Mami: My Grandmother's Journey

Mami: My Grandmother's Journey


by Rebeca Lau

Mami: My Grandmother’s Journey is the unconventional story of a Chinese woman in the southern border city of Tapachula in Mexico in the 20th century. Her arranged marriage, her escape from the Japanese Army, her life in a country so distant and so different from her own, her struggles and successes, her internal conflicts. It is a story that interweaves the past and present of three generations living under one roof filled with cultural clashes between Chinese and Mexican traditions.

Rebeca Lau

Chinese-Mexicans celebrate repatriation to Mexico

In this photo taken Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, Juan Chiu Trujillo, center, a Chinese Mexican poses with his sons; Juan Chiu Chan, left, and Ignacio Chiu Chan, during an interview in Mexico City. Chiu who was born in Mexico, was among thousands of Chinese Mexicans expelled when Mexico erupted into xenophobia fueled by the economic turmoil of the Great Depression. Chiu returned in 1960, along with 300 other Chinese-Mexicans, after President Adolfo Lopez Mateos paid for their travel expenses and decreed that they would be legally allowed to live in Mexico. Dozens of those Chinese-Mexicans and their descendants gather Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, at a Chinese restaurant in central Mexico City to celebrate the anniversary of their return. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Chinese-Mexicans celebrate repatriation to Mexico - article