Home-build lure for Asian migrants

Home-build lure for Asian migrants By Lincoln Tan 5:30 AM Friday May 24, 2013 Immigration campaign gives wealthy investors chance to qualify for residency by building more houses Asian business migrants looking at moving to New Zealand are being urged to invest in real estate to secure their residency. Migration seminars are being conducted in nations such as Singapore and Malaysia aimed at people willing to put upwards of $1.5 million into new residential property developments. One seminar, held in Sabah, Malaysia, last weekend was advertised as "Invest in New Zealand: investing in real estate to secure permanent residence." Residential property is considered an acceptable investment if the purpose is to make a commercial return on the open market. Immigration visa services general manager Nicola Hogg said investors needed to show they met the criteria, including health, character and English language requirements. "The residential property must be in the form of new developments ...[and] must have been approved and gained any required consents by any relevant regulatory authorities," Ms Hogg said. The principal investor must be no older than 65 and have at least three years' business experience. "The investment made must not be for the personal use of the applicant and this includes investing in assets such as a personal residence," Ms Hogg said. A spokesman for Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said the scheme would lead to more new houses being built. "We are conscious of the housing market concerns, and that's why to be eligible, investors need to be building new housing," he said. "They are also excluded from living in these new dwellings." He said the investor policy had been extremely successful in providing economic stimulus and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in overseas capital to New Zealand. Michael Yong, a Malaysian-based licensed New Zealand immigration adviser, who spoke at last weekend's seminar, said more than 10 participants expressed interest in migrating and investing. The seminar was part of a New Zealand property exhibition promoting the Kingfisher lakefront development in Taupo. Posters promoted the development as prime waterfront land with "bungalow plots" ranging from 650sq m to 2322sq m. "No stamp duty, no capital gains tax, completed development titles available today," it said. Lois Lim, who attended a migration seminar in Singapore in January, said it had also promoted property investment as a pathway to New Zealand residency. She believed this was because Asians were generally more comfortable investing in property than in businesses, especially in markets that were foreign to them. "With real estate investment, you own something tangible and the risk is lower," said Ms Lim, a Singaporean trader. "Of course it is really attractive if you can make money and also gain permanent residency." New Zealand Property Investors Federation vice-president Terry le Grove, said this would drive up demand for land, and "there's already enough demand". The rules To come to NZ as an "investor" an applicant must: • Be 65 or younger. • Have a minimum three years' experience in business. • Invest $1.5 million in New Zealand for four years. • Meet health, language and character criteria. Source: Immigration New Zealand

Migrants' parents left alone in NZ

Migrants' parents left alone in NZ By Lincoln Tan 5:30 AM Friday May 31, 2013 Sponsors of thousands of elderly here under family reunification scheme leave country without them Chinese senior citizens stay in touch with each other by playing Chinese chess at the Northcote Town Centre. Thousands of elderly migrant parents, sponsored by their children under a family reunification scheme, are being left to fend for themselves in New Zealand. Nearly 3,000 people who brought their parents into New Zealand under the parent category are no longer in the country, figures released to the Herald under the Official Information Act revealed. About a third of these sponsors are from China (31 per cent), followed by migrants who had obtained citizenship (20.3 per cent) and India (13.7 per cent). Other significant groups include South Africans (4.9 per cent) and the British (4.4 per cent). There are 22,832 sponsors who are still in the country, but it is not known how many sponsored parents are being left in New Zealand by absent sponsors. As each sponsor could sponsor both parents, the number could potentially be upwards of 5,000. China has been the largest source country for migrants approved through the parent category, and last year made up 47 per cent. Four in 10 Chinese who gained permanent residence over the 2011-12 period were aged 50 or over. China's one-child policy and Immigration's "centre of gravity" rule, where parents could be sponsored if the number of adult children living in New Zealand was equal to or exceeded those in any single country, made it possible for nearly all Chinese living here to become parent sponsors. The category was relaunched as a two-tier scheme last July, where applications of those with wealthier sponsors would be processed faster. Massey University sociologist Paul Spoonley said it was not uncommon for migrants to seek the best options and "make the most" of what a country offered. "The Brits would consider things like the ease of transfer of their UK pension, and for the Chinese, availability of care for the elderly is important," Professor Spoonley said. "Clearly that's not the intention of the parent immigration policy and a tweak may be necessary." Professor Spoonley said that sponsors who intended to leave the country long term without their parents should be made to apply for an exemption. Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said he did not believe it was a widespread trend for sponsors to leave their parents behind. "In the minority of cases where a parent decides to stay behind, there could be very good reasons," Mr Woodhouse said. "They may have other children and family in New Zealand, their sponsor may only be away temporarily and planning to return [or] the parent could even have found a New Zealand partner." Mr Woodhouse said the policy goal for the parent category was to entice more skilled migrants and entrepreneurs "by providing a pathway for family reunification". "The net inflow of migrants is estimated to be worth around $1.9 billion per year." Migrants are eligible for NZ super after 10 years of residence. Last year, the parent category made up 11 per cent of all permanent residence approvals with 4601 visas granted. Free health care best option for some Elderly migrant parents left behind in New Zealand by their children say they miss being with their families, but are otherwise happy. Two Chinese fathers spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity. One, who turns 77 next month, said his 50-year-old son returned to China in 2011 to take over a family business and suggested his father stay behind. He has lived in Auckland since 2009, and often visits Northcote Town Centre where he meets friends for tea or Chinese chess. "My son is too busy in China and will not have time for me, so he said I should stay here because I have friends and we can take care of each other," he said in Mandarin. "There is no free health care and no government support for old people in China, and I think I am happier here and have fewer worries." The man said his son was also worried about new legislation in China, to take effect from July 1, which would punish those who fail to support their elderly parents. Another, aged 74, said he has been living with friends after his daughter, 48, moved to Melbourne last year. "I miss being with her and my grandchildren, but I see it as having a new family now," he said. He suffers from diabetes and arthritis, and his daughter felt he would be better off in Auckland, as he would not have free health care in Australia. Missing parent sponsors • 2968* parent sponsors have left the country • 921 from China • 601 migrants with NZ citizenship • 406 India • 145 South Africa • 131 United Kingdom * people who sponsored their parents under Parent Category since 1999 Source: Immigration New Zealand

China honour for Wanganui High School

China honour for Wanganui High School By Lin Ferguson of the Wanganui Chronicle 12:00 PM Wednesday May 22, 2013 Meng Hu sees the world upside down. Photo / Stuart Munro Wanganui High School has been approved by the international Confucius Institute in Beijing to set up a Confucius Classroom - one of only four in New Zealand secondary schools and only 400 worldwide. Guests at a powhiri yesterday in the school hall included the ambassador from the People's Republic of China, Xu Jianguo, Director of the Confucius Institute Victoria University, Dr Luo Hui, Whanganui MP Chester Borrows and Mayor Annette Main. Confucius Institutes are non-profit public institutions aligned with China that aim to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and organise student cultural exchanges. The institutes operate within established universities, colleges and secondary schools, providing funding, teachers and educational materials in a partnership with local schools or school districts. The new classroom opened after performances from High School's Maori culture group and the Chinese students, who performed a lion dance. But the spectacular performance of the day came from a 28-strong Shaolin Martial Arts Troupe in New Zealand on a Confucius Institute performance tour. Article continues below These Chinese performers thrilled the audience with spectacular acrobatics using swords and intricate martial arts movements. High School principal Garry Olver welcomed the guests, some of whom had travelled from China to be at the opening. He described it as an "illustrious" occasion. - WANGANUI CHRONICLE http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10885340

NZ officialdom finally lets me be who I actually am

Lincoln Tan: NZ officialdom finally lets me be who I actually am 31 co By Lincoln Tan 7:34 AM Tuesday May 14, 2013 Pin on Pinterest 0 My new identity came to haunt me last week. Photo / Richard Robinson Expand My new identity came to haunt me last week. Photo / Richard Robinson After 15 years in New Zealand, I was asked to change my identity to renew my driver's licence. I was born Tan Kim Huat, Lincoln and both my Singapore birth certificate and passport identify me as such. Applying for my New Zealand driver's licence in 1999, I was told by the licensing agent that I was "not entitled" to use Lincoln as my first name. The licensing agent said then that under the rules, if a foreign identification did not state which was the surname then that last name would be considered the family name. After a lengthy exchange, she agreed to let me keep Tan as my surname - but I had to use Kim as my first name. So, for the past 15 years I have become Kim Tan on my driver's licence, with Huat Lincoln as my middle names. My new identity came to haunt me last week, when the New Zealand Transport Agency said I could not renew my licence as I did not have any mail addressing me as Kim Tan or KHL Tan (in that order) as evidence of address. A bank statement and a bill that had my name as LKH Tan and Lincoln Tan were rejected. The agency said in order for it to recognise Lincoln as my first name, I would have to change my name by deed poll with the Department of Internal Affairs. However, changing my legal name in New Zealand to Lincoln Kim Huat Tan would pose a new problem. A name in a different order to my internationally accepted identity in my Singapore passport would also put me in a position where I cannot renew my licence. Following intervention by the Herald and the Human Rights Commission, the agency relaxed its advice last Friday. It said I can now keep Kim Huat as a single name on my licence, and I can use a variety of name formats - as evidence of address. The agency confirmed yesterday this flexibility will from now on be applied to all applicants. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883469

Drivers' licences adapt to Chinese

Drivers' licences adapt to Chinese By Martin Johnston , Simon Collins 5:30 AM Tuesday May 14, 2013 Mr Loo had to change his name by deed poll to get a passport in the name he has lways used. Photo / Richard Robinson The way names are written on drivers' licences will be allowed to conform with common Chinese practice, following a complaint from a permanent New Zealand resident. Lincoln Tan, a Herald reporter, is one of many Chinese New Zealanders who has struggled with the conflict between his ethnic heritage and the bureaucratic demands of a mainly English-language country. Tan, whose Singapore passport names him as Tan Kim Huat Lincoln, had to split "Kim Huat", a double-barrelled name, and have Kim as his "first" name on his 1999 licence. With its renewal, due this month, he faced not being able to drive because of a mismatch between the order of names on his licence and on the Sky TV bill he used to prove his address. He was advised that if he wanted to renew his licence with Lincoln as his first name, he would have to change his name by deed poll to match the Sky bill. He appealed to the NZ Transport Agency. At first, it said its hands were tied by legislation, but has now relaxed its interpretation. Tony Marlow, the technical support manager for driver licensing, said the agency "will accept evidence of address where the name ... differs slightly from the name on the evidence of identity". Mail was now acceptable with "a variety of name formats, for example L. Tan, Lincoln Tan, K.H. Tan, Kim Huat Tan, K.H.L. Tan, Kim Huat Lincoln Tan". The agency would also allow Tan to keep "Kim Huat" together as his first given name on the driver's licence, reversing advice he was given in 1999 that he could use only "Kim" as his first name on the first line allocated for given names. In Chinese language, "Kim Huat" is one name but is split into two words in English because it comprises two characters in Chinese script. Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy said of the agency's change, "That's a great outcome. It's good to see common sense prevail." Transport Agency spokesman Andrew Knackstedt said, when asked if the same logic would be applied to others in Tan's situation, "The short answer is yes, the same approach will be applied to all applicants with respect to the appearance of names on evidence-o-address documents." Others who have had trouble with their Chinese names in English-language settings include Auckland Chinese Community Centre chairman Arthur Loo. Mr Loo had to change his name by deed poll to get a passport in the name he has always used. His names were scrambled on his initial birth certificate, listing part of his father's given name as the surname, and the document carried an endorsement, "also known as Arthur Loo". When he went to renew his passport to accompany Prime Minister John Key on a trade mission to China last month, he was told the policy had changed and only one name was now allowed. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883465

