Thanks to Dr. Santiago Albano Pilar’s coffee table book The Life and Art of Isabelo Tampinco (2004), the most “unheralded” Filipino artist in the late 18th century, “the forgotten master” Isabelo Tampinco, has become known to people like us interested in Philippine culture and history. Tampico was the master in the art of sculpting as …
Eugenio Menegon’s book, Ancestors, Virgins and Friars: Christianity as a local religion in late Imperial China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2009), is a history of a 400-year-old community in Fu’an county (福安市) in Fujian province, China. What makes the book really interesting and significant are historical materials and information about the Chinese in the Philippines …
Long before the arrival of the Spaniards in the Kingdom of Manila or even before Rajah Soliman ruled in the 16th century, there already existed an ancient kingdom called Namayan. Established in the 11th century, the precolonial settlement in Santa Ana was the oldest along the Pasig River. Last October, the revised edition of the …
