School Essay Competition

RT HON HELEN CLARKPRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND
12 February 2001
School essay competition on the history of the Chinese in NZ
Senior students from secondary schools throughout New Zealand are being invited to enter a national essay writing competition on the history of the Chinese in New Zealand.
The three successful authors will be presented with books by the Prime Minister Helen Clark at a reception to be arranged with the Chinese community later in the year.
"The Chinese people have one of the most tragic and distinctive stories in New Zealand history. They first came in some numbers to New Zealand to work on the goldfields in the 1860s, but soon suffered from discrimination and legal restrictions on migration which split families and caused considerable hardship.
"The competition provides an opportunity for young New Zealanders to study this aspect of New Zealand's history."
This essay competition follows successful school essay competitions on Gallipoli in 2000 and the Battle of Crete in 2001. Students are being invited to imagine that they are a Chinese migrant and to write a letter home describing their life. A second topic invites students to look at the ways in which the experience of the Chinese in New Zealand was different from that of other New Zealanders.
Entries for the competition will close on Wednesday June 26, 2002. The address for entries is the Office of the Prime Minister for attention Alec McLean, Parliament Buildings, Wellington.
The competition is being run in association with Ministry for Culture and Heritage.