In financial year 2023, it was estimated that 64.32 thousand more Chinese migrated to Australia than emigrated. This marked a significant increase in Chinese net migration compared to 14.72 thousand people in the previous financial year.

The Chinese community in Australia

Chinese migration to Australia dates back to the Australian gold rush of the 1850s and 60s, however, exclusionary migration policies up until the 1970’s restricted migration from China for some time. Since then, immigration from China has increased steadily and Chinese migrants now represent Australia’s third largest migrant group after the UK and India. The 2016 Australian census showed that Mandarin was the second most common language spoken at home in Australia, and Cantonese came in fourth. The Australian Chinese community also includes a significant proportion of the international students from China choosing to study in Australia.

Chinese investment in Australia

Although foreign investment in Australia still comes primarily from its traditional trade partners, the United States and the United Kingdom, Chinese investment has been increasing in recent years. The bulk of Chinese investment in Australia goes toward commercial real estate and agribusiness. In New South Wales alone, real estate investment from China totaled almost 1.25 billion Australian dollars, which accounted for around a half of all Chinese real estate investment in the country. By comparison, in 2019 the import value of Australian food products to China displayed yet another year on year increase, totaling more than two billion U.S. dollars.

According to a survey conducted in September and October 2021, around 40 percent of Australian residents with a Chinese ancestry said Australia is more to blame for tensions in the Australia-China relationship. In contrast, only four percent of representative respondents from the total Australian population thought Australia is more to blame for the tensions.

Among countries with the highest number of overseas Chinese on each continent, the largest Chinese diaspora community is living in Indonesia, numbering more than ten million people. Most of these people are descendants from migrants born in China, who have moved to Indonesia a long time ago. On the contrary, a large part of overseas Chinese living in Canada and Australia have arrived in these countries only during the last two decades. China as an emigration country Many Chinese people have emigrated from their home country in search of better living conditions and educational chances. The increasing number of Chinese emigrants has benefited from loosened migration policies. On the one hand, the attitude of the Chinese government towards emigration has changed significantly. Overseas Chinese are considered to be strong supporters for the overall strength of Chinese culture and international influence. On the other hand, migration policies in the United States and Canada are changing with time, expanding migration opportunities for non-European immigrants. As a result, China has become one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the highest outflows of high net worth individuals. However, the mass emigration is causing a severe loss of homegrown talents and assets. The problem of talent and wealth outflow has raised pressing questions to the Chinese government, and a solution to this issue is yet to be determined. Popular destinations among Chinese emigrants Over the last decades, English speaking developed countries have been popular destinations for Chinese emigrants. In 2022 alone, the number of people from China naturalized as U.S. citizens had amounted to over 27,000 people, while nearly 68,000 had obtained legal permanent resident status as “green card” recipients. Among other popular immigration destinations for Chinese riches are Canada, Australia, Europe, and Singapore.

Parental agency of their children’s language learning is often determined by their perceptions of the significance of the language in both family and society levels. Based on a larger ethnography conducted in Sydney from 2017 to 2020, this study investigates the language ideologies of Chinese immigrant parents from the People’s Republic of China in the recent decades, regarding the maintenance of their children’s Chinese heritage language(s). Drawing on the concept of language as pride and profit shifting between communities across time and space, this study reveals that Chinese parents primarily emphasize the economic benefits associated with Chinese languages when it comes to preserving their heritage language(s). While the significance of cultural pride and identity remains evident, there is a notable shift where the concept of pride is merging with that of profit concerning the importance of Chinese heritage language. However, the commodification of Chinese and identity, privileging “national” mandarin while marginalizing “regional” others, impedes the transmission of diverse Chinese heritage languages other than Mandarin. Simultaneously, the value-laden calculation of language prioritizes the “most” prestigious English, often at the expense of “heritage” Mandarin, regardless of its acknowledged economic potential. The findings illustrate how language ideologies and practices within the Chinese diaspora are shaped by power conflicts between English and Mandarin Chinese, hierarchical distinctions between Mandarin and non-Mandarin Chinese, and subtle stratification within regional Chinese languages. The research underscores the challenges faced by minority communities in preserving their heritage languages, particularly those with limited economic capital or political influence.

In the year ending December 2024, around 891,550 visitors from China arrived in Australia. While this was still less than in pre-pandemic times, when around 1.4 million people from China visited Australia annually, this marked a significant recovery from 2021 and 2022 figures.

