5:00AM Tuesday August 14, 2007By Maggie McNaughton
World TV chief Henry Ho hopes Auckland's 100,000 Chinese people will tune in every day. Photo / Martin Sykes
New Zealand's first free-to-air, 24-hour Chinese television channel, CTV8, hopes to attract viewers wanting to learn Mandarin as well as local Chinese people.
The channel, which went to air on August 1, was officially launched in Auckland yesterday.
It broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese and is available in the greater Auckland region, featuring variety shows, dramas, documentaries and news.
World TV chief executive Henry Ho said yesterday that although the channel was UHF at present, it had plans to broadcast digitally next year through telecommunications company Kordia.
Mr Ho had been surprised at the interest from non-Mandarin speakers in the channel's breakfast show.
"We have Kiwis phoning in to the breakfast show saying they enjoy the channel. They say they are learning Mandarin and this helps them learn quicker, which is quite unexpected."
World TV broadcasts 10 Asian television channels through Sky. CTV8 is available on channel 62 but is so named because it is World TV's eighth Chinese channel.
Mr Ho said it would give people who didn't have pay TV a chance to view Chinese programmes.
He said 30 per cent of the content would be locally produced.
He hoped it would satisfy the demands of the Chinese community and appeal to New Zealanders learning Chinese.
He said 7 per cent of Auckland's population was Chinese, which amounted to around 100,000 people, and he hoped all those people would tune in every day.
Media research group AGB Nielsen said viewer numbers would be available in a couple of months.
At the launch yesterday, Minister of Ethnic Affairs Chris Carter said, in a speech read out by Minister for Auckland Issues Judith Tizard, that New Zealand had come a long way since the days of having only one, then two channels to choose from.
"It's a great milestone for New Zealand's Chinese community and non-Chinese New Zealanders ... Let's look forward to the day when Mandarin and Cantonese are official languages in New Zealand," he said.
"We are all different and it's this diversity that gives us strength."
Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey said the new channel was unique and exciting.
CTV8 LOWDOWN
* Available in greater Auckland.
* Shows include documentaries from China and Taiwan; a joint morning broadcast with radio station AM936, news from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, dramas with both Mandarin and Cantonese soundtracks; Mandarin language lessons; and late-night youth programmes.
* The new channel is available on channel 62, but is called CTV8 because it's World TV's eighth Chinese channel.
* It is a UHF channel, but there are plans for digital channels next year.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Chinese communities come from far and wide
5:00AM Monday August 06, 2007 By Lincoln Tan
A press release announcing "Make Way for the New Mainstream" landed in my inbox last week. I thought it was about Don Brash starting a new political party.
Instead it was about the Banana Conference next weekend. For the third consecutive year, the New Zealand Chinese Association is organising a forum to bring Chinese communities in New Zealand together to talk about identity.
The release said: "The Chinese have a long association with New Zealand. This dates back to the 19th century. Our vision is to see local and overseas Chinese communities connecting in New Zealand without barriers and borders."
This vision statement sounds grand. But even calling it ambitious would be an understatement. It is probably closer to mission impossible.
Just before I moved from Christchurch to Auckland last year, a Pakeha friend, after a barrage of anti-Auckland sentiments, told me that it was a move for the better. "There are a lot more Chinese there," he said. His assumption was that by being surrounded by fellow Chinese, we would feel at home in Auckland. Oh, how wrong he was.
Although often lumped together as one, the 100,000-plus Chinese community in Auckland is far from that. It is an agglomeration of many fragmented communities, from the New Zealand-born "Bananas" (see definition below), to the immigrant Chinese communities from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The groups are as different as chalk and won tons.
For me, the first hint of being different from the majority of the Chinese here came when I started writing for the Herald. "You are from Singapore, stop calling yourself Chinese," was one of the first emails I got from a Chinese reader. For describing myself as Peranakan (a Singapore Straits-born Chinese), I was called a "liar" by another Chinese reader who asserted there was no such thing as a Peranakan clan in China.
That was topped by several Chinese journalists who wrote a petition to the Herald asking for me to be removed as a columnist because I was not representative of the Chinese community.
Neither do I fully fit in with the Bananas. Although ethnically Chinese, the fact that I was born in Singapore and don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese accentuates my feeling of being different.
