If you can, please mark this down as as something to watch! From checking out the trailer, this series looks so awesome and touches on issues of racism/anti Chinese sentiment experienced during the mid 1800s when the Chinese came to Australia to in search of striking it rich by mining gold.
“New Gold Mountain” is an upcoming 4 part mini-series by SBS and will premiere sometime this year. This is the premise for the series:
“New Gold Mountain is set in the Bendigo Goldfields in 1855. The charismatic headman of the Chinese mining camp suddenly finds himself struggling to maintain the fragile harmony between Chinese and European diggers and authorities when a murdered European woman is discovered to have links with the Chinese community.”
The series is directed by Corrie Chen and produced by Kylie du Fresne and is a Goalpost Television production for SBS. Benjamin Law has also contributed to the writing for this series.
The cast is led by Yoson An who plays “Leung Wei Shing” – a charismatic headman of the Chinese mining camp at the Bendigo Goldfields. An, a Chinese Kiwi is already a superstar having played one of the main roles in the live adaptation of “Mulan” as “Chen Honghui”.
Other Asian Australian actors in the series include: Mabel Li, Sam Wang and Chris Mah among others in the series.
In 2020, An spoke to SBS about his excitement in being part of this series and explained how layered his character “Leung Wei Shing” is:
“I’m incredibly excited to be diving into the intricately diverse world of New Gold Mountain created by Peter Cox. I feel extremely honoured to be working with SBS and Goalpost Television to be playing such a prominent part in this new series. The role of Leung Wei Shing (the headman of the Chinese digging camp) is probably one of the most layered and complex characters I’ve had the opportunity to explore, and I’m very much looking forward to collaborating with our Director, Corrie Chen, in bringing him to life.”
Director Corrie Chen spoke about the importance of telling this story from a Chinese Australian perspective:
“The search for belonging’ is one of the oldest stories we tell ourselves, but one that never ceases to feel particularly urgent and captivating. Bold, ruthless, entertaining and darkly humorous, New Gold Mountain is the seminal immigration story that will redefine our perception of frontier Australia. As an immigrant and non-European settler, I am particularly excited to be directing a show that will finally let me put Chinese-Australian cowboys on screen and revising the canon of the classic Western.”
“New Gold Mountain” will premier on SBS on October 13 at 9:30pm (AEST), and will be available on SBS On Demand following the finale on October 21.
Header image via SBS