These days, some of her own dreams have come true. Fluent in four languages, an accountant with a lengthy resume of previous and current appointments ranging from university councillor to tourism board member, Ms Wong has been a New Zealand member of parliament for 10 years. She is opposition spokesman on commerce, international education, liaison with Asian New Zealanders and associate immigration spokesman.

But the irrepressible Ms Wong, known to all as 'Pansy' - her office is decorated with pansy-themed gifts and the flower brightens her website - has learned the hard way to be careful what you wish for.

Ms Wong migrated to New Zealand with her family in 1974, and is its only Chinese MP. She was, until last year's election of an MP of Pakistani background, the only one from the 6.4 per cent of the population comprising New Zealand's Asian communities.

Mostly, Ms Wong is happy to be seen as their representative. 'The reason I entered parliament is not because I have this great passion to be in parliament.

'Growing up in Hong Kong, most of us have scant interest in politics. It is because of my ethnicity,' she says.

But sometimes she must remind her colleagues that she has two jobs: her portfolios and representing the Asian community. And the weight of expectation can be a burden.

It has fallen to Ms Wong to counter criticisms of Asian immigration, to stand up against racism and, in particular, to counter the anti-immigration rhetoric of New Zealand First leader, now foreign minister, Winston Peters, who labelled her a token MP.

She longs to be asked her views on general issues, but local news media label her an 'Asian spokesperson' and ask about 'Asian' stories. Even her accent has been mocked in parliament. A recent episode led to her changing her newsletter from the fun name What's Going Wong, suggested by supporters, to Pansy Speak.

'Being an Asian MP is really hard,' she says. 'On the one hand you have the non-Asian community who stereotype you and say you only represent the Asian community. On the other hand, it is equally hard to represent the Asian community. You are forced to assume a group identity and, because of that, individuals in the Asian community are holding up a higher standard of performance for their own. They want to see that you are doing really well because it reflects on them collectively.'

The Wong family's move to Christchurch, then with just 200,000 people - her father was chief steward on a P&O cargo ship and had visited - was an enormous culture shock. 'When I studied geography in Hong Kong, it stopped at Australia,' Ms Wong says. 'I had seen Maori dolls and kiwi fruit brought by my father, but it was a huge culture shock in Christchurch.

'We came in winter and I kept thinking maybe everybody had gone away for their winter retreat.'

But despite the difficulties, Ms Wong says New Zealand has given her chances Hong Kong would not have.

'New Zealand, ultimately, has given me the opportunity to make history. One of the values of New Zealand, one that I treasure, is still that the individual can make a difference and New Zealand does provide that.

'But I have never felt the need to be a Chinese in the way I have in New Zealand. In Hong Kong I am just Pansy Wong, one of millions left to find my way. In New Zealand I was given the opportunity - but with the opportunity comes all this responsibility.'

Last November, Ms Wong visited China with a group of Chinese MPs from around the world. She says the Americans and Canadians, second- or third-generation non-Chinese speakers, 'say they are representing the community and that Asian ethnicity is a secondary issue, but all of them acknowledge they use that advantage to target Asian communities.

'The Australians and New Zealanders tend to be first-generation migrants, and felt a bit more that our desire to enter politics was more about a reflection of our Asian ethnicity.'

Ms Wong's rise to power did not come as the result of a master plan. Rather, it was the outcome of a determination never to say no to any opportunity. 'I just put myself up for everything. Basically, anybody who approached me, I said yes.'

Her political journey began when she was asked by a conservative local group to stand for her local regional council.

'They saw the need to approach the Asian community. I just did not feel I could turn it down because I thought that would reinforce the opinion that Asians don't participate,' she says.

Next, in 1994, came a tilt at the city council. Ms Wong was pre-selected for a safe seat, but her backers were concerned she might lose it because she was Chinese, and her nomination was withdrawn.

After 20 years of contributing to her new country, it was a slap in the face so painful that she considered moving back to Hong Kong - permanently. 'I packed my bag to go back. But my mother died and I came back,' she says. 'I felt mum and dad cut their roots to Hong Kong to come to New Zealand for their children. I decided to stay and justify their decision.'

Then came an approach to become an MP. A local MP, a strong supporter of the Chinese community, realised New Zealand's new voting system, with voters choosing both electorate and party list candidates, gave small groups the chance to win seats.

'At that stage I was slightly apprehensive because of the situation in 1994,' Ms Wong says. 'I promised to look for a candidate for them but could not find many people willing to put their hand up - I felt that as an Asian you have to show you are willing.'

So she stood, and was elected a National Party list MP. On March 19, 1997, New Zealand's first Chinese MP gave her maiden speech, introduced in both Cantonese and Putonghua. In it, she hailed her election as a step towards the concept of 'one nation, many people'.

Denouncing racial attacks, she called on parliament to lead by example towards a true partnership with ethnic minorities.

Movingly for Ms Wong, Chinese community members from throughout New Zealand packed the galleries, releasing 130 balloons - one for each year of Chinese settlement.

Her determination to be both seen and heard began with her first job as an accountant where, frantic to fit in, she went to the pub on Friday nights and learned about rugby and cricket. But the effort to engage seemed to her to be 'a one-way traffic'. She also joined the local Chinese association, but she realised that picture was incomplete - Chinese New Zealanders' aspirations were for themselves and their families, but not the wider community.

'I thought that Chinese New Zealanders may be seen but they are certainly not heard,' Ms Wong says.

In the 1980s, she left the association after a dispute which not only illustrates her determination to speak out, but which has riven New Zealand's wider Chinese community.

'During the influx of Chinese migrants to New Zealand in the 1980s there was a great deal of tension and an upsurge in racist incidents,' she says. 'They were quite concerned about the backlash. One of the leaders was saying we should not encourage more membership because they might draw attention to us to our detriment.'

Ms Wong took exception to this 'self-imposed standard'.

'People would think they were model citizens - but that seems to mean you behave appropriately and don't protest about anything,' she says.

Ms Wong has come a long way since her maiden speech. She is now based in Auckland, home to 60 per cent of New Zealand's Asian community, where she unsuccessfully contested a Labour stronghold last election, after choosing not to contest an 'Asian' seat. But she was re-elected as a list MP.

New Zealand has made great progress in addressing past wrongs, particularly towards the Maori people, Ms Wong says. 'Maori friends say it is now a bicultural nation - the next step is multicultural. We can't wait another 100 years,' she says.