Te Hekenga Taikoa 紐華源流, brought to you by the New Zealand Chinese Association. Giving voice to our past for future generations.
Image: Rosie with silver beet, Pukekohe, June 2020. Zico O’Neill-Rutene.
This website was born from our communities' need to make our histories accessible to all. Our stories, and the experiences of our ancestors, tell us who we are today and how we belong in this country. We want to share this inclusive vision with all New Zealanders, but especially our young people, so they will be able to walk into the future knowing what has gone before.
This test release runs from 6–27 November 2024, and is being sent to NZCA networks and stakeholders.
What you're seeing now is just a small part of what will be on the site when we launch in August 2025. By then the site will contain all the reference content up to 1987. Further down the track we're hoping to branch out into material that's more contemporary, and also less reference focused - resources permitting.
But before we go on to our next stage of work, we'd love to know what you think of the site, both in terms of the content and how it's arranged. Please take a few minutes to click on the link below and fill out our feedback form. We've tried to make it as easy and short as possible!
The New Zealand Chinese Association (NZCA) is a grassroots community group that was incorporated in 1935. It represents the interests of Chinese communities from throughout the country. We have 14 branches from Otago to Auckland, and membership is mostly from the early settler Chinese community—the descendants of those who arrived in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Te Hekenga Taikoa 紐華源流 is led by Kirsten Wong on behalf of the NZCA. Kirsten is a communications professional with a long-time passion for community and heritage advocacy.
This project is built on our communities’ grassroots support for its history. It is supported by decades of work from advocates and community historians who have worked tirelessly to safeguard the communities' stories and articulate its histories in ways that made sense for the times they lived in. This project is part of that continuum.
Te Hekenga Taikoa 紐華源流 is made possible with the support of the New Zealand Chinese Association family; Designworks; our writers and historians; the NZCA website team; and our funders: the Chinese Poll-tax Heritage Trust; the New Zealand Chinese Association, the Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga; Te Tahua Whakatinana Papakāinga Lottery Community (National); and Te Tahua Whakawhanake Hapori Mātāwaka Ethnic Communities Development Fund.
Find out more about our supporters and contributors below.
Our intentions
Our goal is to create a Chinese New Zealand history website that promotes a vision of an inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand, and gives everyone access to high-quality, engaging information on our shared past.
We are grounded by these principles:
See also Usage Guidelines and Copyright (link to come)
Our name Te Hekenga Taikoa was gifted by the New Zealand Chinese Association's Māonīhi advisory group. Formed in 2022, members of mixed Māori–Cantonese Chinese descent came together to uncover how to identify Chinese New Zealanders within te reo Māori.
Te Hekenga Taikoa reflects the journey of Chinese people, hekenga meaning journey or migration. The word ‘Taikoa’ was created as a new kupu for referring to Chinese - uplifting the community it is for.
Inspired by the tides that have brought us to Aotearoa, Taikoa is literally the 'joyful tides' in te reo Māori. It is a partial transliteration of the Chinese word 中國 (Joon1guok3 or Middle Kingdom)—the term Chinese people have used for themselves for several thousand years.
Anihera Zhou
Megan Meiling Chong
Nigel Chee
Danny Karatea-Goddard
Simon Kaan
Ripeka Goddard
Dr Valance Smith
Maru Karatea-Goddard
Mikaela Joe
Te Kiwa Goddard
Journey, place to migrate to, migration, emigration, descent, go down, voyage.
Tai in te reo Māori means a tide,
i.e. Tairāwhiti, Taihauāuru, Taitonga.
Tái in Cantonese and Mandarin means elevated, intensified, i.e. hō (good), tái hō (very good).
Koa in te reo Māori means
joyful, happy, elated.
Koa is a transliteration of 國 guók, from Joon1guok3 中國 / Zhōngguó 中国
— meaning Middle Kingdom, the widely recognised term for China within the wider Asian world.
紐華源流 (nau2 waa4 jyun4 lau4 / niǔ huá yuán liú) was created by Dr King Tong Ho. Like our ingoa Māori, it draws on images of flowing water to suggest the movement of time.
