I'll post this in full as Stuff doesn't archive, so the link will become invalid after a while.
Welcome to NZ's most Asian suburb
By MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Tuesday, 08 April 2008
New Zealand's most "Asian" place has been revealed in a study out today - it's Auckland's peaceful suburb of Blockhouse Bay.
It has the highest population density of people of Chinese and Indian cultures with a smattering of Korean.
The adjourning suburbs of Mt Albert and Mt Roskill also benefit from the diversity.
An Asia New Zealand Foundation report, Diverse Auckland: The Face of New Zealand in the 21st Century, written by University of Auckland's Dr Wardlow Friesen, says the city will continue to absorb more migrants than the rest of the country.
Dr Friesen says the city now has a rapidly changing "ethnoscape".
"Anyone who knows the region well will identify clusters of Asian retailing and restaurants in areas such as Upper Queen Street, Dominion Road, Sandringham Road, New Lynn, Somerville and Dannemora, but nearly every part of the region has some evidence of this phenomenon," the study says.
A Chinese Directory showed 1,700 Chinese business addresses.
"One of the most conspicuous changes in Auckland ethnoscape... is the growth in 'ethnic' restaurants."
Last year there were 400 identifiable Asian restaurants and cafes as well as many more outlets in foodcourts and malls. Seventy seven were Indian, 75 Thai and 73 each Chinese and Japanese. Also on offer, but in smaller numbers, are Korean, Vietnamese, Turkish, Mongolian, Malaysian, Cambodian and Persian restaurants.
"These numbers represent, on the average, a doubling of these cuisines from a study ten years earlier."
Dr Friesen points to the ethnic media with at least 20 Chinese language newspapers, three television channels land three radio stations in Chinese and magazines and websites.
"The Indian community of New Zealand is also well served with media, including several hard copy and online newspapers and a dedicated radio station, once again mostly based in Auckland but serving the whole of New Zealand."
In the 1990s the main stream media got "considerable negative press coverage of new migrants, especially 'Asian', usually as represented by Chinese".
This has tended to become more balanced, "the issues of public perception and racism are important issues that are much wider than media coverage.
"A number of studies have identified the presence of racism against both new migrants and international students, although incidents tend to involve unknown people rather than work or school colleagues."
The study explores the growth in festivals around Chinese New Year and Diwali.
"On a physical level, the evidence of the emergence of diverse religious practices of the Asian population of Auckland is dramatic," Dr Friesen reports.
"New Hindu temples include the Bhartiya Mandir on Balmoral Road in Sandringham and the Radha Krishna Mandir, which is part of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in Eden Terrace. The Tsu Ming temple in Greenlane is the oldest Buddhist temple in Auckland, while the recently built Chinese Mahayana Buddhist Fo Guang Shan temple in Botany is testament to the large numbers of Chinese Buddhists in South Auckland."
Cambodian, Vietnamese and Lao populations have their own Buddhist temples and a number of gurdwara or Sikh places of worship. This includes a new $8 million gurdwara in Takanini.
Many of the Koreans here are Christian so have integrated into existing Christian congregations.
Religion adds complexity to ethnic identity.
"In some cases Hinduism has been promoted as the epitome of 'Indian' culture and the prominence of the Diwali festival in Auckland is an example of this. However, significant Sikh, Muslim, Christian and other religious sectors of the Indian population are not adequately incorporated within this representation of 'Indianness', but even within the Hindu population, regional and linguistic groups are increasingly celebrating their own festivals."
These include the Bengali Durga puja, Kavadi by the Tamils, Onam and Vishnu by the Malayalees and Ganesh Chaturthi by the Marathis.
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