Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Jade Taniwha - Maori Chinese
Jenny Bol Jun Lee
Jade Taniwha: Maori-Chinese Identity and Schooling in Aotearoa is an insightful and often deeply personal account of Maori-Chinese identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.
At the heart of this book are the accounts of four Maori-Chinese recollecting experiences of identity through the lens of schooling.
Jenny Bol Jun Lee reveals that Maori-Chinese draw strength from their different traditions, taking pride in their unique identity while moving between the different worlds of Chinese, Maori and mainstream New Zealand.
Generously illustrated with b&w photographs
Rautaki, Auckland
2007 s/c 179 pages
Jade Taniwha: Maori-Chinese Identity and Schooling in Aotearoa is an insightful and often deeply personal account of Maori-Chinese identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.
At the heart of this book are the accounts of four Maori-Chinese recollecting experiences of identity through the lens of schooling.
Jenny Bol Jun Lee reveals that Maori-Chinese draw strength from their different traditions, taking pride in their unique identity while moving between the different worlds of Chinese, Maori and mainstream New Zealand.
Generously illustrated with b&w photographs
Rautaki, Auckland
2007 s/c 179 pages
Diggers Hatters and Whores.
Diggers Hatters and Whores. The Story of the New Zealand Gold Rushes. Stevan Eldred-Grigg. 2008 1st edition. Auckland
A very comprehensive and interesting book with masses of unusual and repros of old paintings, engravings and drawings.
Gold rushes around the world
The NZ gold rushes
Very detailed information about the diggings
Names of Maori diggers in Golden Bay
Rights of landowners. Laws governing the diggings
Women who followed the camps. Chinese diggers
Shanty towns, drinking, incidents, fights, crime, murders
Life and death on the diggings
Wonderful illustrations and repros of paintings incl: Miners in the Sierra 1851; a lynching in San Francisco 1851; Diggers at Ballarat 1851; Coromandel Diggers 1852; Dunstan diggings c1862; Skippers gold claim 1865; transalpine road to the diggings of the West Coast; Grey Valley Diggers c1867; Hokitika c1865; Queen of Beauty and Bright Smiles Mines, Thames 1874; quartz crushing battery, Thames; Karangahake goldfield 1897; Kaniere diggings 1866; Macraes Flat, Otago; digger huts Hauraki 1864-67; diggers pig hunting, West Coast 1868
Maps incl gold rush areas NZ; Otago 1866; Marlborough.
545pp; black/white and coloured photos and illustrations; maps; repros of old adverts; index; bibliography; very thick hard covered book with illustrated dust jacket; both excellent condition brand new.
A very comprehensive and interesting book with masses of unusual and repros of old paintings, engravings and drawings.
Gold rushes around the world
The NZ gold rushes
Very detailed information about the diggings
Names of Maori diggers in Golden Bay
Rights of landowners. Laws governing the diggings
Women who followed the camps. Chinese diggers
Shanty towns, drinking, incidents, fights, crime, murders
Life and death on the diggings
Wonderful illustrations and repros of paintings incl: Miners in the Sierra 1851; a lynching in San Francisco 1851; Diggers at Ballarat 1851; Coromandel Diggers 1852; Dunstan diggings c1862; Skippers gold claim 1865; transalpine road to the diggings of the West Coast; Grey Valley Diggers c1867; Hokitika c1865; Queen of Beauty and Bright Smiles Mines, Thames 1874; quartz crushing battery, Thames; Karangahake goldfield 1897; Kaniere diggings 1866; Macraes Flat, Otago; digger huts Hauraki 1864-67; diggers pig hunting, West Coast 1868
Maps incl gold rush areas NZ; Otago 1866; Marlborough.
545pp; black/white and coloured photos and illustrations; maps; repros of old adverts; index; bibliography; very thick hard covered book with illustrated dust jacket; both excellent condition brand new.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants
Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants
by John Jung
Sweet and Sour examines the history of Chinese family restaurants in the U. S. and Canada. Why did many Chinese immigrants enter this business around the end of the 19th century? What conditions made it possible for Chinese to open and succeed in operating restaurants after they emigrated to North America? How did Chinese restaurants manage to attract non-Chinese customers, given that they had little or no acquaintance with the Chinese style of food preparation and many had vicious hostility toward Chinese immigrants?
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?AuthorID=102493
by John Jung
Sweet and Sour examines the history of Chinese family restaurants in the U. S. and Canada. Why did many Chinese immigrants enter this business around the end of the 19th century? What conditions made it possible for Chinese to open and succeed in operating restaurants after they emigrated to North America? How did Chinese restaurants manage to attract non-Chinese customers, given that they had little or no acquaintance with the Chinese style of food preparation and many had vicious hostility toward Chinese immigrants?
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?AuthorID=102493
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Chinese New Year 2010
Many Chinese couples are rushing to get married before the start of the Year of the Tiger, to avoid any misfortune associated with the inauspicious year.
The Year of the Tiger begins on February 14, and many who do wed before then will wait until 2011 to have a baby.
Fortune teller Peter Chan, who is also a Waitakere City councillor, said this Tiger year was considered really bad because of the absence of spring, or Lichun.
Chinese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar, falls after the first day of spring in China and ends on February 2 next year, which is before the next Lichun.
A year without spring is also known as a "widow year" or a "blind year".
"It is a very bad year for marriages and it is possible that the relationship of those who get married in the Tiger year to be full of turmoil and trouble," said Mr Chan, originally from Hong Kong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10623159&pnum=0
The Year of the Tiger begins on February 14, and many who do wed before then will wait until 2011 to have a baby.
Fortune teller Peter Chan, who is also a Waitakere City councillor, said this Tiger year was considered really bad because of the absence of spring, or Lichun.
Chinese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar, falls after the first day of spring in China and ends on February 2 next year, which is before the next Lichun.
A year without spring is also known as a "widow year" or a "blind year".
"It is a very bad year for marriages and it is possible that the relationship of those who get married in the Tiger year to be full of turmoil and trouble," said Mr Chan, originally from Hong Kong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10623159&pnum=0
Saturday, January 16, 2010
NZ residency gives Chinese sex appeal
By Lincoln Tan
4:00 AM Saturday Jan 16, 2010
International students from China want New Zealand residency and passports not only for ease of travel, but also as a way to get into a good university back home and attract the opposite sex.
To get Kiwi passports, some are even prepared to marry New Zealand citizens who may be total strangers, several students from the Chinese mainland told the Weekend Herald.
China's top university sets higher admission standards for domestic candidates, but enrolment requirements are much lower for foreign students as many universities want more foreigners to foster an international environment on campuses, according to a Chinese news report.
"I don't want a New Zealand passport to stay here. I don't think there is a future for me here," said an 18-year-old language student from Shanghai, who spoke on condition she was not named.
"But when I get a Kiwi passport, it means I would almost certainly get into a good university back in China because of the lower standard for foreigners, and also be able to travel around the world more easily."
