A steep stairway descends to a network of subterranean rooms: welcome to the remains of a Chinatown that lived out of sight in Mexico, sheltering itself from heat, indiscretion and discrimination.
The cellars and tunnels house, among other things, the gaming tables and roulette of a former casino in the basements of Mexicali, a border town of the United States founded in 1903 (its toponym is a contraction of Mexico and California).
On this date, thousands of Asian migrants began to flock to this arid zone, providing cheap labor for the development of agriculture.
They came from China, the United States or other regions of Mexico (Sonora, Sinaloa), from where they had to flee racism and xenophobia.
Between 2,000 and 17,000 Chinese lived in Mexicali in the 1920s, according to estimates complicated by the fact that this was often an irregular immigration, sheltered from official records.
To live better, live hidden. This was the motto of a Chinese community exposed in summer to a temperature close to 40-50 degrees. The underground shelter protected the migrants from the heat and persecution from the authorities, when they had no papers.
The “underground” life of the Chinese in Mexicali also allowed them to do good business during the prohibition era in the 1920s in the United States, according to historians. Alcohol, brothels, casinos, opium: the Americans had only to cross the border.
“Down here, a lot of things were happening that were not known on the surface,” sums up historian Jose Gabriel Rivas, head of the local archives.
On the surface, life in Chinatown followed a normal course with restaurants, exchange offices, grocery stores, clothing and shoe stores…
The network of cellars connected by tunnels housed, in addition to the casino, accommodation, dormitories and even a Masonic lodge, adds Mr. Rivas.
The secret was exposed during the fire of 1923 which is said to have killed many migrants.
False, according to historian Yolanda Sánchez Ogás, according to whom the undergrounds were built after the disaster and functioned “until late in the 20th century”. Other fires were recorded in 1940 and 1992.
The corridors were forgotten until contractors and local authorities began in recent years the restoration of the historic center and Chinatown.
Today, the “Chinesca”, the name of the underground Chinese district, and its clandestine casino, represent an obligatory tourist detour.
It’s about “remembering this community that built our city”, says a guide, Rosy Chen, granddaughter of a Cantonese migrant who came in the 1940s.
“Let the new generations know that a gigantic Chinese community has arrived here which has organized itself, which has worked and which has triumphed”, she adds.
Apart from the gaming tables and roulette, there are naturalization letters signed by Presidents Porfirio Diaz (in power between 1877 and 1911) and Álvaro Obregón (1920-1924) in the basement.
You can still see old panels with ideograms or photos of historical places like the Imperial Hotel, owned by an entrepreneur called Chi and who no longer exists today.
On the surface, Mexicali remains the stronghold of Chinese culture in Mexico, with pagoda-like constructions and dragon carvings.
The descendants of Chinese migrants maintain a certain discretion and “a great presence, especially in economic life”, according to historian Rivera.
They run many restaurants that claim to serve “the best Chinese food in the world”.
Chinese migration continued from generation to generation. “We want to find a better life here,” says Kevin Tan, a 46-year-old Cantonese who arrived in Mexicali in 2001 and now runs the prominent restaurant Imperial Garden.
The Chinese and the “cachanillas” (Mexicali natives) are one, he says, admitting he was unaware of his compatriots’ history in Mexico when he arrived in the capital of Baja California.
And the tourist guide Chen to conclude: “I like the Chinese community as much as I like the Mexican community”.
09/06/2023 23:53:57 – Mexicali (Mexico) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
