Raymond Kwok (left), Alistair Kwun (right) and another friend share a light moment at The Peak during their visit to Hong Kong.
More in photo gallery
AT an event in Auckland, New Zealand, in March, young Kiwis discussed OE (overseas experience) destinations. But what emerged at the gathering organized by Future Dragonz was surprising: Increasingly people were choosing Asia instead of Europe.
The figures, according to Statistics NZ, are clear. Back in 2001, only 273 Kiwis aged 18 to 30 arrived in China, planning to stay for 12 months or more. Last year, the number of young Kiwis migrating had jumped by more than 500 percent, to 1,482. In the same period, the number of 18- to 30-year-old Kiwis migrating to the United Kingdom for 12 months or more had halved - from 10,268 down to 4,996.
Alistair Kwun, who helps run Future Dragonz, a New Zealand-based network of Chinese young professionals, says some Chinese-Kiwis visit China for cultural reasons. In the 1990s there was a large influx of Asian families to New Zealand. "In some ways, it gives access to both (Chinese and Western) worlds, but in other ways it can be hard to know where you fit," he says.
As a result, says Kwun, many Chinese-New Zealanders like him are traveling to China to see how their parents lived - something he calls the "falling-leaves-return-home experience."
"A lot of us born overseas are wanting to come back to seek those cultural roots, whether it's to learn Chinese, travel back to our home village, or just travel in general," he says.
Seeing his great-grandfather's ancestral home was "quite emotional" for him, Kwun says. "From there you realize the contrast and what could have been had you been born in China," he says. "That could have been your experience. It would have been quite different from growing up in the West with all these luxuries."
Falling leaves return home
Twenty-eight-year-old Raymond Kwok, who hails from Auckland, is one such person who did his OE in China, in part for cultural reasons. His parents met in New Zealand, but they are originally from Guangdong Province. Two years ago, young Kwok decided to go on his OE, eventually settling on Hong Kong, only a 1.5-hour ferry ride from his ancestral village.
Through living in Hong Kong and traveling back to his ancestral village, Kwok has gained a better understanding of his background.
"My dad's the oldest son, and I'm his oldest son, so I feel there's sort of a paying respect and responsibility to connect," he says from Hong Kong over Skype. He also avoided the credit crisis in Europe and experienced something completely different.
Jess Kwok, 24, is also a Chinese-born New Zealander. She grew up in Auckland, but went back to visit her mother's family in Guangzhou a number of times throughout her childhood. After graduating from Auckland University in 2011 with a degree in economics and public health, she wasn't sure what to do. She got a one-year Confucius scholarship to study Chinese at Fudan University in Shanghai, ending in August 2012.
Although she had been to China before, she was nervous before flying off. "I've lived in Auckland all my life, and just suddenly deciding to take the plunge and move overseas to a foreign country for a whole year was kind of scary," she says in a Skype interview. "But I can confidently say it's been the best year of my life so far."
The desire to connect with heritage was part of the motivation. "I've always sort of wanted to keep in touch with my roots," says Jess Kwok, noting that her mother's family is still living in Guangzhou. "And I also had this curiosity and interest in working in Asia. Obviously learning a language would be super helpful."
Jess Kwok visited Shanghai for the World Expo 2010 and admits that she didn't really liked it. But when she came to study, she was hooked. "I love the fast-paced bustling-ness of it all. Auckland compared with that is just so slow."
The experience gave her more perspective on her parents. "I can understand why they wanted to emigrate to New Zealand."
Though China is growing in popularity, people in New Zealand still have misconceptions that sway them from China as an OE destination, Jesse Kwok says. "People kind of overlook China. Everyone has really negative stereotypes, like it's a Communist country, it's developing, it's dirty, they have all these scandals like bird flu. It puts people off."
Land of opportunities
Justin Yang's mother is from Singapore and his father is from China, but for him, culture wasn't the draw. "A lot of people are coming over for opportunity rather than cultural roots. If you're raised and born in New Zealand, culture, heritage and your roots - they don't really interest you that much," says the 29-year-old from West Auckland.
Yang is on what he calls a "floating OE," traveling around the world with his job as an engineer, interspersed with stints in New Zealand. He first came to Shanghai for a four-month job when he was 22. "Once I did get here, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought," he says over the phone from Tanghai in Hebei Province.
"It was actually mind-blowing how advanced it was, and how many people spoke English." He came back last year for the second time, and worked in Tanghai for a year as a commissioning engineer for Lanzatech.
Although he resisted learning Mandarin as a child, he now wishes he had learned to read and write. "Speaking it has already opened a lot of doors," he says. "But if I could read and write, it would make my job much easier."
Yang often encounters difficulty at restaurants where the staff are shocked that he can't read the menu, despite speaking fluent Chinese.
Despite initial hesitation, Yang recommends China.
"An OE in Europe would still open your eyes," he says. "But the difference is you have to push your personal boundaries a lot harder (in China) because it's not as easy."
Jess Kwok, Raymond Kwok and Yang have all found that people in China were often confused about how to treat Chinese-New Zealanders.
"At the end of the day, they see me as a New Zealander, who can understand and looks Chinese," says Raymond Kwok.
The combination works in his favor. "You can mix in with both crowds, like the expat community, really well, and you can also relate to locals."
For Yang, coming to China was an unexpected cultural awakening. "In New Zealand I always saw myself as a New Zealander, and never really thought about the fact that I actually look different from everybody else," he says. "That only really hit home when I was over here in China where everybody's Chinese, and you're like 'Oh, actually, I look like all of these guys. I'm actually closer to these guys than I am in New Zealand'."
Today he'd call himself New Zealand-Chinese. "I'm Chinese, I look Chinese, so I can't deny that fact," he says. "You don't really get acceptance from either country that you're in, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter."
Interestingly, not one of the trio sees themselves living in China long-term. "I'm loving this," says Raymond Kwok, "but for me, New Zealand is still home."
A matter of re nao
The China OE isn't restricted to Chinese-New Zealanders. Jenny Cuthbertson, 30, took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing where she spent three days. That was six years ago.
"I absolutely loved it," Cuthbertson says in an interview in Shanghai. "I went home resolved to do more about learning the language and, with my background in sports events, I really wanted to come back for the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
So she returned a year later, first volunteering in Beijing, then studying business in Hong Kong. She finished her business degree at Auckland University of Technology and returned to China in 2010 in Shanghai to study language at Fudan University. From there, Cuthbertson got a full-time job at the Kiwi Expats Association (KEA).
