Chinese-Mexicans celebrate repatriation to Mexico

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zboy1
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Chinese-Mexicans celebrate repatriation to Mexico

Post by zboy1 »

Interesting article about Mexico's past anti-China xenophobia and racism against Chinese Mexicans:

http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-mexicans- ... 02534.html

Large numbers of Chinese began arriving in northern Mexico in the late 1800s, drawn by jobs in railroad construction and cotton. The country represented a haven from the United States, which had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, an 1882 law that banned Chinese immigration.

But from the moment they began to arrive, they faced racism, which was exacerbated during the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution and its aftermath, when the country was trying to build a national identity that celebrated the mixture of Indian and Spanish cultures.

Mexican women who married Chinese men were considered traitors, and in some cases families disowned them. With the Great Depression, large numbers of destitute Mexicans began returning home from the United States and resentment about the financial success of Chinese people grew.

"Even though there was a small number of Chinese people, their economic prowess and their position in the labor force made them a threat," said Fredy Gonzalez, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Yale University who is studying 20th century Chinese migration to Mexico.

In the northern border state of Sonora, anti-Chinese leagues formed and thousands of Chinese were taken to the border with the U.S. and forced to cross. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act they were immediately detained by U.S. immigration officials and sent to China.

In 1930, Mexico had 18,000 Chinese citizens and Mexicans of Chinese descent. By 1940, there were only 4,800, Gonzalez said.

Today, there are at least 70,000 Chinese citizens and Chinese-Mexicans in the country, according to a report in 2008 by the Foreign Relations Department
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Falcon
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Post by Falcon »

I've posted about this before. This is a forgotten part of Mexican history, which is most likely a good thing. Past Sinophobia in the U.S. is much better known.

Note how the article mentioned how different things were in the 1960's than in the 1930's. The 1930's was a really nasty time for Chinese people all over the world.

Brazil also had a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment in the early 1900's, but this changed to a very positive view of Japanese Brazilians in the late 1900's, especially with the post-WWII rise of Japan.
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