during the warmer seasons, supplying water to rivers downstream. Many of Asia’s major rivers are connected to this high-mountain snow and ice system, including the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow rivers. This means that the ice in the Himalayas ultimately flows toward some of the most densely populated regions in Asia.
The problem is that this natural reservoir is shrinking. Research published in 2026 by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) shows that glacier loss across the Hindu Kush Himalaya has accelerated significantly since 2000, with the rate of ice loss now roughly twice what it was before 2000. Between 1990 and 2020, the region’s glacier area decreased by around 12%, while estimated ice volume fell by approximately 9%.
Even more concerning is that these changes are not happening at a steady rate. They are accelerating.
ICIMOD points out that only a small proportion of glaciers currently have long-term monitoring data that meet global standards. This means that although scientists already know conditions are worsening, there is still insufficient data to determine exactly how quickly changes are occurring in some areas. This is one reason why the crisis at the “Third Pole” can be easily overlooked.
Changes in the Arctic and Antarctic can be shown directly to the world through satellite images. But Himalayan glaciers are separated by mountain peaks thousands of metres high, narrow river valleys and remote terrain. As glaciers gradually become thinner, the changes often do not immediately attract global attention.
Until ice, rock and water suddenly come crashing down a valley together.
The Conditions for Mountain Collapse Are Changing
When discussing this disaster, it is also important to avoid an oversimplified explanation: not every flash flood can simply be described as being “caused by global warming.” Landslides and glacier collapses are usually the result of multiple interacting factors, including geological structure, rainfall, snowmelt, glacier fractures, rock stability and earthquakes.
Preliminary research into this disaster suggests that a massive collapse involving both glacier ice and bedrock produced a high-speed flow of ice, rock and soil, which eventually developed into a devastating flood. The collapse even generated seismic signals equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake.
But another issue deserves even greater attention.
Climate change is altering the underlying conditions in high-mountain regions. As temperatures rise and glaciers retreat, terrain that was once stabilised by ice and snow becomes increasingly exposed. Thawing permafrost may also weaken the stability of rocks and mountain slopes. At the same time, melting glaciers can create or enlarge glacial lakes, some of which are naturally dammed by loose glacial debris known as moraines.
If one of these natural dams breaks, enormous amounts of water can be released downstream within a very short period, creating what is known as a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, or GLOF. Climate change may therefore not be the sole cause of any individual landslide, but it may be making the entire high-mountain environment increasingly fragile. And this growing vulnerability can ultimately be transmitted through rivers to places hundreds of kilometres away.
A Dangerous Paradox
One of the most easily misunderstood aspects of the Himalayan glacier crisis is that the phrase “melting glaciers” sounds as though it should mean there will be more water.
In the short term, that may indeed be true. As glaciers melt more quickly, more water flows into rivers. Some river basins may therefore enter what scientists call “Peak Water,” the stage at which glacier meltwater reaches its maximum level.
But glaciers are not unlimited reservoirs. As the volume of ice continues to shrink, there will eventually be less ice available to melt during the summer. Once glaciers retreat beyond a certain point, the amount of water rivers receive from them will actually begin to decline.
This creates a seemingly contradictory future: in the short term, there may be too much water; in the long term, there may not be enough.
This transition is especially important for rivers that depend heavily on glacier meltwater.
During dry and hot seasons, glacier meltwater often plays an important role in maintaining a stable base flow in rivers. As glaciers gradually disappear, river flows may become increasingly seasonal and extreme. Water levels may surge during the rainy season, while stable water supplies become scarce during the dry season. This means the problem facing the Himalayas is not simply the next flood.
The real long-term question is whether, once glaciers retreat beyond a critical point, people downstream will discover that the natural reservoir they have always relied on no longer holds enough water.
From Flash Floods to the Dinner Table
These hydrological changes will first affect mountain communities. Farmers need stable water supplies for irrigation, cities rely on rivers for drinking water, hydropower stations require consistent flows, while mountain roads, bridges and electricity transmission infrastructure are often built along river valleys. A single river can therefore support agriculture, cities, energy and transport at the same time.
When floods suddenly increase, farmland, roads and dams may be destroyed. When water levels fall during the dry season, agriculture and hydropower generation may also suffer. This is particularly important for food security across Asia.