This was reinforced when I recently went out with a New Zealand-born Banana Chinese friend for drinks and dinner. While he was expertly sipping his wine and describing what matches what, I struggled to even tell the difference between a chardonnay and a pinot noir. I did not appreciate the Western fish dish he ordered which he said was "superb and excellent". I found the dish, well, fanciful looking but bland.
I said to him that I would far rather have had a plate of char kwey teow (fried rice noodles) with ice lemon tea. He shook his head and said that I was still a long way from becoming Kiwi. So I could hardly call myself a Banana.
In some places, calling someone a Banana is not something you would do in polite conversation. In my school days, it was a title conferred on those who tried to be too Western in their ways or regarded everything Western as superior, an insult for their lack of pride in being Asian.
However, the NZCA press release said the term is used here to describe Chinese living outside Asia who celebrate and embrace a blend of Eastern and Western cultures and influences.
There exists a strong disconnect and feelings of disparity between the New Zealand-born Chinese and new immigrants, and being somewhere in between, I hear stories from both sides.
"The Chinese migrants are just show-offs and keep to themselves," say my local Chinese friends.
"They don't know their roots and can't even speak guo yu [China's language]," counter the Chinese new immigrants.
One of my first assignments as a journalist in Auckland was to attend the launch of a Chinese film festival. When I asked the organisers if the NZCA, which comprised mainly New Zealand-born Chinese, was part of it, his reply was: "No, because they're not real Chinese."
The differences between the Chinese communities in New Zealand are huge, and I truly doubt there will ever be a time when they can connect without barriers or borders, as hoped by the conference organisers.
But I think the Banana Conference plays an important role in bringing the different Chinese communities, who would otherwise have little to do with each other, together, to talk about these barriers and borders.
For those wanting a glimpse of the fascinating complexities within the New Zealand Chinese communities, go to this conference. Rarely will you get a chance to attend something so Chinese - conducted fully in English.
* lincoln@iballmedia.co.nz
A press release announcing "Make Way for the New Mainstream" landed in my inbox last week. I thought it was about Don Brash starting a new political party.
Instead it was about the Banana Conference next weekend. For the third consecutive year, the New Zealand Chinese Association is organising a forum to bring Chinese communities in New Zealand together to talk about identity.
The release said: "The Chinese have a long association with New Zealand. This dates back to the 19th century. Our vision is to see local and overseas Chinese communities connecting in New Zealand without barriers and borders."
This vision statement sounds grand. But even calling it ambitious would be an understatement. It is probably closer to mission impossible.
Just before I moved from Christchurch to Auckland last year, a Pakeha friend, after a barrage of anti-Auckland sentiments, told me that it was a move for the better. "There are a lot more Chinese there," he said. His assumption was that by being surrounded by fellow Chinese, we would feel at home in Auckland. Oh, how wrong he was.
Although often lumped together as one, the 100,000-plus Chinese community in Auckland is far from that. It is an agglomeration of many fragmented communities, from the New Zealand-born "Bananas" (see definition below), to the immigrant Chinese communities from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The groups are as different as chalk and won tons.
For me, the first hint of being different from the majority of the Chinese here came when I started writing for the Herald. "You are from Singapore, stop calling yourself Chinese," was one of the first emails I got from a Chinese reader. For describing myself as Peranakan (a Singapore Straits-born Chinese), I was called a "liar" by another Chinese reader who asserted there was no such thing as a Peranakan clan in China.
That was topped by several Chinese journalists who wrote a petition to the Herald asking for me to be removed as a columnist because I was not representative of the Chinese community.
Neither do I fully fit in with the Bananas. Although ethnically Chinese, the fact that I was born in Singapore and don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese accentuates my feeling of being different.
This was reinforced when I recently went out with a New Zealand-born Banana Chinese friend for drinks and dinner. While he was expertly sipping his wine and describing what matches what, I struggled to even tell the difference between a chardonnay and a pinot noir. I did not appreciate the Western fish dish he ordered which he said was "superb and excellent". I found the dish, well, fanciful looking but bland.
I said to him that I would far rather have had a plate of char kwey teow (fried rice noodles) with ice lemon tea. He shook his head and said that I was still a long way from becoming Kiwi. So I could hardly call myself a Banana.
