Odyssey: An Australian Photographer in China
Australian curator Catherine Croll’s “Odyssey: An Australian Photographer in China” will be on display at the Dali Contemporary Art Space from 5 May-5 August.
 
The exhibition brings together the photographic works of Australians in southwest China over the past 120 years, including adventurer George Morrison, sinologist Charles Patrick Fitzgerald and travelling fabric salesman Harry Glathe. 

AustCham West China Invitation 
AustCham West China invites Australian companies to join its pavilion at the 2018 Chongqing International Investment and Global Sourcing Fair 25-28 May. More than 20 companies representing Australian food, beverages and healthcare products have signed up.  Last year 3 million people attended the fair. Companies interested in this unique opportunity are invited to contact AustCham West China Executive Manager, Edward van der Linden.

Consul-General’s Blog - "What do Chinese Millennials think of Australia?" 

"My last blog explored the new force of Chinese millennials – those born in the 80s and 90s – who now are a crucial part of China’s consumer market.  Getting an insight into what these millennials think of Australia can help us understand what their interests are when we see them visiting as tourists or studying in our universities, and what they’re looking for in our goods and services." 

Chongqing Alumni Talk

Australian alumni in Chongqing enjoyed the first Alumni Talks event at Oliver Brown Cafe on 27 March. More than fifty guests dropped by to learn the latest about Australian education from speakers including Deputy Consul-General Tony Walter (pictured above), IDP Education Senior Consultant Joly Tang and RMA Group Managing Director Riya Ma (pictured below).

Watch out for the next Chongqing Alumni Talk on the topic of innovation and entrepreneurship. Are you an alumni with expertise in that field? We would love to hear from you!

Australian Writers Week 2018

Australian author Richard Flanagan (pictured above) headlined the annual Australian Writers Week in southwest China from 21-22 March.  Flanagan gave a series of talks on “Australian Literature in the Global Context of Multiculturalism”, drawing on his writing experience and understanding of the meaning Chinese audiences take away from Australian literature.

Flanagan spoke to a full house at local bookstores Yan Ji You and Bookworm, as well as at Sichuan University and the Australian Studies Centre at Sichuan Normal University. Each talk was followed by a lively Q&A session (pictured above), including one facilitated at Yan Ji You by Sichuan University Professor of Foreign Literature Yi Dan (pictured below). 

Other writers who visited China this year for Australian Writers Week included Stella Prize Winner Charlotte Wood, as well as authors Alexis Wright and Fiona Wright.

Australia’s Best Journalists Visit Southwest China
The Consulate-General welcomed a group of Australian journalists to Chengdu on 11-12 April as part of the Walkley Foundation’s second Australia-China Media Exchange program. Visitors included the ABC’s Rachel Brown, The Australian’s Chip Le Grand, Kabul-based freelance photographer Andrew Quilty and the Walkley Foundation’s Helen Sullivan. 

Consul Lance Truong (pictured above) accompanied the group on a visit to The Cover, joining a discussion with the local online news outlet’s up and coming cadet journalists. They also visited Sichuan University for a masterclass with students from the school of journalism (pictured below). 

The Walkley Foundation’s Australia-China Media Exchange aims to connect China’s future opinion-shapers with the best journalistic talent in Australia. Judging from the depth of the discussions, many of those opinion-shapers are likely to come from Sichuan!

First Alter Then Water Pushes Sand  

Leading Australian performance artist Tamara Saulwick (pictured above) and creative coder Steve Berrick brought Alter to Chengdu’s West Village Cultural Space 11-14 April. The interactive iPad-based audio-visual installation (pictured below) toured Chengdu with the support of the Australian Government.

Did you miss the fun? Stay tuned for the return of Water Pushes Sand to Chengdu later this year, which includes an all original work by Alter composer Peter Knight.

Did You Know?

April’s Australian Intellectual Property Report reveals that China was the biggest non-resident source of innovation patent filings in 2017, as well as the sixth largest source of standard patent filings.

Flying the Flag

Suining’s mini Australia Park is not to be missed!