4 An overview of the geographical backgrounds of the new wave of Chinese immigrants to New Zealand

Sylvia Chu

Introduction 1997). This new wave of Chinese immi- Following the phenomenal economic gration to New Zealand is part of a growth in Asia, and New Zealand’s world trend of ethnic Chinese migrating intention to increase trade with Asian to countries such as the United States of countries, a liberation of New Zealand America, Canada and Australia in recent immigration controls began in 1986 decades (Ip, 1995; Rosenthal & Feldman, (Bolger, 1993, 1994; Burke, 1986; Pang, 1996; Skeldon, 1990). The main reasons 1996). This major review of immigra- for the trend towards migration to tion policy, and the subsequent intro- Western countries include political duction of new legislation such as the instability, over-population and the lack 1987 Business Immigration Policy (BIP) of educational opportunities for their and the 1991 Points System, adopted a children in the home country (Skeldon, non-discriminatory approach. It aimed 1990; Wang, 1990). at bringing in migrants with profes- sional skills and capital for investment, The effect on schools without discrimination on grounds of The influx of Chinese immigration has race,or national or ethnic origin (Burke, resulted in a sharp increase in the 1986; Ip, 1995; McKinnon, 1996). Since number of Chinese students in New then, Asian immigration, especially Zealand schools. While schools do not Chinese immigration, has increased usually keep a record of the number of sharply. Chinese students, they do maintain a Over the past decade, the Chinese record of the total number of Asian population in New Zealand has more students. The New Zealand Education than tripled, from 26,616 in 1986, to Gazette (1997) put the number of Asian 81,309 in 1996. Chinese now make up students participating in education in 45% of all Asian people in New Zealand, New Zealand in 1996 at more than comprising 2.25% of the total New 60,000. Of these, 33,450 studied in Zealand population. This makes Chinese primary and secondary schools, with immigrants the largest minority non- two-thirds (64%)of this number in European and non-Polynesian group in Auckland schools. Students from various New Zealand (, Asian ethnic groups make up one-third

VOLUME 23/1 15 Overview of the Geographical Backgrounds of the total student population in some This lack of adequate understanding Auckland schools. Nearly half of these often leaves teachers relying on Chinese are Chinese. In addition to permanent students to provide much of the infor- residents, there were also 4,495 overseas mation about their varying cultures. Asian students studying in NZ schools in 1996 (New Zealand Education Gazette, The clustering of Chinese 1997). settlements The difficulty, however, of many New Auckland has the greatest concentration Zealand schools placing the diversity of of Chinese (Thomson, 1993, 1999). Asian cultures into one Asian grouping is Auckland is preferred because most of that schools fail to differentiate between the immigrants come from an urban understanding the values, beliefs and background and they feel more at home lifestyles of one Asian culture and of in Auckland’s cosmopolitan and urban another. Recent Chinese immigrants environment. Secondly, Auckland offers themselves come from diverse origins. the greatest opportunities for business They mainly come from , Hong and employment (Vasil & Yoon, 1996). Kong, and People’s Republic of Thirdly, the Chinese are a gregarious eth- China (Ip, 1995; Vasil & Yoon, 1996) and nic group, preferring to settle close to may have vastly different backgrounds. their friends and relatives in the commu- They have different cultures, and display nity. different lifestyles, attitudes and behav- Even within Auckland, the highly iours (Ho, 1995). localised pattern of Chinese settlement is Over the past decade, school teachers obvious. They cluster in suburbs such as and counsellors in New Zealand, espe- North Shore, Epsom, Remuera and cially those working in schools with a Howick-Pakuranga (Ip, 1995). high concentration of Chinese, very As Chinese parents place a high value often feel perplexed and unprepared on formal education, they strive hard to for such a sharp increase of Chinese enroll their children in good schools, migrants. Many mainstream New and tend to buy or rent houses in good Zealanders feel they lack adequate school zones. This explains why some understanding on how to help Chinese good schools in certain areas have such a adolescents (Eyou, 1997). “We are high concentration of Chinese students. working in the dark. We do not fully understand their culture and conse- Features of recent Chinese quently can only make assumptions…. immigrants We can only guess what the best ways to Social status help are” (Neilson & Liddle, 1997, p.14). The earliest Chinese immigrants to

