As the economic relations of Peru with Asian countries increase, and the economic weight of these countries in the world also becomes bigger, the interest for Asia studies in Peru is increasing. In the case of Peru this should be no surprise because within Latin America Peru has a long history of economic and diplomatic relations with some of these countries, and with a large presence of people of Chinese and Japanese origins. This report will see the state of Asian and in particular Koreans studies in Peru beginning first with an overview of the relations of Peru with Asia, second talking about the academic institutions dealing with Asia Studies, third about the state of Asian studies looking separately by country, and last about the future of these studies in Peru.

1. State of Asia, Korean studies in Peru and in San Marcos National
University
Carlos Aquino, Coordinator of CEAS1
As the economic relations of Peru with Asian countries increase,and the economic weight of these
countries in the world also becomes bigger, the interest for Asia studies in Peru is increasing. In the
case of Peru this should be no surprise because within Latin America Peru has a long history of
economic and diplomatic relations with some of these countries, and with a large presence of people
of Chinese and Japanese origins.
This report will see the state of Asian and in particular Koreans studies in Peru beginning first with
an overview of the relations of Peru with Asia, second talking about the academic institutions
dealing with Asia Studies, third about the state of Asian studies looking separately by country, and
last about the future of these studies in Peru.
1. OverviewofPeru relations with Asia
Peru has a long history of relations with Asia. From the middle of the 16th
century to the beginning
of the 19th
century while Peru was a colony of Spain, there was the Acapulco Manila Galleon trade
where goods from Asia came to the country. Goods like porcelain, silk, ivory, species and others
flowed to Latin America, and Spain, in exchange for mainly silver, from colonies of Spain in the
region. Also some people from Asia, Chinese and Japanese,and probably others more, came during
that period with the ships, and remained in the region.
Besides that, from 1849 largest scale Chinese immigration began to Peru,and from 1899 Japanese
also began immigration to Peru. As a result Peru is home to the largest Chinese community in Latin
America, and the Japanese community is the second largest, after Brazil. Also in 1873 Peru
established diplomatic relations with Japan, and in 1874 with China.
Up to the 1980s Japan was the second largest trade partner of Peru but from the 1990s China
presence began increasing, and in 2011 it become the largest export destination. But not only China,
also trade with Korea and India began increasing, especially from the beginning of this decade,to
the point that in 2018 of the five largest exports destination for Peru,4 were in Asia: China (first),
India (third), Korea (fourth), and Japan (fifth).
Actually in Peru there are Embassies from the following Asian countries: China, Japan, Korea,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. Also there is an Embassy from North Korea (but inactive now after
its Ambassador was expelled from the country in September 2017), India and Turkey.
1 CEAS, Spanish acronymof Centro de Estudios AsiaticosSan Marcos,or Center of Asian Studies San Marcos,
of Universidad Nacional Mayor deSan Marcos,created in November 2018.

2. 2. Academic institutions dealing with Asia Studies
2.1 Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru
Catholic University has since the year 1997 the Centro de Estudios Orientales (Center of
Oriental Studies)2
, and according to its website it has more than 3,000 books specialized in the
subject. It is the oldest institution studying Asian affairs in Peru.
The Center offers severalcourses in the field of humanities, like language, culture, history, and
organize severalactivities to promote that, like Conferences. It also has published books about
those subjects. In august 2018 Catholic University was the host of the XVI International
Congress of ALADAA3
.
The University also has an Institute of International Studies, IDEI by its Spanish acronym, that
has published some books about Asia.
2.2. Universidad del Pacifico
The University established in 2013 the Centro de Estudios sobre China y el Asia-Pacifico4
. It has
published some books and organized some Conferences about Asia, mainly about China.
2.3. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
The University opened in November 2018 the Centro de Estudios Asiaticos San Marcos (CEAS). In
its short existence it has already organized severalevents, like Conferences about China, India, and
recently in February 2019 an event commemorating the 20 anniversary of Peru’s incorporation in
APEC.
But even before that, severalactivities and research has been done about Asia in the University.
Since I began teaching at the University in 1996 many Conferences about Asia were organized,
inviting Ambassadors from those countries and some scholars, and in the year 2009 I formed a
group of students called Grupo Asia to promote the interest in Asia5
.
Also two researchers from CEAS are co-editors of a magazine specializing in Asian Studies (the
only in Peru) titled ``Revista Peruana de Estudios del Asia Pacifico`` and two issues has already
been published since 20176
.
2.4 Other institutions
2 http://ceo.pucp.edu.pe/sobre-el-centro-de-estudios-orientales/historia/
3 http://congreso.pucp.edu.pe/aladaa/
4 https://www.up.edu.pe/investigacion-centros/centros-up/centro-estudios-china-asia-
pacifico/Paginas/default.aspx
5 Ver la presentación en power pointsobre este tema hecha en la Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon en
su Centro de Estudios Asiaticos,el 25 de febrero donde expongo en detalle el tema de este reporte:
https://www.slideshare.net/carlosalbertoaquinorodriguez/state-of-asia-korean-studies-in-peru-
133335709?fbclid=IwAR3gXjauAsuYl63EyEY2RyXqLBlCq6CrmGLYfTZ1Zoe83d6x-jYeFHCQXRs
6 Carlos Aquino and Augusto Hernandez are the coeditors. See for example the second number of the
magazine: http://economia.unmsm.edu.pe/publ/arch_libr-bolt/11_libro.htm