The river systems of the Hindu Kush Himalaya support an enormous agricultural population. For downstream countries, the issue is not simply whether water exists, but when it arrives, how quickly it arrives, and whether it can be stored and used. If the rainy season and snowmelt period bring more floods, while the growing season or dry season experiences water shortages, agriculture may face both “too much water” and “too little water” at the same time.
The same is true for hydropower. The Himalayan region has enormous hydropower potential, and Nepal, India and Tibet in China have all invested heavily in related projects. However, hydropower plants are often located in narrow river valleys, which are themselves high-risk areas for flash floods, debris flows and landslides.
This disaster once again highlights the contradiction: humans hope to obtain lower-carbon energy through hydropower, yet as the high-mountain climate becomes more extreme, energy infrastructure designed according to historical hydrological data may face entirely new risks.
For Australia, This Is Not “Someone Else’s Disaster”
The Himalayas may seem so far from Australia that it is difficult to imagine any direct connection between the two. Australia does not have massive Himalayan-style glaciers, nor would the melting of a glacier in Nepal directly cause flooding in Australia.
But that does not mean Australia is unaffected. On the contrary, this disaster provides a clear example of why climate risks today can no longer be understood purely within national borders.
The First Connection Is Australia’s Place in the Indo-Pacific
Australia is itself an Indo-Pacific country. Climate disasters across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific can ultimately affect Australia through food, energy, trade, population movements and humanitarian crises.
When changes in Himalayan glaciers alter the amount of water flowing through Asian rivers, countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others may be affected first. But these countries are also important diplomatic, economic, trade and strategic partners for Australia. The Australian Government has long regarded climate change as an important security and development issue in the Indo-Pacific and has incorporated climate resilience, food security and water management into regional cooperation.
There is a very practical reason behind this: a climate disaster in one country does not necessarily remain within that country.
Declining agricultural production can affect commodity prices. Floods can damage ports and roads. Energy shortages can push up costs. Long-term water shortages may force people to leave their homes. Eventually, all of these changes can enter global supply chains.
The Second Connection Is That Australia Is Facing Its Own Climate Challenges
Australia’s challenges are, of course, completely different from those of the Himalayas. But they share one extremely important feature: water resources are becoming increasingly unstable.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has stated that climate change is increasing drought risks in some regions. In southern Australia in particular, a warmer climate can make droughts more frequent or severe, while cool-season rainfall has declined in some areas over recent decades.
At the same time, Australia is also experiencing extreme rainfall and flooding. Data from the Australian Government’s State of the Environment report shows that the intensity of short-duration extreme rainfall has increased in some areas in recent years, while daily rainfall associated with thunderstorms has also increased compared with 1979.
Australia is therefore not simply moving from “water shortages” to “more water.” Instead, it may increasingly experience both extremes: long periods without enough rain, followed by too much rainfall in a very short period.
This has a certain similarity to the paradox of “flooding and long-term water shortages” now facing the Himalayas. The geography of the two regions is completely different, but the underlying problem is the same. Cities, farms, dams and transport systems were built around relatively stable historical climate conditions. Now, those historical averages themselves are becoming less reliable.
The Third Connection Is Australia’s Agriculture and Food Security
Australia is one of the world’s major agricultural exporters. On the surface, Australia could appear to be a “beneficiary” of a global water crisis. If other major agricultural producers experience declining output because of water shortages, demand for Australian exports could even increase.
But the situation is not so simple.
Australian agriculture itself depends heavily on water, and the global food market is an interconnected system. If densely populated agricultural regions in Asia are disrupted by changes to glaciers and rivers, global food prices and trade patterns may also be affected. The challenges facing Australian farmers would then extend beyond local water supply. Could global market prices fluctuate sharply? Will demand from Asian buyers change? Could certain agricultural products see higher demand because production has declined elsewhere? Could energy, fertiliser and transport costs be affected by climate disasters?
This is why climate change should not be understood as merely a local weather issue for Australian agriculture. It is also a global market issue.
