Chinatowns in Oceania

Template:Chinatown This article discusses Chinatowns in Oceania.

Australia

Given its proximity to the Asian continent, Australia has had, and continues to witness, a massive immigration of Chinese and other Asians. As with Canada, the majority of ethnic Chinese immigrants to Australia are from Hong Kong. Chinese from various places of mainland China, Macao, Taiwan, Korea, Southeast Asia—especially Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia—and Latin America also settled Australia.

Many early Chinese from the Guangdong and Fujian provinces of China immigrated to Australia during the gold rush era. They were mainly Chinese of Taishanese, Cantonese, Zhongshanese, Hokkien, and Hakka origin. As in North America, the Chinese faced massive institutionalized discrimination, and Asian immigration was restricted by the White Australia Policy in the late 1880s. It was repealed by the 1970s under multiculturalist policies, which in turn ushered in a new wave of Asian immigration, particularly from Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China, and giving rise to several Australian Chinatown communities.

Australia has numerous historic frontier and rural Chinatowns, such as in Atherton, Queensland and Brocks Creek, Northern Territory. These early Chinatowns are now preserved heritage sites.

Contemporary Chinatowns are found in the Australian cities of Sydney, New South Wales, Melbourne, Victoria, Perth, Western Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Adelaide, South Australia, and Darwin, Northern Territory. There is a Chinatown in Broome, Western Australia, nearly 2,000 kilometres north from Perth. Like their Chinese North American counterparts, Chinese Australians tend to live in many different suburbs.

Sydney

Main Article: Chinatown, Sydney

Sydney's Chinatown is the third area to bear that name. Originally in The Rocks area of Sydney, it later moved to the area near Market Street at Darling Harbour and finally to its current location in Haymarket, around Dixon Street. In the Sydney area, working-class Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants have settled in the suburban Chinatown of Cabramatta. Other suburban Chinatowns have cropped up over the years in the suburbs of Ashfield, Burwood, Chatswood, Parramatta, and Hurstville.

Adelaide

Main article: China Town, Adelaide

Adelaide's China Town is located in the Adelaide Central Markets precinct, on Moonta Street, between Grote and Gouger streets. Two impressive Paifang mark the entrances at either end. Adelaide China Town consists mainly of oriental restaurants, grocery stores and markets.

Melbourne

Melbourne's Chinatown is around Lonsdale Street, Little Bourke Street, and Russell Street. A suburban Chinese community is in Doncaster, with a large Hong Kong and Taiwanese expatriate population, and in Box Hill with a large Chinese and Vietnamese communities.

Brisbane

The Chinatown of Brisbane is located in the suburb of Fortitude Valley, complete with its own Chinese gateway.

Darwin

A new synthetic Chinatown of Darwin, Northern Territory is in development and it is to be finished in 2010 at a cost of AU $90 million. [1] (http://notes.nt.gov.au/dbird/majorproj.nsf/projects/chinatowndarwin?Open&ss)

French Polynesia

The Chinatown, called Quartier Chinois, in French Polynesia is located in Papeete in Tahiti island. Its overseas Chinese also migrated to France. Starting in 1865, early Chinese migrants of the Hakka variety arrived in French Polynesia to work on the island cotton plantations. Many of these migrants were exploited. The ethnic Chinese population has been declining in French Polynesia. [2] (http://www.astrosurf.com/fetia/tching/histoire.htm)

Guam

Hagåtña (Agaña) has a unique Chinatown in Guam, a United States territory. The Japanese, Koreans, Thais, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Chamorros, and other Pacific Islanders also settled the place, making it a multi-Asian district. These Asians also migrated to Hawaii or mainland United States.

New Caledonia

Noumea has the only Chinatown, or Quartier Chinois, in New Caledonia. It has been settled by ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese Vietnamese, and Chinese Indonesian refugees. These Chinese also settled France.

New Zealand

Unlike Australia, there has been little ethnic Chinese immigration to New Zealand, although there is an overall strong Southeast Asian presence in many of the country's urban areas. Many Taiwanese and Cantonese settlers from Hong Kong also live permanently in New Zealand, and in recent years New Zealand universities have been attractive to overseas students from Southeast Asia. Chinatowns existed on Greys Avenue in Auckland and Haining Street in Wellington, and there is a growing community in both Christchurch and Dunedin.

The first early Chinese immigrants to New Zealand are Cantonese from Guangdong Province, and they went here for the Central Otago goldrush of 1861. For this reason, there is a strong Chinese presence in Dunedin, whose current mayor, Peter Chin, is of Chinese descent. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the area between Rattray Street and Stafford Street at the southern end of the city's CBD had the highest concentration of Chinese businesses in the country, notably Choie (Charles) Sew Hoy's importing company. A traditional Chinese garden is also currently under construction in the city.

Many Taiwanese and Cantonese settlers from Hong Kong also live permanently in New Zealand, and in recent years New Zealand universities have been attractive to overseas students from Southeast Asia. Other groups of Chinese travelled from South Korea, South Africa, Australia, Latin America, and other Pacific Islands. Chinese and other Asians such as Thais, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Filipinos reside together in New Zealand's Chinatowns, making them multi-Asian places.

The New Zealand Government recently made a public apology to the Chinese for the poll tax that had been levied on their forefathers a century ago.

Papua New Guinea

Several old Chinatowns dot the landscape of Papua New Guinea. The Chinatown of Rabaul is among the oldest in the nation. There is also a Chinatown in the capital city of Port Moresby. Many ethnic Chinese have migrated to Australia.

Solomon Islands

There is an active Chinatown in the city of Honiara on the Solomon Islands.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu has a small Chinatown (Quartier Chinois) on rue Carnot in Port Vila. Its population includes ethnic Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese residents.

External links

• CNN.com - Triad turf war in Sydney's (Australia) Chinatown (http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/06/19/australia.chinatown/)
• Guide to Chinatown, Sydney, Australia (http://www.chinatown.com.au/defaulte.asp)
• Eastern promise spread to the suburbs (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/06/1031115933806.html) - The Sydney Morning Herald article on the rise of suburban Chinatowns in Australia.
• Melbourne Chinatown (http://www.melbourne-chinatown.vic.gov.au/)
• Tracking the Dragon (http://www.ahc.gov.au/publications/chineseheritage/trackingthedragon/index.html) - A guide for finding and assessing Chinese Australian heritage places
• "The Chinese in New Zealand" (http://www.stevenyoung.co.nz/chinesevoice/) - a website for and about the Chinese in New Zealand