Las niñas del Inglewood: tráfico infantil y femenino en China y el “comercio de culíes” a Cuba (1855)

Abstract

This article focuses on a shipment of 44 little girls less than eight years of age embarked on the British ship Inglewood in Ningbo, organized by Portuguese, British and Chinese intermediaries, and discovered by British authorities in Xiamen in 1855. Their primary destination was Cuba, yet the Philippines was a second option, as well as the cover up in case of awakening suspicions from the authorities. The shipment coincided with the approval of a Spanish Royal Decree establishing that a fifth of the emigrants embarked for Cuba had to be women. Given the difficulties in recruiting Chinese women for the colonies, immigration agents reportedly took advantage of existing child trafficking networks in Ningbo to cover this new demand. By contrasting British, Portuguese and Spanish sources, in this article I argue that the Spanish Decree stimulated female child trafficking in China, influencing also British legislative policies on Chinese immigration.