[6][7] Diego recalled that he was taken as a slave by Francisco de Casteñeda from Mexico, to Nicaragua, then to Lima in Peru, then to Panama, and eventually to Spain via Lisbon, while he was still a boy.

[8][9][10][11] Esteban testified that he knew Diego as a boy in Limpoa (Liampó, the Portuguese name of Ningbo, a Chinese city in Zhejiang), which he claimed to be part of the Spanish colonial indies.

[27][28] Several Asians took advantage of laws requiring that the Spanish state pay for their return to their homeland after being trafficked to Spain illegally.

[29] Asian slaves who were shipped from the Spanish Philippines in the Manila-Acapulco galleons to Acapulco in New Spain (Mexico) were all called "Chino" which meant Chinese, although in reality they were of diverse origins, including Japanese, Malays, Javanese, Timorese, and people from Bengal, India, Ceylon, Makassar, Tidore, Ternate, and Chinese.

[30][31][32][33]-[34] The people in this community of diverse Asians in Mexico were called "los indios chinos" by the Spanish.

[35] Most of these slaves were male and were obtained from Portuguese slave traders who obtained them from Portuguese colonial possessions and outposts of the Estado da India, which included parts of India, Bengal, Malacca, Indonesia, Nagasaki in Japan, and Macau.

A Spanish woman, Doña María de Quesada y Figueroa,[38][39][40] in New Spain owned a China born Chinese man called Manuel who before being enslaved to her was taken from New Spain to be shown off in Seville until he was transferred to her ownership to be used by her as a slave by the woman's son Doctor D. Juan de Quesada in 1621.

Others have come from Hong Kong, Macau, and Chinese communities of Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

[49] As a result of the small proportion of elderly, combined with long working hours and the illegal status of some, Chinese are reported to use medical services at a far lower rate than other ethnic groups in Spain.