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Chinese
Immigration and
Australian Politics
A Critical Analysis on a Merit-
Based Immigration System

Jia Gao
Chinese Immigration and Australian Politics
 Jia Gao

Chinese Immigration
and Australian Politics
A Critical Analysis on a Merit-Based
Immigration System
Jia Gao
Asia Institute
University of Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia

ISBN 978-981-15-5908-2    ISBN 978-981-15-5909-9 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5909-9

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
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This book is dedicated to my late uncle who financially supported
my study in Australia in 1988.
 Preface

This is the third monograph that I have written on the experiences of new
Chinese migrants in Australia since the late 1980s, following Chinese
Activism of a Different Kind (Brill, 2013a) and Chinese Migrant
Entrepreneurship in Australia from the Early 1990s (Elsevier, 2015). As
one of the first large group of Chinese students who came to study in
Australia in the late 1980s and have since settled permanently in the country,
I have long been planning to write a trilogy based on the experiences of
our group and many other later groups coming to Australia since the early
1990s. I hope that this book will be the realisation of my ambition.
After publishing the above first two major books on the topic, my
research attention was temporarily shifted away from new Chinese migrants
in Australia and turned towards working on Social Mobilisation in Post-­
Industrial China (Edward Elgar, 2019). This was partially because I have
maintained my keen research interest in studying some China-related
issues, and partly also because I had been considering which aspects of the
experiences of Chinese migrants in Australia could be further explored in
addition to the crucial issues studied in the first two monographs.
At the same time, my own research circumstances changed, and I have
since been supervising graduate research students, including those
conducting their doctoral studies, examining some interesting but impor-
tant issues concerning the Chinese Australian community. As a result,
such new circumstances unavoidably made the process of identifying and
selecting my own next research topic lengthy and challenging, as I wanted
to choose a meaningful theme that is as important as activism and entre-
preneurship, which I analysed in my first two books.

vii
viii PREFACE

What finally led me to decide to write this book is that since the second
half of 2016, there has been an increasingly intense campaign in Australia
regarding the alleged interference by China in Australian politics and
public life. This debate over the so-called Chinese influence or interfer-
ence has been predominantly dominated by a few Malcolm Turnbull-led
Liberal government agencies and media outlets, and its tone is very one-
sided and frightening. Among the many flaws of published comments and
the official discourse, the most disturbing aspect of the campaign is the
extent to which the efficacious integration of Chinese migrants in Australia
has been linked to China’s assumed infiltration of every layer of Australia’s
political landscape.
I tried very hard to avoid allowing the debate to influence my writing
task, and I also erroneously believed the debate would be short-lived, as
many other debates in Australia have come and gone rather quickly. I was
soon proved incorrect as this politicised debate not only dragged into
2018, but also intensified, resulting in more actions by the Turnbull
government. New espionage and foreign interference laws were hastily
debated and received parliamentary approval in June 2018. Before the
Review of the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and
Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 was officially tabled and debated in
Parliament, the Turnbull government issued a call for public submissions
on the proposed amendment to Australia’s security laws. I was contacted
by a couple of colleagues who wished to express their disagreement with
some of the key claims that had been raised in this increasingly heated
debate, and I therefore became one of the original 30 or so signatories
of the public submission, numbered 44, to the Parliamentary Joint
Committee on the issue.
As reported in the media, the debate over China’s interference in
Australia has split its community of China researchers, which was also a
loud wake-up call for me to bring my attention back to what was happening
to Chinese Australians. As a long-time observer of this fast-growing and
dynamic community, I can see that there is a great deal of misconception
and mistrust, in terms of the facts and the ways of viewing the facts, in the
many hostile comments made by some journalists, politicians and critics.
Fortunately, at the time, I was about to finish writing the book on social
mobilisation, and part of my attention could be turned to the debate.
I started sorting out my own views on Australia’s debate about Chinese
influence in a systematic and analytical way after receiving an invitation
from Current History, the oldest US-based journal devoted exclusively to
 PREFACE ix

world affairs, to write an essay on Australia’s uneasy relations with China,

and how Chinese Australians are caught in the middle. My essay was
included in the September 2018 issue of Current History.
Through the process of writing the essay, I saw clearly how the debate
had been wrongly directed and badly conducted, giving some displeased
Australians an opportunity to express their unhappiness and frustration
about various changes in present-day Australia, but regrettably, once
again, through spreading anti-China and anti-Chinese sentiments. Leaving
aside the human cost of frightening Chinese Australians, this debate has
been found to be flawed intellectually and analytically in several ways.
First, the debate is very tabloid in nature, typified by a short-sighted
view of the situation that it pretends to explore. Australia has been suffer-
ing from a periodic fear of China and the migrants from China since the
continent was first occupied by a scattered group of colonies, though this
time it has become more concerned with a more aggressive Chinese
foreign policy in its region. Fear has been part of the psyche of European
settlers in Australia, and China has long been seen as a peril in the Australian
imagination. In recent decades, there has been debate about China and its
migrants in Australia, the typical case of which is Hansonism, concerned
that Australia will be swamped by Asians. However, this debate is so short-­
sighted as to disregard the influence of Hansonism and related xenophobic
fear, taking the debate out of the historical context of Australia.
Second, the debate is also dominated by some rather one-sided views
of China and, more harmfully, of local Chinese Australians. This is very
evident in the case of the participation of Chinese community members in
the debate, which has seen ‘very few Chinese-Australians speak publicly on
these issues’ (Lo 2018, n.p.). What is even more evidence of its one-­
sidedness is its narrow focus on a few cases of Chinese donations. While
those who asked for and received donations are not challenged and disci-
plined, the loyalty of Chinese Australians has been questioned based on
those cases. I am aware that the debate has also included a few other
issues, which are defined as ‘four points of contention’, in the words of an
Australian analyst (Chubb 2018, n.p.). These include activities of the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party), causes of racist sentiments, sovereignty
issues, and threats to democratic politics in Australia. However, the
loudest message of the debate is about the donations from a few Chinese
businesspeople, from which an overgeneralised conclusion is drawn: there
has been infiltration of Chinese agents into every layer of Australian
society (Borys 2018; Welch 2018). As a person who went through the
x PREFACE

Maoist Cultural Revolution, I was disturbed by such a politically frightening

tune, and felt the need to discuss what mistakes the debate has made.
Third, the most fundamental mistake of the debate is that all Chinese
Australians have been implicated as a threat by a small group of critics who
are unfamiliar with Chinese Australians, especially migrants’ entrepreneur-
ialism, and their ways of dealing with business challenges and interpersonal
relations. Though a few critics mention some seemingly known facts, the
latter is seen and interpreted according to illusory constructs and logic
that are more related to dated perceptions of Chinese migrants of earlier
periods, such as coolie labourers and patriotic overseas Chinese, than the
realities of post-multicultural Australia. These critics seem also to believe
that many activities by Chinese Australians are driven by geopolitics, or
even directed by China’s ruling political elites, and that the many
networking activities of Chinese Australian business people, which have
been actively promoted by government bodies and businesses in Australia,
are evidence of China’s interference in Australia’s domestic affairs.
Lastly, a further analysis shows that critics are clearly unversed in what
a succession of Australian governments has been doing over recent decades
in utilising migration schemes to maintain the country’s socio-economic
development and standard of living. In other words, critics have hardly
viewed what they call the Chinese problem as Australia’s own issue, but
simply repudiate it through othering Chinese migrants from the country
they have long called home. The debate has skipped some fundamental
aspects of social transformations taking place in Australia and failed to
consider a range of domestic factors behind the debate, especially
Australia’s postwar historical shift toward Asia and the merit-based
selective migration system that Australia has formed and executed since
the early 1990s. Both the strategic shift and the merit-based migration
system have significantly changed the economic structure and the demo-
graphic composition of Australia. As I argued in my essay in Current
History, these fundamental and structural transformations have resulted in
the following changes:

The strong reorientation of Australia’s trade toward Asia, especially China,

has slowly changed established patterns in the distribution of employment
opportunities, wealth, and political influence in Australia. These changes
have been intensified by a shift in immigrant selection policies, with an
emphasis on education, skills, and ability to contribute to the economy. As a
result, trained, skilled, and well-off Chinese have been attracted to
Australia—and Chinese Australians have been better positioned than many
others to prosper in changing economic conditions. (Gao 2018, p. 231)
 PREFACE xi

All the above issues are absent from the debate over alleged Chinese
interference in Australian politics, the problem of which is equivalent to
blaming other people, friends or enemies, in far-away lands for the prob-
lems of its own society. Importantly, it also appears to be a new global
phenomenon, not only in terms of blaming others for their own problems,
but also in terms of paying inadequate attention to the demographic
changes that have taken place in all immigration countries, as well as their
correlation with domestic politics.
More theoretically, Australia’s highly charged China debate is not only
a simple or one-off reflection of what has been disturbing Australia and
sections of its population, but is a typical example of one of the most
important issues confronting many countries, especially developed Western
countries: the accumulated effects of global immigration and ongoing
changes in population composition in post-industrial economies. This will
soon be more theoretically and practically vital than it is now if consider-
ing, for example, that Australia’s merit-based migration system has been
repeatedly applauded by President Donald Trump, who considers
Australia’s approach as an ideal solution to the migration-related problems
of the United States (Williams 2017; Boyer 2018).
The issues that emerged from the debate, as well as my preliminary
analysis of the debate, present me with an opportunity to continue my
ongoing research on Chinese migrants in Australia and deepen and
broaden our current understanding of the merit-based selective migration
system and its medium-term effects on Australia as the host country.
As will be detailed in Chap. 1, this analysis takes a long-term and com-
prehensive view, to look at how Australia’s strategic shift towards Asia and
its merit-based migration selection policies have slowly transformed its
economic structure and demographic composition over the past three
decades, and how the new Chinese migrants, who were selected by various
new criteria of merit, have been integrated into Australia’s economic,
social and political life. All these have added a new and unfamiliar dimen-
sion to Australian politics. As the first book-length study written in English
in recent decades to systematically look at the medium-term effects of
merit-based migration system, this book is written with a sincere hope to
fill the knowledge gaps that have appeared in Australia’s recent debate
over China’s influence and exist in the research literature.

Melbourne, Australia Jia Gao

xii PREFACE

References

Borys, S. (2018). ‘China’s “brazen” and “aggressive” political interference

outlined in top-secret report’, China Power, ABC News, 29 May 2018,
www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-29/chinas-been-interfering-in-austra-
lian-politics-for-past-decade/9810236. Accessed 18 November 2018.
Boyer, D. (2018). ‘Trump praises Australia’s merit-based immigration sys-
tem’, Washington Times, 23 February 2018, www.washingtontimes.
com/news/2018/feb/23/trump-praises-australia-merit-immigration-
system/. Accessed 18 November 2018.
Chubb, A. (2018). ‘When it comes to China’s influence on Australia,
beware of sweeping statements and conflated ideas’, The Conversation,
11 April 2018, http://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-chinas-
influence-on-australia-beware-of-sweeping-statements-and-conflated-
ideas-94496. Accessed 18 November 2018.
Gao, J. (2018). ‘Chinese Australians face a foreign influence panic’,
Current History, September: 229–234.
Lo, J. Y. (2018). ‘Just because I have a moderate view on China doesn’t
make me a Beijing stooge’, The Guardian, 6 April 2018. www.theguard-
ian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/06/in-the-debate-around-foreign-
interference-chinese-australians-suffer. Accessed 18 November 2018.
Welch, D. (2018). ‘Chinese agents are undermining Australia’s sover-
eignty, Clive Hamilton’s controversial new book claims’, China Power,
ABC News, 22 February 2018, www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-22/
book-reveals-extent-of-chinese-influence-in-australia/9464692.
Accessed 18 November 2018.
Williams, J. (2017). ‘Trump looks to Australia in overhauling immigra-
tion system’, New York Times, 3 August 2017, www.nytimes.
com/2017/08/03/world/australia/trump-immigration-merit-
based-points.html. Accessed 18 November 2018.
 Acknowledgements

This book is based on my continuing longitudinal research on the experiences

of new Chinese migrants in Australia, which started as early as 1988 when
I decided to leave my teaching and research position at Beijing-­based
Renmin University of China and pursue a foreign postgraduate degree.
Over the past three decades, I have been assisted by so many people in so
many ways that I cannot possibly acknowledge all of them properly in a
short acknowledgement. My deep gratitude goes to everyone who has
helped me in the past three or so decades.
My special and heartfelt thanks go to the following colleagues, friends
and organisations for their help, support and advice, direct and indirect,
in writing this book. I am indebted to many of them in the fields of
migration and Chinese migration studies, who have in recent years
provided me with valuable advice and encouragement, particularly to
Professor Pookong Kee of the University of Melbourne, Professor
Wanning Sun of the University of Technology Sydney, Dr Bin Wu of the
University of Nottingham, Professor Min Zhou of the University of
California, Los Angeles, Professor Chee-Beng Tan of Sun Yat-Sen
University, Professor Liu Hong of Nanyang Technological University,
Professor Fan Ke of Nanjing University, Professor Wei Li of Arizona State
University, and Professor Minghuan Li of Jinan University.
I wish to thank two young scholars, Dr Qiuping Pan and Dr Yilu Yang,
who have been very helpful to my research in recent years, keeping me
well informed of what has been happening in Chinese Australian commu-
nities. They were undertaking their PhD research on Chinese migrants in
Australia at the University of Melbourne.

xiii
xiv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am also grateful to Mr Vishal Daryanomel, the Commissioning Editor

at Palgrave Macmillan, for encouraging me to write and submit the
manuscript for publication. I would also like to thank all the anonymous
reviewers for their helpful comments on both the book proposal and
the first draft of the manuscript. My thanks also go to the editorial and
production teams at Palgrave Macmillan for guiding me through the
publication process.
A special mention goes to the Faculty of Arts at the University of
Melbourne. My research activities have never been supported by any
external funding, including Australia’s research funding institutions, and I
am therefore particularly grateful for the internal funding I received from
the Faculty Internal Grant Scheme.
Once again, I am assisted by Ms Helen Koehne, an accredited editor of
Editorial Combat, and I am greatly indebted to her for her professional
assistance in editing the manuscript and many helpful suggestions.
This book could not have been written without the help of my family,
who have all been very supportive of me in this writing task. I would like
to thank all the interviewees for sharing their views and insights with me.
Since this manuscript is largely based on what I have studied in Australia
since 1988, I would like to dedicate this book to my late uncle who
financially supported my study in Australia in 1988 as a self-funded and
fee-­paying foreign student. This permitted me, as a Chinese university
lecturer, to study abroad. Just like what happened to many Chinese families
in the late 1940s, my uncle was relocated to Taiwan as a young medical
student. His support made my study in Australia possible.
 Contents

1 Post-multicultural Realities Distorted by Pre-­multicultural

Ideologies  1

2 Australia’s New Immigration Selection Tetralogy 43

3 Chinese Entrepreneurialism and Australia’s China-­

dependent Economy 81

4 Australian Responses to the Rise of Chinese Immigration115

5 Chinese as Voting Blocs in Australian Politics153

6 Integration-Inspired Community Activism and

Pushing the Bamboo Ceiling in Australia189

7 Established Elites Challenged by the Historical Shift

Towards Asia223

xv
xvi Contents

8 Conclusion: Getting Back on the Track of Nation-

Building257

References281

Index325
 Abbreviations

ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation

ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACPET Australian Council for Private Education and Training
ACRI Australia-China Relations Institute
AEC Australian Electoral Commission
AGPS Australian Government Publishing Service
ALP Australian Labor Party, the
ANU Australian National University
ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
AustLii Australasian Legal Information Institute
Austrade Australian Trade and Investment Commission
CCCA Chinese Community Council of Australia
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CGTN China Global Television Network
ChAFTA China-Australia Free Trade Agreement
CITIC China International Trust Investment Corporation
CSC China Scholarship Council
DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (of Australia)
DHA Department of Home Affairs
DIAC Department of Immigration and Citizenship
DIBP Department of Immigration and Border Protection
ELICOS English Language Incentive Course for Overseas Students
FIRB Foreign Investment Review Board
GFC Global financial crisis
HK Hong Kong
IMF International Monetary Fund

xvii
xviii Abbreviations

ISSCO International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas

NBSC National Bureau of Statistics of China
NSW New South Wales
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OPC Office of Parliamentary Counsel, the
PLA People’s Liberation Army (of China)
PRC People’s Republic of China, the
PUP Palmer United Party, the
SBS Special Broadcasting Service, the
SIV Significant Investor Visa
SMEs Small- and medium-sized enterprises
UCL University College London
UTS University of Technology Sydney
UWA University of Western Australia
VCE Victorian Certificate of Education
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Foreign-born population in Australia, 1901–71.