Australia Imports: cif: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data was reported at 689.029 USD mn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 961.907 USD mn for 2022. Australia Imports: cif: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data is updated yearly, averaging 578.279 USD mn from Dec 1950 (Median) to 2023, with 74 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.311 USD bn in 2012 and a record low of 1.540 USD mn in 1952. Australia Imports: cif: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.IMF.DOT: Imports: cif: by Country: Annual.

Since the late 20th century, China-born population has emerged as the third largest source of permanent immigrants to Australia. This study aims to explore the dynamics of heritage bilingualism of twenty-five 1.5-generation Chinese-Australian adolescents and young adults, a cohort that is often overlooked in migration studies. Through family questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, field observations, and linguistic samples, the study explores how the age at migration influences language attitudes, proficiency performance, cultural identity, and socialization patterns among three age-of-migration cohorts. While the study confirms a common trend of language erosion across all age cohorts, it distinctively delineates the varying degrees of language attrition specifically associated with the age at migration. Meanwhile, the research spotlights exceptional cases of maintained heritage language fluency, underscoring how family strategies, child agency, educational policies, and literary engagement are crucial in combating language erosion and fostering heritage language proficiency. The finding underscores the importance of understanding the unique linguistic journeys across age-of-migration groups to better support their language development and maintenance. It provides valuable insights for families, educators, and policymakers working to sustain minority languages within a dominant English-speaking environment.

According to a survey conducted in September and October 2021, around 74 percent of Australian residents with a Chinese ancestry were convinced that Australia should remain neutral in the case of a military conflict between China and the United States. In contrast, representative respondents from the total Australian population were more inclined to support the United States.

Australia Imports: fob: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data was reported at 650.027 USD mn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 907.459 USD mn for 2022. Australia Imports: fob: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data is updated yearly, averaging 525.708 USD mn from Dec 1950 (Median) to 2023, with 74 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.236 USD bn in 2012 and a record low of 1.400 USD mn in 1952. Australia Imports: fob: Advanced Economies: China, People Republic: Hong Kong data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.IMF.DOT: Imports: fob: by Country: Annual.

ABS Census data extract - G09 COUNTRY OF BIRTH OF PERSON BY AGE providing a breakdown of population at Suburb level and by:age groupscountry of birth of person(a)Australia(b)China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)(c)Hong Kong (SAR of China)(c)Born elsewhere(d)This data is based on place of usual residence.(a) This list consists of the most common 50 Country of Birth responses reported in the 2016 Census and 2011 Census.(b) Includes 'Australia', 'Australia (includes External Territories), nfd', 'Norfolk Island' and 'Australian External Territories, nec'.(c) Special Administrative Regions (SARs) comprise 'Hong Kong (SAR of China)' and 'Macau (SAR of China)'. (d) Includes countries not identified individually, 'Inadequately described', and 'At sea'. Excludes not stated.Please note that there are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals.

Australia Imports: cif: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Mainland data was reported at 73.543 USD bn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 81.926 USD bn for 2022. Australia Imports: cif: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Mainland data is updated yearly, averaging 369.945 USD mn from Dec 1948 (Median) to 2023, with 76 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 81.926 USD bn in 2022 and a record low of 3.850 USD mn in 1952. Australia Imports: cif: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Mainland data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.IMF.DOT: Imports: cif: by Country: Annual.

Resistance to trade and demands for protectionist policy can derive from social as well as economic factors. A sense of cultural threat surrounding immigrants, especially immigrants visibly from groups that are widely stigmatized among the local population, may potentially stimulate such recoiling from exposure to the world. Voting patterns in the 1889 election in New South Wales, Australia, confirm this hypothesis: in a contest between the Protectionist and Free Trade Parties amidst reaction against the Chinese-Australian population, larger shares of voters preferred the protectionist, trade-restricting side in areas with proportionately larger ethnically Chinese populations than in otherwise similar areas elsewhere.

According to a survey conducted between January and May 2024, around 85 percent of respondents in Australia said to have a negative view of China. The share of people having a negative opinion of China has increased considerably since 2017.

Australia Exports: fob: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Macao data was reported at 67.556 USD mn in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 46.998 USD mn for 2022. Australia Exports: fob: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Macao data is updated yearly, averaging 10.848 USD mn from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 50 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 68.307 USD mn in 2018 and a record low of 0.060 USD mn in 1979. Australia Exports: fob: Emerging and Developing Economies: Emerging and Developing Asia: China, People Republic: Macao data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.IMF.DOT: Exports: fob: by Country: Annual.

