Lanterns light the way ahead
Last week I joined thousands of Aucklanders at the opening of the Auckland Lantern Festival. It was a fabulous event.
Now in its 19th year, the festival has grown to become the country’s largest free public event, attracting more than 200,000 people. And they were in for a treat.
From the beautiful lanterns, the food, to the performers which included a rock band from Xi’an, a saxophonist from Shanghai, a throat singer, there was something to captivate everyone.
The Lantern Festival marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Some 385 million Chinese were expected to travel around China during this holiday and predicted to spend the equivalent of up to NZ$104 billion.
Rising wealth has also seen an increasing number of Chinese travelling overseas. Popular destinations include Singapore, Vietnam, Australia and South Korea.
Around 6.5 million Chinese will have travelled abroad during this break, and tens of thousands were expected to have landed on our shores. This has massive potential for businesses.
I was interviewed by local Chinese media in the lead-up to the festival. The interview provides an insight into sentiments held by some within our largest Asian migrant group.
I expected the interview would reflect the festive, celebratory mood of the holiday. The tone of the questions was much more downbeat.
The journalist expressed the view that some Chinese New Zealanders see the Lantern Festival as superficial and believe more needs to be done to educate Kiwis about Asian cultures.
Our own foundation research tells us the more Kiwis interact with Asian people and cultures, the more confident they become about the region.
I argued against describing the festival as superficial because for some, that exposure may be the allimportant first step.
Once people are engaged, there are many ways for them to experience Asia first-hand.
The foundation offers a range of experiential opportunities, including business internships, arts residencies, media placements and our youth-focused leadership network.
Another question put to me was around the misconception that new Asian migrants, particularly those from China, are responsible for high house prices in Auckland.
I reminded them immigration is not new to New Zealand. Waves of immigration have made New Zealand what it is today. When I was growing up, New Zealand was much less diverse than it is now.
Reflecting on this subject, I realised we perhaps all need to get better at acknowledging New Zealand’s recent economic prosperity would not have been possible without the skills and talents migrants have brought.
And not just economic prosperity – our towns and cities are more vibrant and exciting because of migration.
Our research shows the impact of Asian cultures is increasingly being felt beyond our main cities.
Asian immigrants, while still relatively small in numbers, are having a real and positive impact in the regions, plugging the gaps of population decline and filling critical skill shortages.
In my interview, I talked about the two extremes of the immigration debate.
At one end are people who think the best thing is to close our doors and say ‘‘enough’’. And then there are those who argue migrants bring fresh ideas and insights; their presence opening both hearts and minds.
Historically, New Zealand has tended to think the latter but, like any social issue, we’ll never have total agreement.
The important thing is to have sensible, grown-up debates about this, and not fall for tempting dog whistles.
And that’s exactly where the Asia New Zealand Foundation endeavours to play a key role as moderator of an informed, civil debate around issues of public concern with an Asian focus.
We are not blind to the current debate around Chinese influence, and continue to work to bring the disparate views together to have an informed discussion.
The more voices engaging on this issue the better, in our view. We don’t expect full agreement, but we do think this issue deserves more consideration than a Twitter war.
We want to be the vehicle for deliberation, where people try to understand alternative perspectives on Asian issues so, as a society, we can come to a more informed decision. That decision may be a collective position or to simply agree to disagree.
This matters because, as I have previously mentioned, one of the issues we face is the risk of polarisation. We must learn from what is happening in other parts of the world and avoid this.
I’m convinced it’s possible to have a rational and respectful discussion on these issues. The stakes are too high not to.
Our towns and cities are more vibrant and exciting because of migration.
❚ Simon Draper is the executive director of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.