The Fourth Connection Is Energy and Infrastructure
Australia is also rapidly expanding renewable energy. Low-carbon energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower are seen as important parts of the energy transition. But climate change also reminds us that energy systems cannot focus only on “how to reduce carbon emissions.” They must also consider whether they can continue operating under extreme climate conditions.
Hydropower stations in the Himalayas may face flash floods and debris flows. Australia may face bushfires, heatwaves, floods, droughts and extreme storms. This means future energy infrastructure needs to meet two conditions at the same time: it must be low-carbon, and it must be resilient.
If an energy facility can reduce emissions but cannot withstand future extreme weather, then it may still become part of the climate risk itself.
This lesson is particularly important for Australia, because the country is currently at a critical stage of its energy-system transition.
The Fifth Connection Is That Australia Cannot Treat Climate Change as Only an Environmental Policy Issue
This may be the most important lesson the Himalayan disaster offers Australia. In the past, discussions of climate change in Australia have often focused on emissions reduction, energy policy and environmental protection. But the impacts of climate change have already extended far beyond environmental policy. They involve diplomacy, defence, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, migration, humanitarian assistance and national security.
Australian parliamentary research has identified climate change as an important security risk in the Pacific region, while the Australian Government continues to support climate adaptation and resilience in Pacific countries through regional cooperation.
The same logic can be extended to South Asia.
If the Himalayan water crisis continues to worsen, Australia may in the future face greater regional humanitarian assistance demands, more complicated diplomatic coordination and greater pressure in managing cross-border disasters.
And this is not simply a government issue. Australian society itself has deep connections with South Asia. A large number of Australian residents have South Asian backgrounds, and extensive family, business, education and tourism networks connect the two regions.
This disaster has already provided a very direct reminder of that connection. Although it occurred in the Himalayas, Australians were also among those reported missing or affected. As of August 31, the Australian Government was providing consular assistance and participating in related rescue and aid efforts, while Australian media reported that dozens of Australians were missing in the disaster. Climate risks, therefore, will only become increasingly globalised.
What We Really Need to Watch
Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of this disaster is not how many roads, bridges and homes it destroyed, but the fact that it gave us a brief glimpse of a world that is usually difficult to see.
Thousands of metres above sea level, glaciers are shrinking and mountains are changing. Yet when ice and rock suddenly collapse, the consequences may be felt by villages, cities, farmland and hydropower stations tens or even hundreds of kilometres away.
This is one of the most easily misunderstood aspects of climate change. It is not simply a change in global average temperature. It is a chain reaction: melting glaciers can create dangerous glacial lakes; a glacial lake outburst can become a flash flood; a flash flood can destroy hydropower stations and roads, affecting energy supplies and the economy; long-term glacier retreat can reduce dry-season water supplies; agricultural water shortages can turn into problems of food prices and supply; when people lose access to land and water, they may begin to migrate; and when rivers cross national borders, water resources can become issues of diplomacy and security.
All of this can begin with a small piece of ice at the top of a mountain.
What is happening in the Himalayas, therefore, should not be understood simply as a disaster in Nepal or Tibet. It is a glimpse of the changes taking place across the Third Pole. Ice is disappearing in the Arctic and Antarctic, while Asia’s high-mountain glaciers are also retreating at an accelerating rate. ICIMOD has warned that current glacier loss already poses a long-term threat to water security across Asia.
For Australia, perhaps the greatest lesson from this disaster is not whether Australia will experience the same kind of flash flood. Australia faces its own climate risks, including droughts, heatwaves, extreme rainfall, floods, bushfires and sea-level rise.
All of these risks are reminding us of the same thing: the climate of the past may not be the climate of the future.
When cities, agriculture, energy systems and national policies continue to be designed around what was considered “normal” over the past several decades, the greatest danger may not be a single extreme event, but the gradual transformation of extreme events into the new normal.
The ice in the Himalayas will not flow directly to Australia. But water crises, food risks, population movements, supply-chain disruptions and regional security challenges caused by climate change can cross national borders and eventually reach Australia.
That is why, when the world once again turns its attention to the flash floods in Nepal and Tibet, what we need to look at is not only what the floodwaters have swept away. We also need to look up at the mountain range that is gradually losing its ice and snow. Because when the “Third Pole” begins to melt, it is never just one mountain that changes.
