The Chinese came to New Zeanad in the 1850s. They have came to Dunedin to mine the gold, more like tailings when the other miners had moved on.
The Chinese have been in New Zealand for 130 years.They came when they were invited by two Otago invitations mine gold in 1865. At the turn of the 20th century the racial issue became dominant and led to the White New Zealand policy of exclusion. The Chinese were the only race group who had to pay a poll tax of ten pounds because of The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881
Today, there are 117,000 in the country and 112,000 live in Auckland.
Many proposals to have a Chinese garden have been met with disappointment. There is a garden in Dunedin and in Hamilton. It is timely for the Chinese to have a garden to call their own and for the rest of New Zealand to share the Chinese culture and Heritage.
I was in a New Zealand Chinese Association, Auckland Inc. lunch. Ron Sang , architect, gave his proposal.
The Millennium Tree was gifted by the Chinese people to New Zealand. It was not without controversy. It was first proposed to be erected in the Rose Garden,. residents formed a protest group to stop the work, citing a lack of consultation and the aesthetic clash with the gardens' Victorian and Edwardian atmosphere.Much protest led it to beerected in the Domain.
At the base of the tree are Chinese words set in chrome. You have to look carefully, otherwise you won't notice it. Guy's work was inspired by the cudgel or staff of SUN-WU-KONG, the Monkey King of Chinese legend - the fabled staff could dispel all obstacles.
