Chinese Kiwis unmake the myths

Conference speakers (from left) Jenny Lee, Tessie Chen, Philippa Wright and Angela Sew Hoy. Picture / Richard Robinson

Strangers are taken aback when Jenny Lee speaks te reo.

With her strong Asian features, most don't expect her to be a Maori language lecturer of Maori-Chinese descent. "People take a little while to get over the shock."

A conference in Auckland over the weekend hopes to shatter such stereotypes. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Banana's organising committee chairman, Kai Luey, said assumptions are commonly applied to Chinese people here.

"We're all cast in the same mould. As soon as someone looks at you, the perception is that you've got bad driving habits, or you get into crime."

Mr Luey said the conference, organised by the New Zealand Chinese Association's Auckland branch, hopes to explore the evolving identity of Chinese communities in New Zealand

Ms Lee will talk about multiple identities, highlighting a growing number of New Zealanders who belong to more than one ethnic group.

Mixed ethnicities aren't unusual in New Zealand, but the Ngati Mahuta twist in Ms Lee's bloodline is relatively uncommon. The 2001 census identifies only 4077 New Zealanders of Maori-Chinese descent.

Solicitor Philippa Wright, who shares the stage with Ms Lee, said as a child she was teased constantly for being Eurasian.

With time, she's embraced the inherited cultures of her British father and Malaysian Chinese mother.

But it's not solely in the blood. Another speaker, Tessie Chen, speaks of being a "1.5-er".

The term is used to describe children who were born overseas but raised in New Zealand. Straddling cultural boundaries, 1.5-ers are often a link between mainstream society and immigrant cultures.

Ms Chen arrived in New Zealand aged 10, and while she is largely a product of the New Zealand education system, she still maintains strong links to her Taiwanese roots.

"I see myself as a brown Kiwi but, ethnicity-wise, I'm a Taiwanese New Zealander. New Zealand is my home, whereas Taiwan is my motherland, but I do want to contribute to both."

In a different vein is accountant Angela Sew Hoy, a deaf Chinese New Zealander.

Born and educated in Dunedin, Ms Sew Hoy hails from six generations of Chinese whose New Zealand history reaches back to 1869.

The four women have vastly different backgrounds, but they share common themes in culture and identity. Philippa Wright sums it up simply: "I'm Kiwi".

KEY POINTS

What: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Banana conference
Where: Auckland University of Technology
When: Saturday and Sunday

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Manying Ip Associate professor, School of Asian studies, Univ Auckland
Paul Spoonley Auckland regional director, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey Univ
James Kember Director of Information and Public Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Tze Ming Mok Auckland writer
Mervin Singham Director, Office of Ethnic Affairs

TOPICS:

The place of the Chinese community in a bicultural nation
Working with the Treaty of Waitangi
Living together
Dealing with discrimination
The new wave of Chinese migrants in New Zealand
Multiple identities

Registration: Places limited to 200 seats. Some may still be available due to cancellations.
Cost: Individuals $125, students $75 and organisations $200.
To register visit www.goingbananas.org.nz (link below)

CHINESE DOWNUNDER

1860s

The first Chinese arrived as goldminers, brought in to rework the abandoned Otago goldfields when European miners flocked to the newly discovered West Coast. When gold began to run out, some returned to China, while others started up hand laundries and market gardens.

1950s-70s

Students from the Colombo Plan began arriving into the country. The plan was devised to allow less developed countries in Asia and the Pacific to learn from their more developed counterparts. The period also marked the beginning of arrivals of professionals from English-speaking Commonwealth countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and India.

1960s

Ethnic Chinese refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam arrived in New Zealand, with mainland Chinese refugees fleeing the cultural revolution. The decade also saw noticeable numbers of Chinese Samoans.

1980s

A major change to immigration policy in 1987 saw a fresh wave of mainly professionals from Commonwealth countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. The majority arrive with ready jobs to go into.

1990s-2000s

The mid-90s was the time of the business migrant. Mainly from Hong Kong and Taiwan, these migrants were wealthier and saw New Zealand as a good place to live and raise families. International students without families also begin arriving in noticeable numbers. Those with jobs stayed on, but many returned home. The latter part of the period saw arrivals under the Immigration Service's skilled migrant category. These latest arrivals were made up of a high number of mainland Chinese, and chronic levels of underemployment remain rife among this group.