A trip to Christchurch’s ‘Chinatown’

Saturday, 10 June 2023

New Zealand’s only genuine ‘Chinatown’ started with China Town Market at Church Corner, Christchurch in 1998. The other businesses slowly popped up around it.

An older woman sits on a low wall, holding aching knees. Spread out on the concrete in front of her are fat, seasonal vegetables, resting on cardboard.

Shoppers bustle around her, picking their way through the puddles in a large car park, occasionally stopping to examine the produce. They are on their way into the brightly lit, vibrant alleys of Christchurch’s so-called ‘China Town Market’.

Men gossip over steaming bowls of noodles and delicious pancakes in its restaurants, and young children swing on their parents hands, negotiating for one of the brightly-coloured packets of sweets.

While not exclusively Chinese, the maze is filled with mostly Asian-run businesses: Korean grocers; Japanese tea; health shops; an electronics retailer; hair stylists.

Commonly called ‘Chinatown,’ the mall complex on at the junction of Yaldhurst and Waimairi Roads is a hub for the Asian population of the city who live in the western suburbs of Riccarton, Ilam and Sockburn.

It’s not an official ‘Chinatown’ – constructed by local authorities as a tourist outlet – but a naturally occurring ‘ethnoburb’.

In this picture essay, photojournalist Iain McGregor explores the essence of this unique mix of communities.

Christine Yan, warehouse manager of Sunson Asian Market, said the store was one of the earliest which opened the business catering for Chinese people in Christchurch.

“Sunson Asian Market was firstly opened on Grace road in 1992. Then we moved to Church Corner in 2005,” said Yan.

“It’s a perfect location, connecting to busy roads like Riccarton, Yaldhurst, and [is] close to the university.”

Back in the early 2000s, there were “less than 5 Asian-related businesses” in the area, including a Chinese restaurant, a Vietnamese restaurant and two Chinese grocery stores.

“Then it has been more and more hustling in the past 18 years, not just visitors but also businesses.”

From dim sum to fish to traditional Chinese medicine, Chinatown has it all.

Now, within the 1000m² area, there are six grocery stores, two meat stores, two fish stores and several vendors selling fresh produce on the footpath.

“It is a Chinese neighbourhood. You can feel the Chinese way of life here.

“Old people come to visit stores every day. They compare the prices of groceries, have a catch-up with their friends, and go home with the freshest meat and veges.”

In Chinatown, you can also pay in the Chinese way, via WeChat pay or swipe a China UnionPay bank card.

Asian people from all over the city have asked the original China Town Market to set up businesses in other suburbs.

Aquaman seafood sells fresh fish every morning.

Vendors sell their produce in competition with the bigger markets.

The market is a popular place to purchase more cuts of meat traditionally sold in Asia.

Roast duck is sliced up on demand for takeaway lunches.

Xiao Feng, from Avonhead Quality Meats, which does a roaring trade in animal parts not usually available in mainstream NZ supermarkets, shows a ribcage for a customer to look over before purchase.

The larger newer Sunson Asian food market popped up next door to the original China Town Market.

Avonhead Quality Meats does a roaring trade in animal parts not usually available in mainstream NZ supermarkets.

The original China Town Market at Church Corner is still one of the busiest shops in the area.

Vendors sell fresh produce on the footpath between two of the malls.

A man carries groceries out of the original China Town Market into Church Corner mall.

Christchurch’s Asian residents come from all over the city to find the groceries they need.

Advertising on the outside of Church Corner mall.

The iconic Daphne’s restaurant is popular for dim sum.

Zy Joy grocery store in Church Corner mall has all day Chinese programming on television.

It is a Chinese tradition to cook fish as a whole rather than in fillets for a family gathering feast. The pronunciation of fish in Mandarin is ‘yu’, which also means “being abundant”. It symbolises wellbeing and prosperity, and that’s why fish is always served as a whole.