(Source: DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border
Protection) (2015, p. 16)) 5
Fig. 1.2 Origins of Chinese Australians, by region, 1981–2016.
(Source: Based on data from ABS (Australian Bureau of
Statistics) (2017)) 9
Fig. 2.1 Australia’s postwar immigration, 1945–2010. (Source: Based on
data from DHA (Department of Home Affairs) (2017)) 48
Fig. 2.2 Migrant intake by stream, 1984–2014. (Source: DIBP (2015,
p. 71))50
Fig. 2.3 Annual migrant intake, 1983–2014. (Source: Based on Larsen
(2013, p. 4)) 53
Fig. 2.4 Number of regulations introduced to improve immigration
policies, 1994–2016. (Source: Based on data from
OPC (2017)) 57
Fig. 2.5 Employment of China-born Australians, 2016. (Source: ABS
(2018, p. 6)) 66
Fig. 2.6 East Asian sources of migrants since 1991. (Source: Australian
Census Stats (2012, n.p.)) 68
Fig. 3.1 Sectoral employment trends in Australia, 1976–2001. (Source:
Based on Productivity Commission (2003, p. 27)) 85
Fig. 3.2 Maslow’s five-tier hierarchy of needs. (Source: Maslow (1943,
1987))87
Fig. 3.3 Australia’s export market to China, 1991–2001. (Source: Based
on the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References
Committee (2005)) 93

xix
xx List of Figures

Fig. 3.4 Business visa application lodgements, 2010–14. (Source: Joint

Standing Committee on Migration (2015, p. 45)) 101
Fig. 3.5 China’s share of Australia’s total merchandise trade,
1901–2012. (Source: The Treasury (2012, n.p.)) 103
Fig. 3.6 China as Australia’s largest services export market. (Source: The
Treasury (2012, n.p.)) 104
Fig. 3.7 Australia’s top two-way trading partners, 2016–18. (Source:
Based on Chau (2019)) 106
Fig. 4.1 Academic performance of 16-year-old British students, by
ethnic background, 2015. (Source: Based on Harris (2016)) 132
Fig. 4.2 Housing price growth in Australia since the mid-1990s
compared to income. (Source: Based on Pash (2018); (index:
1970 = 100))138
Fig. 4.3 Declining housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne. (Source:
Based on Oliver (2019)) 142
Fig. 5.1 Changes in Australia’s workforce and declining union
membership. (Source: Based on Bowden 2017) 156
Fig. 5.2 Number of minor political parties in Australia. (Source: Based
on Wood et al. 2018, p. 28) 159
Fig. 5.3 Number of Chinese community organisations, Victoria. (Source:
Based on Pan 2019, p. 203) 166
Fig. 5.4 Number of federal election candidates of Chinese origin.
(Source: Based on AEC 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019) 171
Fig. 6.1 China’s increasing number of university-educated people.
(Source: Based on China’s Ministry of Education 2018) 195
Fig. 6.2 Growth in annual disposable income of urban residents per
capita in China. (Source: Based on NBSC 2013, 2017, 2018) 197
Fig. 7.1 Australia’s merchandise exports to Europe (%). (Source:
Bingham 2016, p. 8) 226
Fig. 7.2 Australia’s merchandise exports to Asia (%). (Source: Bingham
2016, p. 8) 233
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Industrial disputes in Australia, working days lost per

employee, 1973–2002 47
Table 2.2 Business skills (provisional) visas, subclasses 160–165 60
Table 2.3 Percentage of Chinese students in Australia’s total foreign
student population, 2005–13 64
Table 3.1 Educational attainment in Australia’s main workforce sectors,
1984, 1994 and 2001 97
Table 4.1 Percentage of students from non-English-speaking
backgrounds in NSW’s top 10 selective schools, 2017 131
Table 4.2 Number of schools offering Chinese in Australia, by state 134
Table 5.1 Federal election candidates of Chinese origin, 2019 170

xxi
 CHAPTER 1

Post-multicultural Realities Distorted by Pre-­

multicultural Ideologies

This book aims to analyse how an increasing number of new Chinese

migrants have integrated into Australian society and added a new dimen-
sion to Australian domestic politics as a result of Australia’s strategic shift
towards Asia and its merit-based migration selection system. The turning
point in public awareness of this new dimension is the country’s heated
debate on China’s interference in its domestic politics and its open assump-
tions, if not direct allegations, of active meddling of many Chinese
Australians in Australian politics. This chapter briefly introduces the debate
as a crucial part of the context of this analysis.
Recent debates over China form the latest part of an ongoing topic of
discussion in Australia, in part because of, as noted in the Preface,
Australia’s fear of China, and perhaps its migrants as well, which has long
been part of the psyche of European settlers in Australia. Discussions over
China have intensified since July 2016, when a Hague-based arbitral tribu-
nal made a ruling in favour of the Philippines’, and ruled that China’s
nine-dash line and its historical claim over almost the entire South China
Sea were invalid. The Hague’s ruling triggered a series of rallies by Chinese
migrants and international students in Australia within a few days. A large
demonstration was organised in Melbourne, attracting the support from
more than 100 Chinese community organisations (Wen and Flitton 2016).
It shocked many observers from politics, academia, media organisations
and government agencies, particularly the public call from the rally

© The Author(s) 2020 1

J. Gao, Chinese Immigration and Australian Politics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5909-9_1
2 J. GAO

organisers on the Australian Government to maintain its not-taking-sides

policy and ‘not to toe the American line’ (Sun 2016, p. 47).
The Liberal prime minister at the time, Malcolm Turnbull, was pro-
foundly shocked by pro-China rallies by many Chinese community mem-
bers, which was exacerbated by the exposure of Labor senator Sam
Dastyari’s receiving gifts from an ethnic Chinese businessperson.1 Turnbull
did not only openly question the national loyalty of Sam Dastyari, but he
reportedly ordered an investigation after the pro-China demonstration in
Melbourne on 23 July 2016 to find out the extent of foreign interference
in Australia. The word ‘foreign’ in this special socio-political context has
been often used in the debate to refer to China.
Australia’s Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) chose to
become involved in the investigation into China’s political interference in
Australia. On its purpose-built website, called China Power, an ABC
reporter wrote the following, which reveals that there was an investigation
in 2016, resulting in some oversimplified and highly politicised
conclusions:

A top-secret report has raised concerns that the Chinese Government has
attempted to influence Australia’s political parties for the past decade …
One intelligence source told the ABC there had been infiltration at every
layer of Australian Government, right down to local councils (Borys
2018, n.p.).

A couple of months before this report, another piece appeared on

China Power, making the target of Australia’s debate over China’s med-
dling even clearer than before. With the eye-catching headline, ‘Chinese
agents are undermining Australia’s sovereignty, Clive Hamilton’s contro-
versial new book claims’ (Welch 2018, n.p.),2 the focus of the debate has
evidently shifted from China to Chinese community members, including
international students from China. What is also apparent is that the
debate’s main focus has been expanded from looking into individual cases,
such as the case of Sam Dastyari, to Chinese agents and spies working in
Australia. In this particular report, the most troubling and damaging mes-
sage that the China debate could possibly produce has spread widely and
rapidly, the core points of which are as follows:

Thousands of agents of the Chinese state have integrated themselves into

Australian public life—from the high spheres of politics, academia, and
 1 POST-MULTICULTURAL REALITIES DISTORTED BY PRE-MULTICULTURAL… 3

­ usiness all the way down to suburban churches and local writers’ groups—
b
according to a controversial book to be published on Monday (Welch
2018, n.p.).

