Salamanca, Bilbao, Valencia, Cartagena, Mérida, Badajoz, Melilla and, of course, Barcelona. All these cities are not only twinned because they belong to the same country. They are, too, because they all have what has been called “Chinatown.” In this article we talk about the main characteristics of these neighborhoods and present some theory about the reason for their name.
Salamanca, Bilbao, Valencia, Cartagena, Mérida, Badajoz, Melilla and, of course, Barcelona. All these cities are not only twinned because they belong to the same country. They are, too, because they all have what has been called “ Chinatown .” When we talk about Chinatown, we are not talking, despite its name, about a neighborhood in which the oriental community is especially relevant. The Chinatowns of Barcelona, Badajoz or Bilbao are in no way what Chinatown is to Manhattan. Or they are not at all. The Chinatowns of the aforementioned Spanish cities are so called because the practice of prostitution is closely linked to them.
If there were no relevant oriental communities in those neighborhoods, why then were they called Chinatowns ? A good explanation is the one that can be found in “El tram 48”, Ricard Fernández Valentí's blog. Fernández Valentí points out that the term Chinatown does derive from the term Chinatown. And the fact is that the American Chinatowns, in addition to being neighborhoods characterized by the massive presence of oriental citizens, were territories where marginality, crime and prostitution converged. Thus, the underworld of the aforementioned Spanish cities acquired, according to this theory, the name of Chinatown .
What is a Chinatown?
Fernández Valentí points out that the first to use the term Chinatown to refer to a very specific area of Barcelona's fifth district was the journalist and playwright Francisco Madrid. It was he who, in 1925, wrote: “because the fifth district, like New York, like Buenos Aires, like Moscow, has its Chinatown .” Whether it was due to Francisco Madrid or not, the truth is that by the end of the 1920s the name Chinatown had already become normalized to refer to a very specific area of the fifth district, extended between the Rambla, the Ronda de San Pablo, the Parallel and the Shipyards.
Another explanation different from the one given by Ricard Fernández is the one that tells us that the term Chinatown comes from the word "chinar", a slang word that is a verb and that would be synonymous with cracking or cutting. The Chinese, thus, would be the cut or slash made with a knife. In neighborhoods where this instrument was abundant and where fights with it were the order of the day, the Chinese were not lacking. For this reason, the defenders of this theory maintain, these neighborhoods full of criminals, pimps and thieves have been called “ Chinatown .” Although it seems like a somewhat far-fetched explanation to us, we did not want to miss the opportunity to present it because, after all, who knows...
Be that as it may, the truth is that Spanish Chinese neighborhoods are or were characterized by some common aspects. The poor hygiene measures were one of them. The lack of lighting, another. There were taverns, bars, cabarets and cafes of all kinds and conditions. In those places you could find the heaviest of the city's criminals. In the Chinese neighborhoods , in addition, there were many boarding houses and hostels of dubious reputation and a good handful of more or less famous brothels, more or less camouflaged.
Neighborhoods with street prostitution of the 20th century
Among the most famous Chinatowns in Spain we can highlight the Chinatown of Barcelona, Bilbao and Salamanca.
- Barcelona's Chinatown . The most famous Chinatown in all of Spain, Barcelona's Chinatown , is located in what is currently the Raval neighborhood. It was during the 19th century, a century of the industrial revolution and the growth of the working class, when what had been a neighborhood of hospitals, prisons and hospices since the 13th century became one of the most populated industrial neighborhoods in Europe. Full of cabarets and theaters and agitated by a lively and bohemian nightlife, Barcelona's Chinatown has a rich historical anecdote that has led to books such as, for example, History of Barcelona's Chinatown , by Augusto Paquer.
- Bilbao's Chinatown . The Chinatown of the capital of Biscay is located in the La Palanca area, along Cortes Street and its surroundings. Since the 19th century, this area has been directly linked to the practice of prostitution. The name "the lever", some authors claim, refers both to an instrument used by miners (we must not forget the importance of mining in Vizcaya) and to the basin used by prostitutes to perform their ablutions. Many of the city's nightlife venues gathered in Bilbao's Chinatown .
- Salamanca Chinatown . Prostitution always had great importance in Salamanca. More than one student from his prestigious university most likely deflowered himself in one of the city's brothels. It was at the beginning of the 20th century when a certain area of the city received the name Chinatown. Famous in the province and its surroundings, the Chinatown of Salamanca received day laborers, workers and visitors from neighboring provinces in its premises. It was said that King Alfonso XIII was among the visitors to the most exclusive brothels in this Chinese neighborhood.
The urban development experienced by these cities from the 90s onwards served to, in a certain way, whitewash the face of the Chinese neighborhoods . In some cases, it also meant that the world of prostitution and crime was expelled to neighboring areas. Nowadays it is difficult to find anyone who refers to such areas as Chinatowns .
