Speaking Chinese: A major Challenge in the Construction of Identity and the Preservation of the Peruvian Chinese Community (1870–1930)
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Isabelle Lausent-Herrera
Dr. Isabelle Lausent-Herrera is a researcher at the French National Research Center (CNRS-CREDA) and lectured on Asiatic immigration in the Americas at the Latin American Institute (IHEAL)-University of Paris III. She obtained her doctorate in geography from the University of Paris VII and graduate also in anthropology and Chinese. Her research in the past 20 years has concerned mainly Chinese immigration to Peru since the republican period up to recent immigration.
She began working in Peru in 1975. Her research initially focused on the transformations that indigenous communities underwent in their process of market integration. Her first research on Chinese immigration in Peru dealt with the freed indenture Chinese workers that rapidly established in Andean peasant communities. She became interested in other Chinese communities that played an important role as pioneers in the Peruvian Amazon region. She has widely published on different aspects of community live stressing the ambiguities of “assimilation” through “mestizaje”: religious syncretism, evangelist movements among Peruvian Chinese community, Chinese temples and societies, Chinese graves in Peru, economic ties between China and Peru, Chinatown in Peru and Cuba, concubines and spouses of Chinese immigrants, Tusan’s (Tusheng’s) identity, Chinese Schools. Ongoing research is focused on new Chinese immigration flows and Chinese cultural diplomacy.
Abstract
The arrival of around 100,000 Chinese male workers, in Peru between 1849 and 1874 as indentured labor created particularly difficult conditions for the emergence and development of a Chinese community. Arriving without women, the majority of the Chinese founded families in Peru. To conserve a blood link with their Chinese identity, many sought to marry young mixed blood Chinese-Peruvian girls. However, to make up a Chinese community, a Chinese education was considered essential for the transmission and preservation of cultural values and language. There were several attempts to create a Chinese school for the children of the Emperor’s subjects, first by the church in 1882 and later by Chinese officials as early as 1885, following the model of San Francisco and Havana. This article examines the historical development between 1870 and 1930 of the efforts the Chinese community in Peru made in setting up Chinese language education and community associations and the institutions that supported the development.
摘要
1849 年到 1874 年间，十万华人男性工人以契约劳工的身份到达秘鲁，华人社群在当地极其艰难的条件出现并发展起来。没有女性伴随，大部分的华人在秘鲁成家。为维持与中国身份的血缘联系，很多人与年轻的华人-秘鲁人混血女子结婚。然而，为了建构华人社群，华语教育被视为是传承和保持文化价值和语言的必要条件。依循旧金山和哈瓦那的模式，华人数次试图为儿童开办中文学校， 1882 年首次由教堂开办，之后 1885 年由中国官官员开办。文章考察了 1870 年到 1930 年秘鲁华人社群为建立中文语言教育和社团组织的努力，以及对其发展作出支持的各种机构。
About the authors
Dr. Isabelle Lausent-Herrera is a researcher at the French National Research Center (CNRS-CREDA) and lectured on Asiatic immigration in the Americas at the Latin American Institute (IHEAL)-University of Paris III. She obtained her doctorate in geography from the University of Paris VII and graduate also in anthropology and Chinese. Her research in the past 20 years has concerned mainly Chinese immigration to Peru since the republican period up to recent immigration.
She began working in Peru in 1975. Her research initially focused on the transformations that indigenous communities underwent in their process of market integration. Her first research on Chinese immigration in Peru dealt with the freed indenture Chinese workers that rapidly established in Andean peasant communities. She became interested in other Chinese communities that played an important role as pioneers in the Peruvian Amazon region. She has widely published on different aspects of community live stressing the ambiguities of “assimilation” through “mestizaje”: religious syncretism, evangelist movements among Peruvian Chinese community, Chinese temples and societies, Chinese graves in Peru, economic ties between China and Peru, Chinatown in Peru and Cuba, concubines and spouses of Chinese immigrants, Tusan’s (Tusheng’s) identity, Chinese Schools. Ongoing research is focused on new Chinese immigration flows and Chinese cultural diplomacy.
