Shanghai Mission day five

Nga¯ti Kahu’s Diplomatic and Cultural Mission to China this year began with a delay of 21 hours as the result of a still-unexplained problem with Air New Zealand’s flight 289. This was followed by a similarly unexplained failure in customer service, when Air New Zealand said it could not get us to Shanghai until four days later, an untenable delay that would have shortened our mission so drastically it would have been pointless.

After fruitless hours spent trying to get Air New Zealand to help us, our Chinese host in Shanghai advised us to meet with the Auckland airport manager, who had a duty to get us to China with as little delay as possible.

Thanks to the unflagging efforts of the manager, Mr Nguyen, we arrived only one day late, a delay that was manageable for both our host and us.

So here we are on the fifth day, all travelling well together and looking forward to spending time with our host, Gui Zhong, as we cross Huangpu (mother river) to the Pudong (east bank) side of Shanghai, where his private club is located.

Just a little over 30 years ago, Pudong was nothing but rice paddies and farm land. In 1993, the Chinese government created the Pudong New Area. Now it is a financial hub of modern China containing several landmark buildings we have visited in previous years; the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Building, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Shanghai Tower.

Pudong is also home to more than five million inhabitants, an explosive growth since the turn of the century, thanks mainly to immigrants pouring in from other parts of China seeking broader and better educational, employment and social opportunities.

Nestled in the midst of Pudong is the Belle Wood Club and Villa Estate, a compound of elegant two-storey homes built by Shanghai CRED around a communal clubhouse, gym, indoor and outdoor pools, kids’ playground, squash and tennis courts, sauna and restaurant. Some of the homes also come with private swimming pools.

Our time with Gui Zhong is spent talking about the proposed Carrington development on Karikari Peninsula, which he has owned since 2013. His cooperation agreement with us supports the determination of the local Karikari marae to protect the ancient burial cave Te Ana o Taite and other waahi tapu¯ from that development. His agreement with Haititaimarangai, the other local marae, will see them provide him with a cultural impact assessment on the development in due course. The key take-home messages from our meeting are, clarity and harmony are needed.

After lunch we present him with a signed copy of our book, Nga¯ti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation, then participate in the tea ceremony and a calligraphy demonstration before ending our visit with a stroll through the estate. These quiet activities are a nice way to wind down from the hustle and bustle of the preceding week.

To be continued.

"Our time with Gui Zhong is spent talking about the proposed Carrington development on Karikari Peninsula, which he has owned since 2013. "