Post by NZBC on Aug 7, 2007 21:28:50 GMT 12
Why did people discriminate against the Chinese?
Throughout the nineteenth century many groups were concerned about who should settle in New Zealand and about the racial composition of the population. In particular, there was rising hostility among Europeans towards Asian immigrants which resulted in restrictive immigration legislation
The Chinese gold miners were the objects of prejudice from their arrival in the 1860s. Reasons for this prejudice were:
They looked and acted differently. Their community style of living set them apart.
The mining techniques the Chinese used were innovative
Europeans' belief in their civilisation's superiority
The Chinese were hard workers
Their use of leisure (eg. gambling and opium smoking)
Workers and politicians saw Asians as a threat to their jobs, claiming they had a much lower standard of living and would work for next to nothing.
Increasingly restrictive legislation was aimed at keeping Asians out and protecting New Zealand's European identity. The effect of these laws was to reduce the number of Chinese arriving, and in particular, Chinese women, who found it hard to meet the new restrictive requirements.
By 1896 there were 14 Chinese women compared to 3700 Chinese men in new Zealand
Belich comments that restricting women more than men was an important way of getting useful labour without any long term risk to ethnic homogeneity.
Chinese moved to the edges of Otago towns to start market gardening as gold mining declined in the 1880s. This move intensifies the anti-Chinese hysteria amongst Europeans.
Not all Chinese were the object of hostility and prejudice - Chew Chong, the Chinese pioneer of the Taranaki dairy industry, had status among, and respect from, the people of Taranaki.
Source: Hasler, J., Langton, G. & Taylor, B. (2000). History - New Zealand in the 19th Century. Year 13 Study Guide pp 229-231. Auckland: ESA Publications (NZ) Ltd.
Think about:
Chew Chong arrived in 1867 and became a naturalised New Zealander in 1873. He went on to become a successful businessman and mixed in both Chinese and European communities.
How would his life been different if he had arrived thirty years later? What laws would have restricted the life he was able to enjoy?
How fair is this?
Lily Groogan arrived in Auckland at the age of 17 to be married. Of Chinese extraction, she had to pay the poll tax of 100 pounds to enter despite the fact she had been born in Sydney, Australia - a British colony. She was also fingerprinted, in the manner of a criminal. Lily could not become a naturalised New Zealander until after 1952 - before that it was illegal for Chinese to be naturalised. Her husband had a fruit shop and went hawking his fruit to country towns and villages. He put a bucket over his head as protection against stone throwing.
Throughout the nineteenth century many groups were concerned about who should settle in New Zealand and about the racial composition of the population. In particular, there was rising hostility among Europeans towards Asian immigrants which resulted in restrictive immigration legislation
The Chinese gold miners were the objects of prejudice from their arrival in the 1860s. Reasons for this prejudice were:
They looked and acted differently. Their community style of living set them apart.
The mining techniques the Chinese used were innovative
Europeans' belief in their civilisation's superiority
The Chinese were hard workers
Their use of leisure (eg. gambling and opium smoking)
Workers and politicians saw Asians as a threat to their jobs, claiming they had a much lower standard of living and would work for next to nothing.
Increasingly restrictive legislation was aimed at keeping Asians out and protecting New Zealand's European identity. The effect of these laws was to reduce the number of Chinese arriving, and in particular, Chinese women, who found it hard to meet the new restrictive requirements.
By 1896 there were 14 Chinese women compared to 3700 Chinese men in new Zealand
Belich comments that restricting women more than men was an important way of getting useful labour without any long term risk to ethnic homogeneity.
Chinese moved to the edges of Otago towns to start market gardening as gold mining declined in the 1880s. This move intensifies the anti-Chinese hysteria amongst Europeans.
Not all Chinese were the object of hostility and prejudice - Chew Chong, the Chinese pioneer of the Taranaki dairy industry, had status among, and respect from, the people of Taranaki.
Source: Hasler, J., Langton, G. & Taylor, B. (2000). History - New Zealand in the 19th Century. Year 13 Study Guide pp 229-231. Auckland: ESA Publications (NZ) Ltd.
Think about:
Chew Chong arrived in 1867 and became a naturalised New Zealander in 1873. He went on to become a successful businessman and mixed in both Chinese and European communities.
How would his life been different if he had arrived thirty years later? What laws would have restricted the life he was able to enjoy?
How fair is this?
Lily Groogan arrived in Auckland at the age of 17 to be married. Of Chinese extraction, she had to pay the poll tax of 100 pounds to enter despite the fact she had been born in Sydney, Australia - a British colony. She was also fingerprinted, in the manner of a criminal. Lily could not become a naturalised New Zealander until after 1952 - before that it was illegal for Chinese to be naturalised. Her husband had a fruit shop and went hawking his fruit to country towns and villages. He put a bucket over his head as protection against stone throwing.