The majority of Chinese nationals currently residing in Samoa are businessmen, labour workers, and shopowners in the southwestern Pacific island nation of Samoa,[5] and there are at least 30,000 people in Samoa who are of mixed Samoan and Chinese descent,[6] although they are classified as ethnic Samoans in official census.[7] Around the world, about 25% of all Samoans claim Chinese ancestry. Nearly all Chinese nationals in Samoa reside within the Apia municipal area; neighbouring American Samoa,[8] also has a small population of Chinese expatriates.[9]
The Chinese community in Samoa is growing and becoming economically strong. A new wave of northern Chinese migrants are moving to Samoa, bringing their culture and languages with them. There are no Chinese schools in Samoa but an estimated 98.7% of Chinese expatriates and migrants send their children and youth to Robert Louis Stevenson School, Samoa which is a private school with an Australasian and Samoan curriculum. There is a primary campus located in the village of Lotopa, Faleata District and the secondary campus in the urban village of Tafaigata. Notable Chinese businesses include Frankie's Supermarket and Wholesale, Alan Wholesale, and Treasure Garden, as well as other small businesses and restaurants. An estimated 4000 Chinese tourists visit Samoa every year via Apia's Faleolo International Airport.
History
Historical records of Chinese settlement dates back to at least the 1870s. Two Chinese sailors under the command of Bully Hayes were based there for two years, and one of them settled down in 1876 and married a Samoan wife. A few Chinese traders also settled in Samoa and raised local families, and maintained close ties with Samoa's paramount chief, Malietoa Laupepa. In 1880, Malietoa issued a subsequent ban on people of Chinese descent from settling in Samoa.[10] Four years after Western Samoa came under German rule in 1899, the colonial governor Wilhelm Solf lifted Malietoa's ban and shipped in Chinese labourers from 1903 onwards.[11] Chinese labourers reportedly complained of tough working punishments as well as brutal physical punishments which they had to face, and these reports prompted the provincial governor of Canton to stop sending Chinese labourers to the German colonies.[10]
Chinese immigrants were almost entirely men, and most of the labourers took Samoan women as wives and by 1918 offspring of Chinese-Samoan descent were a visible minority, although smaller in terms of population compared to offspring of European (particularly German) and Samoan descent.[12][4] This eventually led to a ban in 1931 that prohibited Chinese men from interacting with Samoan women on all grounds. By the end of World War II only 295 Chinese remained, all of whom had either taken Samoan wives or were unmarried. Many Chinese labourers had since returned to China or remained in Samoa with their families.
In 1994, China provided financial assistance to fund the construction of the government office building in Apia. More recently the Chinese government has funded various other Samoan government construction projects. Aeau Peniamina, deputy leader of the Samoa Democratic United Party, caused a minor controversy in January 2005 when he remarked that "there are too many Chinese in the country". Joe Keil, the Minister of Tourism, who is of part-Chinese descent, promptly rebutted Peniamina's remarks.[13]
Samoa's legislative capital city, Apia, signed a treaty on 31 August 2015 with a delegation from Shenzhen, China, making Apia and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China sister cities. The treaty will help promote Chinese tourism to boost Samoa's growing tourism industry, bring economic growth to Samoa, and encourage stronger ties between the two cities. Shenzhen Airlines is also set to operate flights from Shenzhen International Airport and Faleolo International Airport in Apia.
Language
The majority of the Chinese indentured labourers came from the Guangdong province and generally spoke Cantonese or Hakka as their primary language.[4] However, their descendants in Samoa have adopted Samoan and English as their mother tongues, while Cantonese is still reportedly spoken by a few elderly people.[17] Since the 1980s, the overwhelming majority of Chinese immigrants and enterprises are derived from mainland China where Mandarin Chinese is spoken.
Cultural contribution
The cultural legacy of Chinese laborers in Samoa is readily apparent in the various Chinese dishes that have been adopted into Samoan cuisine. Chinese immigrants brought their culinary traditions with them to Samoa, where rice (alaisa), noodles (lialia), cha siu bao (keke pua'a), chop suey (sapasui), and Chinese pastries (keke saina, masi saina) have all been adopted into standard Samoan cuisine. Several food items such as taro, arrowroot, and sugarcane were already familiar to the Chinese and Samoans prior to colonial times.
Entrepreneurship, commerce, frugality, and communal investment are all business practices and cultural traits that facilitated the rise of Chinese immigrants from plantation laborers to business owners, shopkeepers, and trading moguls. The commercial and financial contribution of the Chinese continued as more Samoan-Chinese marriages and business arrangements were made. This Chinese-Samoan prevalence in modern Samoa is still apparent in the many prominent firms in Apia that bear Chinese names, such as Ah Liki Wholesale, Apia Central Hotel (proprietor, Ah Kam family), Leung Wai Legal Services, Chan Chui & Sons, Ltd, Ah Him Co., Treasure Garden (Chen Pao family), etc.
Despite obvious physical and cultural differences, it became apparent to both the Cantonese and the Samoans that their cultures shared much in common, and intermarriage since the 1870s has resulted in a large proportion of ethnic Samoans having Chinese ancestry today. Respect for parents, veneration of ancestors, and strong extended family and clan relationships were mutually shared customs.
The traditional Chinese camphor chest (jeung seung, 樟箱) has become commonplace in Samoan homes, where they are called atola'au. Ornately carved furniture and wall panels have also been adopted, often with Samoan-themed carvings and inlay.