As noted in the Preface, it is a most harmful mistake, by any standard,

of the debate to target ordinary members of Chinese communities as a
whole, who have long been enthusiastically and positively embraced as
‘national assets’ by many Australians (DFAT 2013, p. 6; Shorten 2014,
n.p.). The radical shift from debating the South China Sea issue to inves-
tigating China’s direct interference activities in Australia, from revealing
several Chinese donation cases to claiming thousands of Chinese agents
and spies have infiltrated every layer of Australian society, has been guided
by an analytical problem, if we are to leave aside various motives. This
analytical problem has led to a situation in which Australia’s post-­
multicultural realities have been debated according to pre-multicultural
ideologies.
This chapter discusses the analytical problem behind Australia’s debate
on China and Chinese migrants in four sections to infer how such a big
mistake could have been made. The first section sketches the history of
Chinese immigration to Australia, with an emphasis on recent periods that
make Australia’s multiculturalism and merit-based selective immigration
policies stand out clearly. The second section reviews the existing literature
related to three broad areas: studies of recent Chinese migration to
Australia; studies of worldwide merit-based immigration systems; and
studies of policy impact and evaluation with a focus on the medium-term
and long-term impact. The third section will be a brief discussion of the
approach to be used in this analysis. The fourth section of this chapter
sketches the structure of this book, which includes a brief synopsis of each
chapter.

Chinese in Australia
Chinese immigrants have been part of Australian society since the conti-
nent was still a group of colonies, large and small. In my book published
in 2015, I divided the history of Chinese migration to Australia from the
1850s to the present time into six periods (Gao 2015). These were the
gold rush period in the 1850s and 1860s; the establishing period from the
1870s to the 1890s; the consolidation period in the early decades of
‘White Australia’ from the 1900s to the 1940s; the diversification period
4 J. GAO

as a flow-on of the Colombo Plan in the 1950s and 1960s; the multicul-
tural period in the 1970s and 1980s, and the current or ‘model commu-
nity’ period from the early 1990s to the present.
For the purpose of analysing the issue of this book, however, it would
be more helpful and meaningful to look at the history of Chinese migra-
tion to Australia from the new perspective of taking into account how the
Chinese have come, under what socio-economic circumstances or policy
conditions they have come, who they are, and how many of them there
are. Accordingly, the entire history of Chinese migration to Australia
could be simply divided into three main periods.
The first period is the 100-year history of Chinese migration to Australia
from the 1850s to the early 1950s. This period was mainly characterised
by a large number of indentured Chinese labourers initially, and then
other types of settlers, although there were some successful entrepreneurs
who have been identified by various recent studies (Fitzgerald 2007; Kuo
2009). This long period also largely featured Chinese sojourners, who, it
is believed, intended to earn some money and then return to their home-
land, the explanation of which has been called the sojourner hypothesis
(Yang 1999). This hypothesis has been rejected by some, because of the
introduction of the ‘White Australia’ policy in 1901, when several colonies
formed a federation. The policy to stop Chinese and other non-white
labourers and settlers coming to Australia was legislated through two
pieces of legislation: the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, and the Pacific
Island Labourers Act 1901. These laws reduced the number of Chinese
settlers in Australia, which was fewer than 10,000 in the late 1940s, before
such racist and unpopular laws were progressively abandoned between
1949 and 1973.
During the gold rush, the number of Chinese labourers and settlers
increased so dramatically that they accounted for around 4 per cent of
Australia’s population (Blainey 1982), and more than 12 per cent of
Victoria’s population in 1859 (McConnochie et al. 1988). However, the
number drastically reduced by almost two-thirds after the gold rush
(Willard 1967; Clark 1969). For many decades before and after Australia
became a federation, governments sought to attract migrants from certain
European countries. As revealed in Fig. 1.1, the number of migrants from
other European countries surpassed those from the UK in the 1960s.
The second period of the history of Chinese migration to Australia
took place from the early 1950s, when the Colombo Plan was launched to
handle the postwar geopolitical situation in South and South-East Asia, to
 1 POST-MULTICULTURAL REALITIES DISTORTED BY PRE-MULTICULTURAL… 5

Fig. 1.1 Foreign-born population in Australia, 1901–71. (Source: DIBP

(Department of Immigration and Border Protection) (2015, p. 16))

the late 1980s. During this period, the ethnic Chinese community recov-
ered from a relatively small community with fewer than 10,000 members
nationally in the late 1940s, growing to about 200,000 people in 1986
(Kee 1992). It also transformed itself from a mostly low-end, working-­
class population, working in tailor shops, barber shops, fast food or restau-
rants, laundries, market gardens and furniture factories, to a diverse one
with a growing number of professionals.
There were two major policy changes that drove these transformations
in postwar Australia. As noted, the first key policy initiative was the
Colombo Plan; the second key policy change, or socio-political reform,
was Australia’s adoption of multiculturalism in the 1970s.
All policies can potentially have unintended consequences and undesir-
able effects after being implemented and in operation for a period of time,
and the Colombo Plan was no exception. The purpose of the Plan, made
in 1950, was to maintain British colonialism and influence in South and
South-East Asia, and limit the spread of communism (Ninnes 2005). Part
of this Plan was an overseas student scheme, which brought thousands of
students of Chinese origin from a few South-East Asian countries to
Australia (Oakman 2004). The Plan resulted in at least two unexpected
effects that are still relevant to present-day Australia. First, many young
Colombo Plan students stayed in Australia after finishing their studies, or
migrated back to Australia after working in their home countries for a
short period, according to the requirements of the Plan. Second, more
interestingly, the Plan paved the way for Australian educational institu-
tions, including universities, colleges and high schools, to recruit privately
funded Asian international students, a high proportion of whom were of
Chinese ancestry. At that time, the number of private fee-paying Asian
6 J. GAO

students was found to be as high as more than five times greater than the
number of officially funded Colombo Plan students (Yuan 2001;
Gao 2015).
The Colombo Plan added a large group of educated members to the
Chinese Australian community, the population of which started increasing
and reached around 13,000 in 1954 and 50,000 in 1976 (Kee 1992; Yuan
2001). More importantly, however, the student schemes of the plan
helped invigorate the Chinese community and make it more diversified
than it had been. This is why this analysis sees this policy initiative and its
implementation as the beginning of the second key phase of the history of
Chinese settlement in Australia, and why that period should be seen as the
first turning point in the history. Its importance also lies, to a large extent,
in the fact that the Plan was not only the start of Australian education
export, but also the earliest form of Australia’s merit-based immigration
selection policy that was tentatively applied to non-European immigrants.
Significantly, this second period revealed that a key policy initiative
could be used in a different manner from what the policy intended. In this
case, the Colombo Plan offered almost no help in avoiding the decolonisa-
tion of the second half of the twentieth century, but opened up opportu-
nities for not only ethnic Chinese students from South-East Asia to migrate
to Australia, but also for educational institutions in Australia to enrol
international students. In addition, the benefits carried by this major pol-
icy initiative were shared among unintended individuals and sectors.
What has been even more disruptive than the Colombo Plan to
Australia’s established order and pattern of distributing benefits is the offi-
cial introduction of multiculturalism in the 1970s. In 1973, Australia
finally abandoned its ‘White Australia’ policy, which was followed by the
official acceptance of multiculturalism. The latter was endorsed by the
Racial Discrimination Act 1975, legislated in the final year of the Labor
prime ministership of Gough Whitlam (Jupp 1995). As pointed out by
Graeme Hugo, an Australian demographer, among many postwar trans-
formations in Australia, one of the most important changes has been an
increasing level of population movement from and to Asia (Hugo 2012).
The 1970s was a decade of sweeping social and political change in Australia
and many Australians started embracing new ideas of the Vietnam War,
immigration, the role of women, labour rights and other social issues
(Viviani 1996). In 1976, large groups of Indochinese boat people were
also accepted into Australia.
 1 POST-MULTICULTURAL REALITIES DISTORTED BY PRE-MULTICULTURAL… 7

