The Poison of Polygamy
A Social Novel
Serialised in 1909-1910, The Poison of Polygamy is a rare gem of Australian literature. The first novel of the Chinese-Australian experience, it follows the fortunes of a young man who leaves his wife behind in southern China to seek his fortunes in the Victorian goldfields. In a rollercoaster tale of blackmail, murder and betrayal, he encounters all manner of perils, from storms at sea to collapsing gold mines and even a thylacine attack in the Victorian bush.
As Australia's and possibly the West's earliest Chinese-language novel, The Poison of Polygamy reveals the human face of migration between Qing China and colonial Australia, and reflects important Chinese social and political developments of the time. Historical investigation has revealed that many characters and incidents in the story were based on real people and events. In this bilingual edition, the original Chinese text is presented alongside a sensitive and transparent translation into English, complete with illuminating footnotes. Translator's and historians' introductions discuss the linguistic, cultural and historical context of the novel, and establish its unique significance in Australia's literary and social history.
'The discovery of The Poison of Polygamy and its publication in this highly informative bilingual edition is a double happiness. It gives readers of literature a highly entertaining new novel, replete with drama, emotion and intrigue. At the same time it documents Chinese Australian life in a key period of history, through a story told with passion and insight by a Chinese writer for Chinese readers. The eloquent translation by Ely Finch and the generous commentary by the translator and his colleagues now make this rich material available in English. The Poison of Polygamy is a valuable addition to Australian literature and to a more appreciative understanding of the Chinese contribution to Australian society over many years.' — Nicholas Jose
Wong Shee Ping was a writer for Melbourne’s Chinese Times, a Christian preacher, a Chinese revolutionary and a member of a prominent family in Victoria’s Chinese business community. He is reported to have spoken little English, yet he made it his mission to espouse Western-influenced values and ideas.
Ely Finch is a consultant translator and linguist who specialises in historical documents and inscriptions written in literary (classical) Chinese, Cantonese, and other southern Chinese languages. His expertise and work on Australian Chinese-language historical material has been of assistance to historians, archaeologists, museums and other institutions, and has garnered widespread academic and community attention in recent years.
Mei-fen Kuo is a scholar of Chinese Australians from a diasporic perspective. Her Making Chinese Australia: Urban Elites, Newspapers and the Formation of Chinese Australian Identity, 1892–1912, was shortlisted for the W K Hancock Prize, and, with Judith Brett, she authored Unlocking the History of the Australasian Kuo Min Tang, 1911–2013. Mei-fen was an ARC DECRA Fellow at the University of Queensland and is currently a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University under the MOFA Taiwan Fellowship.
Michael Williams is an historian of the Chinese diaspora and is a founding member of the Chinese Australian Historical Society. His current research involves a history of the dictation test, a history of Chinese opera in Australia, and a comparison of Australia’s pre-1949 Chinese-Australian history with its post-1989 history. Michael is an adjunct fellow with the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University and is the author of Returning Home with Glory (Hong Kong University Press, 2018). Michael also teaches courses in Australian history and Chinese in the world at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
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