This dataset lists inmates incarcerated at Cockatoo Island prison in Sydney (Australia) between 1847-1869. It offers insights into how the colonial criminal justice system operated after New South Wales’ transition from a penal colony to a ‘free’ colony when transportation ceased in 1840. It is a useful tool for genealogists tracing the lives of their criminal ancestors and for historians of crime and punishment researching nineteenth-century Australia. The dataset includes prisoners' names and aliases, their ship of arrival, place of origin, details of their colonial conviction(s) (trial place, court, offence, sentence), date(s) admitted to Cockatoo Island, and when and how they were discharged from Cockatoo Island. In some cases, it also includes prisoners' place of origin, occupation, biometric information (height, eye/hair colour, complexion, scars, tattoos), 'condition upon arrival' (convict or free), and (for convicts) details of their original conviction in Britain or Ireland. As a UNESCO World Heritage 'Convict Site' Cockatoo Island is best known as a site of secondary punishment for recidivist convicts, especially those transferred from Norfolk Island. This dataset demonstrates the diversity of the prison population: including nominally free convicts (ticket-of-leave holders), migrants from Britain, China and other Australian colonies drawn in by the gold rush, exiles from Port Phillip, Aboriginal Australians convicted during frontier warfare, colonial-born white Australians (including bushrangers), and black, Indian and American sailors visiting Sydney.

Significant attention has been paid to the more than 160,000 British and Irish convicts who were transported Australia as colonists between 1787 and 1868. Much less has been said about those punished within the criminal justice system that arose in the wake of New South Wales' transition from 'penal' to 'free' colony (Finnane, 1997: x-xi). Cockatoo Island prison opened in 1839, a year before convict transportation to New South Wales ceased, and was intended to punish the most recidivist and violent of the transported convicts. This archetype has prevailed in historical discourses, and they have been described as 'criminal lunatics... [and] criminals incapable of reform' (Parker, 1977: 61); 'the most desperate and abandoned characters' (O'Carrigan, 1994: 64); and people of 'doubtful character' (NSW Government Architect's Office, 2009: 29). Yet, this was far from the truth. My analysis of 1666 prisoners arriving between 1839-52 show they were overwhelming non-violent offenders, tried for minor property crimes at lower courts. They were also far more diverse population than commonly recognised, including Indigenous Australian, Chinese and black convicts alongside majority British and Irish men (Harman, 2012). This project will make publicly available extremely detailed records relating to Cockatoo Island's prisoners to show people firsthand exactly who made up the inmate population. The digital version of the original registers will include information on convicts' criminal record, but also their job, whether they were married or had children, and even what they looked like. It will also be a name-searchable database so family historians can search for their ancestors, who may have been incarcerated on the island. As it stands, they will be able find information online about ancestors who were transported as long as they remained in the 'convict system', but they may seem to disappear as soon as they are awarded their ticket-of-leave and become 'free'. However, many former convicts, and free immigrants, to New South Wales were convicted locally, and these records can give us information about their lives within the colony. The type of data included in these registers will also allow researchers to investigate questions including: (1) were convicts more likely to offend again than free immigrants? (2) Were the children of convicts more likely to offend than others? (3) Did the influx of mostly Chinese migrants during the gold rush actually lead to a crime-wave, as reported in the press? (4) Were laws introduced between 1830 and 1853, actually effective at prosecuting bushrangers (highwaymen)? (5) Was the criminal-judicial system in Australia more rehabilitative, despite developing out of a harsher convict transportation system? Alongside the dataset, the website will include 'life-biographies' of individual convicts to show you how this dataset can be used to piece together a life-story. It also to warns against understanding a real-life person only through the records of their conviction. There many of fascinating stories to tell, including those 'John Perry' ('Black Perry') the prizewinning boxer; the love story of the 'Two Fredericks'; and Tan, the Chinese gold-digger who resisted his incarceration. In addition, there will be teaching resources for secondary school children and undergraduate university students who want to engage directly...

There were more than 141 thousand Chinese student enrolments in Australia as of June 2022, with approximately 116.7 thousand enrolled in the higher education sector alone. This high figure is largely in part to many institutions readily accepting international students, as well as the use of English as the main language in most educational courses. The limited amount of university spots in China due to its large population also forces Chinese students to look overseas for education opportunities.