In some places, calling someone a Banana is not something you would do in polite conversation. In my school days, it was a title conferred on those who tried to be too Western in their ways or regarded everything Western as superior, an insult for their lack of pride in being Asian.
However, the NZCA press release said the term is used here to describe Chinese living outside Asia who celebrate and embrace a blend of Eastern and Western cultures and influences.
There exists a strong disconnect and feelings of disparity between the New Zealand-born Chinese and new immigrants, and being somewhere in between, I hear stories from both sides.
"The Chinese migrants are just show-offs and keep to themselves," say my local Chinese friends.
"They don't know their roots and can't even speak guo yu [China's language]," counter the Chinese new immigrants.
One of my first assignments as a journalist in Auckland was to attend the launch of a Chinese film festival. When I asked the organisers if the NZCA, which comprised mainly New Zealand-born Chinese, was part of it, his reply was: "No, because they're not real Chinese."
The differences between the Chinese communities in New Zealand are huge, and I truly doubt there will ever be a time when they can connect without barriers or borders, as hoped by the conference organisers.
But I think the Banana Conference plays an important role in bringing the different Chinese communities, who would otherwise have little to do with each other, together, to talk about these barriers and borders.
For those wanting a glimpse of the fascinating complexities within the New Zealand Chinese communities, go to this conference. Rarely will you get a chance to attend something so Chinese - conducted fully in English.
* lincoln@iballmedia.co.nz
'Bananas' add their own flavour to cultural mix
5:00AM Saturday August 18, 2007
It speaks volumes for the strength of New Zealand Chinese that those who organised the third in a series of "Banana" conferences at Auckland University this weekend have happily embraced that description of their cultural mix. Leaders of their homeland who cannot be exposed to the slightest protest on state visits can leave an impression the Chinese personality is impossibly thin-skinned.
It would be easy to assume that it is the "white" inside the Banana that has enabled the immigrant community not to take itself too seriously, but that is unlikely. It's pride in their distinction that gives any minority its confidence. Many are several generations removed from their ancestral roots today but they want to be called New Zealand Chinese not, as others say in a spirit of inclusion, Chinese New Zealanders.
The 150,000 Chinese in New Zealand at last year's census have come in several waves and from different parts of East Asia, as gold miners in the 1860s, Colombo Plan students a century later, as professional and business migrants encouraged by the needs of an open economy since the 1980s, and as students looking for education in English and a Western lifestyle.
Their conference today addresses the strains and successes of their experience. The tone seems to be positive, constructive, but aware no doubt that China's rising economic power and contrived currency peg are creating tensions.
But it would be a foolish country that failed to appreciate an immigrant people with ethnic or ancestral links to that vast region and its still greater potential prosperity.
They cannot find business easy in an economy of our scale, but we are richer in every sense for their presence and celebrate the strength of their identity here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10458430
It speaks volumes for the strength of New Zealand Chinese that those who organised the third in a series of "Banana" conferences at Auckland University this weekend have happily embraced that description of their cultural mix. Leaders of their homeland who cannot be exposed to the slightest protest on state visits can leave an impression the Chinese personality is impossibly thin-skinned.
It would be easy to assume that it is the "white" inside the Banana that has enabled the immigrant community not to take itself too seriously, but that is unlikely. It's pride in their distinction that gives any minority its confidence. Many are several generations removed from their ancestral roots today but they want to be called New Zealand Chinese not, as others say in a spirit of inclusion, Chinese New Zealanders.
The 150,000 Chinese in New Zealand at last year's census have come in several waves and from different parts of East Asia, as gold miners in the 1860s, Colombo Plan students a century later, as professional and business migrants encouraged by the needs of an open economy since the 1980s, and as students looking for education in English and a Western lifestyle.
Their conference today addresses the strains and successes of their experience. The tone seems to be positive, constructive, but aware no doubt that China's rising economic power and contrived currency peg are creating tensions.
But it would be a foolish country that failed to appreciate an immigrant people with ethnic or ancestral links to that vast region and its still greater potential prosperity.
They cannot find business easy in an economy of our scale, but we are richer in every sense for their presence and celebrate the strength of their identity here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10458430
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Supermarket owners have a reshuffle
Big changes have been happening in supermarket ownership in Stratford and Hawera.
