- :00AM Sunday July 15, 2007By Suzanne McFadden
When real estate mogul Don Ha achieves a goal, he sets another one, then achieves that. When he wanted to know what it was like to spend $2 million on a horse, thats what he did.
Don Ha shimmies beneath the imposing square jaw of DH Ruler, wary of the horse's power. It's one of the rare situations where Ha doesn't feel in control.
"They're big animals, eh?" he says, in his slightly nervous Kiwi-Asian cadence.
"Just pull his head up, Don. Show him who's boss," says Ha's private racing trainer, Grayson Shirley, a master with a horse. Doesn't DH Ruler (stable name Nigel) know who pays for his food and luxury board here?
The 3-year-old chestnut gelding has the privilege of living on this 14ha rolling green paradise at Pukekohe which Ha, a millionaire real estate mogul and property developer, bought last year. He has transformed it from a grazing block into a horse haven with 1.5km of stained wood rail fences, gleaming steel farm gates and motel-like stables.
Ha would like to hang a sign at the gate welcoming visitors to Don Ha's Playground. This is his retreat, where he comes up to three times a week, sometimes with his two young daughters, to escape office pressure.
The impressive stables are a far cry from the mines of North Vietnam, the gutters of Hong Kong and the refugee centre in Mangere where Ha once lived: the man who hit the headlines earlier this year, casually forking out a record $2 million for the first Zabeel-Sunline colt, lives a genuine rags-to-riches story, and it is barely 39 years long.
The offices of Don Ha Ray White are not a jot ostentatious, squeezed between the bakeries, fruit and vegetables, and office supplies of back-street Manukau.
Ha's own office has no view; instead there are photos of family and horses leaning against the wall. Wearing a plain uniform of sky blue shirt and dark blue tie, he pokes at his battered BlackBerry. You could be fooled by the office worker look.
Real estate awards on the wall reveal the true picture. From the 2006 Ray White national awards: No 1 Auckland office, No 2 national office, No 2 supreme salesman - Don Ha. And the personal honour Ha seems most proud of: No 2 in the Ray White international leadership awards, 2005.
Success is spelled out in a company memo on his desk. In May this year, the Manukau branch fell just short of breaking the company's record for the month's sales. Ha's agents sold $31.9 million of properties that month and they claimed top growth in the country.
"Not bad for an area where the average house price is $290,000, eh?" says Ha, his chest inflating with pride. "It's just amazing, overwhelming."
Even though Ha is the branch manager and franchise owner, it hasn't hampered his sales record: he is still the No 2 Ray White salesperson in the country. He makes no secret of wanting to dislodge the company's leading agent for the last three years, Kingsland's Lesley Hawes.
"You have to have goals. If you don't have a goal, how can you achieve it?"
There have always been goals, since the skills of this savvy salesman were cultivated as an 8-year-old, living in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. Ha's family was given cans of European food - mutton, corned beef and sardines - to live on, so his mother sent him and the cans into the streets.
"I would sit in the sun under an umbrella all day, and sell the cans for $2 apiece. On my way home, I bought Asian vegetables that my mother cooked for our dinner." He laughs long and loud. "I guess my Mum was my sales trainer."
When the Ha family - parents and seven children - came to New Zealand as refugees in 1977, Don continued in trade, picking watercress from the Onehunga spring on his way to school and selling it to shop owners for 99c a bunch.
"I was selling 100 bunches a week. It was a great business until the council cleaned the spring out. I was devastated," he says.
Ha's family opened the first in a string of south Auckland bakeries in 1984, but Don was determined he wouldn't work in one. He wanted to succeed on his own, and imported shoes and belts from Asia, then sold shoes for an importer to factory workers. But he was too successful for his own good: "There were quotas - you could only import 50,000 pairs of shoes, and I filled his quota so fast, he put me out of business."
Ha relented and opened the Saigon Bakery in Mt Roskill in 1991. That, he says, was truly hard work - 72-hour weeks starting before dawn, six days a week.
The profit was meagre, but Ha poured any into property. Warwick James, a salesman with the Professionals company, sold him one of his first houses - a $40,000 home in Takanini, James recalls.
"I asked him if he wanted to make some more bread; would he consider joining the real estate industry? He was immediately interested," James says.
Ha was attracted by the commission - he could make the same money selling a $95,000 house as he could baking 1500 French sticks.
Ha struck a deal with James - if he coached him to pass the correspondence sales course, Ha promised to become his No 1 salesman. Every Monday, on his only day off from the bakery, Ha would go to James' Papatoetoe office and study.
"It was on the clear understanding he had to write his own answers," James says. "He would regularly stay till midnight. He understood the principles, but it was a hard proposition getting it down on paper."
Ha struggled with English. He started school in New Zealand at Std 4 without knowing a word of the language - kids taught the naive Ha to curse like a sailor, and "I'd come home and swear at my mum".
He repeatedly failed the real estate course. "When you're in a bakery you know how to spell doughnut and lamington," he says. But he stuck with it, "as only Don could", says James, and after three months, passed the exam.
Ha sold his bakery, at half its valuation, to sell houses in James' office in 1994. His mother cried the day he sold the bakery: "My parents had a strong work ethic, but they didn't support risk."
He soon discovered it wasn't easy going to work in a suit. "There was a lot of anti-Asian sentiment around. I had walked into an office with a lot of Europeans, and I was really shy. I didn't ask anyone for assistance," he says.
"In my first month I sold a house, and no one said anything to me, so I thought 'maybe I'm not good enough'. The next month, I sold three. Still no one said anything. But I decided to just keep going."
By the end of his first year, he had sold 86 houses - $10.6 million of sales - and won Rookie of the Year for the Professionals. He paid back his promise. "That's when I knew I was good," Ha says.
James describes Ha as someone who could walk the talk. "His energy and enthusiasm influenced everyone he was associated with. He wasn't afraid to work seven days a week, and he was often showing people houses late at night," James says.
"He would never put off till tomorrow what he could do today, and he'd follow that religiously. Providing that faster service was a major factor in his success."
It wasn't enough for Ha, who wanted to double his success the next year.
"And believe it or not, I did it, and I've done it every year since," he says.
There is something overwhelming about Don Ha - he seems constantly in awe of his prosperity. He peppers words like amazing, incredible and unbelievable throughout our conversations about his success - as if he can't fathom it's happened to him.
After 10 years with the Professionals, Ha was headhunted by rivals Ray White to open his own franchise in Manukau. He had outgrown where he was, but he was a stickler for loyalty.
"That was a very hard decision to make - loyalty is very important in my life. At the end of the day, I asked myself: 'What is best for you, your family and your future?' Then it was clear, it was the best thing for me to do, and it was the best thing that happened to me in my career."
The branch office wasn't ready when Ha was, so he and his four staff worked out of McCafes for a few months. "One day we had five different customers at five different tables. I told my staff to remember these times; these will be our best memories."
Ha's success is not limited to selling houses - he buys and builds them as well. And working in real estate has helped him achieve other goals - he develops subdivisions and owns a construction company. Then there is his growing interest in horse racing, and a sideline in mentoring, motivational speaking and writing books.
He won't divulge how many properties he owns, except to say: "I buy more houses than shoes. It's actually harder to buy shoes than houses and I'm a mad shoe person."
He rents out the houses; some are in rent-to-buy agreements. He only buys houses in south Auckland, because that's what he knows and lives.
"Sometimes I'll be at one of my developments, and there will be four of us in the car, and collectively well own 140 houses," Ha says.
He has encouraged all of his family - all still live in Auckland - to invest in property, and he does the same with the more than 70 people who work with him in the office (he refuses to say they work for him, and "boss" is like one of those swear words he learnt at school).
Seven years ago, Levani Lum-On was slaving over a hot stove, working as a chef with one of Ha's brothers-in-law.
"When I met Don he told me to buy 10 houses. I bought two, and six months later, the market in that area went through the roof. He told me I had missed out on a million dollars just like that," Lum-On says.
"From then on, I listened to him 100 per cent. I was buying that much property off him, and sending so many friends and family to Don, he told me I should be selling to them. So I went to work with him. I now make in a month what I used to in a year."
Lum-On, one of the top salesmen at the Manukau office, dreamt of owning 30 houses - he says he's exceeded that in only four years. He owns five racehorses, as well as shares in the Zabeel-Sunline colt, which Ha offered to some of his employees.
Lum-On calls Ha "a good mate", who's happy to tag along to the pub with his work colleagues even though he doesn't drink.
"I've learned so much from him. He's very competitive and obviously likes a challenge, but he loves making it fun. A lot of people have a couple of million in the bank and they're miserable. When we all go out, we spend heaps of cash and have a great time. I think that motivates you to make more."
Lum-On is but one of Ha's proteges. To Ha, sharing his knowledge on becoming rich is just as important as being wealthy. He sees every client as a potential millionaire even if they're buying their first home. It's how he started in this business, but it's also part of his way of giving back to the community which adopted him and his family.
He encourages and coaches people who never thought they'd be able to scratch together a deposit, putting them on saving regimes or rent-to-buy schemes.
"Sometimes I move families into garages for three months to get them to save. No one else wants to know them. They are so grateful. It's quite emotional when you meet a client you helped to buy their first house, and now it's worth five times more.
"They're now buying their third or fourth house for their families. I'm selling to the next generation."
Ha credits his parents for his work ethic and honesty. He knows little about where he came from or what his parents did before they fled their war-ravaged homeland of North Vietnam.
"It's sad I don't remember much about where I came from. I know my father was a miner. Having seven kids, he wouldn't eat during the day; he brought his food allowance home to feed us.
"I have great respect for him, especially now I have my own kids."
The Ha family - Don is the second youngest of five boys and two girls - spent a year in Hong Kong waiting to be relocated in the refugee programme. The quotas for every country were filled except New Zealand.
"We had no choice but to come here, Ha says. I think now, regardless of where I ended up, the person I am was always determined to make it. How far I would have gone living somewhere else, I don't know.
"But we have been more than happy here. It has been a great opportunity for us."
Ha admits feeling alienated throughout his school years in Auckland - Ferguson Intermediate and Hillary College - trying to grasp the language, wearing trousers instead of shorts because he was too shy. Although he was a fast learner, English became more difficult at secondary school.
"I passed School C - I did OK at maths, because I didn't need English to read numbers, but my accounting was terrible. I just passed, and so I paid my $8 for a recount, and it came back failed. Since then I learned if you pass, just keep your mouth shut," he giggles in his high-pitched trill.
Ha gained confidence and a passion for winning through martial arts - he is a black belt and teacher of Kung Fu, and regularly travelled to China to compete.
Ha thinks his achievements have been rounded out by becoming a parent. He adores his daughters, aged 6 and 3, and calls them his next progression of success. He didn't expect to feel this way.
"When our first daughter was born, I thought having kids would make you lose money. But it's the opposite. I don't sleep-in anymore - I get up early and read the paper and see opportunities. I ring agents at 6.30am and get in and buy the houses first," Ha laughs.
"I promised to take them to the beach on a Saturday, so we headed to Cockle Bay; I saw an auction and I bought the house. By having kids, I've made more money.
"But truly, they are wonderful. I think if you're successful on your own, you don't know the true meaning of it. You have no one to come home to, no rewards to share."
Already his eldest daughter is showing a predilection for business, advising her father not to buy a potential subdivision in Tauranga.
"She rang me on my way down in the car, and said, 'Dad, you are making a mistake. There's so much land in Auckland'. I agreed, so I cancelled the contract. I don't think [my children] will be selling houses one day, but I think they will end up running some of my companies."
Unlike the man who toiled 12-hour days to make a start for himself, Ha now works four days a week, and never the weekends. He's happy fishing off his boat, playing golf or travelling with his wife, Mohini.
The couple met when she was a tour desk operator at a hotel, and a smitten Don left a note on her desk asking her out. It took her a while to say yes. "But I'm a salesman, I was determined", he laughs.
"Behind every successful man is a woman, and that's true. She's been an incredible support." A woman so understanding, she never baulked as her husband bid $2 million on a colt that had never seen a racetrack.
On a subdivision site in south Auckland, Don Ha was talking to a huddle of developers when his phone rang, and he quickly walked off to take the call behind a stand of trees. For three minutes, he hid there, crying.
"It was my first pet-death experience", Ha recalls of the moment a couple of months ago when one of his best horses had to be put down after breaking his leg in a gallop.
"I went home and cried for an hour. It hurt. I never thought I would be like that. I never thought I would be so close to an animal."
This love affair was kindled when Ha was a baker, and a Rarotongan customer gave him a tip on a horse.
"I put $2 on, and it won $6. See how small I started? Shit, now I go buy a horse for $2 million."
As his fortune built through property, Ha decided to invest in livestock. "I bought two horses - one I named after my wife, and the other Ten Million, because I was going to get there. The Ten Million horse never got to the track. He was hopeless."
Last year, he decided to get serious and hired his own horse trainer, the genial Grayson Shirley, who suggested Ha needed a home for his clutch of six horses. They found the perfect piece of land in Pukekohe.
When the National Yearling Sales at Karaka rolled around in January, Ha already owned 30 horses. But there was another historic buy he was determined to make - the first son born of champions Zabeel and Sunline.
"The night before, I thought, you know this horse is the first of its kind, it will make history that will never be repeated. If he's good, he will never be that cheap again, either. So I'm washing the dishes at 11pm - I do the dishes every night - and I think, this is a punishment, I need a reward. So I do the dishes to justify buying that horse."
As the colt was led around the ring, and the bidding passed the $1.5 million reserve, master horseman Sir Patrick Hogan, who prepared the horse for seven months, was reduced to tears. Ha barely blinked an eye as his final bid hit a record $2 million, and then he broke into one of his full-face smiles.
"I always wanted to know how it felt to spend so much money on a horse. I did, and it feels great. Until the bill comes in."
Ha was applauded for making a promise to keep the colt, later named Sun Ruler, in New Zealand. It is now being trained by its original owners Trevor and Stephen McKee at Ardmore.
This new passion has since led to more records - $400,000 for a Zabeel-Myself weanling colt and $825,000 for broodmare Honor Lap at the Bloomsbury Stud sale in May.
And yet he readily admits he doesn't know much about what he's buying. In fact, he says, if you swapped Sun Ruler, known round the stables as Jonah, for another horse, Ha wouldn't be able to tell.
"I put my total trust in horse people. But they've all been good people", he says. Shirley is one of those people, and the trust is reciprocal.
"Don is awesome. He's 10 years younger than me, but I didn't click - I used to look up to him as an elder. He's a good man, a family man, and he's willing to give the best to his horses," Shirley says.
"He also gives people opportunities - young jockeys and old battlers like myself."
Horses or houses, Don Ha is giving back.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
In the money
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Opportunities aplenty for NZ firms in Guangdong
00AM Wednesday June 20, 2007By Adam Bennett
It is difficult to imagine anywhere in China where the country's soaring economic growth is more apparent than in Guangdong province in the south.
The province is just across the border from Hong Kong, and the scale of its industry and the speed of its development has merged several cities, including the capital, Guangjhou, into a heavily industrialised and populated smoky megalopolis.
Guangdong has perhaps the longest and deepest history of trade with the rest of the world, something its government takes pride in, and is anxious to develop further.
Most of New Zealand's first Chinese immigrants came from Guangdong, and its government regards Chinese New Zealanders and other overseas Chinese who have their roots in the area as a valuable resource.
Like other provinces, it has an Overseas Chinese Affairs Office to maintain and develop and develop emigrants' links with the area.
Many people who have left in recent years and established themselves in other countries have returned. They have resources in the form of business contacts, knowledge of overseas markets and capital.
Those Chinese who have spent time in New Zealand, often gaining citizenship, before returning to China, can also benefit New Zealand's economy by providing a bridge between two cultures that are often divided by a lack of understanding, says NZ Trade and Enterprise's North Asia regional director, Merv Stark.
