Friday, September 5, 2014

TO GROW ROOTS WHERE THEY LAND”

TO GROW ROOTS WHERE THEY LAND” "Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Chinese War Refugees in NZ" 2014 marks the 75th Anniversary of the New Zealand government allowing 239 women and 244 children refugees from Guangdong, China to come and join their husbands and fathers in New Zealand because of the Japanese invasion of China. This watershed event can be attributable to the formation of the New Zealand Chinese community. Prior to this, there were 3000 Chinese in New Zealand – and of this number, there were only 120 Chinese families. With the families reuniting in NZ, Chinese in NZ started to put down roots in their adopted country. Prior to this, a lot of focus was for the Chinese to make their fortune and return to China. With families together, NZ could be called “home” and roots were planted. We are holding a special function on Sunday 12 October at Alexandra Park to gather all the living refugees and their descendents to celebrate this anniversary. Our Chinese community is very special and we acknowledge the sacrifices that our parents, grandparents and great grandparents made - working hard in their adopted country to make it our home. At our function we will also be raising money for the WISE Collective, which is a non-profit organisation supporting refugee women to make a better life in NZ. I hope that you and your extended families are able to join us in this celebration. Book your tickets now as there is limited availability. Please fill in the attached form to order tickets. Please pass this email onto your family - our database only lists one email address per extended family - so we would appreciate your help to share this with your families and anyone else that may be interested in attending this community event. For more information please contact email: 75thnzca@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The trip to the grave yard.

The old Homestead in the Chinese Village

Just found in China- Relative's Urns holding bones

HAR GEE CHANS IN NEW ZEALAND

HAR GEE CHANS IN NEW ZEALAND The history of the Chans from Har Gee in New Zealand began with the arrival of the first men from the village in the 1890s. The men represented several families, a large proportion of the village community, all determined to make money to improve their living standards back in China. Their intention was always to live in China but a series of unfortunate historical incidents in the 1930s-1940s meant that that decision was taken out of their hands. Since then there have been several generations of Chans who now call New Zealand home and can proudly trace their ancestry back to a little village called Har Gee in Guangdong, China. Published by the Har Gee Chans Reunion Committee 2014, this book celebrates the 75th year of arrival of our Har Gee womenfolk and children in 1939. 從下基村來新西蘭的陳氏子孙