Hawera's $18 million Pak 'n Save has already been sold, only seven months after it opened last December.
For a few months this supermarket's petrol station had the cheapest retail prices in the country: 21c a litre discount if you bought $40 worth of groceries.
In Stratford, New World has been bought by former Oakura Four Square owners Jimmy and Jackie Lim.
The Kovaleski family operated Pak 'n Save, after selling their Hawera New World operation to Rachel and Mike Clayton, the former Write Price operators.
The Kovaleskis have sold out to Peter Arthur, who has appointed Kevin Jones as manager. He says he intends to sell the business to him eventually, "... provided he performs."
Palmerston North-based Mr Arthur says he had a call from the Foodstuffs Group after managing director Tony Kovaleski announced the store was for sale.
Mr Arthur does not envisage an early return to the big petrol discounts of the brief Kovaleski era.
"In this game things change from day to day and it depends what the competition is doing, but we won't be giving it away, that's for sure," he says.
Mr Kovaleski and his wife, Sam, have bought a beachfront home at Paraparaumu and are looking at business opportunities in the greater Wellington area. He declined to say why they decided to sell.
Mr Arthur's entry into the grocery business began when he worked as a schoolboy at the Ngaere Store, which his parents owned. He was the fourth generation of the family in that store.
Here is the sequence of events since then, as described by Mr Arthur. "In 1977 I left school and we bought the old Stratford New World from John Hedditch. In 1986 we bought the old Hawera New World and two years later built a new store on the same site. In 1991-92 my father and myself rebuilt the Stratford New World. In 1998 the Kovaleskis bought Hawera New World and I bought the Palmerston North Pak 'n Save, which I still own.
"In 2000 my brother John bought my interest in Stratford New World and later became the sole owner when our father died."
John Arthur has sold out to Jimmy and Jackie Lim. Mr Lim was born in Stratford in 1944 to Chinese immigrant parents. They started a fruit and vegetable shop which stayed in family ownership through to 2005, when it was closed on the retirement of his brother, Kevin.
In 1994 Mr and Mrs Lim left Stratford and bought the Oakura Four Square, which they sold in May this year to buy the New World business. Mr Lim says his son and son-in-law are also involved in the business and it will provide careers for their children.
"Foodstuffs will be enlarging the carpark and improving access this year and two years further out they plan to enlarge the store," he says.
Hawera's $18 million Pak 'n Save has already been sold, only seven months after it opened last December.
For a few months this supermarket's petrol station had the cheapest retail prices in the country: 21c a litre discount if you bought $40 worth of groceries.
In Stratford, New World has been bought by former Oakura Four Square owners Jimmy and Jackie Lim.
The Kovaleski family operated Pak 'n Save, after selling their Hawera New World operation to Rachel and Mike Clayton, the former Write Price operators.
The Kovaleskis have sold out to Peter Arthur, who has appointed Kevin Jones as manager. He says he intends to sell the business to him eventually, "... provided he performs."
Palmerston North-based Mr Arthur says he had a call from the Foodstuffs Group after managing director Tony Kovaleski announced the store was for sale.
Mr Arthur does not envisage an early return to the big petrol discounts of the brief Kovaleski era.
"In this game things change from day to day and it depends what the competition is doing, but we won't be giving it away, that's for sure," he says.
Mr Kovaleski and his wife, Sam, have bought a beachfront home at Paraparaumu and are looking at business opportunities in the greater Wellington area. He declined to say why they decided to sell.
Mr Arthur's entry into the grocery business began when he worked as a schoolboy at the Ngaere Store, which his parents owned. He was the fourth generation of the family in that store.
Here is the sequence of events since then, as described by Mr Arthur. "In 1977 I left school and we bought the old Stratford New World from John Hedditch. In 1986 we bought the old Hawera New World and two years later built a new store on the same site. In 1991-92 my father and myself rebuilt the Stratford New World. In 1998 the Kovaleskis bought Hawera New World and I bought the Palmerston North Pak 'n Save, which I still own.
"In 2000 my brother John bought my interest in Stratford New World and later became the sole owner when our father died."
John Arthur has sold out to Jimmy and Jackie Lim. Mr Lim was born in Stratford in 1944 to Chinese immigrant parents. They started a fruit and vegetable shop which stayed in family ownership through to 2005, when it was closed on the retirement of his brother, Kevin.
