SEMINAR: Hearing the Voice of Chinese International Students at the National Library of Australia

As a recipient of the prestigious Asian Studies Grant, Dr Tao spent four weeks at the National Library of Australia in January 2020, when he was able to explore and investigate into the memoirs published by Chinese international students who studied in Australia since the 1980s. In this talk, Dr Tao will report the preliminary findings of his research residency. According to these findings, the study environment for Chinese international students in Australia changed significantly in the last four decades as a result of the rapid process of globalisation and the advance of telecommunication technologies. However, the key factors that impact the experience of Chinese international students in Australia remain persistent, including the challenges of establishing cross-cultural friendships and the importance of mono-cultural support networks. Dr Tao will also reflect on his experience of working on NLA’s Australiana Collection in the Chinese Language, which is a globally unique resource for researchers and readers who care particularly about how Australia is perceived and presented in the Chinese-language publications.