Diasporic Rituals and Identity: Chinese Australian Commemorations of the Early Phases of the Sino-Japanese War, 1931–33

Abstract

Chinese commemoration of the Second Sino-Japanese War has been explored almost exclusively within the nation-state framework. Little scholarly attention has been directed to investigating the transnational dimension of commemoration. The Chinese Kuomintang in Australia held commemorations from 1931 to 1933 to commemorate the deceased Chinese and the loss of Manchuria, appealing to Chinese Australians’ loyalty towards their homeland and asserting Kuomintang leadership over them. However, the ideologies underlying these endeavours were challenged by the Kuomintang’s rivals within the Chinese Australian community through competing commemorations of the war, intensifying the already existing political disruption among Chinese Australians. Factional competition over the memory of the war illustrates how different political priorities have shaped narratives of the past. This article examines those political commemorative expressions, with particular attention to the Chinese community in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1930s, in order to more fully understand the political life and relationship with China of Chinese Australians.