This research project is a part of the Cultural Identity Research led by the Confucius
Institute at the University of Western Australia which focuses on the Chinese who have migrated
to Australia since China opened up to the world in the 1980s. In this book we will tell the
stories of these ordinary Chinese their happiness and sorrows inspirations and difficulties
and through recorded oral histories we will analyse their cultural identity and their
experience of integration with and contribution to this vast far away land. Most of our
interviewees even if they have been living in Australia for many years struggle to convey
their cultural identity. This project is a precursor to further research on this fascinating
universal issue for immigrants.
