760
Chinese in the Philippines
Teresita Ang See
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
The early Chinese immigrants who came to the Philippines
during Spanish times were first called Sangleyes (which
meant "businessmen" or "frequent visitors"). They were
later called Intsik (from the Malay word encik, meaning
"venerable uncle"). Though the etymology of the term
itself has no pejorative connotation, its later usage did add
a "racial" slur, Intsik beho tulo laway ("old Chinaman
with drooling saliva"), which is not acceptable to the
older Chinese, who recall that the term implies humilia-
tion, subjugation, and oppression. In 1992, a new term,
Tsinoy, was coined, which has gained popularity and
common usage. The term "Tsinoy" is colloquial for
Tsinong Pinoy, or Chinese Filipino.
LOCATION
The Philippines is situated on the eastern edge of Asia,
bounded to the west by the South China Sea and to
the east by the Pacific Ocean. It is made up of 7,107
islands, with a land area of almost 300,000 km 2 (116,000
square miles) and a long coastline, totaling 36,289 km
(21,773 miles). The Philippines is a tropical country, with
just two seasonsmthe wet season and the dry seasonm
determined by the southwest monsoon (June to October),
which brings the wet season, and the northeast monsoon
(November to May), which is the onset of the dry season.
HISTORY
As early as 5000 B.C., inhabitants from Southern China
started migrating. Similarities in stone tool traditions, lin-
guistic origins, customs, traditions, myths and beliefs, and
flora and fauna fossils are evidence of the cultural affinity
between the early inhabitants of the Philippines and the
Chinese in the Philippines
peoples who traveled down from northem to southem
China and then to Vietnam and Formosa before reaching
the Philippines (Beyer, 1979; Go, 2003).
Archaeological findings (like the Novaliches Com-
plex unearthed by anthropologist Wilhelm G. Solheim II)
showed that as early as the Han dynasty (202 B.C.E to
C.E. 220), the Philippines was on intimate relations with
Annam and Tonkin (in Vietnam), the greatest ports of the
Chinese people sailing for the South Seas (Solheim, 1964).
Major places in the Philippines appeared in several ancient
Chinese dynastic annals and maps. The commercial inter-
course and mutual knowledge between China and the
Philippines increased in the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1277),
especially in the eleventh to twelth centuries. Chao Ju Kua,
customs collector in China then, was the first to give a
detailed description of places in the Philippines in the vast
volume of accounts of travelers collected in Zhu Fan Zhi
(Report on the Southseas Barbarians), published in 1255
(Wang, 1964).
By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinese
trade with the Philippines flourished. Islands in the
Philippines, like Mindoro, Palawan, Laguna, Manila,
Eastern Visayas, Sulu, and others, were mentioned in the
sources from the Yuan Dynasty (1277 to 1368). In 1349,
Wang Ta Yuan completed his work, Tao-I Chih Lio
(A Short Account of the Barbarian Isles). The account
is generally believed to be the most complete record
relating to the Philippines in pre-Hispanic times.
The coastal provinces, Fujian and Guangdong, where
the majority of the Chinese in the Philippines hailed from,
were but a few days sailing distance from Manila and
could easily be reached by Chinese junks. This proximity
was the main reason behind the choice of destination.
The different waves of outmigration from China to
other parts of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines,
coincided with periods of turmoil, unrest, drought,
famine, and poverty, which bred a general state of insta-
bility. Feudal China, especially the peasants, who had to
support the profligate lives of the imperial court through
History
onerous levies and taxations, suffered most from this
political unrest. Migration increased immensely in the
Ming (1368 to 1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644 to 1911).
In the nineteenth century, decay of the imperial system of
government, aggravated by corruption and incompetence
of the Qing administrators, led to a failure to protect and
safeguard the rural population. These push factors forced
the Chinese to sail across the South Seas in their sturdy
junks to seek adventure, escape poverty, and find prosperity
and labor and business opportunities in the growing
economies of colonial Philippines.
The Philippines not only had trade but also had
political relations with China before Spanish occupation.
Chinese junks regularly visited the Philippines, and
envoys from the Philippines went to China to pay tribute
to the Sung and Ming courts. In the Ming Annals and the
Tong Xi Yang Gao (Study of the Eastern and Western
Oceans) (1618), there are many pages of accounts men-
tioning islands or countries in the Philippines (Alfonso,
1966). Sulu in the southern Philippines got special con-
sideration in the Ming Annals. For a brief period under
the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese exercised some sort of
suzerainty over Sulu. Volume 323 of the Ming Annals
also gives an extensive account of the visit of the Sultan
of Sulu, Paduka Batara, to the Court of Emperor Yung Lo
in Beijing in 1417, a century before Ferdinand Magellan
found his way to the Philippines.
In 1521, Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the
service of Spain, came upon the islands while on an expe-
dition to circumnavigate the globe. The islands were
claimed for and named after King Philip of Spain. A gov-
ernor general was appointed administrator, and for over
300 years, the Philippines was a colony of Spain.