Chinese cheats rort NZ universities with fakes

Chinese cheats rort NZ universities with fakes MARTIN VAN BEYNEN, FRANCESCA LEE AND ADAM DUDDING Last updated 05:00 12/05/2013 ESSAYS TO ORDER: Pengju Chen initially denied being in charge. The whistleblower's letter The essay Education Tech divide in schools feared $63m boost for kids' behaviour project Education programmes to take cut Novopay getting 'remarkably' better Novopay system will stay - Joyce Schoolteacher's return off to a sound start Desks redundant in modern classrooms Last-ditch bid to alter charter school rules School costs keep pressure on all year round Victoria University winning over SI students An investigation has uncovered a well-organised commercial cheating service for Chinese-speaking students in New Zealand. » Read the essay Fairfax bought » Read the whistleblower's letter The long-standing business uses a network of tutors, some outside New Zealand, to write original assignments ordered by Chinese-speaking students attending New Zealand universities, polytechnics and private institutions. The tutors are paid by assignment and have specialist subjects. The assignments seen by the Star-Times go up to masters level but the service claims to have tutors up to doctorate level. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce last night said the police and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) were launching an inquiry into the service following the Star-Times investigation. Joyce said the NZQA was anonymously tipped off three months ago and took action to inform universities and polytechs, but failed to tell him. He said it was now an "open question" whether NZQA's response had been adequate, and chief executive Karen Poutasi was conducting an internal investigation. The revelation of the cheating service has serious repercussions for the New Zealand international education sector, which earns about $750 million a year from about 93,000 students. China is New Zealand's biggest education market, last year accounting for 27 per cent of this country's international students. The Star-Times, using the name of a fictitious Chinese student, successfully ordered an essay for a first-year university course subject from the company, which markets itself under a Chinese-language website called Assignment4U and is run from a unit at 88 Cook St, Central Auckland. The signage in the office says Ateama Ltd in large, bold letters. The company also offers tutoring, counselling, help and academic "solutions" for overseas students. A ghost writer, who wrote assignments for Assignment4U in 2007, told the Star-Times about completing assignments for students who were enrolled at Auckland University, Massey University, Auckland University of Technology and AIS St Helens (a private tertiary education provider). He said he was coming forward now because he wanted to do "the right thing". Ad Feedback Pengju Chen, who is listed as a director of Ateama in Company Office records, initially denied being in charge of the operation when approached in the Assignment4U office on Friday. He then agreed he was the director of the company and said the business did not help Chinese-speaking students to cheat. The company provided only face-to-face tutoring and counselling. It supplied students with "examples" or "solutions" on academic assignment questions but made it clear the student could "not hand it in" because the company retained copyright. The examples helped with ideas and structure, he said. No such warning was provided to the fictitious student used by the Star-Times and the company provided its "solution" just three hours before the indicated deadline. About 24,500 students from China were enrolled in New Zealand institutions last year; about 10,500 at universities or polytechnics. Although it's impossible to say how many students have paid Assignment4U for academic assignments, the service has been available for at least five years and hundreds, if not thousands, of students may have used it. A large network of ghost writers both in New Zealand and overseas has also assisted in what could be one of the largest examples of cheating to hit the New Zealand international education system. Most education institutions have introduced systems to detect plagiarism but it is still very difficult to check if an assignment is the student's work. The ghost writer, who asked not to be named and now works overseas, believes universities and polytechnics must have turned a blind eye to the cheating. He said staff should have been alerted when students with poor English produced competent and grammatically correct essays. "It would take a colossal amount of looking the other way by the complete legion of tutors, lecturers, course facilitators and teaching assistants to let pass such well-constructed essays and such exquisitely prepared assessments submitted by those whose written and spoken English skills are far from polished." Safeguards such as plagiarism buster turnitin.com did not detect a well-prepared, well-researched, ghost-written, electronic-based assignment, he said. "New Zealand, of all the Western nations, is now widely known in the Chinese community as the easiest way to get a bachelor's or master's degree," he said. In February he sent a letter with his concerns and evidence to a number of New Zealand universities including Auckland University, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Unitec, Massey University and the police but had heard nothing back. Last night, both Massey and Auckland universities said they were not aware of having received tip-offs. However, Joyce said NZQA had received some "information" anonymously three months ago, but had not informed him about it till last week. Joyce said NZQA had informed the umbrella group Universities New Zealand at the time, and the chair of a polytechnic advisory group, but "it is an open question as to whether they followed it up hard enough". The 1500-word essay commissioned by the Star-Times was for a first-year communications paper at Canterbury University and cost $270. It was delivered by email only hours before it was due. Just days before the deadline, Assignment4U asked for lecture notes and the student's login number at Canterbury University so it could check lecture notes. The fictitious student requested an essay of B or B- grade and when we had it marked by Canterbury University media and communications lecturer Donald Matheson, he gave it a B+. "This is a workmanlike essay which shows that the writer understands news values and can apply the ideas to an example," Matheson said. "Because of the mastery of essay-writing and the effort that's gone into using the academic readings, this would probably get a B+, which is a bit sobering. I'd not have picked this as cheating, other than a sense it was a bit weird that the student was so good at writing but didn't use those skills to really say anything." Chen appears to have been involved with the business since at least 2007 when a standard agreement for so-called tutors mentions his name as the office manager of Assignment4U. From 2003 to 2008, Assignment4U Consultant Ltd was a registered company directed and owned by Steven Quan Li, who works from the same apartment block as Chen. Chen and Li own, either personally or through companies, five apartments in the building. The shares in Ateama are owned by Xiaohu Ren who, according to company records, also lives at 88 Cook St. Joyce said the Government had amended the Education Act in 2011 to make it an offence to advertise or provide cheating services. The amendment hasn't yet led to a prosecution, but Joyce said police and NZQA would now "work together to ascertain the veracity of the issues and then work together with the appropriate agencies for a prosecution if that was required". Joyce said New Zealand took its reputation as a provider of tertiary training for international students "very seriously". THE REACTION Massey University Spokesman James Gardiner said he wasn't aware of any recent correspondence alerting the institution to Assignment4U's activities, but "we take this sort of thing very seriously and would like to hear from this person again". He said the university had rigorous procedures in place to identify cheats, and uncover some every year, including exam cheats and plagiarists. He said that assignments were just one of a range of assessment processes, including exams. "It's not possible to get a qualification from Massey simply by handing in other people's assignments. There are multiple outputs expected from students, including exams." Gardiner rejected the idea that the university might feel under pressure to enrol international students even if their language skills were not up to completing a degree taught in English. He said it was not in the university's interest to allow students to start a degree they couldn't complete, and "if anything, there is more rigour applied to international students". A spokesperson for Auckland University said yesterday was the first time the university had heard of the alleged cheating, and it would need to know more details so "we can look into it". - © Fairfax NZ News http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8662224/Chinese-cheats-rort-NZ-universities-with-fakes

