Peru’s Chinatown prepares to promote cultural exchange amid APEC summit

As Peru prepares to host this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in its capital Lima, its historic Chinatown stands ready to showcase the friendship and cultural bond between the two peoples.

The 2024 APEC meeting will be held in the Peruvian cities of Lima, Pisco, and Chiclayo from Nov 10 to Nov 16 under the theme of "Empower. Include. Grow."

Established in the 1850s, Lima's Chinatown, also known as Barrio Chino, has long been a hub of Chinese-Peruvian cultural exchange.

One of the most emblematic examples is chifa cuisine, a unique blend of Chinese and Peruvian ingredients and cooking techniques. According to Luis Yong, owner of the well-known San Joy Lai restaurant, this style of food gradually became popular as Chinese people integrated into local life.

"The Chinese taught how to cook their food. They taught to how to eat and cook eastern food here in Peru, and that is why the chifas were so popular, and that is why it is said here in Chinatown, 'come the rich and the proletarians, the famous and forgotten,'" Yong said.

According to the restaurateur, Lima's Chinatown stands out as a unique community in the country.

"It is the only ethnic neighborhood in Peru, there is no other ethnic neighborhood. Peru has peoples of all races, but there is no Japanese neighborhood, there is no Italian neighborhood, there is no Jewish neighborhood. There is the only Chinese neighborhood in Peru, and it is still going strong, 175 years later," he said.

Peru is now home to thousands of Chinese descendants, known as Tusan, and there are more than 10,000 chifa restaurants across the country. Today, Chinese-inspired dishes like fried rice and chicken noodles have become staples of the Peruvian diet.

"Peru is the most Chinese country in Latin America, and I am not referring to the fact that there are more Chinese immigrants in Peru. I'm referring to its different levels of integration at an economic, political, social, cultural and even biological level," said Gonzalo Paroy, a Peruvian Historian.

Peru’s Chinatown prepares to promote cultural exchange amid APEC summit

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar