Fearless Curious - January 2020: Chinese views on Western controversies
What do Australia's Chinese communities think about controversies such as gender, race and religion - and why are they rarely heard?
Chinese Australians are our nation’s largest non-white minority group. But they're rarely heard from on some of Australia’s most contested controversies including racism, freedom of speech, gender, immigration and religion.
We invite Australians of all backgrounds to this special Sydney Lunar New Year Festival edition of Fearless Curious to discuss how a so-called model minority can tackle controversial issues in an age of political tribalism, “cancel culture” and identity politics.
How have traditional beliefs and values changed between generations of migrants? How have Asian and Western culture - including their different shades - informed Chinese Australian views on controversial issues such as religious freedom, immigration, gender roles, sexuality, freedom of speech, racism and diversity?
Our panellists Wesa Chau, Scott Yung and host Ky Chow will explore the often unheard views of many Chinese Australians on modern controversies, and how they can both participate in and improve Australia’s often divisive and angry public discourse.
Scott Yung
Scott is an education entrepreneur running his own primary school coaching college, following a stint as the Head of Recruitment at ASX-listed wealth management company Yellow Brick Road.
He’s also an active member of the NSW State Liberal party, having run for the seat of Kogarah in the 2019 election, which we noticed earned Scott quite a bit of coverage by the Sydney Morning Herald after comments about then opposition leader Michael Daley, his use of WeChat and some kudos he received by some high profile Chinese celebrities.
Scott is half Shanghainese and half Kong Kong Chinese, and we know for a fact he speaks better Chinese than our founder and panel host Ky Chow. Here Scott is speaking English on The Drum last December.
Wesa Chau
Wesa is the CEO of Cultural Intelligence, a consultancy focused on promoting a better understanding of cultural diversity and its benefits within organisations. She has also held senior positions on groups such as the Multicultural Business Ministerial Council, the Ministerial Council for Womens’ Equality, the Asian-Australian Leadership Summit and the Australia-China High Level Dialogue.
Wesa has also conducted extensive research into how the Asian diaspora in philanthropy, leadership, culture, diversity and politics, where she has also been active, including as the former Victorian state ALP candidate for the seat of Higgins. Here’s Wesa on a panel with our committee member Jeffery Wang.
Ky Chow
The panel will be hosted by Ky, a media consultant and former reporter at The ABC, the Australian Financial Review, Sky News and SBS. Ky is also the host of the On the Other Hand podcast.
Born in Australia, Ky is half-Shanghainese and half Malaysian-Chinese by heritage, though that’s mainly evident by his culinary preferences rather than his language skills. Here’s Ky speaking at TedX.
When: 6:00PM-8:15PM (6:15PM panel start), Wednesday 29th January 2020
Where: Haymarket HQ, Level 2, 63 Dixon Street, Haymarket
Cost: free, registration essential here
