The Chinese Diaspora has been far-reaching, stretching to almost every continent. While Chinese migration to the United States has been relatively well-documented, the not unsubstantial movement of Chinese to Latin America has attracted less scholarly attention. Between 100,000 and 120,000 Chinese coolie laborers landed in Peru in the late 19th century to replace slave labor on haciendas. The almost entirely male Chinese population soon started families with Peruvian women, contributing to the Latin American tradition of mestizaje (racial mixing). Tusán refers to second-generation Peruvians of Chinese origin, either of mixed-race (injerto) or fully Chinese descent who came of age in the early 20th century. Unique in their position between two such distinct cultures, there remains much to be examined about Tusán identity. This project engages with transnational conceptions of Chineseness and refutes essentialist depictions of Chinese Peruvians. Using primary sources in written and oral forms, this project explores Chinese Peruvian experiences with Latin American Orientalism and interethnic relations with the Japanese Peruvian community. My focus, however, is primarily on the agency of Chinese Peruvians themselves. I document formal expressions of identity and attempts to signal upper class status with a register on Chineseness, and I trace the significance of informal expressions of identity. Both, I argue, were important parts of a cross-class project of building community for Tusán in Peru.