The first of the Chinese associations
It would be on September 21st, 1910 that the first of the associations or clubs of Chinese immigrants would be officially constituted in Camagüey city, under the name of “Hoi Yin Sol” or “Chinese Youth”. This fraternal society, which initially had a small group of members, would open its doors in a rented house in the Palma Alley or Montalván marked with the no. 2-A, between Maximiliano Ramos (Horca) and Ángel Castillo (Medio) streets.
It would dedicate its first steps to promoting fraternity among its members and to offering assistance and support to the arrivals, after such a long and exhausting sea voyage. Also to maintain indestructible the unity of the Chinese regional ethnos between said community and towards that of the rest of the families, while maintaining connection with other casinos or clubs that were constituted in the future. All for the sake of achieving a rapid assimilation of the Chinese to the Camagüey regional ethnos and its diverse culture, without diminishing the Chinese mother tongue and its ancestral traditions and customs. This was how it would turn out that, in a long process of historical duration, the Chinese population settled in our city would win the appreciation and sympathy of the locals.
It should be noted that this first of the Chinese associations or clubs would be followed in time by the “Min Ching Tang” or The Chinese Republic, created on January 23rd, 1914; the one that would begin to gather its members first in Ángel Castillo (Medio) street no. 10, until moving to Maximiliano Ramos street no. 5 (Horca). They wouldn’t be the only ones.
China throughout Camagüey
Chinese families would settle in the city of Nuevitas, Guáimaro, Minas and in Florida; This last municipality is one of the most important nodes of the province, with emphasis on agricultural tasks, in its sugar mills and in many other commercial tasks and washing trains, as well as in gastronomy and retail trade.
In Camagüey city, the store La Flor de Asia de los Cuan would come to gain notoriety, on Antonio Maceo or Comercio Street. This store, like La Mariposa china, would gain extensive clientele attracted by the varied assortment of perfumery, silk fabrics, porcelain and jade figurines; among other stock imported from the great Asian nation.
Everywhere in the República, Maceo, Cristo, Hermanos Agüero, Lugareño streets, among others; the Chinese opened their trinkets and stalls of “Chinese butterflies”, of fries and pork rinds, and of all kinds of varieties of snacks highly demanded by the population. Likewise, an excellently made canteen and cafe with a striking name that emerged in the 20’s of the 20th century, which attracted the lawyers of the Court to taste the “ropa vieja”, made with shredded beef, stuffed tostones and beans, and save some money for the special coffee in El Chorrito. It was an obligatory pleasure to go to El Chorrito [for coffee], diligently attended by the Wongs first, and then by the Ley brothers.
The anecdotes about the Chinese presence in our city would be endless. Impossible to be invisible. The brand new Chinese doctor Siam and his offspring corroborate this, when they evoke memories of that long journey towards infinity of the sons of the Celestial Empire[1].
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[1] The descendants of the famous Siam doctor reside in our city. The author of this article is a descendant on his mother’s side of his Chinese great-grandfather Víctor Baró Baró [hispanicized name upon his arrival in the Matanzas region in the 19th century].
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
