Post by NZBC on Jun 30, 2009 19:37:36 GMT 12
Photographic record provides insight into Chinese community's heritage
Finbarr Bunting - Sunday Star Times
Last updated 05:00 29/03/2009
THOMAS WONG DOO III smiles as he shuffles into his living room. He says he usually stays in his pyjamas until midday, to avoid getting too tired during the day, but right now he's wearing blue suit pants and a white shirt. There is brilliant sunshine outside, warming his home in its quiet Auckland street. The 84-year-old sits down, points to a family tree he has laid out on a cluttered coffee table, and reflects a little on his life.
"An old person can actually give a young person some blessings, and some luck, and he did that for me I've been so lucky." Wong Doo reclines in his chair as he looks more closely at one of the photos. "I was certainly the apple of his eye. He doted on me and I've got a great deal of respect for him."
The photo is of his grandfather, Thomas Wong Doo, who emigrated to New Zealand from China in 1884 with his two brothers. It shows a finely dressed man sitting on a cane chair, wearing a blazer and waistcoat, with a huge boutonniere on the left lapel of his blazer.
Portraits of 45 Chinese immigrants from the turn of the last century have recently been released on the National Archives of New Zealand website. It might seem unusual for immigrants from that time to sit for formal studio portraits, but the photographs were taken as part of the immigration policy and controversial poll tax of the time.
The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881 was the initial legislation that sought to regulate Chinese immigration.
In 1896 the Poll Tax had been increased from 10 to 100 under an amendment to the Chinese Immigrants Act 1881. This meant that from 1900 onwards, any Chinese person leaving New Zealand to travel overseas temporarily was required to fill in a form with two photographs and their thumb prints. Upon their return they were required to deposit a 100 poll-tax until proof of identification and the original payment of poll-tax was confirmed.
Wong Doo's descendants were excited to rediscover their family history when contacted by the Sunday Star-Times.
Wong Doo III remembers seeing the portrait of his grandfather many years ago, but had all but forgotten about it.
His grandfather travelled to China in 1898 to marry a woman called Chan Unui. He returned to New Zealand soon after but would visit his young family he had a daughter and two sons born in China, one of them Thomas Wong Doo II every few years, including in 1902, when the photo was taken.
Wong Doo III says his grandfather worked as a market gardener in Auckland before becoming a business and community leader. The area he farmed, a stretch of earth on the corner of Auckland's Surrey Cres and Great North Rd, bears the name Chinaman's Hill, in his honour.
Wong Doo III recalls a childhood spent in his grandfather's shop on Auckland's Victoria St, a haven for the burgeoning Chinese community and home for his grandfather's family.
"We lived on Victoria St where we had the store. At that time my grandfather was a banker for the Chinese, he looked after all their private affairs. My mother and grandmother used to mend the clothes of the market gardeners.
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"Up to the 1930s there were very few Chinese women allowed in New Zealand, the immigration laws were very strict. It was unofficial, but that was virtually it."
Gambling and playing mahjong were popular pastimes for the Chinese and Wong Doo III remembers the older Chinese in particular. "I used to bring the tea out and can still remember the guys smoking from bamboo pipes. There was a big pipe, filled with water, and a little tube. They would light the tobacco and as it was drawn it would be cooled by the water.
"We were humble people, we didn't have much money, and we lived in the back of shops for a long time because when you don't have that sort of money you live that way. It wasn't until the third generation, my generation, that we started living in houses."
He recalls some racism when he was growing up in Auckland in the 1920s and 1930s, but he doesn't blame the local population because, he says, they didn't know any better. "If a strange person from another race came into their country, of course they would feel a little suspicious, but I have to say this, we proved ourselves."
Wong Doo III says his grandfather left an indelible impression on him. "There were seven-year age differences between my father and uncles, and because I was the eldest son, of the eldest son, I seemed to have more leadership. Grandfather looked upon me as another son.
"We've been lucky. The trait that is in Chinese is that the stepping stone for success is through education of the children. You see that in the markets and the fruit shops, they will work themselves to death to put their children through school."
Wong Doo III is still active. He is a recently retired chairman of Auckland's Chinese Community Centre, and continued the tradition of helping out other Chinese and the wider community, just as his grandfather did, more than 100 years ago.