Demographic of international students in Australia  

Australia has the largest proportion of international students in higher education, with almost a third of all higher education students in the country being international students. Furthermore, Chinese students make up the biggest share of these international students, with almost twice as many students as second-placed India.

Education as a source of income  

While the cost of education is regulated for local students, universities in Australia can set their own prices for internationals. This creates a market where institutions are permitted to set prices to match the high demand for education. The export income from international education activity in Australia reached tens of billions of dollars over the past decade. Despite the high cost of entry, there is still plenty of demand with some universities such as the University of New South Wales having more than 40 percent of students coming from overseas.

In 2023, the total number of Chinese nationals who visited Australia on holiday totaled 147,073 people. The number of Chinese holiday visitors to Australia increased from 2022, following a sharp decline in visitor arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student visitors accounted for the largest number of visitors from China in 2022.

Migrants from the United Kingdom have long been Australia’s primary immigrant group and in 2023 there were roughly 960 thousand English-born people living in Australia. India and China held second and third place respectively with regard to Australia’s foreign-born population. The relative dominance of Asian countries in the list of top ten foreign-born residents of Australia represents a significant shift in Australia’s immigration patterns over the past few decades. Where European-born migrants had previously overshadowed other migrant groups, Australian migration figures are now showing greater migration numbers from neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific. A history of migration Australia is often referred to as an ‘immigrant nation’, alongside the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Before the Second World War, migrants to Australia were almost exclusively from the UK, however after 1945, Australia’s immigration policy was broadened to attract economic migrants and temporary skilled migrants. These policy changes saw and increase in immigrants particularly from Greece and Italy. Today, Australia maintains its status as an ‘’Immigrant nation’’, with almost 30 percent of the population born overseas and around 50 percent of the population having both that were born overseas. Australian visas The Australian immigration program has two main categories of visa, permanent and temporary. The permanent visa category offers three primary pathways: skilled, family and humanitarian. The skilled visa category is by far the most common, with more than a million permanent migrants living in Australia on this visa category at the last Australian census in 2021. Of the temporary visa categories, the higher education visa is the most popular, exceeding 180 thousand arrivals in 2023.

Humans have been living on the continent of Australia (name derived from "Terra Australis"; Latin for "the southern land") for approximately 65,000 years, however population growth was relatively slow until the nineteenth century. Europeans had made some contact with Australia as early as 1606, however there was no significant attempt at settlement until the late eighteenth century. By 1800, the population of Australia was approximately 350,000 people, and the majority of these were Indigenous Australians. As colonization progressed the number of ethnic Europeans increased while the Australian Aboriginal population was decimated through conflict, smallpox and other diseases, with some communities being exterminated completely, such as Aboriginal Tasmanians. Mass migration from Britain and China After the loss of its American colonies in the 1780s, the British Empire looked to other parts of the globe to expand its sphere of influence. In Australia, the first colonies were established in Sydney, Tasmania and Western Australia. Many of these were penal colonies which became home to approximately 164,000 British and Irish convicts who were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. As the decades progressed, expansion into the interior intensified, and the entire country was claimed by Britain in 1826. Inland colonization led to further conflict between European settlers and indigenous Australians, which cost the lives of thousands of natives. Inward expansion also saw the discovery of many natural resources, and most notably led to the gold rushes of the 1850s, which attracted substantial numbers of Chinese migrants to Australia. This mass migration from non-European countries eventually led to some restrictive policies being introduced, culminating with the White Australia Policy of 1901, which cemented ethnic-European dominance in Australian politics and society. These policies were not retracted until the second half of the 1900s. Independent Australia Australia changed its status to a British dominion in 1901, and eventually became independent in 1931. Despite this, Australia has remained a part of the British Commonwealth, and Australian forces (ANZAC) fought with the British and their Allies in both World Wars, and were instrumental in campaigns such as Gallipoli in WWI, and the South West Pacific Theater in WWII. The aftermath of both wars had a significant impact on the Australian population, with approximately 90 thousand deaths in both world wars combined, as well as 15 thousand deaths as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic following WWI, although Australia experienced a significant baby boom following the Second World War. In the past fifty years, Australia has promoted immigration from all over the world, and now has one of the strongest economies and highest living standards in the world, with a population that has grown to over 25 million people in 2020.

According to a survey conducted in September and October 2021, around 34 percent of Australian residents with a Chinese ancestry said they had been treated differently or less favorably because they were of Chinese heritage. At the same time, 18 percent of respondents indicated that they had been physically threatened or attacked because of their Chinese ancestry.