Chans serving happiness on plate

Tony Chan is already waiting outside Mercury Plaza at 9.30 when the building's owner opens up for the day. In camo trousers and black T-shirt he's the first of the business owners to show up. When I leave an hour later, as roasting ducks spit in his oven and chickens bob gently in the simmering dixie, the rest of the place is still dark and echoing. The plaza, affectionately known as "Mercs" by its regulars, is a food court and Asian supermarket at the bottom of Mercury Lane off Karangahape Rd. I noticed Tony about three years ago when I showed up for the second time and he remembered what I had had the first time: "Wonton-soup-no-noodle," he hollered from the kitchen. How could I not nod and reach for my wallet? "It makes people feel good when I remember," he tells me (I have not tried to reproduce the staccato style and free-form grammar of his rapid-fire English). "I have about 60 to 100 customers a day and 85 per cent of them know what they want when they get here. They don't come here and choose. They decide what they want and they come here to get it." Tony (real name: Chan Chi Sing) and his wife Chan Fung Ming (everyone calls her Ming) came here from Hong Kong in 1990 and set up in Mercs when it opened in 1994, trading under the sign "Chinese Cuisine". He is proud to say that he is the only original. He's 58, he tells me, and when I say I'm too polite to ask how old Ming is, he smiles boyishly, leans forward and whispers conspiratorially "she older than me: same year, same month, different day." Together, they've raised six daughters. "There are seven women in my house," he smiles. Ming adds that Tony came from a family of six boys: "They could have saved one for me." But Tony says he's not disappointed not to have had a son. "In the old days, maybe yes, now no. I think girls are better than boys, because they look after you. The boys only worry about themselves and want to play." There's nothing flash about the Chans' place: the drabness of the impeccably clean kitchen is enlivened only by a tiny felt banner bearing Chinese characters that wish the business prosperity and the statue of a famous Chinese warrior who will protect its owners. The menu isn't broad: duck, chicken, pork (barbecue and roast), beef hotpot - and my wontons, of course. (You can't give fish the proper Hong Kong treatment in a food-hall setting, Tony says). But he and his busy young assistant, Fei, start early because there's plenty of preparation to be done. Wontons are handmade, brisket is softened, pork belly marinated in sugar, salt and five-spice. In a free-standing cylindrical gas oven, roasting ducks hang from hooks around which the necks snake so the eyes stare from the bald heads in puzzled affront. From late morning until 8.30pm or so, Tony cooks for a steady stream of customers, from celebrities to street people. Rugby stars - there are photos on the wall - are regulars after training. And people come back, he says, because he looks happy. Ming's happy, too, although she hides it behind a theatrical bark and extravagant facial expressions of disapproval which will suddenly crease into a sparkling smile. Pay for a $10 meal with a $20 note and she'll say "Ah, $10 tip. Bye bye". You have to stand your ground. "If people are happy, I'm happy," Tony explains. "If you talk a little bit friendly to people they come back. If you look sad, people don't come to see you." It sounds like a corporate mission statement but, I tell Tony, I suspect he's just a happy guy anyway. "You be happy, you won't get sick," he tells me solemnly. "When my kids were growing up, I played with them. "Most parents say, 'You just listen to me. If I say one, you must not say two'. But it's more fun to play with them." The couple's kids have all gained decent jobs: there's an IT specialist in Hong Kong, a planner with the Auckland Council, an optometrist. "They have an easier life than me," Tony says, with evident pride. "They don't have to use their hands for work. "But I still work. I like it. If I'm busy, it means I have a bonus income; if it's quiet, I have bonus time for rest. So I get a bonus anyway." By Peter Calder By Peter Calder 5:30 AM Wednesday May 8, 2013 Cheerful outlook of Merc's only original stall-holders keeps stream of loyal customers coming back. Jerry (St Johns) 09:41 AM Wednesday, 8 May 2013 Great Friendly takeaway, always comes with good food and smile. Emjay (New Zealand) 03:22 PM Wednesday, 8 May 2013 When I used to work in the city I often ate here. Chicken and vegetables with rice and chillies. Always good food and cheerfull service! Crystal Chan 03:22 PM Wednesday, 8 May 2013 The takeaway opened in April 1994 and it will be their 20 years celebration next April! Thank you to everyone who has been to the takeaway for food. Thank you Peter. 2 likes KyloKylo 11:13 AM Thursday, 9 May 2013 I LOVE THIS SHOP BECAUSE I AM HIS GRANDSON AND HIS FOOD IS YUMMY AND DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!^O^ KyloKylo 11:13 AM Thursday, 9 May 2013 Jerry Great Friendly takeaway, always comes with good food and smile. show more I AGREE THIS IS GREAT SHOP! KyloKylo 11:13 AM Thursday, 9 May 2013 Crystal Chan The takeaway opened in April 1994 and it will be their 20 years celebration next April! Thank you to everyone who has been to the takeaway for food. Thank you Peter. show more NICE ONE CRYSTAL! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10882156

Police Courts

Fines of 5/ each and costs for obstructing Grey-street with carts were imposed upon Quong Hing, Quong Vet. Ah Lay, Mong Long, Ah Wong. Yet Sen, and T. Stead. A Chinese named Cook Yen. similarly charged, pleaded that be had never been warned, and was discharged upon paying 7/ costs. Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 149, 23 June 1904, Page 2

ONE CHURCH IN CHINA.

The PART Of HEW ZEALAND. FROM OTAGO TO CANTON. The story of the work in the villages told by Mx. McNeur to the congregations at the Mount Eden yesterday morning, and at St. Davids Church last evening. The Moderator also spoke to a large gathering of Sunday school children at the latter church in the afternoon. In teh year 1868 the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand appointed one of their young ministers, the Rev. Alex Don, to go out as an evangelist amongst the Chinese who were seeking gold ia the trackless gullies of Central Otago. By visiting them in their shacks and their caves, he became their friend, and in the course of time won many of them for the Christian way of life. Rev Don realised that the Chinese were here to win gold and take it back to China. After visiting many of his old friends in the villages of Canton —it is from there that most Chinese immigrate come —he returned to New Zealand with a message that a wonderful door of opportunity was open for Ministry work. In 1901 Mr. McNeur went to Canton. For SO years missionaries from Great Britain and the United States had failed to secure entrance, but the introductions of Mr. Don and his Chinese friends broke down the boycott. A hospital was estabished under Dr. John Kirk and his wife, and this had since been replaced by a ssw building of three storeys, than which theirs was probably no better mission hospital in China to-day. "Medical work," eaid Mr McNeur, "soften hearts, and I know of no work that is Christ-like than that of the doctors aad nurses in China. Through the work the message of the Gospel has been spread abroad. During the trouble ia China, when anti-foreign propaganda bes been so prevalent, this hospital, so Ist as I know, was the only British institution that did not close down for a period of several months, which is an •bqaut testimony of the place it has woa ia the community." The weaker referred also to their •cboole for both boys and girls, and to tbtir 15 preaching stations. He said tbet theirs and other churches in South Chiia had dropped their "isms," and that they were seeking to found one mited Church of Christ in China under Chiflese leadership, which would take «*er the various hospitals and schools. Mr. MeXeur closed with a strong appeal foT the sympathy and prayers of church members for the Church of Jesus Christ, wlrich was firmly established in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of men. women and children in China. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19270725.2.111&srpos=1&e=-------100-AS-1----0alex+young+chinese-- Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 173, 25 July 1927, Page 9