In 1994 Mr and Mrs Lim left Stratford and bought the Oakura Four Square, which they sold in May this year to buy the New World business. Mr Lim says his son and son-in-law are also involved in the business and it will provide careers for their children.
"Foodstuffs will be enlarging the carpark and improving access this year and two years further out they plan to enlarge the store," he says.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Welcome to Bananas NZ Going Global
Our dynamic conference connects local and overseas personalities and stories to highlight the journeys and leadership of Chinese people in New Zealand and throughout the world. NZCA Auckland Branch was inspired to organise this milestone event following on from the overwhelmingly positive response to our two earlier Going Bananas initiatives in 2005 and 2006.
We are privileged to be able to hold this year’s conference in a stunning world class facility, The University of Auckland Business School. We trust that all attendees will enjoy the proceedings, the discussions and the networking in this state-of-the-art environment.
The success of any event results from the efforts, commitment and support of many people. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the speakers, the sponsors, the volunteer helpers and the Organising Committee whose hard work and planning over the past 12 months have made this conference possible.
In addition, I wish to make a special note of appreciation to Ants Sang for again providing a stunning cartoon logo which brilliantly captures the innovative theme of this Conference.
Kai Luey Chairman of NZ Chinese Association (Auckland Branch) Inc.
We are privileged to be able to hold this year’s conference in a stunning world class facility, The University of Auckland Business School. We trust that all attendees will enjoy the proceedings, the discussions and the networking in this state-of-the-art environment.
The success of any event results from the efforts, commitment and support of many people. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the speakers, the sponsors, the volunteer helpers and the Organising Committee whose hard work and planning over the past 12 months have made this conference possible.
In addition, I wish to make a special note of appreciation to Ants Sang for again providing a stunning cartoon logo which brilliantly captures the innovative theme of this Conference.
Kai Luey Chairman of NZ Chinese Association (Auckland Branch) Inc.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Unfolding History, Evolving Identity
Unfolding History, Evolving Identity THE CHINESE IN NEW ZEALAND
edited by MANYING IP
The Chinese have since the 1860s been the largest non-European and non-Polynesian ethnic group in New Zealand. A visible minority, they did not fit into the colonial image of a 'better Britain' and were harshly excluded from political discourse, socially marginalised and often victimised. Unfolding History, Evolving Identity provides a comprehensive overview of the history and experience of the Chinese in New Zealand up to the present day. The contributors offer different perspectives according to their expertise or according to their background. Topics range from the Chinese on the goldfields to a study of Wellington's 'Chinatown' to studies of settler families; later chapters study aspects of recent Chinese immigration such as transnationalism and the underemployment of skilled people; a final section discusses political strategies adopted by the Chinese, including an analysis of the search for an apology for the wrongs inflicted by the historical poll tax.
Fascinating reading, this very topical book also provides much fruit for reflection in a society proud of its devotion to egalitarianism.
Unfolding History, Evolving Identity was launched by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, on 28 March 2003.
edited by MANYING IP
The Chinese have since the 1860s been the largest non-European and non-Polynesian ethnic group in New Zealand. A visible minority, they did not fit into the colonial image of a 'better Britain' and were harshly excluded from political discourse, socially marginalised and often victimised. Unfolding History, Evolving Identity provides a comprehensive overview of the history and experience of the Chinese in New Zealand up to the present day. The contributors offer different perspectives according to their expertise or according to their background. Topics range from the Chinese on the goldfields to a study of Wellington's 'Chinatown' to studies of settler families; later chapters study aspects of recent Chinese immigration such as transnationalism and the underemployment of skilled people; a final section discusses political strategies adopted by the Chinese, including an analysis of the search for an apology for the wrongs inflicted by the historical poll tax.
Fascinating reading, this very topical book also provides much fruit for reflection in a society proud of its devotion to egalitarianism.
Unfolding History, Evolving Identity was launched by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, on 28 March 2003.
Eating Pork'n'puha With Chopsticks
Eating Pork'n'puha With ChopsticksTuesday, 17 July 2007, 11:25 amPress Release: Maori TV PUBLICITY RELEASE TUESDAY JULY 17 2007
Eating Pork'n'puha With Chopsticks - On Maori Television
The story of New Zealand's unique Maori-Chinese community through the experiences of one Auckland family is the subject of a new documentary, EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS, screening on Maori Television for the first time.
