Deakin University Sociology: Reflective Report on Chinese Museum Visit

This report provides a reflective account of a visit to the Chinese Museum in Melbourne, exploring its role in depicting the history of ethnic Chinese communities in Australia. The report begins with background information on the museum, highlighting its establishment in 1985 and its location in Melbourne's Chinatown. It then details a personal site visit experience, including observations on the museum's architecture, exhibitions, and cultural events. The report addresses how the museum uses relics and exhibitions to enhance awareness of cultural diversity and Chinese-Australian history, referencing scholarly articles to support its analysis. It concludes by emphasizing the museum's significance in promoting cultural diversity and fostering unity within the Chinese community, mentioning events like Tea Tasting Ceremonies and Shanghai weeks.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Reflection on Chinese museum in Melbourne
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background................................................................................................................................2
Site visit......................................................................................................................................3
Question.....................................................................................................................................4
In what ways and how does the Chinese Museum depict the history of ethnic Chinese
communities in Australia?......................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
This report focuses on Chinese museum in Melbourne. Background of the site would
be excavated in terms of enhancing the awareness of the readers regarding the site and its
contribution towards depicting the history of the ethnic communities within the threshold of
Australia. Reflective observation gains an important position in the report, enlivening the
experiences of the readers in terms of enhancing the cultural diversity. Answering the
question is an initiative towards consideration of the scholarly articles within the propositions
and assumptions. Conclusion would be provided in terms of assessing the extent to which the
experience of the readers have been concretized regarding site visit.
Background
Established in 1985, the museum was formed for ensuring community benefit. Non-
profit approach proves beneficial in terms of gaining large scale support towards
documentation, preserving, collecting and researching about the present culture, ancient
culture and its descendants. The museum finds its place in the 19th century five storeyed
warehouse, built by Cohen Brothers in 1890 (Chinesemuseum.com.au 2019). The warehouse
was used as a store room for manufacturing furniture. After Cohen Brothers, the ownership of
the warehouse went to Her Majesty, who used it for storing the sets and costumes. It also
served as changing rooms for the participants in the musical extravaganza.
In the era of 1985, the ownership of the warehouse passed onto the Victorian
government. The museum is rented by the government in terms of a nominal fees. At the time
of its launching, the museum lacked financial stability. Moreover, only three levels were
renovated.
Central location in Melbourne’s Chinatown helps the Chinese museum to preserve the
cultural and ethnic diversity of Chinese community within the threshold of Australia

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(Chinesemuseum.com.au 2019). The museum acts as an agent in terms of enhancing the
awareness of the audience towards the Australian –Chinese history. Exhibitions are
conducted in the form of Finding Gold, Dragon gallery and Chinese Australian history. As a
matter of specification, exhibitions also conducted for enriching the information of the
audience about Han dynasty, which ruled the society in the ancient period. Local and
international artists are hired for conducting the exhibitions. Along with this, cultural events
and contemporary art shows are also presented. Group bookings help the guests to avail the
services of guided tours, programs and workshops (Chinesemuseum.com.au 2019).
Site visit
When I entered into the museum, I was awestruck at the architectural features. The
blocks of the building took me to the ancient age, where the buildings were formed only of
the blocks and lacked any designs or painting. As I came across the paintings, displayed in
the exhibition, I could feel the struggles that the ancients encountered for coping up with
modern civilization. The books displayed besides the paintings generated within me an urge
towards exploring the unexplored realms of the ancient history of Chinese in the threshold of
China.
I had enough time on my hand, so I attended the finding gold exhibition. In this, the
gold coins used by the Chinese were displayed for the public. Adequate security is allotted in
these areas in terms of averting the risks of thefts and robberies. As I was walking through the
exhibition areas, I had an exciting experience while excavating the journey of the gold
seekers. With the advice and suggestion of others, I got the opportunity to test my fortune at
the temple of Guan Gong. The priests there are very cooperative. They listen to the issues and
prescribe solutions in terms of nominal fees. I wondered that people from all walks of life
come to this temple for knowing their fate.

