Barrio Chino (Lima)

Barrio chino (Chinese: 利馬唐人街; pinyin: Lì mǎ tángrénjiē; Jyutping: lai6 ma5 tong4 jan4 gaai1) is a neighborhood in Lima, Peru that is centered on two blocks – 7 and 8 – of Jirón Ucayali in downtown.

[4] Like the rest of Lima, the area of Barrio Chino before the term was official suffered destruction and looting in 1881-1883 by invading Chilean military forces during the War of the Pacific.

As the neighborhood's fortune's declined, it became the target of critiques by the Lima elites intent on cleaning up the city and of mobs incited by political candidates and racist stereotypes.

A several-decade ban on Chinese immigration resulted in increasing intermarriage with Peruvians of non-Chinese descent and integration into the general society.

In 1971, an archway was gifted from the people of Taiwan; it was erected at the corner of Ucayali and Andahuaylas streets[5] to mark the entrance to Barrio Chino.

Several panels were included depicting animals of the Chinese zodiac and, in the center of the new pedestrian mall, the ideogram for "Double Happiness".

Along with this physical renovation, the rescinding of the ban on Chinese immigration contributed to a demographic and cultural renewal of the barrio chino.

[13] Man Chin Po, the Americas' oldest Chinese-language newspaper, was published there on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting in 1911, but it ceased publication in 2002.