Havana's Chinatown was the largest in Latin America and came to be considered the second most important in the world after San Francisco's (USA). It is located very close to the Capitol, right in the heart of Central Havana. Havana also has a Chinese Cemetery, the oldest in the Americas, but I will tell you about that in another post. To learn more about this emblematic place in Havana, we must, without a doubt, delve into the history of the Chinese presence in Cuba. I will try to tell you in the simplest way, but I warn you, this is a long story, a very long story.
The Chinese Did Not Come to Cuba of Their Own Free Will
In the early 19th century, Cuba's sugar industry, the pillar of the economy, was expanding rapidly. However, England began to persecute the transatlantic trafficking of African slaves, and within Cuba itself, movements emerged that, while not entirely abolitionist, were concerned about racial imbalance and the panic of having another Haiti in Cuba. The "solution": sugar plantation owners sought a new source of cheap, resistant, and exploitable labor. Their gaze fell upon China, seeking the migration of the so-called "coolies."
From 1853 to 1874, the "yellow traffic" occurred, involving about 150,000 people from China itself and from California, USA, after 1860. The migration was organized under the system of Asian colonist contractors, technically free, but in practice, it was a cruel farce. In the ports of southern China, especially in Macao and Canton, recruiters (often Chinese or Portuguese) deceived poor peasants, promising them well-paid work, dignified conditions, and the possibility of making a fortune in "the Americas." Many signed contracts they could not read (they were in Spanish or English) or did not fully understand. These contracts stipulated that the person would work for a master for 8 years in exchange for food, lodging, clothing, and a small wage. In theory, upon completion of the contract, they would be free and their return passage would be paid. In practice, these conditions were rarely met.
The ship voyage from China to Cuba, which lasted several months, was a brutal experience. They were crammed into holds in appalling sanitary conditions; thousands of Chinese died from disease, malnutrition, or mistreatment during the crossing—a journey so terrible it was compared to the Atlantic crossing of African slaves (the "Middle Passage"). It is estimated that the mortality rate on some voyages exceeded 10%. Then they arrived in Cuba and became essentially slaves.
Upon arrival in Havana or other ports, they were taken to barracks where they were inspected, marked, and sold to sugar planters, just as was done with Africans. They lived in unsanitary barracks (Chinese barracks) and their food was scarce and of poor quality. They were assigned mainly to sugarcane fields and sugar mills, working exhausting days under the sun. They also worked on railways, mines, and tobacco farms. They were subjected to severe physical punishments (whippings, stocks) for any infraction. They were hunted if they tried to escape. When the 8-year contract was coming to an end, the masters often used all kinds of cheap tricks to extend the debt (charging them for food, tools, etc.) or simply did not give them their freedom papers, turning the 8 years into a life sentence.
Resistance
Despite the oppression, the Chinese coolies did not submit passively. There were numerous acts of individual and collective resistance. Many chose to commit suicide as a supreme act of liberation. There were also rebellions in the sugar mills and mutinies aboard the ships. One of the most famous from that time was Kwo Ka Sing, who mutinied on the ship bringing him, took it over, and used it to assault other ships carrying Chinese and free his compatriots. He was considered the Cuban Robin Hood, a kind of pirate with good intentions. But the moment the Chinese earned the respect of Cubans was another: the context of the Independence Wars.
A significant number of coolies who managed to escape joined the Cuban Liberation Army during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) and the War of Independence (1895-1898). They fought hoping that a free Cuba would also mean their freedom. Their bravery was legendary. They held high ranks among the Mambises (Cuban independence fighters); the Spaniards feared them, because capturing a Chinese Mambí alive was pointless since under the cruelest tortures they would not talk and constantly challenged the enemy. Many Chinese had been soldiers in rebellions in their own country and brought that experience with them.
The problem with the legacy of the Chinese Mambises is that most were renamed in Cuba, as their names were very difficult to pronounce, and they were also baptized into the Catholic faith. But we know some very prominent names like Commander José Bu Tack, who became a trusted man of Máximo Gómez (the chief of the entire army) and served as his private messenger and bodyguard. The flag kept in the Capitol is the one that belonged to Commander Bu, but we will talk about that in another post.
Also Lieutenant Tancredo, who fought alone against almost five hundred Spaniards to give the Mambises time to retreat, and it took more than 20 bayonet wounds to defeat him. When he was already badly wounded and they tried to finish him off dishonorably, considering him inferior for being Chinese, the man shouted that he was not a coolie but a lieutenant of the Liberation Army and that they should finish him honorably. Or Juan Anelay, who became a deputy to the Assembly and the Government in Arms as a representative of the Chinese Mambí community and the fighters of Las Villas of all races. He was another who fought against overwhelming odds until the last minute and died shouting "Long Live Free Cuba." A Chinese man, Wong Seng, joined Maceo's troops, the only ones who continued fighting after the signing of the Pact of Zanjón. One of many, as it is said that of the six thousand Chinese Mambises, the vast majority kept fighting because surrender was unacceptable to them.
