Rate My Professor Mei-fen Kuo

Dr. Mei-fen Kuo is a Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Culture and History in the School of International Studies, Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, a position she has held since joining the institution in 2020. Specializing in modern Chinese history, her academic pursuits focus on Chinese diaspora studies, transnational history, printing culture, narrative identity, migration and mobility, community politics, and Chinese diaspora entrepreneurship. Kuo earned a Research Master's degree in History from a Taiwanese university and a PhD in Social Science from La Trobe University, with her doctoral thesis titled Making Chinese Australia: the role of Sydney Chinese Community, 1892-1912. Prior to her current role, she has been actively involved in major research projects since 2009, including the ARC Linkage project Unlocking Australia’s Chinese Archive: The political organisation and social experience of the Chinese Australian community, 1909-1939, the ARC Discovery project Asia-Pacific Philanthropies: Transnational networks, anti-colonial nationalism, and the emergence of modern Chinese philanthropy, 1850-1949, and the ARC DECRA project Enterprising Chinese Australians and the diaspora networks, 1890-1949. Her contributions extend to ongoing grants such as the Taiwan Research Fund projects, Australian Public and Institutional Responses to Taiwan Strait Crises, and Reframing Cold War Diplomacy of Migration and Australia-Chinese Relations.

Kuo has authored key books including Making Chinese Australia: Urban Elites, Newspapers & Chinese-Australian Identity During Federation (Monash University Publishing) and Unlocking the History of the Australasian Kuo Min Tang 1911-2013 (Australian Scholarly Publishing). Notable recent publications encompass Wearing Free China: gendered diplomacy and the politics of the qipao in Taiwan–Australia relations during the Global Sixties (2026, Fashion Theory), Australian public and institutional responses to Taiwan Strait crises (2025, with M. Harrison, J. Fitzgerald, N. Attrill, M. Ablong), "Girls doing a big job" in diaspora: cosmopolitan minority and making modern Chinese Women Associations in white Australia (2025), Memory, identity & everyday heritage: Chinese Australian women in the mid-20th century (2025, with R. Shillabeer), and Australia's China odyssey: from euphoria to fear (2025, Asian Studies Review). Her scholarly achievements are recognized through awards such as the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2015), Taiwan Fellowship (2019), Asia Study Grant (2022), Australian Endeavour Fellowship (2009), and Humanities Travelling Fellowship (2014). Through her work, Kuo illuminates the historical dynamics of Chinese communities in Australia and their global connections.