Features
From Hua Luogeng to Wang Hong and Deng Yu: A Century-long Journey of Chinese and Chinese-Diaspora Mathematicians
Published
2 months agoon
August 12, 2026
Chinese mathematicians Wang Hong and Deng Yu were awarded the Fields Medal, known as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics,” in July, sparking widespread discussion in China and around the world about the rise of Chinese mathematics in the 20th century. Wang Hong solved the famous three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, while Deng Yu tackled the sixth of Hilbert’s 23 problems, proposed at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900, and achieved significant results.
I studied mathematics at university, as well as the history of mathematical development, and have also worked in mathematics education and training. Naturally, I am pleased to see Chinese mathematicians receiving international recognition. Through this feature, I hope to look back with readers at the arduous path taken by Chinese mathematical research over the past century. I believe this was not a smooth, linear path of upward development, but rather one marked by ruptures, the passing of the baton overseas, and subsequent new beginnings.
Many early mathematicians received their training outside China before returning to China to work hard to establish the foundations of mathematical research, only to suffer devastating setbacks during the Cultural Revolution. We then saw Chinese mathematicians who had settled overseas demonstrate the mathematical talent of the Chinese diaspora and advance mathematical research around the world. In the contemporary era, China has gradually developed a selection culture centred on mathematics competitions, against which a new generation of mathematicians has emerged.
The following section traces this generational journey through several representative figures. I offer this as a tribute to Wang Hong and Deng Yu, and to the Chinese people who have worked hard in mathematical research around the world for more than a century.
I. Pioneering and Interruption: From Xiong Qinglai, Hua Luogeng and Chen Shengshen to Chen Jingrun
The true beginning of modern mathematics in China cannot be separated from a group of early pioneers. They established departments, identified talent, developed academic traditions, and struggled to keep the flame of research alive during difficult times.
Xiong Qinglai (1893–1969) was known as the “Bole of the Chinese mathematical community.” He founded the Department of Mathematics and a research division at Tsinghua University and personally compiled Chinese-language textbooks. More importantly, he had a keen eye for talent. In 1930, after seeing a paper written through self-study by Hua Luogeng in the journal Science, he overcame opposition and brought Hua Luogeng, who had only a junior middle school education, to Tsinghua University as an assistant. This gave him the opportunity to sit in on mathematics classes and develop rapidly. Xiong later recommended him to study at Cambridge. Without this exceptional support, Hua Luogeng’s life trajectory might have been completely different.
Hua Luogeng (1910–1985) embarked on his mathematical career under Xiong Qinglai’s support. Born into a poor family in Jintan, he became a self-taught mathematician. In 1936, on the recommendation of Norbert Wiener during his study visit, Hua Luogeng went to Cambridge to study number theory under the mathematician Hardy, publishing 15 world-class papers within a year. Hua Luogeng later became a professor at the University of Illinois. In 1950, he gave up the favourable conditions he enjoyed in the United States and returned to China, becoming director of the Institute of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He worked hard to establish China’s own mathematical research capacity and trained young talents, including Chen Jingrun.
During the Cultural Revolution, Hua Luogeng, like many other scientists, came under attack. Afterwards, he shifted significantly towards applied mathematics, actively promoting the “Optimization Method” and “Overall Planning Method.” He led small teams across more than 20 provinces and cities throughout the country, going deep into factories, rural areas and construction sites, applying mathematical methods directly to production practices and serving national economic development. This experience led him from pure theoretical research towards more practical applications and promotion, and became one of the best-known aspects of his later work.
At the same time, Hua Luogeng placed great importance on mathematics competitions from an early stage. After studying the Soviet mathematics Olympiad in the 1950s, he actively advocated for the organisation of mathematics competitions for secondary school students in China. In 1956, pilot competitions began in Beijing, Shanghai and other places. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, in 1978, he personally presided over the national secondary school mathematics competition involving eight provinces and cities, and wrote several popular mathematics booklets for young people. He hoped to stimulate interest and discover talent through competitions. These early efforts planted the seeds for the later Chinese tradition of selecting mathematical talent through competitions, although the highly competitive culture of competitions beginning in primary and secondary schools today only gradually took shape and became extreme after his death.