Pakeha-Chinese family thrive

Juliet O'Connor gained much more than a husband when she married third-generation Chinese-New Zealander Scott Young. She inherited a large, welcoming extended family, many of whom live in the same Wellington suburb. She quickly assimilated into Wellington's thriving Chinese community. NowJuliet Young, she spends most winter weekends at the Wellington Chinese Sports and Cultural Centre with Scott and daughters Lauren, 7, and Brodie, 4. She's often in the minority but she feels completely at home. Young's daughters share her dark hair and eyes but while her hair is curly, the girls' hair is straight. Lauren looks more like her mum, Brodie like her dad, but both are distinctly Asian and identify as Chinese. "Sometimes they look at me and they know I'm not Chinese and they wonder what I am," Young says with a laugh. Her life is a world away from her childhood in predominantly Pakeha Gore; her secondary school had only a handful of non-European children on the roll. "Then you grow up and move away and become exposed to all sorts of ethnicities," Young says. "I think Newv Zealand is ethnically diverse but if you live in rural Southland, it's not. "Wellington, which is where I've spent probably a larger part of my life now, is transient, open and ethnically diverse and becoming more so. That's only good." Young also finds herself in the minority at work with the Open Wananga, the at-home learning arm of tertiary institution Te Wananga O Aotearoa. Meetings start with a karakia and her work involves editing and writing about New Zealand's history from a Maori perspective - something she missed out on at school in Gore. "It concerns me that I didn't learn about that in my schooling. We learned about Captain Cook but we didn't learn about the other side," Young says. "Forme, it's been a real journey learning about New Zealand in another way." - Herald on Sunday By Sharon Lundy Email Sharon By Sharon Lundy 5:30 AM Sunday Apr 28, 2013 uliet and Scott Young with Lauren and Brodie. Photo / Getty Images

MasterChef’s Michael Gin: ‘I’ll do dad proud’

By Kelly Bertrand on 21st March, in Celebrity, Kiwi celebrities, Masterchef MasterChef New Zealand contestant Michael Gin might be carrying with him the hopes of his friends, family and hometown of Oamaru, but there’s one person he most wants to make proud – his dad Gordon, who is battling terminal bone marrow cancer. Michael (23) is determined to make the cut in the highly competitive, top-rating cooking show for his dad. “It’s hard to deal with,” he says. “But Dad still has a bit of time left with us, and I want to do him proud.” Michael never thought to enter the show, but a friend filled out the registration form on his behalf. He says watching his dad battle cancer has taught him to seize every opportunity that comes his way. “Life is short,” says Michael. “So I thought, why not. I’m going to do this!” Michael with his parents at their Oamaru market garden Michael with his parents at their Oamaru market garden. Michael owes his passion for food to Gordon and his mum Linda. Growing up on a market garden in Oamaru meant their backyard always provided the family with the best quality produce to cook with. And from when he was a boy, Michael always had his own little vege patch to tend. “Well, when I say small, it was still the size of half a football field,” he laughs. “But I was responsible for the entire patch, which was cool. “We have acres and acres of vegetables,” Michael adds. “We generally grow potatoes and brussels sprouts – as we do in Oamaru – but at one time or another we’ve probably grown everything you’ve seen in the supermarket.” Growing up surrounded by fresh produce and with his family’s love of cooking, Michael’s career choice has been heavily in fluenced by his upbringing. He graduated with a masters degree in food science earlier this year in Dunedin, where he now works. Michael with his parents on his graduation day Michael, a food scientist, and his parents Linda and Gordon all share a love of cooking. While Michael is getting used to people recognising him from the show, he reckons all the attention is a bit bizarre. “My family are making scrapbooks,” he says. “It’s unreal. Although my dad’s a real Kiwi bloke, he’s just like, ‘Yeah, good on you mate, you’re doing all right!’” As Michael progresses through the competition, his thoughts are often with his parents, who make sure to take a break from work and watch their son every Sunday night. “I know I have to treasure every moment with Dad,” says Michael. “I’ll be there for him when he needs me, and hopefully through my cooking he’ll be proud.” http://www.nzwomansweekly.co.nz/celebrity/masterchefs-michael-gin-ill-do-dad-proud/

Intriguing play misses its mark

Intriguing play misses its mark BY MICHELLE DUFF Last updated 12:00 31/03/2010 The Bone Feeder The Globe Theatre, March 30-31. Directed by Simon Zhou. The story of the shipwrecked SS Ventnor is a poignant one. In 1902, a ship carrying the bones of almost 500 Chinese miners set off from New Zealand towards their final resting place in China. They made it as far as the Hokianga harbour, before sinking. The Bone Feeder is based on this largely untold story. It focuses on Ben, played by Auckland Boys' Grammar student Jae Woo, who has promised his dying father he will find the bones of his great-great-grandfather, lost in the wreck. Enter Maori ferry man Melvin Wani, who knows a thing or two about ancestors and the tangata whenua. Ben meets the ghost of his great-great-grandfather, played by Benjamin Teh, and eventually discovers what it means to be part of a family. This play is original. Ben is a fifth generation Kiwi, of Chinese ancestry. He doesn't know how to speak the language, and feels detached from his family and culture. This is a contemporary issue that should be addressed. The music is fantastic, with a live three-piece Chinese band playing traditional instruments with haunting precision. Teh is outstanding as the long-dead ancestor, with a stage presence that demands attention. But this play doesn't quite hit the mark. Ben's unresolved problems with his dead father distract attention from the adaptation of Chinese settlers to New Zealand and the cultural similarities with Maori. There were long soliloquies which relied on Woo's acting to bring them alive – a tough ask for any young actor. And the ghosts were confusing, comedic one minute and morose the next. Some scenes are beautiful though, and the message is good. It's on tonight

The world at your fingertips – what social media can do for you

Event date: Saturday, 20 April 2013 The session aims to demystify social networking and show you how social media can work for you.. It is designed to provide valuable insights on using social media for community outreach. And help communities engage and connect with each other as well as government agencies. Photograph of Qiujing WongQiujing Wong is co-Founder and Chief Executive of Borderless. In 2006, she was awarded the Carolyn Stolman Humanitarian Award in California for her work, and is a recipient of the 2012 Sir Peter Blake Trust's Leadership Awards. Borderless is committed to delivering unique and engaging films, videos and campaigns with business, organisations and individuals in New Zealand and around the world. Eva-Maria Salikhova is the author of the book “You Shut Up!”, an international speaker and an expert in inter-generational relationships and Social Media for business. Her company SocialeMedia helps companies of all sizes increase their sales and marketing online.