Names
Many people of Chinese descent in Samoa took their fathers' first names as their surnames, rather than their actual Chinese surnames due to Chinese personal naming convention where the family name is written first and the given name next. Many of these names are of Cantonese origin, as the majority of the Chinese who settled in Samoa came from Taishan and Panyu. Chinese-Samoans often have surnames that start with "Ah," "Po," or "Ho" and common examples of Chinese-Samoan families include Ah Seu, Ah Kuoi, Ah Van, Ah Mu (of whom some descendants have adopted the name "Rivers"), Po Ching, Ah You, Ho Ching, Ah Kam, Ah Liki, Ah Sam, Ah Mau, Ah Ching, Ah Fong, Ah Loe and Ah Wong.[18] The retention of the "Ah" prefix is also common in Chinese-Hawaiian surnames, such as Akina, Ahuna, Akee, Akiona and Akaka.[19] The practice stems from the Cantonese word "ah" (阿) used before proper names when respectfully addressing family members - as in "ah-po" (阿婆), maternal grandmother; "ah-gong" (阿公), maternal grandfather; "ah-ma" (阿嫲), paternal grandmother, etc.[20] Likewise, some European-Samoan names begin with "Misi," the Samoan transliteration of "Mister" (Mr.) - as in Misiluki ("Mr. Luke"), Misimua/Misimoa ("Mr. Moors"), Misipaulo ("Mr. Paul"), Misitea ("Mr. Stair"), and Misikea ("Mr. Gurr") [21][22]
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ; two smaller, inhabited islands ; and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands. Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa, 889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga, 1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji, 483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna, 1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu, 519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau, 4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii, and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital and largest city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.
The Samoan Islands were first settled some 3,500 years ago as part of the Austronesian expansion. Both Samoa's early history and its more recent history are strongly connected to the histories of Tonga and Fiji, nearby islands with which Samoa has long had genealogical links as well as shared cultural traditions.
Apia is the capital and only city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.
Malietoa Tanumafili II was the first O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa, a position he held for life from 1962 to 2007. Appointed to the chiefly title of Malietoa in 1940, he was initially co-head of state with his counterpart Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole, who died on 15 April 1963, after which he remained the office's sole occupant until his own death. He was also the first head of state to be a follower of the Bahá’í Faith.
The Mau was a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule during the first half of the 20th century. Mau means ‘resolute’ or ‘resolved’ in the sense of ‘opinion’, ‘unwavering’, ‘to be decided’, or ‘testimony’; also denoting ‘firm strength’ in Samoan. The motto for the Mau were the words Samoa mo Samoa. Similarly in Hawaiian Mau means to strive or persevere, and is often linked with Hawaiian poetry relating to independence and sovereignty struggles.
The Samoa national rugby league team represents Samoa in rugby league football and has participated in international competition since 1986. Known as Western Samoa before 1997, the team is administered by Rugby League Samoa and are nicknamed Toa Samoa.
Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi is a Samoan political leader and as holder of the maximal lineage Tama-a-'āiga title of Tupua Tamasese, is one of the four paramount chiefs of Samoa. He also holds the royal pāpā title of Tui Atua.
Ta'isi Olaf Frederick Nelson was a Samoan businessman and politician. He was one of the founding leaders of the anti-colonial Mau movement.
Pago Pago International Airport, also known as Tafuna Airport, is a public airport located 7 miles (11.3 km) southwest of the central business district of Pago Pago, in the village and plains of Tafuna on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Namulauulu Alama Ieremia is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former international player for Western Samoa and New Zealand.
Fred "Freddie" Ah Kuoi is a Samoa-born New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand.
Mālietoa is a state dynasty and one of the four paramount chiefly titles of Samoa. It is the titular head of one of the two great royal families of Samoa: Sā Malietoa. Literally translated as "great warrior", the title's origin comes from the final words of the Tongan warriors as they were fleeing on the beach to their boats, "Malie To`a, Malo e tau...".
SS Talune was built in 1890 and scuttled in 1925. She was a passenger and freight steamship employed in the Tasman Sea and South Seas trades in the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. It was a typical ship of its time and type in every way. It would be unknown except that it was the ship that brought the deadly 1918 Spanish flu pandemic from New Zealand to Samoa and other Pacific islands.
Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities. In the 2018 census, 182,721 New Zealanders identified themselves as being of Samoan ethnicity with 55,512 stating that they were born in Samoa, and 861 stating that they were born in American Samoa.
Leeson Ah Mau is a former professional rugby league footballer, who has represented both Samoa and New Zealand at international level.
The 2016 Samoa vs. Fiji rugby league test match was played between Samoa and Fiji at Apia Park.
The 2017 OFC U-16 Women's Championship was the 4th edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the women's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania. The tournament was held in Samoa between 4 and 18 August 2017.
Capital punishment is not a legal penalty in Samoa. The death penalty was used in the colonial era, but the practice had ceased by the time of independence in 1962, with death sentences being commuted to life imprisonment, and it was formally abolished in 2004. The last execution was carried out in 1952.
1 2 3 Ben Featuna'I Liua'Ana (1997). "Dragons in Little Paradise: Chinese (Mis-) Fortunes in Samoa, 1900-1950". The Journal of Pacific History. 32 (1): 29–48. doi:10.1080/00223349708572826. JSTOR25169313.
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