By Ruth Robles
National Secretary of investigative Journalism of Federation of Journalists of Peru, Peru
From the first migrants to the symbols of the dragon and the cuchimilco, two ancient cultures meet again, from the silent legacy to the new port of global connection.
It was not a treaty, nor a diplomatic agreement, nor even a planned trip. It was a millennial whisper that crossed the Pacific Ocean. In the sixteenth century, while the Spanish Empire consolidated its transoceanic routes, exquisite objects arrived to the Viceroyalty of Peru from distant lands: silks, fans, porcelain, Chinese lacquers. They traveled in the womb of the Galleons of Manila, once or twice a year, but also in the imaginary that began to unite two civilizations without having looked yet. Oriental aesthetics infiltrated the colonial houses, the churches of Lima, the tastes of an aristocracy that, without knowing it, began to dialogue with the East. Thus began this story: silent, deep and subtle.
The dragon and the cuchimilco represent two cultures that, far from opposing each other, have learned to live and grow together. What began as migration and effort is now shared identity and future.
1849: China’s first human face in Latin America
History took an irreversible turn in October 1849, when Peru, still a young republic at the time, became the first Latin American country to receive official Chinese migration. Thousands of men left Guangzhou and Fujian with the same hope: peace. They did not seek riches or glory. They sought dignity.
They reached Callao and a small port then little known: Chancay. They were not expected applause or words of welcome, but the relentless sun and difficult conditions of life. They slept on rice sacks, worked in the cane fields of Huaral, Sayán and Huando, in the islands of the guano, on the coast. They were called “coolies,” treated as labor force, but survived on the one thing they had brought in abundance: determination. And when they were finally able to free themselves from those contracts, they stayed. Not by resignation, but by conviction.
“There were no visible chains, but disguised slavery contracts. Today we pay homage to those who, with their sweat and hope, sowed future in foreign land.”
-Symbolic pronouncement in session of the Congress of the Peruvian Republic, 2014.
Cuchimilcos: mud arms waiting for the dragon
Under the same ground that those first migrants stepped on, they slept ceramic figures molded centuries before by the Chancay culture: the cuchimilcos. Small guardians with open arms, no gesture of defense or submission, but welcome. It is as if Peru, from its pre-Columbian roots, had been prepared to receive the other.
Today, in a symbolic twist of fate, that ancestral gesture seems to extend eastward. Towards China.
From “chi fan” to “buen provecho”
The Chinese migrants not only survived. They sowed. They founded fondas (the first modest establishments where homemade food was offered to the public), learned Spanish, shared their traditional medicines, married Peruvian women and gave birth to a new identity: the tusán.
In 1874, the first restaurants appeared in Lima where the phrase “chi fan” -eating rice-was heard. Thus was born the chifa, which eventually became national pride. But Chinese culture did not stay on the stove: it settled in families, in neighborhoods, in surnames, in work ethics. From Lima to Huacho, from Cusco to Tarapoto, the Chinese was not an alien presence, but a root that was grafted into the Peruvian soul. Thus, while sautéed noodles and chaufa rice were served, the Peruvians began to respond with another expression full of affection: “buen provecho”. More than courtesy, it is an invitation to share, to eat together, to feel at home.
The greatest community, the deepest presence
Today, Peru is home to the largest Chinese community in Latin America. An estimated three to four million Peruvians are of Chinese descent. And far from being a marginal presence, the tusán has become an essential component of the Peruvian being.
With more than 25,000 restaurants of oriental food -and about 2,000 new each year- the Chinese heritage in Peru does not impose, it integrates. He lives in the perseverance of the small merchant, in the calm in the face of adversity, in respect for the ancestors and in the strength of silent work.
The greatest community, the deepest presence
Today, Peru is home to the largest Chinese community in Latin America. An estimated three to four million Peruvians are of Chinese descent. And far from being a marginal presence, the tusán has become an essential component of the Peruvian being.
With more than 25,000 restaurants of oriental food -and about 2,000 new each year- the Chinese heritage in Peru does not impose, it integrates. He lives in the perseverance of the small merchant, in the calm in the face of adversity, in respect for the ancestors and in the strength of silent work.
An institutionalized friendship, a shared future
In 2024, the Peruvian Congress passed Law 32067, which declares 1 February as the Day of the Peruvian-Chinese Confraternity, in honor of the Lunar New Year and the shared history that unites both nations. It’s not just a protocol gesture. It is the recognition that what began as a silent journey today is a strategic, cultural and human alliance.
Chancay: where the dragon found its harbor
Today, the port of Chancay, which once silently welcomed the first migrants, is the epicenter of a new era. There stands one of the most ambitious logistics platforms in the Pacific. A work that connects Shanghai with Peru in just 23 days of navigation. From December 2024 to Feburary 2025, the cargo thoughtput is 22,000 tons. The annual output value is more than $4.5 billion, and thousands of local jobs have been created.
But its true value is not only in the numbers. It’s in the symbol. There, the Chinese dragon, emblem of power and transformation, meets the Peruvian cuchimilco, symbol of welcome and permanence. The dragon and the cuchimilco are no longer opposites or distant. What began with ships and hopes crossing oceans, today translates into real and lasting ties. The challenge is not only to remember the past, but to honor it by building a future where diversity does not divide, and where shared history is transformed into a solid, inclusive and forward-looking cultural alliance.
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.