Last week, the Global Times in China reported that students there were paying around $40,000 to buy fake foreign passports to gain entry into these universities, but the Education Ministry is now demanding proof from foreign students that they have lived in their purported countries of origin for at least four years.
One 15-year-old Auckland high school student from China, who did not want to be named, said reading the Chinese report online had made him more determined to work towards residency.
"Of course, my first choice will be to get a New Zealand degree, but if I cannot, then at least the passport will give me a second chance to get a degree from a top China university."
Another teenager from China, Amy, 19, who is studying graphic design, said: "Hooking up with a Kiwi partner is still the easiest way to get residency, which is the first step towards getting a New Zealand passport."
A language student, Luke Liu, 18, said becoming a New Zealand resident was also a way for young Chinese males to "attract" Chinese girls.
"Let's face it, Kiwi girls don't fancy Asian guys, and Chinese girls here are spoiled for choice because Kiwi guys want to date them," said Luke. "These girls come from rich families, so money means nothing to them. But being able to offer them the chance of becoming a Kiwi is another thing."
The editor of the Mandarin Pages Chinese newspaper in Auckland, David Soh, says the practice of "marriage for convenience" is not new, nor is it exclusive to the Chinese community. "It also happens with the Russians, the Filipinos ... It is impossible to stop."
The Herald on Sunday reported in 2005 that Mandarin Pages carried an advertisement from a Chinese man with New Zealand residency advertising for a wife. When contacted, the advertiser demanded $10,000 up front, more after one year of marriage and a final $10,000 after two years when the buyer would have permanent residency in New Zealand, and the couple could divorce.
But Mr Soh says such ads no longer appear in his paper, which still carries an average of 10 personal advertisements daily from New Zealanders seeking Chinese wives.
"It would be impossible for us to say how many of these marriages are for immigration purposes."
By Lincoln Tan | Email Lincoln http://www.nzherald.co.nz/chinese-in-nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=147&objectid=10620509
4:00 AM Saturday Jan 16, 2010
International students from China want New Zealand residency and passports not only for ease of travel, but also as a way to get into a good university back home and attract the opposite sex.
To get Kiwi passports, some are even prepared to marry New Zealand citizens who may be total strangers, several students from the Chinese mainland told the Weekend Herald.
China's top university sets higher admission standards for domestic candidates, but enrolment requirements are much lower for foreign students as many universities want more foreigners to foster an international environment on campuses, according to a Chinese news report.
"I don't want a New Zealand passport to stay here. I don't think there is a future for me here," said an 18-year-old language student from Shanghai, who spoke on condition she was not named.
"But when I get a Kiwi passport, it means I would almost certainly get into a good university back in China because of the lower standard for foreigners, and also be able to travel around the world more easily."
Last week, the Global Times in China reported that students there were paying around $40,000 to buy fake foreign passports to gain entry into these universities, but the Education Ministry is now demanding proof from foreign students that they have lived in their purported countries of origin for at least four years.
One 15-year-old Auckland high school student from China, who did not want to be named, said reading the Chinese report online had made him more determined to work towards residency.
"Of course, my first choice will be to get a New Zealand degree, but if I cannot, then at least the passport will give me a second chance to get a degree from a top China university."
Another teenager from China, Amy, 19, who is studying graphic design, said: "Hooking up with a Kiwi partner is still the easiest way to get residency, which is the first step towards getting a New Zealand passport."
A language student, Luke Liu, 18, said becoming a New Zealand resident was also a way for young Chinese males to "attract" Chinese girls.
"Let's face it, Kiwi girls don't fancy Asian guys, and Chinese girls here are spoiled for choice because Kiwi guys want to date them," said Luke. "These girls come from rich families, so money means nothing to them. But being able to offer them the chance of becoming a Kiwi is another thing."
The editor of the Mandarin Pages Chinese newspaper in Auckland, David Soh, says the practice of "marriage for convenience" is not new, nor is it exclusive to the Chinese community. "It also happens with the Russians, the Filipinos ... It is impossible to stop."
The Herald on Sunday reported in 2005 that Mandarin Pages carried an advertisement from a Chinese man with New Zealand residency advertising for a wife. When contacted, the advertiser demanded $10,000 up front, more after one year of marriage and a final $10,000 after two years when the buyer would have permanent residency in New Zealand, and the couple could divorce.
But Mr Soh says such ads no longer appear in his paper, which still carries an average of 10 personal advertisements daily from New Zealanders seeking Chinese wives.
"It would be impossible for us to say how many of these marriages are for immigration purposes."
By Lincoln Tan | Email Lincoln http://www.nzherald.co.nz/chinese-in-nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=147&objectid=10620509
Monday, January 11, 2010
Scratchy start to Year of the Tiger as Chinese events clash
Failure to bring two of Auckland's biggest Chinese New Year festivals into one grand event has resulted in a spat between the organisers of the two events meant to usher in the Year of the Tiger next month.
For the first time since World Television organised its first Chinese New Year festival and concert in 2008, the event will clash with the 22-year-old Auckland Chinese Community Centre's Chinese New Year Festival and Market Day.
Both are scheduled for February 13, which is Chinese New Year's Eve.
The community centre says that WTV, by holding its event on the same day, is snatching away some of its regular market stall-holders.
"Some stallholders who had previously booked four stalls are taking just one this year," said Kai Luey, vice-president and event organiser.
"And some who had changed their minds and wanted to participate in our market day could not do so because WTV has a no-cancellation policy in its contracts.
"The folk at WTV are just hard-headed commercial people. I've suggested to them when we met at the [Chinese] consular office that we ...talk about organising a common event, but they never responded."
The community centre charges $140 a stall, but WTV charges more than $300 - and sometimes up to $50,000.
Two years ago, the centre also accused WTV of claiming its inaugural event was to replace the centre's longstanding festival. The centre felt forced to pay for print advertisements to say its festival was still running, because WTV refused to promote it.
"We were stabbed in the first year," said Mr Luey, "and now that their event is more established they are treating us like poor country cousins. That's arrogant."
The community centre holds its market festival at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane during the day, while the WTV event runs at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau from the afternoon until late.
"While it's possible for the crowd to be part of both events, it is impossible for many of the stallholders to have the resources to do the same," Mr Luey said.
But WTV chief executive Henry Ho told the Herald it was impossible for the two groups to work together to organise a common event because "we have different directions".
"We are a commercial media organisation and any public show we put on has to be more professional than a festival that is being organised by a community group," said Mr Ho.
"We also have to make a profit or pay for the losses from our own pockets. Our event is not organised to just make every Chinese community leader happy."
Mr Ho said the clash in dates was also inevitable, because Waitangi Day falls on the weekend before Chinese New Year's Eve and it was inappropriate to hold the festival after New Year.
He says no one from the centre's leadership would be officially invited to attend WTV's festival because it was not the firm's policy to do so.
Nor would it promote the community centre's festival through its television stations, radio channels and magazine unless the centre paid for advertising.