The Spaniards, realizing the importance of Chinese
labor and business, encouraged Chinese immigration.
Thousands of Chinese flocked to the island, but the
Spanish saw in their rapid increase a formidable chal-
lenge to their own dominance. They therefore adopted
brutal methods and persecution against the defenseless
and innocent Chinese. Bad feelings between the two peo-
ple intensified, and resulted in several tragic massacres.
Around 100,000 lives were lost in the six massacres
between 1603 and 1820 (Tan, 1988).
The Chinese were subjected not only to assaults;
believing that the Chinese settlers were a menace to their
security, Spanish authorities carried out mass expulsions
761
in 1686, 1744, 1747, 1755, 1766 (in 1769, an order for
expulsion was not carried out), 1775, 1789, and 1804.
Periods of deportation and restricted immigration
showed Spanish officials that the islands could not do
without the Chinese, who had to be enticed back. The
economic dependence of the Spanish in the Philippines
on the Chinese had grown so great that the colony came
to a standstill after incidents of massacre or expulsion.
On their part, the Chinese merchants realized that their
prosperity depended on the continuance of the Spanish
regime, and the annual supply of Mexican silver through
the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, the lifeblood of the
Sino-Philippine trade.
Though the massacres and mass expulsions in the
seventeenth to eighteenth centuries century were stopped,
anti-Chinese agitations and discrimination continued to
mark the Spanish rule in the nineteenth century in the
forms of taxes like the cedula (residence tax), the inten-
dencia (sales taxes), the capitacion (head tax), and other
onerous taxes higher than those imposed on other for-
eigners and much higher than those on locals. Likewise,
restrictive travel passes required all Chinese to get per-
mits to travel from one place to another. Those caught
were conscripted into forced labor unless they paid the
high penalty. The Chinese were also used as scapegoats--
the Spaniards deliberately fanned native resentment by
blaming them for the economic ills caused by Spanish
misgovernment and neglect.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Filipinos
revolted against Spanish rule. The ethnic Chinese also
participated in this revolution, led mainly by Chinese
mestizos or Filipinos of Chinese origins, who formed the
intellectual middle class. Distinguished among the revo-
lutionaries is General Jose Ignacio Pana, the only full-
blooded Chinese in the revolution. After 333 years of
Spanish rule, the Filipinos declared independence on
12 June 1898. Though the Spanish colonial government
ended, the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United
States under the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898.
Just as in the Spanish regime, the Chinese also
suffered from persecution and discrimination under the
American rule (1898 to 1946). The application of the
Chinese Exclusion Act to the Philippines in 1902 was
the most onerous form of legal discrimination against
the Chinese. The Exclusion Act banned laborers from
entering the colony; only teachers, students, tourists,
762
merchants, and sons of merchants were allowed entry. The
Chinese organized protest movements and boycotts of
American goods to fight against the Exclusion Act and
other arbitrary restrictions. In 1921, the Chinese commu-
nity united to fight the Bookkeeping Law, (which out-
lawed the use of Chinese language in bookkeeping) all
the way to Washington, D.C., and won the case in the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Likewise, just as in the Spanish regime, the Chinese
were made scapegoats. In 1919, they were blamed for a
rice shortage that occurred due to poor harvest. In 1924,
again due to economic ills, anti-Chinese riots occurred in
Manila, which spread to Cabanatuan and Nueva Ecija,
north of Manila. The Commonwealth Government (1935
to 1946) was marked by the restrictions in Chinese busi-
nesses like rice and corn trading and the ownership of
market stalls.
The massacres and mass expulsions carded out by
the Spanish authorities and the application of the U.S.
Exclusion Act significantly reduced the number of ethnic
Chinese in the Philippines. The number of Chinese in the
Philippines is the smallest of all overseas Chinese com-
munities in Southeast Asia, both in absolute numbers and
relative to the total native population.
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines from
1941 to 1945 is considered the darkest hour in Philippine
history and even more so for the Chinese in the
Philippines. The local Chinese resistance against the
Japanese started long before theft occupation of the coun-
try. They supported China's war against Japanese aggres-
sion by supporting China's Air Force through the purchase
of new planes, giving relief for refugees and wounded
soldiers, and boycotting Japanese goods. They also con-
ducted propaganda, mass meetings, and fund campaigns
against the Japanese, despite the warnings of Filipino
leaders against bringing the war to the Philippines.
When the Japanese occupied the Philippines, they first
conducted a purge of the Chinese community and executed
its anti-Japanese leaders. This was enacted again and again
throughout the country, and even Consul General
KwangsonYoung and his staff were tortured, then executed,
in violation of international law on diplomatic immunity.
From 1942 to 1945, Fort Santiago in Manila was a torture
chamber for prominent Chinese and Filipino prisoners.