3. Universidad Nacional de Piura created a Centro de Estudios APEC and regularly publishes a
bulletin about Peru relations with Asian countries.
There was a Centro de Estudios Coreanos in Universidad de Lima but is inactive since several years
ago.
It should be noted that from 2008 there is the Red Peruana de Estudios del Asia Pacifico, REDAP,
that have 16 Universities as members and was created to promote studies about Asia. Among its
members are San Marcos National University, Catholic University, Universidad del Pacifico,
Universidad de Piura, Universidad Nacional de Piura, Universidad de Lima, and Universidad
Catolica de Santa Maria7
. It has organized some Conferences about Asia and two academic
competitions to promote studies about the Asia-Pacific region.
3. Asian studies by country
3.1 Studies about China
As the most important country in Asia, in terms of economic size, population and cultural
importance, and with its growing importance in the world, China is being studied more by academic
institutions in Peru. Traditionally the studies about China were about the Chinese immigrants in
Peru. As it is known, people of Chinese origin in Peru constitute the largest community in Latin
America and are the seventh largest in the world. Peru was the first country to receive large scale
Chinese immigration in Latin America and from 1849 to 1872 probably 150 thousand Chinese came
to Peru. Also Peru was the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic relations with the
then Chinese Qing Empire in 1874. In 1971 Peru stablished diplomatic relations with the Peoples
Republic of China becoming the third country in Latin America to do this, after Cuba and Chile.
It is estimated that between 5% and 10% of Peru’s population has Chinese origin (present Peru
population is around 31 million). Chinese influence in Peru is strong and goes from influence in its
cuisine (we eat a lot of rice for example, and “chaofan” or “arroz chaufa” is one of the favorites and
there are thousands of “chifa” or Chinese restaurants in Peru that serve it) to celebrations with
fireworks, and the proliferation of small scale shops. Nowadays,the celebration of Chinese New
Year is also becoming more popular.
One of the most prolific authors and pioneer of studies on Chinese immigration is Humberto
Rodriguez Pastor,professor of San Marcos National University. Isabelle Lausent-Herrera also has
published some books and articles about that theme.
Another area about China that is studied in Peru is its culture and language. In this field Guillermo
Dañino Ribatto has published severalworks. He is a Professor of Catholic University.
Actually severalConfucius Institutes (C.I.) promote Chinese studies in Peru, especially about its
culture and language. There are 4 of them in Peru. The oldest one is the C.I. in the Universidad de
Piura, from 2007 (in operation from 2009)8
, then there is the C.I. of Catholic University from 20099
,
7 http://www.ascperu-redap.org/miembros.php
8 http://udep.edu.pe/confucio/confucio-udep/
9 http://confucio.pucp.edu.pe/nosotros/quienes-somos