"If the ACCC wants to pay for advertising we will be happy to put their ads on, but they cannot expect us to do it for free."
YEAR OF THE TIGER
* Begins on February 14 and ends on February 2, 2011.
* The Tiger is the third in the cycle of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animal signs.
* It is a sign of courage, and revered as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household - fire, thieves and ghosts.
By Lincoln Tan | Email Lincoln
By Lincoln Tan
4:00 AM Monday Jan 11, 2010
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10619462&pnum=0
For the first time since World Television organised its first Chinese New Year festival and concert in 2008, the event will clash with the 22-year-old Auckland Chinese Community Centre's Chinese New Year Festival and Market Day.
Both are scheduled for February 13, which is Chinese New Year's Eve.
The community centre says that WTV, by holding its event on the same day, is snatching away some of its regular market stall-holders.
"Some stallholders who had previously booked four stalls are taking just one this year," said Kai Luey, vice-president and event organiser.
"And some who had changed their minds and wanted to participate in our market day could not do so because WTV has a no-cancellation policy in its contracts.
"The folk at WTV are just hard-headed commercial people. I've suggested to them when we met at the [Chinese] consular office that we ...talk about organising a common event, but they never responded."
The community centre charges $140 a stall, but WTV charges more than $300 - and sometimes up to $50,000.
Two years ago, the centre also accused WTV of claiming its inaugural event was to replace the centre's longstanding festival. The centre felt forced to pay for print advertisements to say its festival was still running, because WTV refused to promote it.
"We were stabbed in the first year," said Mr Luey, "and now that their event is more established they are treating us like poor country cousins. That's arrogant."
The community centre holds its market festival at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane during the day, while the WTV event runs at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau from the afternoon until late.
"While it's possible for the crowd to be part of both events, it is impossible for many of the stallholders to have the resources to do the same," Mr Luey said.
But WTV chief executive Henry Ho told the Herald it was impossible for the two groups to work together to organise a common event because "we have different directions".
"We are a commercial media organisation and any public show we put on has to be more professional than a festival that is being organised by a community group," said Mr Ho.
"We also have to make a profit or pay for the losses from our own pockets. Our event is not organised to just make every Chinese community leader happy."
Mr Ho said the clash in dates was also inevitable, because Waitangi Day falls on the weekend before Chinese New Year's Eve and it was inappropriate to hold the festival after New Year.
He says no one from the centre's leadership would be officially invited to attend WTV's festival because it was not the firm's policy to do so.
Nor would it promote the community centre's festival through its television stations, radio channels and magazine unless the centre paid for advertising.
"If the ACCC wants to pay for advertising we will be happy to put their ads on, but they cannot expect us to do it for free."
YEAR OF THE TIGER
* Begins on February 14 and ends on February 2, 2011.
* The Tiger is the third in the cycle of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animal signs.
* It is a sign of courage, and revered as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household - fire, thieves and ghosts.
By Lincoln Tan | Email Lincoln
By Lincoln Tan
4:00 AM Monday Jan 11, 2010
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10619462&pnum=0
Friday, January 01, 2010
Wrangle over site for Chinese garden
Councillors knock back donors' preference for Auckland Domain or Western Springs
An $8 million traditional walled Chinese garden planned for Auckland has become a political headache instead of a place of spiritual escape.
The Auckland Chinese Garden Steering Committee's preferred sites of the Domain or Western Springs have been knocked back by the Auckland City Council.
The steering committee is made up of 12 prominent Chinese representatives and is co-chaired by architect Ron Sang and community leader Kai Luey.
The council's arts, culture and recreation committee likes the idea of a central 3000sq m to 4000sq m Chinese garden on park land, just not at the duck pond area in the Domain or at Western Springs.
Gaining resource consent for the Domain, an archaeological and geological site of significance, is considered extremely problematic. Western Springs is thought to be too heavily used informally and for events such as Pasifika.
On the recommendation of open space planner Joseph Zou, the councillors have suggested a site on the 4.5ha headland park at the Tank Farm that is still 10 to 15 years away; a 2700sq m site in Cook St, bought by the council in 2008 and leased to Placemakers; or the western side of Victoria Park once the tunnel to widen the Northern Motorway bottleneck is completed by 2013.
Mr Sang said support from Auckland's 110,000-strong Chinese community for a garden had been excellent, but the council had given the steering committee something it was not happy about.
"I don't want to go to all this effort and find they give me a site that is not very good."
Mr Sang said the committee would consider the council's position and get back to it. "Anything to do with the council takes time."
The project, he said, would probably require five years of fundraising and three years of construction. A preliminary budget of $8 million includes $1 million from the Chinese community, $1 million from local government, $4 million from central Government, $1 million from community trusts and $1 million from Auckland City's sister city in China, Guangzhou, and overseas Chinese.
It is envisaged the garden would be on a similar scale to the Dunedin Chinese Garden, which opened last year to commemorate the contribution of Chinese people to the city, from the days of the Central Otago gold rush in the 1860s.
The Dunedin garden, covering 2500sq m and costing $7 million, was designed as a late Ming/early Ching scholar's garden, largely prefabricated in Shanghai and reassembled on site. It is centred on a large lake surrounded by several structures with an elaborate archway and 4m perimeter wall.
4:00 AM Wednesday Dec 23, 2009 By Bernard Orsman http://www.nzherald.co.nz/arts/news/article.cfm?c_id=544&objectid=10617126
An $8 million traditional walled Chinese garden planned for Auckland has become a political headache instead of a place of spiritual escape.
The Auckland Chinese Garden Steering Committee's preferred sites of the Domain or Western Springs have been knocked back by the Auckland City Council.
The steering committee is made up of 12 prominent Chinese representatives and is co-chaired by architect Ron Sang and community leader Kai Luey.
The council's arts, culture and recreation committee likes the idea of a central 3000sq m to 4000sq m Chinese garden on park land, just not at the duck pond area in the Domain or at Western Springs.
Gaining resource consent for the Domain, an archaeological and geological site of significance, is considered extremely problematic. Western Springs is thought to be too heavily used informally and for events such as Pasifika.
On the recommendation of open space planner Joseph Zou, the councillors have suggested a site on the 4.5ha headland park at the Tank Farm that is still 10 to 15 years away; a 2700sq m site in Cook St, bought by the council in 2008 and leased to Placemakers; or the western side of Victoria Park once the tunnel to widen the Northern Motorway bottleneck is completed by 2013.
Mr Sang said support from Auckland's 110,000-strong Chinese community for a garden had been excellent, but the council had given the steering committee something it was not happy about.
"I don't want to go to all this effort and find they give me a site that is not very good."
Mr Sang said the committee would consider the council's position and get back to it. "Anything to do with the council takes time."
The project, he said, would probably require five years of fundraising and three years of construction. A preliminary budget of $8 million includes $1 million from the Chinese community, $1 million from local government, $4 million from central Government, $1 million from community trusts and $1 million from Auckland City's sister city in China, Guangzhou, and overseas Chinese.