Practically all major Chinese enterprises and factories
were closed down or taken over by Japanese. The Chinese
Chinese in the Philippines
were singled out for massacres; the worse occurred on
February 24, in San Pablo Laguna. All male Chinese
15 years and above were bayoneted; more than 600 died
in the massacre. Many anti-Japanese elements went under-
ground to carry on the resistance movement. Like their
Filipino counterparts, the Chinese guerrillas conducted
sabotage, gathered military intelligence, and helped in the
escape of prisoners. Three outstanding Chinese guerrilla
forces were the Chinese Overseas Wartime Hsiekan Militia
(COWHM), the Chinese Volunteers of the Philippines
(CVP), and the Wah-Chi, a leftist force which called
itself the 48th Squadron after the famous troops in China
(Tan, 1981).
Philippine independence and the freedom from
colonial rule gave rise to a new form of Filipino national-
ism during the Republican Period. Discrimination against
the Chinese took the form of exclusion of the alien minor-
ity, as in the Filipino-First Policy in the 1950s and 1960s.
The practice of most of the professions (engineering,
medicine, nursing, accounting, architecture, chemistry,
and pharmacy) was allowed only to Filipino citizens. One
of the most traumatic legislations that had a long-term
impact on the Chinese community was the passage of
Republic Act 1180 in 1954, which nationalized retail
trade, the prinicipal Chinese business at that time.
Vast changes happened to the Chinese-Filipino
community in the postwar years. The Pacific War cur-
tailed immigration from China to the Philippines. The
Communist government came to power in 1949 and
estabfished the People's Republic of China, which ended
immigration for at least two decades. With the dreams of
going back home to China ended, obtaining Filipino citi-
zenship gained urgency. The Chinese expanded their
business from the predominantly retail trading businesses
to manufacturing and light industries importing and
exporting. A new generation of Tsinoys born in the
country emerged when immigration stopped.
Before 1975, a great majority of the Chinese were
not Filipino citizens. Despite their long presence in the
country, the Philippine Constitution adopted the jus
sanguinis principle of citizenship (citizenship by blood),
meaning that those born of Chinese parents were consid-
ered aliens even though they were born in the Philippines
and their parents lived in the Philippines all their lives.
In June 1975, in preparation for the establishment of
diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China,
Culture and Community
former President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Letters of
Instruction 270 to allow the local Chinese easy access
to naturalization. Ninety percent of the alien Chinese
obtained Filipino citizenship at that time through a spe-
cial administrative process of naturalization and not by
judicial means, which at that time was long, tedious, and
extremely expensive. Obtaining citizenship and legal
identity as Filipinos lifted the final barrier to full integra-
tion and gave the Chinese a sense of belonging to the
country. The Chinese are increasingly recognized as one
of the cultural minorities in the country, which has
successfully integrated into mainstream society.
DEMOGRAPHY
The total Philippine population was estimated at 80 mil-
lion in 2003. There are 900,000 to one million ethnic
Chinese in the Philippines, roughly 1.2% to 1.5% of the
total Philippine population. Half of this number live in the
urban area of Metro Manila; the other half is scattered in
other major urban centers, such as Cebu, Iloilo, Davao,
and Bacolod.
Of all Southeast Asian countries, the ethnic Chinese
in the Philippines are the most homogeneous: 90.6%
derive from Fujian and 8.8% from Guangdong province.
Of the slightly more than 90% from Fujian, 69% derive
from Jinjiang, 14.8% from Nan-An, 3% from Hui-an, and
2% from Xiamen (Go, 1995; See, 1996).
LANGUAGE
Of the general Chinese population in the Philippines,
98% can speak Filipino or the Tagalog-based national
language, and 35% can speak another local Philippine
major dialect (Ilocano, Pangasinan, Pampangan,
Bicolano, Cebuano, Waray, and Ilongo). English is the
other official language used in the courts and in govern-
ment records. It is spoken by 90% of the local Chinese.
Of the first-generation Chinese immigrants, Hokkien is the
lingua franca; even the small Cantonese minority speaks
Hokkien. Now, only 10% use Chinese as their first lan-
guage. Although second-generation Chinese Filipinos are
familiar with the official Mandarin language, which is
taught in schools for Chinese Filipinos, and Hokkien, the
763
dialect of their parents, most are no longer fluent or func-
tionally literate in either Hokkien or Mandarin.
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
Economic Activities
Prior to the coming of the Spaniards, Chinese merchants
were already active in Philippine trade, but they were itiner-
ant merchants who brought their wares to the country in
exchange for native goods and products. With the estab-
lishment of Spanish settlement, Chinese economic activ-
ity expanded. The native Filipinos were still engaged in
subsistence agricultural pursuits, and the Spaniards were
reluctant to engage in trade. Thus, the Chinese merchants
took full advantage of the vacuum and filled it with their
industry and ingenuity. They became the backbone of the
colonial economy--they were the carpenters, blacksmiths,
masons, bakers, cooks, shoemakers, tailors, barbers, and
vendors who provided everything that the Spaniards and
the colony needed for daily life. The Chinese merchants
soon became the mainstay of the Manila-Acapulco trade,
bringing Chinese goods to the Philippines in exchange
for Mexican silver. These goods from China, brought to
Manila, then to Mexico, Peru, and Latin America, soon
found their way to Europe.
