– Life & society

Returning migrant workers: injustice and resilience.

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. March, 2008. You can feel the suppressed emotion, despite their blank expressionless faces. It hangs over the entrance to the Chongqing railway station like a Yangtze River fog. A grey pall of despair. A cruel prelude to a return to life as it was 30 years ago before Deng Xiao Ping’s […]

Eling park.

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2004 Eling Park was created toward the end of the Qing Dynasty, before the overthrow of the last emperor, Pu Yi. During the anti-Japanese war the government of China relocated to Chongqing, and these grounds housed the embassies of Australia, Denmark, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. Deng Xiao Ping, Zhang […]

Graduates.

I met them at a job fair in Jiangbei District. My role for the day was to assess their English language competence and recommend the best of them to prospective employers. In some ways, it was a sad experience. So many talented young people looking for a chance. Too many graduate camels trying to squeeze […]

Yixueyuan Lu.

This is where I live. Sandwiched between the main road running from Jiefangbei to Shapingba, and the main road to Yang Jia Ping and beyond, this little segment of Chongqing is notable only for its ordinariness. Yet in the few years that I have lived here, I have seen it change from the depressing squalor […]

Workers park in Chongqing.

She was no oil painting. In fact, she was probably the most unattractive person I have seen in China. Some foreign (laowai) blood in there somewhere for sure. Pale white skin, freckles, and a pomeranian face. A western front-end, Chinese amidships, and as broad as a junk on the lower reaches of the Yangtze. A […]

Teahouse.

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2004. I'm sitting in a teahouse near the back gate of my university. Red lanterns outside, comfortable cane chairs inside, and a welcoming smile from the receptionist. This is where I come to relax, to read a book, or maybe to prepare some notes for tomorrow's class. There's more going on […]

Pride before fall in Xi’an

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. April, 2006. Xi’an: the new name for the old walled city of Chang’an. The first capital of a united China, home to the Terracotta Warriors, and the seat of government for the Tang Dynasty (618-917 AD) – a time of social progress and cultural achievement. A high point in Chinese […]

The Russians and the Chinese: Shotgun marriage.

I had been asked to join staff of a hospital in Chongqing, for a meeting with some visiting Russian doctors. This hospital houses the old Russian embassy, a reminder of the once close ties between these nations. The meeting is a formal occasion, to cement a deal. It is one outcome of renewed political cooperation […]

Woman (Nuxing)

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2005 Life in another culture can be a wild ride. Sometimes you are up, and sometimes you are down. But it is your spirit rather than your mood that is elevated when you live as an expatriate somewhere. Your senses are sharper, you notice things, and it is easier to connect the […]

Hospital.

Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2006 Professor Liu of the First Affiliated Hospital in Chongqing, is the matron of a family of senior nurses. She is both mother hen to this mature group, and the beating-heart of her department. She guides her brood with the wisdom of her years and her hands-on experience of nursing in […]


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