It is envisaged the garden would be on a similar scale to the Dunedin Chinese Garden, which opened last year to commemorate the contribution of Chinese people to the city, from the days of the Central Otago gold rush in the 1860s.
The Dunedin garden, covering 2500sq m and costing $7 million, was designed as a late Ming/early Ching scholar's garden, largely prefabricated in Shanghai and reassembled on site. It is centred on a large lake surrounded by several structures with an elaborate archway and 4m perimeter wall.
4:00 AM Wednesday Dec 23, 2009 By Bernard Orsman http://www.nzherald.co.nz/arts/news/article.cfm?c_id=544&objectid=10617126
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Dream getaway lodge open for business
Luxurious Pakiri Point Lodge, which overlooks stunning Pakiri Beach in Rodney, was the subject of a long-running planning battle.
A luxury lodge has finally opened in Pakiri after a storm of protest over its prominent position on the cliff top overlooking the iconic beach.
The house, which is understood to have cost more than $5 million to build, drew objections from the public and the Auckland Regional Council which had spent $20 million buying the surrounding land for a new park.
The ARC claimed the house would spoil iconic views of the park.
However, Rodney District Council planning commissioners disagreed, saying the house was in an approved rural-residential subdivision, was appropriately designed and that landscaping and bush planting would avoid significant adverse affects.
After five years in the making and the battle through the resource management process, the house is now finished. It has six bedrooms, covers 600 sq m and sits among 4ha of young bush.
Its chiselled limestone pillars were chosen to harmonise with the white sands of the 24km-long wilderness beach below.
The lodge is owned and operated by catering supremo Rae Ah Chee and Fruitworld director Billy Chong and his wife Evelyn.
Mr Ah Chee said yesterday that he was enthusiastic about providing "a quality experience" for up to 10 guests after 40 years of catering at huge venues including Eden Park.
He said Pakiri Point Lodge was tastefully decorated and furnished in a "fusion of quality".
It won a gold award for the Auckland region "House of the Year" - for homes over $1 million.
A finalist for the national award, it also collected regional awards in the sustainability and best kitchen categories of the Registered Master Builders' competition.
Mr Ah Chee said dozens of Rodney-based tradesmen had worked on the two-year project and he hoped that, as business grew, up to six residents would be employed running the lodge. Its location, with its commanding view over the beach and the ocean, was a point of difference to many other luxury lodges in Rodney.
"It's a 70-minute drive from Auckland and 20 minutes by helicopter over stunning water scenery," he said.
The lodge's website says ensuite rooms are priced from $550 to $650 per couple per night, including breakfast.
Mr Ah Chee said the lodge would compete for guests from overseas but he had also had inquiries from Aucklanders planning a wedding anniversary or birthday. Other luxury lodges in Rodney District have nightly rates from $300 to $695.
By Wayne Thompson | Email Wayne
4:00 AM Wednesday Nov 18, 2009 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10609938
A luxury lodge has finally opened in Pakiri after a storm of protest over its prominent position on the cliff top overlooking the iconic beach.
The house, which is understood to have cost more than $5 million to build, drew objections from the public and the Auckland Regional Council which had spent $20 million buying the surrounding land for a new park.
The ARC claimed the house would spoil iconic views of the park.
However, Rodney District Council planning commissioners disagreed, saying the house was in an approved rural-residential subdivision, was appropriately designed and that landscaping and bush planting would avoid significant adverse affects.
After five years in the making and the battle through the resource management process, the house is now finished. It has six bedrooms, covers 600 sq m and sits among 4ha of young bush.
Its chiselled limestone pillars were chosen to harmonise with the white sands of the 24km-long wilderness beach below.
The lodge is owned and operated by catering supremo Rae Ah Chee and Fruitworld director Billy Chong and his wife Evelyn.
Mr Ah Chee said yesterday that he was enthusiastic about providing "a quality experience" for up to 10 guests after 40 years of catering at huge venues including Eden Park.
He said Pakiri Point Lodge was tastefully decorated and furnished in a "fusion of quality".
It won a gold award for the Auckland region "House of the Year" - for homes over $1 million.
A finalist for the national award, it also collected regional awards in the sustainability and best kitchen categories of the Registered Master Builders' competition.
Mr Ah Chee said dozens of Rodney-based tradesmen had worked on the two-year project and he hoped that, as business grew, up to six residents would be employed running the lodge. Its location, with its commanding view over the beach and the ocean, was a point of difference to many other luxury lodges in Rodney.
"It's a 70-minute drive from Auckland and 20 minutes by helicopter over stunning water scenery," he said.
The lodge's website says ensuite rooms are priced from $550 to $650 per couple per night, including breakfast.
Mr Ah Chee said the lodge would compete for guests from overseas but he had also had inquiries from Aucklanders planning a wedding anniversary or birthday. Other luxury lodges in Rodney District have nightly rates from $300 to $695.
By Wayne Thompson | Email Wayne
4:00 AM Wednesday Nov 18, 2009 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10609938
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Pioneering spirit lives
PROUD DESCENDANTS: Grandsons of early Chinese immigrant Thomas Wong Doo, from left: Selwyn Wong Doo, Thomas Wong Doo III, and Dennis Doo.
Thomas Wong Doo
MADE A DIFFERENCE: Thomas Wong Doo helped a number of Chinese into New Zealand in the early 1900s.
The descendants of a 19th century immigrant have flocked to the North Shore 125 years after his arrival.
Up to 100 descendants of Thomas Wong Doo, some from as far as New York, celebrated their Kiwi and Chinese heritage with a reunion lunch at New Dragon World Restaurant in Birkenhead.
Thomas Wong Doo joined his brothers in the "New Gold Mountain" of New Zealand in 1884 when he was about 15.
"He came over in virtually his shirt and pants and took over the market garden," grandson Thomas Wong Doo III says.
Mr Wong Doo eventually returned to China and married, later bringing his wife Unui to New Zealand where she was one of the first female Chinese immigrants.
He loaned others £100 for the poll tax Chinese immigrants had to pay – the equivalent of a year’s wages, his grandson says.
Mr Wong Doo even sponsored a large group of people to migrate in the lead up to the closing date for Asian immigration in the early 1900s.
"He helped the Chinese when they came in, fed them, housed them, helped them look for jobs. The Chinese live in clans. Thomas looked after the Wong clan."
Even now family members still offer their help to new immigrants through the Kwong Cheu Club which Mr Wong Doo founded in 1923.
"To further the dynasty we’ve got to do good in this world, charity, not just looking after ourselves. It’s good for the whole family."
After making their fortunes and the family were established, the couple returned to China but were forced to come back after the Japanese invasion, Mr Wong Doo III says.
Their Chinese properties and land was lost in the Japanese invasion, civil war, and take over by communism in 1949.
The market gardens where Mr Wong Doo worked in Grey Lynn were named Chinaman’s Hill after him.
