Wong Shee Ping ( – 1948), 黃樹屏, also known as Wong Yau Kung 黃右公/黃又公, was a Chinese writer, newspaper editor, political activist and Christian preacher.

Biography

Early life

Wong was born in

Kaiping Kaiping (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Hoiping, in local dialect as Hoihen, is a county-level city in Guangdong provinces of China, Province, China. It is located in the western secti ...

. His Kuomintang membership card gave his birth year as 1875, while his marriage certificate listed it as 1878. His father had business interests in Australia, including a gold mine in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, and spent extended periods of time away while Wong and his siblings remained in Guangdong with their mother.

Move to Australia

In 1908, Wong arrived in Melbourne, where his brother was running a Chinese restaurant. Wong took a job as a compositor with the ''Chinese Times'' newspaper before joining its editorial staff and becoming editor of the paper in 1914. With fellow republican Lew Goot-Chee he established the Young China League in Melbourne in 1911. He later moved to Sydney, where he was editor of the ''Chinese Republic News'' in 1919 and 1920 and a revived ''Chinese Times'' from 1920. During the 1910s, Wong travelled to South Australia and Western Australia, to preach and to help establish local branches of the Kuomintang. The Chinese diaspora community played an important role in raising funds and support for the Kuomintang during this period.

Publication of ''The Poison of Polygamy''

In June 1909, the ''Chinese Times'' published the first installment of "a social novel", '' The Poison of Polygamy''. The novel was written in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

and was published in 53 installments in 1909 and 1910. Although the novel was originally published anonymously, historians Mei-fen Kuo and Michael Williams and translator Ely Finch identified Wong as its author while preparing the first English translation of the novel. Wong was a member of the newspaper's editorial staff at the time the story was published. The novel is set in Guangdong, Melbourne, and the goldfields during the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

es and includes commentary on Chinese and Australian society, the White Australia policy, women's rights, marriage, and other social issues. It is the earliest known Chinese-language novel published in Australia, and possibly in the West. Finch's English translation of ''The Poison of Polygamy'' was published by

Sydney University Press Sydney University Press is the scholarly publisher of the University of Sydney. It is part of the Library. Sydney University Press was founded as a traditional university press and operated as such from 1962 to 1987. It was re-established in 20 ...

in 2019. It was adapted for the stage by playwright Anchuli Felicia King for a joint 2023 production by

La Boite Theatre La Boite Theatre, founded as the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society, is an Australian theatre company based in Brisbane, Queensland. La Boite was established in 1925 and is Australia’s longest continuously running theatre company. La Boite ...

in Brisbane and the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...

. A second novel by Wong was serialised in the ''Chinese Times'' and the ''Chinese Republican News'' in 1917 and 1919, under titles that have been translated as "World of Robbers" (in the ''Chinese Times'') and "The Detective's Shadow" (''Chinese Republican News''). An advertisement for this second novel in the ''Chinese Times'' confirmed Wong was the author of ''The Poison of Polygamy''.

Marriage and children

In January 1923 Wong married Ellen Louisa (Cissie) Sam in Melbourne. Their daughter Maude Florence (Bonnie) Shee Ping was born later the same year. He was also survived by a wife and child in Kaiping in 1948.

Later life

In 1924, Wong returned to China to represent Australasia at the first national conference of the Kuomintang. He was appointed by Sun Yatsen to the party’s Central Propaganda Committee and became involved with the ''Hong Kong Morning Post''. Later in the 1920s he held various provincial posts in the Republican government of China, and was a member of its Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. It is not known whether he intended to return to Australia, or whether he kept in touch with his wife Cissie after his departure. There are few known records of his activities after 1931. He died in his home county Kaiping in 1948, aged in his early 70s.

Political and religious views

Wong was a member of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

and was active in promoting the republican cause in the Chinese community in Australia. He was a Christian and in ''The Poison of Polygamy'' advocated for an end to folk religion, polygamy, and other traditional practices. The novel also suggests that he was well versed in Confucianism. Wong also held feminist views and advocated for women's education and political rights. In 1921, he secured permission from Sun Yatsen to waive membership fees for female members of the Australian branches of the Kuomintang, and to allow women to join party committees.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong Shee Ping 20th-century Chinese writers Chinese-Australian culture Members of the Kuomintang Australian newspaper editors Australian activists Chinese male novelists Australian male novelists Chinese emigrants to Australia People from Kaiping