Mr. Huang Guoxin is a more "special" Australian Chinese. As the mayor of Adelaide, he is the real first Chinese mayor in Australia. In an environment in which a Chinese belongs to a minority and most Chinese are unwilling or unable to engage in politics, Huang Guoxin, who is mayor, is somewhat alien. Well, why did he choose the path of politics, what is it like to be mayor in Australia, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese in politics? Journalist recently talked to Huang, who is visiting China, about the ups and downs of Chinese politics in the West.
Mr. Huang Guoxin
There are very few Chinese in politics, and now there are only five or six
In 1965, Huang Guoxin came to Australia from Sichuan via Hong Kong, when he was 27 and studied in Australia and became an Australian citizen after 5 years. At this time, Australia is in the near future to cancel the "White Australia Policy" (that is, the white is the society-led, the policy of the discrimination against the Chinese and the ethnic minorities), and the period of the multi-culture is encouraged, and the Chinese are gradually getting rid of the excluded scene.
According to Huang Guoxin, he is not the first person to become mayor of Australia with yellow skin. In 1984, the mayor of Darwin, northern Australia, was also a Chinese, but he was born in Australia and does not speak Chinese. There are no Chinese living habits, and I believe there is no connection with China. In this sense, when Huang Guoxin, who emigrated from China's mainland to Australia in May 2000, became mayor, Australia had its first Chinese mayor.
In addition to Mr. Huang Guoxin, there are many Australian Chinese working in the important local government department. Mr. Su Zhenxi, an immigration from Hong Kong, was recently elected mayor of Merben. Others have recently been elected to the legislation Society of New South Wales, councillor. Still, Mr. Huang said: "the number of Chinese currently in politics in Australia does not exceed five or six, not many."
an important reason for Chinese not to go from politics is the lack of economic benefits of the official
Why is the majority of Chinese in Australia mainly engaged in such areas as business, education and so on?
Mayor Huang said that generally speaking, many Chinese immigrants to Australia are the first generation, they need to build a economic foundation, first of all, to have a stable life. In Australia, it costs money to run for office in government, and at least tens of thousands of Australian dollars will be spent on election matters such as propaganda. After being elected, you should not have the hope of "100, 000 snowflake silver" on economic. The mayor's annual salary is only A $84000 (about 400000 yuan), which is not high in Australia's personal income, and many Chinese earn far more from doing business on their own. So they don't want to give up their business to run for office.
In addition, the election requires candidates to enter the mainstream society, and only when they enter the mainstream can they be elected. In a society where the majority of white people are white, it takes a long time for Chinese immigrants to enter the local mainstream society. And after all, there are still a few who can enter.
For Mr. Huang Guoxin, one of the main purposes of politics is to obtain spiritual satisfaction. "I want to campaign to prove that although I am a minority, I have the ability to be elected and do a good job in this position and better reward society," he said. "it also proves Australia's multicultural identity."
The first campaign was on demand. A small group of people called the "Don't be a Chinese as a mayor".
Mr. Huang Guoxin's way as mayor was not smooth sailing either. When he first ran for office in 1997, he was frustrated by a Waterloo.
"the first thing that disappointed me at that time was that a Chinese also stood up against me," Mayor Huang said. "I still don't know why he opposed me. Although his opposition did not play a decisive role, it had a great negative impact, giving the impression that even the Chinese themselves did not support the Chinese and what kind of mayors they were. "
Racial discrimination also hindered the election of Huang Guoxin. A few extremist, in his office's pre-office, broke his office's glass and wrote a marked, discriminatory-language banner, such as "Don't be the mayor of the Chinese". The one-time campaign, Huang Guoxin, was finally defeated, and after the depression, he also thought of whether to run for the next time, after the analysis, he found that his approval rating was still high, just not up to 50% of the required number of votes, so if the next election is to be held, The odds of winning are still great.
In 2000, Huang Guoxin won the second campaign with 58%of the high vote. The other four candidates did not add up more than 42%. Huang Guoxin wanted to serve as Mayor Adelaide.
