LABOUR AND ENTERPRISE: CANTONESE FARMING, WORK AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN RURAL AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, 1860s–1914

It’s time to write Cantonese back into the story of rural Aotearoa. Aside from market gardening, historians have overlooked the role of Cantonese in rural New Zealand. This article seeks to broaden existing studies on farming, environmental change and rural enterprise by examining Cantonese entrepreneurs and workers. Cantonese merchants, this article shows, invested in enterprises, ranging from the development of dairying, to tobacco-growing and plantations. These activities variously utilised Chinese and New Zealand markets, business networks, and labour. The paper also examines Cantonese labourers in rural New Zealand.