Twice city mayor, a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and founding chair of the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust, Chin qualified as a lawyer in 1968 and turned his attention to local politics in 1995.

“I’ve always been interested in helping the community,” says Chin, who played a small role in Illustrious Energy (1988), a historical film about Chinese gold miners in Central Otago. “I think my involvement – as well as being the only Chinese with those sort of political ambitions – helped get me elected as mayor.”

One of Chin’s most significant achieve­­ments was his support for the creation of Lan Yuan, which initially faced stiff opposition from some Dunedin ratepayers. More than 50 artisans (and two cooks) were brought in from China, along with 1,000 tonnes of rock from Lake Tai, in the Yangtze Delta, to ensure the garden was authentic. Lan Yuan opened in 2008, at a cost of NZ$7 million (then about HK$43 million).

“Lan Yuan is the most visual monu­ment to the sister-city relationship that Dunedin enjoys with Shanghai,” says Chin. “The story of its concept and development, the trials and problems along the way, the goodwill between the cities and our countries, and the way everything ultimately fell into place to result in the reality of Lan Yuan is a story of friendship, belief and trust.”

Rubén Tang: Lima, Peru

When it comes to playing diaspora word association, “Chinese” is guaranteed to be paired with “restaurant”.

Chinese cuisine is perhaps the People’s Republic’s most visible export, an icon of every Chinatown around the world, and nowhere more so than in the Barrio Chino, in the Peruvian capital, Lima.

“The barrio has hundreds of Chinese restaurants, which are called chifa – an approximation of the Cantonese phrase meaning ‘to cook rice’,” says Rubén Tang Yue-pung, founder of the Confucius Insti­tute at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) and one of an estimated million Peruvians of Chinese ancestry. “The barrio was a bit rundown for a while, but it’s looking much better now.”

The first Chinese immigrants landed in Peru in the 19th century, bringing with them little-known ingredients such as ginger, scallions and soy sauce. The original chifa opened in Lima in the 1920s and some of their most popular dishes, such as lomo saltado – marinated beef, onions and tomatoes, which is accompanied by both rice and French fries – are served all over the country. Currently, the barrio’s chifa are doing their best to cope with coronavirus restrictions, which limit opening hours and the number of patrons, by organising home-delivery services.

The Barrio Chino is also home to several temples and the headquarters of clan associations. The area underwent a minor renaissance at the turn of the century, when its central artery, Calle Capón, was pedestrianised and paved with 30,000 red bricks, transforming it into a local attraction.

“Chinese Peruvians play a major role in society and are very well integrated,” says Tang, who is an adviser to the PUCP’s vice-president for research. “You’ll find Chinese in politics, the law, sport, entertainment – although the food business is still the most prominent employer.”

Grace Wong: Victoria, Canada

It started with a nugget that a miner dug up in 1858. The nugget led to a hoard, and the hoard turned into the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, which made some men millionaires and many more paupers. Thousands of gold-crazed Chinese prospectors made their way north from California to British Columbia (BC), and thousands more sailed across the Pacific, mainly from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, docking at Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

Such was the genesis of Canada’s oldest Chinatown, which today is centred on Fisgard Street and Fan Tan Alley, once crammed with restaurants, shops and dens of iniquity or – depending on your point of view – ample opportunity for recreation.

Today, Victoria’s 3,000 or so Chinese residents are very much part of the community, involved in a variety of mainstream businesses as well as the traditional restaurant trade; but Chinese people didn’t always get the warmest of welcomes in Canada. A C$50 head tax was introduced in 1885, payable on landing, rising to C$500 in 1903 and immigration from China was banned outright from 1923 until 1947, much to the glee of the Asian Exclusion League and similar organisations.

A century on, official attitudes have performed a volte-face. Last July, the provincial government allocated C$10 million (HK$60 million) for a Chinese Canadian Museum, which will be built in the heart of Chinatown.

“We’ve already staged a temporary exhibit – ‘A Seat at the Table’ – which used food culture to explore the historical and contemporary stories of Chinese Canadians and their struggles for belonging,” says Grace Wong Lai-chu, who is chair of the Chinese Canadian Museum Society. “It attracted thousands of visitors, even with the coronavirus protocols and limited opening days.

“Once the museum is open it will tell our story fully, and grant the community the recognition it deserves.”

Jenny Wong: Manchester, England

Never mind its brace of famous football teams, in Britain, Manchester is a byword for workaday, rain-soaked drabness. Undeterred by its soggy reputation, Chinese immigrants have been heading to the city in considerable numbers since the late 1940s, establishing a Chinatown straddling downtown Nicholas Street. More than 25,000 Chinese call Manchester home and many recent arrivals have flourished newly acquired BN(O) passports.

“I’d say we’re one of the most successful Chinatowns in the world,” says Jenny Lee May Wong, director of the Manchester Chinese Centre, whose members raised £3,000 (HK$32,000) to buy protective gear for city social workers last year, having been inspired by local schoolchildren’s messages of support for Wuhan while the Chinese city was locked down by the pandemic.

“In the UK, we were the first Chinatown to promote Lunar New Year as a major event, back in the 1970s, the first to put up a paifang [Chinese gate] in 1987, and the first to establish a self-help society for women – Wai Yin – in 1988.

“The society’s grown to develop a range of employment, education and community services, not just for Chinese but other ethnic-minority groups like Somalis and Bangladeshis.”

Manchester’s Chinese community also boasts its own housing association, and health and other centres, while a 62-hectare Chinese-style garden is due to open in May. And as might be expected there are several lion-dance clubs, the oldest of which remains under the auspices of 90-year-old Chu Si Gung.

“Master Chu still has awesome dexterity and turn of speed,” says his assistant, John Farrell, who joined the club in 1973. “He has contributed so much to the whole community. Would you believe it – most of the kids who want to join the club nowadays are not Chinese!”

Roland Tsang: Mauritius

Chinese were heading for Mauritius as early as the 18th century, although they were often shipped there against their will by unscrupulous employment agents. By the 1780s, willing blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, cobblers and other workers were following, and they put down roots and founded Port Louis’ Chinatown by the docks. Over subsequent centuries their descendants prospered, moving into mainstream professions. However, the community is now feeling the winds of change blow across the Indian Ocean.

“Many of the older generation are emigrating to join their children who have moved to such places as Australia and Canada,” says Roland Tsang Kwai Kew, author of an as-yet-untitled anthology of Sino-Mauritian folk history, which is due to be published this year. “There used to be about 35,000 Chinese living here, but now the total must be less than half that. I plan to leave myself, but have not been able to
travel to reunite with my wife and children in Toronto because of coronavirus restrictions.”

Tsang says the biggest change to the island’s Chinese community – since Hong Kong textile companies shifted production to countries like Madagascar and Bangladesh – has been occasioned by the arrival of mainland investment.

Just outside Port Louis, the 74-hectare, US$1 billion Jinfei Economic Trade and Cooperation Zone – billed as a “smart city” – has been taking shape since 2014. It is expected to be completed next year.

However, more traditional Chinese interests have also been having an effect on Mauritius.

“The island’s Chinese tea industry was on its last legs, but it’s suddenly been rejuvenated thanks to mainland investors,” says Tsang. “There’s a sudden craze for Mauritian black tea and they’ve offered to buy the entire crop!”