Sunday Reading with Shanghainese writer
Jinghua Qian

Talking about nature, indie music from Wuhan & race & labour activism in Australia. #SuccourfortheSpirit #SilentDialogueEvents

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the current coronavirus tragedy and what it reveals about capitalism, labour and value. ”

— Jinghua Qian

In Conversation

with
Jinghua Qian (JQ) & correspondences’ Emma Thomson (ET)

Nature, food or art?

JQ—Nature

All-time favourite place

JQ—Probably the beach at Altona or Williamstown. Growing up, I wasn’t really a beach kid – I’m not a strong swimmer and I didn’t like being sticky and sandy and sweaty. But a few years ago I started cycling to the beach regularly, winding my way across from Footscray on my bike, and I started to love how the smell of salt would sneak up on you until suddenly you turned a corner and there it was, the entire ocean.

Favourite place near home

JQ—The Maribyrnong River at night is really magical – you hear the trains rattling along, you see all the shipping containers lit up like a theatre and the dark water gently rippling. I can sit there for hours.

Place I’m dreaming of going or being

JQ—I’m hoping to go to Uluru once the pandemic eases up and it’s okay to travel again. It’s somewhere I’ve been planning to visit for a long time, and now especially I’m attracted to the idea of solidity and open space. Plus now that the climb has finally been banned, after decades of campaigning from Anangu people, it’s also a symbol, I suppose, of slow gains through collective action.

What are you listening to?

JQ—At the moment I’m listening to a lot of indie music from Wuhan. It started off as a solidarity thing when the pandemic first hit the headlines but now it’s become my default playlist. I also like the Shanghai label Eating Music which puts out a lot of sweet synthy pop with a retro vibe, like this track 可爱没用 by 高嘉丰 Jiafeng and 养鸡 which makes me homesick for Shanghai.

ET—For an article on Artist, Entrepreneur, and Vinyl Visionary Cookie Zhang, the amazing creative behind the Eating Music label, refer → here.

Listen to Eating Music

All-time favourite musicians?

JQ—I don’t have an all-time favourite – a few musicians I keep returning to are The Internet, Leonard Cohen and Faye Wong.

Tell us about one of your creations

JQ—I’m choosing to share my 2015 essay entitled "Things and their makers: from ‘European labour only’ to ‘ethical consumerism’", published by Right Now. It looks at race and labour activism in Australia from “European labour only” to “ethical consumerism”.

READ THE ESSAY HERE →

What was the starting point?

JQ—The starting point was the very surface I write on – an antique, leather-topped desk I bought off eBay years ago, which bears a “European labour only” stamp. It’s a beautiful piece of furniture with an ugly history and it made me curious about the political movements that lobbied for this mark.

What were you striving to explore?

JQ—I wanted to investigate this period of Australian history and its legacy today – how nationalism and protectionism continue to inform and often set the parameters of what we think is possible in terms of labour activism.

What are you working on now that we can learn more about and support?

JQ—My next big project is an essay on the idea of “whataboutism” in relation to contemporary China and diaspora thinking. I don’t think I’m ready to say more about it than that just yet! You can support my work with a donation through Ko-Fi.

SUPPORT JINGHUA'S WORK VIA KO-FI →

What else can supporters do?

Pre purchase our book with Jinghua’s words → here
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Follow Jinghua at i: sinotrans_ / t: @qianjinghua.

Biography

Jinghua Qian is a Shanghainese writer living in the Kulin nations, fluent in prose, verse, and sharpening complexities without simplifying them. Jinghua has written about labour movement history for Right Now, performed dirges of diasporic grief in a seafarers’ church for Going Down Swinging, and discussed the racial politics of cosmetic surgery on Radio National.

Ey founded people of colour performance night POC THE MIC (2010-2012), and was a presenter and producer on 3CR Community Radio’s Queering the Air from 2012 to 2015.

Currently serving on the board of Asian-Australian arts and culture magazine, Peril, their words have appeared in The Guardian, Overland, Peril, Cordite, Autostraddle, and Melbourne Writers’ Festival.