Three elements of success: ability, personnel, and timing
Chinese are only 2% in Adelaide, but Huang Guoxin cannot succeed only by relying on Chinese votes. He concluded that there are three elements of success: ability, personnel, and timing.
"Many are concerned that the Chinese government will not be discriminated against and that my personal experience is not. Although it is true that a few people have racial discrimination and increase the difficulty of your political participation, it is not critical. The most important is whether you have the talent in this respect, is not the Chinese is not important, most of the voter education quality is relatively high, also very rational, they choose whether you are the most important or the ability, can be competent."
Mayor Huang's upbringing describes some of the important conditions for politics: as a master of engineering and business management, he was in Adelaide, Sydney. Melbourne and many major infrastructure projects abroad hold the position of civil engineer and senior manager. Mr. Huang Guoxin was first elected as Adelaide City Hall councillor in 1992. During his tenure as city hall, Mr. Huang Guoxin was elected chairman or vice chairman of several committees and twice elected deputy mayor by city hall. The experience of the city's councillor and deputy mayor not only raised his profile, but also convinced voters that he was an administrative candidate with more responsibility.
At the same time, Huang Guoxin also admitted that the Chinese traditional habits and lifestyle retained on him have also had an impact on his successful political career. "the Chinese are serious, hardworking and responsible, and I can use the advantages of the Chinese to match the strengths of Westerners and do something. "of course, he also stressed that the actual characteristics of the East and the West have been integrated into him, and it is now difficult to distinguish between the East and the West.
When mayor has a headache, it is to solve the problem of administrative efficiency.
Most people may not imagine that the mayor of Australia, authority, is very different from the mayor of China, authority. In 2000, a Chinese government official who visited Australia humorously compared the mayor of Australia to the "director of the street office," although the metaphor was not very accurate. But it vividly describes the characteristics of the Australian mayor's authority: small authority, less responsibility, and a small population under jurisdiction.
In Australia, the mayor is not even considered a full-salary position, which means that the mayor can sometimes be a part-time. The city's government's function is mainly in the state of the city, planning and construction, and it will not be the case of the government direct-pipe enterprise, and the power, telephone, water supply and so on, which are traditionally managed by the government, are now privatized, and the government has no matter. The mayor of "From this point of view, Australia's mayor is less responsible, so it's easier." said.
However, this government system has one characteristic: because it is an elected mayor, it is difficult to "operate in secret" before making any decision, and it has to be under pressure from different aspects. the advantage of doing so is to listen more to the views of the public. Reduce instability, but the shortcomings are also obvious, that is, a lot of people, administrative efficiency is low. "for example, we are now planning to build a road in Adelaide before we have to consult the public through the media and hold a public meeting to discuss it. So far, this road is just a plan and is on display in the city government."
The Chinese can also stimulate the local economic by studying in Australia.
Mayor Huang's other position in Adelaide is the chairman of the board of directors of the city's Ministry of Education Promotion. His main purpose in this visit to China is to preach the city's education, including higher education and vocational training. Attract more Chinese to study in Australia. But he also admitted that the fact that Chinese people go to Australia to study does not mean that Australian education must be better than China's. It is more important to go out to study.
"in fact, China currently has no lower education in science and engineering than in the West, such as tall buildings in Beijing, railways and other hardware facilities, which are better than those in Australia. But Australia has some advantages in software such as service and management. Therefore, Australia and China are complementary in education. "
At the same time, the limited educational resources and population in China have always been a pair of great contradictions, but Australia is relatively rich in this aspect, so Chinese going to Australia to study is a way to solve the problem of scarce educational resources. Of course, the output of education can also bring great economic benefits to Adelaide. After all, foreign students living in Australia need to eat, live, line, fewer Australians, limited domestic demand, and more Chinese come to stimulate economic.
More importantly, the Chinese people have the opportunity to study abroad, will open their eyes and come into contact with different cultures, whether they will stay in Australia or return to China to start a business in the future, will make contributions to the local society. Huang Guoxin said: "I am a Chinese, but also a foreign student, I dared to accept the challenge, to do what I do today." The Chinese are very industrious. I have confidence in the next generation of China. Many people are very capable. If I can all do it, why can't they? "