乐山博士是法国国家研究中心的学者，同时也在巴黎第三大学美国亚洲移民和拉丁裔美国人研究院任教。她获得巴黎第四大学地理学博士学位，也同时从人类学和汉语专业毕业。过去20年里，她主要研究自共和时代开始至今的秘鲁中国移民。她从 1975年开始在秘鲁工作。最初的研究关注土生土长的社群在市场化过程中的转变。她首个有关秘鲁中国移民的研究探讨被释放的合同制中国劳工迅速建立起安第斯山农民社群的问题。她也关注在秘鲁亚马逊区域起先锋作用的其他中国移民问题。她的文章涉及移民社会的不同角度问题， 包括通过混血通化问题、宗教混合主义、秘鲁华人社群的福音运动、中国寺庙和社会，秘鲁的中国坟墓，中国和秘鲁的经济联系，秘鲁和古巴的唐人街，中国移民的配偶和小妾，土生华人的身份，中文学校等。未来的研究关注新中国移民潮和中国文化外交。
Acknowledgements
I would like to warmly thank Raul Chang and Lucy Acat de Chang for opening to me their private archives, including the complete Oriental collection and for their precious help during my fieldwork. My gratitude also goes to all those member of the Tusan Community that shared with me their personal live and educational experiences. All errors are of the author’s responsibility.
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Chinese Synopsis (中文简介)
说汉语：构建身份认同的重要挑战和秘鲁华人社群的维持 (1870–1930)
秘鲁华族社群的研究展示了异常有趣的历史。诞生在秘鲁，父母是华人或华人-秘鲁人混血的苦力，成为一种重要的势力。这项研究的有趣之处在于， 165 年前第一批到达秘鲁的苦力，面临无数的障碍，持续执着地坚持延续自己的语言和文化。华人劳工没有女性随行，他们主要在秘鲁建立家庭。为了保持华族的血缘联系，很多人选择和华人-秘鲁人混血的年轻女性结婚。然而，为了建构华人社群，华语教育被视为是传承和保持汉语文化价值和语言的必要条件。在这篇研究 1880-1924 年间的文章中，我们看到注重华人文化价值观的传承的观念为教会和朝廷同时认同，同时也得到坚持送孩子回中国的家庭的认同。中国政局动荡、政府在一定程度上的漠视使个人的主动行为显得更为频繁。
1881 年，第一批华人，主要是天主教徒，在秘鲁教会成员的支持下，在创办首个慈善中国 (中国慈善协会) 以重组其他协会的过程中，首次代表这个小社群表达了教育华人孩子的愿望，这些孩子主要是混血的和土生的孩子。这个计划没有成功，但负责这些华人的耶稣会士和华人修女们经常出现在孩子们必定就读的各种学校中。在古巴哈瓦那 1886 年的首次尝试之后，秘鲁第一个中国领馆由郑藻如大使和一秘 Liu Yang Yuan 负责在 1888 年创办了第一所华人学校。这所学校并不完全独立于秘鲁的教育体系，运行三年后失败。这次实验部分是李鸿章支持下的中国教育部门的项目，它的失败意味着数十年来针对秘鲁出生的年轻华人儿童中文教育的外交干预的撤退。
最初，中文学校建立时，秘鲁当局持、教会和华人社团都持反对态度。就教会而言，学校本应当消弭年轻的混血孩子和华人孩子的隔阂，使他们融入共和国法律体系并让他们成为良好的天主教徒。就中国移民而言，为外国孩子建成一所小学和维持母语并传承文化联系在一起。华人社团里逐渐出现一批更加一体化、基督教化的经济精英，他们对同时掌握两种语言和文化的必要性更加有意识，也认识到双语是他们从事经济活动的财富。
华裔儿童的融合因此主要在宗教学校里完成，这些学校主要在利马华裔商人和工人高度聚居的 Barrios Altos 区。一些会馆和家庭聘任导师。一个或几个兄弟姐妹回到中国学习语言和文化的情况十分普遍。这种经历使年轻人更能接替父辈做生意，使女孩能嫁得更好。但这也并非都很成功，很多孩子被当作秘鲁人，由秘鲁驻香港的领事提供的秘密资助反送回秘鲁。
1909 年开始，也就是 Porras-伍廷芳议定书那年，标志着自由移民的结束，在 20 世纪 20 年代初期，华人社群中最穷的人，受种族主义损害，他们出入秘鲁往返中国都受到严格控制。然而，通过 1924 年中华学校创办，一批商人想向秘鲁当局表明，年轻的土生华人可以同时接受中华和秘鲁教育。这批富裕商人的影响和权势，在天主教徒 Pow Sanchia (Xie Baoshang) 和慈善中国头领的领导下，得到香港各种机构的帮助。这个阶段反映了秘鲁华人精英对参与年轻人教育事务的愿望，同时反映了在国民党影响下中国民族主义的萌生。
