New Zealand Chinese Early History E 333

source - stephenyoung.co.nz

edmondsallan - Hello -

Table 2

No. of Asians approved in all categories for residence in New Zealand: top 13 Asian origins by nationality compared with Gt. Britain and South Africa, 1986-95.

1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Total

Cambodia 281 10 482 749 90 266 96 41 85 178 2278

China 156 233 654 567 1042 1765 2451 1778 4291 5178 18115

Hong Kong 162 352 993 1975 3249 6706 3131 2926 2762 3125 25381

India 190 323 673 486 707 604 870 1339 2156 3323 10671

Japan 53 55 264 154 200 272 306 294 296 348 2242

Malaysia 375 713 1826 1675 2124 1502 2089 1209 817 646 12976

Phillipines 440 616 620 633 894 938 585 504 636 1167 7033

Singapore 143 160 257 165 175 167 183 172 235 258 1915

South Korea 16 29 47 94 194 696 1915 2687 4166 3463 13309

Sri Lanka 84 185 277 210 278 311 353 638 1011 1347 4694

Taiwan 17 43 993 2588 2118 1111 2307 2509 4995 12397 29078

Thailand 22 27 48 66 159 175 177 125 176 207 1182

Vietnam 136 145 174 158 337 374 99 255 464 203 2345

Gt Britain 4373 4539 5056 3314 3868 3789 3216 4597 5968 6422 45142

South Africa 266 342 418 240 314 265 377 2773 3943 1883 10821

Source: Figures by courtesy of Hon. R.F.H. Maxwell, Minister of Immigration, 30 May 1996.

Accordingly, the aggregate number of Chinese applicants from all places of origin became an increasing percentage of the total annual inflow of migrants into New Zealand, although British immigrants, the previously top preferred group, continued to be among the most numerous newcomers. There was also an increasing exodus to New Zealand by South Africans, many of British descent. Among Asian immigrants, the Chinese were the largest percentage. This trend continued despite the tightening of the BIP scheme in 1991, because a new, fairly achievable points system was introduced in the same year as the ‘General Category’ of immigration.(56) Subsequently in the June 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96 years, the total number of people approved for residency reached 33,237, 49,619 and a record 55,142 respectively. In these totals, the North, South and South East Asians combined reached 51%, 57% and 61% respectively, and those from North Asia - China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - reached 11,933 (36%), 20,807 (42%) and 24,008 (43%) respectively.(57) These were the peak numbers before a general downturn followed.

In 1991, a review panel of three Europeans under the newly elected National Government (1990-99) had introduced more controls and needs into the BIP, and renamed it the Business Investment Category or BIC. They designed the new General Category or GC to increase the ingress of skills and to balance the prospective inflow of the businessmen and investors of the BIC. The GC replaced the Occupational Categories, and was to give encouragement to managerial and professional applicants who had previously been largely excluded, besides keeping openings for trade skills. In the General Category, a job to come to was an advantage but not essential. Also, a good knowledge of English was thought desirable but the reviewers did not give this factor much weight. The proficiency in English required was the comprehension level of a 12 year-old in the principal applicant only for the GC and in one person in the family over 17 years of age in the BIC.

The maximum points which could be awarded in the GC were as follows: qualifications, 15; work experience, 10; a younger age, 10; an offer of skilled employment, 3; a community sponsor, 3; a family sponsor, 2; and settlement funds of $100,000, 2. The autopass mark of the scheme rose from 20 in 1991 to 31 by July 1995. A further three points could be awarded with investment capital (1 point per $100,000 up to $300,000, to be invested in New Zealand for at least two years). Those applicants going for these 3 points were placed in the General Investment sub-category, which kept separate figures and netted from North Asian applicants $164,900,000 (June 1993-94), $209,800,000 (1994-95) and $304,500,000 (1995-96). These sums were additional to the Business Categories which from North Asia in June 1994-95 (under the BIC) took in $326 million, and in 1995-96 (nearly all under the BIC) $395 million.(58)

It was thought that by applying flexibility to the number of points allotted or required, it would be easier to control the number and mix of migrants who qualified under the GC, according to official targets. Initially the target was set at 25,000 approvals for residence per year in relation to all the immigration categories, with the General Category to act as a residual category to make up the target. Since the General Category favoured younger migrants with education over money, it especially gave a good chance for young mainland Chinese graduates to come. Their savings in yuan meant little because its exchange rate much favoured the New Zealand dollar. But when foreign qualifications were considered, the General Category discounted the effect on the immigrant of any prospective restrictions of New Zealand’s trade associations and professional bodies in the acceptance of these qualifications. The few community sponsors appointed for applicants became increasingly sought after as the autopass points increased, and they emulated the immigration consultants in charging fees.