For New Zealand companies wanting to do business with Chinese partners, developing that understanding, particularly in the initial stages, can be difficult.
The Chinese language, although not easy for Westerners to learn, is not even the biggest hurdle in developing trust and co-operation.
At best, it is second to the cultural differences.
"In China when people want something, they want it now," says Stark. "As Kiwis, we don't have that sense of urgency about things, but we need to learn to work with that."
Adding to potential pitfalls is what some commentators have called China's "crisis of trust", which is manifested in widespread corruption and is most obviously visible to the casual visitor in the form of spray painted phone numbers on walls in poor neighbourhoods advertising contacts for false documents such as academic qualifications.
That makes the building of strong relationships with Chinese partners all the more crucial, and New Zealand businesses wanting to do business in China would do well to develop a working knowledge of "guanxi".
Guanxi is the dynamic involved in personalised networks of influence. In practical terms, it can mean building mutual respect and trust through a seemingly interminable series of meetings and banquets.
Rising incomes generated by China's booming economy mean the potential market for New Zealand businesses, especially those selling premium products, is huge.
Recent food safety scares have lifted awareness of New Zealand as a "green" producer.
Because New Zealand's business is dominated by small and medium sized companies, Stark says, it makes sense to tackle the Chinese market by banding together to form "clusters".
The 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair in Guangjhou in September this year gives New Zealand businesses a chance to make initial contact with potential partners in Guangdong.
Applications for exhibitors and buyers will close at the end of next month.
It is difficult to imagine anywhere in China where the country's soaring economic growth is more apparent than in Guangdong province in the south.
The province is just across the border from Hong Kong, and the scale of its industry and the speed of its development has merged several cities, including the capital, Guangjhou, into a heavily industrialised and populated smoky megalopolis.
Guangdong has perhaps the longest and deepest history of trade with the rest of the world, something its government takes pride in, and is anxious to develop further.
Most of New Zealand's first Chinese immigrants came from Guangdong, and its government regards Chinese New Zealanders and other overseas Chinese who have their roots in the area as a valuable resource.
Like other provinces, it has an Overseas Chinese Affairs Office to maintain and develop and develop emigrants' links with the area.
Many people who have left in recent years and established themselves in other countries have returned. They have resources in the form of business contacts, knowledge of overseas markets and capital.
Those Chinese who have spent time in New Zealand, often gaining citizenship, before returning to China, can also benefit New Zealand's economy by providing a bridge between two cultures that are often divided by a lack of understanding, says NZ Trade and Enterprise's North Asia regional director, Merv Stark.
For New Zealand companies wanting to do business with Chinese partners, developing that understanding, particularly in the initial stages, can be difficult.
The Chinese language, although not easy for Westerners to learn, is not even the biggest hurdle in developing trust and co-operation.
At best, it is second to the cultural differences.
"In China when people want something, they want it now," says Stark. "As Kiwis, we don't have that sense of urgency about things, but we need to learn to work with that."
Adding to potential pitfalls is what some commentators have called China's "crisis of trust", which is manifested in widespread corruption and is most obviously visible to the casual visitor in the form of spray painted phone numbers on walls in poor neighbourhoods advertising contacts for false documents such as academic qualifications.
That makes the building of strong relationships with Chinese partners all the more crucial, and New Zealand businesses wanting to do business in China would do well to develop a working knowledge of "guanxi".
Guanxi is the dynamic involved in personalised networks of influence. In practical terms, it can mean building mutual respect and trust through a seemingly interminable series of meetings and banquets.
Rising incomes generated by China's booming economy mean the potential market for New Zealand businesses, especially those selling premium products, is huge.
Recent food safety scares have lifted awareness of New Zealand as a "green" producer.
Because New Zealand's business is dominated by small and medium sized companies, Stark says, it makes sense to tackle the Chinese market by banding together to form "clusters".
The 4th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair in Guangjhou in September this year gives New Zealand businesses a chance to make initial contact with potential partners in Guangdong.
Applications for exhibitors and buyers will close at the end of next month.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages
Twenty-two new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and one deleted during Committee meeting in Christchurch Friday, June 29, 2007
Brief Description
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, feature the Diaolou, multi-storied defensive village houses in Kaiping, Guangdong Province, which display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia, and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the close links between overseas Kaiping and their ancestral homes. The property inscribed here consists of four groups of Diaolou, totaling some 1,800 tower houses in their village settings. They reflect the culmination of almost five centuries of tower-house building and the still strong links between Kaiping and the Chinese Diaspora. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, of which 473 remain; residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, of which 1,149 survive; and watch towers, the latest development, which account for 221 of the buildings. Built of stone, pise (compressed earth), brick or concrete, these buildings represent a complex and confident fusion between Chinese and western architectural styles. Retaining a harmonious relationship with the surrounding agricultural landscape, the Diaolou testify to the final flowering of local building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry.
Brief Description
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, feature the Diaolou, multi-storied defensive village houses in Kaiping, Guangdong Province, which display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia, and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the close links between overseas Kaiping and their ancestral homes. The property inscribed here consists of four groups of Diaolou, totaling some 1,800 tower houses in their village settings. They reflect the culmination of almost five centuries of tower-house building and the still strong links between Kaiping and the Chinese Diaspora. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, of which 473 remain; residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, of which 1,149 survive; and watch towers, the latest development, which account for 221 of the buildings. Built of stone, pise (compressed earth), brick or concrete, these buildings represent a complex and confident fusion between Chinese and western architectural styles. Retaining a harmonious relationship with the surrounding agricultural landscape, the Diaolou testify to the final flowering of local building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry.
Chinese playgroup preserves language
FIONA GOODALL/East and Bays Courier
LESSON TIME: Teacher Lomi Lou explains the different animals to the children.
Learning your ABCs is a thing of the past for a group of Chinese preschoolers.
Ditching conventional educational methods, toddlers at the Shuang Xing playgroup in Mission Bay learn how to play, dance and speak, all in Mandarin.
The aim is to have full immersion by the time children reach primary school.
Founder Raewyn Ho says many children lose their language when living as a minority culture.
"It's difficult to get recent immigrants to come because they think their language is strong, so they put their children in primary school because they want them to speak English.
"But this is how they lose it," she says.
"When they get to my generation, they would be totally Kiwi. It's hard to retain it because the parents are Kiwi so it?s like a lost language and lost culture."
She says the group is a first for New Zealand and is an important way for immigrant and New Zealand Chinese children to reconnect and maintain links to their culture, strengthening their Chinese identity.
As a third generation Chinese New Zealander, Ms Ho was 21 before she learned to speak Mandarin after realising how pivotal language is to culture.
She is now a Mandarin specialist who trains teachers to teach Chinese.
Although the playgroup has only been running for a month, there are Taiwanese, Chinese and Malay teachers, and Ms Ho says they are trying to set it up as a kindergarten.
She sees the bilingual playgroup as a stepping stone to a full bilingual early childhood centre, which will merge both New Zealand Chinese and immigrant communities together.
From there, she hopes to establish an immersion primary school.
"We want to approach a primary school and see if they can introduce a bilingual class where everything is taught in Chinese.
"After a year, 20 percent would be taught in English and 80 percent in Chinese, then the next year it might be 30-70 percent, or they might speak Chinese on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and English on Tuesday and Thursday.
"That's how they get to speak both languages and become bilingual," she says.
She says it takes five to seven years of formal language to become fluent.
Jianlian Liang, an Auckland University language teacher, says children aged two to five years can accept two to five languages at a time and learn them well.
Children who are bilingual have better cognitive and intellectual ability, and have communication advantages.
The New Zealand government's draft curriculum has identified learning languages as a priority for promoting cross-cultural schools.
The playgroups, for children aged two and a half to five years, are at the Girl Guide Hall, Patteson Ave, on Mondays and Saturdays from 9am to 11.30am.
By JUSTINE GLUCINA - East And Bays Courier Friday, 29 June 2007
LESSON TIME: Teacher Lomi Lou explains the different animals to the children.
Learning your ABCs is a thing of the past for a group of Chinese preschoolers.
Ditching conventional educational methods, toddlers at the Shuang Xing playgroup in Mission Bay learn how to play, dance and speak, all in Mandarin.
The aim is to have full immersion by the time children reach primary school.
Founder Raewyn Ho says many children lose their language when living as a minority culture.
"It's difficult to get recent immigrants to come because they think their language is strong, so they put their children in primary school because they want them to speak English.
"But this is how they lose it," she says.
"When they get to my generation, they would be totally Kiwi. It's hard to retain it because the parents are Kiwi so it?s like a lost language and lost culture."
She says the group is a first for New Zealand and is an important way for immigrant and New Zealand Chinese children to reconnect and maintain links to their culture, strengthening their Chinese identity.
As a third generation Chinese New Zealander, Ms Ho was 21 before she learned to speak Mandarin after realising how pivotal language is to culture.
She is now a Mandarin specialist who trains teachers to teach Chinese.
Although the playgroup has only been running for a month, there are Taiwanese, Chinese and Malay teachers, and Ms Ho says they are trying to set it up as a kindergarten.
She sees the bilingual playgroup as a stepping stone to a full bilingual early childhood centre, which will merge both New Zealand Chinese and immigrant communities together.
From there, she hopes to establish an immersion primary school.
"We want to approach a primary school and see if they can introduce a bilingual class where everything is taught in Chinese.
"After a year, 20 percent would be taught in English and 80 percent in Chinese, then the next year it might be 30-70 percent, or they might speak Chinese on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and English on Tuesday and Thursday.
"That's how they get to speak both languages and become bilingual," she says.
She says it takes five to seven years of formal language to become fluent.
Jianlian Liang, an Auckland University language teacher, says children aged two to five years can accept two to five languages at a time and learn them well.
Children who are bilingual have better cognitive and intellectual ability, and have communication advantages.
The New Zealand government's draft curriculum has identified learning languages as a priority for promoting cross-cultural schools.
The playgroups, for children aged two and a half to five years, are at the Girl Guide Hall, Patteson Ave, on Mondays and Saturdays from 9am to 11.30am.
By JUSTINE GLUCINA - East And Bays Courier Friday, 29 June 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
4 Major Chinese Cooking Styles
the most popular dishes from four major regions in China.
Beijing. Beijing cuisine is also called "mandarin cuisine". Many of the foods in this region are wheat-based (as a opposed to rice-based). Beijing cuisine consists of a variety of dumplings, baked and steamed breads, various buns and noodles. Mandarin-style meals usually include vegetable dishes, soups, tofu (soybean curd), and fish. The food is mild in taste, is often slightly oily, and vinegar and garlic are common ingredients; food is frequently fried, stewed, or braised.
Cantonese. From Canton or "Guangdong" Province in the southeastern part of China (the same area as Hong Kong), Cantonese food is the mildest and most common kind of Chinese food in the United States and many other countries. Cantonese food tends to be more colorful, less spicy and is usually stir fried, which preserves both the texture and flavor.
Szechwan and Hunan. Food from the Szechwan (or "Four Rivers") basin is characteristic south-western Chinese food. Food throughout the western regions of China are liberal in their use of garlic, scallions, and chilly. Consequently, it's the spiciest region of Chinese food available and certainly very tasty. When prepared in a traditional manner, many of the dishes are very hot, although banquet dishes tend to be milder. Sichuan food is distinguished by its hot peppery taste, while food from neighboring Hunan province is richer and a bit more oily, and may be either spicy and hot or sweet and sour. Chicken, pork, river fish, and shellfish are all popular items.
Beijing. Beijing cuisine is also called "mandarin cuisine". Many of the foods in this region are wheat-based (as a opposed to rice-based). Beijing cuisine consists of a variety of dumplings, baked and steamed breads, various buns and noodles. Mandarin-style meals usually include vegetable dishes, soups, tofu (soybean curd), and fish. The food is mild in taste, is often slightly oily, and vinegar and garlic are common ingredients; food is frequently fried, stewed, or braised.
Cantonese. From Canton or "Guangdong" Province in the southeastern part of China (the same area as Hong Kong), Cantonese food is the mildest and most common kind of Chinese food in the United States and many other countries. Cantonese food tends to be more colorful, less spicy and is usually stir fried, which preserves both the texture and flavor.
Szechwan and Hunan. Food from the Szechwan (or "Four Rivers") basin is characteristic south-western Chinese food. Food throughout the western regions of China are liberal in their use of garlic, scallions, and chilly. Consequently, it's the spiciest region of Chinese food available and certainly very tasty. When prepared in a traditional manner, many of the dishes are very hot, although banquet dishes tend to be milder. Sichuan food is distinguished by its hot peppery taste, while food from neighboring Hunan province is richer and a bit more oily, and may be either spicy and hot or sweet and sour. Chicken, pork, river fish, and shellfish are all popular items.
Gam Lee - Obituary
Obituary: Gam Lee5:00AM Saturday June 23, 2007 By Arnold Pickmere Gam Lee worked tirelessly to repay what he felt was his debt to New Zealand. Photo / Brett PhibbsGam Lee, MBE. Doctor, community leader. Died aged 74.Gam Lee said on being made an MBE for services to medicine and the community that all he was doing was repaying his "debt" to NZ.But the 1995 award followed decades of hectic work both for medicine and the communities in which he lived. During his life he became accustomed to rushing from his medical surgery to local body or medical administration meetings and to fundraising committees.It was a work habit he started as a schoolboy, after his family had settled in Mangere Bridge, South Auckland. They had a 2ha market garden growing seasonal vegetables. Part of the land is now the site of the Chinese Community Centre that Dr Lee had a key role in building.Young Gam Lee's days while at Otahuhu College included helping his parents in the market garden before school and again when he came home, then finding time to do his homework.That was the way it was in those days, for the family were war refugees from the Japanese attacks on China in which millions died.As a young boy Dr Lee walked 100km with his mother and an uncle from their little village in the Xin Tang province in what is now Guangzhou (formerly Canton) to the safety of Hong Kong. He made it to NZ in 1940, his family coming on a temporary visa. The Japanese attacked Hong Kong in late 1941, only hours after their attack on Pearl Harbour.The family's visa included a ?00 bond (the male New Zealand average wage was then ? a week). And they entered on the understanding they would eventually return to China, although the policy was later changed and they stayed.Gam Lee went to Otago University and qualified as a doctor in 1959, the same year he became a naturalised New Zealander. His family describe his approach to life as "sheer determination". He was a psychiatric registrar in Otago for a time and helped his younger brother Peter through medical school.Dr Lee started a general practice in sparsely settled Waiheke Island in the early 1960s. In three years there he was involved in setting up a Lions Club and being a member of the Waiheke County Council. After that his practice moved first to Mangere and later to Pakuranga. Apart from orthodox general practice and obstetrics he also got involved in acupuncture, manipulation, chelation therapy and other treatments and gave time to their organisations. He spent two terms on the Manukau City Council and one on the Auckland Hospital Board.Apart from his numerous efforts in the Chinese community he was also a Rotarian for more than 20 years and helped establish the multicultural Harbourside Rotary Club.He believed it was important for Chinese people in New Zealand to be involved in the community. "New Zealand adopted me and gave me an excellent education," he said in 1995. "I owe this country so much that I will never be able to repay my debt."Dr Lee is survived by Hane, his wife of 50 years, two sons and a daughter.NZ Herald 23/6/07
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Novel provokes outcry
:00AM Sunday June 10, 2007 By Portia Mao
After reading the book, Wei Li checked out her son's haunts. A novel portraying Chinese students in New Zealand as drug dealers, black marketeers, gamblers and prostitutes has upset foreign students and worried their parents in China.
Around 100,000 copies of Christmas in Summer - Chinese Students in New Zealand are being printed in China, after an initial print run sold out. Written by former Manukau Institute of Technology and Auckland University students Mengmeng Xi and Ning Gu, it tells the story of Chinese attending both tertiary institutions. The main characters skip school, sell DVDs and paua illegally, take and deal in drugs, and frequent Auckland's casino and local brothels.