16 NZ Journal of Counselling 2002 Sylvia Chu

New Zealand came as gold-miners in Asia. It has an area of 9,572,900 square 1866 (Ho, 1995), and the unskilled first- kilometres. China has a recorded history generation Chinese took low-capital and beginning nearly 4,000 years ago. labour-intensive jobs, such as working Throughout history, China, or the in market gardens, fruit shops and “Middle Kingdom”, as it is called by the laundries (Ip, 1990). Chinese, regarded itself as superior to all However, who have others – a view shared by philosophers immigrated since 1986 are well- of the Enlightenment. However, it educated, highly skilled professionals weakened towards the end of the 18th and relatively wealthy entrepreneurs (Ho century and the Chinese dynasty ended & Farmer, 1994). Unlike their earlier in the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The counterparts, who encountered adverse Republic that followed Sun Yat-sen’s discrimination and racism, and who brief presidency degenerated, and there were prevented from integration into was civil war between the National Party New Zealand, the recent Chinese immi- and the Communists. In 1949, the grants are quite outspoken and have a Chinese Communist Party under Mao high profile (Ip, 1990). Zedong won the civil war and estab- lished the People’s Republic of China Countries of origin on the mainland (Oxford Interactive Usually, the term “Chinese” refers to Encyclopedia, 1997). Since then, main- the group of people who belong to the land China has become a Communist ethnicity of China. Conceptually, it is country, and traditional Chinese values thought of as the ethnic group which has are not highly valued. its roots in the Hua-Xia region of central- northern China and which spread over • Language many centuries to become present-day The official Chinese language is Man- China. The number of Chinese has darin, although there are many differ- grown to include over one billion people, ent dialects. Immigrants from main- or nearly one-fifth of the total world land China usually speak Mandarin. population. Although most Chinese live Those from the southern part of in (i.e. People’s Republic China, such as Canton, speak Canton- of China), others live in Hong Kong, Tai- ese. Although spoken languages may wan, Malaysia or as in vary, there is only one type of writ- many other parts of the world. ten Chinese. Children begin learning English in junior high school, but People’s Republic of China their command of English is often China is the third-largest country in comparatively limited. the world, occupying most of eastern

VOLUME 23/1 17 Overview of the Geographical Backgrounds

Hong Kong Taiwan Hong Kong is situated at the mouth of Taiwan comprises a large island and the Pearl River at the southeast end of several much smaller ones off the China. It has an area of 1,044 square southeast coast of China. It has an area kilometres. Ninety-seven percent of the of 36,000 square kilometres. The island population is Chinese. Hong Kong of Taiwan was given to Japan when became a British colony after the Opium China lost the Sino-Japanese War in War of 1839. Under British influence, 1894 and was under Japanese occupa- Hong Kong has developed as a commer- tion for half a century until its return cial city and as a trading centre, attract- to China in 1945, after World War II. ing both Europeans and Chinese. In the Following the civil war, in 1949, the 1970s and 1980s Hong Kong became an Communists gained control of main- important international economic and land China and the National Party business centre. In 1984, Britain agreed withdrew to Taiwan. By 1950, almost to transfer sovereignty of the entire two million refugees from the mainland colony to China in 1997. China also arrived on the island. Supported promised not to alter Hong Kong’s militarily by the USA, Taiwan main- existing economic and social structure tained its independence from com- for 50 years, but there remained some munist China, as the Republic of China. unease among Hong Kong people There was complete separation from (Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, 1997). mainland China for nearly four decades until the late 1980s when communi- • Language People in Hong Kong mainly use cation between the two resumed. Since , a kind of Chinese dialect. the 1950s, Taiwan has undergone As Hong Kong has been a British dramatic industrialisation and become colony, English is commonly used. one of the world’s major industrial Children learn English once they start nations (Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, kindergarten schooling. Hong Kong 1997). people have frequent contact with • Language Westerners and are more westernised The official Taiwanese language is than other Chinese. Yet, Hong Kong Mandarin, but they also use the people still uphold the Chinese cul- Taiwanese dialect. Taiwanese preserve tural heritage. strong traditional . Students start to learn English for- mally in junior high school.

