History
The New Zealand Seyip Association was founded in 1949.
EARLY YEARS
Before the recent mass influx of new immigrants, the Seyip Association was one of three organisations to which nearly every Chinese person in New Zealand nominally belonged. Membership of these organisations (the Poon Far Association and the Tung Jung Association being the other two) was based on the geographical location of ones ancestral village in Guangdong province in southern China. The region covered by these three organisations was the main source of migrants not only to New Zealand but also to Australia, Canada and the United States during the Gold Rush and the period following, in a slow process of chain migration. There are local Seyip Associations in each of these countries.
SOCIAL WELFARE
These three clan organisations (and their predecessor organisations) provided a form of social welfare and support for single Chinese men and later Chinese families in the early days when loneliness, hardship and racial discrimination was commonplace and "dogs and Chinese" were not allowed into many public facilities. These associations arranged accommodation for new arrivals and often loans, jobs and interpreters. In later years they provided a venue for social gatherings, the celebration of traditional festivals and other community activities, in a period when Chinese were barely accepted in New Zealand society.
FIRST BUILDING
In 1929 the Seyip Clansmen's Library was set up in Wellington to look after the interests of Seyip people, but it was not until 1950 that a national organisation was born, and a building purchased. This building in Vivian Street formally housed the Petit Lyon restaurant. In it, escalopes of pork fillet served on a bed of bok choy and field mushrooms with a soy, garlic and ginger is nothing new, it probably had a more humble name: pork chop suey. The dormitory was where the fine dining salon is now located and no doubt the guests, then as now, had to eat what was created by Chef - no choices.
ADAPTING
Today, with members now well-established, there is little need for its welfare functions. The Association now has premises in Ghuznee Street which serves as a centre for fortnightly social gatherings. Members now have the time and the means to visit Seyip sister organisations around the Pacific basin, re-visit their ancestral homes to help the younger generation find their roots and participate at many levels of local community affairs.
Before the recent mass influx of new immigrants, the Seyip Association was one of three organisations to which nearly every Chinese person in New Zealand nominally belonged. Membership of these organisations (the Poon Far Association and the Tung Jung Association being the other two) was based on the geographical location of ones ancestral village in Guangdong province in southern China. The region covered by these three organisations was the main source of migrants not only to New Zealand but also to Australia, Canada and the United States during the Gold Rush and the period following, in a slow process of chain migration. There are local Seyip Associations in each of these countries.
SOCIAL WELFARE
These three clan organisations (and their predecessor organisations) provided a form of social welfare and support for single Chinese men and later Chinese families in the early days when loneliness, hardship and racial discrimination was commonplace and "dogs and Chinese" were not allowed into many public facilities. These associations arranged accommodation for new arrivals and often loans, jobs and interpreters. In later years they provided a venue for social gatherings, the celebration of traditional festivals and other community activities, in a period when Chinese were barely accepted in New Zealand society.
FIRST BUILDING
In 1929 the Seyip Clansmen's Library was set up in Wellington to look after the interests of Seyip people, but it was not until 1950 that a national organisation was born, and a building purchased. This building in Vivian Street formally housed the Petit Lyon restaurant. In it, escalopes of pork fillet served on a bed of bok choy and field mushrooms with a soy, garlic and ginger is nothing new, it probably had a more humble name: pork chop suey. The dormitory was where the fine dining salon is now located and no doubt the guests, then as now, had to eat what was created by Chef - no choices.
ADAPTING
Today, with members now well-established, there is little need for its welfare functions. The Association now has premises in Ghuznee Street which serves as a centre for fortnightly social gatherings. Members now have the time and the means to visit Seyip sister organisations around the Pacific basin, re-visit their ancestral homes to help the younger generation find their roots and participate at many levels of local community affairs.