Chinese names are making their marks on the population structure of New Zealand.

According to the most recent New Zealand census, in 2013 the ten most common surnames for newborns in Auckland­ were Wang, Li, Chen, Liu, Smith, ­Zhang, Lee, Patel, ­Huang, and Singh. It’s the first time that the top three were all Chinese names.

With regard to newborns in New Zealand as a whole, 2013 also represented the best showing for Chinese names, with Wang and Li coming in at eighth and tenth respectively.

The newly shuffled order of surnames reflects the impact that ethnic Chinese immigration is having on the demographic structure of New Zealand. The births of second-generation Chinese New Zealanders are a concrete demonstration of this change. The New Zealand census, meanwhile, provides a means of gaining a deeper understanding into the differing situations of immigrants from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

According to the New Zealand census, Chinese New Zealanders of mainland ancestry accounted for 171,000, or 4% of New Zealand’s total population.

Large numbers of mainland Chinese on student visas have stayed on to work and acquired rights of residency, and then applied to have their relatives come over in their wake. That is how the population of mainland Chinese in New Zealand has grown over the last several years. In contrast, Taiwanese comprise less than 1% of the total New Zealand population.

According to the New Zealand census, in 2013 there were only 5,715 Taiwanese in New Zealand, 75% of whom lived in the capital of Auckland and its surrounding area. The next largest group, though only 507, lived in the Canterbury region of the South Island, mostly in the island’s largest city of Christchurch.

Brothers Sam (left) and Ben Lu (right) have staked out entrepreneurial success in Christchurch with production of noodles and kaoliang.

The earthquake of February 2011 damaged one-third of the buildings in Christchurch’s city center, and rebuilding will take 15 years to complete. Fortunately, Christchurch was able to retain its reputation as a beautiful “garden city” that is as “English” as any city outside of England.

“People in Auckland strive to make a living; in Christchurch they strive to enjoy life.” That’s how Overseas Community Affairs Council commissioner Fu Young-ming, who immigrated with his family from Taiwan in 1999, explains the difference in attitude between the two cities.

In comparison to the North Island, the South Island is sparsely populated and has more impressive scenery. After New Zealand liberalized its immigration rules in 1987, quite a few Taiwanese immigrated. A 2006 Asia New Zealand Foundation report on Asians in Christchurch points out that Christchurch’s Asian population that year stood at 26,268, among whom 1245 came from Taiwan. The numbers from Taiwan trailed only those of mainland China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia.

Now only some 500 Taiwanese immigrants remain. Apart from some who returned to Taiwan after the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, Andy Fu, the former president of Christchurch’s Taiwan Hwa Hsin society, notes that early on there were some immigrants who found it difficult to deal with the obstacles posed by an English-speaking society. They would return to Taiwan only a few years later.

Fu Young-ming explains that immigrants will inevitably confront issues adapting to a new environment. Apart from linguistic and cultural adjustments, making a living often poses a major challenge for immigrants. “They don’t just live happily ever after.”

In particular, after the global financial crisis of 2008, New Zealand saw a return of high unemployment, and the rate of employment hasn’t completely recovered since the end of the recession. Although the job market has improved over the last two years, with the unemployment rate dropping from 6.9% in 2012 to 5.4% in the third quarter of 2014, in 2013 unemployment among Asians in New Zealand stood at 6.4%, whereas it was only 4.9% among those of European ancestry (and 6.3% overall).

Add the fact that New Zealand has a population of only 4.5 million and thus a rather limited domestic market, and you may understand why many second-generation Taiwanese immigrants have left to work in Australia or other foreign locations. Some have even returned to Taiwan. Be that as it may, with more stunning natural scenery than Auckland and a slower place of life, Christchurch has still provided Taiwanese with a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities.

In 2013 New Zealand had a total of 30 million sheep, or six per person. Popular with tourists, Farmers Corner focuses on selling products representative of the South Island, such as lanolin and woolen clothing.

In scenic Christchurch Jocelyn Lee (Li Feng­jiao), widely known “Big Sister Feng,” operates the Rainbow Star Farmstay, where she provides motherly care to weary travelers in a foreign land. She also hosts travelers for working vacations. Rainbow Star has earned high reviews from backpackers on line.

In 1994, Lee came to Christchurch with her son, then in elementary school. At first she opened a restaurant in the city, where she came into contact with a lot of backpackers from Taiwan. Some were so intent on conserving their travel funds that they ate nothing but bread for a week. That pained her. Consequently, in 2007 her husband arranged to immigrate as well, and once the family was united, they resolved to buy a farm with the aim of opening a farmstay that would offer the warmth of home to backpack travelers. Lee has hung small flags of the nations of all those who have stayed with her, so after a few years the assemblage took on the look of the United Nations.

