Chinese puzzle:
Veteran journalist David Lomas traces a M ori man’s roots back to a village in Guangzhou in the latest episode of David Lomas Investigates. Melenie Parkes reports.
Investigator David Lomas sets out to solve another riddle.
David Lomas is doing things a bit differently on the next episode of the series that bears his name. Instead of looking for a living relative, the veteran journalist is trying to track down one who died more than 40 years ago.
It is a moving story about the invisible ties through the generations, the bringing together of two cultures and the commonalities they find between them.
Perry Hakaraia, from Horowhenua, has a deep connection to his M ori roots but has always been curious about another branch of his family tree.
His grandfather, Ru Nam Young, was a Chinese migrant and although they met only once, Hakaraia has always longed to know more about him.
“It’s a real story of depth about what it means to M ori families to trace their whakapapa. And you know this family, Hakaraia, they all look part-Chinese, but they never knew anything of that side,” says Lomas.
It is a situation that will be familiar to many New Zealanders with migrant heritage. Ru Nam Young came from a village in Canton, or Guangzhou, which Lomas says, “Is the main area where the early Chinese settlers to New Zealand all came from.” Because the Hakaraia family had limited information about their grandfather, and because the name Young is common in China, the task of finding out more about him wasn’t easy. Lomas was aided by Janet Joe, who has helped many New Zealanders trace their Chinese ancestry. During her research in China, Joe made some surprising discoveries about Ru Nam Young. Hakaraia and his sisters made the journey to China to capture a glimpse of the life their grandfather led before coming to New Zealand. But there were discoveries to be made at home too and Lomas learned information about Young that, in many ways, deepens the man from Canton’s connection to M ori.