NZ Chinese going bananas

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Banana is the title of the first conference in New Zealand to bring together the country's Chinese communities.

The Auckland University of Technology gathering, on June 4-5, will discuss issues ranging from identity to research into Chinese New Zealanders.

The title refers to the popular film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - and many of the forum names include the word "banana" which many NZ-born Chinese call themselves (that is, yellow on the outside and white on the inside), says conference publicist Alistair Kwun.

The term, he says, is not pejorative. "We wanted a catchy title and to get past the inscrutable Asian thing."