How the oldest and largest Chinatown in Mexico rose despite terrible xenophobia
America’s Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 saw many immigrants turn to Mexico, but their broad business dominance led to dreadful consequences
Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West.
Given the distance and language barrier, it is hard to imagine how, a century ago, the Chinese population of Mexicali, a border city between Mexico and the US, outnumbered the local Mexican population in size.
It was that generation of Chinese migrants who built La Chinesca, or “The Chinese” in English – the oldest Chinatown in Mexico.
One of the earliest records of Chinese presence in Mexico goes back to 1635, towards the end of Imperial China’s Ming dynasty. That year, Spanish barbers protested about competition from the Chinese, which saw the municipality propose to cut the number of Chinese barber shops.
By the 1870s, the Mexican government had started to encourage Chinese immigration after failing to attract more Europeans to settle, especially in the hot desert state of Baja California, where Mexicali is located.