Being Maori Chinese
Given the number of Chinese-Maori marriages there has been a paucity of writing on the subject.
Manying Ip in Being Maori-Chinese mixed identities brings together the stories of seven families from the late nineteenth century to the present. These stories provide a rich and fascinating study of the coming together of an indigenous people with an immigrant people. Although often brought together by similar experience and circumstance they have then to deal with their own cultural differences. The resurgence in Maoridom since the 1970’s and the political pressure of Asian immigration in more recent years has created a peculiar tension for this group. Ip concludes that certainly from the examples provided in these families, the contribution and influence of young Maori-Chinese will extend far beyond their numerical strength.
10 June 2008