His son Norman Wong Doo went on to be Auckland Grammar School’s first Chinese student during the late 1920s and early 1930s, Norman’s son, North Shore resident Dennis Doo, says.
"He used to tell me he had his shirt ripped off his back because of racial discrimination."
Mr Wong Doo III says such behaviour was not uncommon.
"When you’re an immigrant in any country you’ve got to prove yourself, you’ve got to put up with all these things. This is what the Doo family have done – work hard, get integrated into society, get involved with charities."
Thomas Wong Doo
MADE A DIFFERENCE: Thomas Wong Doo helped a number of Chinese into New Zealand in the early 1900s.
The descendants of a 19th century immigrant have flocked to the North Shore 125 years after his arrival.
Up to 100 descendants of Thomas Wong Doo, some from as far as New York, celebrated their Kiwi and Chinese heritage with a reunion lunch at New Dragon World Restaurant in Birkenhead.
Thomas Wong Doo joined his brothers in the "New Gold Mountain" of New Zealand in 1884 when he was about 15.
"He came over in virtually his shirt and pants and took over the market garden," grandson Thomas Wong Doo III says.
Mr Wong Doo eventually returned to China and married, later bringing his wife Unui to New Zealand where she was one of the first female Chinese immigrants.
He loaned others £100 for the poll tax Chinese immigrants had to pay – the equivalent of a year’s wages, his grandson says.
Mr Wong Doo even sponsored a large group of people to migrate in the lead up to the closing date for Asian immigration in the early 1900s.
"He helped the Chinese when they came in, fed them, housed them, helped them look for jobs. The Chinese live in clans. Thomas looked after the Wong clan."
Even now family members still offer their help to new immigrants through the Kwong Cheu Club which Mr Wong Doo founded in 1923.
"To further the dynasty we’ve got to do good in this world, charity, not just looking after ourselves. It’s good for the whole family."
After making their fortunes and the family were established, the couple returned to China but were forced to come back after the Japanese invasion, Mr Wong Doo III says.
Their Chinese properties and land was lost in the Japanese invasion, civil war, and take over by communism in 1949.
The market gardens where Mr Wong Doo worked in Grey Lynn were named Chinaman’s Hill after him.
His son Norman Wong Doo went on to be Auckland Grammar School’s first Chinese student during the late 1920s and early 1930s, Norman’s son, North Shore resident Dennis Doo, says.
"He used to tell me he had his shirt ripped off his back because of racial discrimination."
Mr Wong Doo III says such behaviour was not uncommon.
"When you’re an immigrant in any country you’ve got to prove yourself, you’ve got to put up with all these things. This is what the Doo family have done – work hard, get integrated into society, get involved with charities."
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Asian input critical to city's future, says Huo
4:00AM Wednesday Nov 04, 2009
By Lincoln Tan
Despite being voted down in Parliament, Labour's Chinese MP Raymond Huo says he will be continuing his fight to have an Asian advisory board on Auckland's new Super City Council through a private member's bill.
"The Asian population is projected to hit 400,000 in Auckland within seven years, and the council will not be representative of the people if it did not have an input from this community," Mr Huo said.
Mr Huo's push to get an Asian advisory board included in the Super City was voted down in Parliament by 64 votes to 58.
Prime Minister John Key has ruled out the possibility of having Maori seats on the new council, but Mr Huo said he wasn't seeking an Asian seat, although the Asian population will be growing at a much faster rate than Maori because of immigration.
"We are not seeking an Asian seat, simply a statutory link to the governing body that will advise on issues that affect the Asian community."
He said Auckland is the "seventh largest city with people of Chinese origin outside China" - in percentage terms - and that will continue to accelerate because of current immigration policy.
Under the parent policy New Zealand Immigration defines a family's "centre of gravity" as "the number of their adult children lawfully and permanently in New Zealand being equal to or greater than those in any other single country", making it eligible for nearly every immigrant from China to sponsor his or her parent because of the country's one-child policy.
The Asian population in Auckland is third only to European and Maori, and is projected to grow by 51 per cent up to 2016, compared with 46 per cent for the rest of New Zealand, he said.
"Auckland absorbs a disproportionate share of this growth, with about two-thirds of all new Asian migrants settling in the region," Mr Huo said.
"Ethnic minorities have also always been under-represented on Auckland's councils, with only 4 per cent being Asian, 4 per cent Pacific, 9 per cent Maori while 84 per cent are European. We need a more balanced representation if Auckland is truly to become a Super City."
Auckland University Professor of Asian Studies Manying Ip says the move to get Asian representation was "sensible" and something "policymakers cannot ignore" because Asians made up 13 per cent of the Auckland population.
She said many born under China's one-child policy were taking advantage of New Zealand's parent policy to sponsor their parents and even grandparents here, bringing new challenges in health, housing and socio-economic issues which will be better understood by members of the Asian community.
"Everything is legal, this is the New Zealand Government's policy and people are making full use of it.
"It is an inevitable trend, and it is up to everybody to get used to it. We cannot turn the clock back," Professor Ip said.
By Lincoln Tan
Despite being voted down in Parliament, Labour's Chinese MP Raymond Huo says he will be continuing his fight to have an Asian advisory board on Auckland's new Super City Council through a private member's bill.
"The Asian population is projected to hit 400,000 in Auckland within seven years, and the council will not be representative of the people if it did not have an input from this community," Mr Huo said.
Mr Huo's push to get an Asian advisory board included in the Super City was voted down in Parliament by 64 votes to 58.
Prime Minister John Key has ruled out the possibility of having Maori seats on the new council, but Mr Huo said he wasn't seeking an Asian seat, although the Asian population will be growing at a much faster rate than Maori because of immigration.
"We are not seeking an Asian seat, simply a statutory link to the governing body that will advise on issues that affect the Asian community."
He said Auckland is the "seventh largest city with people of Chinese origin outside China" - in percentage terms - and that will continue to accelerate because of current immigration policy.
Under the parent policy New Zealand Immigration defines a family's "centre of gravity" as "the number of their adult children lawfully and permanently in New Zealand being equal to or greater than those in any other single country", making it eligible for nearly every immigrant from China to sponsor his or her parent because of the country's one-child policy.
The Asian population in Auckland is third only to European and Maori, and is projected to grow by 51 per cent up to 2016, compared with 46 per cent for the rest of New Zealand, he said.
"Auckland absorbs a disproportionate share of this growth, with about two-thirds of all new Asian migrants settling in the region," Mr Huo said.
"Ethnic minorities have also always been under-represented on Auckland's councils, with only 4 per cent being Asian, 4 per cent Pacific, 9 per cent Maori while 84 per cent are European. We need a more balanced representation if Auckland is truly to become a Super City."
Auckland University Professor of Asian Studies Manying Ip says the move to get Asian representation was "sensible" and something "policymakers cannot ignore" because Asians made up 13 per cent of the Auckland population.
She said many born under China's one-child policy were taking advantage of New Zealand's parent policy to sponsor their parents and even grandparents here, bringing new challenges in health, housing and socio-economic issues which will be better understood by members of the Asian community.
