Pai Lou Gateway. Chinese Gardens, Dunedin. N.Z

Fact Sheet: Background Pioneer Chinese at Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery The earliest date of burial, still readable in the Chinese section of the Southern Cemetery, is 1877. The majority of burials took place in the 1880s and 1890s. From the 1920s it is likely that burials took place at the Andersons Bay Cemetery. Unlike Europeans whose burial plots might contain a large number of members of one family, Chinese pioneer burials involved the burial of one person in one grave. There is reason to believe considerable numbers of Chinese were buried in the Southern Cemetery from 1871 but these individuals have no headstones. One grave in the general section of the cemetery indicates Pong One Kay (shown left) died in 1870. He was born in Jung Seng County, Sar Boy Village. His age is not known. Nor do we know anything further of this man. From 1877, or thereabouts, a special area was set aside for Chinese burials. In 1985 when the Genealogy Society undertook a transcription of the Chinese section of the cemetery there were some 114 headstones that could be identified. It was estimated then that there could be up to 100 burials in this area alone. An accurate plan of Chinese burials with block and plot numbers has never existed. An official cemetery plan shows that Bock 114 was a Chinese area and an extension of this has no Block numbers. It is assumed that the extension area is Blocks 113 and 112. A map of the area is available as a student worksheet. The burial register contains Chinese records, chronologically recorded with all other burials. European sextons and other office clerks found difficulty in accurately The headstone for Pong One Kay supplies recording Chinese personal details. Deciding what was the surname (family name) the date of death as 1870. This headstone and what were the given names was difficult. Also European spellings for spoken can be found in Block 12A Plot 11 in the General Section of the cemetery. Chinese caused names to be recorded differently. Fact Sheet: Reading Chinese Gravestones (Stele) or ‘seats’ Layout of information on most Chinese headstones Both the county and village are often recorded for place of birth. Date of Death These two stones show the age (lonegevity). Some stones do show birth year here. The central characters offer information about the deceased. Surname or family name - YUET First given name Sheer Second given name Long Character for ‘elder’ Character is like the English ‘s. Means ‘belongs to’ Mun Goon was born in Poon Yue County Tai This headstone belongs to YUET Sheer Bol Village. He was 65 years of age when he Long Character for ‘Gravestone’ died. This headstone was badly damaged and has recently been replaced. Fact Sheet: Reading Chinese Gravestones (Stele) or ‘seats’ Reading Yuet Sheer Long’s Gravestone The central characters offer information Date of Death – These characters about the deceased. These are lunar show the age or Surname or family name - YUET dates. (lonegevity). 8 5 First given name Sheer 10 Aged 56 Month Second given name Long th 6 ( 14 ) 10 Age 4 Character for ‘elder’ Day Year of the rabbit. Died (Died 1903) Character is like the English ‘s. Means ‘belongs to’ Character for ‘Gravestone’ This headstone belongs to YUET Sheer Long. His headstone tells us that he died in on the 14th day of the 8th month in the year of the rabbit. He was 56 years old. The year of the rabbit equates to the Western calendar year of 1903. Activities: One and Two Who were the Chinese? Where did they come from? What can we learn about the early Chinese immigrants who came to New Zealand from a study of the local cemetery? Chinese headstones offer a fascinating insight into the origins of the individual buried beneath the stone because of the importance individual Chinese placed on recording their place of birth. Why it was important to record this information is a question that will become clearer as students progress through this unit. Collectively the stones provide a unique opportunity to undertake a demographic study of the pioneer Chinese whose bones remain in New Zealand. Along with primary and secondary historical resources we can learn much about New Zealands Chinese heritage. Activity One - Cemetery Visit A visit to the Chinese section of Dunedins Southern Cemetery is recommended. The purpose of a visit would be to provide a visual experience of the Chinese graves, and to locate other Chinese headstones in the cemetery. All headstones (except Choie Sew Hoy) have personal details written in Chinese characters. Some have the individuals name only written in English lettering along the base of the stele. The following map provides a trail showing the locations of stones for the Chinese section and for others located in Dunedins Southern