Chinese have been in New Zealand for over 130 years. Originally, they were twice invited from Victoria, Australia to the province of Otago in 1865 to rework its goldfields,(1) and their first mining party arrived at the end of that year. From the beginning it was apparent that the Chinese would be a distinctive, significant and controversial ethnic minority.
Indeed, they have always been a distinctive minority which endeavoured to keep a place in this country. As the first non-Maori and non-European people to arrive their interactions with other New Zealand groups were bound to be significant. But why controversial? After all, the preceding Chinese migration to the Australian goldfields was regarded as a ‘safe’ influx, having a low crime rate and other good qualities such as industriousness(2) which should have been welcomed in a developing country like young New Zealand. The basic reason for dissension was their considerable difference in race and culture from the European,......
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Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |