Since the mid 1990s, we have seen a rapid increase of “Mainland Chinese” arriving into Australia, initially they were mostly overseas students, soon, they also arrived under reunion visa, working visa and various types of business and investment visas.

The actual number of mainland Chinese living in Australia is unknown - but it is estimated that 45,000 Chinese immigrants arrived into Australia each year, majority of them are from mainland China.

In terms of the cities - 3 cities still dominate the population: Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Shanghai - one of the world’s largest cosmopolitan, those from Shanghai tend to be commercial acumen, many have successful businesses back in China, and many have businesses involved in real estate or other investment businesses.

Shanghainese is the common language used between Shanghaineses, and is one of the most widely used dialects in China.

Beijing - capital of China and is also the cultural center for China. A large number of overseas students have arrived from Beijing, as well as diplomats.

They speak the “official Mandarin”, Beijing accent is commonly known as the best accent for Mandarin, it is clear and articulate.

Guangdong - The Guangdong Province (used to be called Canton in English) is closely associated with Hong Kong because of their common language - Cantonese.

As such, you will find that those from Guangdong province tend to associate themselves closer to Hong Kong than the rest of China, both in terms of the language they use, culture and also ways of life.

There are also many other Chinese communities living in Australia - in the recent years, we have seen many new migrants arriving from Sichuan Province, which is in the South West of China as well as Shangdong Province, which is located on the North East of China and has many similar cultural similarities as the Koreans and Far East Russians - many of them actually speak Russian as their second language.

Always keep these little details in mind when you are meeting with Chinese clients, as their ways of thinking can be very different depending on where they came from.

Multicultural Marketing Strategy

We often get asked by our clients the difference between Simplified and Traditional Chinese - in fact, many advertisers are confused and call them the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese.

This is a common misconception and is a common “Multicultural Marketing Mistake” as we often call it.

First of all - Mandarin and Cantonese refers to the spoken dialect / language - Mandarin is used in China, Taiwan and Singapore, while people in Hong Kong uses Cantonese as their main language.

When comes to the written forms - there are Simplified and Traditional Chinese used. Simplified Chinese is used in China and Singapore, while Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and by many Chinese communities in SE Asia and overseas Chinese.

While both written forms are compatible - many terms used are very different - especially when comes to translation for cities or countries - the translation for Sydney, Perth and Brisbane are all different as a good example.

As a good multicultural marketing strategy - it is advised to have your website or marketing materials available both in Simplified and Traditional Chinese - this will ensure you can capture audiences from all the different Chinese communities.

Quarter Media, the world’s leading Multicultural Marketing Specialist has moved to a new home - the new registered office is
Suite 511, Level 5, 250 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.

Please send your information to this new address in future.

Quarter Media has launched a new website www.quartermedia.com.au, the new website has a more modern and elegant look reflecting on our “New and Innovative” approach.

The new website is only the starting part of our exciting company. The 21st century is about Globalization and Multicultural Society.

We will be adding more features to our new website very shortly.