It has fuelled a 17-year economic boom in which truck drivers can earn A$120,000 (HK$880,900) a year, the stock exchange has hit record levels and there are not enough pilots to fly desperately needed mining engineers into dusty desert camps.
Australia is growing rich from China's insatiable appetite for raw materials, selling billions of dollars worth of iron ore, coal and other minerals almost as fast as it can be dug out of the ground.
Property prices have soared, unemployment has dipped to its lowest level for a generation and last year China eclipsed Japan as Australia's biggest trading partner.
But there are growing signs of unease in Australia about the seemingly unstoppable ascendancy of the Chinese dragon.
When the Olympic torch relay arrived in Canberra last month, the national capital was invaded by about 10,000 flag-waving Chinese. Canberra locals complained of being intimidated in their own city as slogan-chanting Chinese students scuffled with pro-Tibet supporters.
'Beijing suppressed freedom of expression in the heart of our democracy,' The Australian newspaper said.
'They were very aggressive, they grabbed the Tibetan flag I was carrying,' says Vivienne Murray, a member of the Australia Tibet Council. 'There was a tug of war and I told them to give it back. I was furious.'