The General Category having replaced the old BIP as the chief Chinese portal of entry, educated younger persons now had an advantage over money and mature business acumen. In 1995 New Zealand boasted of ‘achieving (in the previous four years) the highest percentage of skilled immigrants of any country in the world.’(59) But the Chinese already seemed to know that North America and Australia offered greater work and business opportunities than New Zealand, which explains why this country did not attract their very rich migrants. In fact, the sums brought here under the BIP were said to average up to $500,000 or $600,000,(60) and the General Category’s average migrant was likely to have brought in less. Still, many Chinese immigrants, particularly in the BIP wave, were thought to have each brought in several million New Zealand dollars and are rich by New Zealand standards.(61) More seriously, the news soon spread back to the previous homelands that New Zealand had limited employment, mature internal markets, distant external markets, producer board monopolies which hinder small entrepreneurship, a more conservative business culture on the whole, and manifold difficulties in the acceptance of non-British or non-British linked qualifications. The writer recalls some of these points being expressed from about 1990, and all of them were heard by 1996. James Koh (who expanded Contec Data Systems in Christchurch) discussed them the following year.(62) Such concerns may have caused hesitation about coming even after acceptance for entry, thus accounting for some of the discrepancy between the ‘approved for residency’ figures and the number of actual migrant arrivals. Others may have been delayed for other reasons, but a delay in coming was allowed.

In the writer’s opinion, another adverse factor acting against the employment (and hence eventual settlement) of a number of new Chinese migrants is their attitude. They have come with an excessive wish for an easy ‘life style’ while they educate their children. Perhaps they had been influenced by a recruiting mention of a ‘great life style’. Be that as it may, the Hon. Aussie Malcolm (a former Minister of Immigration and present-day immigration consultant) thought they have come for ‘the sizzle and not the steak’ - particularly, he said some migrants in the General Category.(63) Given significant disadvantage or hardship, they may retreat (and return to where they had come from, or cross the Tasman where the grass seems greener, or go to North America) rather than face the test. They are not like traditional immigrants who are determined to acquire wealth and utilize talents to prove themselves and regain control over family destinies.(64)

Nevertheless, New Zealand may follow to a greater or lesser degree the common American experience in the turning of many fine immigrants - even those with technical or scientific skills - towards self-employment and entrepreneurship. In running their businesses they show common attitudes and strategies - hard work and singleminded devotion to building their business, comfort with risk taking, strong ethnic community links and values, fresh perspectives on business opportunities, tight deployment of resources, concentration on market niches and close ties to their customers (who frequently are members of their own community).(65) These are working features which can earn success in any endeavour. Usually the immigrants start small, use family labour, live frugally, focus on quality and do only what they can do well. As their skills and networks expand, so do their businesses. Some such American firms have successfully utilized community ties across the oceans, tapping into connections in Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere to gain wider markets and venture capital. America itself has realised that if immigrant entrepreneurs are provided with greater access to capital, employment and training, the country could help them to channel ‘more of their extraordinary energy into productive enterprise.’(66)

So far, it appears that the Chinese newcomers’ investments in New Zealand have been mainly passive - ‘one has no second chance with hard-earned capital and, when unsure, it is best to play for safety.’(67) Early successful big business enterprises of Chinese migrants included Contec Data Systems and the Lakeland Hotel in Queenstown. However, as is customary for new immigrants everywhere, most of their businesses are in the small size range, many to serve the migrants themselves. In 1996 in Auckland, the latter included language schools, property agencies, stores, supermarkets, butchers and other food shops, many restaurants, furniture shops, travel and immigration agencies. Those newcomers who catered for the general public included acupuncturists, herbalists, ‘Chinese medicine’ doctors, and importers of pottery, rugs and computers. Many bought housing and commercial buildings for rental, often to other newcomers or Asian students. Since 1996, growing occupations are homestays for students and still more restaurants and noodle bars. Laundromats, dairies, cheap item ‘two dollar’ type shops, and photography and video hire shops have also appeared.