The initial attraction remains the same: the re nao or dynamism of China. "There are people everywhere and there are things happening all over the place at any time of the day. The more I got to know about the culture and the language and things, the more I got pulled in."
Cuthbertson also chose China because it was demanding. "The European OE is so predictable and easy, whereas China is more of a challenge, it's more excitement, slightly more of a pioneering spirit."
At times the dynamism and difference gets to be too much. "China has a lot of small challenges. We all talk about having a 'China day' where sometimes some of the systems or bureaucracy that's so different from what we're used to in New Zealand will really get to you, and the language barrier will get to you, and you get totally fed up and wonder why you're here. Generally on a day you do any kind of banking," Cuthbertson laughs.
Her time is coming to an end now, but Shanghai has taught Cuthbertson valuable language, business and life skills. "China really has opened my eyes to the world. I think that China's where it's at."
Unlike Cuthbertson, Wellington-born Jack Sheppard had always been fascinated with China. During his childhood there was a constant stream of Asian exchange students living with his family. He began learning Chinese at a weekend school on the recommendation of a Chinese-New Zealand friend. "Something really resonated," he says. "People say, 'Haha, you were Chinese in a previous life."
At Victoria University in Wellington, he majored in Chinese. When he turned 21, he went to Nanjing University on a scholarship with the Asia NZ foundation, then called the Asia 2000 foundation. Though he had been learning Chinese, arriving in China was a shock. "I quickly found out I couldn't speak, even though I really thought I could," Sheppard says.
He won the scholarship again, allowing him to stay on for a second year before returning to New Zealand. He has returned to China twice, first in a Te Papa traveling group, then to help at the Beijing Olympics. He was recruited by Spring Airlines, and now lives in Shanghai. "I don't feel like a foreigner anymore, despite being a big ugly foreigner," he says.
Sheppard finds there is still a lingering cold war mentality, with many people he meets questioning why he would want to live in China. But Sheppard is happy he chose China rather than the "cushy" option of Europe. It's taken him outside of his comfort zone, he's learned a lot about himself.
"I love how lyrical the language is, I love a lot of the literature, I love the food, I love how I can go out and sing karaoke any night of the week," the Kiwi says.
He calls it a "fantastic OE destination," adding that it's possible to live in an expat bubble and speak English. "But I dare you to come here and learn the language ... They have everything here, even cheese."
Monday, May 20, 2013
Kiwi rite of passage in China
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Feature
Kiwi rite of passage in China
2013-5-20 
Raymond Kwok (left), Alistair Kwun (right) and another friend share a light moment at The Peak during their visit to Hong Kong.
More in photo gallery
AT an event in Auckland, New Zealand, in March, young Kiwis discussed OE (overseas experience) destinations. But what emerged at the gathering organized by Future Dragonz was surprising: Increasingly people were choosing Asia instead of Europe.
The figures, according to Statistics NZ, are clear. Back in 2001, only 273 Kiwis aged 18 to 30 arrived in China, planning to stay for 12 months or more. Last year, the number of young Kiwis migrating had jumped by more than 500 percent, to 1,482. In the same period, the number of 18- to 30-year-old Kiwis migrating to the United Kingdom for 12 months or more had halved - from 10,268 down to 4,996.
Alistair Kwun, who helps run Future Dragonz, a New Zealand-based network of Chinese young professionals, says some Chinese-Kiwis visit China for cultural reasons. In the 1990s there was a large influx of Asian families to New Zealand. "In some ways, it gives access to both (Chinese and Western) worlds, but in other ways it can be hard to know where you fit," he says.
As a result, says Kwun, many Chinese-New Zealanders like him are traveling to China to see how their parents lived - something he calls the "falling-leaves-return-home experience."
"A lot of us born overseas are wanting to come back to seek those cultural roots, whether it's to learn Chinese, travel back to our home village, or just travel in general," he says.
Seeing his great-grandfather's ancestral home was "quite emotional" for him, Kwun says. "From there you realize the contrast and what could have been had you been born in China," he says. "That could have been your experience. It would have been quite different from growing up in the West with all these luxuries."
Falling leaves return home
Twenty-eight-year-old Raymond Kwok, who hails from Auckland, is one such person who did his OE in China, in part for cultural reasons. His parents met in New Zealand, but they are originally from Guangdong Province. Two years ago, young Kwok decided to go on his OE, eventually settling on Hong Kong, only a 1.5-hour ferry ride from his ancestral village.
Through living in Hong Kong and traveling back to his ancestral village, Kwok has gained a better understanding of his background.
"My dad's the oldest son, and I'm his oldest son, so I feel there's sort of a paying respect and responsibility to connect," he says from Hong Kong over Skype. He also avoided the credit crisis in Europe and experienced something completely different.
Jess Kwok, 24, is also a Chinese-born New Zealander. She grew up in Auckland, but went back to visit her mother's family in Guangzhou a number of times throughout her childhood. After graduating from Auckland University in 2011 with a degree in economics and public health, she wasn't sure what to do. She got a one-year Confucius scholarship to study Chinese at Fudan University in Shanghai, ending in August 2012.
Although she had been to China before, she was nervous before flying off. "I've lived in Auckland all my life, and just suddenly deciding to take the plunge and move overseas to a foreign country for a whole year was kind of scary," she says in a Skype interview. "But I can confidently say it's been the best year of my life so far."
The desire to connect with heritage was part of the motivation. "I've always sort of wanted to keep in touch with my roots," says Jess Kwok, noting that her mother's family is still living in Guangzhou. "And I also had this curiosity and interest in working in Asia. Obviously learning a language would be super helpful."
Jess Kwok visited Shanghai for the World Expo 2010 and admits that she didn't really liked it. But when she came to study, she was hooked. "I love the fast-paced bustling-ness of it all. Auckland compared with that is just so slow."
The experience gave her more perspective on her parents. "I can understand why they wanted to emigrate to New Zealand."
Though China is growing in popularity, people in New Zealand still have misconceptions that sway them from China as an OE destination, Jesse Kwok says. "People kind of overlook China. Everyone has really negative stereotypes, like it's a Communist country, it's developing, it's dirty, they have all these scandals like bird flu. It puts people off."
Land of opportunities
Justin Yang's mother is from Singapore and his father is from China, but for him, culture wasn't the draw. "A lot of people are coming over for opportunity rather than cultural roots. If you're raised and born in New Zealand, culture, heritage and your roots - they don't really interest you that much," says the 29-year-old from West Auckland.
Yang is on what he calls a "floating OE," traveling around the world with his job as an engineer, interspersed with stints in New Zealand. He first came to Shanghai for a four-month job when he was 22. "Once I did get here, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought," he says over the phone from Tanghai in Hebei Province.