4. C.I. of Universidad Ricardo Palma, and the C.I. of Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria. All these
universities are private ones.
Lately, because of the greater importance of China as an economic partner of Peru, studies about
Chinese economy and China Peru economic relations are increasing. From the year 2001 China
became the biggest destination for Peru exports, and in the year 2018 about 27.7% of Peru goods
were sold to China (the second destination is US with 16.6%). It is worth to notice that around 46%
of Peru’s goods were exported to Asia and among the 5 biggest export destinations, four are in
Asia. First was China, second U.S., third India, fourth South Korea and fifth Japan. Also among the
biggest foreign investors in Peru China presence is increasing, especially in the mining sector.
Regarding studies about Peru economic relations with China and Chinese economy, Universidad
del Pacifico and San Marcos National University are specializing in the subject. Professors from the
Centro de Estudios sobre China y el Asia-Pacifico published a book about Chinese mining in
Peru10
,and members of the Centro de Estudios Asiaticos San Marcos have also published some
work on that theme11
. Also two researchers from CEAS are co-editors of a magazine specializing in
Asian Studies (the only in Peru) titled ``Revista Peruana de Estudios del Asia Pacifico`` and it has
been published twice already since 2017, with articles about China. Both Universities have
organized seminars and conferences also about those topics.
I teach a Seminar about Chinese economy in the Centro de Estudios Orientales of Catholic
University, and in San Marcos National University (as far as I know the only one who teaches this
subject in Peru).
It should be said that in the last years,the scholarships given by the Chinese government are helping
to promote the study of China, even if not all them are used, the problem is the lack of knowledge
about those scholarships and the lack of enough English language proficiency among Peruvian
University students.
3.2 Studies about Japan. -
Japanese immigration began to Peru in 1899 and up to the middle of the 1920s around 25 thousand
of them arrived to Peru. Descendants of Japanese in Peru are the second largest of that kind in Latin
America, after Brazil. Peru also has a long diplomatic relationship with Japan having established it
in 1873, being the first in the region to do that.
The Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina offers Japanese language lessons now. Also the
Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and San Marcos National University do that.
There is the Asociacion Peruano Japonesa,an organization of Peruvians of japanese origin, that
promote Japanese culture, language and teaches lessons about Japanese language and promote
activities like movies exhibitions and Conferences about those themes.
10 Cynthia Sanborn and Victor Torres: ``La economía China y las industriasextractivas:desafíos para el Perú``
11 Two chapters about China and Peru economic relations by Carlos Aquino and Maria Osterloh in thebook
``Perú – China:dos orillas deun mismo océano, dos pueblos y una sola amistad``

5. Thirty years ago some Peruvian TV channels aired some anime, like Heidi, Marco, and recently one
of them is playing again Dragon Ball Z. Also some TV drama like Oshin were very popular.
Sometimes in the cinema, anime movies from Japan are screened.
Studies about Japan in Peru have been mainly about Japanese immigration to Peru, or about
Peruvians of Japanese origin working and living now in Japan. From the second half of the 1980s
thousands of Peruvians of Japanese origin emigrated to work in Japan,perhaps half of the estimated
100 thousand.
Some books about Japanese culture has also been published and only two books about Peru-Japan
economic and political relations, one of them by myself12
.
3.3. Studies about Korea. –
Interest about Korea is recent in Peru. Peru has not a long history of diplomatic, immigration or
economic relationship with that country. This began after the Second World War. People of Korean
origin or Koreans in Peru are few,probably less than 2 thousand. Only recently, from the beginning
of this decade,the economic relationship with Korea is becoming important. As said before, Korea
is the fourth biggest export destination and interest in Korean culture is growing.
As it is well known the Korean wave or hallyu, is all over the world and Peru is no exception. First
began with K-drama, then K-pop, and as the latest “Koreana” magazine puts it in its recent issue,
now is time of K-beauty13
.
Several Peru TV channels show K-drama from some years ago, and in the last years K-Pop is
becoming popular among young people, specially girls. There have been some concerts of K-Pop
groups in Peru and it is interesting to notice that without having publicity in the mainstream media
the concerts were full (thanks to their promotion in the multimedia platforms like Facebook). Only
recently some songs of the world famous K-Pop band BTS are being played in some radio stations,
for example its music “Fake love” (before only the “Gangnam style” song played by the singer PSY
was aired in radio stations).
There is a TV channel called Willax TV, that specializes in airing severalK-Pop and K-drama (now
airing Bachelor`s Vegetable Store), but also Japanese anime, or Taiwanese drama (now airing the
TV-drama The new world)14
. Also another TV station, Panamericana TV,airs several TV drama or
soap opera from India (actually airing Tumhari Pakhi –Tumhari Paakhi- and Beyhadh), from
Turkey, and from Korea. Also Latina TV station actually airs the Turkey T-drama Kizim Nerede?,
in Spanish titled ¿Donde esta mi hija? and other one titled Bizim Hikaye, Amor de familia in
Spanish.15
12 Carlos Aquino:“Relaciones Peru-Japon: Diplomacia, Inmigracion,Economia y Politica”,1993
13 https://koreana.or.kr/home/homeIndex.do
14 http://willax.tv/
15 https://www.latina.pe/novelas/donde-esta-mi-hija