After the end of the monopoly of the Manila-
Acapulco trade in 1815, the Manila port was opened to
world trade in 1854 and the Chinese became distributors
of British and American goods all over the country. Their
knowledge of the islands and the natives made them
indispensable procurers of cheap native goods and prod-
ucts, such as tobacco, sugar, copra, hemp, and other cash
crops, for export to the lucrative and ready markets in
Europe, America, and other parts of the world. This
brought Philippine agricultural development well beyond
subsistence levels and the American period was known to
be the golden era of Chinese businesses in the Philippines
(Wickberg, 1965; Wong, 1999).
The postwar period of Philippine nationalism saw
their merchant activities curtailed through nationalization
measures. The trade restrictions became a blessing in dis-
guise. Chinese merchants moved from retail trading to
manufacturing and exports, pushing forward Philippine
industrialization. In the late 1970s, especially after many
764
of the erstwhile alien Chinese obtained Filipino citizen-
ship, many started to engage in big-scale agribusinessm
fisheries, the prawn industry, pig fanning, poultry raising,
and cattle raising.
The ethnic Chinese were also successful in the
banking industry. The first Chinese Bank, China Bank,
was founded in 1920, Equitable Bank in 1950, and
Metropolitan Bank in 1962. Other Chinese-Filipino-owned
local banks are Philippine Bank of Communications,
Allied Bank, United Asia Bank, Rizal Commercial Bank,
Philippine National Bank, and Banco de Oro.
The integration of economic interests is inevitable
because most of the businesses of the ethnic Chinese are
domestic businesses where profits are plowed back into the
Philippine economy. Likewise, these businesses are sub-
jected to the same local laws and policies, sustained by
Philippine economic growth or overwhelmed by Philippine
adversities and calamities. In the 1997 financial crisis, the
ethnic Chinese business sector suffered in the same way as
other sectors in the Philippine national economy.
Housing and Use of Space
Before 1975, when majority of the Chinese were not yet
Filipino citizens, most Tsinoys lived in rented apartments
because they could not own property. Many in fact
resided above their business establishments, allowing
them to work long hours. Today, the Tsinoys live as single
families away from their parents and many own houses in
plush subdivisions. Starting in 1990, however, with the
influx of more new immigrants, multistory condomini-
ums started to be built. These also billeted students from
the provinces who enroll in Metro Manila colleges.
Tsinoys who live in the suburbs opted to buy units in the
well-guarded condominium buildings mainly for security
reasons, especially at the height of kidnapping incidents.
These became rampant at the end of 1992, and up to
2003. Tsinoys continue to be the most vulnerable targets,
forcing many traumatized families to relocate abroad.
Marriage, Family, and Households
During the colonial period, Chinese women were rela-
tively absent. The Chinese immigrants either had families
in China and/or had established a new "mestizo" family
in the Philippines by marrying Filipinas. When the
Chinese in the Philippines
American policy allowed spouses and children to migrate
to the Philippines in early twentieth century, the gender
ratio started to even out. While marriage with Filipinos is
not encouraged by the parents now, it is no longer as taboo
as it was three decades ago when a Chinese man or woman
could get disowned. Today, the younger generation easily
crosses "racial" barriers to become good friends, col-
leagues, and business partners of Filipinos. Intermarriage is
thus inevitable. The tradition of a purely patriarchal family
that gives precedence and attention to men has also changed
considerably. More and more women play important roles
in family business and in establishing their own careers.
Socialization and Education
At the turn of the twentieth century, the increased repres-
sion and cruelty of the Spanish and of the American
colonizers fostered a strong spirit of communalism among
the local Chinese. Chinese institutions such as schools,
press, and other associations were set up as agencies of
communal mobilization and cultural renewal. At the same
time, the political awakening of the Chinese in China
elicited a strong response from the local Chinese which
further intensified their Chineseness. However, after the
war, the standard of Chinese education slowly deterio-
rated because there were no new immigrants after China
closed its doors to the outside world in 1949. Chinese-
language education continued to deteriorate especially in
the 1970s because the Chinese are a very small part of the
Philippine population, in contrast to Malaysia and
Singapore, where there is a much larger Chinese popula-
tion and greater demand for Chinese-language education.
Due to the failure of the Chinese schools to
strengthen the Chinese identity of the young Chinese and
due to the far-reaching effects of the mass naturalization
decree that gave them citizenship, the young-generation
Chinese have moved further along the continuum of
reculturation. Vast changes have taken place among
these local-born people, who make up 90% of the ethnic
Chinese population in the Philippines.
Community Organization and
Structure
There are more than a 1,000 organizations in the
Philippines formed along the lines of Chinese ethnicity.
Culture and Community
They are broadly differentiated according to three orien-
tations: China oriented, Chinese community oriented,
and Philippine oriented.
