As we all know, Chinese are everywhere – even here in Kiwiland. One of the events for this year’s Heritage Festival is called “The Shadow Of Early Chinatown”, although there is actually no such thing as Chinatown here. Unlike many other larger cities, the Chinese people here don’t congregate. They simply spread.
It was a picture perfect spring day - blue sky, fluffy clouds, warm sunshine, sea breeze, and cherry blossoms. We had a lovely walk around downtown and listened to our guide, a 73-year-old 4th generation Chinese gentleman, telling us the stories his father and grandfather had told him.
There were more than 40 of us, mostly Kiwis who were curious to find out where on earth all those Chinese immigrants around them had sprung from even though they were probably also a little alarmed by the ever increasing number of the immigrants. As for me, being new in town, I am just curious about everything.
Chinese people are famous for being tribal, but you will be surprised to learn that even among us there are many tribes too – new immigrants vs. old immigrants, mainlanders vs. islanders, Mandarin speakers vs. Cantonese speakers, etc.
And when I say “us”, I don’t really know whether I am one of “us” or “them” since I’ve been secretly suffering from my identity crises for quite a while now. In fact, I’m so confused that the first girl I decided to talk to was not a Kiwi, but an Italian English girl who moved here from London 7 years ago. Now go figure.
After the walk, we went to a Yum-Cha restaurant for lunch. The quality of the “ethnic” restaurants here (i.e., Chinese, Indian, Thai) is much better than the quality of those in Tokyo. I sat at the table with a friendly 78-year-old lady, a couple who love Hong Kong, and three younger Kiwis – one of them has lived in Japan for a year!
Obviously we all have our own stories to tell, but yesterday we together shared the story of the last Chinese laundry shop on Queen Street. And it was a splendid start.
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