Chinesca Culture Offering Found in Tepic

MEXICO CITY.- A funerary offering of Chinesca culture integrated by 8 ceramic pieces created between 200 BC and 400 AD was found in Tepic municipality, at Nayarit Mexican state. This is the first conjunct of Chinesca objects located in their original place in all Western Mexico.

Six anthropomorphic figures and 2 vessels were found; based on the way they were placed, a reduced space in a half-moon shape, it can be deduced it was part of a shaft tomb.

For the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) specialists, the finding represents an exceptional opportunity to explore shaft tombs of Chinesca affiliation, since these contexts had not been analyzed in situ before.

The distinctive characteristics of Chinesca culture are the oriental features of the figure faces, as well as its pottery, which present a buff colored coating and with fine black and red lines.

Armando Santa Cruz Ruiz, director of Nayarit INAH Center, and archaeologist Mauricio Garduño, informed that the discovery took place at 14 de Marzo locality, where houses are being constructed. Tepic municipal president, Roberto Sandoval Castañeda, gave notice to the Institute so the finding could be verified.

After positively dating the more than 1,600 years old objects, INAH began the salvage and moved the objects to Nayarit INAH Center for their register and restoration.

Mauricio Garduño, responsible of archaeological excavation, detailed that nuclear zone of Chinesca culture was settled in Nayarit high plateau valleys, in Tepic and Compostela, from where it diffused to other regions. “It was a highly developed culture for it time (200 BC to 400 AD), with an advanced agriculture, handcraft production and important commercial activity with groups at the coast, with whom exchanged obsidian and shell.

“Chinesca culture controlled important raw material deposits, such as in Navajas Volcano, where obsidian of excellent quality was found”.

The INAH archaeologist informed that evidence of this culture has been found at Cañon de Bolaños, Jalisco. Material of the same affiliation has been recovered as well in Northwestern Coast that corresponds to the first 2 centuries of the Common Era.

Most relevant funerary architecture in Prehispanic Western Mexico is represented by shaft tombs, underground funerary complexes integrated by crypts with vertical shafts, with rich offerings. “At this kind of Prehispanic tombs, offerings were placed around the shaft, in a half moon shape”.

Finally, INAH will continue doing probing wells in a 2,500 square meters area with the aim of recovering the most information possible, concluded Garduño.

Art Daily Article

The Chinese Clock

This monolithic timepiece, on Calle Bucareli in the Colonia Juarez in Mexico City, is known as “the Chinese clock.” It is a replica of one that was given as a gift to the Mexican people by the Emperor of China in 1910, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Anti-Chinese hooligans destroyed it in 1913. The replacement was set in its place in 1921.

From David Lida - The Chinese are coming

Learning Chinese in Mexico

Damaris De Luna Sanchez, right, and a schoolmate study Chinese at Pedro Garcia Rojas elementary in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Students take five hours a week of Mandarin, four hours a week of English. (Aguascalientes / June 6, 2010)

Learning Chinese in Mexico: Children prepare for the future

As China swiftly expands its reach across Latin America, a pilot program in Aguascalientes aims to introduce students to the Mandarin language and make them more competitive in the job market.

Reporting from Aguascalientes, Mexico — Wo jiao Alberto.

Wo jiao Maribel. Ni ji sui?

Alberto and Maribel, sixth-graders at the Pedro Garcia Rojas elementary school here in central Mexico, introduce themselves to each other in Mandarin Chinese. 

Their class also recites numbers, clothing items and weather conditions in a language that, to them, is about as foreign as it gets.

Some, like Damaris De Luna Sanchez, 11, move their hands the way a conductor directs an orchestra, slicing through the air to help them reach the proper intonations, the staccato flats and singsong vowelish sounds.

Their enthusiastic teacher, Gerardo Saucedo, is not Chinese nor has he ever traveled to China, but he has long been fascinated by its language and use of stylized characters as an alphabet.

"Zai dong tian ni chuan shen me?" he asks his uniformed students, dancing down the aisle among girls in plaid skirts and knee socks, and boys in blue sweaters. "What do you wear in winter?"

The sight of youngsters speaking Chinese in the Mexican heartland is unusual, to say the least. Parents told that pupils as young as 9 would be taught Mandarin had been skeptical. Wouldn't French or Italian (Romance languages closer to Spanish) make more sense? some wondered.

Savvy Mexican politicians have other ideas. State authorities launched the pilot language program in Aguascalientes, a working-class city, in hopes of jumping on the Chinese bandwagon. As China swiftly expands its reach across Latin America, Mexico is experiencing a flurry of new Chinese investments in traditional targets like nickel mines and in newer areas like car-part factories and electronics.

For many years, Mexico had lagged behind other big Latin economies, like Brazil and Chile, which saw China displace the United States as their principal trading partner. China spent an estimated $100 billion in Latin America in 2008, but Mexico had only a small piece of it.

Attitudes of xenophobia dating to the early 20th century, when Chinese workers came to the country to build the railroads, continue to inform Mexico's restrictive immigration policies for Asians, said Sergio Martinez of the Mexican-Chinese Studies Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. On top of that, Mexico's notorious bureaucracy and the reluctance of many Mexican companies to compete with cheap Chinese products have slowed the expansion of trade relations.

Complete LA Times article

Mexico at Universal Expo 2010 Shanghai

Jalisco center stage at Shanghai Expo
From the Guadalajara Reporter

Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez presided over the opening of the Mexico pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo on May 1, highlighting the key issues of sustainability and cooperation, in keeping with the event’s optimistic theme of “Better City. Better Life.”

“We have come to share our vision with the world, recognize the problems that humanity has and offer Jalisco’s and Mexico’s solutions to these problems,” Gonzalez said.

