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Chinese in Mexico City in 1635

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Homer H. Dubs  and
Robert S. Smith
Homer H. Dubs
Affiliation:
Duke University
Robert S. Smith
Affiliation:
Duke University
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Extract

It may be interesting to learn that even before the end of the Ming dynasty, numbers of Chinese had already arrived in Mexico. On June 22, 1635, the municipal council (cabildo) of Mexico City studied a petition which had been submitted to the viceroy by the Spanish barbers in the capital. The latter protested against the “excesses” and “inconveniences” to the “Republic” resulting from the practises of Chinese barbers. The viceroy passed along the complaint and asked for the advice of the city government.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , August 1942 , pp. 387 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1942

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References

1 Libro trinta de las actas antiguas de Cabildo (Mexico, 1908), p. 24.

2 Blair, E. H. & Robertson, J. A., The Philippines Islands, 1493–1898 (Cleveland, 1905–1919), vol. 25, p. 49.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., vol. 22, p. 250; similar statements in vol. 22, p. 173; vol. 23, p. 108.

4 Ibid., vol. 24, p. 150, from “The history of the Augustinian Order in the Filipinas Islands,” by Fray Juan de Medina, O.S.A. written in 1630.

5 Ibid., vol. 24, pp. 255, 292. This amount was estimated by the ecclesiastical cabildo of Manila in 1632 and repeated by Governor Cerezo Salamanca in 1633.

The amount of silver exported from Mexico to the Philippines was however limited by law to 400,000 pesos (ibid., vol. 24, p. 255), of which 250,000 pesos were allocated to trade (ibid., vol. 25, p. 126; this statement is dated 1632). In 1635 the total was raised to 500,000 pesos (ibid., vol. 25, p. 35), but the great profit of that trade made bribery of judges and officials in Mexico feasible, so that there was considerable illicit trade. Each seaman was allowed to carry along 7000 pesos for trade (ibid., vol. 25, p. 39; a law dated 1633); with several hundred seamen in the fleet, this sum alone might reach large proportions. The government of Mexico contributed, by order of the Spanish king, a large sum to the support of the colony in the Philippines, the annual amount of which was between 150,000 and 300,000 pesos (ibid., vol. 22, pp. 263, 265, 266; vol. 23, pp. 51, 61; vol. 24, p. 325).

6 Ibid., vol. 22, p. 279.

7 Ibid., vol. 22, pp. 271, 277; vol. 24, pp. 53, 290.

8 A law dated 1620 states that “many slaves are usually carried in the ships from Filipinas.” Some of them were sold at Acapulco, the Mexican port at which these ships unloaded. The King enacts in this law that “no passenger or sailor shall take more than one slave, except persons of rank, and that for good cause, and with careful restriction” (ibid., vol. 25, p. 28). Before 1620 (and very likely afterwards, if good profits could be secured thereby) there was thus a brisk slave trade between the Philippines and Mexico. While many of these slaves might have been Filipinos, the personal servants of traveling Spaniards were usually Chinese, in accordance with the statement of Governor Niño de Tavora quoted above.

9 Ibid., vol. 23, p. 49. Since travelers could not be sure of a return trip in the same year, these “citizens of Manila” very likely became semi-permanent residents of Mexico.

10 Ibid., vol. 12, p. 192; vol. 14, p. 133; vol. 38, p. 55.

11 Ibid., vol. 22, p. 175.

12 By Father Urdaneta. The prevailing winds made it necessary to sail from lat. 13° as far north as lat. 30° or even 40° in order to each Acapulco, which is in lat. 17° (ibid., vol. 23, pp. 175, 176).