First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 24, no. 20 (March 20-April 9, 2012): 5. Chinese surname 顏 (Yan in Mandarin, Gan in Hokkien) ranks 26th among Chinese in the Philippines. However, in China, it ranks 112th, according to identification cards of the Ministry of Public Security in 2009, probably because 90 percent of Tsinoys […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 2 (July 1988): 3. Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran is for cultural integration and political, social and economic assimilation. What is the difference between integration and assimilation? When these two terms are used by non-technical people, they are more or less interchangeable. They are affirmed of people […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 2 (July 1988): 5. I belong to the Laurel family. No, not the Laurels of Batangas, but the Laurel of Pasay. It’s us who had a political detainee, a sauna bath owner and an English major in our family. Maybe mentioning a fishing magnate in our […]
First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 24, No. 18 (February 21-March 5, 2012): 5. The surname Yao (姚) has same pronunciation in Mandarin and Hokkien. It is the 62nd most populous surname in China, and ranks 25th among Chinese in the Philippines. The history of the surname Yao has to do with well-known and […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 1 (June 1988): 3. Definition of Terms Ethnic Chinese are people with some measurable degree of Chinese parentage, who can speak and understand at least one Chinese dialect, who have received a minimum of Chinese education and who have retained some Chinese customs and traditions enough […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 1 (June 1988): 6, 12. In the same manner as one “learns warfare through warfare,” you learn language by speaking it,” said our interpreter-guide, Comrade Zhang. “Now that you are in China,” he said, “you will learn Chinese.” Waving given such advice after we requested for […]
First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 23, no. 15-16 (January 18-31, 2011): 5. Desperate times call for desperate measures. When enemies come, there are many ways to protect oneself: run away and hide, change your name, wear a disguise, and so on. These practices are as old as time, especially in China. Self defense […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 1 (June 12, 1988): 4, 11. When I was in high school, I was fitted for contact lenses, after wearing eyeglasses since I was in third grade. The day it was accomplished the doctor – a kindly, rather enthusiastic man called me to his desk and […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 1 (June 12, 1988): 3, 9. Archaeological and anthropological studies as well as ancient Chinese re-cords indicate that thousands of years before the Spaniards set foot on the Philippine islands, the Chinese were already plying the route from Southern China to all parts of the Philippines […]
In 1948, a few years after the close of World War II, the number of the Chinese in the Philippines decreased in proportion to the country’s total population. Of the 121,702 Chinese in the Philippines, 2,126 were cooks and 963 were carpenters. Interestingly, there were 1,114 Chinese bankers, 1,669 domestic helpers, 181 family drivers, 99 […]