The country lost two Tsinoy industry titans recently with the passing of Mariano Que, 96, of Mercury Drug Corp. and Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco, 94, founding chairman of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and Malayan Insurance. Que founded Mercury Drug Corp., through which he brought innovations to the drug retailing sector. He repackaged bulk medicine into smaller …
Not many people know that Iloilo was once the textile capital of the Philippines, and that the Iloilo Chinese Textile Dealers Association, organized in 1880, was the first Chinese textile dealers’ association in the Philippines. It was formed five years earlier than the one in Manila, which was organized in 1885. What made Iloilo the …
The rise and fall of Chinese textile business in Iloilo Read More »
I spent the Lunar New Year and the succeeding month in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in the hills outside Kathmandu. There were no fireworks or astrological predictions, no hopeful statements of and resolutions for a good year ahead. It was, in summary, a nine-full-day prayer ceremony to greet the Lunar New Year. Full without any …
People assume that you need loads of cash to set up a proper history museum filled with an extensive collection of artifacts and antiques. Wilven Infante, a 49-year-old school teacher at the Pedro Guevara Elementary School on San Fernando Street in the San Nicolas district in Manila, is one person who disproves that assumption. Pedro …
In 1752, the Spanish monarch issued a royal decree mandating the Governor General Pedro Manuel de Arandia y Santisteban to construct warehouses within the cannon firing range of Manila. It was more than just a place to store goods – it was a place where Chinese traders could stay and sell their goods. The site …
I’ve always thought of myself as creative. My constantly restless hands have this urge to do some kind of aesthetically productive work. That search for an artistic endeavor led to my discovering Chinese painting. Most Chinese painting exhibited in museums and Chinese homes are typically scrolls of landscape in black and white, or with minimal …
Each year, smoking-related diseases cause the most number of deaths in the Philippines. What is worse is that smokers actually hurt the non-smokers around them by letting them inhale its toxic fumes. A study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute shows that 47 percent of Filipino males and 16 percent of females are smokers: …
Few ancient Chinese rulers are worthy of the title of poet or man of letters. Yet Emperor Wu Du of Wei, Cao Cao by name, who was an outstanding statesman and strategist, was a distinguished poet as well. Su Shi, a famous man of letters in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), admired him so much that …
Hokkien, on the tongues of Tsinoys, has grown and evolved, taking on a life of its own. Sometimes words simply fail us. With some creativity, Tsinoys have strung together words to form colorful phrases that simply hit the bull’s eye. Here are some expressions unique to Hokkien as favored by Tsinoys. 糊里糊塗 ho di ho …
Pandas love to eat bamboo – save for one wild panda in Sichuan province who was spotted exploring new tastes. A villager in Leshan, Sichuan province discovered the panda foraging away from its mountainous habitat area, enjoying a goat meal. The panda lingered for a while after its meal before returning home. Though bamboo is the …