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There is a Dragon Gallery. For visiting this gallery, I had to go deep downstairs. I
became afraid of the darkness underground. However, once I reached the exhibition gallery, I
came to know about the dragon procession, which took place in Australia in the last three
years. I could feel the vibrant colours, which united the Chinese communities through these
processions.
Question
In what ways and how does the Chinese Museum depict the history of ethnic Chinese
communities in Australia?
The museum consists of the relics of ancient Chinese communities, which enhances
the awareness of the audience towards the cultural diversity, which prevails in the present
times. According to Couchman and Bagnall (2015), exhibitions and fairs are an agent in
terms of the attracting large number of customers. Government assistance helps the managers
of the museum to hire the foreign experts, who can invest in this fairs and expand the
business. However, the aim in this direction is public welfare, which contradicts the aspect of
enhancing the sales revenue and profit margin (O'Reilly and Parish 2015).
Chinese New Year and other occasions conglomerate different cultures. The parades
in this celebrations are a means for adding happiness into the lives of the audience. Other
celebrations include Tea Tasting Ceremony, Shanghai week among others, which reflects the
initiatives towards preserving the traditional culture of the Chinese communities. On the
contrary, Tao (2018) is of the view that the paintings enliven the historical events, making the
people from the other cultures aware of the Chinese cultures.
The sculptures and artefacts enhances the cultural diversity of the ancient civilization
of Chinese communities within the threshold of China. Commercialization of these artefacts
is an initiative towards promoting the cultural diversity to other parts of the world. Moscardo

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and Hughes (2016) opines that advertisements assist the personnel to stabilize the relationship
with the clients, who belong to different socio-cultural background. Mass appeals through
social media proves beneficial in terms of involving the public in promoting the Chinese-
Australian history. Within this, Levin (2016) points out that the response of the public is
controlled in terms of averting racist comments, which can degrade the sanctity and purity
within the culture (Osmond, Chen and Pearce 2015). Meetings are conducted for revising the
existing the strategies towards organizing the fairs and exhibitions.
Conclusion
Chinese museum in Melbourne forms a symbol for promoting the cultural diversity,
which existed in the ancient Chinese communities. Fairs and exhibition make the audience
aware of the ancient relics, which enhanced the cultural diversity of the Chinese communities
in the threshold of Australia. Reflective observation of the site visit helps in concretization of
the experience regarding the culture and its promotion. Delving deep into the context,
festivals are the source of creating unity in diversity, promoting the integrity within the
culture. Typical evidence of this lies in Tea tasting ceremonies and Shanghai weeks, which
enhances the stability within the parameter of socio-cultural parameter.

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References
Chinesemuseum.com.au 2019. About us. Available at: https://chinesemuseum.com.au/
[Accessed on 28th Jan 2019]
Chinesemuseum.com.au 2019. Chinese museum: what’s on permanent exhibtions. Available
at: https://chinesemuseum.com.au/whats-on/permanent-exhibitions/ [Accessed on 28th Jan
2019]
Couchman, S. and Bagnall, K. eds., 2015. Chinese Australians: Politics, Engagement and
Resistance. Brill.
Levin, A.K. ed., 2016. Global Mobilities: Refugees, Exiles, and Immigrants in Museums and
Archives. Taylor & Francis.
Moscardo, G., and Hughes, K. (2016). Museums Unplugged: Exploring the Impact of
Removing Access to Mobile Communication Devices on Chinese Students' Museum
Experiences. Journal of Leisure Research, 48(5), 395-412.
O'Reilly, C. and Parish, N., 2015. Telling migrant stories in museums in Australia: Does the
community gallery still have a role to play?. Museum Management and Curatorship, 30(4),
pp.296-313.
Osmond, A. M., Chen, T., & Pearce, P. L. (2015). Examining experience economy
approaches to tourists' anticipated experiences: Mainland Chinese travellers consider
Australia. European Journal of Tourism Research, 10, 95.
Tao, K. (2018). 'A native of Canton': Celebrating two centuries of Chinese
immigration. Signals, (123), 66.

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