"It was actually mind-blowing how advanced it was, and how many people spoke English." He came back last year for the second time, and worked in Tanghai for a year as a commissioning engineer for Lanzatech.
Although he resisted learning Mandarin as a child, he now wishes he had learned to read and write. "Speaking it has already opened a lot of doors," he says. "But if I could read and write, it would make my job much easier."
Yang often encounters difficulty at restaurants where the staff are shocked that he can't read the menu, despite speaking fluent Chinese.
Despite initial hesitation, Yang recommends China.
"An OE in Europe would still open your eyes," he says. "But the difference is you have to push your personal boundaries a lot harder (in China) because it's not as easy."
Jess Kwok, Raymond Kwok and Yang have all found that people in China were often confused about how to treat Chinese-New Zealanders.
"At the end of the day, they see me as a New Zealander, who can understand and looks Chinese," says Raymond Kwok.
The combination works in his favor. "You can mix in with both crowds, like the expat community, really well, and you can also relate to locals."
For Yang, coming to China was an unexpected cultural awakening. "In New Zealand I always saw myself as a New Zealander, and never really thought about the fact that I actually look different from everybody else," he says. "That only really hit home when I was over here in China where everybody's Chinese, and you're like 'Oh, actually, I look like all of these guys. I'm actually closer to these guys than I am in New Zealand'."
Today he'd call himself New Zealand-Chinese. "I'm Chinese, I look Chinese, so I can't deny that fact," he says. "You don't really get acceptance from either country that you're in, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter."
Interestingly, not one of the trio sees themselves living in China long-term. "I'm loving this," says Raymond Kwok, "but for me, New Zealand is still home."
A matter of re nao
The China OE isn't restricted to Chinese-New Zealanders. Jenny Cuthbertson, 30, took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing where she spent three days. That was six years ago.
"I absolutely loved it," Cuthbertson says in an interview in Shanghai. "I went home resolved to do more about learning the language and, with my background in sports events, I really wanted to come back for the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
So she returned a year later, first volunteering in Beijing, then studying business in Hong Kong. She finished her business degree at Auckland University of Technology and returned to China in 2010 in Shanghai to study language at Fudan University. From there, Cuthbertson got a full-time job at the Kiwi Expats Association (KEA).
The initial attraction remains the same: the re nao or dynamism of China. "There are people everywhere and there are things happening all over the place at any time of the day. The more I got to know about the culture and the language and things, the more I got pulled in."
Cuthbertson also chose China because it was demanding. "The European OE is so predictable and easy, whereas China is more of a challenge, it's more excitement, slightly more of a pioneering spirit."
At times the dynamism and difference gets to be too much. "China has a lot of small challenges. We all talk about having a 'China day' where sometimes some of the systems or bureaucracy that's so different from what we're used to in New Zealand will really get to you, and the language barrier will get to you, and you get totally fed up and wonder why you're here. Generally on a day you do any kind of banking," Cuthbertson laughs.
Her time is coming to an end now, but Shanghai has taught Cuthbertson valuable language, business and life skills. "China really has opened my eyes to the world. I think that China's where it's at."
Unlike Cuthbertson, Wellington-born Jack Sheppard had always been fascinated with China. During his childhood there was a constant stream of Asian exchange students living with his family. He began learning Chinese at a weekend school on the recommendation of a Chinese-New Zealand friend. "Something really resonated," he says. "People say, 'Haha, you were Chinese in a previous life."
At Victoria University in Wellington, he majored in Chinese. When he turned 21, he went to Nanjing University on a scholarship with the Asia NZ foundation, then called the Asia 2000 foundation. Though he had been learning Chinese, arriving in China was a shock. "I quickly found out I couldn't speak, even though I really thought I could," Sheppard says.
He won the scholarship again, allowing him to stay on for a second year before returning to New Zealand. He has returned to China twice, first in a Te Papa traveling group, then to help at the Beijing Olympics. He was recruited by Spring Airlines, and now lives in Shanghai. "I don't feel like a foreigner anymore, despite being a big ugly foreigner," he says.
Sheppard finds there is still a lingering cold war mentality, with many people he meets questioning why he would want to live in China. But Sheppard is happy he chose China rather than the "cushy" option of Europe. It's taken him outside of his comfort zone, he's learned a lot about himself.
"I love how lyrical the language is, I love a lot of the literature, I love the food, I love how I can go out and sing karaoke any night of the week," the Kiwi says.
He calls it a "fantastic OE destination," adding that it's possible to live in an expat bubble and speak English. "But I dare you to come here and learn the language ... They have everything here, even cheese."
Raymond Kwok (left), Alistair Kwun (right) and another friend share a light moment at The Peak during their visit to Hong Kong.
More in photo gallery
AT an event in Auckland, New Zealand, in March, young Kiwis discussed OE (overseas experience) destinations. But what emerged at the gathering organized by Future Dragonz was surprising: Increasingly people were choosing Asia instead of Europe.
The figures, according to Statistics NZ, are clear. Back in 2001, only 273 Kiwis aged 18 to 30 arrived in China, planning to stay for 12 months or more. Last year, the number of young Kiwis migrating had jumped by more than 500 percent, to 1,482. In the same period, the number of 18- to 30-year-old Kiwis migrating to the United Kingdom for 12 months or more had halved - from 10,268 down to 4,996.
Alistair Kwun, who helps run Future Dragonz, a New Zealand-based network of Chinese young professionals, says some Chinese-Kiwis visit China for cultural reasons. In the 1990s there was a large influx of Asian families to New Zealand. "In some ways, it gives access to both (Chinese and Western) worlds, but in other ways it can be hard to know where you fit," he says.
As a result, says Kwun, many Chinese-New Zealanders like him are traveling to China to see how their parents lived - something he calls the "falling-leaves-return-home experience."
"A lot of us born overseas are wanting to come back to seek those cultural roots, whether it's to learn Chinese, travel back to our home village, or just travel in general," he says.
Seeing his great-grandfather's ancestral home was "quite emotional" for him, Kwun says. "From there you realize the contrast and what could have been had you been born in China," he says. "That could have been your experience. It would have been quite different from growing up in the West with all these luxuries."
Falling leaves return home
Twenty-eight-year-old Raymond Kwok, who hails from Auckland, is one such person who did his OE in China, in part for cultural reasons. His parents met in New Zealand, but they are originally from Guangdong Province. Two years ago, young Kwok decided to go on his OE, eventually settling on Hong Kong, only a 1.5-hour ferry ride from his ancestral village.