Chinese Community-Oriented Organizations.
Chinese community-oriented organizations are the most
common. They are structured with big federations or
umbrella organizations at the top, which have overlap-
ping leadership with each other. The five big federations
in the community are:
• The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce
and Industry,Inc., under which are 160-memberorganizations.
• The Grand Family Association, under which are 39 family-
name organizations.
• The GeneralAssociation of Former Chinese Schools, made up
of 127 memberschools that cater basicallyto ChineseFilipinos.
• The Sports Federation, under which are 20 sports organizations
like the bowling, swimming, basketball, volleyball, table ten-
nis, golf, cycling, badminton, chess, and other sports clubs.
• The Association of Volunteer Fire Brigades, under which are
100 memberorganizations nationwide.
The most numerous are the chambers of commerce
and trade associations, formed by mutual engagement in
some craft or line of business to protect economic inter-
ests, such as unfair competition and protectionism, to
minimize external threats, to enable collective bargain-
ing against anti-Chinese legislation, to settle extortionate
claims from unscrupulous government officials, and to
link Chinese businessmen into a network.
Clan associations reaffirm one's ancestral ties, line-
age, and generational position. Indirectly related to the
clan or lineage organizations are the 200 hometown or
village associations bound by common village or home-
town of origin from Fujian. In a predominantly Hokkien
community, only the Cantonese minority needed to
organize a regional association. They formed the
Guangdong Huiguan as early as 1850 to take care of their
own affairs. In contrast, regional associations from
Jinjiang (formed in 1993) and Nanan (formed in 1990) in
Fujian were formed quite late because it made more sense
for the Fujian people to organize according to smaller
units based on hometown or village of origin (See, 1988).
Related to the association of schools are the alumni
and class associations. Classmate ties are intimate, per-
sonal relationships with quasi-kinship features in the
Chinese social world. The classmates often became com-
padres (coparents) through baptism and marriage of their
765
children. Older groups who were mostly China born and
attended high schools and colleges in southern Fujian or
Hongkong organized another version of alumni associa-
tions of their schoolmates from China and Hong Kong.
Cultural and sports club, religious groups, and
hometown, brotherhood, alumni, and school associations
provide a more intimate atmosphere that allow personal
relationships to grow among members. They also provide
the cultural milieu and activities that attest to a Chinese
identity as well as arouse ethnic pride.
China-Oriented Organizations. The Filipino-
Chinese Amity Club was formed in 1974 to liaise the
Chinese community with the Chinese government in
preparation for the establishment of 1975 diplomatic rela-
tions with the People's Republic of China. Subsequently,
the Federation of Chinese Associations was formed in
1977. It started as an ad hoc group to organize big
Chinese events involving the Chinese Embassy, like
banquets for high-level visits of Chinese officials, and
important People's Republic of China events such as the
1 October National Day and the anniversary of the estab-
lishment of diplomatic relations between China and
the Philippines. The ad hoc group eventually became a
formal organization with officers and secretariat to organ-
ize important events that do not fall under any of the big
federations earlier mentioned.
Relations between the Philippines and Taiwan were
unique in Southeast Asia. Up to 1975, the Kuomintang
government played an active role in local Chinese affairs,
like the administration of the schools, running of the local
newspapers, and the election of officers in the big federa-
tions. The Amity Club and the Federation of Chinese
Associations were formed because at the time, all the big
federations were largely pro-Taiwan and refused to take
the lead in organizing affairs favoring People's Republic
of China events or government officials. Before 1975,
one of the most active umbrella organizations was the
Kuomintang Cultural and Economic Center, which led
the community in celebrations of Taiwan events like that
of the 10 October National Day.
Philippine-Oriented Organizations. These groups
are made up of the local-born generation, the so-called
Tsinoys, articulate, college educated, socially conscious
and responsible, loyal and committed to their country of
766
birth, and comfortable in their Filipino identity. These
groups participate actively in political exercises and take
proactive stance in issues affecting mainstream society and
not just the parochial concerns of the Tsinoy community.
The most prominent organization is the Kaisa Para Sa
Kaunlaran (Unity for Progress), organized in 1987 after
the first EDSA People Power Revolution, which toppled
the Marcos dictatorship. Its predecessor organization,
Pagkakaisa Sa Pag-unlad, was organized in 1970 with the
principal objective of hastening the full integration of
the Tsinoys into mainstream society. The Kaisa became
an effective bridge between the Tsinoy community and
mainstream society. Its research arm has published
50 titles to date, dealing with studies about the ethnic
Chinese in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. It pub-
lishes a fortnightly Chinese-Filipino digest called Tulay
(Bridge) and a weekly Chinese supplement called Rong
He (Integration) in the Chinese-language daily, World
News. Today, Kaisa runs the Kaisa Heritage Center (built at
a cost of US$4 million raised entirely from the Tsinoy
community), which houses the Bahay Tsinoy, a museum of
the Chinese in Philippine life, and serves as the repository
of the historical and cultural legacy of the Tsinoys. Other
Tsinoys have also veered away from purely Chinese-
Filipino community-oriented organizations and instead
joined Filipino organizations like the Jaycees, Rotary
Clubs, and issue-oriented nongovernment organizations.
