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Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity, and Culture, 1860s-1930s by Richard T. Chu
galateadoesbooks's review
5.0
A pretty detailed history of some of the most visible Chinese and Chinese mestizos that lived in the Philippines and how they influenced current Philippine society
It was pretty revealing in showing the historical structures that cause a lot of current typical cultural practices associated with Tsinoys, as well as the individual histories of success and oppression that they went through
the author goes for the long game, starting with a chapter on the Minnan region, the main region where most Chinese came from, as evidenced by how today most Tsinoys don't speak Mandarin as their main Chinese dialect, but Hokkien, or "閩南語 (Minnan Hua, meaning 'Minnan Language')", also known as "咱儂話 (Lán-lâng-oē, meaning 'our language')", and then going from that to the broad strokes of the Spanish colonization up until 1850s, when he zooms in and starts talking about specific cultural, economic, and social practices that, amazingly enough for an academic book, never get boring.
From the Spanish period up until today, certain things seem to remain constant. There is a long, storied history of Anti-Chinese racism in the Philippines, which in numerous times have resulted in outright massacres. Historically, most Chinese were employed as cheap hard labor, while the most financially prominent ones who achieved large financial success were usually scapegoated as "aliens" who contributed little to the Philippine economy, a sentiment that intensified in the American colonial period, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was signed in 1882 extended to apply to the Philippines in 1903, which, as the name suggests, excluded Chinese.
the growing surge of Nationalism (and Imperialism) worldwide in the 20th century forced people to ask who /exactly/ counted as "Filipino", as "Chinese", and these were questions that were answered multiple times over, with the loud voices of the law, as well as the little whispers of individual action.
That being said, we're still here, we have no idea what the fuck is going on, but at least this book helps.
It's helped a damn lot, highly recommended.
It was pretty revealing in showing the historical structures that cause a lot of current typical cultural practices associated with Tsinoys, as well as the individual histories of success and oppression that they went through
the author goes for the long game, starting with a chapter on the Minnan region, the main region where most Chinese came from, as evidenced by how today most Tsinoys don't speak Mandarin as their main Chinese dialect, but Hokkien, or "閩南語 (Minnan Hua, meaning 'Minnan Language')", also known as "咱儂話 (Lán-lâng-oē, meaning 'our language')", and then going from that to the broad strokes of the Spanish colonization up until 1850s, when he zooms in and starts talking about specific cultural, economic, and social practices that, amazingly enough for an academic book, never get boring.
From the Spanish period up until today, certain things seem to remain constant. There is a long, storied history of Anti-Chinese racism in the Philippines, which in numerous times have resulted in outright massacres. Historically, most Chinese were employed as cheap hard labor, while the most financially prominent ones who achieved large financial success were usually scapegoated as "aliens" who contributed little to the Philippine economy, a sentiment that intensified in the American colonial period, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was signed in 1882 extended to apply to the Philippines in 1903, which, as the name suggests, excluded Chinese.
the growing surge of Nationalism (and Imperialism) worldwide in the 20th century forced people to ask who /exactly/ counted as "Filipino", as "Chinese", and these were questions that were answered multiple times over, with the loud voices of the law, as well as the little whispers of individual action.
That being said, we're still here, we have no idea what the fuck is going on, but at least this book helps.
It's helped a damn lot, highly recommended.
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