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Irish Accent

Rice paddies grow in Ireland too

By John Corry


急増する中国人コミュニティー

ここ数年、アイルランドにおける中国人人口が急増し、テイクアウト専門の中華料理店は街の中心になっています。中国人の若者の大半は英語を学ぶためにやって来る学生で、北京のアイルランド大使館には、ビザを希望する中国人が殺到しています。

The Chinese community in Ireland has mushroomed in numbers in the last few years and now unofficially may amount to one percent of Ireland's population. This represents a staggering change in a short time for a country that has been monoracial for generations.

It is now impossible to walk down any street in Dublin without bumping into a Chinese person. Go into any late-night shop or fast-food outlet (and increasingly, city-center pubs) and the chances are high that you will be promptly and efficiently served by a young Chinese person.

The Chinese community in Ireland is well regarded by ordinary Irish people as they have a reputation for keeping their noses to their individual grindstones. The overwhelming perception is that Chinese people do not claim asylum status or seek to draw down social welfare handouts. Naturally this has helped to minimize any possible racial tension between Irish people and the local Chinese community.

The number of Chinese in Ireland who are officially registered with the authorities is 12,000, but the true figure is believed to be approximately 30,000. To put it in perspective, the Japanese population in Ireland would be around 700. Five years ago, the Chinese population here amounted to only a few thousand.

A measure of their success is that a staple of any Irish town or village, no matter how remote, is a local Chinese takeaway. My own village of Celbridge boasts no less than five Chinese takeaways.

However, the influx of Chinese has brought stories of extortion by their own people to the Irish Gardai. In 2001, several Chinese nationals were convicted of kidnapping Chinese students in Ireland and demanding money. In July of this year, one Chinese man was killed in Dublin when a violent street battle erupted between 50 Chinese men in their late teens and early 20s. Gardai reported that knives, cleavers and machetes were used in what appeared to be clearly an organized confrontation between the sides.

Overall, the Chinese community tend to stay together and have a strong support network. One of the pillars of the Irish-Chinese community for over 20 years is Howard Pau, who set up the only Asian supermarket in Dublin. He believes that "the few Chinese involved in the protection rackets are giving all of us more established people a bad name."

The major reason for the young Chinese coming to Ireland is to learn English or to obtain a tertiary qualification. English-language training in Ireland is big business with non-EU applicants, accounting for some 250 million euro (¥30.59 billion) in 2002.

It costs an average of 4,000 euro (¥489,500) for six months of language training, and students must have enough money in their bank accounts to maintain themselves for the duration of their stay before they are granted a visa. While some students come from wealthy backgrounds, many have to scrimp and save in order to come here. However, since 2001, Chinese students on study visas are allowed to work for 20 hours per week and more during holidays.

In 2001, there were 13,000 visa applications to the Irish embassy in Beijing (compared to 600 applications in 1997) from Chinese students seeking to come to Ireland to study. In an unprecedented move in June 2002, six additional immigration officers were posted to Beijing to help process the flood of applications.

Naturally some believe that Ireland is lax in its treatment of visa applications and in checking on students once they arrive. Certainly there have been some scams in operation. One language school was closed down when it emerged that it had 2,000 students registered but only two classrooms.

Most students who come to Ireland tend to hail from the northeast of China which is suffering from huge unemployment with thousands of workers being let go from state enterprises every week. They are very welcome in Ireland, and their attitude is summed up by "John" Zhang, 24, a computer graduate from Shenyang who chose Ireland because it is "a beautiful country with friendly people" and has experienced no problems since his arrival here.



Shukan ST: Nov. 1, 2002

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