Money worries force one female character into prostitution. Another lives in an $800,000 Mission Bay house bought with her parents' money while her no-hoper boyfriend gambles with money he steals from her.
Most Auckland Chinese students say the novel completely misrepresents them, while others say there are grains of truth to it.
And it's caused so much concern among their parents that at least one mother spoken to by the Herald on Sunday has checked out her son's living environment in Auckland.
Now working back in China, author Mengmeng Xi has defended her work and insisted it's based on real people and situations.
"I was one of the Chinese students in Auckland, why should I demonise Chinese students?... The book actually shows how young people grow up through mistakes.
"I just want to show something true and make readers think why all these things happen."
A few Chinese students say the book does bear some resemblance to reality. Massey University student Guoling Xu told the Chinese Herald the book was based on truth, but that "the authors hurt many innocent Chinese students' feelings by generalising their situation".
Stella Jing, a former student of Auckland University's Business School, from which the two authors graduated, said she was worried Christmas in Summer would mislead Chinese readers.
"It displays the life of 1 per cent of Chinese students. Writing such a book... is not responsible behaviour."
Auckland University of Technology student Rebecca Mu said she had studied in New Zealand for more than five years but had never met anybody like the characters in the novel.
She said with English as a second language, and often having to work part-time to support themselves, Chinese students usually worked harder than the locals. "How could real students have time for other things?"
Wei Li came to New Zealand in May for her son's graduation ceremony. She had read Christmas in Summer and was worried enough to make her son and his friends take her to one of the pubs mentioned in the story.
She was satisfied the place wasn't "a place where dirty things happened or dirty deals were made". However, she said other Chinese parents could easily believe what was written, particularly because the authors were former students in New Zealand. She had at least 10 friends whose children had studied here.
"I am so worried because I am afraid many Chinese parents wouldn't want to send their children to New Zealand after reading the book."
Robert Stevens, chief executive of Education New Zealand which markets New Zealand as a destination for foreign students, said he was aware of the novel.
"From what I've heard about this book, it is not consistent with the recently completed research... undertaken by the University of Waikato," he said. "I can understand why it upset many hardworking Chinese students, as it is unfair and inaccurate. It is a shame."
After reading the book, Wei Li checked out her son's haunts. A novel portraying Chinese students in New Zealand as drug dealers, black marketeers, gamblers and prostitutes has upset foreign students and worried their parents in China.
Around 100,000 copies of Christmas in Summer - Chinese Students in New Zealand are being printed in China, after an initial print run sold out. Written by former Manukau Institute of Technology and Auckland University students Mengmeng Xi and Ning Gu, it tells the story of Chinese attending both tertiary institutions. The main characters skip school, sell DVDs and paua illegally, take and deal in drugs, and frequent Auckland's casino and local brothels.
Money worries force one female character into prostitution. Another lives in an $800,000 Mission Bay house bought with her parents' money while her no-hoper boyfriend gambles with money he steals from her.
Most Auckland Chinese students say the novel completely misrepresents them, while others say there are grains of truth to it.
And it's caused so much concern among their parents that at least one mother spoken to by the Herald on Sunday has checked out her son's living environment in Auckland.
Now working back in China, author Mengmeng Xi has defended her work and insisted it's based on real people and situations.
"I was one of the Chinese students in Auckland, why should I demonise Chinese students?... The book actually shows how young people grow up through mistakes.
"I just want to show something true and make readers think why all these things happen."
A few Chinese students say the book does bear some resemblance to reality. Massey University student Guoling Xu told the Chinese Herald the book was based on truth, but that "the authors hurt many innocent Chinese students' feelings by generalising their situation".
Stella Jing, a former student of Auckland University's Business School, from which the two authors graduated, said she was worried Christmas in Summer would mislead Chinese readers.
"It displays the life of 1 per cent of Chinese students. Writing such a book... is not responsible behaviour."
Auckland University of Technology student Rebecca Mu said she had studied in New Zealand for more than five years but had never met anybody like the characters in the novel.
She said with English as a second language, and often having to work part-time to support themselves, Chinese students usually worked harder than the locals. "How could real students have time for other things?"
Wei Li came to New Zealand in May for her son's graduation ceremony. She had read Christmas in Summer and was worried enough to make her son and his friends take her to one of the pubs mentioned in the story.
She was satisfied the place wasn't "a place where dirty things happened or dirty deals were made". However, she said other Chinese parents could easily believe what was written, particularly because the authors were former students in New Zealand. She had at least 10 friends whose children had studied here.
"I am so worried because I am afraid many Chinese parents wouldn't want to send their children to New Zealand after reading the book."
Robert Stevens, chief executive of Education New Zealand which markets New Zealand as a destination for foreign students, said he was aware of the novel.
"From what I've heard about this book, it is not consistent with the recently completed research... undertaken by the University of Waikato," he said. "I can understand why it upset many hardworking Chinese students, as it is unfair and inaccurate. It is a shame."
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Lonely Planet author missing in China
By DAVID BRAITHWAITE - SMH Tuesday, 5 June 2007
A search has been launched for an Australian travel writer missing for more than a month in a mountainous region of China.
Clem Lindenmayer, a 47-year-old man from Victoria, who has written for the travel guidebook company Lonely Planet, disappeared while hiking near Minya Konka mountain, also known as Gongga Shan.
A contributor to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum, who was described as a family member, said Mr Lindenmayer was believed missing in the area of Kangding, a city in the Sichuan province in south-west China.
"Clem is a 47-year-old, very fit Australian male with a ready smile," the post by 'Heather' said.
"He is well built, approximately 183cm (6 feet) tall with grey/brown hair, blue eyes, and a short greying beard. He speaks Mandarin, German, Spanish and English.
"Clem is a seasoned traveller with many years trekking experience.
"His last email was sent from Kangding and his intention at that stage was to do a six-day circuit around Mount Gongga.
"If he completed this circuit we would have expected him to be back in contact on or about 10 May, which is now three weeks ago."
A Lonely Planet spokeswoman said Mr Lindenmayer was not on assignment when he went missing, however its staff were aware of the situation and were in touch with his family.
She said he had written for the travel publisher for more than a decade and his last book for the company was Lonely Planet 'Trekking in the Patagonian Andes', published in 2003.
He had also written Lonely Planet 'Walking in Switzerland' and contributed to various country guides.
Sydney resident Michael Woodhead, who is a frequent visitor to the Minya Konka area, said an experienced hiker like Mr Lindenmayer should have had no trouble with the terrain.
He said exposure and altitude sickness could pose problems for people trekking in the sparsely populated region, but a more pressing danger was posed by roaming gangs of bandits.
"There is a danger from roaming bands of guys - it happens very rarely, but you do hear stories of people who disappear," Mr Woodhead said.
"[The local people] all carry guns and knives, it's a tradition in the area - I've been robbed there myself once by a bunch of guys with daggers, and a lot carry rifles.
"When you speak to people in the area they say, 'Don't travel by yourself, there's lots of bad guys around'.
"If you're on the roads things are quite safe, but off the beaten track there's no police - it's a very remote area and you might walk two or three days and not see another person."
However, the editor-in-chief of Hong Kong-based Action Asia magazine, Steve White, said the area's unstable terrain was more likely to be a factor in Mr Lindenmayer's disappearance.
He said the remote region had a lot of unclimbed peaks and did not have the safeguards of more established climbing areas.
"It's a cutting edge destination for adventurers in China.
"It's an amazing-looking peak and people go to climb in the area because they are put off by the circus revolving around places like Mount Everest," he said.
"The world's best mountaineers are heading to these new areas."
Two well-known American climbers, Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff,were reported missing after attempting to climb a nearby mountain late last year. The body of Mr Fowler was found in December.
The Sichuan Mountaineering Association's Gao Min told Xinhua that a search had been launched for Mr Lindenmayer and that his family were travelling to the area.
A notice was also published last Friday to alert locals to Mr Lindenmayer's disappearance, Mr Gao said.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman confirmed the family of an Australian man travelling in southern China were trying to locate him.
Mr Lindenmayer's family had been offered consular assistance to assist with their search, he said.
A mountaineering expedition website says the 7556 metre-high Minya Konka is the highest peak in eastern Tibet.
The "beautiful" mountain was "rugged and rarely visited", the website said.
A search has been launched for an Australian travel writer missing for more than a month in a mountainous region of China.
Clem Lindenmayer, a 47-year-old man from Victoria, who has written for the travel guidebook company Lonely Planet, disappeared while hiking near Minya Konka mountain, also known as Gongga Shan.
A contributor to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum, who was described as a family member, said Mr Lindenmayer was believed missing in the area of Kangding, a city in the Sichuan province in south-west China.
"Clem is a 47-year-old, very fit Australian male with a ready smile," the post by 'Heather' said.
"He is well built, approximately 183cm (6 feet) tall with grey/brown hair, blue eyes, and a short greying beard. He speaks Mandarin, German, Spanish and English.
"Clem is a seasoned traveller with many years trekking experience.
"His last email was sent from Kangding and his intention at that stage was to do a six-day circuit around Mount Gongga.
"If he completed this circuit we would have expected him to be back in contact on or about 10 May, which is now three weeks ago."
A Lonely Planet spokeswoman said Mr Lindenmayer was not on assignment when he went missing, however its staff were aware of the situation and were in touch with his family.
She said he had written for the travel publisher for more than a decade and his last book for the company was Lonely Planet 'Trekking in the Patagonian Andes', published in 2003.
He had also written Lonely Planet 'Walking in Switzerland' and contributed to various country guides.
Sydney resident Michael Woodhead, who is a frequent visitor to the Minya Konka area, said an experienced hiker like Mr Lindenmayer should have had no trouble with the terrain.
He said exposure and altitude sickness could pose problems for people trekking in the sparsely populated region, but a more pressing danger was posed by roaming gangs of bandits.
"There is a danger from roaming bands of guys - it happens very rarely, but you do hear stories of people who disappear," Mr Woodhead said.
"[The local people] all carry guns and knives, it's a tradition in the area - I've been robbed there myself once by a bunch of guys with daggers, and a lot carry rifles.
"When you speak to people in the area they say, 'Don't travel by yourself, there's lots of bad guys around'.
"If you're on the roads things are quite safe, but off the beaten track there's no police - it's a very remote area and you might walk two or three days and not see another person."
However, the editor-in-chief of Hong Kong-based Action Asia magazine, Steve White, said the area's unstable terrain was more likely to be a factor in Mr Lindenmayer's disappearance.
He said the remote region had a lot of unclimbed peaks and did not have the safeguards of more established climbing areas.
"It's a cutting edge destination for adventurers in China.
"It's an amazing-looking peak and people go to climb in the area because they are put off by the circus revolving around places like Mount Everest," he said.
"The world's best mountaineers are heading to these new areas."
Two well-known American climbers, Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff,were reported missing after attempting to climb a nearby mountain late last year. The body of Mr Fowler was found in December.
The Sichuan Mountaineering Association's Gao Min told Xinhua that a search had been launched for Mr Lindenmayer and that his family were travelling to the area.
A notice was also published last Friday to alert locals to Mr Lindenmayer's disappearance, Mr Gao said.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman confirmed the family of an Australian man travelling in southern China were trying to locate him.
Mr Lindenmayer's family had been offered consular assistance to assist with their search, he said.
A mountaineering expedition website says the 7556 metre-high Minya Konka is the highest peak in eastern Tibet.
The "beautiful" mountain was "rugged and rarely visited", the website said.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Chinese Laundries: Tickets To Survival On Gold Mountain
The New Book That is Out - By John Jung
To Order: for anyone interested is to do it online: www.lulu.com/Chineselaundries
A social history of the role of the Chinese laundry on the survival of early Chinese immigrants in the U.S.during the Chinese Exclusion law period, 1882-1943, and in Canada during the years of the Head Tax, 1885-1923, and exclusion law, 1923-1947. Why and how Chinese got into the laundry business and how they had to fight discriminatory laws and competition from white-owned laundries to survive. Description of their lives, work demands, and living conditions. Reflections by a sample of children who grew up living in the backs of their laundries provide vivid first-person glimpses of the difficult lives of Chinese laundrymen and their families.
Some Praise For "CHINESE LAUNDRIES" …important window into the history of the early Chinese immigrants. . . The laundrymen faced struggles, challenges, and even disappointments; yet, the Chinese laundry became a valued and necessary enterprise … Sylvia Sun Minnick, SamFow: The San Joaquin Chinese Legacy and Stockton's Chinese Community … a significant contribution to the history of Chinese laundries … best told by someone like Jung who experienced a ‘laundry life,’ and understands its psychological impact on the Chinese laundrymen and their families. . . Murray K. Lee, Curator of Chinese American History, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum … rewarding study of an era marked by invention born of dire necessity, an unforgiving host society that demanded Chinese laundrymen’s services but then punished them for being too good at it, … a long overdue analysis of a familiar experience hidden in plain sight. Mel Brown, Chinese Heart of Texas, The San Antonio Chinese Community, 1875-1975. From the Foreword: What is remarkable is the combination of this historical perspective with his social psychological descriptions and analyses of laundrymen and their descendants. The personal life stories, with their inner thought, feeling, values, attitudes, work experiences and survival hardships, are skillfully presented with penetrating insights and observations. These perspectives present an overall picture of the history and the life and work of the laundrymen. Ban Seng Hoe, Curator of Asian Studies, Canadian Museum of Civilization
To Order: for anyone interested is to do it online: www.lulu.com/Chineselaundries
A social history of the role of the Chinese laundry on the survival of early Chinese immigrants in the U.S.during the Chinese Exclusion law period, 1882-1943, and in Canada during the years of the Head Tax, 1885-1923, and exclusion law, 1923-1947. Why and how Chinese got into the laundry business and how they had to fight discriminatory laws and competition from white-owned laundries to survive. Description of their lives, work demands, and living conditions. Reflections by a sample of children who grew up living in the backs of their laundries provide vivid first-person glimpses of the difficult lives of Chinese laundrymen and their families.
Some Praise For "CHINESE LAUNDRIES" …important window into the history of the early Chinese immigrants. . . The laundrymen faced struggles, challenges, and even disappointments; yet, the Chinese laundry became a valued and necessary enterprise … Sylvia Sun Minnick, SamFow: The San Joaquin Chinese Legacy and Stockton's Chinese Community … a significant contribution to the history of Chinese laundries … best told by someone like Jung who experienced a ‘laundry life,’ and understands its psychological impact on the Chinese laundrymen and their families. . . Murray K. Lee, Curator of Chinese American History, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum … rewarding study of an era marked by invention born of dire necessity, an unforgiving host society that demanded Chinese laundrymen’s services but then punished them for being too good at it, … a long overdue analysis of a familiar experience hidden in plain sight. Mel Brown, Chinese Heart of Texas, The San Antonio Chinese Community, 1875-1975. From the Foreword: What is remarkable is the combination of this historical perspective with his social psychological descriptions and analyses of laundrymen and their descendants. The personal life stories, with their inner thought, feeling, values, attitudes, work experiences and survival hardships, are skillfully presented with penetrating insights and observations. These perspectives present an overall picture of the history and the life and work of the laundrymen. Ban Seng Hoe, Curator of Asian Studies, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Jack Chong's New Look Cook Book
Seen on Trade Me -
exciting new ways to cook chinese and kiwi food.. good condition. contents include:super stock and soups, rice boiled and fried, noodles, sweet and sore dishes, crispy veg, tasty fry, roast chicken and soy chicken, stir fried dishes, beef stews curry casseroles, etc
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Pansy Wong - MP
Pansy Yu Fong Wong was born in Shanghai, China, and grew up in Hong Kong. She moved to Christchurch in 1974, where she lived for 28 years, and attended Canterbury University, where she gained her More...
