200年後澳大利亞華人仍在證明他們屬於這裏

SYDNEY, Australia — Out of a pile of papers on her dining table, Man-Yee Leanfore, 70, pulled out one: a copy of an old immigration document from 1907.

澳大利亞悉尼——70歲的曼伊·林弗(Man-yee Leanfore)從餐桌上的一堆文件中抽出了一份1907年的舊移民文件。

A young woman in a traditional Chinese dress stared out from the attached photos. Age: 29. Build: Thin. Hair: Dark. Nationality: Chinese.

在文件上的照片中，一名身着中式裙裝的年輕女子凝視着鏡頭。年齡：29。體型：瘦。頭髮：黑色。國籍：中國。

The document permitted Mrs. Leanfore’s great-grandmother, Yuck Land Hing, to come and go from Australia at a time when the White Australia Policy kept out most Asian immigrants. It was a limited reprieve — a three-year exemption to the dictation test commonly used to exclude nonwhite immigrants.

這份文件讓林弗的曾祖母於蘭馨（Yuck Land Hing，音）得以在白澳政策將大部分亞洲移民拒之門外時往返澳大利亞。它是有限的緩刑——三年內免於接受常被用來排擠非白人移民的聽寫測試。

“We suffered,” Mrs. Leanfore said as she looked at the photo, recalling the first in a long line of her relatives who emigrated to Australia. “But we didn’t do anything wrong.”

“我們吃盡苦頭，”林弗看着照片說。她回憶起了歷代移民澳大利亞的親戚中的第一人。“但我們沒有做錯什麼。”

This year commemorates 200 years of Chinese migration to Australia. The anniversary comes at a time when Australia is once again conflicted about its relationship with the region’s biggest, most powerful country, and many Chinese Australians are digging into their families’ archives to share their history with audiences from both China and Australia.

今年是華人移民來澳200週年，正值澳大利亞再次與該地區最大、最有影響力的國家充滿矛盾。很多華裔澳大利亞人正在挖掘家族檔案，以便與中國和澳大利亞的觀衆分享他們的歷史。

February’s Lunar New Year celebrations in Sydney featured talks from local historians. Chinese-Australian history museums are planning new exhibitions that connect the story of the Australia’s earliest Chinese immigrants to its newest, and community organizations are hosting regular talks around Chinese figures in Australian history.

2月的農曆新年期間，悉尼當地的歷史學家舉辦了多場講座。華裔澳大利亞人歷史博物館正在籌辦把澳大利亞最早的華人移民的故事同最新的移民連接起來的新展覽，許多社區機構也定期舉辦有關澳大利亞歷史上的華人的講座。

Even in smaller towns and cities like Bendigo, where the Golden Dragon Museum has successfully raised money to replace its historic ceremonial Qing dynasty dragon, Chinese Australians are actively seeking ways to keep their culture alive.

即便是在像本迪戈(Bendigo)這樣的小城鎮裏，華裔澳大利亞人也在積極地想辦法保留自己的文化。本迪戈的金龍博物館已經成功地籌集到了資金，能夠替換掉該博物館源自清朝，具有歷史意義的儀式用龍。

Those who are involved say these activities are an effort to define their community on its own terms, separate from debates over the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in Australia, and to ensure that the public understands that not everyone who looks Chinese in Australia is a new arrival.

參與其中的人說，這些活動是爲了獨立於有關中國共產黨在澳大利亞的影響力的討論之外，用自己的方式來定義他們所在的羣體，並確保公衆明白，在澳大利亞並不是所有看着像中國人的人都是新來的。

“I think people, especially white people, lump us all as Chinese, as if everybody is the same,” said Teik Hock Lim, 67, an ethnic Chinese, retired social worker, who grew up in Malaysia under British rule. “It’s like if people would call all white people the same.”

“我覺得人們，尤其是白人，把我們都歸爲中國人，彷彿所有人都一樣，”在英國統治時期的馬來西亞長大，現已67歲的華裔退休社會服務工作者林德福（Teik Hock Lim，音）說。“就像人們認爲所有白人都一樣。”

Australia’s relationship to Chinese immigration has always zigzagged between rejection and acceptance.

澳大利亞與華人移民的關係永遠在拒絕和接受之間搖擺。

In 1818, Mak Sai Ying, a young man from Guangdong, stepped off a ship in Port Jackson, becoming one of the first recorded Chinese immigrants to the continent. Given the Anglicized name John Shying, he became a well-known pub owner in Sydney’s west.