Under the joint effects of the implementation of multiculturalism and

the acceptance of Indochinese boat people, the ethnic Chinese population
in Australia experienced significant growth from 1976, when there were
about 50,000 of them, to 1986, when about 200,000 people claimed
primary and secondary Chinese ancestry according to the 1986 census
(ABS 2016). Such a huge increase is largely because well over one-quarter,
perhaps as high as 50 per cent, of Indochinese refugees were of Chinese
ancestry (Jordens 2001). Therefore, the Indochinese boat people crisis
added a large number of new members, somewhere between 50,000 and
100,000 people, to the ethnic Chinese population in Australia.
The surge was a remarkable change in size of the ethnic Chinese popu-
lation in Australia, but as a quantitative change, it occurred after the quali-
tative change, or the merit-based change, that was caused by the Colombo
Plan. Theoretically, it would be expected that quantitative change would
occur first, and when numbers had reached a certain level, there would be
a subsequent qualitative change. In reality, however, it is not always true
that social processes take place according to a rational order of sequence
or the laws of order. The acceptance of Indochinese boat people and other
asylum seekers from the 1970s was part of the geopolitics of that era, and
beyond Australia’s control (Ang 1997); it was a major interruption to
Australia’s effort and policy to attract educated Asian migrants.
Multiculturalism has been a global trend, a reflection of numerous deep-­
rooted changes that took place not only in postwar Australia, but also in a
number of other industrialised countries.
Australia’s adoption of multiculturalism from the 1970, as the second
crucial policy change in the second period of the history of Chinese migra-
tion to Australia, made the country more ethnically and culturally diversi-
fied. From an economic viewpoint, the policy of multiculturalism has
partially met the needs of changing labour markets. From a political eco-
nomic position, however, the distribution of interests, resources and pow-
ers of influence among Australians has become far more diversified and
complex, adding more people and social groups into the socio-economic
system, and sharing benefits more widely than a sole focus on those early
settled groups and social classes. That is, the adoption of multiculturalism
has had a substantial impact on Australia’s established socio-economic
structures and orders, and the lives of those whose ancestors settled earlier.
It has become especially challenging for some in this latter group to cope
with a changing Australia, which has subsequently triggered some strong
negative reactions, including from Geoffrey Blainey, an eminent
8 J. GAO

historian,3 and John Howard, the Liberal prime minister from 1996 to
2007.4 As will be detailed later, Pauline Hanson is a grassroots political
figure who has, since the mid-1990s, represented the anti-­multiculturalism
voices in Australia.5 In the mid-2000s, there were race-fuelled youth riots
at Cronulla in Sydney,6 which were defined by some scholars as ‘the most
extreme case of militant racism’ (Jupp 2007, p. 122).
The broadly defined third period of the history of Chinese migration to
Australia is the current stage, which began in the late 1980s, when China’s
socio-political turmoil in 1989 turned tens of thousands of Chinese stu-
dents studying in Australia into the largest group of onshore asylum seek-
ers or, more precisely, residency claimants, in Australian immigration
history (Jupp 1991; Cronin 1993; Gao 2013). Around 45,000 Chinese
nationals were granted permanent residency in Australia, helping resume
the immigration from the Chinese mainland to Australia.
This third period is the most relevant to the key issues of this book, and
will be discussed from two slightly different perspectives. This section is
concerned with the general historical background of this period, while
various immigration policy responses that have since been made by ruling
elites in Australia will be analysed in detail in Chap. 2.
From an historical viewpoint, the ethnic Chinese population in Australia
grew suddenly and considerably in the early 1990s, as a result of the settle-
ment of approximately 45,000 Chinese students. Since then, the Chinese
community has been in a state of constant and rapid expansion. The 1996
census revealed that the estimated number of Australian residents of
Chinese origin had grown from about 200,000 in 1986 to as many as
343,500. This number increased to around 555,500 in 2001 (Chan
2005). In the past 15 or so years, the number has increased even further.
According to the 2011 census, there were around 866,200 Australian resi-
dents claiming Chinese origin, and as many as 74 per cent of them were
the first generation living in Australia (ABS 2012). According to the 2016
census, this total has reached more than 1.2 million (ABS 2018). The
significant increase of one million people of Chinese origin from 1986 to
the present has shown some changing characteristics.
First, as shown in Fig. 1.2, a high proportion of new Chinese migrants
since the early 1990s have come from mainland China. This change has
benefited Australia by providing many direct links with China’s growing
economy, but has also unsettled many Australians who do not feel com-
fortable about China and its people, for various reasons.
 1 POST-MULTICULTURAL REALITIES DISTORTED BY PRE-MULTICULTURAL… 9

6,00,000 Mainland China

5,00,000 Hong Kong
4,00,000
Taiwan
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
1981 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016
Mainland China 25,200 84,600 1,18,640 1,53,360 2,51,960 3,87,420 5,26,040
Hong Kong 15,300 62,400 75,760 73,920 81,360 85,990 96,920
Taiwan 19,380 24,140 25,490 33,450 58,080

Fig. 1.2 Origins of Chinese Australians, by region, 1981–2016. (Source: Based

on data from ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2017))