Religious Beliefs and Practices
Religion plays a central part in the daily life of both the
Filipinos and the ethnic Chinese minority. Ninety percent
of the Filipino population is Christian, 5% Muslim, and the
remainder a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, and animist. Of
the Christians, 92% are Roman Catholic, 8% Protestant.
There are some homegrown Christian groups, notably
Iglesia Ni Cristo and the Philippine Independent Church or
Aglipayans. Of the ethnic Chinese minority, about 87% are
Christians, and the remainder practice a mixture of
Buddhist, Taoist, and folk beliefs. Out of the 87%
Christian, close to 90% are Catholics, who also follow reli-
gious syncretism by combining Catholics and Chinese
beliefs together.
On the life rituals from birth to death, the ethnic
Chinese practice a unique blend of Chinese and Filipino
customs, which is predominantly influenced by Catholic
or Christian practices. For example, an ethnic Chinese
Chinese in the Philippines
mother still follows some Chinese rites after birth, like the
one month of zuo ye-nei (zhuey ge-lay in Hokkien), but a
Catholic ritual of baptism immediately follows, some-
times even if the parents are not Catholics. This baptismal
rite will include getting Filipino and Chinese godparents
or compadres. This compradazgo system is important for
the Chinese, because it gives rise to social connections
through the child's baptism.
This blending of customs holds true for weddings
and funeral rites, where Catholic or Christian practices
mix with folk Chinese ones. This is seen even in business.
At the opening of a new business, Catholic rites are
observed, where a Catholic priest blesses the premises
with holy water after the lion dancers finish their act out-
side the place (complete with firecrackers, which are sup-
posed to drive away evil) and also after feng shui experts
have been consulted. This mixture of practices, which
brings together both the Filipino and the Chinese, indeed
helps in promoting the integration of the Chinese and, to
some degree, promoting their successful assimilation into
mainstream society (See, 1990).
Even in the practice of religion, syncretism occurs.
Chinese Buddhist and Taoist icons displayed side by side
with images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ are com-
mon sights in many Chinese households and stores.
One unique evidence of religious syncretism is the
worship of one religious image as two different person-
alities, such as the worship of the Virgin of Caysasay as
the Chinese goddess Ma-tzu. The image is garbed in tradi-
tional Catholic raiment, but is placed inside a Chinese
temple at a traditional Chinese altar, with incense, divina-
tion tablets and sticks, as well as food offering. On the
feast day of the goddess Ma-tzu, a traditional Catholic
procession is held after high mass officiated by a Catholic
priest.
Another equally interesting and unique evidence of
religious syncretism is the worship of a strictly Catholic
image, Jesus of Nazarene, in traditional Chinese manner.
An image of the black Nazarene is found in the town of
Capalonga in the southern province of Camarines Sur. The
image is even given a Chinese name, Po-Ong Sian Si (in
Hokkien); the four words derived from Poong, meaning
Lord, and Sian-Si, meaning saint. Even Filipinos worship
this image of the black Nazarene, following the Chinese
instead of the Catholic tradition in the hope their prayers
will get answered faster. Both images of the Virgin of
Caysasay and the Capalonga Nazarene are very popular
Relationships to Host Country, Homeland, and Other Diasporic Communities
among the Chinese who come from all over the country to
worship.
Ceremonies and Holidays
Every city, town, and village holds at least one festival
every year, usually related to such dates as the "birthday"
of the local patron saint or other religious icon, a harvest
thanksgiving, a historical or mythological anniversary, or
a combination of all these. The Tsinoys usually partici-
pate in the local festivals in their own provinces and
municipalities, but also celebrate their own festivals
peculiar to their ethnic group, and the Filipinos likewise
join these festivals.
The most prominent festival is the Chinese Lunar
New Year celebration. Chinese lanterns, dragon-and-lion
dances, fireworks, and Chinese opera mark these festivi-
ties. Tikoy (sticky rice cake, ti-ke in Hokkien) giving has
become a tradition. Another popular festival introduced
to the Filipinos is the Moon Festival or Autumn Festival.
A game of chance called the mooncake game is usually
played by both Chinese and Filipinos. The Qing Ming
(festival of the dead, which usually falls on April or May)
is observed by most of the older Chinese, but the younger
ones prefer to observe All Saints Day (or the Catholic
festival for the dead) on 1 November.
CULTURAL VARIATION
The Chinese community in the Philippines can be divided
into four subgroups: the Metro Manila China born, the
provincial China born, the Metro Manila local born, and
the provincial local born (See, 1988).