Chen Shengshen (1911–2004) completed his undergraduate education and early research training entirely in China. He studied at Nankai University (1926–1930) and Tsinghua University, completing his master’s degree at Tsinghua and beginning preliminary research in differential geometry. It was not until 1934 that he went to the University of Hamburg in Germany to pursue his doctorate. It was precisely this foundation established in China that enabled him to quickly emerge on the international stage. After completing his doctorate in Germany, he was invited to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1943, where he completed important work. He later taught for many years at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, and founded the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in the United States in 1981. Although he became an American citizen, he remained deeply concerned about mathematics in China. After his first visit to China in 1972, he travelled back and forth frequently. In 1984, he was invited to establish the Institute of Mathematics at Nankai University, helping China reconnect with the international mathematical community. He often said, “Mathematics has no borders, but mathematicians have a motherland.” Chen Shengshen and Hua Luogeng were both leading figures in Chinese mathematics in the 1930s and 1940s. They met at Tsinghua, worked together at Southwest Associated University, and maintained a lifelong friendship.
Chen Jingrun (1933–1996) was a direct continuation of this line of inheritance during difficult times. After being recognised by Hua Luogeng, he was transferred to the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under extremely basic conditions, he made important progress on the Goldbach conjecture and became a symbolic figure of Chinese mathematics during that era.
However, precisely because of his excessive devotion to mathematics, he suffered greatly during political movements. During the Cultural Revolution, Chen Jingrun was criticised as a typical example of someone who “took the path of focusing on expertise while neglecting political ideology,” and was subjected to struggle sessions and isolation. He lived in a room of only about six square metres at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Without a desk, he would lie on the bed and perform calculations. Despite being physically weak and suffering from multiple illnesses, he endured criticism during the day and secretly conducted research at night. On one occasion, he was so absorbed in a mathematical problem that he forgot the time of a meeting, resulting in harsher criticism.
This experience of being persecuted “because of his love of mathematics” was not an isolated case. During multiple political movements after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, many scientists devoted to academic pursuits were regarded as being “specialised but not politically committed.” Their research was forced to stop and their careers were damaged. The obvious decline and rupture in China’s domestic mathematical development during that period were closely connected to this environment.
This pioneering period suffered a devastating setback during the Cultural Revolution. Many mathematicians, including Hua Luogeng and Chen Jingrun, were attacked and persecuted, while normal research and teaching almost came to a halt. The development of mathematics in mainland China experienced a clear rupture during this period. The first stage of pioneering efforts came to an end.
II. Passing the Baton Overseas: Yau Shing-Tung and Terence Tao
When mathematics in China fell into a low period, Chinese mathematicians who had settled overseas became important successors in carrying the baton.
The trajectory of Yau Shing-Tung (1949–) is almost a complete illustration of “reaching the peak overseas while continuing to give back to China.” He grew up in Hong Kong and later went to the United States for further study, where he studied under Chen Shengshen. He taught at Harvard University for many years and achieved great accomplishments in the international mathematical community. But he never limited himself to the American academic community. Since his first visit to China in 1979, he has spent time in China and Hong Kong almost every year for more than four decades, promoting mathematics education and research, participating in the establishment of multiple mathematics centres, setting up awards and competitions, and helping to cultivate young people. In 2022, he retired from Harvard and returned full-time to Tsinghua University, focusing most of his efforts on cultivating mathematical talent in China. His choice symbolised the completion of a cycle for a generation of overseas Chinese mathematicians: “departure—reaching the peak—return.”
Terence Tao (1975–), meanwhile, represents another form of contribution. Born in Australia and with ancestral roots in Guangdong, he demonstrated extraordinary talent from an early age and became well known in the international mathematical community at a very young age. Unlike Yau Shing-Tung, whose focus was on institutional development, Terence Tao has contributed more through writing, lectures, blogs and public activities, promoting mathematical ways of thinking and research culture around the world. He has allowed many ordinary people to experience the appeal of mathematics and has also become an important role model for the younger generation.
Together, the two demonstrate the role of Chinese-diaspora mathematicians in carrying the baton after the Cultural Revolution: one became deeply involved in rebuilding mathematics within China, while the other enhanced the visibility and appeal of mathematics on a global scale.
