Post by NZBC on Aug 7, 2007 21:19:23 GMT 12
www.heritagehelp.co.nz/chinese.html
Chinese in Hataitai
There have been Chinese people living and working in Hataitai since the early days of the community. One of their first enterprises was market gardens along Moxham Avenue. CW Taylor recalled in his memoirs an incident which would have happened around 1905:
One of the gardens was right opposite the school, laid out in neat beds of vegetables and watered by the Waipapa stream that ran through them. Charlie and his friends used to go and help in the gardens. They would get the young carrots that were weeded out, or help pick the young peas and be given some to eat. Although Charlie was friendly with the Chinese, some of the ¡°hard-case¡± boys would cheek them and then run away. The boys often played after school in an abandoned house on the edge of the gardens. One day the boys that used to annoy the Chinese came running through the long grass and into the house calling out to Charlie and his friends to hide as the ¡°chinks¡± were after them. They looked and saw the oldest Chinese man with a long knife they used for cutting vegetables coming towards the house.
¡°We were frightened, but the other boys crawled through a hole in the floor and hid under the house where they couldn¡¯t be seen, as it was dark there. The Chinaman came in looking for them, but we said we didn¡¯t know where they were.[¡]He hunted around, but finally went away to our great relief, as we thought he might hurt us with the knife, but he was a kindly old man, a great big man with a pigtail. All the Chinese wore them in those days and I think he just meant to frighten them. But it put a stop to the teasing that went on.¡±
Chinese in Hataitai
There have been Chinese people living and working in Hataitai since the early days of the community. One of their first enterprises was market gardens along Moxham Avenue. CW Taylor recalled in his memoirs an incident which would have happened around 1905:
One of the gardens was right opposite the school, laid out in neat beds of vegetables and watered by the Waipapa stream that ran through them. Charlie and his friends used to go and help in the gardens. They would get the young carrots that were weeded out, or help pick the young peas and be given some to eat. Although Charlie was friendly with the Chinese, some of the ¡°hard-case¡± boys would cheek them and then run away. The boys often played after school in an abandoned house on the edge of the gardens. One day the boys that used to annoy the Chinese came running through the long grass and into the house calling out to Charlie and his friends to hide as the ¡°chinks¡± were after them. They looked and saw the oldest Chinese man with a long knife they used for cutting vegetables coming towards the house.
¡°We were frightened, but the other boys crawled through a hole in the floor and hid under the house where they couldn¡¯t be seen, as it was dark there. The Chinaman came in looking for them, but we said we didn¡¯t know where they were.[¡]He hunted around, but finally went away to our great relief, as we thought he might hurt us with the knife, but he was a kindly old man, a great big man with a pigtail. All the Chinese wore them in those days and I think he just meant to frighten them. But it put a stop to the teasing that went on.¡±