Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico
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1,757 (0.06% of Puerto Rico's population; 2018 estimates, Asian Puerto Rican |
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Large-scale Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico and the
When Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony, the Spanish government did encourage settlers of non-
After Spain was forced to cede Puerto Rico to the United States in accordance to the
There are about 1,757 people of Chinese descent in Puerto Rico, as per the 2018
Spanish immigration restrictions
By the 19th century, the
In the early 1860s,
During the latter part of the 19th century, Spain and the rest of the Americas became industrialized and were in need of manpower to fulfill their workforces. Poor and uneducated men, driven by war and starvation, made their way from China to the Americas as laborers. A large number of these unskilled workers were sold in what became known as the "coolie" trade. Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were the last stop for many of the "coolies" before reaching their final destinations. Many of these Chinese immigrants stayed in Puerto Rico and the other two Caribbean countries.[4]
When after the Treaty of Paris (1898), the U.S. conducted its first census of Puerto Rico, the Chinese population was large enough to require a mention in the document on how to punch the census card: "If the record related to a white person, B, standing for blanco (white) was punched, while N was punched for a negro, or M for Mixed, Ch for Chinese, etc."[5]
20th century
When the United States enacted the
One of the reasons that the Chinese community in Puerto Rico did not flourish was because, in 1899, the War Department ordered the American officials in Puerto Rico to enforce the Chinese exclusion laws, as requested by the
In 1959, thousands of business-minded Chinese fled Cuba, after the success of the
Chinese influence in Puerto Rico
Chinese Puerto Ricans are involved in operating Chinese restaurants, and others work in other sectors. Many members of Puerto Rico's Chinese minority have integrated both
Various businesses are named Los Chinos (The Chinese) and a valley in Maunabo, Puerto Rico is called Quebrada Los Chinos (The Chinese Stream).[10] The Padmasambhava Buddhist Center, whose followers practice Tibetan Buddhism, has a branch in Puerto Rico.[11]
Los Chinos de Ponce (English: "The Chinese from Ponce"), formally "King's [Ice] Cream", is an ice cream store whose owners are descendants of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Puerto Rico via Cuba in the early 1960s. The ice cream parlor, which is in front of the town square, Plaza Las Delicias, opposite the historic Parque de Bombas, opened in 1964.[12] In addition, some well known Puerto Ricans have Asian ancestry, such as actor, singer and lawyer Raulito Carbonell (Raul Carbonell Huo, who has Chinese ancestry on his mother's side)
Illegal immigration of Chinese nationals became a problem in Puerto Rico. On November 28, 2007, the
Common Chinese surnames
The following are Chinese surnames of Chinese who have immigrated to Puerto Rico:[14]
- Chang
- Chin
- Joa
- Lao[15]
- Lee
- Mas
- Wong
- Woo
- Wu
- Yan
- Yon
See also
- List of Puerto Ricans
- Buddhism in Puerto Rico
- Cultural diversity in Puerto Rico
- Overseas Chinese
- Chinatowns in Latin America
- Chinatowns in the United States
References
- U.S. Census. 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
- ^ Archivo General de Puerto Rico: Documentos Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Historia de la Esclavitud Negra en Puerto Rico; By Luis M. Díaz Soler; Pg. 242; Published by Editorial UPR, 1981;
ISBN 0-8477-0095-X, 9780847700950
- ^ a b "The Chinese Community and Santo Domingo's Barrio Chino". DR1.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
- ^ Joseph Prentiss Sanger; Henry Gannett; Walter Francis Willcox (1900). Informe sobre el censo de Puerto Rico, 1899, United States. War Dept. Porto Rico Census Office (in Spanish). Imprenta del gobierno. p. 38.
- ^ Michael Brody, ed. (2008). "The Chinese Exclusion Act: A Black Legacy". Menlo School's Angel Island Virtual Tour. Atherton, California: Menlo School. Archived from the original on December 21, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
- ^ "Chinese Exclusion in Puerto Rico" (PDF). New York Times. January 21, 1899. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
- ^ Tung, Larry (June 2003). "Cuban Chinese Restaurants". Gotham Gazette. Retrieved September 14, 2008.
- ^ "Gender Differentials in Intermarriage Among Sixteen Race and Ethnic Groups"; by: Jerry A. Jacobs and Teresa G. Laboy; Sociological Forum; Vol. 17, No. 4; December 2002
- ^ "Quebrada Los Chinos". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
- ^ Budda Net
- ^ Barrio Sabanetas, Plaza las Delicias, Parque de Bombas and Helados Chinos., Journey Tos - blog, 2 August 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ "ICE dismantles Chinese human smuggling organization", ICE press release
- ^ "FamilySearch and Genealogy Archives". FamilySearch.
- ^ Maisonet, Illyanna (May 24, 2019). "How Cuban Chinese refugees in Puerto Rico built a life on ice cream". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 June 2020.