III. Contemporary Faces Under Competition-Based Selection: Wei Dongyi, Liu Zhiyu, Wang Hong and Deng Yu
Entering the 21st century, China gradually developed a selection culture centred on mathematics competitions. Gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad and results in national competitions became important tickets to entering top universities. Wei Dongyi, Liu Zhiyu, Wang Hong and Deng Yu are all representatives who grew up in this environment, yet they have taken completely different paths.
Wei Dongyi (1991–) won full-score gold medals at the IMO twice. After being admitted to Peking University through direct recommendation, he chose to remain in China and is now a teacher at Peking University. Quiet and focused, he devotes almost all his energy to mathematics. Although prestigious overseas universities once extended offers to him, he chose to stay. His path is one of “putting down roots locally,” participating in the internal development of Chinese mathematics through long-term, stable research and teaching.
Liu Zhiyu (1988–) was also an IMO full-score gold medalist. After graduating from Peking University, he could have gone to MIT for further study, but instead chose to become a monk. More than a decade later, he returned to secular life and turned towards psychological counselling and related work. His story reminds us that mathematical talent does not necessarily have to follow the path of “continuing to conduct research.” The high-pressure elite education system and expectations associated with early achievement may lead people to reflect more deeply on the definition of “success.” His choice is not a failure, but another exploration of the meaning of life.
Wang Hong (1991–) and Deng Yu (1989–), meanwhile, represent the most common high-potential pathway today: completing their undergraduate studies in China (both studied at Peking University), then going overseas for further education, and ultimately achieving important accomplishments on the international stage. In 2026, the two were awarded the Fields Medal simultaneously, becoming the first mathematicians holding Chinese citizenship to receive the honour. Their experiences demonstrate that China’s current competition and undergraduate selection systems are capable of identifying world-class potential talent, but the most important breakthroughs often still need to be achieved in more mature research environments overseas.
The different choices made by these four people form a picture of the contemporary era: some choose to stay and deepen their work locally, some step outside the academic path to question the meaning of life, and some go overseas and achieve breakthroughs within global networks. None of these choices is superior to another.
IV. What These People Tell Us About Changes in Chinese Mathematics
Looking back over the past century, we can broadly identify several distinct generations:
The pioneering generation (Xiong Qinglai 1893–1969, Hua Luogeng 1910–1985, Chen Shengshen 1911–2004, Chen Jingrun 1933–1996): They worked to establish the foundations, but suffered severe disruption during the Cultural Revolution. Hua Luogeng turned towards application and promotion in his later years and planted the early seeds for mathematics competitions; Chen Jingrun, meanwhile, suffered severe persecution because of his devotion to mathematics, becoming a microcosm of the circumstances faced by intellectuals during that era.
The overseas baton-passing generation (Yau Shing-Tung 1949–, Terence Tao 1975–): They achieved accomplishments on the international stage while giving back to China in different ways.
The competition-based selection generation (Liu Zhiyu 1988–, Deng Yu 1989–, Wei Dongyi 1991–, Wang Hong 1991–): They grew up under a selection system centred on mathematics Olympiads. The system has been able to consistently produce young people with high potential, but how to truly transform this potential into original research remains a challenge.
From Xiong Qinglai to Hua Luogeng, then from Hua Luogeng to Chen Jingrun; from Chen Shengshen to Yau Shing-Tung; and then to today’s Wei Dongyi, Wang Hong and Deng Yu, this line of inheritance has experienced ruptures but has never been completely broken.
Today, Chinese mathematics has a huge population base and a rigorous selection system, while an increasing number of young people are choosing to stay or return. However, a research environment that genuinely allows long-term exploration, tolerates failure and does not rush for immediate results is still gradually taking shape.
The Fields Medal is not the end, nor is it a simple scorecard of national strength. What truly matters is whether talented young people can grow in a relatively relaxed and intellectually deep environment, while being allowed to make different choices in life.
From Hua Luogeng to Wang Hong and Deng Yu, this journey has already come a long way. But the road ahead may require even more patience and tolerance than the road already travelled.
Mr. Raymond Chow
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