"Viva Mexico! Viva!"

Arturo Puente, the Consul General of Mexico in Shanghai, exclaimed Friday at a celebration ahead of Mexico's 204th anniversary as an independent state. "Viva!" an assembled crowd enthusiastically responded to the customary grito made by Puente in honor of Mexico's independence.

Over 400 guests, including members of Shanghai's Mexican community, turned out for the celebratory reception organized by the Consulate General of Mexico in the ballroom of the Hotel Pullman Shanghai South.

September 16 is Mexican Independence Day. On that date in 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who is often referred to as the father of Mexico, called on people in the country to begin their fight for independence from Spain. In the small town of Dolores, located in central Mexico, he gave his famous Grito de Dolores address, a speech which has since become closely associated with Mexico's War of Independence.

"Every year, the president of Mexico reproduces the Grito de Dolores and makes a call to the Mexican people to remember this day. Every governor of the 30 states of Mexico does the same ... We also celebrate this in the Mexican embassies and consulates all over the world. I've been doing this for the last 35 years of my life," Puente told the Global Times.

The event was full of color, with many guests wearing traditionally vibrant Mexican dresses and wide-brimmed sombreros. Traditional Mexican cuisine, including chipotle shrimp tacos, beef quesadillas and tortillas, were served along with beer and tequila. The band Mariachi Imperial de América, dressed in charro outfits, played cheerful folk songs that added to the festive ambience.

Last week's event was also intended to mark the 42nd anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Mexico.

As another part of the country's celebration of independence in Shanghai, Flight of the Butterflies, a documentary about the migration of Mexico's monarch butterflies from the country's central highlands to the US and Canada and back, will be shown at the Aurora Museum in Pudong New Area Saturday afternoons from September 13 to October 4. Butterfly specimens will also be on display at the museum.

Guests attend Mexican national day celebrations Friday.

 

The band Mariachi Imperial de América performs for guests. Photos: Zhang Yu/GT

Interview with Arturo Puente, Consul General of Mexico in Shanghai

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the Mexican community in Shanghai?

A: We estimate there are about 1,200 Mexicans in Shanghai. Most are business people. We also have students from Tecnológico de Monterrey, a Mexican higher education institute, who come here and stay for six months to a year at Fudan University in an exchange program. The program has been going on for several years and we're hoping to increase the number of students who come every year.

Q: What are the business connections between China and Mexico?

A: Today, China is our second largest trading partner, only behind the US. We buy products worth $67 billion a year from China, and sell $7 billion to China. There is a huge (amount of) commerce going back and forth … There's a lot of interest in Mexican companies coming to China, and in Chinese companies going to Mexico. This is a new market for China and for us also. There's a big opportunity to develop a bigger relationship, commercially and economically.

Q: How important is Shanghai in Mexico-China relations?

A: Shanghai is very important. Mexico is the only Latin American country that lands commercial aircraft in Shanghai. We have Aeromexico that flies here twice a week. It's the only Latin American airline that comes to China, and it lands in Shanghai. Shanghai is also the port of entry for most Mexican products coming to China.

Shanghai is very important locally, because it's the economic center of China. More reforms are taking place in Shanghai. The opening toward the rest of the world is taking place in Shanghai. That's why we're here. We want to take advantage of this view Shanghai has towards the rest of the world.

Q: Are more Shanghai people visiting Mexico?

A: We're trying. Chinese people are traveling abroad a lot now. We're trying to attract more Chinese people to Mexico. We still need to provide them with better services, beginning with guides who are able to speak Chinese. The number of tourists going to Mexico from China has almost doubled in the last two years.

In Shanghai we issue about 3,000 visas annually. But there are more people visiting Mexico than that since people who have a US visa can go to Mexico without getting another visa.

Q: You've been in Shanghai for just three months. How do you like the city?

A: I've been here for three months, but I was here five years ago, in 2009, before the Expo, when I came here as a tourist. I remember there was a lot of construction work going on at that time. Five years later, I was really impressed as I come back and saw changes to the city. It's very surprising.

Just like all big cities, there are disadvantages, but this is part of the progress. The best thing about living in Shanghai is diversity. In Shanghai you find not only tradition, but you have the feeling of being in a very open, modern city. Shanghai is very international and cosmopolitan.

Arturo Puente, the Consul General of Mexico in Shanghai

Photo: Yang Hui/GT