"Everything is legal, this is the New Zealand Government's policy and people are making full use of it.
"It is an inevitable trend, and it is up to everybody to get used to it. We cannot turn the clock back," Professor Ip said.
Monday, October 26, 2009
In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin
He grew up playing in the narrow, crowded streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown. He has lived and worked there for all his 61 years. But as Wee Wong walks the neighborhood these days, he cannot understand half the Chinese conversations he hears.
Paul Lee, a longtime resident of Chinatown, near his home on Mott Street. He said that Cantonese “may be a dying language.”
Cantonese, a dialect from southern China that has dominated the Chinatowns of North America for decades, is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin, the national language of China and the lingua franca of most of the latest Chinese immigrants.
The change can be heard in the neighborhood’s lively restaurants and solemn church services, in parks, street markets and language schools. It has been accelerated by Chinese-American parents, including many who speak Cantonese at home, as they press their children to learn Mandarin for the advantages it could bring as China’s influence grows in the world.
But the eclipse of Cantonese — in New York, China and around the world — has become a challenge for older people who speak only that dialect and face increasing isolation unless they learn Mandarin or English. Though Cantonese and Mandarin share nearly all the same written characters, the pronunciations are vastly different; when spoken, Mandarin may be incomprehensible to a Cantonese speaker, and vice versa.
Mr. Wong, a retired sign maker who speaks English, can still get by with his Cantonese, which remains the preferred language in his circle of friends and in Chinatown’s historic core. A bit defiantly, he said that if he enters a shop and finds the staff does not speak his dialect, “I go to another store.”
Like many others, however, he is resigned to the likelihood that Cantonese — and the people who speak it — will soon become just another facet of a polyglot neighborhood. “In 10 years,” Mr. Wong said, “it will be totally different.”
With Mandarin’s ascent has come a realignment of power in Chinese-American communities, where the recent immigrants are gaining economic and political clout, said Peter Kwong, a professor of Asian-American studies at Hunter College.
“The fact of the matter is that you have a whole generation switch, with very few people speaking only Cantonese,” he said. The Cantonese-speaking populace, he added, “is not the player anymore.”
The switch mirrors a sea change under way in China, where Mandarin, as the official language, is becoming the default tongue everywhere.
In North America, its rise also reflects a major shift in immigration. For much of the last century, most Chinese living in the United States and Canada traced their ancestry to a region in the Pearl River Delta that included the district of Taishan. They spoke the Taishanese dialect, which is derived from and somewhat similar to Cantonese.
Immigration reform in 1965 opened the door to a huge influx of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong, and Cantonese became the dominant tongue. But since the 1990s, the vast majority of new Chinese immigrants have come from mainland China, especially Fujian Province, and tend to speak Mandarin along with their regional dialects.
In New York, many Mandarin speakers have flocked to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens, which now rivals Chinatown as a center of Chinese-American business and political might, as well as culture and cuisine. In Chinatown, most of the newer immigrants have settled outside the historic core west of the Bowery, clustering instead around East Broadway.
“I can’t even order food on East Broadway,” said Jan Lee, 44, a furniture designer who has lived all his life in Chinatown and speaks Cantonese. “They don’t speak English; I don’t speak Mandarin. I’m just as lost as everyone else.”
Now Mandarin is pushing into Chinatown’s heart.
For most of the 100 years that the New York Chinese School, on Mott Street, has offered language classes, nearly all have taught Cantonese. Last year, the numbers of Cantonese and Mandarin classes were roughly equal. And this year, Mandarin classes outnumber Cantonese three to one, even though most students are from homes where Cantonese is spoken, said the principal, Kin S. Wong.
Some Cantonese-speaking parents are deciding it is more important to point their children toward the future than the past — their family’s native dialect — even if that leaves them unable to communicate well with relatives in China.
“I figure if they have to acquire a language, I wanted them to have Mandarin because it makes it easier when they go into the workplace,” said Jennifer Ng, whose 5-year-old daughter studies Mandarin at the language school of the Church of the Transfiguration, a Roman Catholic parish on Mott Street where nearly half the classes are devoted to Mandarin. Her 8-year-old son takes Cantonese, but only because there is no English-speaking Mandarin teacher for his age group.
“Can I tell you the truth?” she said. “They hate it! But it’s important for the future.” Until recently, Sunday Masses at Transfiguration were said in Cantonese. The church now offers two in Mandarin and only one in Cantonese. And as the arrivals from mainland China become old-timers, “we are beginning to have Mandarin funerals,” said the Rev. Raymond Nobiletti, the Cantonese-speaking pastor.
Kindergarten students at the New York Chinese School, where Mandarin classes now outnumber Cantonese three to one.
At the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which has been the unofficial government of Chinatown for generations and conducts its business in Cantonese, the president, Justin Yu, said he is the first whose mother tongue is Mandarin to lead the 126-year-old organization. Though he has been taking Cantonese lessons in order to keep up at association meetings, his pronunciation is sometimes a source of hilarity for his colleagues, he said.
“No matter what,” he added, laughing, “you have to admire my courage.”
But even his association is being surpassed in influence by Fujianese organizations, said Professor Kwong of Hunter College.
Longtime residents seem less threatened than wistful. Though he is known around Chinatown for what he calls his “legendarily bad” Cantonese, Paul Lee, 59, said it pained him that the dialect was disappearing from the place where his family has lived for more than a century.
“It may be a dying language,” he acknowledged. “I just hate to say that.”
But he pointed out that the changes were a natural part of an evolving immigrant neighborhood: Just as Cantonese sidelined Taishanese, so, too, is Mandarin replacing Cantonese.
Mr. Wong, the principal of the New York Chinese School, said he had tried to adjust to the subtle shifts during his 40 years in Chinatown. When he arrived in 1969, he walked into a coffee shop and placed his order in Cantonese. Other patrons looked at him oddly.
“They said, ‘Where you from?’ “ he recalled. “ ‘Why you speak Cantonese?’ ” They were from Taishan, he said, so he switched to Taishanese and everyone was happy.
“And now I speak Mandarin better than Cantonese,” he added with a chuckle. “So, Chinatown — it’s always changing.”
Paul Lee, a longtime resident of Chinatown, near his home on Mott Street. He said that Cantonese “may be a dying language.”
Cantonese, a dialect from southern China that has dominated the Chinatowns of North America for decades, is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin, the national language of China and the lingua franca of most of the latest Chinese immigrants.
The change can be heard in the neighborhood’s lively restaurants and solemn church services, in parks, street markets and language schools. It has been accelerated by Chinese-American parents, including many who speak Cantonese at home, as they press their children to learn Mandarin for the advantages it could bring as China’s influence grows in the world.
But the eclipse of Cantonese — in New York, China and around the world — has become a challenge for older people who speak only that dialect and face increasing isolation unless they learn Mandarin or English. Though Cantonese and Mandarin share nearly all the same written characters, the pronunciations are vastly different; when spoken, Mandarin may be incomprehensible to a Cantonese speaker, and vice versa.
