Post by nzbc on Apr 4, 2024 16:09:11 GMT 12
James Ng - a labour of love
Windows on A Chinese Past (Vol 2) by James Ng - Otago Heritage Books $125.00
James Ng is a gentle, thoughtful man, a medical doctor and part time historian who has devoted much time over the past 15 years to researching and writing an exhaustive history of the New Zealand Chinese community
This volume follows the publication in 1993 of volumes1 and4. volume 4. published out of order, contains the Rev Alexander Don’s “ Roll of the Chinese”, a list of 3500 Chinese between 1890 and 1913 that records clans, names, villages, districts, jobs and other details. Many New Zealand Chinese families have pored over the roll in search of concrete detail to pin down the hazy memories passed down through time.
In Volume 2 Ng covers the settlement of Round Tree, a goldmining area between Riverton and Orepuki in Southland that proved to be the southernmost settlement of the Chinese diaspora last century.
Other chapters examine social customs, mixed marriage, and Don, the missioner whose writings provide much of the historic details Ng records.
Don is today regarded as one of the presbyterian Church’s finest missioners, a man took the trouble to learn fluent Cantonese and who founded the Canton Villages Mission, one of the most famous missions of New Zealand churches.
But as Ng reveals, in more that 20 years of evangelising Don failed to convert more that 20 Chinese and remained, until the end. certain of his own racial superiority and dismissive of the humanity of his own parishioners. Don did speak publicly in defence of the Chinese in New Zealand. But while his writings are factual and provide a wealth of social detail, the interpretation of these facts was filtered through what Ng describes as a manipulative personality prone to jealousy and temper. Ng’s work is a mammoth undertaking. By the time the final volume is published in 1997 he will have produce about 800,000 words. If any criticism can be made, it would be that the detail is often overwhelming and that the chapters are not linked. As such, the series might prove dry and difficult for a reader with no previous interest in the subject. The series has clearly been a labour of love for Ng. The publishers have done him proud with glossy paper and numerous illustrations, contributing to the cost, which may be beyond the general reader. But the series does have its own audience: a New Zealand Chines community increasingly interested in learning of its past, and though that self-knowledge more confidence in its contemporary identity. That community looks forward to the final volume, which will examine how the Chinese have absorbed racial violence, their response to restrictive legislation, assimilation, and the nature of political involvement.
There are more stories to tell and Ng deserves congratulations for recording them.
Gilbert Wong Page 8, NZ Herald Saturday 15 June 1996
Windows on A Chinese Past (Vol 2) by James Ng - Otago Heritage Books $125.00
James Ng is a gentle, thoughtful man, a medical doctor and part time historian who has devoted much time over the past 15 years to researching and writing an exhaustive history of the New Zealand Chinese community
This volume follows the publication in 1993 of volumes1 and4. volume 4. published out of order, contains the Rev Alexander Don’s “ Roll of the Chinese”, a list of 3500 Chinese between 1890 and 1913 that records clans, names, villages, districts, jobs and other details. Many New Zealand Chinese families have pored over the roll in search of concrete detail to pin down the hazy memories passed down through time.
In Volume 2 Ng covers the settlement of Round Tree, a goldmining area between Riverton and Orepuki in Southland that proved to be the southernmost settlement of the Chinese diaspora last century.
Other chapters examine social customs, mixed marriage, and Don, the missioner whose writings provide much of the historic details Ng records.
Don is today regarded as one of the presbyterian Church’s finest missioners, a man took the trouble to learn fluent Cantonese and who founded the Canton Villages Mission, one of the most famous missions of New Zealand churches.
But as Ng reveals, in more that 20 years of evangelising Don failed to convert more that 20 Chinese and remained, until the end. certain of his own racial superiority and dismissive of the humanity of his own parishioners. Don did speak publicly in defence of the Chinese in New Zealand. But while his writings are factual and provide a wealth of social detail, the interpretation of these facts was filtered through what Ng describes as a manipulative personality prone to jealousy and temper. Ng’s work is a mammoth undertaking. By the time the final volume is published in 1997 he will have produce about 800,000 words. If any criticism can be made, it would be that the detail is often overwhelming and that the chapters are not linked. As such, the series might prove dry and difficult for a reader with no previous interest in the subject. The series has clearly been a labour of love for Ng. The publishers have done him proud with glossy paper and numerous illustrations, contributing to the cost, which may be beyond the general reader. But the series does have its own audience: a New Zealand Chines community increasingly interested in learning of its past, and though that self-knowledge more confidence in its contemporary identity. That community looks forward to the final volume, which will examine how the Chinese have absorbed racial violence, their response to restrictive legislation, assimilation, and the nature of political involvement.
There are more stories to tell and Ng deserves congratulations for recording them.
Gilbert Wong Page 8, NZ Herald Saturday 15 June 1996