It was just this June that China and Panama established diplomatic relations. But Chinese presence in the central American country dates back to the 18-hundreds, when migrant workers traveled halfway around the globe to build a railway. Paulo Cabral has our report from Panama City.  

 

This is Panama City's Old Chinatown. It's the go-to place in the historic center of the country's capital for Chinese food, products and culture. This shop for example is one of the oldest here.

 

JUDY CHEN SHOP MANAGER "Chinese families come here to do their shopping, eat, catch up with other people from the community. And non-Chinese Panamanians also come here for the food and products."

 

The first Chinese arrived in Panama in 1850 - as contract laborers to build the Panama Canal Railway. Successive waves of immigration would follow. Today, the total ethnic Chinese community in Panama totals about 200-thousand people - about 5 percent of the country's population.

 

PAULO CABRAL PANAMA CITY Panama has the largest Chinese community here in Central America. And this old Chinatown here in the central area of the Panamanian capital is their most traditional neighborhood. But the community has expanded well beyond these streets.

 

The El Dorado neighborhood has been dubbed the new Chinatown with many shops geared to the community.Juan Tam has already written and published four books about the history of the Chinese community in this country.

 

JUAN TAM SECRETARY，NATIONAL COUNCIL OF ETHNIC CHINESE "Between 1900 and the 1950 Chinese were not allowed to go outside of this old Chinatown because the area was a walled city. And then when they finished with the walled city like in the 1940's people started to scatter around. El Dorado is the first place that they moved out from the Old Chinatown. In this area there is a lot of Chinese people that live in this area."

 

Antonio Chong runs a travel agency in the mall here in El Dorado. Chong immigrated from China when he was 19 years old back in 1977. Now his son - Jimmy Chong - works with him in the family business. He's enthusiastic about Panama's decision to establish diplomatic ties with China.

 

ANTONIO CHONG OWNER, VIAJES INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AGENTS "We have to look towards the future and every day, every year, things are getting better for the Chinese community in Panama. In June, the president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, agreed to establish diplomatic relations with China and I think this will be very good for both our countries and foster trade and investment."

 

While this new, formal relationship between China and Panama is still quite new, hopes are it will build and strengthen ties that reach back more than a century and a half. Paulo Cabral, CGTN, Panama City.