Cultural Fusion: Shaping our Multicultural Identities

Event date: Saturday, 20 April 2013 How are our multicultural identities being expressed through fusion in art and culture in New Zealand? The workshop is aimed at generating interactive discussions and learning on how cultural fusion is shaping our multicultural identities. Photograph of Roseanne LiangRoseanne Liang is a New Zealand Chinese screenwriter and director. She has been awarded SPADA's (The Screen Production and Development Association) New Filmmaker of the Year and Women in Film and Television Incorporated - Woman to Watch in the years since completing her Masters at the University of Auckland. Her short film Take 3 won awards at A-list film festivals in Berlin and Spain. Photograph of Vivian ChowVivian Chow, founder-chairperson of the New Zealand-Asia Association Inc and founder of Viva Eclectika - this is a biannual Dance and Music competition held in conjunction with the New Zealand Diversity Forum. April ShPhotograph of April Shinin, was born in Seoul, Korea, and is a contemporary New Zealand artist who has already held a number of group and solo exhibitions in Auckland and received wide acclaim for her work. April uses art as a tool for understanding the multicultural nature of New Zealand and raise awareness of values of New Zealand society. Photograph of Dr Kirsten ZemkeDr Kirsten Zemke is a Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland. She teaches popular music studies looking in particular at race, gender, identity and the Pacific. Her research specialises in rap music, New Zealand hip hop, Pacific pop music, and old rock and roll. Event email: ethnic.affairs@dia.govt.nz

Mai Chen, Managing partner, Chen Palmer

Mai Chen, Managing partner, Chen Palmer Photograph of Mai Chen Event date: Saturday, 20 April 2013 Mai Chen is the Managing partner of Chen Palmer New Zealand Public Law Specialists, Barristers and Solicitors, Australasia’s first public law specialist firm, which she co-founded in 1994. She has led Chen Palmer for the last 18 years. She is the best selling author of the Public Law Tool Box, published by Lexis Nexis in 2012, and is an Adjunct Professor in Commercial and Public Law at the University of Auckland Business School. She also teaches an Executive MBA course at Auckland University, and has taught an intensive masters courses at the Auckland Law School. She is the inaugural Chair of NZ Global Women. Born in Taiwan, Mai Chen arrived in New Zealand at the age of six and understands the challenges for migrant families starting life in a new country. In her keynote session for the EthnicA conference she shares her experience and explores the challenges and opportunities of leadership in New Zealand - for communities as well as individuals. See full profile

Speech to NZ-China Partnership Forum

Pita Sharples 12 April, 2013 Speech to NZ-China Partnership Forum Nimen Hao. Tēnā koutou. Greetings. I acknowledge our honoured guests and key speakers. Thank you to the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges and the New Zealand China Council for bringing us together in this ground-breaking event. As our Prime Minister has already mentioned, today’s forum realises a milestone goal for our Government as we strengthen relationships and networks with the Chinese people. I have been asked to speak about creativity and innovation, culture and connections. In my Māori culture when one begins a speech, one begins by making a connection. As with concepts of guanxi, Māori concepts of whanaungatanga are founded upon diplomacy, culture and relationships. Māori connections to China stretch back through time, 2000-years ago the Chronicles of Hou Han Shu wrote that the skies above Beijing glowed red as blood. Incredibly, the scribes of Han had recorded New Zealand’s great Taupō eruption – one of the most powerful the world has seen. More recently the skies above Beijing glowed red with a fireworks display the likes of which the world had never seen: 8pm on the 8th of August, 2008. The Opening Ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games was an epic spectacle I’ll remember forever, celebrating a heritage both ancient and modern. A people striving for excellence, innovation and honour. That opening reminded the world of the Chinese people’s phenomenal and ongoing contribution to global culture, economy and civilisation. And I am incredibly proud to say it is a civilisation, a heritage and a people that Māori are intrinsically linked to. Thousands of years ago our Polynesian ancestors set off from Asia. As they left, they looked to the stars, using astronavigation they guided entire communities across millions of square miles of ocean. Using advanced science they crafted the world’s first long range, open sea faring vessels. From Papua in the west, Hawaii in the north, Rapanui in the east and Aotearoa in the south: over 80 generations they discovered and settled a third of the surface of our planet. I proudly acknowledge our shared heritage and pay tribute to all of our ancestors and acknowledge their courage, audacity and genius. As we prepare for the future – we can find inspiration in our not too distant past. We can look to our ancestors from across the Asia Pacific region, the ultimate explorers, leaders, innovators of their time. So when Māori think of a long term investment we aren’t just thinking of ourselves here in 2013. We’re thinking of those who have gone before us and those yet to be born: upon our shoulders are huge responsibilities, we are but one generation within a family tree that stretches back through eternity. How far it will branch out into the future? That part’s up to us. Instead of only focusing on how much our assets are worth we need to ask ourselves: What can we turn them into? How can we future proof them for future generations? I’ve been proud to lead Māori trade missions to China where our generational way of thinking resonated with our hosts, because like us, the people of China are planning for the future while honouring the past. Within a few generations, China’s Dragon Economy has become our global economy’s centre of gravity. Our Māori Dragon Economy – or as we call it our Taniwha Economy - can look to China, to Asia for inspiration. Right now Māori control around forty per cent of all fish quota in New Zealand; a third of all plantation forests; we own some of the country’s largest farms; our tribes control billions of dollars worth of assets. We know we must invest in science, innovation and education: this will determine the future of our Taniwha Economy as well as the future of our people. Our Māori businesses are working with communities across China. I am particularly proud of an agricultural exchange launched last year between the People’s Republic of China’s Government of Guizhou Province and my government department, Te Puni Kōkiri. We have developed a strong and close relationship with the people of Guizhou, a beautiful, unique province that is rich in cultural and natural resources with huge tourism and agricultural potential. We are investing in the future by investing in the education of students from Guizhou’s ethnic minorities as well as our own young Māori farmers. As well as ancient ties to China, Māori recognise more recent ties. We recognise that China isn’t merely a foreign export market thousands of miles away – Chinese people have lived alongside us for nearly 200-years. Nearly a century ago the SS Ventnor ship sunk and the remains of 500-men – en route go Guangdong for burial – were also lost. This tragedy devastated their families who contemplated an eternity where their loved ones souls could never be at rest. But a few years ago those men’s descendents discovered their forebears hadn’t been lost at sea, but had been laid to rest in sacred, tribal burial grounds. They’d been cared for by the local Māori tribe whose members had recovered, prayed over and buried these men alongside their own ancestors and loved ones. This year as part of Qingming (Ching Ming) 2013, Chinese and Māori descendents gathered on our remote beaches to unveil special memorials honouring their ancestors. After a very successful time at the National Museum of China, New Zealand’s exhibition of Jade treasures – Kura Pounamu – will soon head south to Guangdong: we are delighted that our Greenstone will be displayed in the ancestral lands of so many Chinese New Zealanders. An ancient treasure prized as much for its beauty as its sacred links to the Gods: few cultures share the same reverence for Yu or Pounamu as Chinese and Māori people. We both believe Jade has a heritage, a whakapapa linking us back to ancient times. We are also hugely grateful to the National Museum of China for displaying a treasured feather cloak that was gifted to Chairman Mao Zedong by our Māori King Korokī in 1957. Later this month I will be helping to host the Taniwha and Dragon Festival: the world’s first event bringing together Māori and Chinese communities to honour our cultural, historical and ongoing relationships. We chose a Chinese Dragon and Māori Taniwha as our symbols because like you we celebrate Dragons in legend and song, fearsome and fearless, wise, lucky, powerful. Great Dragons and Taniwha descend from the heavens and are personified in great leaders, tribes and nations. There is one other ancient bond we share with the people of China. Its English name is the Godwit bird. In China, I’m told it is Ban-wei Cheng-Yu. Māori call it the Kūaka bird. For generations of ocean navigators: this bird was one of our many guides. Every year at the end of our Summer, thousands of birds, gather at New Zealand’s most northern tip, we call Te Rerenga Wairua. For Māori it is a hugely sacred place, it is the departure point for souls, back to our ancestral homelands, in English it is called Spirits Bay. It is here and other sites that these birds gather in their thousands before taking flight, crossing the Pacific in a week and heading north to China: Stopping only when they reach Dandong, Liaoning Province. Their amazing flight between Te Reinga and the Yalu River is the longest non-stop flight of any bird on earth. Every year this tiny bird traces the journeys of our ancestors back across the Pacific, back to Asia, back thousands of miles and thousands of years. And in doing so, forever linking the peoples of New Zealand to the peoples of China. It is fitting that this very week as I stand to greet you: the Kūaka, the Ban-wei Cheng-Yu returns to China from New Zealand. We have a carving of this bird in our Parliament; I would like to leave you with the Māori proverb carved beneath it: Ko au te moemoea o te iwi: Te Tawhiti o tāku rere ka rite tonu ki te hohonu me te mārama o a koutou whakarite. I am the dreams of the people. The length of my flight depends on the wisdom of your decisions. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-nz-china-partnership-forum-0

