From Survivalism to Rooted Cosmopolitanism: Transformations of a Chinese Voluntary Association in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Drawing on ethnographic and archival research, this paper investigates the response of a Chinese voluntary association in New Zealand to demographic changes in the national Chinese community since the 1990s. The Chinese Community Association developed from the closed-off and inward-facing Chinese community of New Zealand – the “old Chinese” whose ancestors arrived from rural Cantonese-speaking counties in Guangdong in the 1860s. Immigration law changes in 1989 brought new communities speaking different languages, with different political, social and economic backgrounds into New Zealand, creating new diversification to what it means to be a Chinese New Zealander. This paper investigates how this “old Chinese” association has adapted to “new” Chinese groups. We argue that a unique “rooted cosmopolitanism” has developed in this association, where local practices and resources have enabled it to manage potential tensions and growing pains of serving diverse groups in the current multi-ethnic context of New Zealand.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese voluntary associations
• Chinese New Zealander
• rooted cosmopolitanism
• generational changes
• organizational decision-making

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This study is approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Duke Kunshan University. Approval Number: FWA00021580.

Notes

1 All the names of persons and organizations mentioned in this paper are pseudonyms.

2 The first of these societies was the Chinese Progress Club, founded in 1943 (Wong 2003, 126).

3 Immigration Amendment Act 1991 changed the immigration process from one that prioritized European migration to a merit-based system, which prioritized immigration based on income, education, and skills. (https://teara.govt.nz/en/immigration-regulation/page-5).

4 Research on Chinese in Southeast Asia has pointed the importance of economic and cultural connections with mainland China, and how they shape the CVAs. See Liu and Ren 2023.

5 “Te Korowai Whetū Social Cohesion community fund” is under the Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand and each year social organizations are eligible to apply for a maximum of 10,000 NZD to organize activities to strengthen social cohesion. Related to this is the “Ethnic Communities Development Fund” that is specifically aimed at developing the ethnic group-building.

6 www.nzchinese.org.nz, accessed June 14, 2023.

7 We are extremely grateful for an anonymous reviewer’s sharp recognition of such a shift.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Duke Kunshan University Student Experiential Learning Fellowship: [Grant Number ].