Lee shares a saying with the travelers: “New Zealand is a place that relaxes people. Backpack travelers are people, so relax!” Everyone at the Rainbow Star Farmstay, whether they are paying guests or exchanging work for lodging, can enjoy her cooking almost every day. Many a backpack traveler from Taiwan has eaten her first New Zealand bowl of beef noodles in Lee’s kitchen.

Lee enthusiastically connects travelers with work-stay opportunities nearby, including at a local asparagus packing plant and an ice-cream factory, helping relieve backpackers’ stress about the need for work.

In 2012, the farmstay built several cabins just two meters square. Panes of tempered glass are installed in the sloped roofs to provide views of the night sky, which is still relatively unaffected by light pollution. Lee says those starry vistas have provided travelers with some of their most indelible memories of Christchurch.

Feeling the pull of the beautiful Avon River, Overseas Community Affairs Council commissioner Fu Young-ming moved his family to Christchurch more than a decade ago.

Robert Wu and his wife, like a lot of former Taiwan public-sector workers who emigrate, came to Christchurch looking for everyday happiness.

Just before they arrived, Wu did some research into industry in Christchurch, and ended up deciding to plant greenhouse tomatoes. It was the first time the couple had been farmers, and they grew into it, enjoying it more and more. They have been farming for 14 years now. Their son grew up in the tomato houses, and after returning to Taiwan for college, he came back to his parents’ side to grow tomatoes with them.

Like most New Zealand farmers, Wu grows on contract for a produce distributor. With that method, the farmer may earn a little less profit, but there is greater security, and you’re sheltered from the whims of the market.

Wu plants top-grade European varieties, mainly “Red Angels.” He is also working with the distributor to try out small-scale plantings of “Golden Cherries” and “Sungreens.” The crops are all supplied with nutrients hydroponically, controlled by computer.

By erecting greenhouses to grow tomatoes hydroponically in Christchurch, the Wus have avoided the weather issues that plague many farmers, and they’ve lived simple and happy lives that have fulfilled their original intentions for emigrating.

Robert Wu (left) and his family plant greenhouse tomatoes in Christchurch, living simple, happy lives.

Often, you only need to look at a restaurant’s name and interior design to get a sense of the proprietors’ background and tastes. A visit to Christchurch’s Little Tai­pei is just such an experience.

Little Tai­pei offers classic Taiwanese dishes, such as minced pork on rice, beef noodles, pork ribs soup, fried rice noodles, mixed spice stew, and fried chicken breast. It has an image of Tai­pei 101 on the front door and is decorated inside with vintage Taiwan film advertisements, Hakka floral fabrics and Mei­nong oilpaper parasols. It exudes a Taiwanese flavor that is both retro and au courant.

The reason this restaurant is able to so accurately capture the current zeitgeist of Taiwan is because its 48-year-old proprietor Tony Tang is a latecomer, having moved to Christchurch from Taiwan just two years ago. The entire process, from finding a restaurant location, to renovating and decorating it, to designing a menu and finally opening, took more than a year—largely because Tang was intent on opening a restaurant with authentic “Taiwanese flavor.”

Since Little Tai­pei has opened, the “Tai­pei” in its name has attracted quite a few students and tourists from mainland China and Taiwan. Quite a few native New Zealanders have come as well. Tang has discovered that people of different cultural backgrounds have very different standards of flavoring.

Take the matter of heat and spice. In Taiwan, people are used to levels of mild, medium and high heat. But in New Zealand, mainlanders regard the mild heat of Taiwan as being flavorless, whereas the same food will drive native New Zealanders to chug water at the first bite.

In order to satisfy the needs of every customer, Tang pays meticulous attention to the details of every aspect of every dish, from the acquisition of ingredients, to the food prep in the kitchen, to the presentation of the dish on the customer’s table. It’s a much more involved process than he had thought, but the varied matters he must attend to every day make the work interesting.

Tang uprooted his family and immigrated to give his elementary school daughter a better learning environment. But now that business at Little Tai­pei is growing, he is the first one at the restaurant in the morning and the last one to leave at night, and he unexpectedly finds himself spending less time with his daughter than ever.

In 2013 New Zealand had a total of 30 million sheep, or six per person. Popular with tourists, Farmers Corner focuses on selling products representative of the South Island, such as lanolin and woolen clothing.