Through living in Hong Kong and traveling back to his ancestral village, Kwok has gained a better understanding of his background.
"My dad's the oldest son, and I'm his oldest son, so I feel there's sort of a paying respect and responsibility to connect," he says from Hong Kong over Skype. He also avoided the credit crisis in Europe and experienced something completely different.
Jess Kwok, 24, is also a Chinese-born New Zealander. She grew up in Auckland, but went back to visit her mother's family in Guangzhou a number of times throughout her childhood. After graduating from Auckland University in 2011 with a degree in economics and public health, she wasn't sure what to do. She got a one-year Confucius scholarship to study Chinese at Fudan University in Shanghai, ending in August 2012.
Although she had been to China before, she was nervous before flying off. "I've lived in Auckland all my life, and just suddenly deciding to take the plunge and move overseas to a foreign country for a whole year was kind of scary," she says in a Skype interview. "But I can confidently say it's been the best year of my life so far."
The desire to connect with heritage was part of the motivation. "I've always sort of wanted to keep in touch with my roots," says Jess Kwok, noting that her mother's family is still living in Guangzhou. "And I also had this curiosity and interest in working in Asia. Obviously learning a language would be super helpful."
Jess Kwok visited Shanghai for the World Expo 2010 and admits that she didn't really liked it. But when she came to study, she was hooked. "I love the fast-paced bustling-ness of it all. Auckland compared with that is just so slow."
The experience gave her more perspective on her parents. "I can understand why they wanted to emigrate to New Zealand."
Though China is growing in popularity, people in New Zealand still have misconceptions that sway them from China as an OE destination, Jesse Kwok says. "People kind of overlook China. Everyone has really negative stereotypes, like it's a Communist country, it's developing, it's dirty, they have all these scandals like bird flu. It puts people off."
Land of opportunities
Justin Yang's mother is from Singapore and his father is from China, but for him, culture wasn't the draw. "A lot of people are coming over for opportunity rather than cultural roots. If you're raised and born in New Zealand, culture, heritage and your roots - they don't really interest you that much," says the 29-year-old from West Auckland.
Yang is on what he calls a "floating OE," traveling around the world with his job as an engineer, interspersed with stints in New Zealand. He first came to Shanghai for a four-month job when he was 22. "Once I did get here, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought," he says over the phone from Tanghai in Hebei Province.
"It was actually mind-blowing how advanced it was, and how many people spoke English." He came back last year for the second time, and worked in Tanghai for a year as a commissioning engineer for Lanzatech.
Although he resisted learning Mandarin as a child, he now wishes he had learned to read and write. "Speaking it has already opened a lot of doors," he says. "But if I could read and write, it would make my job much easier."
Yang often encounters difficulty at restaurants where the staff are shocked that he can't read the menu, despite speaking fluent Chinese.
Despite initial hesitation, Yang recommends China.
"An OE in Europe would still open your eyes," he says. "But the difference is you have to push your personal boundaries a lot harder (in China) because it's not as easy."
Jess Kwok, Raymond Kwok and Yang have all found that people in China were often confused about how to treat Chinese-New Zealanders.
"At the end of the day, they see me as a New Zealander, who can understand and looks Chinese," says Raymond Kwok.
The combination works in his favor. "You can mix in with both crowds, like the expat community, really well, and you can also relate to locals."
For Yang, coming to China was an unexpected cultural awakening. "In New Zealand I always saw myself as a New Zealander, and never really thought about the fact that I actually look different from everybody else," he says. "That only really hit home when I was over here in China where everybody's Chinese, and you're like 'Oh, actually, I look like all of these guys. I'm actually closer to these guys than I am in New Zealand'."
Today he'd call himself New Zealand-Chinese. "I'm Chinese, I look Chinese, so I can't deny that fact," he says. "You don't really get acceptance from either country that you're in, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter."
Interestingly, not one of the trio sees themselves living in China long-term. "I'm loving this," says Raymond Kwok, "but for me, New Zealand is still home."
A matter of re nao
The China OE isn't restricted to Chinese-New Zealanders. Jenny Cuthbertson, 30, took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing where she spent three days. That was six years ago.
"I absolutely loved it," Cuthbertson says in an interview in Shanghai. "I went home resolved to do more about learning the language and, with my background in sports events, I really wanted to come back for the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
So she returned a year later, first volunteering in Beijing, then studying business in Hong Kong. She finished her business degree at Auckland University of Technology and returned to China in 2010 in Shanghai to study language at Fudan University. From there, Cuthbertson got a full-time job at the Kiwi Expats Association (KEA).
The initial attraction remains the same: the re nao or dynamism of China. "There are people everywhere and there are things happening all over the place at any time of the day. The more I got to know about the culture and the language and things, the more I got pulled in."
Cuthbertson also chose China because it was demanding. "The European OE is so predictable and easy, whereas China is more of a challenge, it's more excitement, slightly more of a pioneering spirit."
At times the dynamism and difference gets to be too much. "China has a lot of small challenges. We all talk about having a 'China day' where sometimes some of the systems or bureaucracy that's so different from what we're used to in New Zealand will really get to you, and the language barrier will get to you, and you get totally fed up and wonder why you're here. Generally on a day you do any kind of banking," Cuthbertson laughs.
Her time is coming to an end now, but Shanghai has taught Cuthbertson valuable language, business and life skills. "China really has opened my eyes to the world. I think that China's where it's at."
Unlike Cuthbertson, Wellington-born Jack Sheppard had always been fascinated with China. During his childhood there was a constant stream of Asian exchange students living with his family. He began learning Chinese at a weekend school on the recommendation of a Chinese-New Zealand friend. "Something really resonated," he says. "People say, 'Haha, you were Chinese in a previous life."
At Victoria University in Wellington, he majored in Chinese. When he turned 21, he went to Nanjing University on a scholarship with the Asia NZ foundation, then called the Asia 2000 foundation. Though he had been learning Chinese, arriving in China was a shock. "I quickly found out I couldn't speak, even though I really thought I could," Sheppard says.
He won the scholarship again, allowing him to stay on for a second year before returning to New Zealand. He has returned to China twice, first in a Te Papa traveling group, then to help at the Beijing Olympics. He was recruited by Spring Airlines, and now lives in Shanghai. "I don't feel like a foreigner anymore, despite being a big ugly foreigner," he says.
Sheppard finds there is still a lingering cold war mentality, with many people he meets questioning why he would want to live in China. But Sheppard is happy he chose China rather than the "cushy" option of Europe. It's taken him outside of his comfort zone, he's learned a lot about himself.
