Barrio Chino Travel Guide

South America's most notable Chinese community.

East of the historic centre of Lima in the district of Barrios Altos, next to the Mercado Central, is Lima’s Chinatown (barrio chino). Peru is home to the largest population of first-generation Chinese in all of Latin America. Chinese people born in Peru (referred to as ‘Tu-San’) number more than a million. Some of the first immigrants arrived at the port of Callao in 1849 from the Chinese provinces of Canton and Fukien to work the coastal fields, replacing the black slaves given their freedom by then-president Ramón Castilla in 1851. More Chinese began to arrive, settling in the north in Chiclayo, Trujillo and the jungle town of Iquitos. On the seventh block of Jirón Ucayali is the locally famous Portada China, the arch that stretches across the street and is the gateway to Chinatown. It was a gift from the Chinese government, officially inaugurated by Lima mayor Alberto Andrade in July 1997.

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