Following our morning excursions to the Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach, we went to the University of Sydney for our evening show. The screening, sponsored by the Confucius Institute and the China Education Centre, was held at the Education Building in Lecture Theatre 351 at 6:30pm. They brought a nice-sized turnout to the screening, with about 60-70 people in attendance. Uncle Clement brought some of his colleagues, and a classmate of my father’s was also at the screening. It’s been great to travel around the world meeting people who have some connection to our parents or to Qiu Jin. We certainly didn’t expect this when we started the project!

It was also nice to meet Sue Wiles, an independent scholar who wrote her thesis on Qiu Jin. Her paper questioned whether or not Qiu Jin was more of a feminist or patriot. Wiles felt Qiu Jin leaned more towards the nationalist side. In China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Qiu Jin is definitely know more for her patriotic and nationalist efforts. With Autumn Gem, we present both sides of the argument, and we let the viewer decide for themselves. This is probably why her story is so interesting — there is no clear cut answer!

Following the screening, Uncle Clement and his colleagues went out to dinner at Marigold Restaurant. He came to Australia for college around the same time my family immigrated to the United States. I didn’t realize that Sydney (and Melbourne) were so racially diverse, with Asians making up 30% of the population. I wonder how things might have turned out differently had my parents’ families immigrated here instead of the US. Would I be a super fan of Aussie Rules Football instead of US Football?

Thanks to Kelly from the Confucius Institute and Lindy Woodrow from the China Education Centre for organizing the screening!

Here are photos from the screening.