By the year 1850 the first Chinese who opened a business in what would later be the Chinatown arrived in Havana. His name was Chen Leng, but once he arrived in Havana, he changed it to. . . Luis Pérez.
His business was a restaurant for the workers of the tobacco factories. Immediately more Chinese joined him to give life to a whole neighborhood, especially when a decade later began to arrive other wealthy Chinese from the United States.
The Chinese came to Cuba to replace the slave labor force. Actually they came with contracts for 8 years for cutting sugarcane. The working conditions were very bad, almost as much as that of the black slaves. The salary was 4 pesos per month.
It was very common in their traditions that the Mmtrimonies among the Chinese were arranged by the parents. At first the Chinese imported brides from Hong Kong or Canton. Like everything in life there is always a first time. One of these arranged marriages could not be made because the 20-year-old girlfriend on arriving in Havana found that the boyfriend was 60 and said she did not get married. The scandal among the Chinese communities was tremendous and the arrangement was dissolved with a strong financial compensation.
The Cuban Chinese were grouped by last names and professions. If there was a litigation, it would not go to the country's justice. If they had the same last name, they used the leaders of their brotherhood, but if they had different surnames they would go to the CHUNG WUA Casino, the highest Chinese institution in the country.
Another curious fact is that the first Bank of China in Latin America opened in Cuba. It was opened at the request of the Cuban Chinese because they did not deposit their money in American or Cuban banks. The custom was either to keep it at home, or to bury it or give it to a merchant who had a safe and with a receipt (in Chinese) who could withdraw it whenever they wished, but without earning interest.
So the Bank of China was opened in Havana and in the first year of operations it reached number 23, given the amount of operations and deposits.
Another day I tell you the story of one of the most famous theaters of Havana in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and it was in Chinatown. It gave many types of different shows and among them the pornographic ones, something very relevant for the time. I mean, even if it was in Chinatown, it had nothing to do with the Chinese themselves, but it attracted a lot of male customers.
personal memory: when I was a child I remember even those descendants of third and fourth generation of the mixture of Chinese with blacks and poor whites. They were tall, with mulatto or coppery skin, chinese eyes that were green or blue, their straight hair. They knew they were beautiful and most of them left Cuba when the exodus of 1994 or they married foreigners when the government opened Cuba to tourism.
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Humberto, Guide and teacher in Havana
+5352646921 whatssap & telegram
+5352646921 whatssap & telegram
Humberto Linares
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http://humberto.webcindario.com