With these brave acts, they won the hearts of Cubans, to the point that upon freeing itself from Spain, Cuba was the only country with Chinese migration at the time that did not have anti-Chinese laws and did not discriminate against them.
And We Arrive at Chinatown
The trafficking of coolies to Cuba was formally prohibited in 1874 after a Chinese commission sent to the island investigated reports of mistreatment and confirmed that the contracts were a farce and that the coolies lived in conditions of slavery. The treaty legally suspended the contracting, but not immigration. After the abolition of slavery and the contract system, the surviving Chinese community settled mainly in Havana.
From 1869 to the first half of the 20th century, different waves of free Chinese entered the island, mostly from California, USA, from where they migrated due to racist laws. The "California Chinese" came to Cuba looking for favorable land to settle and invest their capital. In March 1870, the first import house for Asian products opened, and that same year, at the corner of Calle Sol and Villegas, the Con San Tong house was established, the second major Chinese commerce, founded with a capital of 50 thousand pesos.
These California Chinese, together with some former Cuban coolies who through their own efforts had learned various trades serving the population, created Chinatown. In this area, there was a train stop that transported passengers to the Marianao Hippodrome. With these possibilities, Chinatown continued its growth and extension in several directions until, by the early 20th century, about 10,000 Chinese lived in this area covering ten blocks, a respectable number, almost a town.
In Chinatown, small commercial establishments began to proliferate, ranging from inns, laundries, shoe and watch repair shops, and more. There were grocery stores for retail sales, shops selling dried poultry and fish, pharmacies with exclusive products imported from the rich and ancient traditional Chinese medicine, cigar shops, stores, restaurants, even newspapers, radio programs, theaters for Asian operatic performances, and many social and recreational clubs, some of which were the Chinese people's own homes. A process of boom and expansion of the community began.
The first theater hall, later transformed into a cinema, named El Pacífico, was established on Zanja and San Nicolás streets. In 1875, the Sun Yon Theater was inaugurated on Calle Lealtad, corner of Reina, followed by the Chinese Theater on Zanja Street, later transformed into the Shanghai Theater. The most important Chinese theater was the so-called Águila de Oro, on Calle Rayo, No. 104. In the theaters, both women and men played roles of both sexes and had knowledge of singing, acrobatics, pantomime, acting, and martial arts. Operas, with Chinese actors from California, were widely performed there. Cubans, contrary to other countries, admired Chinese culture and adopted it as part of Cuban culture.
In 1874, the first Chinese restaurant in Havana opened at Calle Dragones No. 40, serving dishes imported from San Francisco, California, which didn't have much to do with traditional ones but were suited to Cuban tastes. We even had an opium import and consumption house, at Calle Galiano No. 116. The famous "charada" lottery game that is so popular in Cuba today is Chinese. In 1902, with the USA now in the mix, Governor Leonard Wood began to curb the entry of Asians into the Island, but during the second decade of the 20th century, the last great wave of Chinese immigration occurred, and by 1930 the Chinese colony numbered 24,000 inhabitants in the country.
Chinatown was practically self-sufficient, with societies, businesses of all kinds, theaters, schools, charitable clinics, pharmacies, newspapers (three dailies in the Chinese language), banks, laundries, gambling houses, opium dens, brothels, and funeral homes; all mixed with mobile cafeterias, fruit and vegetable vendors, and sweets sellers, which helped satisfy the needs and tastes of the inhabitants and visitors. Such businesses had legal associations that supported them.
The current one doesn't have much to do with the one from that era, for many reasons. There are hardly any Chinese left, that's the main one. The Chinese have mixed with other Cuban ethnicities and have joined the "ajiaco" (stew) of what we are today in a varied and rich mix. Their culture is part of what we are so silently that it has amazed even me, during these months of research, everything I have found. Their presence is there, in the features and last names of the people, in the interest in martial arts, in the food and many more things, but it is not obvious or confined to a neighborhood or a city.
El Barrio Chino de La Habana fue el más grande de América Latina y llegó a ser considerado el segundo más importante del mundo después del de San Francisco (USA). Queda muy cerca del Capitolio, en el mismo corazón de Centro Habana. La Habana tiene también un Cementerio Chino, el más antiguo de América, pero de eso les hablaré en otro post. Para saber más sobre este sitio emplebático de La Habana, tenemos que introducirnos, sí o sí, en la historia de la presencia china en Cuba. Intentaré contárselo de la manera más simple, pero les advierto que esto tiene tela, muuucha tela.
Los chinos no llegaron a Cuba por voluntad propia
A principios del siglo XIX, la industria azucarera cubana, el pilar de la economía, se expandía rápidamente. Sin embargo, Inglaterra comenzó a perseguir el tráfico trasatlántico de esclavos africanos y en la propia Cuba surgían movimientos, que si bien no eran del todo abolicionistas, sí estaban preocupados por el desequilibrio racial y el pánico de que hubiera un nuevo Haití en Cuba. La "solución": los azucareros buscaron una nueva fuente de mano de obra barata, resistente y explotable. La mirada se posó en China, buscando la migración de los conocidos como “culíes”.