Second, Australia’s growing economic closeness to China and people-­

to-­people contacts with Chinese people have occurred as a result of two
macro-level historical trends that have taken place in the Asia-Pacific
region. The first trend is Australia’s shift towards Asia, which was initiated
by both the Whitlam Labor government and the Fraser Liberal govern-
ment in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was then actively promoted by the
next two Labor prime ministers, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, and
reached full swing under the Howard Liberal government from 1996 to
2007, despite Howard’s past speech against Asian immigration. The sec-
ond major trend is China’s post-1978 reform and opening policy, espe-
cially its open-door approach to Western industrial economies. The full
and long-term impact of the transformations in China on Australia, and
the Asia-Pacific region, has been felt more strongly and directly by more
non-Chinese Australians in recent years. But one fact is evident: there are
more Chinese in Australia is a result of policies made by successive
Australian governments.
Third, the acceptance of 45,000 or so Chinese students to settle perma-
nently in Australia not only resulted in the growth in the number of
Chinese migrants, through which Australia has become closely linked to
the economic expansion in China, but has also driven political elites in
Australia to further think about how to select new migrants without upset-
ting settled residents. That is, the settlement of the Chinese students as a
Another random document with
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around like a butterfly this minute, most likely,” and the young man
smiled rather bitterly.
He had come from the city to make sure a girl was not in trouble, but
the thought of her enjoying herself made him uneasy.
From the village to the “Bend” was, as he had remarked, quite a
distance. In spite of brisk walking it was nearly dark before his
destination was reached.
“That must be the place,” he thought, quickening his steps as the
white buildings of the Whittaker farm loomed up in the dusk.
“What in the world shall I do, now I’m here?” he asked himself, as he
paused in front of the house. “If she’d only come out and take back
her words it would be all right. But goodness! she’s an awful spunky
little thing when she’s once under way, and it was pretty tough for
her. It’s mighty certain it’s not in her line, but I needn’t have been
quite so hard with her. Hang it all! what am I going to do now? What
in the Dickens made me come, anyway? Only because I’m such a
fool I couldn’t keep myself away.”
He stood leaning against a tree near one of the windows. The
summer air was very still. Only occasionally the birds stirred in their
nests above his head and murmured sleepily. Once some restless
animal pounded the floor of the barn.
Suddenly a low strain of music startled him. Did it come from one of
the open windows? Timidly soft it sounded, as though fearing to let
itself be heard—weird and sad.
The man out among the shadows trembled. “Can that be she? Has
she given in?”
The music grew more abandoned. In its sorrow it seemed to have
forgotten its timidity. The long notes sobbed and moaned, now and
then dying into quieter, more entreating tones. In their tears they
paused and prayed.
The listener was a musician, and the melody reached the depths of
his soul. Facing the window, he called in a broken voice, “Gertrude.”
The music instantly ceased. A glad cry rang out, “Herman! my
Herman!”
In a second, the man had vaulted the low sill of the parlor window.
He hurriedly glanced around the room. No musical instrument could
be seen, but a trembling form was steadying itself against the
casing.
“Gertie, poor little Gertie!”
A faint voice answered, “Is it true? Can it be you? O Herman!”
Again the music rang out. Triumphant peals this time, strain after
strain of tumultuous joy, clearer and clearer, stronger and stronger,
until the notes could hardly hold their fulness.
In the parlor Gertrude and Herman stood gazing into each other’s
startled eyes.
The wild, rapturous song paused; then breaking out in steadier
notes, even and rich, it gradually mellowed and hushed until it died
away in a whispered breath.
“It ended like a prayer of thanksgiving,” said he.
Gertrude caught her breath. “Hush!” She buried her face in her
hands, whispering, “It was. I see it all now. It must have been little
Chee,—there is no one else.” Lifting her head, she added, with a
strange, new light in her eyes, “Oh, Herman, she was thanking God
for answering her prayer. I believe it.” And then, half choked with
feeling, she told what she knew of her little Indian cousin.
 CHAPTER IX.
COUSIN GERTRUDE stole up-stairs. Chee had heard good-byes a
few moments before, and was hoping, yet fearing, she might find
her.
The child sat by the window removing her stockings. Daddy Joe’s
fiddle lay on the bed.
“Birdie, how could you? Oh, how could you?”
“I don’t know,” answered Chee, in an excited voice. “I tried not to
play out loud, but I got feeling sorrier and sorrier, and wishing He
would only let me help. And I forgot to play still, and then I heard a
man’s voice, and heard you answer, and I knew everything was all
right, and I was so happy I just snatched up Daddy’s fiddle and
played out my glad. I didn’t care who heard, for a minute; and, oh,
Cousin Gertrude, I felt it—I felt it.”
“Felt what, Childie?”
“Why, the music—way down in my heart, and all over me, just like I
did at the concert. I don’t know what to call it, but it’s something, and
I’ve tried to feel it for such a long time. And now I have, and it makes
me so happy—so happy, you can’t know. It just makes me glad all
through, and I feel like crying, too.”
“I am as happy as you, my own little Bird.”
Chee’s arms were around Gertrude’s neck, as she asked, “He did
hear, didn’t He?”
“Yes, my comfort, He did hear,” answered Gertrude, tears again in
her voice, “but you helped Him.”
“I helped Him?” echoed Chee, shaking her head almost sadly. “No, I
wanted to so much, but He didn’t need me.”
After a little, Gertrude said, “Listen, while I tell you how you helped—
you’ll see He did need you, after all.
“I love the violin, too—not as you do. I wanted to play because
people expected I would. I felt too proud to say that, after years of
study, I could never be a great player, and so I kept on working with
one teacher after another. Finally, Mr. Farrar, that is my Herman, told
me I had better not spend all my time and money for that any longer.
He said I had come to a place where I could never go much beyond,
and that I wanted to play more from pride than from love—just
because my parents had decided, when I was but a child, that music
was my first gift. I had found true what he said, but it made me angry
that he should dare to tell me. I said some words back. He retorted.
We’re both sorry now, but I was so vexed then, I said I would never
touch the violin again. My temper offended him, his also rose, and he
said he would not speak to me until I took back my words.
“It was the day I had set to come here. He was just going to the
woods for his vacation, but he felt so sad he could not go, and went
back home instead. Then one night he had a horrible dream that
troubled him, so he came to see if I was really safe and well. He
says that, down in his heart, he was hoping I was ready to take back
my words.
“While he was wishing so much I would come to him—he was out
under the trees, you know—he heard music. He thought for a
moment I was playing, and when he reached me and found out I
wasn’t—well, we were both so glad to be together again we forgot
which one was to blame. It seemed very silly to have quarrelled at all
when we understood and loved each other so. Anyway, now we are
only glad to be together again and forget everything. Can’t you see
how it might never have come right if you had not played when you
did?”
Chee made no answer, her heart was full.
“Of course,” she continued, “if he had stopped to think he would
have known it never could have been my playing,—he knows me so
well,—but he was anxious and didn’t realize. It seemed to him, he
said, the music must be mine, he wanted so much I should take back
my words.
“You did help, my Birdie, but you sha’n’t be left to sing alone any
longer. Oh!” a new light dawning, “now I know why you love to think
Opechee means a song-bird,” and she kissed the silent child with
new fondness.
“We are going to ride in the morning, my Herman and I, and when
we return perhaps we will have something to tell you. But oh, my
precious cousin, you can never, never know all you have done for
us.”
Chee only answered with a grave little shake of her head, “It wasn’t
me, ’twas only Our Father, and”—she added tenderly—“Daddy Joe’s
fiddle.”
 CHAPTER X.
IN the morning, as he had promised, Mr. Farrar came to take Cousin
Gertrude to drive.
“Chee! Chee! Nut-Brown Maiden, where are you?” Stepping to the
stairway, Gertrude called, more earnestly, “Birdie, I want you.”
A shy little face peered over the railing, “Please, Cousin Gertrude,
have I got to come down?”
“Why, Chee, wouldn’t you like to? There is some one here I want you
to see.”
“Yes, I know, but I’d rather look at him through the parlor blinds.”
Gertrude showed her disappointment. Chee watched her and
yielded, exclaiming, “Well, you must be awful proud of him to feel so
bad. I suppose I’d ought to come.”
Cousin Gertrude’s cheeks grew pinker, but she did not look
displeased; she only held out her hand to Chee. Wondering what
she might say to put the little girl more at ease, she led her to the
veranda.
A gentleman was standing by the carriage block, stroking the mane
of a horse. At sight of Chee he quickly removed his hat, as though to
some fine lady. “So this is little Chee,” said he, “our sweet singer,
only she doesn’t really sing, she plays. Good morning, my dear.”
