Chinese Temples of Barrio Chino, Belgrano, Buenos Aires布宜诺斯艾利斯贝尔格拉诺唐人街华人寺院

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Argentina · Autonomous City of Buenos Aires · Buenos Aires · Chinatown in the Belgrano district; Templo Tzong Kuan at 2175 Montañeses

First built

Zhongguan Temple, 1988; Fo Guang Shan, 1992 · Chinatown formed mainly during the 1980s, when immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong/Guangdong settled there

Overview

Buenos Aires's Chinatown lies in the Belgrano district, covering roughly five by two blocks, formed mainly when immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong and coastal southern China settled there in the 1980s; it is the cultural center of Argentina's Chinese community. The district has two Chinese Buddhist temples: the Templo Tzong Kuan, founded in 1988 at 2175 Montañeses Street, with about five hundred worshippers; and the Fo Guang Shan Argentina temple, established in 1992, which offers courses in meditation, martial arts, yoga and vegetarian cooking. It must be noted honestly that both are Buddhist temples, not Daoist temples; the religious life of Argentina's Chinese descendants (about 350,000 in 2023, 0.45 percent of the population) is dominated by a mix of Catholicism and Chinese popular religion, and no independent Daoist temple has been found. Chinese immigration to Argentina came in four waves: coastal-town immigrants from 1914 to 1949, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and southern Chinese immigrants in the 1980s, Fujianese immigrants in the 1990s, and professionals in recent years.

Highlights

• Templo Tzong Kuan founded in 1988, with about five hundred worshippers
• Fo Guang Shan Argentina temple established in 1992
• Both are Buddhist temples, not Daoist temples
• Chinatown formed mainly in the 1980s
• About 350,000 people of Chinese descent in Argentina