18 NZ Journal of Counselling 2002 Sylvia Chu

Malaysia big category, without realising the great Malaysia is a country in South-East Asia. diversity between them. As this article It is divided into two parts: Western shows, there are many important differ- Malaysia and Eastern Malaysia. These are ences between Chinese peoples, and they separated by the South China Sea. It has come from different countries of origin. a total area of 330,442 square kilometres. With better understanding, teachers and Malaysia is a multicultural society with counsellors may have more confidence Malays as the majority race, followed by in helping Chinese students and can Chinese and Indians. Chinese people encourage Kiwi students to do likewise. make up 31% of the population (Oxford Better interaction between Chinese and Interactive Encyclopedia, 1997). Kiwi will result in mutual respect and Malaysia is a resource-rich country understanding. and is one of the fastest growing econo- References mies in the world. The official religion is Islam. Bolger, J. B. (1993). Prime Ministerial address to ASIA 2000 seminar. Plaza International • Language Hotel, Wellington, 16 July, pp. 1-16. Chinese students in Malaysia are tri- Bolger, J. B. (1994). Asia 2000 Newsletter. lingual, mainly speaking Bahasa No.1, December 1994. Malaysian, English and Mandarin. Burke, K. (1986). Review of immigration The main medium of instruction in policy.August, 1986. New Zealand all educational institutions is its Government Printer. national language, Bahasa Malaysia. Eyou, M. L. (1997). Cultural identity and English is compulsory in all schools. psychological adjustment of adolescent As a result, usually Chinese immigrants in New Zealand.Thesis have quite a good command of submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts English and they are more multicul- in Education, University of Auckland. tural. Chinese families in Malaysia still Ho,E.S.(1995). The challenge of culture usually preserve a strong traditional change: The cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese culture. Hong Kong Chinese adolescent immigrants in New Zealand.Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University Conclusion of . It is hoped that the above information Ho, E.S. & Farmer, R. (1994). The Hong Kong may be of use to teachers and counsel- Chinese in Auckland. In R. Skeldon (Ed.), lors. Very often, New Zealand schools Reluctant exiles? Migration from Hong Kong just group all Asians such as Chinese, and the new overseas Chinese.New York: Koreans, Japanese and Indians into one M. E. Sharpe.

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Ip, M.Y. (1990). The Chinese community: A Rosenthal, D. & Feldman, S. (1996). Crossing paper presented at the 1990 Winter the border: Chinese adolescents in the Lectures. Immigrant minorities in New west. In S. Lau (Ed.), Growing up the Zealand: Their impact on New Zealand Chinese way: Chinese child and adolescent customs and culture. University of development.Hong Kong: Chinese Auckland. University Press. Ip,M.Y.(1995). Chinese . In Skeldon, R. (1990). Emigration and the S. W. Grief (Ed.), Immigration and national future of Hong Kong.Pacific Affairs, 63 (4), identity in New Zealand: One people, two 500-523. peoples, many peoples? Palmerston North: Statistics New Zealand (1997). 1996 Census Dunmore Press. National Summary. McKinnon, M. (1996). Immigrants and Thomson, B. (1993). Ethnic groups in New citizens: New Zealanders and Asian Zealand: A statistical profile.Wellington: immigration in historical context. Policy Research Section, Department of Wellington: Institute of Policy Studies, Internal Affairs. Victoria University. Thomson, B. (1999). Ethnic diversity in New Neilson, G. & Liddle, V. (1997). Life at a Zealand: A statistical profile.Wellington: strange school, in a strange city, among a Research Unit, Department of Internal strange people.Mental Health Quarterly, Affairs. April, 14-15. Vasil, R. & Yoon, H. K. (1996). New Zealanders New Zealand Education Gazette (1997). Asian of Asian origin. Wellington: Institute of students in New Zealand. 15 September Policy Studies, Victoria University. 1997. Wang, G. (1990). Children in Chinese Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia (1997). [CD- migration history. Proceedings of the ROM]. The Learning Company, Inc. International Symposium on Children Pang, D. (1996). Educating for the Asia-Pacific and Migration: A New Challenge for century. Unpublished PhD Thesis Proposal, Worldwide Social Service. Hong Kong: School of Education, University of International Social Service, Hong Kong Auckland. Branch.

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