Mr. Wong, a retired sign maker who speaks English, can still get by with his Cantonese, which remains the preferred language in his circle of friends and in Chinatown’s historic core. A bit defiantly, he said that if he enters a shop and finds the staff does not speak his dialect, “I go to another store.”
Like many others, however, he is resigned to the likelihood that Cantonese — and the people who speak it — will soon become just another facet of a polyglot neighborhood. “In 10 years,” Mr. Wong said, “it will be totally different.”
With Mandarin’s ascent has come a realignment of power in Chinese-American communities, where the recent immigrants are gaining economic and political clout, said Peter Kwong, a professor of Asian-American studies at Hunter College.
“The fact of the matter is that you have a whole generation switch, with very few people speaking only Cantonese,” he said. The Cantonese-speaking populace, he added, “is not the player anymore.”
The switch mirrors a sea change under way in China, where Mandarin, as the official language, is becoming the default tongue everywhere.
In North America, its rise also reflects a major shift in immigration. For much of the last century, most Chinese living in the United States and Canada traced their ancestry to a region in the Pearl River Delta that included the district of Taishan. They spoke the Taishanese dialect, which is derived from and somewhat similar to Cantonese.
Immigration reform in 1965 opened the door to a huge influx of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong, and Cantonese became the dominant tongue. But since the 1990s, the vast majority of new Chinese immigrants have come from mainland China, especially Fujian Province, and tend to speak Mandarin along with their regional dialects.
In New York, many Mandarin speakers have flocked to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens, which now rivals Chinatown as a center of Chinese-American business and political might, as well as culture and cuisine. In Chinatown, most of the newer immigrants have settled outside the historic core west of the Bowery, clustering instead around East Broadway.
“I can’t even order food on East Broadway,” said Jan Lee, 44, a furniture designer who has lived all his life in Chinatown and speaks Cantonese. “They don’t speak English; I don’t speak Mandarin. I’m just as lost as everyone else.”
Now Mandarin is pushing into Chinatown’s heart.
For most of the 100 years that the New York Chinese School, on Mott Street, has offered language classes, nearly all have taught Cantonese. Last year, the numbers of Cantonese and Mandarin classes were roughly equal. And this year, Mandarin classes outnumber Cantonese three to one, even though most students are from homes where Cantonese is spoken, said the principal, Kin S. Wong.
Some Cantonese-speaking parents are deciding it is more important to point their children toward the future than the past — their family’s native dialect — even if that leaves them unable to communicate well with relatives in China.
“I figure if they have to acquire a language, I wanted them to have Mandarin because it makes it easier when they go into the workplace,” said Jennifer Ng, whose 5-year-old daughter studies Mandarin at the language school of the Church of the Transfiguration, a Roman Catholic parish on Mott Street where nearly half the classes are devoted to Mandarin. Her 8-year-old son takes Cantonese, but only because there is no English-speaking Mandarin teacher for his age group.
“Can I tell you the truth?” she said. “They hate it! But it’s important for the future.” Until recently, Sunday Masses at Transfiguration were said in Cantonese. The church now offers two in Mandarin and only one in Cantonese. And as the arrivals from mainland China become old-timers, “we are beginning to have Mandarin funerals,” said the Rev. Raymond Nobiletti, the Cantonese-speaking pastor.
Kindergarten students at the New York Chinese School, where Mandarin classes now outnumber Cantonese three to one.
At the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which has been the unofficial government of Chinatown for generations and conducts its business in Cantonese, the president, Justin Yu, said he is the first whose mother tongue is Mandarin to lead the 126-year-old organization. Though he has been taking Cantonese lessons in order to keep up at association meetings, his pronunciation is sometimes a source of hilarity for his colleagues, he said.
“No matter what,” he added, laughing, “you have to admire my courage.”
But even his association is being surpassed in influence by Fujianese organizations, said Professor Kwong of Hunter College.
Longtime residents seem less threatened than wistful. Though he is known around Chinatown for what he calls his “legendarily bad” Cantonese, Paul Lee, 59, said it pained him that the dialect was disappearing from the place where his family has lived for more than a century.
“It may be a dying language,” he acknowledged. “I just hate to say that.”
But he pointed out that the changes were a natural part of an evolving immigrant neighborhood: Just as Cantonese sidelined Taishanese, so, too, is Mandarin replacing Cantonese.
Mr. Wong, the principal of the New York Chinese School, said he had tried to adjust to the subtle shifts during his 40 years in Chinatown. When he arrived in 1969, he walked into a coffee shop and placed his order in Cantonese. Other patrons looked at him oddly.
“They said, ‘Where you from?’ “ he recalled. “ ‘Why you speak Cantonese?’ ” They were from Taishan, he said, so he switched to Taishanese and everyone was happy.
“And now I speak Mandarin better than Cantonese,” he added with a chuckle. “So, Chinatown — it’s always changing.”
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Master brews clean green Waikato tea
4:00AM Monday Oct 05, 2009
By Andrea Fox
Ming-Hsun Yu has the same expertise for his product as a wine master has for his.
Unsmiling, intense, Master Yu swirls steaming water to pre-heat the delicate white green tea pot and miniature china beakers with the absorbed concentration a master of wine, would swirl shiraz to judge its colour.
Respectfully addressed as "Master" by the staff at Waikato's oolong green tea farm company Zealong, where he has come from Taiwan to further school in tasting and presentation, Ming-Hsun Yu is dressed in green theatre scrubs and presides over an ornate Chinese heavy stone tea platform that would be at home in an art gallery or museum.
The scrubs are because Master Yu has come to this traditionally designed teahouse at Zealong's plantation at Rototuna, north of Hamilton, from the nearby sterile environment of the tea processing plant.
The comparison with a master of wine is valid, says Kiwi Mark Levick, co-founder of leading New Zealand organic certification agency BioGro who is supervising the full conversion of this plantation to organic status.
Master Yu is Zealong's tea processing manager and for 18 years has been involved in producing the world's finest oolong teas for Chinese markets. Grown in Taiwan, south China, Vietnam and now on 50ha in the heart of the Waikato, premium oolong tea can sell for up to $11,000 per kg.
Master Yu is here to train staff as Zealong, founded in Hamilton 13 years ago by the Taiwanese immigrant family Chen, counts down to the November world launch of its premium tea, with its branding connotations of purity as a clean, green, New Zealand-grown safe food.
Estimated revenue from the first 2009 export crop to high-end Chinese markets is $16 million, with annual harvest revenue expected to be around $56 million in five years when plants at a second plantation at nearby Gordonton mature.
The Chen family have invested more than $10 million in the venture. They were inspired when new immigrant Tzu Chen, who was developing a housing subdivision in Rototuna in the 90s, saw how camellia trees flourished in the Waikato's rich pasturelands. Tea comes from a species of camellia.