1818年，來自廣東的年輕男子麥世英(Mak Sai Ying)在傑克遜港(Port Jackson)下船，成爲有記載的最早一批來澳華人移民之一。他起了一個聽起來很英國的名字John Shying，成了悉尼西邊有名的酒吧老闆。

When gold was discovered in the 1850s, a wave of new migrants from around the world arrived to try their luck, including thousands of Chinese men from Canton.

19世紀50年代發現黃金後，來自世界各地的新移民紛紛涌來碰運氣，其中包括來自廣州的成千上萬名中國人。

Out on the goldfields, competition for riches meant tension simmered between European and Chinese miners. Riots broke out; in one instance, a mob of 3,000 European miners burned a Chinese camp.

在金礦區，對財富的爭奪令歐洲和中國礦工之間關係緊張。不時有騷亂爆發，在其中一起事件中，一個由3000名歐洲礦工組成的團伙燒燬了一處中國人的營地。

To discourage immigration, Victorian ports levied a heavy tax on Chinese miners. But the most resolved disembarked at South Australian ports and made the 500 km (310 mile) trek to the goldfields on foot. Not all survived.

爲了阻止移民，維多利亞州的港口對中國礦工徵收重稅。但最堅決的人在南澳大利亞州的港口上岸，然後徒步跋涉500公里抵達金礦。並非所有人都能活下來。

Australia’s first federal parliament went on to pass legislation in 1901 that would require all immigrants to pass a 50-word dictation test to enter the country. Because the test was enacted to keep nonwhite immigrants out, there was an insidious twist: officials could test applicants in any European language.

1901年，澳大利亞第一屆聯邦議會通過立法，要求所有移民通過50個詞的聽寫測試後才能入境。因爲實行測試是爲了阻止非白人移民入境，因此暗中出現了一種變化：官方可以用任意一種歐洲語言測試申請人。

After a while, “there was never a Chinese person who could pass it,” said Daphne Lowe Kelley, a community leader and former President of the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia. Unable to enter Australia in the 1920s, Ms. Lowe Kelley’s father sailed to New Zealand instead, paying a tax to settle there.

之後一段時間，“沒有一箇中國人可以通過測試，”社團領袖、前澳洲華人歷史文物會(Chinese Heritage Association of Australia)會長劉瑞馨(Daphne Lowe Kelley)說。20世紀20年代，因爲無法進入澳大利亞，劉瑞馨的父親乘船去了新西蘭，在那裏交稅後定居。

Those of Chinese descent who were already in the country, like Mrs. Leanfore’s great-grandmother, could apply for an exemption from the test in order to travel. But many, with families still living in China, simply gave up and returned home, including Mrs. Leanfore’s grandmother who returned to Guangzhou.

那些已經在澳大利亞的華裔，比如林弗的曾祖母，可以申請免試旅行。但許多仍有家人住在中國的申請者，乾脆放棄並回了老家，包括林弗的祖母，她回到了廣州。

In the decades following 1901, the Chinese population declined.

1901年以後的幾十年裏，華裔人口減少了。

Race-based policies remained in place until 1973, when the government heralded a policy of multiculturalism.

基於種族的政策一直持續到1973年，當時政府宣佈了一項多元文化政策。

Now there are about 1.2 million people in Australia with Chinese ancestry.

現在，澳大利亞有大約120萬人擁有中國血統。

For years, older Chinese Australians have nursed the painful legacy of the White Australia Policy. Now, after 200 years, they see their community as a patchwork of experiences.

多年來，老一輩的澳大利亞華裔承載着着澳大利亞白人政策的痛苦遺產。200年後的今天，他們把自己的社羣看作各種經歷的混合體。

It includes the descendants of Cantonese and Hakka migrants from the Gold Rush era, ethnic Chinese refugees who fled the Vietnam War, migrants from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China who have arrived steadily since the 1980s, and most recently — an influx of Chinese international students.

其中包括淘金熱時期的廣東移民和客家移民的後代，逃離越南戰爭的華裔難民，自20世紀80年代以來持續抵達的香港、澳門、臺灣和中國大陸的移民，以及最近涌入的中國留學生。

Nick Shying, 22, is one of many Chinese Australians whose roots reach back to that first Chinese settler — despite his pale skin and blue eyes. He said people often laugh when he brings up his Chinese heritage. Australians still use appearance as a basis for ethnic assumptions, he said, “but here I am as an example of the potential flaws of taking that approach.”

