Chinese immigration to Mexico

Chinese Mexicans

sinomexicanos; mexicanos chinos 華裔墨西哥人
Dragon dance at the 2008 Spring Festival celebrations in the Barrio Chino of Mexico City
Total population
24,499 Chinese nationals in Mexico (2020)[1] 965 nationals of Taiwan in Mexico (2020)[2] est. 70,000 Mexicans of Chinese descent (2008)[3] (0.1% of Mexican population)
Regions with significant populations
Baja California • Mexico City
Languages
Mexican Spanish • Mandarin • Cantonese
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Chinese • Asian Mexicans • Asian Latin Americans

Chinese immigration to Mexico began during the colonial era and has continued to the present day. However, the largest number of migrants to Mexico have arrived during two waves: the first spanning from the 1880s to the 1940s and another, reinvigorated wave of migrants arriving since the early 21st century. Between 1880 and 1910, during the term of President Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican government was trying to modernize the country, especially in building railroads and developing the sparsely populated northern states. When the government could not attract enough European immigrants, it was decided to allow Chinese migrant workers into the country.^[4] At first, small Chinese communities appeared mostly in the north of the country, but by the early 20th century, Chinese communities could be found in many parts of the country, including the capital of Mexico City.^[5] By the 1920s, the number of Chinese in the country was about 26,000.^[6]

However, strong anti-Chinese sentiment, especially in Sonora and Sinaloa, led to deportations and illegal expulsions of Chinese-Mexican families in the 1930s with an official count of 618 Chinese-Mexicans by 1940.^[7] Soon after the first wave of expulsions, efforts began to repatriate Chinese-Mexican families, which resulted in two major returns and various small groups returning between the late 1930s and the 1980s. Today, there are two main Chinese communities in Mexico: one in Mexicali and another in Mexico City.^[8]

After decades of low numbers migrating, the number of Chinese migrants is once again growing rapidly. In the 2000 census 1,754 Chinese nationals were counted as living in the country, while in the 2010 census the number of permanent residents was up to 6,655,^[9] with a total (permanent and temporary) migrant population of about 11,000.^[10] In 2009, the Instituto Nacional de Migración granted 2,661 migratory requests from individuals from China, while in 2010 it was 3,620, meaning growth for one year of 36%.^[11] Of the 54,440 migrants granted permanent residency in 2013, 4,743 (8.71%) were Chinese, more than any other group except for Americans with 12,905 (23.7%).^[10]