Enclaves sanitarios: higiene, epidemias y salud en el Barrio chino de Lima, 1880-1910

Lima's Chinatown, the oldest in Latin America, was affected by a series of conflicts and stereotypes determined by race and public health at the turn of the century. An alliance between doctors and political authorities transformed this quarter into a place that jeopardized both public health and the modernization project, although a significant group of Limeños -especially the lower classes of the city-, found in Chinese doctors and their treatments a viable and affordable medical alternative. The article examines the Chinatown as a sanitary enclave in order to provide a different view of the relation among authorities, immigrant doctors, and patients, based on sources such as songs, caricatures, and travelers' descriptions.