Dancing Dragons: Reflections on Creating a Cultural History of the Chinese Australian Community

Abstract

This article discusses the author's approach to researching the history of Chinese involvement in dance-related cultural activities in Australia. It highlights the potential of such research to contribute to understandings of Chinese Australian identity and to the field of Australian history more broadly, while reflecting on the current state of this research and the leads that remain to be pursued. Australian interest in Chinese cultural activities has grown in the last few decades, as has interest in Chinese Australian history; this interest has coincided not only with China's growing prominence on the global stage but also with increasing recognition overseas of the significance of embodied cultural forms and heritages such as dance. Yet, despite the fact that traditional activities such as dragon and lion dance have become emblematic of both multicultural Australia and Chinese culture overseas, few studies have devoted themselves solely to exploring the social role and history of such cultural activities in a local context. Seeking to address this gap, the research discussed focuses on the experiences of Chinese in activities such as Cantonese opera, dragon dancing, the Young Chinese League's debutante balls and the Sydney Chinese community's Dragon Balls. Show more