In Conversation with Ming Liew and Mark Wang

Event Information

Questions About A Word is a multi-channel video essay that explores the experience of linguistic barriers. It investigates an English-learning technique that annotates English phonetics with Chinese characters—a method adopted by both the Chinese gold miners and myself, despite being separated by more than 150 years. Through various visual and linguistic strategies, the work associates Chinese-English ephemera from the Victorian goldfields with my lived experience of learning English as a second language. It gives voice to a shared struggle across generations, inviting viewers to consider how translation can move beyond prescribed linguistic traditions and foster understanding that transcends time, language, and ethnicity.

《關於一個詞的提問》是一部多頻道錄像散文，探討語言隔閡的經驗。作品研究了一種以中文註解英語發音的學習方法——這種方法既為十九世紀的華人淘金者所用，我亦在一百五十多年後以此學習英語。透過不同的視覺與語言策略，作品把淘金時期的中英語言文獻與我作為雙語學習者的經歷並置，為跨世代的共同掙扎發聲。作品同時邀請觀眾思考，翻譯如何能超越固有語言傳統，開拓一種跨越時間、語言與族群的理解。

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In Conversation with Ming Liew and Mark Wang

Join an in-conversation event with artist Ming Liew and Mark Wang, CEO of the Museum of Chinese Australian History. The event will further explore the English–Chinese Phrase Book featured in Questions About a Word, in conjunction with other historical documents currently held in the collections of the Chinese Museum, the State Library of Victoria, and the Public Record Office Victoria. 

Facilitated by the artist, the conversation will be guided by a series of questions touching on topics such as the Chinese experience on the goldfields, the persistence of the Chinese–English language barrier, and how the legacy of historical racial oppression continues to shape the experiences of contemporary Chinese-Australians. By engaging with a range of archival documents and drawing connections between them, this proposed activity aims to invite audiences into a shared contemplation of the historical and contemporary Chinese-Australian experience. It also seeks to draw greater public attention to the historical documents created by Chinese gold miners, and to introduce new audiences to the Museum of Chinese Australian History and its collections. 

藝術家對談：劉明正與澳華歷史博物館館長王興鄉（Mark Wang）

齊來參與由藝術家劉明正與澳華歷史博物館館長王興鄉（Mark Wang）對談的活動。本次對談將深入探討《關於一個詞的疑問》中所呈現的《英華對照口語》，並結合目前典藏於澳華歷史博物館、維多利亞州立圖書館及維多利亞州公共檔案館的其他歷史文獻。

由藝術家主持，對談將圍繞一系列問題展開，涉及淘金熱時期的華人經歷、中英語言隔閡的持續存在，以及歷史上種族壓迫的遺緒如何影響當代澳洲華人的生活。透過閱讀與連結多種檔案文獻，本活動旨在邀請觀眾共同思考歷史與當代澳洲華人經驗，同時引起大眾對華人礦工創作的歷史文獻的關注，並向新觀眾介紹澳華歷史博物館及其珍貴館藏。