Chinese immigrants tell of tough new lives in NZ

Katherine Li, at the Red Guard Cafe in Auckland, says work in New Zealand has been limited to Chinese cafes and restaurants. Photo / Greg Bowker

Chinese immigrants come to New Zealand seeking a better lifestyle, but the harsh reality for many is longer working hours to make ends meet and less time for leisure and family, a study has found.

A Massey University report, Bamboo Networks: Chinese Employers and Employees in Auckland, shows a gap between expectations and reality for immigrants from the Chinese mainland.

"Many Chinese immigrants underestimate the difficulties of migration, and are finding that they have to work a lot harder once they get here than before leaving China," said researcher Professor Paul Spoonley.

Researchers interviewed 20 Chinese employees and 20 employers who are permanent residents for the report.

They were asked about their hopes and dreams before they arrived in New Zealand, their leisure activities, community involvement, retirement plans, home and family and experiences of discrimination.

"Migrating and settling in New Zealand is harder than many had thought, and they are having to compensate by re-establishing themselves here and working a lot harder to get a decent income," Professor Spoonley said.

Participants described their lives in China as full of social activities and having regular work hours, but their post-migration lives as "hard work", "long hours" and having "quiet social lives", the report says.

"The level of frustration and disappointment increases in relation to employment and business establishments."

Professor Spoonley said the immigrants struggled to find employment, and many "bought their own employment" by starting businesses, about 40 per cent of them in the food industry.

"My life in New Zealand is much more stressful than in China," a former company manager in China, who now runs a food company, is quoted as saying.

"I have to do both manual work and management work in my business. I do everything. I have no personal life at all, only work."

Some described their lack of social life and entertainment as a source of loneliness and isolation, while others said they had "simple" or "peaceful" lives.

Chinese immigrants relied extensively on Chinese networks for employment, advice and help with settlement issues, the report said.

"Their non-Chinese networks, both in a professional and a social sense, were limited and few had gained many new friends."

It said Chinese immigrants do not feel welcome, nor do they see much benefit to join a local professional or business association.

"The overwhelming story here is about the way in which migrants have to rely on their own personal networks for help with settlement and, at times, the indifference (sometimes hostility) of some New Zealanders and New Zealand organisations."

Chinese immigrant Katherine Li, a permanent resident who moved to New Zealand in 2008, said the only work she had been able to get in Auckland was at Chinese restaurants and cafes.

Language is an issue for most immigrants, with almost three quarters of employers saying they found communicating in English a major barrier to doing business here.

Most of the employees also said their jobs did not make use of their qualifications.

But nearly all who underwent New Zealand training found it helpful to improving work opportunities and local networks.

Among the positives, participants said they appreciated Auckland's less crowded, less polluted environment and enjoyed greater personal freedom and opportunities than in China.

The report is the first of several into the experiences of immigrants from New Zealand's five main source countries - Britain, China, India, Korea and South Africa, as part of the Integration of Immigrants research programme.