Text Profile: The China Coin

Title: The China Coin

Composer: Allan Baillie
Intended Audience:

Readers who like mysteries, with secrets and some historical events

Readers who are interested in Chinas history

Purpose:

To entertain readers

To raise questions about identity and our sense of belonging to a place / to people

Context: The historical context of the novel concentrates on the student protests of 1989,
particularly the occupation of Tiananmen Square in Beijing which led to the Tiananmen Square
massacre.
Content and its significance:
Leah is the main character in the novel. Her mother was born in China and her father (who is
now dead) was English, but she sees herself as Australian.
In the novel, Leah and her mother Joan travel to China to find the other half of a coin that Joans
father sent her before he died.
While they are looking for the coin in China, they find their extended family and learn about their
familys history.
At the beginning of the novel, Leah does not really want to go to China and only goes to try to
find the other half of the coin that her father was so interested in. However, as Leah learns
about China and its history, and her extended family and their history, she begins to understand
more about herself and her mother. This contributes to her sense of identity and feelings of
where and to whom she belongs.
The novel helps readers to understand what it means to belong through its representations of:

Relationships

Accepting your identity

Understanding China

Challenging your own society

Barriers to belonging

Language features:
The novel represents these ideas through the language features of:

First person (inner monologue), second person and third person narration

Dialogue

Descriptive language (imagery and adjectives)

Flashback techniques

Symbolism

Short sentences

Rhetorical questions

Read more about these in the information from the 2009-2012 HSC English ESL Study Guide
on The China Coin.

Week 3, Friday
Belonging and Relationships
1. How does Leah feel about her mother Joan?
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2. How would you describe Leahs relationship with her mother?
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Look at Leahs description of her mother and their different reasons for going to China on page
11 of the novel.
3. What language technique is used in this passage to emphasise Leahs very strong opinions
about the differences between her and her mother?
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