De 1853 a 1874 ocurrió el tráfico amarillo, unas 150 mil personas procedente de la propia China y desde California, Estados Unidos, después de 1860. La migración se organizó bajo el sistema de colonos asiáticos con contrato, técnicamente libres, pero en la práctica fue una cruel farsa. En los puertos del sur de China, especialmente en Macao y Cantón, reclutadores (a menudo chinos o portugueses) engañaban a campesinos pobres, prometiéndoles trabajo bien remunerado, condiciones dignas y la posibilidad de hacer fortuna en "Las Américas". Muchos firmaban contratos que no podían leer (estaban en español o inglés) o no entendían del todo. Dichos contratos estipulaban que la persona trabajaría por 8 años para un patrón a cambio de comida, alojamiento, ropa y un pequeño salario. En teoría, al finalizar el contrato, eran libres y se les pagaría el pasaje de regreso. En la práctica, estas condiciones rara vez se cumplían.
El viaje en barco desde China a Cuba, que duraba varios meses, era una experiencia brutal. Iban hacinados en las bodegas en condiciones sanitarias espantosas, miles de chinos murieron de enfermedades, desnutrición o maltrato durante la travesía, en un viaje tan terrible que se lo comparó con la travesía del Atlántico de los esclavos africanos (el "Middle Passage"). Se estima que la tasa de mortalidad en algunos viajes superaba el 10%. Luego llegaban a Cuba y se convertían básicamente en esclavos.
Al llegar a La Habana o a otros puertos, eran llevados a barracones donde los inspeccionaban, marcaban y vendían a los hacendados azucareros, tal como se hacía con los africanos. Vivían en barracones insalubres (barracones de chinos) y su alimentación era escasa y de mala calidad. Eran destinados principalmente a los cañaverales y los ingenios, trabajando jornadas extenuantes bajo el sol. También trabajaron en ferrocarriles, minas y fincas de tabaco. Los sometían a castigos físicos severos (latigazos, cepo) por cualquier falta. Los perseguían si intentaban escapar. Cuando el contrato de 8 años llegaba a su fin, los patrones often utilizaban todo tipo de trucos baratos para extender la deuda (cobrándoles por comida, herramientas, etc.) o simplemente no les daban la documentación de libertad, convirtiendo los 8 años en una cadena perpetua.
Resistencia
A pesar de la opresión, los culíes chinos no se sometieron pasivamente. Hubo numerosos actos de resistencia individual y colectiva. Muchos optaron por desvivirse como acto supremo de liberación. También hubo rebeliones en los ingenios y motines a bordo de los barcos. Uno de los más famosos de aquella época fue Kwo Ka Sing, quien amotinó el barco en el que lo traían, lo tomó y lo dedicó a asaltar otros barcos caergados de chinos y liberar a sus compatriotas. Se lo consideraba el Robin Hood cubano, una especie de pirata con buenas intenciones. Pero el momento en que los chinos se ganaron el respeto de los cubanos fue otro: el contexto de las Guerras de Independencia.
Un número significativo de culíes que lograron huir se unieron al Ejército Libertador cubano durante la Guerra de los Diez Años (1868-1878) y la Guerra de Independencia (1895-1898). Lucharon con la esperanza de que una Cuba libre también significara su libertad. Su valentía fue legendaria. Ocuparon altos cargos entre los mambises, los españoles les tenían pánico porque capturar vivo a un mambí chino era por gusto porque bajo las más crueles torturas no hablaban y retaban en todo momento al enemigo. Muchos chinos habían sido soldados de rebeliones en su país, y traían esa experiencia . El problema del legado mambí chino es que a la mayoría los renombraron en Cuba, ya que sus nombres resultaban muy difíciles de pronunciar, además de que eran bautizados en la fe católica. Pero conocemos algunos nombres muy destacados como el comandante José Bu Tack, quien llegó a ser hombre de confianza de Máximo Gómez (el jefe de todo el ejército) y funcionaba como su corro privado y guardaespaldas. La bandera que guarda el Capitolio es la que pertenece al comandante Bu, pero de eso hablaremos en otro post.
También el teniente Tancredo, que se batió solo contra casi quinientos españoles para dar tiempo a que los mambises se retiraran, y se necesitaron más de 20 bayonetazos para derrotarlo. Cuando ya estaba malherido y quisieron terminar deshonrosamente el trabajo, por considerarlo inferior al ser chino, el hombre gritó que él no era un culí sino un teniente del Ejército Libertador y que debían terminarlo honrosamente. O Juan Anelay, quien llegó a ser diputado ante la Asamblea y el Goierno en Armas como representante de la comunidad mambisa china y los combatientes de Las Villas de todas las razas. Este fue otro que peleó en desigualdad hasta el último minuto y murió gritando Viva Cuba Libre. Un chino, Wong Seng, se pasó a las tropas de Maceo, las únicas que siguieron combatiendo tras la firma del Pacto del Zanjón. Uno de muchos, pues se dice que de los seis mil chinos mambises la gran mayoría siguió peleando pues rendirse les resultaba inaceptable.
Con estos actos valerosos se ganaron el corazón de los cubanos, hasta el punto