La Chinesca is a neighborhood located in the Mexican city of
Mexicali
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
. The location is home to about 15,000 people of Chinese origin, historically the largest Chinese community in Mexico. However, as of 2012, this number was surpassed by
Tijuana's La Mesa District which is home to approximately 15,000 Chinese immigrants and people of Chinese descent. While this number does not compare to other cities worldwide with a prominent
Chinese diaspora
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
, early in the 20th century Mexicali was numerically and culturally more Chinese than other immigrant groups.
The Chinese arrived to the area as laborers for the Colorado River Land Company, an American enterprise which designed and built an extensive irrigation system in the
Valley of Mexicali. Some immigrants came from the United States, often fleeing anti-Chinese policies there, while others sailed directly from China.
History
Many of the Chinese laborers who came to the irrigation system stayed on after its completion, congregating in an area of Mexicali today known as Chinesca. During Prohibition in the U.S., many Chinese laborers and farmers came to the town to open bars, restaurants and hotels to cater their American clients, Chinesca eventually housed just about all of the city's casinos and bars, and a tunnel system to connect bordellos and opium dens to Calexico on the U.S. side. Bootleggers also used this route to supply the U.S. with alcohol purchased in Mexico.
By 1920, Mexicali's Chinese population outnumbered the Mexican 10,000 to 700. A group of 5,000 single Chinese males started the
Asociación China, a Mexicali social organization at least partly devoted to finding Chinese wives from overseas. This organization remains active to present day. In 1927, a series of
Tong wars
The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety o ...
here and other parts of Northern Mexico erupted over control of gambling and prostitution rings. Mexican alarm over the
Chinese organized crime led to the government-encouraged Movimiento Anti-Chino. In the late 1920s, a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that swept the country and led to the torture and murder of hundreds of Chinese in northern Mexico. However, the Chinese in this city were numerous enough and politically strong enough to protect themselves.
The percentage of Chinese was so high here that in the 1940s the town had only two cinemas, both of which played Chinese movies almost exclusively. However, in the later half of the 20th century, steady influx of Mexican migrants here diluted the Chinese population, until once again they became a minority.
After anti-Chinese sentiment faded, more Chinese arrived here, and it became the Mexican headquarters for the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
, or the Nationalist Chinese Party and the
Anti-Communist League.
After events during World War II and the
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (ROC ...
, a large number of Chinese refugees came to Mexico in the mid-century.
Ho Feng-Shan
Ho Feng-Shan ( 10 September 1901 – 28 September 1997) was a Chinese diplomat and writer for the Republic of China. When he was consul-general in Vienna during World War II, he risked his life and career to save "perhaps tens of thousands" of J ...
, the Chinese diplomat known as "China's
Schindler" is known to have visited Mexicali.
The town was the site of the
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
based
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
consulate in the 1960s until Mexico withdrew its recognition of the island nation, ending immigration of ethnic Chinese to this area.
For a while after 1960, Chinese Mexican community organizations continued to stay
strong: at the beginning of the 1960s new Chinese Mexican seminaries continued to open, and in
the 1970s a school opened to teach art, Chinese culture, and sports to Chinese Mexicans living in
downtown Mexicali.
Neighborhood
La Chinesca exists near the U.S. border close to the intersection of Avenida Madero and Calle Melgar. The neighborhood boasts more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other place in Mexico, more than 100 for the whole city, most with Cantonese-style cuisine. Local Chinese associations struggle to preserve the arts and culture of the homeland through the sponsorship of Chinese festivals, calligraphy clubs, and language classes. However, much of Chinese cultural life here has blended with local Mexican and American traditions to create a unique, hybrid culture.
Like many Chinese restaurants outside of Asia, cooks here have adapted their native cuisine to local tastes. For example, restaurants here serve their dishes with a small bowl of a sauce that is similar to a steak sauce, common in Northern Mexico. In many of these restaurants, it is not uncommon to see Chinese men wearing stiff straw cowboy hats, meeting over hamburgers and green tea and speaking a mixture of Cantonese and Spanish. Along with burgers and chow mein, many restaurants here also offer shark-fin tacos.
Since 2000, new migrants from China to Mexicali come from many of the same areas as
before 1960, with perhaps 90% from Guangdong or Hong Kong.
[Auyón Gerardo, Eduardo. 2003. El dragón en el desierto: los pioneros chinos en Mexicali.
