Happy Together

A fresh perspective on the Australia-China relationship told through the lens of memoir, culture and friendship

In the late nineteenth century, as crippling famine devastated northern China, the Li family had no choice but to leave Shanxi province. Heading north, they began a new life, farming the remote grasslands of Inner Mongolia. They prospered as landowners and teachers, but could not escape the ravages of warlords, soldiers and revolutionaries. Born into this pioneering family, Li Yao grew up in Mao's China. He dreamt of becoming a writer, but his dreams were torn apart by the Cultural Revolution. When the storm finally subsided, the young man turned to translation. In Australian writing, he found colourful tales set in new landscapes, a literature quite unfamiliar to him.

Li Yao's story is interwoven with that of his friend, Australian historian David Walker. David's family had also settled in an unfamiliar and difficult land, a world away in distant South Australia. The two men became friends as Li Yao translated one of David's books into Chinese, and their personal histories provide a fascinating, illuminating window into life in China, an experience inevitably shaped by China's relations with the wider world.

About the Authors

David Walker is an Australian historian who holds Honorary Professorships at the University of Melbourne, Western Sydney University and Deakin University. From 2013-2016 he was the inaugural BHP Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University, Beijing. For many years he has studied Australia's responses to Asia. His books include Anxious Nation- Australia and the rise of Asia, 1850-1939; Stranded Nation- White Australia in an Asian Region and (with Louise Johnson and Tanja Luckins) The Story of Australia- a new History of People and Place.

Li Yao is a member of the Chinese Writers' Association who teaches translation at Peking University. He has translated more than thirty Australian books into Chinese ranging from novels and memoirs to children's literature, work that has been acknowledged by the award of honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney and by Western Sydney University where he is an adjunct Professor. He has received many prizes including a life-long achievement award from the Foundation for Australian Studies in China (FASIC).