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 Briefing: Different Chinese Communities in Australia.

It is often a big surprise when we tell our clients that there are more than 100 dialects accounted for in China, the actual number can be much more than that, with some linguistic experts predict more than 300 dialects are used in China, some villages have hardly changed over the past centuries, and they still retain the very original language they have used for many centuries.

Luckily for multicultural marketing advertisers in Australia, you do not need to worry that much, as the Chinese communities in Australia tend to be more refined to certain communities.

But each community is very different from one another, and never generalize them into the same group.

Hong Kong Chinese - Hong Kong migrants arrived in Australia back in early 1980s, and was once the single largest Chinese community in Australia.

They use mainly Cantonese with some using Hakka as well - Cantonese was very popular in Australia until around 10 years ago when Mandarin speakers arrived from China eventually outgrown Cantonese speakers in Australia.

These days, many Hong Kong migrants also speak Mandarin, but if you can find someone to communicate with them in Cantonese, it is often a big plus.

Taiwanese Migrants - Taiwanese migrants arrived in Australia around 6 to 8 years later than Hong Kong migrants - they started arriving in big numbers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, after the economic miracle in Taiwan.

A large number of Taiwanese reside in Queensland, one reason being majority of Taiwanese migrants have arrived from Southern Taiwan, with a similar climate as in Queensland.

Taiwanese migrants uses Mandarin and Hokkien (they call it Taiwanese), which is also a very common dialect used in South East Asia.

Both Hong Kong and Taiwanese migrants uses traditional Chinese for written communications, it is important to produce marketing materials in Traditional Chinese if you intend to reach these target markets.

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.

Multicultural Marketing is the latest trend in the global marketing industry - and in many cases, it is almost treated as a mainstream advertising and marketing activity for many industries.

Australia’s population and demographics has changed completely in the past 20 years, and we are now truly one of the world’s most diversified multicultural society.

This change presents both as an opportunity but also a challenge for many companies wishing to reach this fast growing multicultural society.

Multicultural Marketing is more than just advertising - that is a common mistake made by many advertisers.

To achieve your objectives in a multicultural marketing campaign - you need to understand the cultural aspects as well as the wording you choose in advertising campaigns.

Quarter Media is here to assist you in terms reaching to your target segments and markets, we will create specific marketing campaigns for your needs, our principals also come from diverse cultural backgrounds, and therefore, we understand the differences between the cultures - our knowledge ensure that your campaigns can be well received by your target audiences.