The Metro Manila China-born hold leadership posi-
tions and are the economic backbone of the Tsinoy com-
munity. They are over 60 years old and most have warm
memories of their childhood in China and deep sentimen-
tal attachment to their natal home in China. They are
more articulate in Chinese and their lives more confined
within the Chinese community, where they actively par-
ticipate in Chinese organizations.
The provincial China-born share the same basic val-
ues as the Metro Manila China-born, but their provincial
experience makes them feel more at ease with Filipinos.
They run the local chambers, schools, and other Chinese
767
associations, but are equally active in local Filipino civic
organizations. They have always maintained a comfort-
able relationship with Filipinos.
The Metro Manila local-born Chinese are the most
dynamic pillars of the community. They have little first-
hand experience of China. Their limited knowledge of
China is gained from parents and textbooks. They are more
articulate both in Filipino and English and are graduates
from local universities. They are a deculturated Chinese
group, Westernized in ideology and more assimilated to
Filipino culture. They feel that the Philippines is home,
where they belong. Many continue to uphold Chinese cul-
tural values, but they do not share their parents' sentiments
toward China or things Chinese. They are at ease mingling
with Filipino classmates and Filipino work colleagues.
The provincial local born grew up in a predominantly
Filipino environment, which makes them more Filipino
than Chinese in outlook despite their Chinese blood and
family background. Social barriers and ethnic lines are not
rigid between them and Filipinos. They are more articu-
late in English and the local dialect than in Chinese. They
remain in contact with the Chinese community to take
advantage of business contacts, but they join more
Filipino than Chinese organizations. More of them go into
local politics and become town councilors and mayors.
Intermarriage with Filipinos is more common in the
third and fourth subgroups. More of them also have pro-
fessions other than business, like journalism, education,
social work, the arts, literature, and the like. Most of them
obtain college degrees and they are more apt to pursue
graduate studies than the first two subgroups.
RELATIONSHIPSTO HOST COUNTRY,
HOMELAND, AND OTHER DIASPORIC
COMMUNITIES
The younger Chinese Filipinos can easily cross ethnic
barriers and be intimate friends of Filipinos. In family
structures and practices, views about marriage, choice of
careers, and reading preferences and entertainment, it is
the Filipino environment that exerts a bigger influence.
The economic interests of the ethnic Chinese cannot
be separated from the Philippine domestic economy.
Increasingly, the Chinese-Filipino businessmen have
been joining their Filipino counterparts in big business
768
ventures. Likewise, the younger Chinese have been mov-
ing out of the traditional field of commerce and into the
social sciences like literature, journalism, history, and
social work, a fact that has far-reaching impact in chang-
ing the image of a predominantly business community.
Complete identification of the ethnic Chinese
as Filipinos is a gauge of the success of political integra-
tion. The awareness of political events and local issues,
participation in national and local elections (not just as
voters but as candidates for elective office), willingness to
speak and stand up for their political rights, and identifi-
cation with national interests even if it comes in conflict
with the community's interests are some indicators of this
success.
Among the changes that have happened in the
Tsinoy community, cultural changes are the most visible.
In lifestyle, manner of dressing, food choices, language
proficiency, views on intermarriage, religion, and prac-
tices of life rituals, it is the Western and Christian influ-
ences that prevail over the traditional Chinese cultural
modes. This has been discussed earlier in the section on
subgroups.
Due to the long history of Chinese presence in the
Philippines, Chinese cultural influences have been inter-
woven in the tapestry of Philippine culture through time.
In all events that shaped the Philippines as a nation, in
all aspects of Philippine life, in its culture and tradition,
language, music, and religion, the indelible imprint of
Chinese influence is well marked. In almost everything
Filipino, there throbs a Chinese presence, just as the
Tsinoy, or Chinese Filipino, is himself molded through
the centuries of Philippine life, which he has enriched
with the legacies of his heritage.
On the other hand, the older generation of immigrant
Chinese continue to perpetuate their link with the home-
land by sending remittances, building schools and roads,
and providing electrification for their hometowns. They
attend important events like ancestral rites and feast days in
their villages. Moreover, the clan associations and the
Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce
have established relationships with other diasporic Chinese
communities overseas through the World Convention of
Overseas Chinese Businessmen and world clan associa-
tions. The Shih, Wang, Chen, Li, Lin, Hung, and other
family associations are tied up with the same clans in
Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the United States.
Chinese in the Philippines
IDENTITY
The gradual integration of the Tsinoys into mainstream
Philippine society has inevitably brought about changes
in the identification and orientation of the local Chinese.
Most of the Tsinoys after the war were born and raised in
the Philippines. They studied in Philippine schools, speak
English and Filipino better than Chinese, have little or no
first-hand experience of China, and consider the
Philippines as their only home. The development of this
new consciousness is a gradual process that resulted from
objective and historical reality. Among these historical
forces, of great significance are the diplomatic recogni-
tion of the People's Republic of China in 1975 and the
mass naturalization decree promulgated by former
President Marcos on the eve of this official recognition.
