A Mughal Princess in Baroque New Spain
Catarina de San Juan (1606-1688), the china poblana

by GAUVIN ALEXANDER BAILEY

FEW FIGURES HAVE so captivated the popular Mexican imagination as the china poblana, yet few are so poorly understood.1 Her pervasive image is beloved by tourists and schoolchildren, celebrated by folk troupes, lauded in poetry, reenacted in plays and cinema, and extolled by politicians.

Originally a symbol of civic pride for the city of Puebla, she went on to epitomize the Republican spirit following the French invasión (1862- 1863), and eventually embodied the very essence of México itself. As the designer of an elabórate municipal monument in her glory proclaimed in the 1940S: “[the china poblana] simboliza el ALMA NACIONAL… el arquetipo NACIONAL de la virtuosa mujer mexicana.”2 Some say she was an ancient princess from China, whose luxurious silks inspired the folk costume of today. Others insist that her origins are to be found on Mexican soil, in the Poblano heartland.

So, who was she?

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