Here to Stay - The Chinese

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2007

When Malay-Chinese immigrant Bernadine Lim was a child, her teacher made her walk around the classroom so the kids could feel how different her head was. The reporter turned director returns to the screen for this 2007 documentary, to talk to other Kiwi Chinese — including musician Chong Nee and playwright Lynda Chanwai-Earle — about their experiences growing up visually and culturally different. Lim also talks to historians about the racism Chinese men encountered when they flocked to Otago goldfields in the 1800s, including having to pay a poll tax.

The Chinese story was always going to be a difficult and sensitive one to tell since, arguably, no other immigrant community has been discriminated against as much simply for the colour of their skin.
– Presenter Bernadine Lim, on presenting this episode