22歲的尼克·世英(Nick Shying)是許多可以追溯到第一代華人定居者的澳大利亞華裔——儘管他皮膚白皙，眼睛湛藍。他說，當他提到自己身上的中國遺產時，人們經常笑。他說，澳大利亞人仍然把外表作爲種族假設的基礎，“但我的例子說明了採用那種方法可能存在的缺陷。”

Many community leaders say these nuanced identities are once again being overlooked and oversimplified as the public focuses on new waves of immigration.

許多社羣領袖表示，隨着公衆更關注新一波的移民，這些身份的細微差別再次被忽視和被簡單化了。

Part of the reason may be that Australia still considers itself a white nation, said Kate Bagnall, a historian at the University of Wollongong. “That’s a really powerful image that’s really difficult to shift,” she said.

伍倫貢大學(University of Wollongong)的歷史學家凱特·巴格納爾(Kate Bagnall)說，部分原因可能是因爲澳大利亞仍然認爲自己是一個白人國家。“這是一個非常強大的形象，很難改變，”她說。

And with the Australian government fending off allegations of political interference from the Chinese government, some worry this ignorance of history will spur an anti-Chinese backlash.

隨着澳大利亞政府阻擋據指是來自中國政府的政治干預，一些人擔心這種對歷史的無知會激起反華的反彈。

“There are some of us in the community who feel this is shades of the White Australia Policy coming back again,” said Ms. Lowe Kelley, a former president of the Chinese Heritage Association.

“社羣裏有一些人覺得，這是澳大利亞白人政策的陰影捲土重來，”澳洲華人歷史文物會(Chinese Heritage Association)前會長劉瑞馨(Lowe Kelley)表示。

She added that when she reads news singling out Chinese political donations and investment, she worries that it will filter down: “What happens is it tars the whole of the Chinese community.”

她補充道，當她讀到專門針對中國政治捐贈和投資的新聞時，擔心其影響會逐漸擴散滲入：“它讓整個華人社會遭受污名。”

Of the many Chinese Australian historical organizations she has been involved with, none receive funding from the Chinese government, she said.

她說，在她參與的衆多澳大利亞華人歷史組織中，沒有一個得到了中國政府的資助。

Others involved in the revival of Chinese Australian history also said they steer clear of Chinese officialdom.

其他參與澳大利亞華裔歷史復興的人也表示，他們避開了中國官方。

Mark Wang, the deputy chairman of the Museum of Chinese Australian History in Melbourne said the goal is to remain impartial, relying on state government funding, ticket sales and community donations.

墨爾本澳華歷史博物館(Museum of Chinese Australian History)的副館長王興鄉(Mark Wang)表示，他們的目標是保持不偏不倚，依靠州政府資金、門票銷售和社區捐贈。

“We don’t want to be distorted by a political undercurrent,” Mr. Wang said. “We’re about Australian history. We’re not about Chinese history.”

“我們不想被政治暗流所扭曲，”他說。“我們是關於澳大利亞歷史的。而不是關於中國歷史的。”

For families closest to that history, the past is a bittersweet mystery that should never stop being reinterpreted and retold.

對於最接近那段歷史的家庭來說，過去是一個苦樂參半的謎，永遠無法停止被重新詮釋與講述。

Mrs. Leanfore’s son, Ken, 31 is a photographer. Tired of fielding questions about his unusual last name, he recently curated an exhibition using stories of Chinese Australians with names that were Anglicized by immigration officers.

林弗31歲的兒子肯(Ken)是一名攝影師。因爲厭倦了他那不尋常的姓氏引起的好奇，他最近策劃了一個展覽，講述那些名字被移民官員英語化的澳大利亞華人的故事。

On a recent afternoon, in the family home her ancestors bought in 1928, Mrs. Leanfore sipped tea with her husband and son, as a pack of grandchildren chased each other through the house.

不久前的一個下午，在她祖先1928年買下的那棟家庭住宅裏，林弗和丈夫、兒子一起喝茶，一羣孫子孫女在房子裏互相追逐玩耍。

“None of them are pure Chinese,” said Mrs. Leanfore, smiling. “But that’s what the future is going to be.”

“他們沒有一個是純正的中國人，”林弗微笑着說。“但未來就是這樣的。”