Message from the Chairman
A SEXY CONFERENCE
Bananas NZ Going Global is now over, but the memories live on.
Our 2007 Conference was an outstanding success – our best effort to date. It drew in a record number of attendees, connected people from diverse backgrounds and opened up some amazing conversations. It was simply SEXY – Stimulating, Entertaining, eXciting and made all participants Yearn for more.
We are gradually uploading conference papers from our local and international speakers to this website. These can be found by clicking on the Papers link above. This section also houses papers from our 2005 event “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Banana” and the 2006 “Going Bananas: Multiple Identities Forum”.
The Media Centre stores interviews with and feature articles on this year’s speakers and conference.
According to the audience survey forms, the sessions most enjoyed by attendees were: “Reshaping Multiculturalism”, “High Flying Bananas” and “Falling Leaves Return Home”.
Renée Liang won the inaugural The Listener/New Zealand Chinese Association Short Story Competition for “The Stove” which tells how a woman discovers some truths about her family and herself while cleaning her parents’ old house. This beautifully crafted short story is available from the Short Story Competition link above. Stories from the joint runners up are also located there.
The success of any event results from the efforts, commitment and support of many people. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the speakers, the sponsors, the volunteer helpers and the Organising Committee whose hard work and planning over the past 12 months have made this conference possible.
If you attended the conference and have any thoughts to share, you can reach us on kailuey@xtra.co.nz
Be sure to check in regularly to the website for updates on future events.
Kai Luey
Chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Association (Auckland Branch) Inc.
New Zealand Chinese Association Inc, which was established in 1935 to represent Chinese throughout New Zealand, has now established a website www.nzchinese.org.nz showing its history, structure, aims & objectives and activities with links to other useful sites relating to Chinese in NZ.