In 1996 Tzu Chen and son Vincent propagated 130 premium quality seedlings from Taiwan, and purchased 3ha nearby as a nursery.
Zealong deputy general manager Gigi Crawford said the venture had created employment for 100 New Zealand contractors and consultants, and 32 tea pickers and plantation workers. The company paid $800,000 in wages last year, 85 per cent of which went into the Waikato economy, she said.
By 2014 the picturesque plantations, which will have three 20-day harvests a year, will need 130 workers.
Zealong plans to invest another $18 million in a tourist attraction at the Gordonton plantation next year.
It will include a tea-house for visitors, cafe, conference centre, tea processing factory and eventually, a hotel, set around a lake and gardens.
This project is awaiting local authority approvals. But for Zealong the most challenging aspect of the venture has been getting skilled workers for the highly labour-intensive picking and processing stages, Crawford said.
"We need the specialised skills of overseas, experienced tea pickers and workers to transfer the technical know-how to our local workers, particularly in the first five years. "It is also important the Asian markets know New Zealand-grown Zealong tea is made the traditional way."
The brand was due to be launched in June, but Zealong has only in recent days, supported by politicians and business agencies, won approval from immigration officials for 15 specialist Taiwanese pickers to enter the country for the November harvest. Next year, the company must apply again.
Crawford said using machinery to pick tea leaves would turn the first $1000/kg Zealong crops into a $10/kg product. "To maintain the quality of this tea and to respect the unique environment it is grown in we cannot do this. We talk to the plants all the time - to use a machine on them is just not right."
* Tea tips
Oolong tea consumption in Taiwan in 2008 - 1200g per person. China 600g per person.
Chinese market expected to double within 10 years.
Fine oolong plays important role in Chinese health, business and social structures.
80 per cent of Zealong to be exported - balance domestic through specialist tea shops.
Zealong tea farming produces no effluent, uses no chemical sprays.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10601288&pnum=0
By Andrea Fox
Ming-Hsun Yu has the same expertise for his product as a wine master has for his.
Unsmiling, intense, Master Yu swirls steaming water to pre-heat the delicate white green tea pot and miniature china beakers with the absorbed concentration a master of wine, would swirl shiraz to judge its colour.
Respectfully addressed as "Master" by the staff at Waikato's oolong green tea farm company Zealong, where he has come from Taiwan to further school in tasting and presentation, Ming-Hsun Yu is dressed in green theatre scrubs and presides over an ornate Chinese heavy stone tea platform that would be at home in an art gallery or museum.
The scrubs are because Master Yu has come to this traditionally designed teahouse at Zealong's plantation at Rototuna, north of Hamilton, from the nearby sterile environment of the tea processing plant.
The comparison with a master of wine is valid, says Kiwi Mark Levick, co-founder of leading New Zealand organic certification agency BioGro who is supervising the full conversion of this plantation to organic status.
Master Yu is Zealong's tea processing manager and for 18 years has been involved in producing the world's finest oolong teas for Chinese markets. Grown in Taiwan, south China, Vietnam and now on 50ha in the heart of the Waikato, premium oolong tea can sell for up to $11,000 per kg.
Master Yu is here to train staff as Zealong, founded in Hamilton 13 years ago by the Taiwanese immigrant family Chen, counts down to the November world launch of its premium tea, with its branding connotations of purity as a clean, green, New Zealand-grown safe food.
Estimated revenue from the first 2009 export crop to high-end Chinese markets is $16 million, with annual harvest revenue expected to be around $56 million in five years when plants at a second plantation at nearby Gordonton mature.
The Chen family have invested more than $10 million in the venture. They were inspired when new immigrant Tzu Chen, who was developing a housing subdivision in Rototuna in the 90s, saw how camellia trees flourished in the Waikato's rich pasturelands. Tea comes from a species of camellia.
In 1996 Tzu Chen and son Vincent propagated 130 premium quality seedlings from Taiwan, and purchased 3ha nearby as a nursery.
Zealong deputy general manager Gigi Crawford said the venture had created employment for 100 New Zealand contractors and consultants, and 32 tea pickers and plantation workers. The company paid $800,000 in wages last year, 85 per cent of which went into the Waikato economy, she said.
By 2014 the picturesque plantations, which will have three 20-day harvests a year, will need 130 workers.
Zealong plans to invest another $18 million in a tourist attraction at the Gordonton plantation next year.
It will include a tea-house for visitors, cafe, conference centre, tea processing factory and eventually, a hotel, set around a lake and gardens.
This project is awaiting local authority approvals. But for Zealong the most challenging aspect of the venture has been getting skilled workers for the highly labour-intensive picking and processing stages, Crawford said.
"We need the specialised skills of overseas, experienced tea pickers and workers to transfer the technical know-how to our local workers, particularly in the first five years. "It is also important the Asian markets know New Zealand-grown Zealong tea is made the traditional way."
The brand was due to be launched in June, but Zealong has only in recent days, supported by politicians and business agencies, won approval from immigration officials for 15 specialist Taiwanese pickers to enter the country for the November harvest. Next year, the company must apply again.
Crawford said using machinery to pick tea leaves would turn the first $1000/kg Zealong crops into a $10/kg product. "To maintain the quality of this tea and to respect the unique environment it is grown in we cannot do this. We talk to the plants all the time - to use a machine on them is just not right."
* Tea tips
Oolong tea consumption in Taiwan in 2008 - 1200g per person. China 600g per person.
Chinese market expected to double within 10 years.
Fine oolong plays important role in Chinese health, business and social structures.
80 per cent of Zealong to be exported - balance domestic through specialist tea shops.
Zealong tea farming produces no effluent, uses no chemical sprays.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10601288&pnum=0
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Beginner's guide to Chinese resources
Central City Library
Wednesday 30 September, noon – 1pm
This workshop will get you started if you’re keen to search for your Chinese roots. It’ll help you identify information and resources available in New Zealand such as databases, websites and recommended reading. We’ll also cover several case studies of Chinese families in New Zealand. Bookings essential – call on 307 7771 or use our online booking form.
Wednesday 30 September, noon – 1pm
This workshop will get you started if you’re keen to search for your Chinese roots. It’ll help you identify information and resources available in New Zealand such as databases, websites and recommended reading. We’ll also cover several case studies of Chinese families in New Zealand. Bookings essential – call on 307 7771 or use our online booking form.
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 100 Years Ago
In conversation with a Wellington pressman, Mr Yung Liang-Wang, Consul-general for New Zealand, said that the Chinese do not live so cheaply as is generally supposed.
They spent more money on food and drink than other men of their class in this country.
It was their custom to go out on Sundays nicely dressed, and to meet together at a social feast, where they would have eight or 10 courses, with Chinese wines, which paid a high import duty, and were rather expensive.
They spent more money on food and drink than other men of their class in this country.
It was their custom to go out on Sundays nicely dressed, and to meet together at a social feast, where they would have eight or 10 courses, with Chinese wines, which paid a high import duty, and were rather expensive.
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