Mi china juventud: childhood and hybrid acts in Cuéntame cómo pasó

Since 1990, Spain has taken in over 200,000 Chinese immigrants. With these citizens often the targets of racist attacks and stereotypes, several filmic and televisual texts offer stereotypical representations of Chinese immigrants either as violent or as a model minority. Nevertheless, texts are emerging that offer more nuanced representations of this migrant body and construct complex characters whose identity struggles form part of Spain’s socio-cultural fabric. Cuéntame cómo pasó (La1, 2001 – present) is one of the first Spanish television programmes to represent a Spanish-Chinese immigrant child this way. This article analyses the Spanish-Chinese immigrant child’s construction within public service broadcasting, arguing that her character’s representation is informed by the channel’s public service responsibility. The analysis considers the notion that her character is the generator of ‘hybrid acts’ and is an agent of cross-cultural contact in her friendship group.