INFO
| Name | Chinese Languages in Aotearoa |
| Year | 2022 |
| Writer(s) | Grace Gassin (Editor); Lingy Au Kim Lenh Au; Wilson Chau 周瑨熙; Aan Chu 邹安; Samantha Fei; Angela Hann; Debbie Sew Hoy 徐玉蓮; Hsen-Han Khoo邱盛漢; Ming Lee; Amy Ng-Thomson 盧惠靈; Bier Liao; Wanwan Liao 廖婉臻; Laura Luo; Koreen Liew-Young 杨凯贤; Newman; Jeffrey Wang; Stephen Wang 王莘; Cindy Young Waldron 楊曉青; Xixi Xian 冼娜玛莉; Kwok Yi Lee 李国意; Anna Gan 甘安娜; Mengzhu Fu 傅梦竹; David Jiang; Ronia Ibrahim 彭妮亞; K Emma Ng 吴佩賢 |
| Publisher | Te Papa |
| Type of Text | Zine |
| Artform | Zines |
ABOUT
Chinese Languages in Aotearoa is a free online zine that is part of an ongoing project by Te Papa to acknowledge the range of Chinese languages present in Aotearoa. Edited by Grace Gassin, the museum’s curator of Asian New Zealand Histories, the zine hopes to encourage “inclusive, nuanced representations of people of Chinese heritage in Aotearoa by shining a light on the myriad linguistic and cultural identities that inform our lives”.
The zine features personal anecdotes and experiences from 25 Chinese-heritage individuals in Aotearoa, using a range of comics, photographs, illustration, and collage. Stories were sourced as part of an open call from the Te Papa website and focus on the relationship between food and language, migration, loss of language, family, and retaining or relearning heritage languages as an adult. Artwork was commissioned from several Chinese artists, allowing for tonal and stylistic differences between each piece. With a primary aim of showcasing underrepresented Chinese languages, Chinese Languages in Aotearoa makes an effort to platform Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew, and Wenzhounese, as well as the more publicly represented Mandarin.
In an interview with The Spinoff, Gassin mentioned that the lack of diversity in the official New Zealand Chinese Language Week was an influence on the Chinese Languages in Aotearoa project:
This project is one of the first zines to publicly highlight the heterogeneity of Chinese heritage, linguistics, and culture, particularly in response to New Zealand Chinese Language Week’s focus on Mandarin.
