Commissioned by the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust, this reader-friendly book will appeal to both academics and to the general public with interests in New Zealand history and overseas Chinese history.

GOLDEN ENTERPRISE

New Zealand Chinese Merchants 1860s–1970s
Cantonese merchants facilitated early Chinese immigration to New Zealand and their social and business networks laid the foundation of the Chinese community in the South Pacific. They played a major role in the making of Chinese New Zealanders, against the background of New Zealand's changing relationships with China, Britain and beyond. This book revisits New Zealand Chinese history from the 1860s to the 1970s.
In 2002, the New Zealand government formally apologised to the early settler Chinese community for the actions of previous governments that imposed a poll tax on Chinese persons entering New Zealand and other discriminatory statutes. The government established the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust in 2004 with $5 million as a gesture of reconciliation in support of the formal apology. The Trust aims to strengthen the unique identity of Chinese New Zealanders and their communities in New Zealand.
Video: Produced by George Andrews with assistance from the Ethnic Communities Development Fund, Looking back, Moving on was made in 2019 and released at the Parliamentary celebration of the Chinese New Year 2020, marking the 75th anniversary of the abolition of the Chinese poll tax in 1944.
Copyright © Phoebe Li 2024. All rights reserved.