“Good morning. I don’t know just what to call you yet. It doesn’t seem
quite kind to say ‘Mr. Farrar,’ when you are Cousin Gertrude’s best
friend, does it? She calls you ‘my Herman,’ but I’m afraid she’d
rather I wouldn’t say that, too.”
Mr. Farrar was pleased with this artlessness, characteristic of Chee,
so unlike any boldness, so like open confidence in one she
instinctively recognized to be worthy. Her voice at such times
seemed to say, “I’ll trust you, you may trust me.”
His eyes twinkled, but he said gravely, seeming not to notice
Gertrude, “Suppose you compromise, and say ‘our Herman.’”
Chee gave a perplexed glance toward Gertrude. Suddenly a smile
brightened her face, as she exclaimed, “Oh, I’ve got it. Why didn’t we
think before? S’pose I call you ‘Cousin Herman.’” She gave no
opportunity for dissent before adding, “It’s so much more
comfortable, now I know who you are.”
Cousin Gertrude appeared somewhat confused, but her friend patted
the little girl’s head approvingly, saying, “Quite right, little Chee, the
very thing, indeed—”
“But Birdie,” hastily interrupted Gertrude, “we haven’t thanked you
yet.” The child cast furtive glances toward the house. Her
companions changed the conversation. Their eyes, following hers,
had seen others, steel blue, peering through a lace curtain.
“Is Aunt Mean busy?” asked Gertrude.
After a discreet silence Aunt Mean appeared in the front doorway. A
brief introduction had scarcely passed before she said, aside to
Gertrude, in low but decidedly distinct tones, “A very likely young
man, my dear, very likely. You showed good taste. I persume there
ain’t a better looking in our neighborhood,” adding, reflectively, “It’s a
mighty serious business, this gittin’ a man.”
Chee wondered if Aunt Mean spoke from experience, and if it
wouldn’t have been a very serious matter indeed if Aunt Mean had
ever attempted to “git” any man other than her brother. During the
embarrassment that followed, Mr. Farrar found occasion to remark
that it was getting late, and Cousin Gertrude felt obliged to go for her
hat. But before entering the carriage she managed to whisper to
Chee, “Don’t undress when you go up-stairs to-night—we shall be
home early.”
What a long day it seemed to Chee! How anxiously she listened for
the sound of wheels on the driveway!
After all she watched in vain, for they had left the carriage before the
Bend was reached. The first she knew of their coming was a step on
the stairway—very soft, like stocking feet. She opened the door a
little. “Take off your shoes please, Chee, and come down into the
parlor awhile.”
It was fortunate that the bedrooms occupied by Miss Almeana and
her brother were at the extreme end of the house. Furthermore, both
were slightly deaf and extraordinarily sound sleepers.
In the parlor the cousins and Mr. Farrar gathered around Chee’s tin
lamp. “And so you have had no instructor but that minister,” he
began. “We saw him to-day, and, as he himself says, he doesn’t
know much about music. You can read notes, he tells me.”
“Easy music,” answered Chee, bashfully. The dreaded ordeal had
come—her secret was out.
“Well, that’s good, but how in the world did you learn to manage the
instrument? Who taught you to hold it, child?”
“I don’t know, Cousin Herman, I think perhaps I hold it just as Daddy
did, maybe I don’t, though. It’s so long since I’ve seen him I can’t be
sure.” This last was added a little wearily. “What has the way I hold
Daddy’s fiddle to do with Cousin Herman?” she wondered.
“It’s just as I say,” exclaimed Mr. Farrar, turning to Gertrude,
—“inherited talent. Probably the father was only a fair player, but
unless I’m stepping down a peg, the child’s a genius.” Chee
wondered if a genius was something nice, but, because she disliked
to show her ignorance, refrained from asking.
“Of course the child has run to weeds—it couldn’t be otherwise. I
must hear her play again, but at all odds she is a musician.” Then
turning suddenly to Chee, he asked, “Where is your violin, my dear?
You must play your best for me, then Gertrude shall tell you our
plan.”
Chee looked frightened, “Why, Cousin Herman, I couldn’t, she’d hear
me—I couldn’t for anything.”
“Who? Oh, I forgot. Well, we’ll have to fix it somehow. Where have
you been playing all this while? Up attic? What’s the harm now,
then?” So saying, Mr. Farrar proceeded to unlace his shoes.
Chee was a little tremulous over the undertaking, but Cousin
Herman was firm; so carrying her small lamp she led the way up the
front stairs, shielding the flickering flame with her hand. The light fell
full upon her excited face. Now and then she paused in the slow,
careful ascent to give whispered warning where a stair-riser might
creak—all so familiar to her. Mr. Farrar easily stepped over these
places, as did Chee, but, lest there should be any slight noise and
their stealthy journey to the attic be disclosed, he assisted Gertrude
over the treacherous places as indicated by their little Indian guide.
When the garret was reached, Gertrude seated herself on a trunk.
Mr. Farrar leaned against the chimney. Chee lingered at the railing,
anxiously listening.
 “SHE STOOD A MOMENT IN MEDITATION, THE VIOLIN
ALREADY UNDER HER CHIN”
“Chee!” they both impatiently called, at the same time glancing
curiously around.
She approached the familiar hiding-place, and very slowly drew out
the old violin box. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips met in a
straight line. A brave determination burned in her eyes. She realized
in a vague way that much depended upon this effort, but with a
pleased, expectant look she deftly attuned the strings of her
instrument.
When this was done, she stood a moment in meditation, the violin
already under her chin, lightly tapping one foot with the bow.
It was a queer place in which to make one’s début,—that dusty
corner of the old loft. The tin lamp on a box lighted up the beams
hung with long drooping garlands of cobwebs. Not within reach of
the lamplight, or the pale moonshine coming through the curtainless
windows, huge black shadows gathered around. But the weirdness
of the aspect did not impress Chee; for her a more familiar spot
could not have been chosen. Oh, how many happy hours she had
spent in that dim little corner!
Soon her meditative position changed, she had come to a decision,
and began to play.
At first, embarrassment hindered her, but before many notes
trembled out on the stillness, she had forgotten everything except
her song.
It was only the old-fashioned air, “Annie Laurie.” The child must have
known the words, for her music told, even plainer than any words
could tell, the sentiment of the old-time refrain. Perhaps she had
guessed more of her listeners’ state of mind than they knew.
However this may have been, she had chosen well; while the song
lasted, her listeners forgot to be critics—they were only lovers.
The last strains had scarcely died away, when, close upon them,
followed the opening notes of “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” If the first
piece had been selected for her audience, this was for herself.
It was her favorite, the one she most often played. No
embarrassment now—with a far-away expression in her eyes, she
gave variation after variation of the familiar hymn. Suddenly the bow
paused—the note just begun was never finished. A slight noise came
from the stairway. After a moment of listening, Mr. Farrar crept to the
railing and looked down. Everything was still.
“It must have been only mice,” he said, but Chee was thoroughly
frightened. Nothing could induce her to continue. At the first sign of
alarm Daddy Joe’s fiddle had disappeared.
 CHAPTER XI.
AFTER Mr. Farrar had bade them good night and stolen out the front
doorway, Gertrude revealed to Chee their plan.
“We are going to have a concert,” she announced. “Mr. Green says
you haven’t had one here in town since last Christmas—and we’re
going to get people so interested the whole place will turn out.
Herman knows how, for he has gotten up several in the city.”
“Get up a concert, why, how can he?” asked Chee, incredulously.
“He will have a chorus. Every child in the village must be in that. And
he is going to send for some of his friends,—a man to play the harp,
and a lady to sing, and some others. And Herman, you know, plays
on the piano,—that’s his profession.”
“Oh!” said Chee, in a tone of new understanding.
“But wait, dear, the best part is coming. You are the best part of all.”
“Me?”
“Yes, Birdie, you. That’s what the whole thing is for. It’s Mr. Green’s
idea as much as Herman’s. It’s to be kept a surprise—I mean you
are—your name won’t appear on the programme at all.”
“My name on the programme! Cousin Gertrude, what do you mean?”
Poor Chee was thoroughly alarmed now.
“Mean? You dear little monkey, you. Why nothing at all but that you
and your violin are going to bring down the house.”
“Do you mean my secret has got to come out?”
“Of course. Isn’t it already out? More’s the pity it has been kept so
long.”
“But Aunt Mean! Why, Cousin Gertrude, what are you thinking of?
You know how she hates it, and calls it wicked.” Chee was almost in
tears.
“Dear Birdie, can’t you see that’s what the whole thing is for—to cure
Aunt Mean of her nonsense? You know how proud she is—we think
if we can only get her to the hall, that, after she has heard how
beautifully you play and how fine people think it is, she will give right
in.”
“I’m ’fraid she mightn’t—’sides, Cousin Gertrude, how could I ever
play at the hall? I never, never could do that.”
“Chee,” Gertrude’s face was earnest with pleading, “you love your
little violin, don’t you?”
“You know I love Daddy Joe’s fiddle best of everything in this world.”
“Well, if you knew that all you ever might learn about it depended
upon whether you played at the hall or not, couldn’t you do it?”
“Do you mean I could learn to make music like the man at the
concert long ago?” Chee spoke tremulously, and tears filled her eyes