Medium and large sized businesses of Chinese migrants are still few and concentrated in Auckland. But they may be the beginning. The former size include the Lim family’s ceramics factory; computer design firms and wholesalers like Information Technology and Security Services, Times Technology and I Way Computers in Auckland and Golden Leaf in Dunedin; Chinese food factories like Sam’s Chicken; property developers like L and Y Holdings and the Suncern Group; and Jean’s Natural Herbs Ltd. Big projects are a mere handful. The Chinese scheme for Britomart has failed(68) but successful ventures are the Auckland Institute of Studies (a private tertiary institution with some 150 staff and 1300 students); a high quality golf course; World Television (WTV), a distribution network for Asian programmes; Ernslaw One Ltd (with forestry, salmon farming, scientific instruments and land development interests); and Tsung-Hui Pan’s Sherwood Manor Hotel and Waterfall Park in Queenstown. Not included are branches of Chinese firms with head offices outside New Zealand.

Last year (2000) the chief executive officer of the giant international courier Exel in Singapore told the writer of increased business from all types of Chinese enterprises in New Zealand, although ‘mainly short term’ as yet. Overall, an interval of around 15 to 20 years appears to be needed before most Chinese (and European-New Zealander) residents have acquired enough capital, expertise and social networks to establish noteworthy ventures which could grow. This length of time applied to Choie Sew Hoy, Chew Chong, Hugh Sew Hoy (the chief New Zealand-Chinese businessman of the writer’s parents’ generation, who arrived in 1938 and established clothing factories from 1959), Tak Hung and Steven Wong.

While some newcomers have become established in business, many others have not yet. M. Ip surveyed the employment profile of Chinese newcomers over the previous 10 years from 1996 and found that only 12% were self-employed. Another 20% were fulltime wage and salary earners, 8% were unemployed and seeking work, and more than 58%, including university graduates, were not part of the labour force.(69) However, many students may have been in the last group, and student numbers may have also partly accounted for the relatively low unemployment rate found in this survey. In figures which include Kiwi Chinese, the 1996 census recorded 21,003 full-time and 6,672 part-time Chinese workers, 4,302 were classed as unemployed, and 29,208 were not in the labour force. Out of 7,410 Chinese known to be on unemployment, domestic purposes, sickness and invalids benefits, 5,733 were on the unemployment benefit. Another 4,476 were on the student allowance. Probably all these figures are incomplete because over 20,000 Chinese - like one million others - did not answer the employment and income questions. Since then, the granting of social welfare and student allowances to permanent residency newcomers has been tightened up, imposing a two-year wait from the date of entry into New Zealand in all but the emergency benefit and tertiary students’ loans. Using commissioned data files of the 1996 census, Lidgard et al found that 24% of Taiwanese males and 22% of Taiwanese females were unemployed and actively seeking work, and the respective percentages for Koreans and Hong Kong Chinese were 21% and 23%, and 18% and 15%.(70) Ho et al additionally found that about 33% of newcomers from mainland China were unemployed and actively seeking work.(71)

These figures indicate a serious unemployment problem among Chinese newcomers; a worrying situation since employment is one of the anchors securing newcomers to a new land. This is especially so for mobile, young, quality migrants. Some reasons are already mentioned but another key factor is the English language, the poor command of which hinders the formation of new social networks and denies the full utilisation of high skills. In their search for work, some newcomers also encounter racial discrimination, and no doubt this exists, although the writer himself has seen reasoned refusals and criticism of shortcomings misinterpreted as racism by individuals at the receiving end. This year (2001), the Auckland Chamber of Commerce has participated in a drive to diminish negative perceptions holding back the hiring of Asian newcomers. In the face of the disadvantages, many newcomers turn to the food industry, which serves universal tastes; the rental industry, where the owner retains simple but full control; and enterprises which serve other newcomers.

Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan

Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan