Chinatowns in Latin America
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Chinatowns in Latin America (Spanish: barrios chinos, singular barrio chino) developed with the rise of Chinese immigration in the 19th century to various countries in Latin America as contract laborers (i.e., indentured servants) in agricultural and fishing industries. Most came from Guangdong Province. Since the 1970s, the new arrivals have typically hailed from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Latin American Chinatowns may include the descendants of original migrants — often of mixed Chinese and Latino parentage — and more recent immigrants from East Asia. Most Asian Latin Americans are of Cantonese and Hakka origin. Estimates widely vary on the number of Chinese Descendants in Latin America but it is at least 1.4 million and likely much greater than this.
Unlike the Chinatowns of Anglo America and Europe, pure-blood ethnic Chinese were relatively few in number but now increasing rapidly due to generally lower levels of Chinese immigration to some parts of Latin America. Residents of Latin American Chinatowns tend to be multilingual. Latin America's Chinatowns include those of Mexico City, Havana, Buenos Aires, and Lima. Some of these Chinatowns mainly serve as tourist attractions and not as true, living ethnic communities. The Chinatown of Havana, Cuba's is largely multi-generation Spanish-speaking Chinese Cuban whereas the Chinatown of the Belgrano district of Buenos Aires, Argentina consists of many first-generation Holo- and Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan.
Politically, several nations of Latin America recognize the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan. A Chinese arch was presented as a gift to the Barrio Chino of Panama City, following the visit of Panama by the then Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui. After the major official visit by the Cuban Revolution's Fidel Castro to the People's Republic of China in 1995, materials were given for the new Chinese arch on Calle Dragone in Havana's Barrio Chino.
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[edit] Argentina
- See also: Asian-Argentines
It is centered around Arribeños, Mendoza and Montañeses Streets, in the upper-middle class neighbourhood of Belgrano, Buenos Aires. Large numbers of recent Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrants have settled in the area. Also included are ethnic Chinese from other parts of Latin America and East Asia, and Asians of non-Chinese ancestry, mainly Japanese and Korean, whose first immigrants date from WWII and the Korean war.[1]
[edit] Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil, has no permanent Chinatown, but the Chinese-Brazilian community is centered around the Liberdade district. Besides being an area famous for its strong Japanese presence, a significant number of Taiwanese immigrants settled in Liberdade, and many Chinese immigrants have come to Liberdade following the Communist revolution in 1949. Many Cantonese from Hong Kong and Portuguese-speaking Macau — including some Macanese of mixed Chinese and Portuguese descent — also settled the place after their return to mainland Chinese rule in 1997 and 1999 respectively. These Macau immigrants can usually speak and understand Portuguese (and sometimes also its creole, Macanese or Patuá), allowing them to adjust more easily to life in Brazil. A very sizeable number of ethnic Chinese from Indonesia have settled the area as refugees when they were violently forced out in the 1960s. Today, Chinese Brazilians are the second largest Asian ethnic group in Brazil, after the Japanese. The Liberdade district has a distinct multi-Asian cultural presence. In addition, the Chinese community of São Paulo have centered around "25 de Março," an extensive retail and wholesale shopping area in the old center of SP.
[edit] Costa Rica
There is a sizeable Chinese community in the Puntarenas area and San José, around the "Paseo de los estudiantes" area. Recent Chinese immigrants are coming from Taiwan, many of whom have established businesses in Costa Rica.
[edit] Cuba
- See also: Chinese Cuban
Chinese immigration to Cuba started in 1847 when Spanish settlers brought in Cantonese contract workers to work in the sugar fields. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers were brought in from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan during the following decades to replace the labor of African slaves. After completing 8-year contracts, the Chinese immigrants generally settled permanently in Cuba, where their descendants have since intermarried with local Cubans.
Unlike that of Argentina and other Latin American countries, the overseas Chinese population of Cuba was once large, but the now-diminished Chinese Cuban community is today clustered around the largely dying Barrio Chino — called Barrio Chino de La Habana — on Calle Zanja, in Havana. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, many Chinese Cuban entrepreneurs fled the country for the United States. Since the 1960s, Cuba has not attracted very many, if any, Chinese immigrants (developments or redevelopments of Chinatowns tend to require much private investments for which political conditions in Cuba are not favorable).
Only one Chinese-language newspaper, Kwong Wah Po, remains in Cuba. Havana's Chinatown was formerly among the largest in Latin America as the neighborhood comprised of 44 square blocks during its prime. To tie in with the Revolution's economic reliance on tourism, attempts have recently been launched to attract revitalization investment for the Chinatown from Mainland Chinese state-run enterprises and overseas Chinese private investors, particularly Chinese Canadians.
[edit] Dominican Republic
While Havana's Barrio Chino is struggling for self-preservation, a new bustling and organic Chinatown in the Dominican Republic thrives, in that country's capital city Santo Domingo, on Avenida Duarte; it was officially inaugurated as a Chinatown in 2006.[1] While serving the local Chinese community with at least 40 immigrant-run businesses, it is also promoted as a tourist attraction. The development of Chinatown is now gaining momentum, and a new gateway arch is in development. First-generation Chinese immigrants came from Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1970s.
[edit] Mexico
- See also: Chinese Mexican
[edit] History
The first Chinese immigrants to Mexico came from China, some were Philippine-born Chinese, brought by the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. However most contemporary Chinese immigrants came to Mexico during the 20th century as contract workers and political refugees. With the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment in Mexico in the 1930s under President Plutarco Elías Calles, most Chinese Mexicans, including individuals of mixed Chinese and Mexican descent, were forced out of Mexico and deported to China.
Mexico City's small barrio chino is on Calle Dolores in Cuauhtémoc borough in the city center.
[edit] Mexicali, a historic Chinese outpost
The border town of Mexicali, Baja California, adjacent to the United States, contains the largest concentration of Chinese Mexicans in Mexico; its Chinatown, on Avenida Madero Calle Azueta, is called La Chinesca (The Chinesque one). Some of the earliest Chinese settlers who arrived in the United States eventually went south to Mexico to escape institutionalized anti-Chinese persecution in California.[citation needed] The largest number of new Cantonese-speaking Chinese immigrants came mostly from the Guangzhou area around 1919. Mexicali had a local chapter of the Kuomintang. There is now a consulate of the People's Republic of China in Mexicali. The economic problems of Mexico in the 1980s led many Chinese-Mexicans to migrate north into the United States. Today, members of the multigenerational Chinese-Mexican community own and operate many businesses across the city. One of the oldest Chinese restaurants, Restaurant 19, or named after one of the early Mexican chinatown corridors Alley 19 was opened in December 18, 1928 and eventually closed in Winter 2001. It was known to be one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Mexico. This restaurant was utilized by many U.S. and Mexican officials and celebrities throughout the years; its end eventually came due to the devaluation of the peso in the 1980s and the new border crossing that takes tourist and locals away from the original heart of Mexicali. Currently there are more than 80 Chinese restaurants from small coffee shops (cafés de chinos) to huge 750 occupancy dining rooms. Nowadays, there are about 2,000 Chinese Mexicans living in the city, however there are 100,000 residents more than thought who are of Chinese descent .[citation needed]
[edit] Nicaragua
- See also: Chinese Nicaraguan
Nicaragua has no permanent Chinatown but the Chinese Nicaraguan community is centered around Managua and the Caribbean coast, most notably in Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas. Many Chinese immigrants are present, most of who are from mainland China and also from Taiwan. The Chinese first arrived in Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, where most settled in cities such as Bluefields, El Bluff, Laguna de Perlas, and Puerto Cabezas. Then in the late 19th century began migrating to the Pacific lowlands of the country, mainly Managua. Many Chinese in Nicaragua committed themselves to the commerce industry and opened up businesses. They also dedicated themselves to the candy, soap, and clothing industries.
