Beyond blending in

Surprising similarities

These digitized displays are still a few years away. But in the past few years, physical exhibitions about ancient Peru in museums in China have proved popular, Zhou said.

These include a show about the Incas a few years ago, and one earlier this year that brought over 160 original pre-Incan artifacts from 14 leading Peruvian museums for display in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Next, the embassy hopes to bring ancient gold items from coastal Peru from the pre-Columbian period, she said.

She pointed out similarities between the two civilizations that predate contact by centuries, such as those shared by the Shu Kingdom in today's Sichuan and the Inca.

"Peru and China are very geographically distant. However, there are many (ancient) things that we have in common, from the textiles, the boneware, the ceramics, the techniques, the colors, the graphics."

Carlos said he was surprised to discover the resemblances between the traditional attire of ethnic groups in the Andes and southwestern China.

"It's really similar. It's like, wow, they are really far, far away from each other, but there are so many similarities in their clothes," he said.

Luo, who's from Sichuan, believes these similarities inspire fervent interest among Chinese museumgoers.

"If you look at the elements of the sun and the elements of the birds and the elements of making precious gold … they share so much in common and also share some values that are very similar to each other," he said.

"The sun is probably universal. But I wouldn't say the bird is universal."

Zhou said: "In (Sichuan's) Jinsha, they have this golden bird. The Incas used to worship the condor, which is a bird of prey, and they used to think that the condor was a representation of freedom and ascension to the sun."

She also mentioned sophisticated water-management systems as another similarity that predates contact.

"The Incas were master engineers when it came to aqueducts, and it's the same with the China's Dujiangyan (ancient dams in Sichuan)," she said.

"It's exactly about how you used to control the flow of the river to prevent floods and guarantee that there would always be an irrigation system for agriculture."

New connections

Yet beyond parallels that predate contact and the immigration rush two centuries ago, China and Peru are now forging new connections amid globalization.

A growing number of Peruvians are learning Chinese to do business with the country, Zhou said.

Carlos, who is studying international business at BFSU and hopes to also complete his master's in China, said his mother encouraged him to learn the language.

He said he was "confused" at first, especially since Chinese is much more distant from Spanish than English.

"I really enjoy learning Chinese, especially writing Chinese, because it's really artistic. I really like the meaning of my (Chinese) name, Luo Yunshan," which means "cloud and mountain".

Zhou said authorities are working to expand opportunities to study Chinese in Peru, including outside of Lima.

"We're working on opening more centers for studying Chinese because we wish for our people to learn more about Chinese culture," she said.

"Through mutual understanding, we can build a society that's prosperous for everybody."