"I love how lyrical the language is, I love a lot of the literature, I love the food, I love how I can go out and sing karaoke any night of the week," the Kiwi says.
He calls it a "fantastic OE destination," adding that it's possible to live in an expat bubble and speak English. "But I dare you to come here and learn the language ... They have everything here, even cheese."
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Festival strengthens ties
TWO CULTURES: Ngati Whatua Orakei Trust Board chairman Grant Hawke and Auckland Chinese Community Centre chair Arthur Loo are excited about this Saturday’s Taniwha and Dragon Festival.
Historic cultural links forged in the early twentieth century will be honoured this weekend.
The ties binding the Maori and Chinese communities will be celebrated in the Taniwha and Dragon Festival at Orakei Marae this Saturday.
Ngati Whatua Orakei Trust Board chairman Grant Hawke says people may be surprised to learn the depth of the connections between local Chinese and iwi which stretch back to the 1930s and 1940s when members of Ngati Whatua Orakei worked for Chinese at Glen Innes market gardens.
"It was very important. It supplied a huge amount of employment for Maori and meant they could bring home fresh vegetables," he says.
Mr Hawke also has a very personal connection to the gardens. His paternal grandmother worked the fields. After she suffered a heart attack while working, his father was raised by two Chinese families.
The Auckland Chinese Community Centre chair Arthur Loo says there are many similarities between Maori and Chinese culture.
"Like Maori people, we worship our ancestors, revere our elders and believe in consensus decision-making. It's about the subjugation of the self for the greater good of the community," Mr Loo says.
"The festival will provide a symbolic welcome, but I think it goes to help strengthen and emphasise the ties Maori and Chinese have always had."
He says the two cultures also have ancestral connections. "The DNA of Maori can be traced back to a native hill tribe of Taiwan."
The free Taniwha & Dragon Festival is the culmination of talks between marae leaders, Auckland Chinese community leaders and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.
It starts with a huge Chinese dancing dragon and a Maori welcoming ceremony or powhiri.
The festival that follows will feature traditional and contemporary Maori and Chinese entertainment, culture, crafts and food stalls.
There will also be a workshop where traditional Maori and Chinese kites will be made and flown.
This is only the start of the renewed collaboration, Mr Hawke says.
The powhiri kicks off at Orakei Marae at 9am and the festival will run from 10am to 5pm.
- © Fairfax NZ News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/east-bays-courier/8585289/Festival-strengthens-ties
KARINA ABADIA
Last updated 05:00 24/04/2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Singing mayor strays off key in campaign
Singing mayor strays off key in campaign
5:30 AM Sunday Oct 3, 2010
Mayoress Ying Foon with the album by Mayor Meng Foon. Photo / Supplied
In the remaindered rack of Gisborne's Dollar Dreams discount shop are the last couple of copies of Tu Mai, a rare but not very collectible compact disc of the town's smiling mayor singing his own compositions.
Nobody else sells the CD and - let's be honest - Dollar Dreams sells it only because Mayor Meng Foon owns the store.
Meng Liu Foon is one of the enigmas of local body politics in this country.
He swept to a landslide victory in 2001 to become New Zealand's first Chinese mayor in a region known for biculturalism, not multiculturalism. He is seeking his fourth term against one opponent, whose early efforts had him lagging against Foon's charisma.
Foon's Chinese heritage and relative youth set him apart from the start: he was 42 years old on a council where the average age was closer to 60.
There is something likeable about his direct approach, the way he speaks "Menglish" and his tendency to make gaffes in public places. Like the time he told a group of people with mental illness they should keep themselves clean, because people did not want to hire people who smelled.
But he never forgets the name of a constituent. He can walk into a marae at Rangitukia or a rural hall at Tiniroto and address everyone by name during the council's annual community consultation tours.
He is surely one of the few people, anywhere, who speaks both Cantonese and Maori. This makes him a de facto representative of half the region's population, and, for this reason, he was widely thought to be unbeatable.
Until this past week.
Foon does not only speak Maori, he can think like a Maori and do business the Maori way. One suspects it is similar to the canny way of the Chinese.
He started in business as an 8-year-old, using a wooden box to reach the till in the family vege shop. At 10 he and his brother were making $12,000 a year each, selling puha to the local markets, banking the proceeds in their Post Office Savings books at school.
"Come March our father would say it's time to sign this little slip of paper and then he would go out and buy new land or a tractor so we think we contributed well to the family business."
By the time he was in his early 20s, the family business included the TAB and liquor store in Kaiti, where Meng Foon discovered how much money people had for spending.
By 1988 the family owned the Kaiti Mall.
* * *
Going into his home at Makaraka to see the mayor cooking a traditional dish, it is obvious he is also steeped in Chinese traditions. On the wall is a photo of the infant Meng, with his trademark round face, cheeky smile and winking eyes, in a pushchair being pushed by his mother, who looks as glamorous as his wife Ying.
In the kitchen he is surrounded by Ying and her sisters, who boss him around with indulgent affection. He says one dish would be most unfortunate, so the family decided on eight courses, "an auspicious number".
Auspicious and prosperous are Foon's favourite words and part of his personal mantra.
His own special dish is a divine creation of raw oysters suspended in a lightly cooked Chinese omelette.
After dinner, guests are led to the mayor's upstairs sanctum, to view documentaries that have screened at Te Papa and on television, and treated to a the sounds of his CD, Tu Mai. He is certainly talented. Foon can sing like a Viennese choirboy in Maori.
But there is something else about Meng Foon that has consistently raised his profile, and that is his tendency to shoot from the lip.
"Up the coast" he switches into full tikanga mode, which he learned as a schoolboy from his workmates in the vege fields of Makaraka where he spent more time in the paddocks than at school.
Outlining the achievements of his council, his favourite yarn is about the enormous cost of the city's new wastewater plant. At $40 million, this is really costing them only the equivalent of a bottle of Pump a day, he says - and even if they have diarrhoea and go 10 times to the loo it costs no more. Although some of the attending executives may cringe, the audiences enjoy this banter.
His councillors take his public announcements in stride - they either over-ride or ratify them at later meetings.
On the East Coast's high incidence of drink-driving crashes he made national headlines with his comments over a Steinlager-goes-well-with-marijuana mentality. After a nationwide survey on flatulence, he said a local fondness for kinas - or sea eggs - might be to blame for Gisborne topping the list, claiming also that everything in the town was cooked with onions.
While some cringe at his blunt approach, most people in his electorate view it as a likeable "what you see is what you get" honesty.
