Chinese

The first of the Asian people to New Zealand were the Chinese who were recruited by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, when european miners left Otago for the newly discovered West Coast goldfields. The Chinese were thought to be hardworking, inoffensive, and willing to rework abandoned claims, and eventually would return to their homeland. Because of language problems and the lack of personal assets they often emigrated in kinship and stuck to their ways. They formed the strongest cooperative groups in the goldfields and which helped alinate them from the Europeans. Although most were small claim miners, in due course members of their ethnic group took on every branch of alluvial gold mining and pioneered the gold dredging of river flats. Choie Sew Hoy pioneered a gold dredge in 1888 which led the world in dredging river beaches and flats, and revitalised Otago's mining industry and the region generally. Within 14 years, in 1902, Otago and adjacent Southland had a fleet of 201 gold dredges all modelled on the Sew Hoy dredge (better known as the ‘New Zealand gold dredge’).

Following the depletion of the goldfields in the late 1880s, the Chinese drifted to towns and cities looking for work. Many worked in fruit shops, laundries and commodity stores. They also found a niche in the market gardening trade, especially from the late 1920s. Growing vegetables was extremely labour intensive, requiring long hours but comparatively small capital outlay. The Chinese often leased land from Maori, and worked side by side with them, making a modest living.

In the late nineteenth century, the New Zealand Parliament passed discriminatory laws against Chinese seeking to enter New Zealand. The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881 imposed a poll tax of £10 per Chinese person and restricted the numbers able to enter the country to one person per ten tonnes of ship cargo. In 1896 the tax was lifted to £100 per person and there were further restrictions on the numbers of Chinese able to enter New Zealand. In 1908, Chinese people had to put a thumbprint on their Certificates of Registration before leaving the country - no other ethnic group had to leave thumbprints. Chinese people were deprived of their right to naturalisation in 1908 and this was not rescinded until 1951 - no other ethnic group was deprived of this right. A reading test in English was introduced - other immigrants had only a writing test in their own language. Even in 1935 when entry permits were introduced after a suspension of 15 years for reunification of family and partners of Chinese people, they were severely restricted. On Wednesday, February 13, 2002, Prime Minister Helen Clark apologised to the Chinese New Zealanders who paid a poll tax and suffered other discrimination imposed by statute and to their descendents. She hailed the Chinese community in New Zealand as a "significant contributor" to New Zealand. "Modern New Zealand has a bicultural foundation, and today is home to many peoples. It is important that we value, honour and respect all our communities and see our diversity as a great strength," she said.

Multiculturalism allowed the Chinese, many whose families have been in New Zealand for over a century, to become more open in the display of their culture. Chinese New Year and the mid-autumn festival, for example, have become popular celebrations drawing huge crowds of Chinese and other New Zealanders. Some events, like the lantern festival and the dragon boat race, are now widely popular among other New Zealanders, especially the young.

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