Since the 1860s, the Chinese have been the largest non-European and non-Polynesian group of immigrants to New Zealand. It was only in the 1940s that the first artist of Chinese descent, Guy Ngan, came to the forefront of art in New Zealand. Furthermore, it was another fifty years before the next two artists of Chinese decent, Denise Kum and Yuk King Tan, emerged as leading New Zealand artists. The reason for this late rise of recognized artists is twofold: the internal culture and mindset of the sojourner, and secondly the external discrimination that these Chinese experienced in New Zealand. Thus, traditions from which the Chinese immigrants came from and the socio-political climate of New Zealand must be explored. A greater awareness of the background and contexts within which they emerged provides one with a heightened appreciation of the achievement of these artists. The chosen artists are significant, not only because they are pioneers of New Zealand Chinese art, but also because their desire to seek new challenges propelled them to the forefront of contemporary New Zealand art.