Taniwha & Dragon Festival 2013:

Taniwha & Dragon Festival 2013: Celebrating ancient and modern bonds 11 Apr 13, 7:00PM by Alexander Speirs A pōwhiri and festival are to be held in Auckland to celebrate Maori and Chinese cultural bonds, and to consummate the relationship between the two cultures. The Minister of Māori Affairs, alongside hosts Ngāti Whātua o Orākei, and Auckland Chinese community leaders announced details of the ‘Taniwha & Dragon’ festival during the Prime Minister’s visit to China to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Dr Sharples said “It is an honour to be working alongside Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei and Chinese community leaders to help co-ordinate this special event.” “From our ancestors who left Asia millennia ago to settle the vast Pacific Ocean, to our Chinese friends and family who have worked, settled and raised families across Aotearoa over the past two centuries: our eternal ties to Asia can be found in our language, cultures and peoples. Our aim is to revitalise these relationships at the face-to-face community level,” said Dr Sharples. “As the Year of the Water Dragon sets and the Year of the Snake dawns, I’m proud that my Ministry, Te Puni Kōkiri, is supporting the inaugural Taniwha & Dragon Festival.” “The day begins with a pōwhiri by Ngāti Whātua o Orākei welcoming the Chinese community on to Orakei marae. The festival that follows will be an extravaganza of cultural experiences, we have kapa haka, dragon dances, traditional foods, and kites among the many Chinese and Maori cultural displays on offer.” “The new millennium sees Māori people connecting with Chinese people in many ways, through trade and business, via cultural and educational exchanges, and as citizens of the global environment,” says Dr Sharples. “All of these things should be based on building strong relationships between our people and communities, and this is what Taniwha-Dragon is about.” “Through our amazing ancestors we proudly acknowledge our kinship to China and invite all New Zealanders to come along and enjoy the day at our long overdue, family reunion.” “I congratulate Ōrākei Marae and Auckland’s Chinese community leaders, and I hope other communities around the country will consider similar celebrations involving all cultures living in Aotearoa,” said Dr Sharples. The event will take place Saturday 27th April 2013 at Ōrākei Marae, Takaparawhau, Auckland. The pōwhiri starts at 9am, festival at 10am

Chinese and Maori to come together for celebration

Auckland’s iconic Orakei Marae will host the world’s first powhiri and festival to celebrate the many bonds shared by Maori and Chinese peoples on April 27th. "Orakei and Chinese families have lived and worked alongside one another for generations, it’s pretty special for us to be able to celebrate together," says Ngati Whatua Chairperson Grant Hawke. "Chinese and Maori peoples are coming together to celebrate a shared history and a shared future. We encourage all Chinese people to come along, especially to attend the cultural welcome," says Arthur Loo, Auckland Chinese Community chair. The Taniwha & Dragon Festival is the culmination of korero amongst marae leaders, Auckland Chinese community leaders and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples. It starts with a Maori welcome ceremony or powhiri, where a huge dancing dragon leading the Chinese community onto Orakei marae will be challenged in a show of force by the massed warriors of Ngati Whatua. Speakers from the tangata whenua and the manuhiri will recount the ancestral and traditional ties between Maori and Chinese peoples, their historical relationships and hopes for a shared future, before the two sides greet each other face to face with a hongi. The festival that follows will feature traditional and contemporary Maori and Chinese entertainment, culture, craft and food stalls. At the heart of the Taniwha & Dragon Festival will be a workshop where traditional Maori and Chinese kites will be made and flown. In the run up to the festival some local schools have already been making and practicing flying their own kites. "As tangata whenua, it is Ngati Whatua’s role and responsibility to make all cultures in Auckland feel welcome. Maori and Chinese people share the same ancestors, but our cultures have diverged over many generations," said Mr Hawke. "We have lived side by side in Aotearoa for many years, and now we want to bring our relationships up to date, face to face and personal, and to celebrate our similarities and differences," he said. "Good relationships make our whole community stronger. As individuals, Maori and Chinese people have always had contacts - now is the time to take things to a higher level, culture to culture. "This powhiri and festival cements our relationships in accordance with our customs; we want to acknowledge our ancestral links, and encourage our neighbours to become personal friends and family, and to enjoy each other’s company," Mr Hawke added. Mr Loo said the Chinese community in Auckland is honoured to be the first to receive this kind of welcome onto Orakei marae. "We are very excited to be welcomed into the heart of the Maori community of Auckland. This is a unique opportunity to meet the tribal people who first invited other cultures to settle here, and to learn about our city. "All Chinese people who have come to New Zealand have brought with us our culture, history and traditions, and we are proud to be able to share them publicly on the marae and to feel they are welcome," he said. "Internationally, New Zealand is building bridges with China. Mutual understanding between our cultures here at home can be the solid foundation for developing business, educational, cultural and diplomatic links at the government level. "This festival is a chance to share our traditional food, dance, music and kite-flying, not only with Ngati Whatua, but with all Aucklanders who want to join our day of celebration. We hope this will renew the long and happy relationship between our communities in Auckland," said Mr Loo. Te Puni Kokiri, Fuseworks April 15, 2013, 1:18 pm