But sometimes he goes too far. Like when he claimed this month that he - "myself personally" - saved the ratepayers $54 million on the wastewater treatment plant. After being challenged about this, he apologised for wrongfully taking the credit, attributing this to his natural enthusiasm and positivity.
Then were the revelations over his credit card use, which had been deemed by his council minders as acceptable.
The receipts that came later showed Meng Foon was not far behind that other singing mayor, Manukau's Len Brown, having racked up nearly $8000. It was spent mostly on meals and entertainment, including a $2340 Christmas shout for his councillors at a licensed cafe.
The lavish shout, and the fact that he used his council card to buy himself a coffee or tea while on council business, caused local flak, especially when, in the face of a 7 per cent rate hike, people found out he was being paid $1800 a week. But most seemed reassured by Meng's comments that he was always frugal, and just as often paid the cost of hosting people from his own pocket.
Then came the faux pas to beat them all, a court report from Palmerston North last week revealing Meng Foon had provided a reference for a Gisborne Mongrel Mob member, Joseph Donnelly, being sentenced there for a particularly nasty rape.
Many people, including police, were gobsmacked by his official support for a man the police have struggled to convict - often because the victims have been unwilling to testify.
It came after an intensive community campaign over the past few years for zero tolerance of violence against women, leaving many people wondering whether this was a case of naivety, misguided generosity, stupidity or just "buffoonery".
His opponent Gary Hope has surged ahead in unofficial local polls, but has not made hay out of Foon's blunder, saying it is not his style to kick a man who is down.
He says he has nothing against Meng. He just believes it is time for a change.
"People in power too long get too complacent," says Hope.
Foon says he regrets the letter intensely and did not really think about the repercussions.
He shows me his new rules for writing letters and they include guidelines such as "will it come back to bite us in the bum?"
He does not want to lose the mayoralty. He says it's the best job he's had.
- Herald on Sunday http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10677802
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Unusual sea tragedy recalled
An exhibition in Kohukohu is dedicated to one of Northland's worst - and most unusual - maritime tragedies.
In 1902, the steamship SS Ventnor sank off Northland's west coast, claiming the lives of all but a few of its crew. Reports of the death toll vary, but at least 13 perished.
The ship was on its way from Wellington to Hong Kong when it struck a reef off Cape Egmont. The captain decided to head to Auckland via North Cape for repairs, but got no further than Hokianga Heads before the ship went down.
The cargo included 5000 tonnes of coal and 499 coffins carrying the remains of Chinese goldminers who had died in New Zealand but were to have been taken home for burial in their family villages. It was a great tragedy for the miners' relatives, because traditional Chinese belief is that a soul will not rest unless the grave is tended by family members.
Many of the coffins washed up along the west coast, where they were found by the people of Te Roroa and Te Rarawa. Not knowing where the caskets came from, but realising their significance, Maori buried the miners along the coast and in their own cemeteries.
The story had been all but forgotten until 2007, when Rawene woman Liu Sheung Wong made a documentary about the tragedy and met Te Roroa elders, who told her their ancestors had found the coffins and given them proper burials.
Contacts were forged between the descendants of the Chinese miners and the Maori who had buried them, culminating on Friday with dedication ceremonies for memorial plaques at Waipoua and Mitimiti.
It was also the miners' descendants' first chance in more than 100 years to perform the rituals of Ching Ming, a Chinese custom in which people visit the graves of their ancestors around April 5 each year.
About 50 descendants also attended the opening of an exhibition at Blackspace Gallery in Kohukohu on Friday evening, in which 19 mostly Maori artists explore themes of loss, memory and connections. The Kohukohu community staged a powhiri for their Chinese guests, who lit joss sticks and made offerings of food at an altar set up next to the gallery.
The exhibition, which is sponsored by the Chinese Historical Ventnor Group, is open from 10am-3pm, Tuesday to Sunday, until April 19. Blackspace Gallery is a few doors up from Village Arts in Kohukohu, North Hokianga.
See Saturday's Advocate for more on the Ventnor and Friday's historic visit by the miners' descendants. 
SPIRITUAL VISIT: Connie Kum (right) lights a bundle of joss sticks to honour the souls of the SS Ventnor, with Liu Shueng Wong of Rawene (left) and Kai Shek Luey of Auckland. Peter de Graaf
Peter de Graaf
9th Apr 2013 1:00 PM
SPIRITUAL VISIT: Connie Kum (right) lights a bundle of joss sticks to honour the souls of the SS Ventnor, with Liu Shueng Wong of Rawene (left) and Kai Shek Luey of Auckland. Peter de Graaf
Peter de Graaf
9th Apr 2013 1:00 PM
Peace at last for Northland's 'hungry ghosts'
A Northland woman's quest to discover the truth behind a century-year-old maritime tragedy has brought two peoples together - and brought peace to hundreds of ''hungry ghosts''.
The sinking of the SS Ventnor off Northland's west coast in 1902 with more than 500 Chinese gold miners on board would have been New Zealand's worst maritime tragedy - but for the fact that most of them were already dead.
The ship was carrying the remains of 499 miners who had died in the South Island's goldfields and were to have to been buried in their home villages in China.
According to traditional Chinese belief a soul can find rest only if its grave is tended by family members. In return for offerings of food and incense during the annual festival of Ching Ming, souls of the departed will grant the living a year of good luck and happiness. Lost or forgotten souls are doomed to wander the earth as ''hungry ghosts''.
The loss of life when the Ventnor sank off Hokianga Heads (see the story below for details of the sinking) was significant, but it was also a tragedy for the dead miners' families. They were never able to bury their men or carry out the rites needed to put their souls to rest.
But that changed last week, 111 years after the sinking, when descendants of those pioneering miners were finally able to carry out the rituals needed to satisfy the hungry ghosts.
Just as importantly, the miners' descendants came to Northland's wild west coast to give thanks to the descendants of another people - the Maori of Te Roroa and Te Rarawa who had found the mysterious caskets and bones on their beaches and buried them, sometimes alongside their own ancestors.
The final chapter of the Ventnor tragedy began with Rawene woman Wong Liu Shueng, a third-generation New Zealander whose roots lie in the same district as some of the lost miners.
She had long heard whispers about bones from the Ventnor washing up along the coast, so when she had to make a short film for a movie-making course in 2007 it was the obvious topic to tackle.
Ms Wong made contact with Te Roroa elders, who confirmed their ancestors had gathered the bones and buried them. Many were laid to rest in a wahi tapu just south of Kawerua, on the edge of Waipoua Forest.