Caucus Responsibilities
Spokeswoman for ACC
Spokewoman for Ethnic Affairs
Associate Spokeswoman for Education (International Education)
Associate Spokeswoman for Immigration
Caucus Responsibilities
Spokeswoman for ACC
Spokewoman for Ethnic Affairs
Associate Spokeswoman for Education (International Education)
Associate Spokeswoman for Immigration
Robyn Wong
After completing my overseas experience I returned to New Zealand and started riding mountain bikes socially in 1996. Instantly addicted to the sport I threw myself into competing in the local Wellington races in 1997. After many successful results, Mud Cycles offered me sponsorship in March 1998. With my sponsors help, I won the expert class of the 1999 New Zealand National series. Later that year I gained two new sponsors: Penny Farthing Cycles and Gary Fisher
On the strength of my '99 results I qualified to represent New Zealand at the Oceania Games in Sydney. I came 9th in an international field that was run on the Olympic course. Soon after the Oceania Games I started road cycling to build strength and endurance and began competing in road races. This laid the foundation for my third placing in the 2001 New Zealand mountain biking series.
From there I embarked on my first international campaign racing on road and off road in the US, culminating in a respectable 43rd place at the MTB World Championships in Vail. My goal was to join the Commonwealth Games team in Manchester in July 2002.
Back in New Zealand I had an outstanding season to become the NZ Champion. However this was not enough to make the Games and though disappointed at missing selection I set my new goal to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Again I headed overseas in 2003 and 2004 to increase my world ranking and gain invaluable international experience. I had a fantastic result in the debut World Marathon Championships in 2003 finishing 14th.
2004 was all about qualifying for the Olympics and I had my best season to date. In a very competitive World Cup field I placed 29th, which qualified me for the Games. Then I got my first podium result in Europe with a 3rd place in the Grachen Swiss Cup. As part of my build up to the Games I joined the NZ road team for two tours which fuelled my passion for road racing. Then it was my cycling career highlight - competing at the Olympic Games in Athens. http://www.robynwong.com/journal.htm
On the strength of my '99 results I qualified to represent New Zealand at the Oceania Games in Sydney. I came 9th in an international field that was run on the Olympic course. Soon after the Oceania Games I started road cycling to build strength and endurance and began competing in road races. This laid the foundation for my third placing in the 2001 New Zealand mountain biking series.
From there I embarked on my first international campaign racing on road and off road in the US, culminating in a respectable 43rd place at the MTB World Championships in Vail. My goal was to join the Commonwealth Games team in Manchester in July 2002.
Back in New Zealand I had an outstanding season to become the NZ Champion. However this was not enough to make the Games and though disappointed at missing selection I set my new goal to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Again I headed overseas in 2003 and 2004 to increase my world ranking and gain invaluable international experience. I had a fantastic result in the debut World Marathon Championships in 2003 finishing 14th.
2004 was all about qualifying for the Olympics and I had my best season to date. In a very competitive World Cup field I placed 29th, which qualified me for the Games. Then I got my first podium result in Europe with a 3rd place in the Grachen Swiss Cup. As part of my build up to the Games I joined the NZ road team for two tours which fuelled my passion for road racing. Then it was my cycling career highlight - competing at the Olympic Games in Athens. http://www.robynwong.com/journal.htm
Plastic pallets attract investor Graeme Wong
By ALAN WOOD - The Press Friday, 4 May 2007
PLASTIC MAN: Canterbury property investor Graeme Wong is branching out into the palstics industry.
Entrepreneur Graeme Wong is diversifying from property projects into what he hopes will become a building block of the future – plastic pallets.
He has a couple of South Island subdivision projects on the boil but is focusing his energy on Icepallet – a company started in Australia by Kiwi industrial chemist Brett Boag.
The light plastic pallets were more easily stacked in space-saving form when used in ships' holds, Wong said as new chairman of the company.
However, they were "three times the price" of the wooden pallets that were produced in bulk by industrial giants such Brambles.
The plastic pallets – with a life expectancy of at least five years – were not only durable, but were less likely to be contaminated by insects or chemical residue, and their embedded tags could easily be tracked, Wong said.
He and other directors, including Mark Ching, were looking to take Icepallet from startup to the next level. The first commercial order had been shipped from China, but it was too early to release financial targets, Wong said.
"We're in the process of putting together the capital structure. A little while ago the guys asked me if I wanted to come on board as a director and I said I would if there's an opportunity to invest."
Wong, a former Brierley Investments Ltd executive has been involved in such projects as the Pegasus Bay township, 20km north of Christchurch and has a stake in an Omaha Beach subdivision de- velopment, north of Auckland.
The holding company for those projects, Southern Capital, is in the process of being wound up.
After being listed as Hirequip, the hire assets were sold to Pacific Equipment Solutions Finance, a Japanese private equity group.
Stuart McKinlay and Trevor Scott – two Hirequip directors – banded together to buy Southern Capital's legacy assets, including some remaining property.
Given that the sale prices had been agreed, Wong said he had worked out the profit of a shareholder who had bought into Southern Capital at its formation in December 1997.
If a shareholder had invested $100 in the initial offering of Southern Capital, they would have received an annualised compound return on investment of 36 per cent per annum before tax, he said.
Wong is working on two land developments in Queenstown and Wanaka – each between 12 and 20 lots worth between $1m and $2.5m.
PLASTIC MAN: Canterbury property investor Graeme Wong is branching out into the palstics industry.
Entrepreneur Graeme Wong is diversifying from property projects into what he hopes will become a building block of the future – plastic pallets.
He has a couple of South Island subdivision projects on the boil but is focusing his energy on Icepallet – a company started in Australia by Kiwi industrial chemist Brett Boag.
The light plastic pallets were more easily stacked in space-saving form when used in ships' holds, Wong said as new chairman of the company.
However, they were "three times the price" of the wooden pallets that were produced in bulk by industrial giants such Brambles.
The plastic pallets – with a life expectancy of at least five years – were not only durable, but were less likely to be contaminated by insects or chemical residue, and their embedded tags could easily be tracked, Wong said.
He and other directors, including Mark Ching, were looking to take Icepallet from startup to the next level. The first commercial order had been shipped from China, but it was too early to release financial targets, Wong said.
"We're in the process of putting together the capital structure. A little while ago the guys asked me if I wanted to come on board as a director and I said I would if there's an opportunity to invest."
Wong, a former Brierley Investments Ltd executive has been involved in such projects as the Pegasus Bay township, 20km north of Christchurch and has a stake in an Omaha Beach subdivision de- velopment, north of Auckland.
The holding company for those projects, Southern Capital, is in the process of being wound up.
After being listed as Hirequip, the hire assets were sold to Pacific Equipment Solutions Finance, a Japanese private equity group.
Stuart McKinlay and Trevor Scott – two Hirequip directors – banded together to buy Southern Capital's legacy assets, including some remaining property.
Given that the sale prices had been agreed, Wong said he had worked out the profit of a shareholder who had bought into Southern Capital at its formation in December 1997.
If a shareholder had invested $100 in the initial offering of Southern Capital, they would have received an annualised compound return on investment of 36 per cent per annum before tax, he said.
Wong is working on two land developments in Queenstown and Wanaka – each between 12 and 20 lots worth between $1m and $2.5m.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Beating the masses to heartland China
The Dominion Post Wednesday, 23 May 2007
NIKKI MACDONALD/Dominion Post
Zhaoxing is quickly making its mark on the tourist trail and it won't be long before it's inundated by visitors. By Nikki Macdonald.
The streets of Zhaoxing are paved with rice. Every tiny piece of flat ground in the storybook wooden village is lined with scruffy canvas mats spread with the new harvest drying in the sun.
On the other side of the road women in hand-dyed indigo traditional dress with legs and backs bowed by hard labour shuffle past a shop selling the latest cellphones.
This is the new China – a land of contradictions and growing chasms between the peasant life of the rural masses and the burgeoning middle class.
Zhaoxing is heartland, a subsistence village in southern Guizhou province, reliant on the endless staircases of paddy fields. It's three days to the nearest airport; three days on local buses lurching along unpaved roads in the brain-crunching heat. Three days sitting in the aisles on plastic kiddies' tea-party stools wedged between ducks and chickens on their way to or from market.
Pacing the flawless boutique-lined boulevards of Shanghai, flanked by trendy teens with feathered and blonded hair, and cellphone charms, it's easy to forget that only a fraction of China's 1.3 billion population are reaping the benefits of the country's incredible economic boom.
It is hard to imagine that this is what Karl Marx pictured when espousing the virtues of communism – the rich flourish as half the country's gross domestic product comes from private companies, while the poor still have to pay for their education and healthcare.
Zhaoxing at least has the drawcard of tourism. Populated by the colourful Dong ethnic minority, with swaths of egg-white-coated indigo cloth drying in droopy M shapes from balconies and buck-toothed old women yakking by the canals, the pedestrian village has a charm that transcends its relative poverty.
The trappings of tourist cash are already beginning to show – cafes with an English menu selling pizzas and banana smoothies, satellite dishes, guest houses under construction, an assortment of ethnic wares for sale in dingy shops.
A strangely familiar tune blares out from the barber's shop TV – "A, B, C, D . . .". An enterprising mother has bought a Learn your ABCs DVD for her young son, in a bid to get him learning English early. Too bad he's more interested in his super robot swap cards.
Fittingly, Zhaoxing means "beginning to prosper".
In 20 years, when the road has been upgraded, Zhaoxing will be awash with foreign and Chinese tourists, like countless other small towns and villages that have already captured travellers' imaginations.
But for now its residents are mostly still more interested in going about their daily lives than paying much attention to their curious guests.
Lulu's Place takes a very relaxed attitude to business – trying to find someone to take your money requires commitment and though the guesthouse has a menu including dubious delights such as cow bile and pork with fresh blood, there is no kitchen or chef to be seen.
Zhaoxing is one of those places where you can fritter away hours wandering, watching, absorbing the rustic scenes. Shrunken old men with drawn faces but beady eyes sit cross- legged in the shade of covered bridges, playing some kind of variant on chess.
Children practise their version of the Kiwi schoolyard favourite of elastics, cartwheeling over a raised rope.
Men and women, young and old, scale the surrounding hills to the rice paddies. Stalks are scythed, their heads thrust into treadle-powered barrel threshers to separate the edible grains. The crop is packed into great sacks and wobbled back down to town, one sack hung over either end of a pole, slung across the back of the neck.
Left on the field are browning bundles of stalks, standing like scarecrow sentries at a community meeting.
Back in town celebrations are afoot. A wedding perhaps? From the lantern-lit second-floor restaurant balcony, furnished with a cold beer, we watch as an explosion of firecrackers breaks the peace. What looks like an entire roll of double happies is lit and unravelled along the street, scattering sparks and waxy red paper and carrying its reverberating cackle to the door of the celebrations.
Small children follow hopefully in its wake, snatching at unexploded fragments, which they rebelliously light and toss into the river at the first sight of flames.
Zhaoxing is quickly making its mark on the tourist trail but nearby villages are not so fortunate. Caught out late afternoon with no bus connection, we stay in a town where tourists are rare and men stop to gawp at the white intruders. There is only one guesthouse of a standard that allows it to take foreigners, and that is modest. Poverty prevails and the marketplace is strewn with filth and flies.
It's a sight unremarkable in travelling terms but for the flashy opulence that seems to be increasingly synonymous with China's international image.
We share the pre-dawn bus out with a gaggle of men commuting to work – probably a factory in Liping about two hours away. This is the reality of life in the provinces – back-breaking labour in the fields or a four-hour daily commute.
Perhaps the most startling development is that their own countrymen are increasingly joining, if not supplanting, the stream of international tourists. With a middle class of more than 100 million and growing, many now use their brief holidays to sign on to a package tour to a scenic or rustic provincial destination.
And at home, in the cities with their lustrous sheen of new money, Lamborghini showrooms jockey for place with Louis Vuitton (the genuine article, that is).
Pet trainers, shoe designers and real estate brokers were among the list of new professions in 2006 and pets have become the latest accessory, paraded on seaside boulevards and through pedestrian precincts.
There can be little doubt that China is on the up. Or that it is a stunning, diverse and fascinating destination.
And who would deny the simple folk of Zhaoxing the chance to earn a healthy living without turning hunchback at middle age?
But for those seeking a slice of old time unspoilt by the endless drone of tour guide megaphones, the time to go is now.
Nikki Macdonald travelled courtesy of Cathay Pacific, Adventure World and Travel Indochina.
NIKKI MACDONALD/Dominion Post
Zhaoxing is quickly making its mark on the tourist trail and it won't be long before it's inundated by visitors. By Nikki Macdonald.
The streets of Zhaoxing are paved with rice. Every tiny piece of flat ground in the storybook wooden village is lined with scruffy canvas mats spread with the new harvest drying in the sun.
On the other side of the road women in hand-dyed indigo traditional dress with legs and backs bowed by hard labour shuffle past a shop selling the latest cellphones.
This is the new China – a land of contradictions and growing chasms between the peasant life of the rural masses and the burgeoning middle class.
Zhaoxing is heartland, a subsistence village in southern Guizhou province, reliant on the endless staircases of paddy fields. It's three days to the nearest airport; three days on local buses lurching along unpaved roads in the brain-crunching heat. Three days sitting in the aisles on plastic kiddies' tea-party stools wedged between ducks and chickens on their way to or from market.
Pacing the flawless boutique-lined boulevards of Shanghai, flanked by trendy teens with feathered and blonded hair, and cellphone charms, it's easy to forget that only a fraction of China's 1.3 billion population are reaping the benefits of the country's incredible economic boom.
It is hard to imagine that this is what Karl Marx pictured when espousing the virtues of communism – the rich flourish as half the country's gross domestic product comes from private companies, while the poor still have to pay for their education and healthcare.
Zhaoxing at least has the drawcard of tourism. Populated by the colourful Dong ethnic minority, with swaths of egg-white-coated indigo cloth drying in droopy M shapes from balconies and buck-toothed old women yakking by the canals, the pedestrian village has a charm that transcends its relative poverty.
The trappings of tourist cash are already beginning to show – cafes with an English menu selling pizzas and banana smoothies, satellite dishes, guest houses under construction, an assortment of ethnic wares for sale in dingy shops.
A strangely familiar tune blares out from the barber's shop TV – "A, B, C, D . . .". An enterprising mother has bought a Learn your ABCs DVD for her young son, in a bid to get him learning English early. Too bad he's more interested in his super robot swap cards.
Fittingly, Zhaoxing means "beginning to prosper".
In 20 years, when the road has been upgraded, Zhaoxing will be awash with foreign and Chinese tourists, like countless other small towns and villages that have already captured travellers' imaginations.
But for now its residents are mostly still more interested in going about their daily lives than paying much attention to their curious guests.
Lulu's Place takes a very relaxed attitude to business – trying to find someone to take your money requires commitment and though the guesthouse has a menu including dubious delights such as cow bile and pork with fresh blood, there is no kitchen or chef to be seen.
Zhaoxing is one of those places where you can fritter away hours wandering, watching, absorbing the rustic scenes. Shrunken old men with drawn faces but beady eyes sit cross- legged in the shade of covered bridges, playing some kind of variant on chess.
Children practise their version of the Kiwi schoolyard favourite of elastics, cartwheeling over a raised rope.
Men and women, young and old, scale the surrounding hills to the rice paddies. Stalks are scythed, their heads thrust into treadle-powered barrel threshers to separate the edible grains. The crop is packed into great sacks and wobbled back down to town, one sack hung over either end of a pole, slung across the back of the neck.
Left on the field are browning bundles of stalks, standing like scarecrow sentries at a community meeting.
Back in town celebrations are afoot. A wedding perhaps? From the lantern-lit second-floor restaurant balcony, furnished with a cold beer, we watch as an explosion of firecrackers breaks the peace. What looks like an entire roll of double happies is lit and unravelled along the street, scattering sparks and waxy red paper and carrying its reverberating cackle to the door of the celebrations.
