Ep. 371 | Choie Sew Hoy and the Sinking of the S.S. Ventnor
The China History Podcast
Laszlo Montgomery
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I had the idea for this episode sometime during mid-summer 2025. Then I became distracted by the big project I'm working on now, then the holidays, sick cats, and the random hassles of life. This one's only 34 minutes long. My deepest apologies for all the mispronunciations of Maori names. This is the story of Choie Sew Hoy 徐肇开 and the times he lived in during the 19th-century Chinese immigrant scene in New Zealand. There was a lot more going on in the history of Chinese New Zealanders. This story is mostly limited to the events surrounding the Otago Gold Rush of the early 1860s.
Here are a few YouTube videos about this topic:
Journey To Lan Yuan Ep 7 Choie Sew Hoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMYHSRTVo4M
Journey To Lan Yuan Ep 8 The S.S. Ventnor. https://youtu.be/Q2EXkSdIGAM?si=cEN3uft5CpyU9Rzd
The Mystery of the S.S. Ventnor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg8DB42BkAk
Choie Sew Hoy's descendants meet in Dunedin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhDM4pwxHdM
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Lazel Montgomery here. Just a quick word before the episode. This one you're about to hear |
| 0:05.4 | has been out on Patreon and CHP Premium for a while now. This and hours and hours of new stuff |
| 0:11.8 | that I've been working on since last year are available there, and all this new CHP material |
| 0:17.2 | will be coming out later this year. But for now, still a work in progress. Come see what |
| 0:22.2 | you've been missing and relieve yourself of that FOMO. Thanks, everyone. |
| 0:27.9 | Hey, everyone, welcome back, Laslo Montgomery again. Thanks for making time for me at this hour. |
| 0:33.5 | You're listening to the China History podcast, 16 years young come June 2026. Who would have ever thought? |
| 0:41.8 | I forgot who brought this topic to my attention. Maybe he was no one. But I was thinking, |
| 0:47.3 | this would be a good story that we could all enjoy. And up till now, to the best of my knowledge, |
| 0:52.5 | I don't think I've ever showcased New Zealand in the CHP. |
| 0:55.9 | And this country is front and center in what I have to present to you today. |
| 1:01.1 | This will be a short episode. |
| 1:03.1 | Today I wanted to mention about the 19th century experiences of Chinese New Zealanders |
| 1:08.4 | and the lead-up to the events surrounding the tragedy of the sinking of the SS Ventnor in 1902. |
| 1:15.4 | After so many CHP episodes, we all know what kind of condition the Chinese nation was in following the commencement of the century of humiliation. |
| 1:24.1 | The 1850s and 60s were among the worst years the Chinese people had seen since the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. |
| 1:34.5 | The Taiping Rebellion, the Nien Rebellion, the Bhunti Haka wars, and all the extra stress overpopulation had caused, especially in the south of China, that's what |
| 1:46.6 | mainly caused this epic mass exodus from China to the gold mines and railroads of America, |
| 1:53.5 | to Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, India, Africa, and to all the major ports of Southeast Asia and elsewhere. |
| 2:03.6 | There have been stories, movies, and theatrical works that have taught us about that time. |
| 2:09.0 | In past CHB episodes, we've looked at a lot of the stories and the everyday heroes who emerged in |
| 2:14.4 | Chinese immigrant history, especially in the U.S. |
... |
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