A China expert is warning New Zealanders that they are ignoring the Chinese language at their own peril.
Dr Martin Jacques says despite an increase in numbers learning the language at school, New Zealand adults are still in the dark when it comes to knowing much at all about our giant neighbour to the north.
Tim Yen, Westlake Girls’ Chinese teacher, thinks learning Chinese is so much more than textbooks and practice.
Working successfully with Chinese businesses will require changes that start in our schools, says visiting China specialist Dr Martin Jacques.
He is in New Zealand to deliver the keynote address at the new New Zealand Forum on October 16, presented by Massey University and Westpac.
“If you think China is going to be your major trading partner, you will need to have a good number of New Zealanders who can speak Mandarin,” Dr Jacques says.“It’s really important. While there are lots of educated young Chinese who can speak English in major cities, being able to speak a Chinese dialect is a sign of respect, and can give you valuable intel on what’s going on.”
Fonterra’s recent botulism scare in China brought home just how important our second-largest trade partner is to the New Zealand economy – and its increasing influence on the global economy.
There is understandable concern that the recent food contamination scandals in China, starting with the Fonterra melamine dairy product crisis in 2008 and book-ended by the fresh concerns over botulism this August, could have a corrosive effect on the trading relationship between China and New Zealand.
The relationship matters a great deal to New Zealand. China is now by some margin the country’s second largest trading partner, having rapidly overtaken the United States and long outdistanced Europe. And we are only at the beginning of what will in time become New Zealand’s most important economic relationship.
New Zealand is right to be concerned. China has for long taken a tough line with countries deemed to have offended it.
A classic example is Norway. Norway and China were on the verge of signing a bilateral trade agreement in 2010 when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the imprisoned dissident writer Liu Xiabo. In response, China broke off trade negotiations and they have been in cold storage ever since, with signs of a thaw becoming evident only this year.
The Fonterra botulism scare will become a small blemish on New Zealand’s future relationship with China, according to the British author of a bestseller on the eastern superpower.
New Zealand will continue to be significant beneficiary of China’s growth said Martin Jacques, author of When China Rules the World.
“By a stroke of great geographical fortune [New Zealand] is in a position to develop a strong economic relationship with the Asian mainland. The effect of it will be economic, but in the long run will be intellectual, cultural, in some ways political,” said Jacques, who is the keynote speaker at a Massey University forum on New Zealand’s place in China’s historic growth.
The botulism scare has made a significant dent in New Zealand’s exports to China, but the damage will be short term and should not be overestimated, Jacques said.
9.00am – 1.00pm: Venue to be confirmed
9.30am – 11.00am: Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Private event organized by Skolkovo Moscow School of Management
1:00pm – 2:00pm: Distance Learning Seminar
4:45pm – 5:45pm: VIP Reception
6:00pm – 7:30pm: Speech on China
7:45pm – 9:00pm: Dinner with Sponsors & Trustees
6.00pm – 9.00pm: Westminster Cathedral Hall, Cathedral Clergy House, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW
Factory Girls is a fascinating video by Aowen Jin. The migrant girls that have left the countryside to go and seek a new life in China’s cities are often considered to be the victims of China’s transformation. Jin tells a different story: she shows the girls as full of dreams and ambition about their future, taking their lives into their own hands and transforming their prospects. The video has been entirely filmed on mobile phones which are seen by Jin as a crucial agency of their empowerment.
7.30pm: Riley Auditorium, Clare College