Few are as attuned to the ups and downs of the New Zealand consumer market as ­Huang Chuan­ming and Tang Shu­mei, the husband-and-wife proprietors of Farmers Corner, a “retail and restaurant complex” in Ashburton, south of Christchurch. It is on the road to Queenstown, a major South Island tourist destination.

Tang explains that early on most mainland Chinese tourists only visited the North Island, but since 2008 the number of tour groups going down south has markedly increased. Their consumer power has already surpassed that of Japanese and Korean tourists.

Huang and Tang are among the senior members of the overseas Taiwanese community, having immigrated to New Zealand 25 years ago. Their children, after graduating from college, both returned to Taiwan to work. The parents, on the other hand, have continued to work and live in New Zealand. With the rise of the mainland Chinese economy, they also see hidden potential in New Zealand.

New Zealand is a major exporter of agricultural products, with dairy products in particular that are highly popular in many foreign markets. Because mainland Chinese consumers lack confidence in their own dairy products, ­Huang and Tang see an opportunity and have been in discussions with mainland companies. They anticipate that starting this year (2015), they will begin customized production in New Zealand of infant formula for export to mainland China.

In fact, Farmers Corner draws tourists from all around the world. Tang notes that mainland tourists like to buy high-quality durables such as alpaca hides and woolen blankets, whereas Taiwanese tourists buy perishables, such as health foods and lanolin. It’s a good demonstration of the difference in consumer behavior between tourists from either side of the Taiwan Strait.

“Big Sister Feng” (in black dress and red top) at her Rainbow Star Farmstay in Christchurch. Its cabins with skylights provide backpack travelers in Christchurch with a warm and romantic place to stay.

According to the 2013 New Zealand census, most Taiwanese immigrants are professionals, and that holds for both men and women. Wendy Lu, 38, who is president of the Taiwan Business Association of New Zealand (South Island), is the only Taiwanese among the four Asian practicing accountants in Christchurch.

When Lu was in junior high school, her family of four obtained permanent residence visas for New Zealand. In her last year of junior high school, an educational trip to Christchurch convinced her to stay in New Zealand. To the present day, she is the only one of her family members to have acquired New Zealand citizenship.

New Zealand takes an educational approach that emphasizes encouragement over punishment and inspiration over cramming. It really caused a great transformation in Lu, who had been an introverted and average student in Taiwan. “I became clear about what I wanted and what I thought,” she says. “The educational methods suited me.”

Two years ago, Lu founded Young & Success Chartered Accountants. With the growing number of immigrants from mainland China, more than 80% of her business comes from handling taxes, investment and business venture paperwork for mainland Chinese immigrants. At this point she has 12 years of experience.

She says that New Zealand is a society that trusts individuals, but requires matters to be handled in accordance with the law. As soon as it is shown that one has broken the law, then all trust is lost. Consequently, she often has to sternly warn immigrants from mainland China that dishonest behavior will only backfire and hurt them in the long run.

Lu sees some basic differences between these young mainland Chinese immigrants and immigrants from Taiwan. She says that immigrants from the mainland are more willing to take risks, whereas Taiwanese immigrants are overly prone to rumination and hesitation. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurial ventures started by two brothers from Taiwan have really caught people’s attention.

In South Island cities such as Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown, seven out of ten Chinese restaurants use noodles and dumpling skins made by Formosa Foods. The owners are two brothers barely in their 30s: Sam and Ben Lu.

The two brothers immigrated to New Zealand with their parents before they had finished elementary school. In 2007, the family purchased a noodle machine and turned their garage into a factory. The following year they expanded their operations. Business has steadily grown, increasing in volume by seven times.

The brothers like a good drink and took notice when Russian New Zealanders met success with the vodka 42 Below. “If the Russians can do it,” they thought to themselves, “why can’t we?” So they came up with a plan to make a rich, pure and aromatic kao­liang liquor of as high a quality as that made in Kinmen.

In 2009 they threw themselves into research, acquiring Australian sorghum and New Zealand wheat and using snow melt from the Southern Alps for their water. Through trial and error they came up with what they thought was the ideal distillation and formally released ­Taizi, their brand of kao­liang, in 2013. They commissioned a distiller in Christchurch that has been making whiskey and gin for 100 years and are producing 150,000 liters a year. Importing the bottles and caps from France, they are going after the high-end market.

The younger brother Sam Lu is in charge of ­Taizi operations. He points out that in February of 2014, they gave the first bottle of ­Taizi to New Zealand prime minister John Key, who shared it with PRC president Xi Jin­­ping, when Xi visited in November.

On the back of their well-established noodle business, these young immigrant brothers have demonstrated creative flair and practical business savvy in launching their bold venture in Christchurch.