Pioneers Project – Putting an Auckland face to the map of Zhongshan.
Funny thing.
Young people say to me “it was much easier in the old days”
Older people say “young people don’t know how good they have it”.
Go figure.
It is our Association’s pleasure to bring you the start of our project covering Auckland – Zhongshan Pioneers, documenting the life of and paying tribute to the original immigrants who make us proud to be Auckland-Zhongshan descendants.
Today we have trials and tribulations. That is nothing compared to the hardships of our forebears – escaping from hardship and maybe atrocities, trapped at the coalface, fighting for betterment 24/7 – 6am to 11pm, 7 days per week! They broke the rock in search of “gold”, toiled the soil and worked to improve their lives and to provide a better future for their children.
Our objectives for this project are:-
- Firstly, to recognise the life and contribution of the original immigrants from Zhongshan.
- Secondly, to provide an archival resource so that our story is not lost.
- Thirdly, provide inspiration to the current generation to achieve and contribute further to our world.
We make a VERY BIG THANKS to Lily Lee who completed much of the research and hard work in writing these articles. Thanks also to Kylie Hewitt, Vernon Choy, James Wong, Jilnaught Wong for the hard work and inspiration to get us this far.
We hope you will be enlightened, entertained and encouraged by these stories.
We invite your comments, feedback and ideas for further works.
Enjoy!
Raymond Fong