170 years since the arrival of the first Chinese immigrants to Cuba

On June 3, 2017 an event that marked the beginning of the strong historical, cultural, fraternal, economic and political ties between the two nations will be remembered

On January 2, 1847 more than 300 Chinese farmers, hired as farm labourers, embarked on the frigate Oquendo in the port of Amoy, Guangzhou.

Just over 140 days later, on June 3 of that year, the 206 survivors of the long journey entered the port of Havana.

It has been almost 170 years since the beginning of the Chinese presence in the largest Antillean island, and as stated by the famous writer Leonardo Padura “in more than a century and a half of coexistence, Chinese migration has left footprints on the Caribbean island.”

They had been hired to replace, gradually, the African slaves in the hard work in the cane fields, from which emanated the greatest wealth of the country.

Thus, during the colonial era the presence of about 150 thousand coolies (1847-1883), in worst operating conditions than the Africans, showed the irreversible crisis of slavery in the context of industrial capitalism, considers the Cuban researcher and expert Dr. Jesus Guanche.

Even with the inhuman exploitation, thousands of coolies participated in the liberation struggles of the Cuban people for their independence, they reached various military ranks during 1868-1898 and became a major factor in the integration process of the Cuban nation.

There were also descendants of Chinese in the latest national liberation struggle

Another wave of immigration from California, a victim of the northern xenophobia that José Martí once denounced, was settled in urban areas and the social status of free men, traders, and labour intensive entrepreneurs, contributed to the early development of the Chinese community here, with greater emphasis on the city of Havana.

That was an essentially an economic migration, almost entirely male, and in the vast majority of cases, condemned to live in poverty and marginalization, as few of those Chinese could fulfil the dream of returning money to their distant nation, Padura said in an article entitled  The Chinese in Cuba: between myths and realities.

After they completed the eight years of the contract that had brought them to the Caribbean island, most remained as poor as when he arrived, and their only option was to stay here.

Many of them became agricultural workers, but others preferred to settle in cities, especially in the capital, so that in the first decades of the twentieth century immigration from China grows and is distributed throughout the country.

Then a process of boom and expansion of the Chinese community Chinatown, in Centro Habana, was then initiated, especially in its main area of settlement.

A rescue of the historical memory in their offspring and their role in the preservation and development of this cultural heritage through traditional medicine, martial arts, cooking, fiestas and all traditional values, among other things, has helped Chinatown in Havana.

In 1990, thanks to the management of its Promoter Group and the support of local authorities they began to celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year and the anniversary of the arrival in Cuba of Overseas Chinese, opened martial arts schools and turned to cultivating the opera. The former Chung Wang nursing home became The Nursing Home, the headquarters of the Chinese residents in Cuba and Cuban descent in the Cheng Wah Casino (created in 1893), based on Amistad Street, between Dragons and Barcelona, near the National Capitol, was activated.

But, in keeping with the strong historical ties between the two nations since March 2003 Cuba was declared the first Latin American nation as a tourist destination in China, while the University of Havana joined their academic activities teaching the Chinese language and culture, inaugurated the November 30, 2009 in the Confucius Institute.

China is now the second largest trading partner of the island and supplier of a wide range of supplies for the normal functioning of the economy, as well as technologies.

As part of the will of both governments to strengthen trade ties and collaboration, on December 27, 2015 the first direct flight between their capitals was inaugurated, in Beijing, with the take-off of a Boeing 777 of the state airline Air China .

Friendship erases the distance, especially if it is endearing and long-standing like that between the two countries, said the ambassador of the Caribbean island Alberto Blanco, at the opening ceremony of the flights Beijing- Montreal-Havana service.

In early April 2016, with a cultural gala in Havana, the largest of the Antilles was the first in the region to launch the Year of China-America and the Caribbean Cultural Exchange, Zhang Tuo, ambassador of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) announced in Havana.

With these and many other encouraging developments our country makes a profound bow to the thousands of Chinese who for almost 170 years’ work, pain, sacrifice and blood are part of our history, the complicated Cuban spirituality”, as the writer Leonardo Padura said.