The hour-long film - headlining the New Zealand Documentary slot, Pakipumeka Aotearoa, on Wednesday August 1 at 8.30 PM - is produced by Coromandel-based Freckle Films Limited.
Director and executive producer Alison Carter says the documentary follows three generations of the Lee family with the story beginning in the market gardens of South Auckland in the 1920s.
As well as featuring footage of trips back to China, the Lee family share with viewers what it is like to be both Chinese and Maori - when the Maori treat you as Chinese, the Chinese treat you as Maori, and Pakeha do not know what you are.
EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS examines questions of identity and racism, and illustrates the shared values and differences between the two races, Carter explains.
"By following an extended family through the stories of three generations, we look at what it meant to be Chinese Maori in the past and what it means today.
"The documentary focuses not only on their struggle to cope with their dual identity but on the positive things they share as cultures, strong family ties, respect for elders, the honouring of the dead, and manaakitanga.
"It provides a rich story of a people who although not large in number have played a special part in New Zealand's history."
EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS screens in Maori Television's New Zealand Documentary slot, Pakipumeka Aotearoa, on Wednesday August 1 at 8.30 PM.
Ends
Eating Pork'n'puha With Chopsticks - On Maori Television
The story of New Zealand's unique Maori-Chinese community through the experiences of one Auckland family is the subject of a new documentary, EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS, screening on Maori Television for the first time.
The hour-long film - headlining the New Zealand Documentary slot, Pakipumeka Aotearoa, on Wednesday August 1 at 8.30 PM - is produced by Coromandel-based Freckle Films Limited.
Director and executive producer Alison Carter says the documentary follows three generations of the Lee family with the story beginning in the market gardens of South Auckland in the 1920s.
As well as featuring footage of trips back to China, the Lee family share with viewers what it is like to be both Chinese and Maori - when the Maori treat you as Chinese, the Chinese treat you as Maori, and Pakeha do not know what you are.
EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS examines questions of identity and racism, and illustrates the shared values and differences between the two races, Carter explains.
"By following an extended family through the stories of three generations, we look at what it meant to be Chinese Maori in the past and what it means today.
"The documentary focuses not only on their struggle to cope with their dual identity but on the positive things they share as cultures, strong family ties, respect for elders, the honouring of the dead, and manaakitanga.
"It provides a rich story of a people who although not large in number have played a special part in New Zealand's history."
EATING PORK'N'PUHA WITH CHOPSTICKS screens in Maori Television's New Zealand Documentary slot, Pakipumeka Aotearoa, on Wednesday August 1 at 8.30 PM.
Ends
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Body of Lonely Planet writer found on Chinese mountain
Body of Lonely Planet writer found on Chinese mountain
3:37PM Wednesday July 25, 2007
SYDNEY- One of Lonely Planet's most experienced travel writers, Clem Lindenmayer, has been found dead on a Chinese mountainside, three months after he was reported missing.
Mr Lindenmayer, 47, had set out to climb Mount Gongga, in a remote area of south-west China, telling his family that he expected to complete a circuit in six days.
When they failed to hear from him, his relatives posted messages on travellers' websites.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported that villagers found his body last Thursday.
The Australian-born writer had been based in Switzerland "on and off" for nearly 20 years, according to Lonely Planet.
He was not on assignment for the guide book publisher in China, but the company had said that it was aware of the situation and was in touch with his family.
Mr Lindenmayer, author of Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, published in 2003, and Walking in Switzerland, was a highly experienced hiker who had undertaken many similar treks.
His family last heard from him on May 2, when he emailed his wife from Kangding to tell her that he was preparing to hike around the nearby mountain range, in Sichuan province.
Mount Gongga, also known as Minya Konka, is the highest in the area, with more than 20 peaks above 6,000m and a 7,556m-high summit.
The mountain range, situated in a rugged region that was once part of Tibet, is said to be notoriously dangerous for climbers.
More than 20 people have died trying to scale Mount Gongga since 1957, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Only twenty-four have reached the peak.
Mr Lindenmayer's family became alarmed when they had not heard from him by the end of May.