[edit] Panama
There are two commonly known Chinatowns in Panama City. The Traditional or Old Chinatown, located adjacent to "Casco Viejo" which represents the so called "Barrio Chino de la Ciudad de Panamá". And the emerging Chinatown in El Dorado. These Chinatowns grew mostly out of the need for commerce within the immigrants. Items and Foodstuffs that were not normally commerced in Panama, but were wanted by the immigrants, was/is traded in Chinatown.
- History and immigration
During the 1940s - 1950s Arnulfo Arias's government, the Chinese population in Panama suffered persecution and deportation (ethnic/nationalistic cleansing). For which many Chinese decided to change surnames through fake marriages to Panamanian nationals. Under Omar Torrijos's and Manuel Noriega's Regime, many nationals (through bribes and corrupt dealings) profited by offering illegal travel documents for sale, which brought Mainland Chinese immigrants into the country.
In the 1850s, the original Chinese immigrants (mostly from east mainland China) came to build the railroads of Panama. This is the first massive Chinese migration to Panama. The second migration took place during the Panama Canal construction. There have been many migrations since, triggered by different situations and from different regions in China and Asia. Panama, because of its commercial/trade location advantage, has been favored by many a migrating Chinese and Asian. Nowadays, Panama hosts many Chinese of Taiwanese a "regional mandarin" and Cantonese-speaking descent. Immigrants from Hong Kong and Guangdong province of China make up the majority of Chinese and Asians living in Panama.[citation needed] Other ethnicities and nationalities in Panama with sizable populations (which are sometimes included in the definition of Chinatown) include: Taiwanese, Japanese, and South Koreans.
[edit] Peru
The main Peruvian Chinatown is located in Lima and is called the Barrio Chino de Lima, located on Calle Capón (Block 7 of Ucayali Street); it is one of the two earliest Chinatowns in the Western Hemisphere, along with that of Havana, and contains various architecture in traditional Chinese fashion. Local Chinese restaurants, called in Peruvian Spanish chifas, serve Chinese food with significant Peruvian influence and are popular in Chinatown among native Peruvians as well.
In contrast to Cuba, the Chinese Peruvians, despite the problems of recent history in the country — including the dictatorial rule of Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968-1975), which forced many of his Chinese Peruvian opponents to flee (mainly to the United States) — have still chosen to remain in large numbers.
Historical Chinese immigration to the Amazonian region of Peru is intriguingly documented in a small village named Chino several miles outside of Iquitos. While its inhabitants, in the main, are clearly native Amazonians, many bear striking genetic traits — markedly smoother facial structure, stereotypically Asian eyes, and straighter hair — which may mark the existence of a community of Chinese immigrants in the 19th or 20th century who intermarried and vanished, as mysteriously as they came.[citation needed]
[edit] Puerto Rico
- See also: Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico boasts a barrio chino in San Juan (Barrio Chino de San Juan). Since Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, Chinese-Puerto Ricans can also be considered Chinese Americans. However, many Chinese Puerto Ricans, to escape poverty, have moved to the mainland United States.
[edit] Venezuela
Venezuela is also home to one of Latin America's largest concentrations of ethnic Chinese. A lively barrio chino can be found on Avenida Principal El Bosque in the El Bosque district of Caracas. Cantonese is widely spoken among Chinese Venezuelans, especially the variety commonly known as Hoisan or Toisan, but there has been recent Taiwanese immigration, adding to the linguistic and cultural diversity. Chinese from other places of the world also settled in Venezuela, especially from the Philippines, where they were experienced persecution in the 1970s under Ferdinand Marcos, and Cuba, where Fidel Castro's Communist Revolution seized their businesses.
[edit] External links
- Photographs of Havana's Chinatown
- Information on the Dominican Republic's Chinatown
- More information on the Dominican Republic's Chinatown
- Further information on the Dominican Republic's Chinatown
- Information on Mexicali's Chinesca
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Mexicali's Chinatown, James R. Curtis, Geographical Review (Vol. 85, Issue 3), 1995