as they looked up, so full of yearning entreaty.
“Yes, I think you could. If our concert was a success, so Aunt Mean
would let you go, we would take you to the city with us, where you
could study music to your heart’s content.”
“Go to the city and learn how to play all I want to!” Chee echoed.
“Can’t you get courage to play at the concert, now?” The child’s lips
compressed for a moment, then she answered in a whisper, “I don’t
believe she’d ever let me go, but I’ll try.”
“That’s a dear. Don’t you worry about Aunt Mean. Just wait until my
Nut-Brown Maiden thrills the house.”
Chee shook her head dubiously. “Aunt Mean never lets anything
make her feel as though she must fly straight to heaven. She can’t,”
said the little girl, translating Gertrude’s words into a language of her
own.
 CHAPTER XII.
BUSY weeks followed. Mr. Farrar frequently came and went—of
course to see Gertrude, but often their afternoon drive together was
only to and from the parsonage gate.
Finally the day for the concert was set. Artists from a distance were
engaged, and the children’s rehearsal commenced. Chesterfield life
had begun to lag. For the farmers it was less dull than for the
townsfolk, on account of the haying. But gossip was scarce, and the
news of a concert ahead was a genuine treat.
“Now I wouldn’t snap my fingers to hear the school youngsters holler,
but regular music fellers from the city—that’s something we don’t get
a chance at every day.”
The choir-leader made this remark with his usual nasal drawl. The
big bulletin of the coming event was being fastened against the wall
of the post-office. A little knot of men and boys had gathered around.
“Well, I don’t know as I could ’zactly afford to pay for city finery, but
as Sadie and Bill are both a-going to sing, mother ’n’ me cal’ated as
how we’d have to see they did right proper,” replied wee Sadie’s
grandpa.
“Stuff and nonsense,” growled the doctor, as he peered impatiently
at the postmistress, as though that meek little person was to blame
for the tardiness of a letter, “waste of time and money.” But the
doctor was a bachelor, and “took in the shows,” so the people said,
during his city trips. He was a gruff man, and though they had often
proved his kind-heartedness in a case of measles, or scarlet fever,
small urchins stepped aside with alacrity as he passed.
“Some on you is wrong, and some on you is maybe right,” said Bill
Saulswick, the village wag and philosopher, “but I know good tunes
when I hears ’um; just gimme the sort, be it fiddlin’, or singin’, or
drummin’,—that tells me why I’m who, and which I’m what, and when
I’m where, and I’ll sit there till the lights go out.”
While the villagers enjoyed the gossip, poor little Chee was in a whirl
of excitement. Her days seemed a series of ups and downs. At times
she could hardly wait for the great day to arrive, then in a moment
her heart would sink with terror, and she would hide herself for hours
until she had conquered the temptation to tell Cousin Gertrude she
must break her promise. But she came of a sturdy, resolute race,—to
falter would be worse than to fail, so she struggled with herself,
Gertrude claiming more and more of her time as the eventful day
drew nearer.
“It do beat all,” Aunt Mean would exclaim, as from the pantry window
she watched the girls go through the meadow lot, “what Gertrude
finds so entertainin’ about that child. She hasn’t eyes for nobody but
her, gaddin’ off every day, or ridin’ to town. I should most expect her
beau would make some kind of a row over it.”
For they did “gad off” every pleasant day, sometimes to the grove to
plan, but more often to the minister’s. There Chee would practise on
Mr. Green’s violin, while Gertrude read or talked with Mrs. Green.
A few days before the concert, Mr. Farrar met them that he might
hear, for the last time, Chee’s piece.
“Cousin Herman, if I play very well indeed, will you please say ‘yes’
to something?”
“That’s rather broad,” replied the gentleman; “suppose I can’t say
‘yes.’”
“Oh, but I know you can, just as well as not.”
“What is it about?”
Chee flushed a little, but answered, smilingly, “Clothes.”
“Ho, ho, that’s it! Well, I guess I can go it.”
Mr. Farrar considered himself an apt student of human nature. “It’s
only natural the child should have a little pride. It’s a good thing
Gertrude intends to see to a gown for her.” So said the young man to
himself, little doubting the exact nature of Chee’s request.
Satisfied with his promise to say “yes,” the little girl began to play her
chosen piece.
It had taken so long to make a selection from her old pieces, Cousin
Herman had bought several new ones—marvels of creation they
were to Chee. “Fixed up with the baby songs all in,” as she styled the
turns and trills. She had tried to play true to the notes, but it was a
hard task. To-day as she was conscientiously measuring them out,
he left the room a moment to speak with the minister. Returning, he
was surprised at the progress she had made in his absence.
Thinking his presence had hindered her, he stole softly to the door.
With a listening expression on her face, Chee was slowly pacing the
floor. The sheet of music lay on the table, face down. Undoubtedly,
as Mr. Farrar recalled the selection, it was the one she was playing—
but how changed! It seemed to have been but the framework for the
little artist to build upon.
She finished, and brushing the damp hair from her warm forehead,
looked up. Cousin Herman stood in the doorway. Chee glanced at
the neglected sheet of music with a guilty look. “I forgot, Cousin
Herman, I really did,” she explained, hurriedly.
“I guess you needn’t bother with the notes. I see you have the
melody in your head.” He tried to speak unconcernedly.
Chee was relieved. “I’m ever so glad. You don’t know how much
easier it will be.”
“After you have a teacher I suppose it will be necessary to tie you
down to accurate reading, but until then we won’t spoil your own
way.”
The minister came in just then, followed by his wife and Gertrude. “Is
the lesson over?” he asked.
“Cousin Herman has got to say ‘yes’ now.”
“Say ‘yes?’ What to?”
“That’s just what he hasn’t been told,” replied Mr. Farrar.
Going to him, Chee drew down his head, that she might whisper in
his ear. He looked perplexed. A private consultation followed, much
to the amusement of the others in the room.
At first he seemed hard to persuade, but finally yielded, and Chee
left him with a satisfied, “That’s a good Cousin Herman.”
“Gertrude,” he said at parting, “you needn’t order Chee’s dress; that
matter has already been attended to.”
Gertrude was not only astonished, she was disappointed, and
started to speak, then checked herself.
“After all, Herman must know what he is about. I’ll leave it to him.”
Gertrude had learned one lesson; it could not be forgotten soon.
 CHAPTER XIII.
THE day of the concert smilingly dawned.
At breakfast, Uncle Reuben surprised them by saying, “I’m going
over the river to-day, Mean. Don’t you want to go ’long, and stop to
George’s?”
Aunt Mean hesitated.
“You kin wear your best bunnet, so’s to stop to the concert on the
way back.”
“Reuben Whittaker! you’re not going to blow in a single cent on any
concert, and you know it. If Gertrude is foolish ’nough to go and take
Chee, that ain’t none of my business.” Aunt Mean looked toward her
nieces as she spoke, but the cousins’ eyes were fixed upon their
plates.
“Why, Mean,” said Uncle Reuben, mildly, “the minister says the hull
town is going to turn out. Even—”
“When did you see the minister?” interrupted his sister.
“Even Miss Flanigin sent for her sister to take keer of the young’ns,”
continued Uncle Reuben, without notice of any question. “I never
reckoned on our being behind the Flanigins.”
“Humph! those Flanigins,” was Aunt Mean’s only comment. But
Gertrude noticed, as they drove away, a bonnet with a purple poppy
had won the day.
“What could have possessed Uncle Reuben to take her off to-day, of
all days?” gleefully questioned Chee.
“Everything is turning out just right, that’s a fact,” replied her cousin.
A thought of half suspicion came to Chee. “You don’t suppose—”
she began, impressively, when Gertrude gave a little cry of pleasure,
saying, “If here doesn’t come Herman, the old dear, and the house
all to ourselves.”
What a day of it they had! With only her two good friends to watch
her, Chee forgot her usual reserve, and quite surprised them with her
happy chatter. Without the restraint of Aunt Mean’s practical
presence, some of the child’s queer fancies and odd expressions
crept into her talk. Until then, Gertrude had but half realized how truly
the little cousin’s nature was made up of the sensitive perceptions
and legendary instincts of her mother’s people.
Toward evening a thunder-storm threatened. The three were sitting
in Aunt Mean’s plant-room at the time.
“Grandfather is speaking,” said Chee, pleasantly, as the first distant
mutterings of thunder were heard. Cousin Herman looked up
questioningly.
“Who?” asked Gertrude.
“Grandfather—don’t you hear him?”
Just then a sharp clap rang through the air. Gertrude held her fingers
to her ears.
“That was M’dessun,” said Chee. Then noticing her companions’
bewildered glances, added, “It’s very easy to know his voice from
grandfather’s other sons’—he talks so angrily.”
The thunder still roared. Mr. Farrar closed the plant-room door. “I
guess we hadn’t better sit out here for awhile,” he said, gathering up
Gertrude’s books. “We can come back, it won’t last long, I think.”
“Don’t go! What made you shut the door? I love to hear them,” and
Chee stepped out into the rising storm fearlessly, as though the sky
had been all sunshine.
“Come in, Chee. Oh, do come in!” cried Gertrude, pale with alarm.
The child ran quickly, and throwing her arms around her cousin,
asked, “Why, are you sick? What is the matter? Don’t you like
Thunder? He is our grandfather, you know.”
“Is the girl crazy?” asked Mr. Farrar.