Cemetery. It is suggested that students take the trail map and the datasheets with them on the visit. Students can try and recognise some of the more common Chinese characters. Activity Two – Analysing the transcribed information about the Chinese section When students return to school they can use the translated data sheets to analyse the demographic makeup of the individuals who have marked stones. Students can work out percentages for and graph the following information, 1. Counties of origin 2. In Poon Yue County students can analyse villages of origin 3. Gender 4. Graph numbers of deaths occurring decade by decade over the five decades of burials that are evident in the cemetery 5. Graph age against decade. It would be a good idea to compare age at death by decade with a block of headstones in the Anglican or General sections of the cemetery and encourage students to notice the differences that can be seen between the makeup of the Chinese population that lived in Dunedin and other nationalities Encourage students to raise questions about the Chinese population and consider some of the consequences for individuals of such a skewed population demographic. Cemetery locations for Chinese graves – Southern Cemetery Mun Goon Kum Poy Block 26P Plot 13 Block 114 Also Memorial to Choie Sew Hoy plot 25 Yuet Sheer Long Block 114 plot 66 The Southern Cemetery map portion was sourced from Dunedin City Council: Location of Dunedin’s cemeteries URL Ing Ah Yeaw Block Pong One Kay http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/ Chinese Section Blocks, X, 114 12A Plot 11 Block 12A Plot 11 cemeteries/location-pdfs and 115 Cemetery Map : The Chinese Section This plan was drawn by Ngaire Ockwell in 1985, with the assistance of Chinese students from Singapore recording the Chinese characters. The numbers are assigned as reference numbers for the Genealogy Society and are not plot numbers. If you check the City of Dunedin cemeteries database the plot numbers will not be the same. Ngaire Ockwell. (1985). Southern Cemetery Dunedin. Vol 5. Jewish and Chinese Portion. Member of the New Zealand Genealogy Society. Dunedin. Summary of translated details from Chinese headstones in Southern Cemetery - p.1 Grave/map # Name Given Names County Village Gender Date of death Age 1 Lowe Sheer Soong Duct County Tang Chun Village M 24. 7. 1887 42 2 Choie Yaat Soong Duct County Tai Leong Village M 3. 9. 1886 - 3 Lou Sing Nam Hoi County Sha Pol Village M 26. 8. 1886 68 4 Youn Man Chun - - M 14. 2. 1877* 42 5 Leong Wah - - M 18. 9. 1878* 33 6 Wong Youn Leong Sun Ning (Now called Koy Shang Village 19. 2. 1880 - Toi Shan) County 7 Leong Yeng Wah Sun Woy County Koy Shang Village 16. 10. 1881 58 8 Chung Ly Kong Sun Woy County - M 18. 1. 1893 85 9 Kwan Shun Hok Hoi Ping County Gee Mee Village M 1 12. 1881 55 10 Lymburner Margaret Not Chinese F 1878 76 11 Ng Gee Sun Ning* County Shong Foong Look Yuen M Aug 1878 12 Lowe Sing Fook Poon Yue County Park Tong Village M 26. 1. ? - 13 Wong Adolph Tape No Chinese Characters on stone 1880 1 14 Tser Gee Way Poon Yue County Har Leong Village M 13. 2. 1913 53 15 Chung Sai Tam Dong Goon County Kong Nam Village M 1911 - 16 Yuen Yun Sun Woy County Chart Bo Village M 16. 1. 1909 49 17 Shue Yoe Gee Jung Seng County Shang Shu Village M 29. 3. 1908 64 18 Cheong Gool Chuen Poon Yue County Too Kong Village 18. 10. 1905 67 19 Low Wah Hem Poon Yue County Too Kong Village M - - 20 Wong S-om - - M - - 21 Lai Toong Soon Poon Yue County Shack Ma Village M 1906 22 Unknown - Sun Ning* County Sam Hop Village 8. 4. 1907 22 23 Tser Yoe Poon Yue County Shack Woo Village M 24. 4. 1897 23 24 Unknown - English at base reads London 1906(?) - 1906 24 25 Mun Goon Poon Yue County Tong Chuen Village M 5. 6. ? No year 65 26 Shen Woon Ying Poon Yue County Tong Chuen Village M 1896 43 27 Gin Kum Tai Dong Goon County - M 1905 27 28 Chiu Hong yun Sun Ning County Fo Shack Village M - - Summary of translated details from Chinese headstones in Southern Cemetery - p.2 Grave /map # Name Given Names County Village Gender Date of death Age 29 Ho Mok Nam Hoi County - M 1897 29 30 Chan Paul Chin No details of Chinese origins M 1 Aug 1908 48 31 Ng Chan Fok Choong Far County Kwai Shen Village M 23.5.1903 85 32 Lai Aw Poon Yue County Law Kong Village M 1906 62 33 Wong Bong Soong Duct County Chun Choon Village M - - 34 Kip Koy Poon Yue County Ah Woo Village M 1909 - 35 Tai Moo Hee Poon Yue County Gow Jing Village M 3.7.1906 - 36 Wong Doo Sew Jung Seng County - M 22 Jan 1912 55 37 Tso Ah Too Poon Yue County Fong Shak Village M 1.2.1912 - 38 Leong Kong Poon Yue County Shang Kong Village M 6.5.1906 - 39 Tser Gee Harm Poon Yue County Har Leong Village M 1913 53 40 Choie Chung Sun Ning* County Sam Hop Village M - - 41 Wong Mole Shang Poon Yue County Shack Ma

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