chinese

This page outlines how the material on Chinese New Year can be used by teachers and students of social studies and history. The material can be a springboard into further topics associated with the experiences of Chinese in New Zealand. The links to the historic events offer opportunities for further study.

It is not our intention to provide an exhaustive list of teaching activities but rather to offer ideas to help the busy teacher get started.

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In December 1926 Rewi Alley left New Zealand ‘to go and have a look at the Chinese revolution’. Alley stayed in China for 60 years, becoming one of its best-known and best-loved foreigners.

The 1981–2 World Cup campaign is undoubtedly the high point of New Zealand's soccer history, but the game has a long pedigree in this country. The New Zealand Football Association was formed in 1891 (a year before the Rugby Union), and New Zealand played its first international matches in 1904 against New South Wales.

Chinese New Year

2012: Year of the Dragon

Each year of the Chinese calendar is represented by an animal. In 2012 it is the Year of the Dragon. In ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (Boar). Buddha named a year after each one. Just as there is a belief that your star sign determines your personality, it is believed that people born in each animal's year would possess some of that creature's personality.

The Chinese Immigrants Act was passed by Parliament, introducing a ‘poll tax’ of £10 (equivalent to $1560 in 2010). Ships arriving in New Zealand could land only one Chinese passenger for each 10 tons of cargo. In 1896 the ratio was reduced to one passenger to 200 tons of cargo, and the poll tax was increased to £100 ($17,600).

Lionel Terry killed Joe Kum Yung to draw attention to his crusade to rid New Zealand of Chinese people. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of insanity.

Rewi Alley, friend of China, died of heart failure and cerebral thrombosis at his Beijing residence. Earlier in the month Alley had celebrated his 90th birthday with the Communist Party General Secretary, Zhao Ziyang.

Alley went to China in 1927 and ended up dedicating 60 years of his life to his adopted country, organising thousands of industrial co-operatives and pioneering technical training schools.

In accordance with his will, his ashes were scattered in Gansu Province, where the Shandan school he had led had recently been rebuilt.

The Finance Act (No. 3) abolished the poll tax introduced in 1881, which was described by Minister of Finance Walter Nash as a ‘blot on our legislation’.

A meeting in Dunedin presided over by the mayor unanimously called for a ban on further Chinese migrants.