Chinese retailers, once sweet on Mexico, say locals are turning sour. What changed?
Chinese merchants in Mexico, initially welcomed with open arms, are now contending with resentment and occasional hostility from locals
In the heart of Mexico City, only a few blocks from the historic centre, a 16-storey shopping complex sat dormant. Paper signs reading “CLAUSURADO” – “closed” – had been plastered over the main entrance for more than a month.
“We are almost ‘drinking the northwest wind’,” said Elisa Guan, an apparel wholesaler with a store in the centre, using a Chinese idiom meaning “nothing to eat”. She had been out of business since July 11 – the day local authorities ordered the facility’s closure.
Among its tenants, the market is called “Yiwu Mall” – a reference to the city in eastern China that is home to the world’s largest small-commodities market. It is one of several wholesale centres operated by Chinese nationals that have popped up in the neighbourhood over the past four years, creating a quasi-Chinatown and a reliable source of cheap products like keychains and water bottles.
But the mall has been caught in a vortex of controversy since June, when Mexican newspaper Reforma released a series of investigative reports on the complex, emblazoned with provocative headlines like “Chinese Invasion” and “Informal Empire”. The periodical accused store owners of tax evasion, ignoring safety hazards and squeezing out local businesses.
The allegations, and the mall’s subsequent closure, have brought into sharp relief the resentment some in the local population are feeling towards the Chinese emigrant community.
