From 1881 to 1934, Chinese migrants entering New Zealand were subject to a 'poll tax,' which started at £10 and in 1896 increased to £100 ($20,000 today). Only one Chinese passenger was allowed for every 10 tons of cargo, and the Chinese were the only ethnic group subject to such entry fees into the country.

In 2001, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark issued an apology to those affected by the poll tax — but in English and Mandarin, languages those affected by the poll tax did not speak as they were mostly Cantonese migrants. It wasn't until 2023 that a Cantonese version of the apology was finally redelivered by an official translator.

Here I transcribed the apology in Cantonese, overlaid on photographs of Chinese market gardeners in Aotearoa, which were the main group of people subject to the poll tax, along with entry documents that recorded the identities of every Chinese migrant into New Zealand.