The Latin Americanist

Abstract:

The Chinese Mexicans’ voice during Mexican Sinophobia has largely been lost in the current historiography as most historians rely heavily upon English and Spanish sources. This paper seeks to counter this problem by using myriad accounts reported by the Chinese to centralize the Chinese perspective in the historical narrative of Chinese Mexicans. Overall, this paper indicates that whether in Mexico or in China, the Chinese actively resisted Mexican Sinophobia, while simultaneously forming a strong transpacific relationship that connected both of these nations during a crucial period of national identity formation. Therefore, the Chinese in Mexico, far from being invisible and secluded from the world, participated in the global process of nation-building—of both China and Mexico—during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. While at times the Chinese resistance failed to substantially improve the lives of the Chinese in Mexico, many times their effort engendered impressive results, highlighting the power and agency that the Chinese wielded. As a study and synthesis of national identity formation, transnationalism, and the Mexican facet of the Chinese global diaspora, this research links the triangular relationship of Mexico, China, and the United States in the growing historiography of the Pacific World.