Small children follow hopefully in its wake, snatching at unexploded fragments, which they rebelliously light and toss into the river at the first sight of flames.
Zhaoxing is quickly making its mark on the tourist trail but nearby villages are not so fortunate. Caught out late afternoon with no bus connection, we stay in a town where tourists are rare and men stop to gawp at the white intruders. There is only one guesthouse of a standard that allows it to take foreigners, and that is modest. Poverty prevails and the marketplace is strewn with filth and flies.
It's a sight unremarkable in travelling terms but for the flashy opulence that seems to be increasingly synonymous with China's international image.
We share the pre-dawn bus out with a gaggle of men commuting to work – probably a factory in Liping about two hours away. This is the reality of life in the provinces – back-breaking labour in the fields or a four-hour daily commute.
Perhaps the most startling development is that their own countrymen are increasingly joining, if not supplanting, the stream of international tourists. With a middle class of more than 100 million and growing, many now use their brief holidays to sign on to a package tour to a scenic or rustic provincial destination.
And at home, in the cities with their lustrous sheen of new money, Lamborghini showrooms jockey for place with Louis Vuitton (the genuine article, that is).
Pet trainers, shoe designers and real estate brokers were among the list of new professions in 2006 and pets have become the latest accessory, paraded on seaside boulevards and through pedestrian precincts.
There can be little doubt that China is on the up. Or that it is a stunning, diverse and fascinating destination.
And who would deny the simple folk of Zhaoxing the chance to earn a healthy living without turning hunchback at middle age?
But for those seeking a slice of old time unspoilt by the endless drone of tour guide megaphones, the time to go is now.
Nikki Macdonald travelled courtesy of Cathay Pacific, Adventure World and Travel Indochina.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
No Olympic dream for Beijing's poor
5:00AM Saturday May 19, 2007
Beijing is clearing neighbourhoods to fulfil its Olympic dream. Photo / Reuters
BEIJING: Threatened with eviction but desperate not to leave, the residents of a derelict corner of China's capital cling to their crumbling homes like haggard castaways on a surging tide.
By day, the heart of the Guandong Dian neighbourhood teems with poor migrant workers buying cheap food and slurping hand-pulled noodles at stalls.
By night, prostitutes whisper at passers-by from doorways.
Its reeking alleyways and grey-brick huts lie in the shadows of luxury apartments and shimmering office blocks at the fringe of Beijing's brand new central business district.
But not for long. "By the end of this year, all of this will be gone," said snack vendor Wang Jinglong.
"People like me who rent and own stalls will have to find another place."
Guandong Dian, soon to be cleared to make way for an office block and a wider road, is one of dozens of crumbling shanty-towns pockmarking Beijing that have been earmarked for demolition before the Olympic Games in 2008.
Branding them "illegal urban villages", town planners demolished 55 of them in 2006 and started clearing another 25 as part of the city's "beautification" work.
Authorities are spending US$40 billion ($54.9 billion) to upgrade Beijing's creaky public transport system, build event venues and shift heavy industrial polluters far from city limits in line with a pledge to the International Olympic Committee to unclog congested roads and reduce air pollution for the games.
In a city of glittering skyscrapers, the shanty towns are inconvenient reminders of grinding poverty in China's heartland.
"There are at least 1000 of us here," said Wang, who once farmed a small plot in his home province of Henan, but now ekes out a living selling slices of "thousand-layer cake" from a hand-wheeled cart in Xiangjun Nanli. "Most of us are from outside of Beijing, from all over the country."
Wang is one of about four million migrant workers who live in Beijing but are not counted in its official population of 15 million.
Tens of thousands more arrive every year to wait at tables, work on construction sites or in the homes of the nouveau riche.
The dire poverty in China's heartland has created a drama played between Government officials determined to rid the city of its urban underclass and migrant workers equally determined not to leave.
For the poor people of Guandong Dian, the drama involves an obstacle course to basic rights including housing and health care.
Every day after waking up in an unheated room with a leaky roof, Wang wheels his cart past foul-smelling drains that quickly overflow when it rains.
Wang makes about 800 yuan ($137) a month from selling snacks. He can't afford to see a doctor if he gets sick and doesn't receive health care subsidies. He also hasn't seen his five-year-old daughter, whom he left in Henan with his mother, in over a year.
"Sure, it's tough here but I can make more than twice as much as I can at home," Wang said, adding he does not know where he will go. "But I won't be leaving the city."
- Reuters
Beijing is clearing neighbourhoods to fulfil its Olympic dream. Photo / Reuters
BEIJING: Threatened with eviction but desperate not to leave, the residents of a derelict corner of China's capital cling to their crumbling homes like haggard castaways on a surging tide.
By day, the heart of the Guandong Dian neighbourhood teems with poor migrant workers buying cheap food and slurping hand-pulled noodles at stalls.
By night, prostitutes whisper at passers-by from doorways.
Its reeking alleyways and grey-brick huts lie in the shadows of luxury apartments and shimmering office blocks at the fringe of Beijing's brand new central business district.
But not for long. "By the end of this year, all of this will be gone," said snack vendor Wang Jinglong.
"People like me who rent and own stalls will have to find another place."
Guandong Dian, soon to be cleared to make way for an office block and a wider road, is one of dozens of crumbling shanty-towns pockmarking Beijing that have been earmarked for demolition before the Olympic Games in 2008.
Branding them "illegal urban villages", town planners demolished 55 of them in 2006 and started clearing another 25 as part of the city's "beautification" work.
Authorities are spending US$40 billion ($54.9 billion) to upgrade Beijing's creaky public transport system, build event venues and shift heavy industrial polluters far from city limits in line with a pledge to the International Olympic Committee to unclog congested roads and reduce air pollution for the games.
In a city of glittering skyscrapers, the shanty towns are inconvenient reminders of grinding poverty in China's heartland.
"There are at least 1000 of us here," said Wang, who once farmed a small plot in his home province of Henan, but now ekes out a living selling slices of "thousand-layer cake" from a hand-wheeled cart in Xiangjun Nanli. "Most of us are from outside of Beijing, from all over the country."
Wang is one of about four million migrant workers who live in Beijing but are not counted in its official population of 15 million.
Tens of thousands more arrive every year to wait at tables, work on construction sites or in the homes of the nouveau riche.
The dire poverty in China's heartland has created a drama played between Government officials determined to rid the city of its urban underclass and migrant workers equally determined not to leave.
For the poor people of Guandong Dian, the drama involves an obstacle course to basic rights including housing and health care.
Every day after waking up in an unheated room with a leaky roof, Wang wheels his cart past foul-smelling drains that quickly overflow when it rains.
Wang makes about 800 yuan ($137) a month from selling snacks. He can't afford to see a doctor if he gets sick and doesn't receive health care subsidies. He also hasn't seen his five-year-old daughter, whom he left in Henan with his mother, in over a year.
"Sure, it's tough here but I can make more than twice as much as I can at home," Wang said, adding he does not know where he will go. "But I won't be leaving the city."
- Reuters
Obituary: Lei Guiying
5:00AM Saturday May 19, 2007
Lei Guiying, a Chinese woman who testified that she was forced to work in a brothel run by Japan's Imperial Army during World War II, has died at age 79.
Her death marks the passing of one of the few remaining known victims of sexual slavery during Japan's brutal invasion and occupation of much of China, Xinhua News Agency said.
Lei had said she was 13 when she was abducted and raped by Japanese soldiers, who four years earlier had sacked her hometown of Nanjing in the war's worst single atrocity.
She escaped after two years, but was unable to have children and remained silent about her experience for more than six decades.
Researchers say about 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, were forced to serve Japanese troops as prostitutes in army brothels during World War II.
In 1993 Japan's government issued an apology for running the brothels and two years later established a private fund to support the former slaves without conceding official responsibility.
Like most of the former slaves, Lei said she would reject any payment that did not include an official admission of guilt
Lei Guiying, a Chinese woman who testified that she was forced to work in a brothel run by Japan's Imperial Army during World War II, has died at age 79.
Her death marks the passing of one of the few remaining known victims of sexual slavery during Japan's brutal invasion and occupation of much of China, Xinhua News Agency said.
Lei had said she was 13 when she was abducted and raped by Japanese soldiers, who four years earlier had sacked her hometown of Nanjing in the war's worst single atrocity.
She escaped after two years, but was unable to have children and remained silent about her experience for more than six decades.
Researchers say about 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, were forced to serve Japanese troops as prostitutes in army brothels during World War II.
In 1993 Japan's government issued an apology for running the brothels and two years later established a private fund to support the former slaves without conceding official responsibility.
Like most of the former slaves, Lei said she would reject any payment that did not include an official admission of guilt
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Trade Me Ad
Potential are unlimited for this ex-loved family fruit and vegetable shop in Newtown's main street. Has a wide shop frontage (with existing shelfing)
Mid-Rangitikei History
Maori tribal land in this area has been lived on for over 500 years.
To the ancestors whose names still ring loud and clear over these mountain ranges from Kaimanawa to Tararua, Rest in the name of the lord not forgotten. Salutation to our sacred mountains, our rivers, and Mother Earth.
(Robertson 1995:15)
Pakeha history in the mid Rangitikei dates from 1839 when the first missionaries entered the area. The Rangitikei Block was purchased in 1849 for the Provincial Government, though a farming community was established only at the turn of the century.
There is reference in Robertson’s (1995:25) centennial history of Taihape to unemployment problems in the area as early as the 1890s.
‘Townships’ such as Mataroa, Ohingaiti and Mangaweka were once centres of activity, because of poor roads, and horse-drawn transport, sawmilling, building of the railway line and farming. In 1911 Mangaweka had a population of 600. There were once two grocers, two clothing shops, a tailor, a stationery shop, 2 garages, a Chinese fruit shop and many more shops and businesses. Today it has a population bordering on 200 and four shops or businesses: an adventure garage, a pub, an electrician and a secondhand furniture shop. Hunterville Primary had over 400 children attending in the early 1950s.
In 1960 the Railways Department was the biggest employer of boys and men in Taihape. For boys it was often work on the railways, or roads. One woman suggested that a choice of career for girls growing up in the area meant either "the telephone exchange or the post office". In rural areas farming was the favoured way of life; boys followed their dads onto the farm. Sport was crucial important, then and now. Football "was never played in Pohunui as we never had a piece of level ground large enough".
To the ancestors whose names still ring loud and clear over these mountain ranges from Kaimanawa to Tararua, Rest in the name of the lord not forgotten. Salutation to our sacred mountains, our rivers, and Mother Earth.
(Robertson 1995:15)
Pakeha history in the mid Rangitikei dates from 1839 when the first missionaries entered the area. The Rangitikei Block was purchased in 1849 for the Provincial Government, though a farming community was established only at the turn of the century.
There is reference in Robertson’s (1995:25) centennial history of Taihape to unemployment problems in the area as early as the 1890s.
‘Townships’ such as Mataroa, Ohingaiti and Mangaweka were once centres of activity, because of poor roads, and horse-drawn transport, sawmilling, building of the railway line and farming. In 1911 Mangaweka had a population of 600. There were once two grocers, two clothing shops, a tailor, a stationery shop, 2 garages, a Chinese fruit shop and many more shops and businesses. Today it has a population bordering on 200 and four shops or businesses: an adventure garage, a pub, an electrician and a secondhand furniture shop. Hunterville Primary had over 400 children attending in the early 1950s.
In 1960 the Railways Department was the biggest employer of boys and men in Taihape. For boys it was often work on the railways, or roads. One woman suggested that a choice of career for girls growing up in the area meant either "the telephone exchange or the post office". In rural areas farming was the favoured way of life; boys followed their dads onto the farm. Sport was crucial important, then and now. Football "was never played in Pohunui as we never had a piece of level ground large enough".
Better, cheaper and fresher' is the catch-cry
12:00AM Monday July 25, 2005 By Owen Hembry
Fruit World managing director Ronald Chan in his Ponsonby, Auckland, fruit shop.
The annual Roger Davies Trophy for services to horticulture has been awarded to a greengrocer who started selling fruit and vegetables to Aucklanders more than 50 years ago. Ronald Chan started work in his father's Auckland fruit and vegetable shop aged 13 after immigrating to New Zealand with his family in 1949 - 56 years later his Fruit World franchise has 19 stores and growing. Most people would call it a day after 56 years but at nearly 70, Chan still gets up in the dark six days a week to buy the freshest fruit and vegetables he can find at market - and looking 20 years younger than he should - he doesn't plan on retiring. "It's my hobby, my life, my dream forever," he said. "This industry is mine, it's me." The trophy was established by horticulture produce distributor Turners and Growers to commemorate the contribution of the late Roger Davies to the industry. Davies was president of the Kerikeri Fruitgrowers Association and was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to horticulture. Nominations are open to anyone involved in the manufacture, supply or sale of horticulture produce, with winners decided by the Turners and Growers board of directors. The winner must show leadership, enthusiasm, determination and innovation in achieving a project or development beneficial to the industry. In 1973 Chan and two partners won the contract to run the fruit and vegetable section of 3Guys retail chain. Their constant appearance at meetings with founder Albert Gubay left Chan pondering whether they were in fact the inspiration for the store's name. A break from greengrocery in 1986 took Chan to Hong Kong to try his hand at the jewellery business. But the grocery trade was in his blood and he was soon back in New Zealand looking to challenge the supermarkets with the co-founding of Vegie World in 1991. In 2001 he founded Fruit World before quickly expanding it to 19 stores around Auckland and Hamilton. An earlier meeting with Foodtown founder Tom Ah Chee inspired him to find a way to compete. "He said to me in 1970, by 1980 there will be no more fruit shops," he said. "But I am so happy the fruit shop still survives [and] we still make a good living out of it." Rather than hide from the supermarkets, Chan targets locations beside them, encouraging the shopper to walk just a little further to buy their fruit and vegetables. "We have to be better before [customers] come to us," he said. "We've got to be better, cheaper and fresher." A motivation to succeed still gets him to the market as early as 3am six days a week to buy the best quality at the best price. Chan demands a seven-days-a-week commitment from anyone wanting to own a Fruit World franchise. "If you don't love what you do, don't be in the game. You won't be successful." Although he lives and breathes the fruit and vegetable trade Chan does have another passion - performing Chinese opera. Not surprisingly his favourite role is as the emperor. The Winner * What: The Roger Davies Trophy. * Who : 2005 Winner, Ronald Chan, managing director Fruit World. * Why: For his contribution to the fruit and vegetable
Fruit World managing director Ronald Chan in his Ponsonby, Auckland, fruit shop.
