Abstract:
The theme of this dissertation is that Wellington Chinese youth between the ages of 16-29 have rapidly moved away from traditional New Zealand Chinese ways of hinking and adopted many of the host society attitudes and patterns of behaviour, and yet, Chinese youth tend to be a homogenous group. After over 120 years of settlement in New Zealand this is surprising, and as a result the shape and content of the research has changed considerably from its inception. At first the writer believed that the Chinese youth were being assimilated very rapidly into the New Zealand society and the purpose of the study would be to document this movement by statistical, sociological, and anthropological methods. During the interviewing of Chinese youths it became increasingly evident that total assimilation was not progressing rapidly, and that there was a noticeable social reaction to the process by Chinese youth. This was confirmed by the results of the social survey. The problem of this thesis is to account for this social resistance to the process of assimilation. Basically, there are two major reasons:
1. The resilient and adaptive nature of the Chinese institutions including family and social organisations in Wellington and the rest of New Zealand with the Chinese family as the most powerful unifying factor.
2. The attitudes of the predominantly white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP) New Zealand society to Chinese people have been notable for hostility, antipathy prior to the 1930's and since then to race avoidance and tolerance. The former antipathy was reflected most spectacularly in the successive racist immigration legislation directed against Chinese and other Asians from 1881, and since 1921, when all references to ethnic origin were omitted, to colour discriminatory administration of the Immigration Acts.
As a result of these two basic factors the total number of Chinese living in New Zealand in 1966 was only 10,283 compared to a total European population of about 2.4 million (2.426,352) and only 59% (6065) Chinese in New Zealand were born in New Zealand whereas 85% (2,279,994) of New Zealand's total population were New Zealand born, despite the 120 years or so of history in New Zealand of both groups.
This dissertation analyses both of the factors of the Chinese family, and host society with the emphasis on the social and cultural adjustment of the Chinese youth in Wellington with the sincere trust that harmonious race relations enjoyed today in 1973 may continue and that this study will promote better understanding between Chinese and the host society. On the one hand, Chinese can better understand the historical forces which have profoundly affected their adjustment, and the nature of the attitudes held today by most New Zealanders to Chinese people (and other coloured New Zealand citizens). On the other hand, it is also hoped that non-Chinese may better appreciate the nature of the Chinese people, the pervasive Confucian ethical code which governs their behaviour, the character of the Chinese community, and the problems the Chinese people especially youth, experience as they seek to adapt to the New Zealand society.