Mexicali, Baja California: Centro de Investigación de la Cultura China]
The following are Chinese associations and organizations based in Mexicali (Auyon Gerardo 2003:89-102). The associations are formed according to regional origin, surname, occupation, religion, or other characteristics.
*Asociación China de Mexicali (): The main Chinese organization of Mexicali. Founded 1919. Avenida Juárez #120.
*
Ming Chih Tang (): Also called the Logia Masónica China en Baja California, Numero 20. Founded 1914. This group helped found the Asociación China de Mexicali ().
*
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(): Founded 1920. 600 members in 1928.
*Asociación Chung Shan de Baja California: Founded in 1915 with 200 members. Membership based on regional origin from
Zhongshan
Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 i ...
. Branches were opened in
Ensenada and
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
in 1963.
*Asociación Sam Egap de B.C. (): Membership based on regional origin from
Sam Yup
Sanyi () or Nanpanshun (), also known by Cantonese romanizations such as Sam Yup and Nam Pun Shun, refers to the three districts (former counties) of Nanhai, Panyu and Shunde surrounding Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong, China.
Geography
Th ...
.
*Asociación Leon Chong How
Tong Tong may refer to:
Chinese
*Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese
*Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities
*''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...
(): Membership based on surname Leon (梁).
*Asociación Hoy Yin (): Membership based on regional origin from
Haiyan, part of
Taishan __NOTOC__
Taishan may refer to:
*Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China
*Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China
*Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China
**Gre ...
municipality.
*Asociación Chew Lun (): Membership based on surnames Tam, Tham, Hiu, Che. Founded in 1920.
*Asociación Lim Sei Ho Tong (): Membership based on surname Lim.
*Asociación Ma Kiem Tu Tong: Membership based on surname Ma.
*Asociación Yee Fong Toy Tong (): Membership based on surname Yee.
*Asociación Chee Puen Ko Tong (): Membership based on surname Chee.
*
Asociación Sui Yue Tong
The Soo Yuen Benevolent Association () was founded in 1846, in the 26th year of the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese ...
(): Membership based on surnames Luis, Fon, Kon.
*
Asociación Hu Suy Shan Tong
Eng Family Benevolent Association, also referred to as Eng Suey Sun Association (), was founded by members of the Eng (伍) clan, who emigrated from China to various parts of the world while seeking out a better life (References 1). Note that the ...
(): Membership based on surname Hu.
*Asociación Wong Kong Har Tong (): Membership based on surnames Wong and Hu.
*Asociación Wong Wun Sun (): Membership based on surname.
*Asociación Nam Ping (): Membership based on regional origin from
Enping
Enping, alternately romanized as Yanping, is a county-level city in Guangdong province, China, administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen.
Enping administers an area of and had an estimated population of 460,000 in 2005 ...
.
*
Asociación Long Kong The Lung Kong Tin Yee Association (), also known as the Four Brothers, is a worldwide ethnic fraternity.
Lung Kong in the United States
California
The California Gold Rush and construction of the transcontinental railroad in the mid-1800s led man ...
(): Membership based on surnames Liu, Kuan, Chiong, Chio.
*Asociación Lon Sai (): Membership based on surnames Kuan, Pan, Lee, Chu.
*Asociación Gee How Oak Tin (): Membership based on surnames Chan, Wo, Yen.
*Asociación Lun Tack Tong: Membership based on surname Loo.
*Asociación Chi Tak Tong (): Membership based on surnames Chiu, Choi, Hu, Cao, Yon.
*Asociación Yat Juan: Membership based on regional origin from
Kaiping
Kaiping (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Hoiping, is a county-level city in Guangdong provinces of China, Province, China. It is located ín the western section of the Pearl River Delt ...
.
Other organizations include (Auyon Gerardo 2003:105-115):
*Escuela China de Mexicali
*Club Shung Wah
*Boletín de la Colonia China
*Periódico Kiu Lum (seminario)
*Academia Chung Shan
*Centro de la Investigación de la Cultura China de Baja California
See also
*
Chinese immigration to Mexicali
*
La Mesa
*
Barrio Chino
Chinatowns in Latin America ( es, barrios chinos, singular ''barrio chino'' / pt, bairros chineses, singular ''bairro chinês'') developed with the rise of Overseas Chinese, Chinese immigration in the 19th century to various countries in Latin ...
References
External links
Asociacion China de Mexicali
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinesca, La
Mexicali
Restaurant districts and streets in Mexico
Geography of Baja California
Chinatowns in Mexico