While the Chinese community-oriented older people
still hold leadership positions in the community, their num-
ber is quite small compared with the local-born younger
generation that comprises the majority. They are not only
Chinese who are in the Philippines, but have become
Filipinos of Chinese descent who are a vital part of the
country, sinking their roots deeply into Filipino soil. The
future is in their hands and the future direction of the
local Chinese community will largely depend on them
(See, 1997).
REFERENCES
Alfonso, F. Jr. (1966). The Chinese in the Philippines 1570-1770, 1.
Manila: SolidaridadPublishing House.
Beyer, H. O. (1948). Philippine and East Asian archaeology: Its
relation to the origin of the Pacific Islands population (Bulletin
No. 29). Manila: NationalResearch Council of the Philippines.
Beyer, H. O. (1979). Early history of Philippine relations with foreign
countries, especially China. In M. Garcia (Ed.), Readings in
Philippine prehistory, (Vol. 1, pp. 113-114). Manila: Filipiniana
Book Guild.
Dorai, F. (2000). Insight guide: Philippines. Singapore:Apa Publications.
Go, B. J., (1995). Significantdata gathered from Chinese tombstones in
the Chinese cemeteries from Aparri to Jolo (nationwide). Worm
News, 29 January 1995, p. 20.
Go, B. J., & See, T.A. (Eds.). (1987).Heritage: A pictorial history ofthe
Chinese in the Philippines (pp. 2-95). Manila: Kaisa Para Sa
Kaunlaran.
Hicks, N. (2000). Globetrotter travel guide: The Philippines. London:
New Holland Publishers, p. 7.
Laufer, B. (1967). The relations of the Chinese to the Philippines.
Philippine Historical Association Historical Bulletin, 11, 1-38.
History
McCarthy, C. J. (1973). The Chinese in the Philippines. The Filipino in
the seventies (pp. 121-153). Quezon City, Philippines: New Day
Publishers.
See, C. (1988). Chinese organizations and ethnic identity in the
Philippines. In J. Cushman & Wang Gungwu (Eds.), Changing
identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese since Worm War H
(pp. 319-334). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
See, T. A. (1996). "Tales that tombstones tell" and "Historical data from
stone markers". Tulay Fortnightly, 9, November 1996, 8-10.
See, T. A. (1990). Chinese in the PhilippinesmProblems and perspectives
(Vol. 1 pp. 2, 5-7, 10, 15, 17). Manila: Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran.
See, T. A. (1997). Chinese in the PhilippinesmProblems and perspec-
tives, (Vol. 2, pp. 4-5, 14-15). Manila: Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran.
Solheim II, W. G. (1964). Pottery and the Malayo-Polynesians. Current
Anthropology, 5 (December), 5.
Tan, A. S. (1972). The Chinese and the Spanish encounter: First phase.
The Chinese in the Philippines, 1898-1935: A study of their
Chinese in the U nited States
L. Ling-chiWang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
Chinese-Americans, American Chinese, Meiguo Huaren,
Jinshanke (in the Putonghua dialect of Chinese), and
Gumsanhaak (in Cantonese).
LOCATION
The earliest migration of Chinese to the United States
was to the West Coast, particularly during the Gold Rush.
Over time Chinese migrants moved to the eastern and
southern United States. At the beginning of the twenty-
first century, the Chinese population centered in and
around the major metropolitan areas across the United
States like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Honolulu, San Jose, Houston, Chicago, Boston, San
Diego, Seattle, Atlanta, and Miami. These were cities
with prestigious institutions of higher education and
769
national awakening (pp. 21-23, 26-27). Quezon City, Philippines:
R. P. Garcia Publishing.
Tan, A. S. (1981). The Chinese in the Philippines during the Japanese
occupation, 1941-1945. Quezon City, Philippines: Asian Center
University of the Philippine Press.
Tan, A. S. (1988). Five hundred years of anti-Chinese prejudices. Paper
presented at the conference: The Many Faces of Racism,
Intolerance and Prejudices, UNESCO, Manila.
Wang, T. M. (1964). Sino-Filipino Historico-Cultural Relations.
Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 29, 3 & 4,
277-471; 280-282, Quezon City: College of Arts and Sciences,
University of the Philippines, September-December.
Wickberg, E. (1965). The Chinese in Philippine life 1850-1898. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
Wong, K. C. (1999). The Chinese in the Philippine economy
1898-1941 (pp. 50-118). Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de
Manila Press.
high-tech industries, both of which were eagerly sought
after by the Chinese-American population, especially the
post- 1965 immigrants.
HISTORY
Chinese immigration can be roughly divided into three
periods: the period of free immigration, 1849 to 1882; the
period of exclusion, 1882 to 1965; and the period of
diverse immigrants, since 1965.
Free Immigration" 1849 to 1882
The discovery of gold in California was clearly the main
attraction for Chinese merchants and peasants from
Zhujiang delta (Guangdong Province), even though most
of those who came were recruited and brought over as
contract laborers, not for the sole purposes of mining gold,