Beyond blending in

Luis Carlos, a Peruvian student at Beijing Foreign Studies University who also joined the discussion at the embassy with Zhou, Luo and two cohosts from China Daily, explained that while chifa is the most conspicuous legacy of this heritage, another is Chinatown in Lima, Peru's capital.

"In the center of the city, there is a Chinatown where there are a lot of stores that sell original Chinese products. It's like they have a bit of China for showing to the Peruvians," he said.

The neighborhood also hosts dragon dances and traditional Peruvian dances around Spring Festival.

"We celebrate Chinese New Year, maybe more than Chinese people," Zhou said. "Those Chinese immigrants also maintain their connections to their heritage.

"It's really interesting because it's not that they are exclusively Chinese or that they exclusively have these Chinese customs, but they actually embrace it with Peruvian traditions, which is why we say that for us Chinese descendants, they are not Chinese, they're not Peruvians, but they are a brand-new identity."

Yet this culture extends to all citizens of any background, she explained.

"Even if you're a Peruvian who has absolutely nothing to do with Chinese (heritage), you still embrace Chinese food, you embrace Chinese Spring Festival, you love Chinese shows, you love the martial arts festivities," Zhou said.

Luo remarked that some similarities extend past cultural to geographical landscapes.

He said that Lima's tableau reminds him of the mountainous coastal city of Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province.

"What impressed me most in the first visit to Lima was the rich landscape when you look out the window of the airplane and see the mountains, and just right next to the mountains is the ocean," Luo recalled.

Carlos was likewise impressed by seeing Beijing from the airplane window when he first arrived in August.

" (Beijing) is so huge… The airport is like a city. It's massive. It's really, really big. I got lost in the airport actually," he said, laughing.

Peru's ambassador to China is advocating for direct flights between the two countries to facilitate trade and tourism. Currently, a couple of thousand Chinese make the two-day trip each month, Zhou said.

"Since the pandemic came to an end, we are slowly seeing the numbers rising of Chinese people interested in going to Peru nowadays. Most of our visas are for trade. A lot of Chinese companies send their people overseas to see the South American market," she said.

"However, we're very happy that when we talk with most of them, they say, 'Oh, we went for business to Peru for a month'. (We ask) 'How was your experience?' The first thing that they mention is they love the Peruvian food, they love Peruvian landscapes, they love the Peruvian ambience, and then they tell us about their business."