CHINESE IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17251, 29 August 1919, Page 9

CHINESE IN AUCKLAND.

GLIMPSES OF THEIR LIFE. • OLD TRADITIONS FAILING. INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN. Although the sight of the Chinaman j working industriously in his trim garden, | reckoning change with amazing accuracy " in a fruit shop or handing out the week's laundry, is a very familiar ona to Auck--1 landers, comparatively little is known . of the local conditions under which these I sons of the Celestial Empire are living, j f There are at present about 400 Chinamen I in Auckland, and perhaps 10 Chinese £ wives. Nearly all the others, however, - have wives and children in their own : land, and are patiently adding day by J Hay to the little hoard that will uome . day enable them to go back to their homes • and families. The family tie is a very • strong one with the Chinese, and their ; sojourn in a foreign lfcnd usually but the I ; stepping-stone to a return home and , prosperity among their own folk that it i would be very hard to obtain in the ordinary run of life in Chirm. The ancient traditions oi the Chinese 1 still hold strong sway in some respects, j ' but in others even the manners and 1 customs of the oldest Empire are waning I and undergoing the change inevitable j ' when Occident and Orient come into close ; and continuous contact. The pigtail has : , gone, and the quaintly-trousered women, ! ' with shy eyes and tiny sandalled feet, ' have given place to smart young misses .wearing tailored skirts and French heels. But the average Chinaman is still the frugal, industrious worker of the ageold East; even in prosperous Auckland he ■ still lives mainiy on rice, although his I | needs in this respect, have gone unfilled ' ( for some time past on account of the pre- j vailing acute shortage. Chinese Delicacies. An inquiry made yesterday as to how j local Chinese residents were faring in view <spf this dietary difficulty resulted in some interesting information being given ] ■ with regard to the general trend of life ' amonsr Chinese in Auckland. As in other I respects, the Orientals are conforming ' more and more to European ideas with . regard to foods, and, although rice still ] is, or was until recently, their staple ' diet, the white man's menu is gradually j being adopted by the Chinaman. A few traditional Chinese dishes are still regarded as a great delicacy: dried sharks' fins are in strong demand, and luxury fare is provided at the banquets occasionally held in Auckland. A glance at a list of delicacies forwarded from China for local consumption revealed some weird and wonderful dishes. An item of dried shrimps and oysters looked more or less familiar, but ' sugared watermelon rind, fishes' eyes in vinegar, onions in treacle, bamboo shoots in syrup, beche-de-mer, or sea-slugs brought to mind visions of a banquet ; truly Oriental. Other items ware-.— ! Chinese medicines and wines, canned \ bean cure, salt cucumber, hen albumen, j and a quantity of the " Asiatic egg" so j well known to local pastrycooks. j The Chinese are not given to riotous I living, but, by all accounts, local banquets ' lack few of the traditional delicacies associated with these sumptuous repasts, i allowance being made, of course, for those dishes requiring ingredients which China j alone can produce. j Keeping in Touch With Home. j There is in Auckland a strong branch ' of the Chinese Nationalist Society, which receives all the newspapers and current literature of China. This is widely read by local Chinese residents, who follow the occasionally-stormy course of home politics with keen interest. There are : also two Chinese " Freemasons" " societies ! in Auckland, in which the trend of politics ' is reflected, although party feeling is apt to be little less pronounced than is sometimes the case with regard to local politics. That is "to say. the Celestials i usually agree to differ politely. ! One interesting point mentioned yester- ' day bv a well-known Chinese resident ' was that the ancient dread' of surgical : operations is to a large extent dying out among Chinese living abroad. The j Chinese physician is traditionally a herbalist ; amputations were unknown in i China until students of the present gener- ! ation migrated to the West, where they " learned Western methods of healing and '■ treatment of the sick. Consequently Auck- ! land doctors frequently tend Chinese ! patients and perform operations and send i them to the General Hospital in a way that would have been undreamed of among ! the Orientals of a past generation. j ' At the same time, the use of herbs is j fitiij very popular, and the only Chinese j herbalist in the Dominion, who has a! shop in Wellington, does a fairly wide j trade among his fellow-countrymen. | Another point of interest, as showing the general acceptance of Western ideas. ! is that the old tradition that the bones j of every Chinaman must be taken back ' to his own land is not so inexorably ob- I served as in the past. During the • epidemic about ten Chinese residents of ■ Auckland died; some of these were buried in the ordinary way and will rest for- i ever in alien soil, but the others were em- j balmed and provision made for shipment I of the remains back to China. This cannot be done, however, for at least one • year after interment, and even the ulti- ! mate carrying out of the old tradition! will depend very largely upon prevailing ] shipping conditions. j