Several Mexican states have been allocated time slots to promote themselves at the Mexican pavilion. Jalisco (often said to be the most typical of the country’s states) kicked off the ball in traditional style to the sound of mariachi music and the elegant movement of folkloric dancers. This privilege was given to Jalisco because of its sister-state agreement with the province of Shanghai.

Pavilion Features

The Mexico Pavilion features a Kite Forest combining colorful kites and green grass, representing the ideas of future urban life as advocated by Mexico. The site will mostly be an open area with an exterior grass slope that creates a large green public space, which embodies ecology, environment protection and peace.

A Journey through the History of Mexico

The pavilion will showcase the past, present and future of Mexico, which can also be interpreted as the history, culture and dream. In the "past" area, three large screens will display Mexico's history and ancient civilization; the current situation of major Mexican cities will be introduced in the "present" area; the "future" area, namely the "kite forest area" on the green slope, will show Mexico's main projects of sustainable development via the interactive touch-screens.

Authentic Mexican Cuisine and Mexican Handicrafts

In addition a restaurant covering an area of 400 square meters will be open in the pavilion. Visitors can enjoy authentic Mexican cuisine, including tacos, burritos, chili, tequila, among others. Apart from that, there will also be a store where traditional Mexican handicrafts can be found.

Mexico at Expo 2010
Mexico Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai

Chinese risk it all to reach US

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Chinese migrants know the United States as "Gold Mountain". That name was coined in the Gold Rush, but it is still used today - by the hundreds of Chinese trying to gain entry to the US using increasingly unsafe methods.

Many take dangerous routes to reach the US, but that does little to discourage increasing numbers of Chinese from risking it all across the Mexican border to get here.

Mike Kirsch reports from the US-Mexico border in Arizona in the latest of Al Jazeera's special reports on immigration in America

Al Jazeera news article

Canadian Chinese in Chapala

This post is not history - this is now. I wish I knew a little more about Betty but maybe you can find out on her Blog. She is Canadian Chinese living in Chapala and seems to be having a good time of it with her family. Here's a video of her son singing a simple English/Spanish lesson.

Here are the lyrics in case you want to sing along.

Pollito Chicken,
Gallina Hen,
Ventana Window,
Puerta Door,
Mesa Table,
Silla Chair,
Lapiz Pencil,
Pluma Pen





And here's her Blog
Chapala Jalisco Mexico

Chinesca

"Chinesca" is an artful documentary about the Chinese heritage of Mexicali made by Marco Vera and Rafael Velarde. It was presented as part of "..ricorso .." by Armando Rascon.

Chinos de Mexicali

Serie de videos Ventana a mi Comunidad. Una producción de Videoservicios Profesionales SA de CV para la Coordinación General de Educación Intercultural y Bilingüe de la SEP México. http://ventana.ilce.edu.mx

Chinese in Mexico

The old Parian on Mexico City's Zocolo

Mexico City's Parian that sold goods from Asia

Over much of the 17th century, the Plaza became overrun with market stalls. After a mob burned the Viceregal Palace in the 1690s, the Plaza was completely cleared to make way for the “Parian”, a set of shops set in the southwest corner of the Plaza used to warehouse and sell products brought by galleons from Europe and Asia. This was opened in 1703.

On the 4th and 5th of December 1826, Lorenzo de Zavala and General Jose Maria Lobato led a mob of soldiers, artisans, and hooligans attacking the Parian. They robbed and burned it shouting “Death to the Spaniards!” “Long live Lobato and those with fury!” A number of merchants died and most were ruined. President Santa Anna finally had the Parian demolished in 1843. This left the Plaza bare again.

Model in the Mexico City Subway


Old drawing

El Parian de Filipinos en Mexico

Nao de China Exhibit - The Manila Trade

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) is proud to announce the opening of a new historical exhibit entitled "Nao de China: The Manila Trade, 1565 – 1815" on Saturday, November 8 in the Center's History & Literary Arts building. The NHCC is located at 1701 4th St. SW on the corner of 4th St. and Bridge Blvd. The opening will take place at 2 pm, is free to the public and authentic Filipino and Mexican refreshments and Filipino entertainment will be provided. In attendance to inaugurate the exhibit will be the Consul General of Mexico in Albuquerque, the Honorable Gustavo de Unanue Aguirre and the Consul General of the Philippines in Los Angeles, the Honorable Mary Jo Bernardo de Aragón.

From 1565 to approximately 1815 there existed a lucrative trade between Spanish merchants and traders in the Philippine Islands using Acapulco and Veracruz ports in Mexico as transshipment points and using Guam as a rest stop on the long voyage across the sea. Since the Philippines had been a center of trade between China and other Asian countries like Siam and India for hundreds of years, even including major trade with Islamic peoples, the Spanish encountered many items that contained different cultural accoutrements. Thus, the ships that sailed from Spain to Veracruz then from Acapulco to the Philippine archipelago brought back to Mexico items of trade, as well as people, which over time became a part of the Mexican folklore tradition.

This exhibit examines some of these Mexican traditions and traces them to the trade that took place with the Philippines, especially through the port of Manila. Such Mexican icons as la China poblana, majólica pottery, papel de china, etc. are examined and their roots traced to the Manila trade which employed large galleon ships called "Naos" to transport merchandise and people. Thus, the title: "Nao de China: The Manila Trade, 1565 – 1815." This exhibit will remain on view through May 30, 2009 and will be accompanied by a series of lectures and public presentations that will be announced at a later date.

Nao de China: The Manila Galleon Trade 1565-1815 Exhibit brochure (PDF


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