19. Holding up half the Family - Women of the Chinese Diaspora

When people talk about the Chinese diaspora before the mid-20th century, it’s usually described as a story of men heading overseas. But those men stayed closely tied to the women who remained in their villages back in south China—often just as many, if not more, than the men who left. The role these women played has been seriously under-researched. Because of that, the focus in most writing has been on leaving and settling abroad, not on the lives of those who stayed or on the experiences of return. For the women in the villages, life revolved around remittances. That meant living in a space shaped by both wealth and poverty, dependence and independence, authority and anxiety, loneliness and freedom. If we bring these women properly into the picture—at least as much as our mostly male-centred sources allow—it opens up new ways of understanding the diaspora. We can better see how restrictive white-settler laws were felt back home, and what motivated some men to return to their villages while others never did. For the published article see: Michael Williams, 2021. Holding Up Half the Family, Journal of Chinese Overseas 17.1, pp.179-195. https://doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341438 Please check out our publications at - https://chidestudypresscom.wordpress.com/the-bookstore Feel free to ask questions at: [email protected]  For a general overview of Chinese Australian history check out Episode 7: https://chidestudypress.podbean.com/e/7-chinese-australian-history-a-brief-overview/