Literally, 紐華源流 means Chinese New Zealand origins. The two later words 源 流 mean 'source' or the 'headwaters of a river'. They speak directly to our deep cultural roots in the great river systems of China, the birthplace of Chinese civilisation.
However, 源 流 is also used to mean development - referencing the changing path a river carves into the land until it reaches the joyful tides of the sea, or Taikoa.
Aotearoa New Zealand
源 jyun4 / yuán means source, origin, fountain.
流 lau4 / liú means flow or stream
Together as 源流 it means the headwaters of a river, as well as genesis, development and evolution.
William Wah, Bickleen Fong, Young Tong Shing, Joe Yue Sing, Dr James Ng, Dr David Fung, Dr Henry Chan, Gordon Wu
Dr Manying Ip, Charles Sedgwick, Leslie Wong
Esther Fung, Dr Manying Ip, Meng Foon, Danny Karatea-Goddard, Helene Wong, Gilbert Wong, Emma Bettle (education), Bev Tso Hong (research), Dr King Tong Ho, Simon Kaan, Dr Rita Chi-Ying Chung, Graeme Ball (history education)
Kirsten Wong (editor/project lead), Nigel Murphy, Trevor Agnew, Jenny Sew Hoy Agnew, Dr Manying Ip, Ruth Lam, Lily Lee, Lynette Shum, Renee Liang, Tze Ming Mok, Julia Bradshaw, Darrell Wu, Stanley Zeng, Ya-Wen Ho, Matilda Boese-Wong, Gilbert Patten-Elliott, Eda Tang, Nathan Blundell, Cadence Chung, Diana Clark, Howe Young, Laura Sew Hoy, Chelsea Wong, Jo Fothergill
Anihera Zhou, Megan Meiling Chong, Nigel Chee, Danny Karatea-Goddard, Simon Kaan, Ripeka Goddard, Valance Smith, Maru Karatea-Goddard, Mikaela Joe, Te Kiwa Goddard
Lead by: Kirsten Wong, Emma Bettle, Bev Tso Hong, Jo Fothergill
Participants: Cameron Sang, Chelsea Wong, Debbie Sew Hoy, Denise Ng, Duncan Campbell, Erica Blundell, Esther Fung, Gilbert Wong, Grace Gassin, Helene Wong, James To, Jenny Too, Johnny Hui, Julie Zhu, Lily Lee, Lynette Shum, Malcolm Wong, Teresa Chan,
Mark Ngan Kee, Melissa Wong, Meng Foon, Nigel Murphy, Paul Chin, Renee Liang, Richard Leung, Rodney Wong, Sherry Feng, Tony Thackery, Trevor and Jenny Agnew, Wendy Lau, Kane Chong, Ruth Lin, Cammy Leung, Stephanie Wang, Karen Liang, Alice Canton, H Chan, Raewyn Ho
Executive officers: Paul Chin, Lois Yee, Mark Ngan Kee, James To, Leo Li
Former officers: Jenny Too, Richard Leung, Meng Foon,
Jef Wong, Liam Ooi, Inhyuk Phillip Kim, Chloé Griveaud, Sam O’Flaherty, Luke Guilford, Caitlin Thompson, Anzac Tasker
Our funders
The New Zealand Chinese Association; the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust; the Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga; Te Tahua Whakatinana Papakāinga Lottery Community (National); Te Tahua Whakawhanake Hapori Mātāwaka Ethnic Communities Development Fund.
Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust
2024-current: Rodney Wong, Hector Wong, Denise Ng, David Wong, Eileen Ng, Deborah Sew Hoy, Jennifer Too, Lois Yee.
2020-2024: Paul Chin, Malcolm Wong, Mark Ngan Kee, Melissa Wong, Deborah Sew Hoy, Jennifer Too, Rodney Wong, Lois Yee
2017-2020 Kai-Shek Luey, Virginia Chong, Richard Leung, Malcolm Wong, Mark Ngan Kee, Paul Chin, Melissa Wong, and Liz Ngan
Anthony Brosnan, Jenanne Burnell, Andi Darmika, Nicola Morris, Caroline Santos