The annual Roger Davies Trophy for services to horticulture has been awarded to a greengrocer who started selling fruit and vegetables to Aucklanders more than 50 years ago. Ronald Chan started work in his father's Auckland fruit and vegetable shop aged 13 after immigrating to New Zealand with his family in 1949 - 56 years later his Fruit World franchise has 19 stores and growing. Most people would call it a day after 56 years but at nearly 70, Chan still gets up in the dark six days a week to buy the freshest fruit and vegetables he can find at market - and looking 20 years younger than he should - he doesn't plan on retiring. "It's my hobby, my life, my dream forever," he said. "This industry is mine, it's me." The trophy was established by horticulture produce distributor Turners and Growers to commemorate the contribution of the late Roger Davies to the industry. Davies was president of the Kerikeri Fruitgrowers Association and was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to horticulture. Nominations are open to anyone involved in the manufacture, supply or sale of horticulture produce, with winners decided by the Turners and Growers board of directors. The winner must show leadership, enthusiasm, determination and innovation in achieving a project or development beneficial to the industry. In 1973 Chan and two partners won the contract to run the fruit and vegetable section of 3Guys retail chain. Their constant appearance at meetings with founder Albert Gubay left Chan pondering whether they were in fact the inspiration for the store's name. A break from greengrocery in 1986 took Chan to Hong Kong to try his hand at the jewellery business. But the grocery trade was in his blood and he was soon back in New Zealand looking to challenge the supermarkets with the co-founding of Vegie World in 1991. In 2001 he founded Fruit World before quickly expanding it to 19 stores around Auckland and Hamilton. An earlier meeting with Foodtown founder Tom Ah Chee inspired him to find a way to compete. "He said to me in 1970, by 1980 there will be no more fruit shops," he said. "But I am so happy the fruit shop still survives [and] we still make a good living out of it." Rather than hide from the supermarkets, Chan targets locations beside them, encouraging the shopper to walk just a little further to buy their fruit and vegetables. "We have to be better before [customers] come to us," he said. "We've got to be better, cheaper and fresher." A motivation to succeed still gets him to the market as early as 3am six days a week to buy the best quality at the best price. Chan demands a seven-days-a-week commitment from anyone wanting to own a Fruit World franchise. "If you don't love what you do, don't be in the game. You won't be successful." Although he lives and breathes the fruit and vegetable trade Chan does have another passion - performing Chinese opera. Not surprisingly his favourite role is as the emperor. The Winner * What: The Roger Davies Trophy. * Who : 2005 Winner, Ronald Chan, managing director Fruit World. * Why: For his contribution to the fruit and vegetable
The Village Mt Eden
Kong Chew "KC" Loo's fruit shop is a Mt Eden landmark and consistently rates in the "Best of Auckland" surveys.
KC opened shop in 1949 and wife Eileen joined him in 1953 and they have not missed a day since. KC arrived in New Zealand from China as a youngster in 1939, just after the outbreak of WWII.
He was one of the last immigrants from China to pay the notorious "poll" imposed to stem the flow of migrants.
The current site of KC Loo's fruit shop is in the prime retailing location in the Village. Its unique design marries well with the older style of the Village and adds to the Bohemian flavour of Mt Eden.
Barry and Jim by Don Long
Barry and Jim by Don Long
Just before school started for the term, Jin arrived from China. His mum and dad bought the fruit and vegetable shop.They moved into the flat behind.
At the same time, Barry arrived from the South Island.His mum and dad bought the bakery.They moved in upstairs.
Jin helped his mum and dad put out the fruit and vegetables.
Barry helped his mum and dad put out the cakes and pies.
The two shops opened on the same Saturday.
Barry and Jin started school together on Monday.The school was close to the shops.
“Good morning, Room 2. We have two new pupils today.Barry has just moved up from Dunedin and Jin comes from Canton.”
Barry and Jin didn’t look at anyone.They both felt shy.
When the lunch bell rang, Mrs Hurinui smiled at Barry and Jin.“Since you both live close by you are allowed to go home for lunch. Don’t forget to come back before the bell rings at 1.00 though.”
The two boys nodded and walked out to the road.
“Hello,” said Barry. “I’m Barry.”
“Hello,” said Jin, copying what Barry said.“I’m Jin.”
“Jim,” said Barry. “So you’re new too.”
Pretty soon, everyone was calling Jin “Jim”.
“Do like being called ‘Jim’?” Jin’s mum asked.
Jin nodded yes. He liked Barry.
“Okay,” his mum and dad said. “We’ll call you ‘Jim” too. That can be your New Zealand name.
“Could Barry come home for lunch with me one day?” asked Jim.
Jim’s mum looked at Jim’s dad.Jim’s dad looked at Jim’s mum.They were pleased that Jim had a friend.They both nodded.“You can invite him to come next week. We’ll talk to his parents.”
So on Monday, Barry didn’t go home to the bakery for lunch.He went home with Jim instead.
Behind the fruit and the vegetables and the cash register there was a bead curtain. Behind the bead curtain there was a world Barry had never seen before.
There were blue cups and Chinese newspapers.There were soy sauce and chop sticks.There were bags of rice and two ducks sitting in a cage.
Barry had never had chai chow fan before.He’d never eaten with chop sticks.Jim showed him how.Barry loved the taste of the fried rice Jim’s mum had made.He held his bowl the same way Jim and his mum did.It was easy.
The next day, Jim went to the bakery for lunch.“Pick what you want,” said Barry’s dad. “Barry’s mum is making cocoa upstairs.Jim picked out the same things Barry did.Then they took their hot pies and cream buns upstairs.
Barry’s mum smiled and put three mugs of cocoa on the table.“I’ve got to look after the shop,” she said. “I’ll be back in a bit. Will you two be okay?”
Barry nodded.
Barry put tomato sauce on his mince pie.So did Jim.Barry took a bite.So did Jim.
The mince pie was the strangest thingJim had ever tasted.He liked it. He took another bite.
Barry showed Jim how to take one bite of mince pie, one bite of cream bun, and a sip of cocoa and then swallow.
“That’s disgusting!” laughed Barry’s dad when he came up with his lunch. “Don’t let Mum catch you!”Then he did exactly the same.
Jim thought it tasted wonderful.
After that, Barry and Jim took turns having lunch at each other’s shops.Behind the fruit and vegetable shop Barry grew to love Chinese food, though he was a bit sad about the ducks.
And Jim fell in love with hot pies with tomato sauce and cream buns and apple turnovers.He especially liked potato top.
Slowly, Jim learned the names of things in English.
Barry learned how to say some things in Cantonese, which was the kind of Chinese that Jim spoke.
And they never stopped being best friends.
This story is dedicated to Jim Lai (28 May 1949 - 10 December 2004).
With thanks to Barry and Jim’s family, whose story this really is. Thank you all for giving me permission to tell it.
There are now as many people in New Zealand of Asian ancestry as people of Pacific Islands descent. People of Chinese descent form the largest group.
© Don Long
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Kids/ChildrensAuthors/Stories/DonLong.asp
Just before school started for the term, Jin arrived from China. His mum and dad bought the fruit and vegetable shop.They moved into the flat behind.
At the same time, Barry arrived from the South Island.His mum and dad bought the bakery.They moved in upstairs.
Jin helped his mum and dad put out the fruit and vegetables.
Barry helped his mum and dad put out the cakes and pies.
The two shops opened on the same Saturday.
Barry and Jin started school together on Monday.The school was close to the shops.
“Good morning, Room 2. We have two new pupils today.Barry has just moved up from Dunedin and Jin comes from Canton.”
Barry and Jin didn’t look at anyone.They both felt shy.
When the lunch bell rang, Mrs Hurinui smiled at Barry and Jin.“Since you both live close by you are allowed to go home for lunch. Don’t forget to come back before the bell rings at 1.00 though.”
The two boys nodded and walked out to the road.
“Hello,” said Barry. “I’m Barry.”
“Hello,” said Jin, copying what Barry said.“I’m Jin.”
“Jim,” said Barry. “So you’re new too.”
Pretty soon, everyone was calling Jin “Jim”.
“Do like being called ‘Jim’?” Jin’s mum asked.
Jin nodded yes. He liked Barry.
“Okay,” his mum and dad said. “We’ll call you ‘Jim” too. That can be your New Zealand name.
“Could Barry come home for lunch with me one day?” asked Jim.
Jim’s mum looked at Jim’s dad.Jim’s dad looked at Jim’s mum.They were pleased that Jim had a friend.They both nodded.“You can invite him to come next week. We’ll talk to his parents.”
So on Monday, Barry didn’t go home to the bakery for lunch.He went home with Jim instead.
Behind the fruit and the vegetables and the cash register there was a bead curtain. Behind the bead curtain there was a world Barry had never seen before.
There were blue cups and Chinese newspapers.There were soy sauce and chop sticks.There were bags of rice and two ducks sitting in a cage.
Barry had never had chai chow fan before.He’d never eaten with chop sticks.Jim showed him how.Barry loved the taste of the fried rice Jim’s mum had made.He held his bowl the same way Jim and his mum did.It was easy.
The next day, Jim went to the bakery for lunch.“Pick what you want,” said Barry’s dad. “Barry’s mum is making cocoa upstairs.Jim picked out the same things Barry did.Then they took their hot pies and cream buns upstairs.
Barry’s mum smiled and put three mugs of cocoa on the table.“I’ve got to look after the shop,” she said. “I’ll be back in a bit. Will you two be okay?”
Barry nodded.
Barry put tomato sauce on his mince pie.So did Jim.Barry took a bite.So did Jim.
The mince pie was the strangest thingJim had ever tasted.He liked it. He took another bite.
Barry showed Jim how to take one bite of mince pie, one bite of cream bun, and a sip of cocoa and then swallow.
“That’s disgusting!” laughed Barry’s dad when he came up with his lunch. “Don’t let Mum catch you!”Then he did exactly the same.
Jim thought it tasted wonderful.
After that, Barry and Jim took turns having lunch at each other’s shops.Behind the fruit and vegetable shop Barry grew to love Chinese food, though he was a bit sad about the ducks.
And Jim fell in love with hot pies with tomato sauce and cream buns and apple turnovers.He especially liked potato top.
Slowly, Jim learned the names of things in English.
Barry learned how to say some things in Cantonese, which was the kind of Chinese that Jim spoke.
And they never stopped being best friends.
This story is dedicated to Jim Lai (28 May 1949 - 10 December 2004).
With thanks to Barry and Jim’s family, whose story this really is. Thank you all for giving me permission to tell it.
There are now as many people in New Zealand of Asian ancestry as people of Pacific Islands descent. People of Chinese descent form the largest group.
© Don Long
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Kids/ChildrensAuthors/Stories/DonLong.asp
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Elders of the Yiu Ming Society Speak
elders of the Yiu Ming Society speak about their experiences as Chinese in Australia
HARRY CHOY
Company director; President, Yiu Ming Society; Chairman, Tiy Loy & Co
I was born in Hong Kong in 1938 and then taken back to China when I was three months old. My mother had given birth to ten children, but only three had survived and it was safer to deliver a child in Hong Kong. I was the only son. My grandfather was a judge in mainland China and had seven daughters and five sons. He owned about 18 acres and 15 houses and had two male servants and two female servants. The family fortunes declined when the daughters were married off, as each of them needed dowry. My father had been sent to work in Australia in 1908 although he went back to China once or twice a year.
My village is known as Datangbian/Taitongbian, in Gaoyao/Gouyiu county. Our village had a temple known as Song Jian/Song Gan, similar to the Yiu Ming temple. There were many village celebrations; we would parade the temple figures during the Mid-autumn festival on 15 August. The lion dance was common in the countryside also. Weddings were celebrated at Song Gan, and funerals were held there as well. The bodies were left there one or two days, covered by a piece of cloth, for blessing and protection by Guanyin/Gunyom [Bodhisattva or Goddess of Mercy] and then they were dressed for the nether world before they were put into coffins. Prayers were also held at Song Gan before going abroad. In 1950 when the Communists came, they demolished the temple, and also burned the figures and all scriptures. This happened at every village, not only my village. It became unsafe to leave me at home as I was the only son from a big landlord family so l was brought out by my father to Australia. My mother had a very bad time. She stayed in China and was beaten with stones and spat on. I eventually brought her and my sister out in 1957.
http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/d_reshaping/wd3_yiuelders.html
HARRY CHOY
Company director; President, Yiu Ming Society; Chairman, Tiy Loy & Co
I was born in Hong Kong in 1938 and then taken back to China when I was three months old. My mother had given birth to ten children, but only three had survived and it was safer to deliver a child in Hong Kong. I was the only son. My grandfather was a judge in mainland China and had seven daughters and five sons. He owned about 18 acres and 15 houses and had two male servants and two female servants. The family fortunes declined when the daughters were married off, as each of them needed dowry. My father had been sent to work in Australia in 1908 although he went back to China once or twice a year.
My village is known as Datangbian/Taitongbian, in Gaoyao/Gouyiu county. Our village had a temple known as Song Jian/Song Gan, similar to the Yiu Ming temple. There were many village celebrations; we would parade the temple figures during the Mid-autumn festival on 15 August. The lion dance was common in the countryside also. Weddings were celebrated at Song Gan, and funerals were held there as well. The bodies were left there one or two days, covered by a piece of cloth, for blessing and protection by Guanyin/Gunyom [Bodhisattva or Goddess of Mercy] and then they were dressed for the nether world before they were put into coffins. Prayers were also held at Song Gan before going abroad. In 1950 when the Communists came, they demolished the temple, and also burned the figures and all scriptures. This happened at every village, not only my village. It became unsafe to leave me at home as I was the only son from a big landlord family so l was brought out by my father to Australia. My mother had a very bad time. She stayed in China and was beaten with stones and spat on. I eventually brought her and my sister out in 1957.
http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/d_reshaping/wd3_yiuelders.html
Author and teacher, Elizabeth Chong Cooking School, Melbourne)
The spirit of Melbourne's Chinese community shines in Elizabeth Chong, an amazingly youthful and energetic woman. She thrives on the joys of Chinese food, teaches it, and demonstrates its preparation on television. She takes tours through her beloved Chinatown, and promotes its activities in many ways.
The Chong family, however, has exercised real influence over Australia's eating habits since 1945 when Elizabeth's father, William Wing Young, began the restaurant Wing Lee's, and produced the first dim sim.
"My father was the first to create the style and shape and the commercial production of the dim sim," says Elizabeth.
"He chose the thick skin for ease of transport; he used to deliver them in his Chevy to the football where he set up in competition with the Four-and-Twenty pie. Before long, his factory was producing thousands of them for sale throughout Australia."
Elizabeth recalls living in Franklin Street opposite Victoria Market and beside the dim sim factory. Her father was also a wholesale fruiterer, one of the largest in the market, and was known, according to Elizabeth, both as the Chicken Roll King and the Peanut King.
"Food and cooks were always a part of my life," says Elizabeth. "I stopped briefly to have four children, but found I needed to express myself out of the home scene. I started giving talks to the parents of children in my son's class, and they asked me to give them cooking lessons. So the cooking school began in 1961." Elizabeth demonstrates - this is good for the eye-sight and that for prosperity - Chinese tradtion explains every ingredient.
http://www.miettas.com.au/chefs/mietta_friends/chong.html
The Chong family, however, has exercised real influence over Australia's eating habits since 1945 when Elizabeth's father, William Wing Young, began the restaurant Wing Lee's, and produced the first dim sim.
"My father was the first to create the style and shape and the commercial production of the dim sim," says Elizabeth.
"He chose the thick skin for ease of transport; he used to deliver them in his Chevy to the football where he set up in competition with the Four-and-Twenty pie. Before long, his factory was producing thousands of them for sale throughout Australia."
Elizabeth recalls living in Franklin Street opposite Victoria Market and beside the dim sim factory. Her father was also a wholesale fruiterer, one of the largest in the market, and was known, according to Elizabeth, both as the Chicken Roll King and the Peanut King.
"Food and cooks were always a part of my life," says Elizabeth. "I stopped briefly to have four children, but found I needed to express myself out of the home scene. I started giving talks to the parents of children in my son's class, and they asked me to give them cooking lessons. So the cooking school began in 1961." Elizabeth demonstrates - this is good for the eye-sight and that for prosperity - Chinese tradtion explains every ingredient.
http://www.miettas.com.au/chefs/mietta_friends/chong.html
The Poys of Australia
The name Poy, which is my married name, comes from the Poys of Australia. My husband’s grandfather migrated to Australia at the end of the 19th century from Toisan in South China. The Poys lived in Chiltern, Victoria, where Grandfather owned a general store called Willie Ah Poy Fruiterer and Confectioner. The Poys have increased and prospered in Australia, the only one having left being my father-in-law. As the eldest son, he was sent back to the village in China in his late teens. He made his way to Hong Kong, got married, started his family and the entire family moved to Canada in 1942. As for members of my own family, a few have also immigrated to Australia in recent years and have prospered.
http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/english/Special_Interests/speeches/Nortel_Networks_July00.htm
http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/english/Special_Interests/speeches/Nortel_Networks_July00.htm
http://takaoclub.com/personalities/Stent/index.htm
In 1882 George Carter Stent was assigned to Takow by the Chinese Maritime Customs. By the end of 1884 he was dead and buried in the Takow Foreign Cemetery. Despite his modest beginnings, Stent built a successful career in China, became a Freemason, and made solid literary achievements with several books and dictionaries. Perhaps, above all, George Carter Stent offers a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle of an Englishman in China and the East in the latter part of the 19th century
In 1882 George Carter Stent was assigned to Takow by the Chinese Maritime Customs. By the end of 1884 he was dead and buried in the Takow Foreign Cemetery. Despite his modest beginnings, Stent built a successful career in China, became a Freemason, and made solid literary achievements with several books and dictionaries. Perhaps, above all, George Carter Stent offers a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle of an Englishman in China and the East in the latter part of the 19th century
The Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia
http://www.chia.chinesemuseum.com.au/home.html
The Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA) database is a catalogue of historical images of Chinese, Chinese immigrants and their descendants held in Australia. It primarily draws on the photographic holdings of the Chinese Museum but also includes photographs from other online archives, publications and private family collections. Built into the database is the beginnings of an encyclopaedia of Chinese-Australian history, complete with bibliography, which provides contextual information about the images in the database.
The Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA) database is a catalogue of historical images of Chinese, Chinese immigrants and their descendants held in Australia. It primarily draws on the photographic holdings of the Chinese Museum but also includes photographs from other online archives, publications and private family collections. Built into the database is the beginnings of an encyclopaedia of Chinese-Australian history, complete with bibliography, which provides contextual information about the images in the database.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Linking two cultures good way to express nationality
5:00AM Monday April 30, 2007By Lincoln Tan
Is Lincoln right? Should we all be hyphenated New Zealanders?
I was waiting for a flight to Christchurch when an Asian man asked me where I was from. I instinctively said Singapore, then tried to qualify it by saying that I had been living in New Zealand for 10 years.
Introducing himself as a Korean-American who has lived in New York for the past 12 years, the man quipped that I would not have been forgiven by Americans had I lived 10 years in the United States and made a similar remark.
Americans, he said, considered it almost a mortal sin for anyone living there not to consider themselves American.
I told him the attitudes were quite different in New Zealand, and that I was actually on my way to Christchurch as a presenter at a forum on national identity to discuss the very issue of what makes a New Zealander.
Some people here would like to keep the term New Zealander as an exclusive term for people of New Zealand's main culture.
So, unlike the Americans, it does not come naturally for most ethnic minorities living here to identify themselves with a hyphenated term such as Chinese-New Zealander or Korean-New Zealander.
I told him about this column and the lambasting I got from readers following the column where I said some will never consider me 100 per cent Kiwi.
In that column, I also wrote about the shock I had when a third-generation local-born Chinese man said some New Zealanders don't consider him a Kiwi and he still faced taunts from people telling him to "go back to where you come from".
What I wrote drew letters to the editor labelling me as being misguided and obsessed with wanting to be Kiwi.
Garth George said in his last column that it was a fact of life for columnists that readers who disagree write letters to the editor and those who agree generally send lovely personal emails. I wish I could say it was the same for me, but it is not.
Most of the emails to me were even more vile and venomous than the ones sent to the editor.
One read: "The truth is, neither you nor any of your Chinese friends and relatives will ever be a Kiwi, so don't bother trying."
Another said: "I want to go somewhere where I will not have to read such ignorant, stupid and harmful views as yours. What right do you have to come here and make New Zealand worse for me?"
Bruce Morley argued that New Zealand is no different to China. He wrote: "If I were to spend 10 or even 20 years in Beijing, would that suddenly miraculously make me an Asian? Why should being a Kiwi be any easier or different?"
Charles Laing felt that New Zealand was no different to Japan and Korea where the people don't even realise that they are racist in excluding outsiders by claiming to be ethnically and culturally unique. But New Zealand is different and so is being a New Zealander.
Professor Francis Fukuyama, of John Hopkins University, wrote: "Japanese (like other old societies of Europe and Asia) were a people with shared histories long before democracies. They have other sources of identity besides politics. They have seen a variety of regimes come and go."
Societies such as those in Japan and France are very different from those in the US and New Zealand, or even Singapore for that matter, which were founded on the basis of a political idea.
On America, Prof Fukuyama wrote: "There was no American people or nation prior to the founding of the country, and national identity is civic rather than religious, cultural, racial or ethnic."
In many respects, New Zealand is like America. So while immigrants to Japan or China will never become Japanese or Chinese, ethnicity should not be the basis on who gets to become a New Zealander or American in countries where national identity is a civic one.
In the last Census, more than 11 per cent of the population categorised themselves as ethnic New Zealanders.
Reports tell us that in the previous Census they would have been put into the category of New Zealand Europeans.
Is this just another way for some in the majority culture to claim exclusive rights to the use of the term New Zealander?
In looking at the diverse ethnic makeup of the new New Zealand, in a country where a quarter of its people are born overseas, would it not be more advantageous if we took the American attitude in encouraging people to feel a greater sense of belonging and emotional attachment to their adopted country?
Perhaps adopting the American way of identifying people with hyphenated identities is the way forward.
I can't run away from the fact that I am ethnically Chinese, but New Zealand is where I belong so I'd be happy to be termed a Chinese-New Zealander.
Is Lincoln right? Should we all be hyphenated New Zealanders?
I was waiting for a flight to Christchurch when an Asian man asked me where I was from. I instinctively said Singapore, then tried to qualify it by saying that I had been living in New Zealand for 10 years.
Introducing himself as a Korean-American who has lived in New York for the past 12 years, the man quipped that I would not have been forgiven by Americans had I lived 10 years in the United States and made a similar remark.
Americans, he said, considered it almost a mortal sin for anyone living there not to consider themselves American.
I told him the attitudes were quite different in New Zealand, and that I was actually on my way to Christchurch as a presenter at a forum on national identity to discuss the very issue of what makes a New Zealander.
Some people here would like to keep the term New Zealander as an exclusive term for people of New Zealand's main culture.
So, unlike the Americans, it does not come naturally for most ethnic minorities living here to identify themselves with a hyphenated term such as Chinese-New Zealander or Korean-New Zealander.
I told him about this column and the lambasting I got from readers following the column where I said some will never consider me 100 per cent Kiwi.
In that column, I also wrote about the shock I had when a third-generation local-born Chinese man said some New Zealanders don't consider him a Kiwi and he still faced taunts from people telling him to "go back to where you come from".
What I wrote drew letters to the editor labelling me as being misguided and obsessed with wanting to be Kiwi.
Garth George said in his last column that it was a fact of life for columnists that readers who disagree write letters to the editor and those who agree generally send lovely personal emails. I wish I could say it was the same for me, but it is not.
Most of the emails to me were even more vile and venomous than the ones sent to the editor.
One read: "The truth is, neither you nor any of your Chinese friends and relatives will ever be a Kiwi, so don't bother trying."
Another said: "I want to go somewhere where I will not have to read such ignorant, stupid and harmful views as yours. What right do you have to come here and make New Zealand worse for me?"
Bruce Morley argued that New Zealand is no different to China. He wrote: "If I were to spend 10 or even 20 years in Beijing, would that suddenly miraculously make me an Asian? Why should being a Kiwi be any easier or different?"
Charles Laing felt that New Zealand was no different to Japan and Korea where the people don't even realise that they are racist in excluding outsiders by claiming to be ethnically and culturally unique. But New Zealand is different and so is being a New Zealander.
Professor Francis Fukuyama, of John Hopkins University, wrote: "Japanese (like other old societies of Europe and Asia) were a people with shared histories long before democracies. They have other sources of identity besides politics. They have seen a variety of regimes come and go."
Societies such as those in Japan and France are very different from those in the US and New Zealand, or even Singapore for that matter, which were founded on the basis of a political idea.
On America, Prof Fukuyama wrote: "There was no American people or nation prior to the founding of the country, and national identity is civic rather than religious, cultural, racial or ethnic."
In many respects, New Zealand is like America. So while immigrants to Japan or China will never become Japanese or Chinese, ethnicity should not be the basis on who gets to become a New Zealander or American in countries where national identity is a civic one.
In the last Census, more than 11 per cent of the population categorised themselves as ethnic New Zealanders.
Reports tell us that in the previous Census they would have been put into the category of New Zealand Europeans.
Is this just another way for some in the majority culture to claim exclusive rights to the use of the term New Zealander?
In looking at the diverse ethnic makeup of the new New Zealand, in a country where a quarter of its people are born overseas, would it not be more advantageous if we took the American attitude in encouraging people to feel a greater sense of belonging and emotional attachment to their adopted country?
Perhaps adopting the American way of identifying people with hyphenated identities is the way forward.
I can't run away from the fact that I am ethnically Chinese, but New Zealand is where I belong so I'd be happy to be termed a Chinese-New Zealander.
Chinese students get shock on arrival in NZ, study finds
50PM Monday April 30, 2007By Reg Ponniah
Chinese students face a large gap between their expectations of New Zealand the reality, research has found.
Many felt lonely and isolated and found it hard to make New Zealand friends.
"They want to drive cars and be free and are not prepared adequately for the different lifestyle here and the culture shock," Waikato University researcher Elsie Ho said today.
"Together with freedom comes responsibility and they are unable to handle that."
They had problems that came with living on their own in a flat, far from their pampered lives in China, she said.
Language and cultural problems made it very difficult to adapt.
Emotional support was not always forthcoming from China as students were reluctant to reveal problems they faced.
However, almost half the Chinese students in New Zealand want to live here permanently, according to the study - which questioned more than 80 Chinese students in Auckland Rotorua, Hamilton and Christchurch.
Students in the study were at language schools, high schools and tertiary institutions.
Diverse backgrounds
They included new arrivals, as well as students who had been here for several years and came from diverse backgrounds, with different expectations.
Chinese students make up more than a third of 76,000 international students, bringing an estimated $700 million into New Zealand.
A 2004 Ministry of Education study showed Chinese were more dissatisfied than students from other countries.
However, they were also more likely to want to stay permanently, Dr Ho said.
It took much longer than they expected for their English to be good enough to study here, Dr Ho said.
"Students who came before 2003 tended to be more unhappy because they came with unrealistic expectations," she said.
"At that time NZ was a new study destination and very little was known about the country. They came here because it was a cheaper option and the exchange rate was favourable.
"Some of them came here after being rejected by other countries like Canada, Australia and the United States."
As the New Zealand dollar strengthened, the students complained of lower living standards, she said.
Later students came with a slightly better understanding of the education system here.
On average, they needed a year to obtain the required language skills for university.
Dr Ho urged immigration advisors in China to give better advice and prepare prospective students adequately before they arrived in New Zealand.
- NZPA
Chinese students face a large gap between their expectations of New Zealand the reality, research has found.
Many felt lonely and isolated and found it hard to make New Zealand friends.
"They want to drive cars and be free and are not prepared adequately for the different lifestyle here and the culture shock," Waikato University researcher Elsie Ho said today.
"Together with freedom comes responsibility and they are unable to handle that."
They had problems that came with living on their own in a flat, far from their pampered lives in China, she said.
Language and cultural problems made it very difficult to adapt.
Emotional support was not always forthcoming from China as students were reluctant to reveal problems they faced.
However, almost half the Chinese students in New Zealand want to live here permanently, according to the study - which questioned more than 80 Chinese students in Auckland Rotorua, Hamilton and Christchurch.
Students in the study were at language schools, high schools and tertiary institutions.
Diverse backgrounds
They included new arrivals, as well as students who had been here for several years and came from diverse backgrounds, with different expectations.
Chinese students make up more than a third of 76,000 international students, bringing an estimated $700 million into New Zealand.
A 2004 Ministry of Education study showed Chinese were more dissatisfied than students from other countries.
However, they were also more likely to want to stay permanently, Dr Ho said.
It took much longer than they expected for their English to be good enough to study here, Dr Ho said.
"Students who came before 2003 tended to be more unhappy because they came with unrealistic expectations," she said.
"At that time NZ was a new study destination and very little was known about the country. They came here because it was a cheaper option and the exchange rate was favourable.
"Some of them came here after being rejected by other countries like Canada, Australia and the United States."
As the New Zealand dollar strengthened, the students complained of lower living standards, she said.
Later students came with a slightly better understanding of the education system here.
On average, they needed a year to obtain the required language skills for university.
Dr Ho urged immigration advisors in China to give better advice and prepare prospective students adequately before they arrived in New Zealand.
- NZPA
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Translating cultures
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/stout-centre/documents/chinesenzbmoloughney.pdf
Brian Moloughney - Stout Seminar
Brian Moloughney - Stout Seminar
Unknown Chinaman Opunake
26 miles away from Hawera lies an unknown Chinaman. He comes from Sun Gai Village, died in 1918, at the age of 40. His name is Chan Lai Chun. According to the Poll Tax he arrived in 1906, at the age of 29. I am looking for more information on this man, and his fellow countryman, Chan Pakk Yue.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Lincoln Tan: Sharing stories will keep family memories alive
5:00AM Monday April 23, 2007By Lincoln Tan
If February is the month for love, then April must surely be the month dedicated to the dead.
This is the month when Christians remember the death of Jesus on Good Friday, Taoists/Buddhists remember their ancestors during the festival called Qing Ming, and New Zealanders too will be honouring their own glorious dead on Wednesday, Anzac Day.
As a child growing up in Singapore, it was an annual ritual at this time of the year for me to accompany my parents to the cemetery to clean up my two grandfathers' graves and to honour their memory.
Mum would wake early to prepare food, comprising a basket of fruit, some confectionery and coffee as if we were going for a picnic. There would also be a paper box filled with joss sticks, paper clothes and paper money.
The food was used as offerings for my two grandfathers and joss sticks were burned in their memory.
During the rituals, my parents would tell stories about the lives of my two grandfathers, and I had to update my dead grandfathers on how my life was progressing.
So even though I had never met either of my grandfathers, both of whom died before I was born, the Qing Ming rituals, which sadly we no longer practise since we became Catholics, made me feel like I knew them.
Over the years, I have heard many stories, but the ones that stuck in my mind were Mum's horror stories of the war years - which was also the first time she mentioned anything to me about New Zealand.
In one story, she spoke of how the Japanese soldiers came to the house for my maternal grandfather, promising him a job because he had been a civil servant under the British Government.
With hundreds of other men he was herded on to the military trucks. But instead of the office, they were taken to a rubber plantation to be shot.
Grandpa cheated death by timing his fall just before the bullets hit him during the mass execution, and crawled out after nightfall.
In another of Mum's stories, she spoke of how the arrival of soldiers from British India started another round of terror. With no enemy to fight, they instead went from house to house in search of women.
Had it not been for Grandpa grabbing her from the hands of one of these soldiers and flinging her over the second-storey balcony to safety, she too would have been raped by them, she said.
It was Mum's belief then that the last story before we left the graveyard had to be a happy one, so we walked away with happy memories.
In one of these stories, she told of when the real heroes came. Officers from a New Zealand battalion approached an aunt asking if her huge backyard could be used as a temporary base for his soldiers. She agreed.
For about three weeks, my aunt cooked for these soldiers and in exchange they gave her butter, milk powder and medicine, items which were near impossible to get at that time. It was the inability to access medicine that led to my paternal grandfather's death.
The New Zealand soldiers became friends of the family, and it was they who helped to restore Mum's faith and trust in uniformed men again, she said.
It was sad when the New Zealanders eventually had to leave my aunt's backyard for their base at Pulau Belakang Mati, an island now known as Sentosa.
But they left a strong enough impression for Mum to believe to this day that New Zealand men are true gentlemen.
On Anzac Day, New Zealand will remember its heroes from those who died in the Gallipoli conflict and the many others who have fought in Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor, the Gulf and Afghanistan, among others.
But in the way Anzac Day is commemorated through parades, memorial services and wearing the poppy on the chest to honour our glorious dead, more can be done to share their stories to inspire the living.