One of his relatives posted a missing notice on Thorn Tree, a Lonely Planet internet forum.
She described him as "a 47-year-old, very fit Australian male with a ready smile", and "a seasoned traveller with many years trekking experience".
As fears grew for his safety, the family offered a reward for information that could help locate him.
It was advertised on numerous websites.
Early last month his brother, Peter, and nephew, Tim, left Australia for China, to conduct their own search for him.
His father, Graeme, said: "He was going to go for a walk for about six days around the mountain ..
he was just going to do what was a pretty standard hike." He added: "It's known to be a trip where you need experience and common sense before you undertake it. This area is an extension of the Himalayas."
According to Xinhua, rescuers searching for Mr Lindenmayer had earlier found a body believed to be that of a Japanese mountaineer who disappeared 26 years ago.
Mr Lindenmayer, who was from Melbourne and spoke Mandarin, German and Spanish, had written for Lonely Planet for more than a decade.
In addition to the two books that he researched and wrote, he had helped to update guides to China, Malaysia, Germany and Sweden.
Lonely Planet said he had "developed a special affection for the Swiss Alps".
His mother told Australian Associated Press that she had been told of the discovery of his body - at Riwuqie Peak, 4,600m above sea level - last weekend.
The ABC reported that he would be cremated on the mountain where he was found, and his ashes brought back to Australia.
- INDEPENDENT
3:37PM Wednesday July 25, 2007
SYDNEY- One of Lonely Planet's most experienced travel writers, Clem Lindenmayer, has been found dead on a Chinese mountainside, three months after he was reported missing.
Mr Lindenmayer, 47, had set out to climb Mount Gongga, in a remote area of south-west China, telling his family that he expected to complete a circuit in six days.
When they failed to hear from him, his relatives posted messages on travellers' websites.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported that villagers found his body last Thursday.
The Australian-born writer had been based in Switzerland "on and off" for nearly 20 years, according to Lonely Planet.
He was not on assignment for the guide book publisher in China, but the company had said that it was aware of the situation and was in touch with his family.
Mr Lindenmayer, author of Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, published in 2003, and Walking in Switzerland, was a highly experienced hiker who had undertaken many similar treks.
His family last heard from him on May 2, when he emailed his wife from Kangding to tell her that he was preparing to hike around the nearby mountain range, in Sichuan province.
Mount Gongga, also known as Minya Konka, is the highest in the area, with more than 20 peaks above 6,000m and a 7,556m-high summit.
The mountain range, situated in a rugged region that was once part of Tibet, is said to be notoriously dangerous for climbers.
More than 20 people have died trying to scale Mount Gongga since 1957, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Only twenty-four have reached the peak.
Mr Lindenmayer's family became alarmed when they had not heard from him by the end of May.
One of his relatives posted a missing notice on Thorn Tree, a Lonely Planet internet forum.
She described him as "a 47-year-old, very fit Australian male with a ready smile", and "a seasoned traveller with many years trekking experience".
As fears grew for his safety, the family offered a reward for information that could help locate him.
It was advertised on numerous websites.
Early last month his brother, Peter, and nephew, Tim, left Australia for China, to conduct their own search for him.
His father, Graeme, said: "He was going to go for a walk for about six days around the mountain ..
he was just going to do what was a pretty standard hike." He added: "It's known to be a trip where you need experience and common sense before you undertake it. This area is an extension of the Himalayas."
According to Xinhua, rescuers searching for Mr Lindenmayer had earlier found a body believed to be that of a Japanese mountaineer who disappeared 26 years ago.
Mr Lindenmayer, who was from Melbourne and spoke Mandarin, German and Spanish, had written for Lonely Planet for more than a decade.
In addition to the two books that he researched and wrote, he had helped to update guides to China, Malaysia, Germany and Sweden.
Lonely Planet said he had "developed a special affection for the Swiss Alps".
His mother told Australian Associated Press that she had been told of the discovery of his body - at Riwuqie Peak, 4,600m above sea level - last weekend.
The ABC reported that he would be cremated on the mountain where he was found, and his ashes brought back to Australia.
- INDEPENDENT
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Four extracts from a novel in Sport 23: Spring 1999
Alison Wong
Four extracts from a novel
The Wife
Red Silk
When a woman is young, she follows her father When she marries, she follows her husband And when she is old, she follows her son.
