Barrio Chino, Mexico City墨西哥城唐人街与华人社团

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Mexico · Mexico City · Mexico City · Two blocks centered on Calle Dolores, in the historic center

First built

Formed in the early twentieth century · Far smaller in scale than Mexicali; no independent Chinese temple building is recorded

Overview

Mexico City's Chinatown (Barrio Chino) is centered on Calle Dolores and covers only two blocks, far smaller in scale than Mexicali's La Chinesca; it took shape in the early twentieth century. Chinese immigrants to Mexico were mostly laborers and peddlers from Guangdong who arrived, via the United States or by direct passage, from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Around 1930 they encountered a fierce anti-Chinese movement: Sonora, Baja California and other states carried out large-scale expulsions of Chinese, gravely weakening the community. Today Mexico City's Chinatown consists mainly of restaurants and shops, and Chinese community associations maintain altars and ancestral tablets, but it must be noted honestly that no reliable sources record an independent Chinese temple or Daoist temple building here; religious activity takes place chiefly at association halls and in private homes, with the Lunar New Year lion-dance procession being the principal public religious-cultural display.

Highlights

• Centered on Calle Dolores, only two blocks
• Far smaller in scale than Mexicali
• Encountered a fierce anti-Chinese movement around 1930
• No independent Chinese temple building is recorded
• Religious activity takes place at association halls and in private homes