Taniwha and Dragon Festival 2013

Taniwha and Dragon Festival 2013 will take place at Orakei Marae on 27 April 2013. A powhiri and festival are to be held in Auckland to celebrate Maori and Chinese cultural bonds, and to consummate the relationship between the two cultures. Be there! 《双龙盛会》将于4月27日在Orakei毛利会堂举行。 一个以欢迎式和庆典来庆祝毛利和华人的文化纽带和加强两个文化的活动。 一定要到啊！ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/393791377385777/ Eventfinder: http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2013/taniwha-dragon-festival-2013/auckland/orakei 国语电台广告语音 Mandarin Radio Ad： http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/x0PpN 粤语点天广告语音 Cantonese Radio Ad： http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/x0OvA Contact: Bevan Chuang庄家欣

We need to talk about China

As Prime Minister John Key leads a super-sized political and trade delegation to China, Weekend Herald writers assess our fast-developing relationship with the world's new economic superpower. Two Chinese-born MPs share past and present impressions of their homeland with political editor Audrey Young, and Geoff Cumming examines the pitfalls for businesses wanting a slice of the action National MP Jian Yang and his family in 1965. Photo / Supplied The trouble with China experts living in China is they may not feel completely free to say what they want. The trouble with China experts who haven't lived in China is they may not have the complete picture of the great civilisation in modern times. Jian Yang doesn't have either problem. He is an undisputed China expert, who was raised there, has a PhD in international relations from an Australian University and is now living in Hillsborough, Auckland with his wife and two daughters, one born in China and one in New Zealand. He is also a first-term National list MP - he replaced the high-profile Pansy Wong as National's Chinese MP after her career ended abruptly in 2010 amid suggestions of mixing business with parliamentary-funded travel - and a member of Prime Minister John Key's big delegation to China next week. On the eve of the trip he spoke to the Weekend Herald about his experience as a child in the cultural revolution and what makes him proud of China on the rise today. Jian went back to China a few days ago to visit his parents, his father aged 83 and mother aged 80, in Yingtan, a city of 43 million in the province of Jiangxi between Shanghai and Guangzhou, and to help his father through a varicose veins operation. Both his parents were primary school teachers and, during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, were ordered to the countryside with their three sons when Jian was aged about 6, to be "re-educated" by peasants. They lived in a barn for a few years but, relatively speaking, it wasn't a bad time for him, he says. "In the countryside people were nice. Peasants were very nice," he says. "In the countryside people respect intellectuals. Those peasants actually respected my parents." At least his parents were not persecuted and made to stand in the street with tall paper hats on, as he witnessed during the campaign against "anti-revolutionaries". At least his mother's head wasn't shaved. His father raised pigs and his mother worked in the rice fields but after a few years they took up teaching jobs in the country. "The most spectacular present that I received for my 10th birthday was two eggs for breakfast," he said in his maiden speech last year. In 1974, his father returned to the city with Jian and his older brother after six years. His mother followed two years later. It all could have been worse for the family, considering his mother's father had been a member of the Nationalist Party of China, which was defeated by the Communists in 1949, and had been a landlord as well. He was taken prisoner in 1951 and sentenced to life but was released in 1957 for being a model prisoner. Jian says the Chinese Government has long recognised the cultural revolution as a national catastrophe and learned its lesson. He says China has experienced many humiliations and disasters in the past two centuries and that is one of the reasons why Chinese both inside and outside the country are proud of its achievements in the past three decades, including himself. "In the past China was weak and Chinese overseas often felt they were discriminated against because you came from a poor, very weak country. Basically the stronger China is, the more proud they will feel." Though overseas Chinese associate themselves with China's growth and it is very important to their sense of pride, "in China the sense is actually not so strong". Jian credits the Communist Party at being very good at self-improvement, one of the reasons it has stayed in power for so long. Deng Xiaoping's economic revolution of 1978, opening up the economy when it was on the verge of collapse, was even harder than the 1949 revolution because the party had risked losing power. These days, he says, the Government is more responsive to the public and pressure because there are many sources of information and people can travel around the country, which wasn't possible before 1978. Although citizens still can't publish criticism about the Government, they can complain about it. "We can see the limits but we can see the improvement. Many people can't see the improvement." Seeing humour is a test of 'Kiwiness' Is the Powershop advertisement showing Mao Zedong dancing Gangnam-style ("same power, different attitude") a good test for Chinese migrants to New Zealand? Labour list MP Raymond Huo thinks so. As one himself, since 1994, he says he loves the poster - though he doesn't expect to see any next week when he travels with the Prime Minister to China. He says reaction to it will show Chinese here whether they have become Kiwi Chinese. "I love it," he said. "If someone has been offended by that or feels obliged to be offended by that, I think probably he hasn't lived in that Kiwi Chinese way; and those who find humour in it and could smile to their colleagues, I think we should accept them as Kiwi Chinese." Huo believes that immigrants to New Zealand have an obligation to try to integrate. To Asians who have been here for more than 10 years, are still eating Chinese food, reading Chinese newspapers, speaking Chinese and mixing in their own community, "I would pretty much want to say to them that there's no reason for them to come here in the first place." He believes the attitude to Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party from the 1949 revolution to his death in 1976, is a generational one and says Mao and the party were still cherished in China by many people aged over 45. "If you want to understand Mao Zedong you need to understand 3000 years of Chinese history," he says. "It is not as clear-cut as depicted in the Western media." The 49-year-old movingly recalled his own boyhood memories of the cultural revolution, instigated by Mao, in his maiden speech to Parliament in 2008. His parents were both doctors and were demoted during the cultural revolution and ended up in the countryside. "My father, like other 'intellectuals' was ordered to stand still at the main entrance to the hospital, holding a wide whiteboard with his name painted in black, followed by the title 'counter-revolutionary medical expert' for an hour at a time, three times a day." He says that as a 5-year-old, he asked his father if he could join him and hold his own little board with his name on it. His father agreed. Huo's father has died but his mother is still living in Qianshan, a relatively small city of 570,000 in Anhui province. He tries to get back every couple of years. Huo is delighted that he has been included in the Prime Minister's delegation to China next week. When he is in Beijing, the former lawyer will deliver a lecture at the China University of Political Science and Law where he has just been made an honorary Professor of Law. He graduated from the university in 1990, then with cross-crediting took two years to complete a New Zealand law degree at Auckland University. Huo, who lives in Glendowie with his wife and two New Zealand-born daughters, chose to come to New Zealand because Rewi Alley, the New Zealander who helped set up co-operatives in China in his 60 years there, was such a strong and inspiring influence on him. By Geoff Cumming Email Geoff, Audrey Young Email Audrey http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10875711