1924 年 9 月，在利马的使馆宣布钟荣光博士 (Dr. W.K. Chung) 来访，称钟荣光为，“一个杰出的市民和广东基督教学院的副校长”，将访问南北美洲。据 Dong Wang (2007:97) ，钟荣光也去过古巴和墨西哥，为岭南大学筹款。我们不难想象，秘鲁华人经济精英和慈善中国组织希望钟荣光和使馆能为华文学校提供师资。 1926 年，使馆向秘鲁当局宣布为中华学校派两位教授。
这所学校只是一所小学，一些孩子升入秘鲁中学继续学习而且很快就融入了秘鲁社会。其他学生，尽管面临诸多日益增加的移民限制，仍然回中国学习。中国文化和语言的习得仍然是重要的动力，但也有部分家长开始对新的中文专业学校感兴趣。
在 1891 年第一所学校失败之后，中国公使长期远离教育问题。但渐渐地，中国慈善学会和大商人开始新的尝试。中华学校既教汉语 (语言、书法、历史) 又教西班牙语。尽管学校教宗教，但宗教没有介入教学法，教学重任落在了从中国来的教师和秘鲁当地教师身上。学校面临很多经济问题，无法容纳全部的孩子，回中国的潮流仍然持续，大部分混血的孩子在公立学校上学，从而融入秘鲁社会。
自 20 世纪 20 年代后期开始，国民党的重要性日渐增加，国民主义的理念影响越来越大，这也影响了秘鲁中华学校的未来。 1935 年，一所适应国民党原则和要求的学校成立，同时，中华学校仍在中国慈善协会的控制下继续存在。
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Note
- Missionaries and written Chaoshanese
- The Hong Kong Speech Community’s Cantonese and Other Languages
- Language choice and code-switching among Hong Kong’s Hakka speakers
- ‘Chinese English or English Chinese?’
- The Rise of Chinese Internet Language: Product and Agent of Globalization from Below
- Representations of Chinese Language Learning in Contemporary English-language News Media: Hope, Hype, and Fear
- Compliments and Compliment Responses of Singapore Chinese University Students
- Speaking Chinese: A major Challenge in the Construction of Identity and the Preservation of the Peruvian Chinese Community (1870–1930)
- 论全球华语的基础及内涵
- “大华语” 概念适应汉语走向世界的需要
- 汉语传播的国际形象问题
- 新加坡华语政策与规划的硬道理
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Note
- Missionaries and written Chaoshanese
- The Hong Kong Speech Community’s Cantonese and Other Languages
- Language choice and code-switching among Hong Kong’s Hakka speakers
- ‘Chinese English or English Chinese?’
- The Rise of Chinese Internet Language: Product and Agent of Globalization from Below
- Representations of Chinese Language Learning in Contemporary English-language News Media: Hope, Hype, and Fear
- Compliments and Compliment Responses of Singapore Chinese University Students
- Speaking Chinese: A major Challenge in the Construction of Identity and the Preservation of the Peruvian Chinese Community (1870–1930)
- 论全球华语的基础及内涵
- “大华语” 概念适应汉语走向世界的需要
- 汉语传播的国际形象问题
- 新加坡华语政策与规划的硬道理
