At Wednesday's assembly Mr Mike Lowe presented a powerful review of the novel 'As the Earth Turns Silver', written by Alison Wong. The novel is set in Wellington between the years 1905 and 1922 and tells the story of a mixed-race relationship between a man and woman, unthinkable for the time. As well as giving a synopsis of the story, Mr Lowe provided a vivid and emotional first-hand account of the manner in which the racism experienced by the central characters in the book also affected his life. He hopes that in sharing his story he can inspire our school community, especially our young men, to be more tolerant and understanding of others, especially those who are in some way different to us. Mr Lowe concluded his review "My closing request is to make the effort to know your Chinese neighbor, or anyone else for that matter who’s from a different culture, including Maori. Everyone’s eyes will be opened, leading to greater understanding of each other, tolerance, acceptance and will go some way to build a more peaceful world. My name is Lowe Gwoon Hoong. I’m a first generation Chinese New Zealander; a kiwi and proud of it." Below is Mr Lowe's book review.
Mr Lowe Book Review - As the Earth Turns Silver, Alison Wong - 16 August 2017:
"The book I’m reviewing today is As the Earth Turns Silver, by Alison Wong. It’s available from the school library.
This novel is set in Wellington between the years 1905 and 1922. It tells the story of a relationship between a man and woman that was unthinkable for the time.
He is Wong Chung-Yung, the younger of two Chinese brothers who own a fruit and vegetable shop in central Wellington. At the beginning of the book, Yung is only 18 years old and apart from work has time to indulge in music and poetry.
In contrast, his older brother has a wife and child to support in China. The bonds of family ties force him to work long hours to save enough money to pay for his wife’s passage to New Zealand, and the racist poll tax that every new immigrant must pay.
She is Katherine McKechnie, a married housewife with two dependent children. When her chauvinistic and racist husband accidentally drowns, she is suddenly plunged into an unfamiliar role where she must now work to provide for the children.
She buys her fruit and vegetables from the Wong brothers, but whenever possible she chooses second-grade produce to make the pennies go further. Sensing a change in her circumstances, Yung lets Katherine sample much of the fruit as an inducement to buy, and when she does he slips in extra when his brother isn’t watching.
From these simple acts of compassion, and despite the language and cultural differences, they slowly realise that each offers the other something to make them whole. Their at first most unlikely relationship evolves into a love affair.
Sadly, the book doesn’t end well. Katherine’s son, Robbie, has learned many of his father’s racist attitudes. He is severely affected when he learns of his mother’s secret affair with Yung, and seeks revenge. As a young boy, it begins with the regular vandalising of the Wong’s shop. It ends when now as an enlisted soldier in the Army, he murders Yung on the eve of his departure on a troopship to the great war.
As well as being a love story, this book can be appreciated by its treatment of other themes including women’s rights, the rights of ethnic minorities, the loss that comes with physical displacement and the search for a spiritual home.
Personally though, I loved the book for the way it explored New Zealand-Chinese relations.
Author Alison Wong has done due diligence and thoroughly researched the various themes that she has explored.
Although Chinese immigrants had been allowed entry into New Zealand since the 1860s, it was done begrudgingly. New Zealand needed the labour that the Chinese provided, but the government didn’t want them to stay. Immigration permits were issued for two years only, after which the visitors and any issue that they produced were kicked out.
New immigrants were required to pay a poll tax of 100 pounds to gain entry, which in those days was a small fortune and very difficult for most to save. This tax was also payable for wives and children, which was the reason why most Chinese arrivals were male.
During the time period of the book, New Zealand was a very young country which was struggling to come to terms with its identity. The government had a vision of what the nation’s people would look like, and that image had no place for yellow faces. New Zealanders generally supported their government’s stance on the Chinese, and were openly hostile towards them.
The word ‘alien’ was commonly used to refer to the Chinese. Just as we understand the meaning of the word today to mean distasteful and disturbing, that’s exactly how Chinese were thought of by many New Zealanders.
Chinese were regarded as less than human. They were hated because of their inability to speak English. They had funny sounding names so most people didn’t bother learning them. They were generally referred to as Chinamen, and that was being relatively polite.
To be fair, many Chinese found it difficult to adjust to life in New Zealand. They unkindly referred to Europeans as white ghosts. Most older men regarded their stay here as a temporary opportunity to make their fortunes and return home as rich men. The vision for any children they produced here was for them to return home to complete their education. For many, gambling and opium helped to ease the pain of separation from families in China.
This book was an open window which allowed me to understand the lives of my grandfathers, both of whom immigrated to New Zealand during that time period. They arrived as married men alone, worked hard and saved enough to pay my mother and father’s fares and poll tax to come here for a better life.
My mother and father arrived in the early 1940s during the second world war. Their war started before World War II as southern China, which is where they came from, had already been ravaged by the forces of imperial Japan.
The book gave me a context in which to understand my own life. As a youngster I quickly learned that I was different, when I was singled-out on the first day of primary school and made the target of a racial slur from a group of kids. I didn’t know what it meant at the time but my parents did.
That sort of nonsense persisted irregularly over the ensuing years to the extent that when compared to what my parents experienced, I can say that although it’s not perfect, New Zealand-Chinese race relations have improved.
For a long time as a kid growing up in Auckland, the special treatment I received made me feel inferior to others.
Apparently today is national joke day. When I was at school there was a playground joke that some kids thought was cool.
“How can you tell that someone’s Chinese?”
“They always wing the wong number.”
At the time it annoyed me. Nowadays I think it’s actually quite funny.
New Zealand has moved on, and so have I.
My mother’s maiden name was Wong, the same as Yung, the central Chinese character of this book, as well as that of the author, Alison Wong.
We all have our roots in the village of Gwa Leng in Jung Seng county, southern China.
Alison and I share a common ancestor, who was the founding father of Gwa Leng some time prior to 1520.
For most of my life I felt ashamed to reveal my Chinese name for fear of being teased.
The very small amount of racism that I experienced prevented me from fully expressing myself for a time. But as I’ve said I’m now over it.
My closing request is to make the effort to know your Chinese neighbor, or anyone else for that matter who’s from a different culture, including Maori. Everyone’s eyes will be opened, leading to greater understanding of each other, tolerance, acceptance and will go some way to build a more peaceful world.
My name is Lowe Gwoon Hoong. I’m a first generation Chinese New Zealander; a kiwi and proud of it."