6. The teaching of the Korean language also has fans. Last year in November the Korean Embassy in
Lima organized the First Korean Language Speech Contest, with 10 finalists from several cities in
Peru16
.
Actually severalUniversities has Korean language courses,for example San Marcos National
University17
, offers three levels. It began nearly 10 years ago and the professors are Koreans sent by
KOICA. It is teached at no cost. In 2012 the King Sejong Institute was established in the Catholic
University but it closed three years later. But the Centro de Estudios Orientales of that University
offers a class of Korean language at the basic level.
The Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina teaches Korean language now (financed by KOICA).
Centro Cultural Coreano del Peru18
, a private institution, also offers Korean language lessons.
It should be noticed than in the last years groups of Koreans came to preach about religion and
similar things. These missionaries are very active and severalof them are in Peru. For example, the
Iglesia de Dios, Sociedad Misionera Mundial, MBE, organized an event in January 2019 in San
Marcos National University, under the tittle “ASEZ 2019 Para la implementacion de la ODS de la
ONU”19
. The World Mission Society Church of God as is called in English, is similar to the
Unification Church (of) Sun Myung Moon- the “Moonies”.
Books about Korea other than its culture (published mainly by Catholic University) or about Peru-
Korea relations are nearly no existent, although at the end of last year Professor Francisco Carranza
from Universidad Agraria la Molina, who teach Korean language there, published a book titled
“Culturas Comparadas de Peru y Corea”20
.
3.4. India
India cultural influence in Peru is expanding, beginning with Bollywood dances. For example, last
December 14th the India Embassy celebrated the 3th
anniversary of the creation of its Cultural
Center in a theater with capacity of around 300 people and it was full, with some waiting outside.
During two hours Bollywood and classical dances, and yoga performance were played with the
participation of severaldozens of people, and with the exception of two or three teachers from
India, all of the performers were Peruvians. This Center offers classes about Indian dances
(Bollywood and classic dances), India cuisine, Hindi language, yoga and so on and is very popular.
16 http://overseas.mofa.go.kr/pe-
es/brd/m_6888/view.do?seq=761514&srchFr=&srchTo=&srchWord=&srchTp=&multi_it
m_seq=0&itm_seq_1=0&itm_seq_2=0&company_cd=&company_nm=&page=2
17 http://ceid.letras.unmsm.edu.pe/coreano.html
18
https://centroculturalcoreanodelperu.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR3Vb1KS46ffx1sGVQuLAjBG9UONWlk0eTFy
xiokDC-KPwCqF2HbKiuL_tg
19 https://peruiddsmm.com/foro-internacional-de-asez-2019/
20 http://overseas.mofa.go.kr/pe-
es/brd/m_6888/view.do?seq=761482&srchFr=&srchTo=&srchWord=&srchTp=&multi_it
m_seq=0&itm_seq_1=0&itm_seq_2=0&company_cd=&company_nm=&page=2

7. More than forty years ago Indian movies were very popular, screened in several cinemas. Now is
not the case although there exist fans of India movies that have access to them through the internet.
3.5. Other countries
As stated before TV-drama from Turkey is being played in some TV channels, but besides that no
more is known about Turkey. Regarding Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries, also very
little is known in Peru about them, but in the last years Southeast Asian countries with embassies in
Peru (Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) celebrate the creation of the ASEAN organization and
organize activities like dance, food degustation and conference about their countries. In the last
years Embassies of those countries are becoming very active in promoting their culture and
language. For example, the Indonesian Embassy organize classes of language, traditional music
instruments and typical dances,mostly free.
It should be said that besides activities organized by Embassies to promote culture, there exist group
of fans that organize themselves to learn the language, sing the song, learn the dances,or watch the
movies, anime, of their favorite country, actor,etc. Even there are clubs of people fans of cosplay.
There is a place, a shopping mall, a building of 4 floors and an underground near Lima downtown
where about 200 shops sell CDs of movies, songs, anime, videogames, and also manga, costumes of
mainly Korea, Japan and India. In existence already for more than 20 years,Centro Comercial
Arenales is called the heart of the “friki” culture of Peru21
.
4. The future of Asia studies in Peru
Giving the growing importance of Asia in the world, and for Peru in particular, the studies about
Asia will gain popularity. More academic institutions probably will setup entities specializing in
Asian affairs, perhaps more Confucius Institutes will appear (there were negotiations to establish
one in San Marcos National University), and so on.
Something that is necessary to do is to learn the language of the countries in study. Few of the
researchers who have wrote about Asia know the language of their subject of study. But not only
that, to take full advantage of the scholarships being offered by the governments of those countries,
mainly China, Japan, Korea,and India and Indonesia (but also Taiwan) the mastery of English is
necessary for University students in Peru.
Lima, February 2019
21 https://rpp.pe/lima/actualidad/como-se-convirtio-el-centro-comercial-arenales-en-el-corazon-de-la-
cultura-friki-en-el-peru-noticia-
1176080?fbclid=IwAR0mGYGBCpSeDyHePRzdkyKxuVs7geoLH5w1fDol4EJWkFj03NcCQMOrVW4