Christchurch Diversity
My hometown paper, The Press has an interesting story running this morning on increased cultural diversity in Christchurch and in New Zealand as a whole.
People who identify as being of Asian origin now make up 7.9% of census respondents in Christchurch up from 4.4% in 1996. This means that Asians now outnumber Maori in Christchurch by 0.3%.
These statistics raise again the debate of biculturalism and multiculturalism. This debate raises a number of issues concerning the power structures in a society, as they fall along racial lines. For example in New Zealand you have the case of the Maori who were colonised by the British - a bicultural relationship, legitimated by The Treaty of Waitangi on which the country as we know it was created. In recognising a multicultural state the efficacy of both parties in bicultural terms is diluted.
Personally, living in Japan, I don’t have much at stake in such discussions. What does interest me is how, in the case of the United States, a diverse group of nationalites were able to combine to create “the American people” - and whether this experience is even possible today.
Asians outnumber Maori in city
There are now more Asians than Maori living in Christchurch, according to new Census results.
Figures for the 2006 Census show that 26,631 people – or 7.9 per cent of total respondents in Christchurch city – identified themselves as Asian, up from 4.4% in 1996.
Christchurch’s Maori population is 7.6% of the total.
Nationally, Asians now make up about 9.2% of the population and it has been estimated that within two decades Asians will overtake Maori as the second biggest ethnic group in the country.
Much of Christchurch’s Asian population is made up of migrants and international students from China.
The city’s Chinese community is more than 15,000 strong.
Candy or Cuiqun Wu, who moved from China in 2001, said she and many of her friends had moved to Christchurch because it was peaceful and beautiful.
In 2000, Wu made a documentary on studying in New Zealand and fell in love with the Garden City.
“I think Christchurch is the most beautiful one (city) and made a decision to change my lifestyle and try to live in a different country and also like to improve my English,” Wu said.
Christchurch’s Asian community is growing much faster than other South Island cities.
Dunedin’s Asian population is 5.3%, compared with 6.4% Maori, while Invercargill has only 1.5% Asian and 13.7% Maori.
Taiwan Hwa-Hsin Society executive director Jimmy Chen said he moved to Christchurch in 1996 because he was concerned about his two daughters’ education.
“If the kids can take bilingual education it’s very good for them,” Chen said.
He had friends who already lived here and recommended the city and its schools to him.
Chen said Christchurch was a good choice of home because it was like “a small world”.
It had universities, malls and an international airport without the congestion and air pollution of Taiwanese cities.
Korean Society president Andrew Yoon said the influx of migrants coming from Asian countries was slowing.
Yoon said that in the late 1990s it was very easy for people to migrate from Asia, but since English language requirements had been increased for residency and work permits in 2002, hardly any were getting through.
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
bitshifter
“What does interest me is how, in the case of the United States, a diverse group of nationalites were able to combine to create “the American people†- and whether this experience se is even possible today.”
Well, they don’t sound like they all necessarily get along with each other
Dec 20th, 2006
symeg
I was meaning historically. Of course today American society isn’t really a model that anyone would seriously want to duplicate. Now would they!
Dec 21st, 2006
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