Confucius
My father was a shipbuilder and his father before him. They built the large riverboats that plied the Pearl River with their cargoes of salt, and the seafaring junks that sailed from Canton to Amoy and Formosa. My father had three hundred men who worked in his yards, and we lived in a red-columned mansion in the eastern hills of Canton.
Father was an enlightened man. Although I was only a daughter, he made sure I was educated, almost like a son. We had a private tutor who taught us calligraphy, painting and poetry. I read the Five Classics, the Four Books, the Book of Filial Piety. And I dreamed of Muk Lan, the daughter who dressed as a man and saved her father from battle.
But I never wore the clothes of a man. I could not go out like my brothers, to watch the street theatre, or sit in tea-houses with pearl-faced women—the red dust of their cheeks, their lips painted rose-bud vermilion. Sometimes I'd go out in a sedan chair and watch the world from behind its curtains, but mostly I stayed at home, reading The Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, or doing needlework.
I was a good girl, respectable. Until I was fifteen, no one outside of the family knew of my existence. Then my father's elder sister arranged my marriage. She enquired after all the good families with eligible sons. There was the eldest son of Magistrate Chew, but although his father was known as a fair man, the son was renowned for his foul temper and lack of respect for the ancestors. There was the second son of the Lees, the wealthiest family in Canton—ah, but he was a spendthrift and a gambler. There was the third son of the Kwoks, who had a thriving silk business, but he was born with not enough breath—they say he had beautiful blue-white skin, a gentle man waiting to expire.
Read the rest of the extracts - http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Ba23Spo-t1-body-d26.html
Alison Wong
Four extracts from a novel
The Wife
Red Silk
When a woman is young, she follows her father When she marries, she follows her husband And when she is old, she follows her son.
Confucius
My father was a shipbuilder and his father before him. They built the large riverboats that plied the Pearl River with their cargoes of salt, and the seafaring junks that sailed from Canton to Amoy and Formosa. My father had three hundred men who worked in his yards, and we lived in a red-columned mansion in the eastern hills of Canton.
Father was an enlightened man. Although I was only a daughter, he made sure I was educated, almost like a son. We had a private tutor who taught us calligraphy, painting and poetry. I read the Five Classics, the Four Books, the Book of Filial Piety. And I dreamed of Muk Lan, the daughter who dressed as a man and saved her father from battle.
But I never wore the clothes of a man. I could not go out like my brothers, to watch the street theatre, or sit in tea-houses with pearl-faced women—the red dust of their cheeks, their lips painted rose-bud vermilion. Sometimes I'd go out in a sedan chair and watch the world from behind its curtains, but mostly I stayed at home, reading The Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, or doing needlework.
I was a good girl, respectable. Until I was fifteen, no one outside of the family knew of my existence. Then my father's elder sister arranged my marriage. She enquired after all the good families with eligible sons. There was the eldest son of Magistrate Chew, but although his father was known as a fair man, the son was renowned for his foul temper and lack of respect for the ancestors. There was the second son of the Lees, the wealthiest family in Canton—ah, but he was a spendthrift and a gambler. There was the third son of the Kwoks, who had a thriving silk business, but he was born with not enough breath—they say he had beautiful blue-white skin, a gentle man waiting to expire.
Read the rest of the extracts - http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Ba23Spo-t1-body-d26.html
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Alison Wong - Radio Interview July 2007
Lynn Freeman, of Radio NZ National's Arts on Sunday programme,interviewed me today together with Laura Kroetsch (Montana Poetry Dayorganiser) & Renee (playwright, fiction writer, and now poet) and it'llbe broadcast on Sun about 2:30pm or 2:35pm. It's pretty much aboutwhat's happening on Montana Poetry Day around the country - nothinglike what I was expecting - it was originally going to be with James Brown (finalist in main Poetry category at the Montanas) but he's Playing Favourites with Kim Hill on Sat morning so they suddenly changed it all and I didn't know until I walked into the studio. I get to read apoem tho'.The interview will be available online for a month
from
:http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/artsonsunday
Ali
from
:http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/artsonsunday
Ali
Sunday, July 15, 2007
In the money
- :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.
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.
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