Each one of these heroes is someone's father, grandfather or great-grandfather and surely, each one of their lives must have an interesting, colourful and inspirational story behind them. At last year's National Memorial Service, Dame Silvia Cartwright said: "It is in the faces of our young people who have not witnessed the horror of war and in the everyday freedoms we enjoy today, the freedoms we have come to expect in a way our grandparents never did or could."
Perhaps this Anzac Day, as we honour New Zealand's glorious dead, mums and dads could pack a picnic basket and make a conscious effort to share more stories of the Anzacs, our real heroes, to inspire our young Qing Ming style.
Email Lincoln Tan
If February is the month for love, then April must surely be the month dedicated to the dead.
This is the month when Christians remember the death of Jesus on Good Friday, Taoists/Buddhists remember their ancestors during the festival called Qing Ming, and New Zealanders too will be honouring their own glorious dead on Wednesday, Anzac Day.
As a child growing up in Singapore, it was an annual ritual at this time of the year for me to accompany my parents to the cemetery to clean up my two grandfathers' graves and to honour their memory.
Mum would wake early to prepare food, comprising a basket of fruit, some confectionery and coffee as if we were going for a picnic. There would also be a paper box filled with joss sticks, paper clothes and paper money.
The food was used as offerings for my two grandfathers and joss sticks were burned in their memory.
During the rituals, my parents would tell stories about the lives of my two grandfathers, and I had to update my dead grandfathers on how my life was progressing.
So even though I had never met either of my grandfathers, both of whom died before I was born, the Qing Ming rituals, which sadly we no longer practise since we became Catholics, made me feel like I knew them.
Over the years, I have heard many stories, but the ones that stuck in my mind were Mum's horror stories of the war years - which was also the first time she mentioned anything to me about New Zealand.
In one story, she spoke of how the Japanese soldiers came to the house for my maternal grandfather, promising him a job because he had been a civil servant under the British Government.
With hundreds of other men he was herded on to the military trucks. But instead of the office, they were taken to a rubber plantation to be shot.
Grandpa cheated death by timing his fall just before the bullets hit him during the mass execution, and crawled out after nightfall.
In another of Mum's stories, she spoke of how the arrival of soldiers from British India started another round of terror. With no enemy to fight, they instead went from house to house in search of women.
Had it not been for Grandpa grabbing her from the hands of one of these soldiers and flinging her over the second-storey balcony to safety, she too would have been raped by them, she said.
It was Mum's belief then that the last story before we left the graveyard had to be a happy one, so we walked away with happy memories.
In one of these stories, she told of when the real heroes came. Officers from a New Zealand battalion approached an aunt asking if her huge backyard could be used as a temporary base for his soldiers. She agreed.
For about three weeks, my aunt cooked for these soldiers and in exchange they gave her butter, milk powder and medicine, items which were near impossible to get at that time. It was the inability to access medicine that led to my paternal grandfather's death.
The New Zealand soldiers became friends of the family, and it was they who helped to restore Mum's faith and trust in uniformed men again, she said.
It was sad when the New Zealanders eventually had to leave my aunt's backyard for their base at Pulau Belakang Mati, an island now known as Sentosa.
But they left a strong enough impression for Mum to believe to this day that New Zealand men are true gentlemen.
On Anzac Day, New Zealand will remember its heroes from those who died in the Gallipoli conflict and the many others who have fought in Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor, the Gulf and Afghanistan, among others.
But in the way Anzac Day is commemorated through parades, memorial services and wearing the poppy on the chest to honour our glorious dead, more can be done to share their stories to inspire the living.
Each one of these heroes is someone's father, grandfather or great-grandfather and surely, each one of their lives must have an interesting, colourful and inspirational story behind them. At last year's National Memorial Service, Dame Silvia Cartwright said: "It is in the faces of our young people who have not witnessed the horror of war and in the everyday freedoms we enjoy today, the freedoms we have come to expect in a way our grandparents never did or could."
Perhaps this Anzac Day, as we honour New Zealand's glorious dead, mums and dads could pack a picnic basket and make a conscious effort to share more stories of the Anzacs, our real heroes, to inspire our young Qing Ming style.
Email Lincoln Tan
Saturday, April 21, 2007
http://www.chsa.org/blog/?PHPSESSID=31110f978d58a4baa5253da11e203745
Chinese Historical Society of America Location:San Francisco, California, United States
Check back at our blog for items of interest concerning Chinese America. We'll post news from other historical & cultural organizations and other things that cross our radar - feel free to send us submissions for consideration!
Chinese Historical Society of America Location:San Francisco, California, United States
Check back at our blog for items of interest concerning Chinese America. We'll post news from other historical & cultural organizations and other things that cross our radar - feel free to send us submissions for consideration!
The Pioneer Chinese of Utah
http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/ethnic_cultures/the_peoples_of_utah/thepioneerchineseofutah.html
Don. Conley
The distance from the subtropical rice paddies of China's southernmost province to the mountainous desert of the Great Basin spans one-third of the earth's circumference. Along this tumultuous course of Pacific Ocean waves and Sierra Nevada mountain peaks came Chinese men to forge an integral but mostly forgotten link in Utah's frontier life.
The majority of the approximately one hundred thousand Chinese arriving at the port of San Francisco between 1860 and 1880 came from Kwangtung Province.1 In its capital, Kwangchow (Canton), the first trade between China and western nations flourished from 1760 to 1840.2 This commercial venture brought news of American current events, such as the California gold rush, that stimulated the imaginations of adventuresome Cantonese. The confrontation of two civilizations determined the future of many Chinese who found themselves toiling in factories, mines, chophouses, laundries, and building the first railroads in North America.
Don. Conley
The distance from the subtropical rice paddies of China's southernmost province to the mountainous desert of the Great Basin spans one-third of the earth's circumference. Along this tumultuous course of Pacific Ocean waves and Sierra Nevada mountain peaks came Chinese men to forge an integral but mostly forgotten link in Utah's frontier life.
The majority of the approximately one hundred thousand Chinese arriving at the port of San Francisco between 1860 and 1880 came from Kwangtung Province.1 In its capital, Kwangchow (Canton), the first trade between China and western nations flourished from 1760 to 1840.2 This commercial venture brought news of American current events, such as the California gold rush, that stimulated the imaginations of adventuresome Cantonese. The confrontation of two civilizations determined the future of many Chinese who found themselves toiling in factories, mines, chophouses, laundries, and building the first railroads in North America.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Goodbye Little Sweetie
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing Published: 05 April 2007
Nina Wang leaves a fortune and an unsolved murder mystery
Nina Wang, Asia's richest woman, who looked like a manga cartoon character with her schoolgirl skirts, bobby socks and pigtails, has died in Hong Kong leaving an enormous property fortune and an unsolved kidnap and murder mystery.
In January, Forbes magazine named Mrs Wang, popularly known as "Little Sweetie'', the 11th richest person in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and reckoned her wealth at well over £2bn.
Despite her fabulous riches, Shanghai-born Mrs Wang was famously frugal in her personal life - she spent just £200 on herself every month, favoured fast food over haute cuisine and was known to queue for cheap tickets when going to shows. She cut an unusual figure, even among Hong Kong's eccentric and flamboyant super-rich, with her brightly coloured, child-like clothes. This was a fashion look she held on to right until the end, aged 69. She could also be seen wearing traditional Chinese cheongsam dresses, most of them hand-stitched by her friends to save money.
"With deep sorrow and sadness the Chinachem Group announces the passing away of its chairlady Mrs Nina Kung Wang on 3 April 2007," the company spokesman said in a statement, adding that funeral arrangements would be made shortly.
Despite her frugal ways, understatement was simply not a word in Mrs Wang's vocabulary. She built Nina Tower 1 in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong, the tallest building in the territory outside the central business district and the 22nd tallest building in the world. She named the tower after herself, but dedicated it to her husband Teddy, who disappeared after he was kidnapped leaving the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1990. Mr Wang was declared dead nine years later and the internecine war over his financial legacy was the most brutal Hong Kong had ever seen. Mr Wang owned 400 companies around the world, but he left no heir, and his father was keen that his vast riches should remain in family hands. Nina Kung first met Teddy when she was a child. They were playmates - her father worked for the ICI chemical company, while Teddy's had a trading company called the China United Chemical Company, and both families were extremely close.
Nina and Teddy married in 1955, after both had moved to Hong Kong, and Teddy began his Chinachem business.
Mrs Wang always maintained her husband was alive and would eventually return. As co-director, she took control of his company and, through a series of canny deals, expanded Chinachem into Hong Kong's largest privately held property empire.
It was the second time Mr Wang had been abducted. Seven years earlier, he was released after being held inside a refrigerated lock-up after Mrs Wang paid a £5.5m ransom.
But this time, Mr Wang was not seen again. Mr Wang's father, Wang Din-shin, 96, campaigned hard to have his son declared dead, so that the estate could be settled.
Several years later, one of his kidnappers claimed Mr Wang, then 56, had been held on a sampan fishing boat and then thrown in the South China Sea.
In 1999, Wang Din-shin succeeded in having his son's death declared, and he launched a civil suit to claim his inheritance. Old Wang is quite a character himself, a former opium smoker who admits to having had a concubine and is very much a pre-Second World War kind of Chinese businessman.
But the matter was complicated by the fact that there were two, possibly three, wills.
In one will, from 1968, Mr Wang left his father everything. His father said the will was written after he told his son of his wife's infidelity with a warehouse manager. Furious, Mr Wang tore up an earlier 1960 will that split his fortune between his wife and his father.
Mrs Wang had a different version, a will from 1990 after Mr Wang had fallen off a horse, just one month before he was kidnapped. He left everything to his wife, and wrote the phrase, in English, "One love, one life".
A Hong Kong High Court judge ruled that this will was a fake, saying that part of it was "probably" written by Mrs Wang.
However, in 2005, the city's Court of Final Appeal overturned the verdict and said Mrs Wang should inherit all of the fortune.
After her death, thoughts quickly turned as to who would inherit her vast wealth. There were no details of how she died though there had been speculation for many months that she had developed ovarian cancer which had spread to her liver and other organs.
Nina Wang leaves a fortune and an unsolved murder mystery
Nina Wang, Asia's richest woman, who looked like a manga cartoon character with her schoolgirl skirts, bobby socks and pigtails, has died in Hong Kong leaving an enormous property fortune and an unsolved kidnap and murder mystery.
In January, Forbes magazine named Mrs Wang, popularly known as "Little Sweetie'', the 11th richest person in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and reckoned her wealth at well over £2bn.
Despite her fabulous riches, Shanghai-born Mrs Wang was famously frugal in her personal life - she spent just £200 on herself every month, favoured fast food over haute cuisine and was known to queue for cheap tickets when going to shows. She cut an unusual figure, even among Hong Kong's eccentric and flamboyant super-rich, with her brightly coloured, child-like clothes. This was a fashion look she held on to right until the end, aged 69. She could also be seen wearing traditional Chinese cheongsam dresses, most of them hand-stitched by her friends to save money.
"With deep sorrow and sadness the Chinachem Group announces the passing away of its chairlady Mrs Nina Kung Wang on 3 April 2007," the company spokesman said in a statement, adding that funeral arrangements would be made shortly.
Despite her frugal ways, understatement was simply not a word in Mrs Wang's vocabulary. She built Nina Tower 1 in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong, the tallest building in the territory outside the central business district and the 22nd tallest building in the world. She named the tower after herself, but dedicated it to her husband Teddy, who disappeared after he was kidnapped leaving the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1990. Mr Wang was declared dead nine years later and the internecine war over his financial legacy was the most brutal Hong Kong had ever seen. Mr Wang owned 400 companies around the world, but he left no heir, and his father was keen that his vast riches should remain in family hands. Nina Kung first met Teddy when she was a child. They were playmates - her father worked for the ICI chemical company, while Teddy's had a trading company called the China United Chemical Company, and both families were extremely close.
Nina and Teddy married in 1955, after both had moved to Hong Kong, and Teddy began his Chinachem business.
Mrs Wang always maintained her husband was alive and would eventually return. As co-director, she took control of his company and, through a series of canny deals, expanded Chinachem into Hong Kong's largest privately held property empire.
It was the second time Mr Wang had been abducted. Seven years earlier, he was released after being held inside a refrigerated lock-up after Mrs Wang paid a £5.5m ransom.
But this time, Mr Wang was not seen again. Mr Wang's father, Wang Din-shin, 96, campaigned hard to have his son declared dead, so that the estate could be settled.
Several years later, one of his kidnappers claimed Mr Wang, then 56, had been held on a sampan fishing boat and then thrown in the South China Sea.
In 1999, Wang Din-shin succeeded in having his son's death declared, and he launched a civil suit to claim his inheritance. Old Wang is quite a character himself, a former opium smoker who admits to having had a concubine and is very much a pre-Second World War kind of Chinese businessman.
But the matter was complicated by the fact that there were two, possibly three, wills.
In one will, from 1968, Mr Wang left his father everything. His father said the will was written after he told his son of his wife's infidelity with a warehouse manager. Furious, Mr Wang tore up an earlier 1960 will that split his fortune between his wife and his father.
Mrs Wang had a different version, a will from 1990 after Mr Wang had fallen off a horse, just one month before he was kidnapped. He left everything to his wife, and wrote the phrase, in English, "One love, one life".
A Hong Kong High Court judge ruled that this will was a fake, saying that part of it was "probably" written by Mrs Wang.
However, in 2005, the city's Court of Final Appeal overturned the verdict and said Mrs Wang should inherit all of the fortune.
After her death, thoughts quickly turned as to who would inherit her vast wealth. There were no details of how she died though there had been speculation for many months that she had developed ovarian cancer which had spread to her liver and other organs.
Chan Paak Yue - Hawera
Was noted in Hawera 1913, and from Sun Gai Village China. No Date of Death. Who buried him? Was it his clansmen?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Jackie Chan launches Chinese TV show
Jackie Chan on Saturday launched a Chinese TV competition aimed at scouting out new action movie talent, saying more than 100,000 people have already signed up for a shot at kung fu stardom.
"A lot of actors are good at fighting but (their style) is not beautiful," the Chinese star and stunt man, who turned 53 Saturday, said in Beijing.
"If you can incorporate dance with an ability to perform kung fu, that would be better," Chan told an audience that included a selected 20 of the show's contestants and some Chinese celebrities.
The TV show, whose English title is "The Disciple," is jointly produced by Chan and Beijing TV Station, known as BTV.
The show will run from March to October, with 10 winners appearing in a movie to be produced by Chan, organizers said. The movie will be released before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chan said.
"The Disciple" official Web site: http://long.btv.com.cn/
Jackie Chan's official Web site: http://www.jackiechan.com
"A lot of actors are good at fighting but (their style) is not beautiful," the Chinese star and stunt man, who turned 53 Saturday, said in Beijing.
"If you can incorporate dance with an ability to perform kung fu, that would be better," Chan told an audience that included a selected 20 of the show's contestants and some Chinese celebrities.
The TV show, whose English title is "The Disciple," is jointly produced by Chan and Beijing TV Station, known as BTV.
The show will run from March to October, with 10 winners appearing in a movie to be produced by Chan, organizers said. The movie will be released before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chan said.
"The Disciple" official Web site: http://long.btv.com.cn/
Jackie Chan's official Web site: http://www.jackiechan.com
Monday, April 02, 2007
Kaiping and diaolou
Situated in western Guangdong province, the xian of Kaiping was one of the centres of Chinese emigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article is concerned with the diaolou built there at the end of the Empire and in the early years of the Republic. These fortified buildings were built with money from emigrants, trying to protect their village at a time when public order was very uncertain. They are notable for their combination of Chinese and Western architectural features[1]. http://www.cefc.com.hk/uk/pc/articles/art_ligne.php?num_art_ligne=6601
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