To view the Chinese portraits, go to www.archives.govt.nz and clock on the "Dunedin Gallery" link.
Finbarr Bunting - Sunday Star Times
Last updated 05:00 29/03/2009
THOMAS WONG DOO III smiles as he shuffles into his living room. He says he usually stays in his pyjamas until midday, to avoid getting too tired during the day, but right now he's wearing blue suit pants and a white shirt. There is brilliant sunshine outside, warming his home in its quiet Auckland street. The 84-year-old sits down, points to a family tree he has laid out on a cluttered coffee table, and reflects a little on his life.
"An old person can actually give a young person some blessings, and some luck, and he did that for me I've been so lucky." Wong Doo reclines in his chair as he looks more closely at one of the photos. "I was certainly the apple of his eye. He doted on me and I've got a great deal of respect for him."
The photo is of his grandfather, Thomas Wong Doo, who emigrated to New Zealand from China in 1884 with his two brothers. It shows a finely dressed man sitting on a cane chair, wearing a blazer and waistcoat, with a huge boutonniere on the left lapel of his blazer.
Portraits of 45 Chinese immigrants from the turn of the last century have recently been released on the National Archives of New Zealand website. It might seem unusual for immigrants from that time to sit for formal studio portraits, but the photographs were taken as part of the immigration policy and controversial poll tax of the time.
The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881 was the initial legislation that sought to regulate Chinese immigration.
In 1896 the Poll Tax had been increased from 10 to 100 under an amendment to the Chinese Immigrants Act 1881. This meant that from 1900 onwards, any Chinese person leaving New Zealand to travel overseas temporarily was required to fill in a form with two photographs and their thumb prints. Upon their return they were required to deposit a 100 poll-tax until proof of identification and the original payment of poll-tax was confirmed.
Wong Doo's descendants were excited to rediscover their family history when contacted by the Sunday Star-Times.
Wong Doo III remembers seeing the portrait of his grandfather many years ago, but had all but forgotten about it.
His grandfather travelled to China in 1898 to marry a woman called Chan Unui. He returned to New Zealand soon after but would visit his young family he had a daughter and two sons born in China, one of them Thomas Wong Doo II every few years, including in 1902, when the photo was taken.
Wong Doo III says his grandfather worked as a market gardener in Auckland before becoming a business and community leader. The area he farmed, a stretch of earth on the corner of Auckland's Surrey Cres and Great North Rd, bears the name Chinaman's Hill, in his honour.
Wong Doo III recalls a childhood spent in his grandfather's shop on Auckland's Victoria St, a haven for the burgeoning Chinese community and home for his grandfather's family.
"We lived on Victoria St where we had the store. At that time my grandfather was a banker for the Chinese, he looked after all their private affairs. My mother and grandmother used to mend the clothes of the market gardeners.
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"Up to the 1930s there were very few Chinese women allowed in New Zealand, the immigration laws were very strict. It was unofficial, but that was virtually it."
Gambling and playing mahjong were popular pastimes for the Chinese and Wong Doo III remembers the older Chinese in particular. "I used to bring the tea out and can still remember the guys smoking from bamboo pipes. There was a big pipe, filled with water, and a little tube. They would light the tobacco and as it was drawn it would be cooled by the water.
"We were humble people, we didn't have much money, and we lived in the back of shops for a long time because when you don't have that sort of money you live that way. It wasn't until the third generation, my generation, that we started living in houses."
He recalls some racism when he was growing up in Auckland in the 1920s and 1930s, but he doesn't blame the local population because, he says, they didn't know any better. "If a strange person from another race came into their country, of course they would feel a little suspicious, but I have to say this, we proved ourselves."
Wong Doo III says his grandfather left an indelible impression on him. "There were seven-year age differences between my father and uncles, and because I was the eldest son, of the eldest son, I seemed to have more leadership. Grandfather looked upon me as another son.
"We've been lucky. The trait that is in Chinese is that the stepping stone for success is through education of the children. You see that in the markets and the fruit shops, they will work themselves to death to put their children through school."
Wong Doo III is still active. He is a recently retired chairman of Auckland's Chinese Community Centre, and continued the tradition of helping out other Chinese and the wider community, just as his grandfather did, more than 100 years ago.
To view the Chinese portraits, go to www.archives.govt.nz and clock on the "Dunedin Gallery" link.