Читать книгу 100 Places in Cuba Every Woman Should Go - Conner Gorry - Страница 16

WEALTHY LANDOWNERS—GROWING COFFEE, TOBACCO, AND sugar, primarily—saw the writing on the wall and had already begun supplementing slave labor with cheap workers from abroad when the trade was officially abolished in 1867. The first wave was Maya from the Yucatán, followed by a huge influx of Chinese—some 130,000 arrived on Cuban shores in the 20-year period between 1853 and 1874. This so-called “coolie trade” was hardly more humane than the slave trade from Africa it replaced, and Chinese laborers were treated like chattel on the sugar plantations, but over time, a unique miscegenation emerged that today reaches beyond Cuba’s borders. If you’ve ever eaten at a Chinese-Cuban restaurant (New York and Miami are full of them), it’s a result of this centuries-old mixture. Slowly but surely, Chinese immigrants assimilated into Cuban society, mingling with freed blacks and Creoles (those of Spanish heritage born in Cuba) creating a new ethnic mix. Anyone with eyes even slightly almond-shaped is nicknamed “chino” here, something that fiercely irks foreigners of other Asian origins when the 100th Cuban yells out “Hola chino!”

The Chinese in Cuba retained their traditions and culture to the extent that you’ll see groups of elders practicing Tai Chi in parks, kids taking martial arts classes in school yards, and big, multi-colored dragons snaking through the crowd at the annual May Day parade. In recent years, strengthened ties between Cuba and China have led to a wave of Chinese specialists working on engineering, mining, and other projects and thousands of Chinese students matriculating at Cuban universities.

The first stop for getting a glimpse at Cuba’s Chinese community is Barrio Chino—Chinatown. In the preface to Barrio Chino de la Habana: Imagen del Tiempo, by Italian photographer Giuseppe Lo Bartolo, Cuban writer Jaime Saruski gets right to the point: “forget everything by way of comparisons with other Chinese communities such as that of Vancouver, South East Asia, of Latin America and the Chinatowns of San Francisco and New York. If you don’t, you will lose yourself in a labyrinth of questions without answers.” In other words: manage expectations, keep an open mind, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The official entrance to Havana’s Chinatown is at the intersection of Dragones and Galeano streets and is heralded with a spectacular green and red gate, which belies how small the neighborhood is (many Chinese Cubans left in the 1960s, once the socialist bent of the revolution was confirmed). Indeed, most activity swirls around the “Cuchillo,” literally the “knife,” an alley jammed with Chinese-Cuban restaurants employing aggressive barkers waving menus in the face of all passersby. But brave the gauntlet and meander around the adjacent streets where there are Chinese associations and social clubs, the Chinese newspaper Kwong Wah Po, and elders playing Mah Jong instead of dominoes. Another anomaly of the Chinese community in Havana is the Cementerio Chino, a dedicated cemetery for the Chinese community where the mausoleums are mini-pagodas and the epitaphs are in Chinese. It was restored recently and makes for a great photo session. If you’re craving good, authentic Chinese food while in Havana, a former resident of Shanghai swears by Tin Hao, far from Chinatown, at San Lázaro and Hospital streets.