Posters in the University of Melbourne, which read "Chinese are forbidden from going in, any violation will face charges or deportation," were spotted by Chinese students in the university, Liu Yanhan, a postgraduate student of engineering at the university, told the Global Times on Monday.
Liu added that Monday was the first day of the new semester and everyone was very busy, "but still some Chinese students went to search for the posters to tear them down."
According to Liu, these posters were spotted at many places in the university, including the most-visited Melbourne School of Design and Eastern Resource Centre.
Liu said many Chinese students were furious over the posters and reported the matter to the school.
The bottom of the posters had two logos — one of the University of Melbourne, and the other of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association of the University of Melbourne.
The association issued a statement on Sina Weibo on Monday, distancing itself from the posters and strongly denouncing the rumormongers who deliberately smeared the association's name.
The University of Melbourne did not reply to the Global Times' request for comment as of press time.
This is not the first case of racism in Australia recently. Posters showing Chinese people holding knife and fork and grinning in front of an Australian map in the shape of a slab of steak were seen around Sydney early this month, Hong Kong news site on.cc reported.
The report said the posters were likely meant to mock Chinese people who have been buying property in recent years, which might have contributed to soaring real estate prices in Australia.
Moreover, an Australian TV program also claimed Beijing is actively "manipulating" the Chinese community in Australia, including Chinese students and Chinese-language media, to widen its influence in the country.
Gu Xiaosong, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that with Australia's weak economic performance and high unemployment rate, many locals have poured their anger on Chinese people, many of whom are blamed for increasing the fierce competition.
However, Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, noted that the racism against Chinese is practiced only by a small minority and it does not represent Australia's mainstream ideology.
This article was originally published in the Global Times
