First published in Tulay, Monthly Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 7 (December 11, 1988): 8. It’s Christmas, an occasion to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene. We chose for our cover this issue the picture of a little-known black Nazarene, who is worshiped mostly by Chinese in a mixture of Chinese and Catholic rites. […]
First published in Tulay, Fortnightly Chinese-Filipino Digest 25, no. 7 (September 11-24, 2012): 16, 15. It was 1986 and the People Power Revolution had just ended the 20-year rule of Ferdinand E. Marcos. People were euphoric, looking forward to a new re-established democratic order. One of the first moves the new President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino […]
First published in Tulay, Fortnightly Chinese-Filipino Digest 28, no. 13 (December 8-21, 2015): 14. 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 […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 6 (November 13, 1988), p. 10. November 1, All Saints’ Day, the day when we revisit the dead. The endless miles of people trekking to the cemeteries and parks is an all-too familiar scene. The Chinese cemetery situated in La Loma is no exception. On this […]
Excerpted from Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 6 (November 13, 1988), p. 7. Throughout the long history of the Chinese presence in the Philippines, they have made significant contributions to Philippine life – not just in the field of commerce but more importantly to the propagation of Christianity and the perpetuation of the Filipino […]
First published in Tulay Monthly 1, no. 3 (August 1988): 7 Did you know that the Filipino word lithaw (plough) and the word puthaw (axe) came from the Chinese words luey-thaw (犁頭) and po-thaw (斧頭) because it was the Chinese who taught the Filipinos the new techniques of farming, fruit growing and vegetable gardening? The […]
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 […]
Idioms, expressions Hokkien pronunciation Literal translation Meaning 嘴尖舌利 tsui tsiam tsi lai pointed mouth, sharp tongue a very talkative person 嘴笑目笑 tsui tsio bak tsio laughing mouth and eyes expression of happiness as shown in one’s smiling face 三尖六角 san tsiam lak kak three sharp edges and six angles describes something with irregular shape as […]
This is the first of a series about the Chinese Buddhist temples of the Philippines. There are around 36 in different parts of the country. Much of the information is from a thesis of Venerable Chuanmiao (Hsuan Chuang University, 2008), a Buddhist monk affiliated with the Thousand Buddha Temple in Quezon City.—Ed. Chinese temples dot […]
Author’s note: This is a continuation of Relative Finder story, “Saga after the storm,” Tulay, July 5-18, 2016 issue. How important can a piece of scribbled paper be? Sometimes, a nondescript note can mean a lot. This is a case of one such letter that my friend Ed Lim made a photocopy of and had […]