She also made contact with Te Rarawa further north, who had passed down similar stories, and began organising ceremonies to put the miners' souls to rest and give thanks to west coast iwi. It was a slow, laborious process - but if the souls had gone hungry for more than century, she figured they could wait a few years longer.
The preparations were finally ready last Thursday, when 100 descendants of those long-lost Chinese miners - mostly from Auckland, but with a few from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia - travelled to Te Roroa's headquarters in the Waipoua Forest to unveil a plaque amid a freshly planted kauri grove.
The inscription, in English, Chinese and Maori, reads: ''With gratitude of the New Zealand descendants of the Poon Fah and Jeng Seng districts to the iwi of this area for respecting and caring for the remains of the Chinese washed ashore following the sinking of the SS Ventnor on 28th October 1902. May their souls now rest in peace in your rohe.''
They then travelled to Kawerua, the site of a once bustling coastal settlement, for the first of many bei jey ceremonies. The ritual honours the dead when the exact location of their remains is unknown and involves calling the ancestors, lighting joss sticks and sharing food, usually chicken and pork.
On Friday the group made the long journey to Mitimiti, North Hokianga, where a century ago bones were gathered up and buried on Maunga Hione. The artist Ralph Hotere was laid to rest on the same hill earlier this year.
They were formally welcomed to Matihetihe Marae and dedicated another plaque, this one giving thanks to the people of Te Rarawa. It is mounted on what Ms Wong describes as a ''spellbindingly beautiful'' Chinese gate overlooking the sea.
On Saturday they visited the lookout at Signal Station Rd, from where the signalmaster watched the Ventnor slide beneath the waves, and the giant dunes of North Hokianga Head for a final bei jey ceremony.
Among the Chinese Kiwis in the group was Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon, who said he had joined the miners' descendants because he wanted to be with them as they went ''from grief to gladness''.
During yet another welcome, this time at Kohukohu's Blackspace gallery, Mr Foon said from the tragedy of the Ventnor had come diamonds.
''It was a tragedy for our ancestors who never got back to China. Their womenfolk, their children, are still mourning for them. But the beautiful thing about this is we've formed a new relationship with Te Rarawa and Te Roroa, and we've found strong similarities between the cultures - especially our desire to go home,'' he said.
Te Roroa elder Alex Nathan said the story of the Ventnor's bones was all but a myth to the Chinese community before Ms Wong made contact, so they were surprised to find it was common knowledge among Maori living on the coast.
The Chinese expressed their gratitude many times during the three-day visit but Maori did not bury the remains for the thanks, he said.
``Our people were just obligated to take care of the bones until such time as the rightful descendants appeared on the scene. They didn't do it with a view to being thanked. It was an obligation, we'd do it for anyone.''
It was the first time many of the Chinese visitors had had such close interaction with Maori. They were surprised to discover parallels between the two cultures, and by the end were referring to their Maori hosts as ''our long-lost cousins'', Mr Nathan said.
Thirty-nine of those taking part in last week's journey were descendants of Choie Sew Hoy, an Otago businessman whose remains sank with the Ventnor. They included great-great-grandson Peter Sew Hoy, until recently a GP in Dunedin.
''To be the first descendants since the boat went down 111 years ago to be able to pay our respects and do the Ching Ming ceremony, at the site where Choie Sew Hoy is, was very, very emotional.''
Mr Sew Hoy hoped more descendants would come to the west coast each year to mark Ching Ming.
Ms Wong said on one level she was glad the journey she had begun many years to uncover the story behind the Ventnor's washed-up bones, and give thanks to those who had cared for them, was now over.
Many of those who took part in last week's commemorations had discovered how much they had in common with Maori, and some had even discovered family links. She was certain that all had gained a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Chinese.
And what about the hungry ghosts?
''I'm sure they're smiling now. I'm sure they're full up and I'm sure they're happy.''
The story behind the Ventnor's ill-fated voyage
The ill-fated SS Ventnor was built in Glasgow in 1901 and chartered in 1902 by a charity called the Cheong Sing Tong, set up by the Chinese community in New Zealand to return the remains of their countrymen to their home villages in China.
In the 1800s thousands of Chinese men, mainly from the then impoverished province of Guangdong, came to New Zealand to dig for gold. Although life was hard they could earn a lot more in the goldfields than they could in China, and most hoped to return home to build better lives for the families they had left behind.
Many, however, died in New Zealand. According to traditional Chinese beliefs, graves must be tended by family members to ensure a good afterlife for the deceased and prosperity for their descendants - but that can only happen if they are buried close to family, usually in their home village.
Those who are buried where family members are unable to practice the proper rituals cannot rest in peace and become what is known as ''hungry ghosts''.
Hence the efforts of the Cheong Sing Tong, which in 1883 collected the remains of 230 miners and shipped them home to China. In 1902 the society prepared an even bigger shipment, exhuming 499 miners from 40 cemeteries in Otago, Southland and the West Coast.
The bones were sealed in lead boxes, which where were then placed inside kauri caskets and taken to Wellington to be loaded into purpose-built compartments under the Ventnor's deck. The ship's other cargo was 5000 tonnes of West Coast coal destined for Hong Kong.
However, on October 27, a day after leaving Wellington, the ship hit a reef off the Taranaki coast. The captain decided to head around North Cape to Auckland for repairs but the damage was too great. The ship sank off Hokianga Heads on October 28, taking its cargo and most of its crew to the bottom. Only a few made it alive to Omapere.
Figures for the death toll vary. It is thought at least 13 died, including the elderly Chinese ``attendants'' given free passage home in return for looking after the remains. A attempt by the Cheong Sing Tong to salvage the caskets failed.
The sinking was a great tragedy for the men's relatives, who feared their souls would be unable to find peace.
Among those whose remains were on board was Cheong Sing Tong founding member Choie Sew Hoy, whose grief-stricken son Choie Kum Poy reportedly said: ''My poor father, he has died twice''.
It is only in the past few years that the miners' descendants have learned that not all 499 bodies sank forgotten to the bottom of the Tasman Sea. Some caskets washed up along the west coast from Kawerua in the south to Mitimiti in the north, where they were discovered by Maori of Te Roroa and Te Rarawa tribes and buried.
In Kawerua horses were used to drag the lead caskets up what later became known as Chinaman's Hill; at Mitimiti, bones found scattered along the beach were gathered up and buried alongside Maori dead.
The story had been largely forgotten outside the west coast's Maori communities until Rawene woman Wong Liu Shueng, whose ancestors hail from the same Jeng Seng district where some of the miners were born, made contact with Te Roroa for a short film about the Ventnor.
