Abstract
This chapter aims to present an overview of the PRC Chinese migrant community in New Zealand, which has developed since the passage of the 1987 Immigration Act. The first part of this chapter relies on New Zealand immigration and census data to analyse two large influxes of PRC immigrants to New Zealand, during the mid-1990s and the early 2000s respectively. The second focuses on examining recent PRC immigrants’ adaptation and acculturation through analysing the reciprocal relationship between these migrants and the New Zealand-based Chinese media during the New Zealand general elections. These media (including print, broadcasting and the Internet) clearly reveal the recent arrivals’ perceptions of New Zealand and their aspirations in the new home country. With China’s rise, this research also provides an alternative way to investigate how the expansion of its “soft power” has swayed the changing identities of the Chinese overseas.
Some content of this chapter has appeared in Asian Culture, volume 34, 59–82 (2010), International Metropolis Project’s Feature of the Month in 2010, Huaqiao huaren lishi yanjiu 华侨华人历史研究 volume 93, 21–30 (March 2011), and A Virtual Chinatown: the Diasporic Mediasphere of Chinese Migrants in New Zealand. Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2013.
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Notes
- 1.
Data from the Official Report of China Tourism Industry for 1998, for more detail, see http://www.lw23.com/paper_107769631_4. Accessed 19 April 2010.
- 2.
Data from China’s Ministry of Public Security, for more details, see http://www.mps.gov.cn/n16/n84147/n84211/n84424/index.html. Accessed 15 December 2009.
- 3.
New Zealand conducts its census every 5 years. This chapter was written largely based on the 2006 census data. The 2011 census was delayed until 2013 because of the devastating Canterbury Earthquake; its final result has not been released yet.
- 4.
The Chinese government did not intervene in the international education market before this, and illegal operations and frauds were rampant. This new regulation ensures that only qualified and licensed intermediary agencies are eligible to provide consulting service to self-funded students studying overseas. Statistics from China’s Ministry of Education show that the total number of such students grew rapidly from 32,293 in 2000 to 128,700 in 2007, almost a four-fold increase. For more details, see http://www.moe.edu.cn. Accessed 21 January 2010.
- 5.
In New Zealand, business residence covers six categories; statistics show that PRC business immigrants primarily fell into the Investor Category and the Entrepreneur Category.
- 6.
For more detail, see http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/statistics/. Accessed 16 December 2009.
- 7.
For more details, see http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/statistics/. Accessed 16 December 2009.
- 8.
During the 1990s when these PRC migrants arrived, it required a minimum 3-year of residence in New Zealand before citizenship could be applied for; the minimum length of residence was raised to 5 years in 2005. New Zealanders’ move to Australia is made easy by the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement, which since 1973 has allowed Australian and New Zealand citizens to live and work in each other’s country without restrictions.
- 9.
Subsequent to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Deng Xiaoping lost his absolute power as official leader of the Chinese Communist Party and retired from office. However, in early 1992 he toured Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai and made influential speeches reasserting his agenda for the further reform of China’s economy. This was followed by China’s introduction of stock markets, the expansion of foreign investments, the privatisation of state enterprises, etc. Ever since, the ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ has become the new ideological engine driving the Chinese economy.
- 10.
New Zealand runs its general election every 3 years. Once 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident who has lived in the country for 1 year or more without leaving the country, is required by law to register on the Parliamentary Electoral Roll. Voting is not compulsory. New Zealand has been applying an electoral system known as Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) since 1996. MMP was designed to enhance the political opportunities of small parties, giving representation to all those crossing the threshold of 5 % of the overall vote or winning an electorate seat. With the party vote determining the overall distribution of seats, electorate MPs and list MPs (according to the rankings chosen by party hierarchy) together comprise the New Zealand Parliament. Larger parties that fail to win a majority of the seats in Parliament have to work with small parties, which may strongly influence the construction of the government. The period of the 2005 New Zealand general election was defined as starting from 25th July 2005, when the Prime Minister Helen Clark officially announced the date of this election, to 21st October 2005, shortly after the new coalition government was formed. This period was 13 weeks in total.
- 11.
http://www.people.com.cn/GB/jingji/1045/2095334.html. Accessed 26 October 2011.
- 12.
At the end of 1997, the Chinese government introduced the Minimum Living Standard Allowance. Shortly afterwards, a new social security system aiming to cover a wider range of Chinese citizens was implemented under the management of the newly established Ministry of Labour and Social Security. However, branch offices of this ministry in all provinces across China were finally set up by the end of 1999. Hussain (2007, p. 112) comments that, “both rural and urban social security systems are highly decentralised”. For instance, social insurance and pension schemes cover only 7 % of the total rural population in China (ibid.,110).
- 13.
In New Zealand, the idea of government provision of social security can be traced back much earlier. The first Liberal government introduced the old age pensions in 1898.
- 14.
Being centre-left, the Green Party believes in ‘post-materialist’ values and advocates liberal views such as the protection of women’s and minorities’ rights. The party often criticises China’s environmental damage caused by its rapid industralisation; it also openly expresses sympathy of both the exiled Tibetan government under the Dalai Lama and the recent East Turkestan independence movement in Xinjiang.
- 15.
The New Zealand Chinese Business Roundtable Council (NZCBR) was founded in February 2008 by a group of recent business migrants from China.
- 16.
- 17.
The organisers claimed that 10,000 people participated in the protest; however, the New Zealand police estimated the figure to be around 3,000 according to the author’s interview. This protest happened shortly after several brutal homicides of Asian immigrants in south Auckland. People particpating in this protest had great concerns about New Zealand’s law and order, which they perceived tolerated criminals, but did not protect the interests of victims. They also considered themselves as the target of racism. For more details, see http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/1890726. Accessed 8 July 2008.
- 18.
For more details, see http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200705/30/eng20070530_379187.html and http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/30/america/pollution.php. Accessed 1 March 2008.
- 19.
For more details, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7188122.stm. Accessed 1 March 2008.
- 20.
‘Hukou’ is a record of household registration, which officially identifies a Chinese citizen as an urban or rural resident. China originally implemented the ‘Hukou’ system in the 1950s. Under this system, rural residents are strictly prohibited from living in cities without an official urban residency permit. They are not entitled to the same social welfare as urban residents. This system has institutionally differentiated the Chinese citizens into two worlds. Thanks to China’s economic boom, the system has been eroded since the 1980s, with the rural population increasingly leaving the land to find jobs and a better life in many large Chinese cities.
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Li, P. (2014). New Chinese Immigrants to New Zealand: A PRC Dimension*. In: Zhang, J., Duncan, H. (eds) Migration in China and Asia. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8759-8_14
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