Dear Editor,

When I immigrated to New Zealand in January 1937, I would estimate that there were less than 2,000 Chinese in the country. Moreover, as there were no Chinese-language media then, all the words and deeds of that time were recorded orally. The early deeds of gold-rush tycoon Hsu Chao-kai and butter exporting pioneer Chou Hsiang are no exception. These people and events are common knowledge to the people who lived through those times, but I never would have thought how important they would become to contemporary overseas Chinese history.

When I recently read Elaine Chen's article "The Father of New Zealand's Butter Industry-Chew Chong" in the Vol. 22 No. 1 issue of Sinorama, it brought back many old memories. I first encountered the name "Chew Chong" in the 1980s in a short series by Liu Wei-ping entitled "A Short History of Overseas Chinese in New Zealand," which appeared in the Hsing Tao Daily, a newspaper published in Sydney. Back in the early 1940s, I read in a primary school textbook that the first man to export New Zealand's dairy products was a Chinese. This book, however, did not give his name. I became very curious at that time, and although I asked many old overseas Chinese about this matter, I was not able to get to the bottom of it.

Once when I met with Chou Fang-mei, an elder member of our family clan who lived in New Plymouth from the 1920s to the mid-1940s, I asked him about this matter. He responded without hesitation, "This man's name is Chou Hsiang, from Hsinhui County in Guangdong."

On another occasion, I asked a friend of mine to visit the public cemetery in New Plymouth to find out if Chew Chong's tombstone has his name carved in Chinese characters. I was very disappointed by the results-his tombstone was just like those of the Westerners buried there. Maybe the families of Chew Chong and Chou Hsiang became westernized early on.

Nevertheless, I was still able to make some headway after all. By chance, a small booklet which was printed in 1910 by Huang Rongliang, China's first consul to New Zealand, came into my possession. Seeing that the Chinese in New Zealand at that time had no organization, Huang suggested that they establish a New Zealand overseas Chinese association. The booklet contains a record of membership and donations for this association. Chou Hsiang's name appears on the list of names of the Chinese in New Plymouth and Wanganui at that time. The name Chew Chong, or any name with a similar pronunciation, does not appear however. I believe that the name Chou Hsiang, which has come to us through oral tradition, is more reliable. I have written a booklet, "A Short History of New Zealand Chinese," in which I explore this topic briefly.

I present these ideas for your perusal, and welcome your suggestions and guidance.

Editor's reply:

Thank you for your valuable ideas. We obtained the Chinese name "Chew Chong" from a professor who does research on Chinese history in New Zealand while conducting interviews for our article. We look forward to hearing from more people who have an understanding of events of those times.

(tr. by Biff Jonson)