Last week's visit by the miners' descendants was timed to coincide with Ching Ming, a festival dating back more than 2500 years in which people visit the graves of their ancestors, honouring them with incense and offerings of food. In return the ancestors grant their descendants a year of good luck and happiness. Translated as Ancestor's Day or Tomb-sweeping Day, Ching Ming is a national holiday in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The records of whose remains were on board have been lost so the only known descendants are those of Choie Sew Hoy.
He arrived in New Zealand in 1869, setting himself up as a merchant supplying the goldfields. His business acumen and command of English made him wealthy. He invented a dredge suitable for working river beds and eventually owned 11 mining companies. He founded the Cheong Sing Tong in 1882 and died in 1901. 
Peter de Graaf
14th Apr 2013 10:18 AM
Peter de Graaf
14th Apr 2013 10:18 AM
Saturday, April 13, 2013
David Fung and Te Roroa's kaumatua Fraser Toi
It's been 111 years since the Chinese-chartered freight ship SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast, spilling over 499 coffin "boxes" and two full-sized coffins into the sea.
Now the so-called "hungry ghosts" from its wreck have finally been laid to rest.
About 100 Chinese people from around New Zealand and Australia gathered in the Waipoua Forest and Mitimiti to ensure their ancestors - mostly goldminers from the 1800s - received the "good afterlife" at an unveiling, blessing and dedication to the Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi who found their calico-encased bones along their shoreline and buried them in their own urupa (burial grounds).
April 4 and 6 were chosen to coincide with the Ching Ming Festival when the Chinese honour their dead and visit their graves.
Laid to rest - 111 years later
It's been 111 years since the Chinese-chartered freight ship SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast, spilling over 499 coffin "boxes" and two full-sized coffins into the sea.
Now the so-called "hungry ghosts" from its wreck have finally been laid to rest.
About 100 Chinese people from around New Zealand and Australia gathered in the Waipoua Forest and Mitimiti to ensure their ancestors - mostly goldminers from the 1800s - received the "good afterlife" at an unveiling, blessing and dedication to the Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi who found their calico-encased bones along their shoreline and buried them in their own urupa (burial grounds).
April 4 and 6 were chosen to coincide with the Ching Ming Festival when the Chinese honour their dead and visit their graves.
Chinese flocked to New Zealand's South Island in the 1800s seeking their fortune in gold but most ended up living, and then dying, in poverty, buried thousands of miles from their families and homeland.
Chinese families need to tend the graves of their loved ones yearly to ensure them a good afterlife as well as prosperity for their descendants. This was traditionally done in their home villages.
The dead will not be able to rest in peace and become known as "hungry ghosts" if relatives can't perform the appropriate cultural observances such as offering incense and food.
The Cheong Sing Tong Association was set up in 1882 by Chinese men from the Poon Yu and Fah Yuen counties of Guangdong province.
One of its aims was to send the remains of men from those two counties back to their villages in China for reburial.
The founding leader of the association was wealthy Otago businessman Choie Sew Hoy.
The first shipment in 1883 saw the remains of 230 men from Otago and West Coast successfully returned to China but the second wasn't so lucky. On board were the remains of 265 men loaded at Dunedin, 173 at Greymouth, 26 at other ports and 10 in Wellington.
The bodies were disinterred from 40 formal and "informal" cemeteries. Also on board were the remains of Choie Sew Hoy in one of the full-sized coffins.
On October 27, a day after the ship left Wellington, the Ventnor struck a reef off the coast of Taranaki, eventually foundering off the Hokianga coast on the evening of October 28, 1902.
Only three of the four lifeboats launched made it to shore, with 13 crew losing their lives, including the captain and second mate.
A steamer was launched to try and find the wreck and at least some of the remains, but apart from the ones that drifted ashore and were buried by iwi, the others - and the wreck - were never located.
The coming together of both cultures in the tiny Northland community of Waipoua can finally lay the Ventnor ghosts to rest and pave a way forward for the Chinese to remember their own.
The heavens - and umbrellas - opened as the powhiri began.
Te Roroa's kaumatua Fraser Toi says conditions were fitting.
"These are the tears of our ancestors raining down on us now," he says.
"The fog is filled with aroha, love and spirituality and everything happening around us now is for your ancestors.
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"They're probably saying ‘it's about time you fellas came'."
Mr Toi says the event will go down in the annals of history, about a very special people who came to this country to work and make a living and who lived in poverty and were buried here.
"And when they died, just like us, they wanted to take them home."
Chinese Consul General Niu Qingbao says the balance of relations has grown between China and New Zealand in the last few years.
"This relationship is China's best of any western country and this good relationship came from people just like yourself," he told the crowd.
"The Chinese and Maori have been doing a lot to promote mutual understanding and I firmly believe China and New Zealand can prosper hand in hand and the Chinese and Maori communities can live in harmony, love each other and prosper very much."
Linus Chin, president of the Otago Southland Chinese Association, presented a beautiful piece of greenstone from the Otago-Southland district, saying there were many levels of meaning to it.
"Like our ancestors that were lost in Ventnor, it was born on the land, some ends up in the ocean and washes back on shore for people to find, to treasure and look after.
"It was a great thing you did and I have great pleasure in presenting it."
Auckland businessman and Choie Sew Hoy descendant Donald Sew Hoy says he has been waiting for "this moment" since his great-great grandfather arrived in Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown to seek his fortune in 1869.
"Generations later we come to this country and meet our cousins."
Mr Sew Hoy says he turned down an invitation to be in China with Prime Minister John Key this week so he could come to the forest.
"It is more important to thank the local iwi.
"This is very personal to me, which is why I am not in China today."
Te Roroa Commercial Development director Alex Nathan says the project had its origins back in the 80s when there was an archaeological project in the forest.
"We were recording and locating these sites and wahi tapu [places of traditional and historical significance]."
Wong Liu Shueng picked up the story when she moved to Rawene and wanted to make a documentary.
"It has been deeply gratifying to fulfil our cultural obligations and to see so many Chinese coming together from different village affiliations and help expose this extraordinary piece of New Zealand, Maori and Chinese history," she says.
Following the Waipoua ceremony, the Chinese held a ceremony at Kawerua beach close to where some of the caskets washed ashore before they returned to the forest to plant some kauri trees and establish the Ventnor Grove.
The groups continued north to Mitimiti to unveil a second plaque near Te Rarawa marae, Matihetihe, on Friday.
- © Fairfax NZ News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/dargaville-districts/8527253/Laid-to-rest-111-years-later/
JO BELWORTHY
Last updated 05:00 10/04/2013
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