China was brought to its knees by the imperial powers more than a century ago. But slowly, it has restored and restructured social order, reconstructed and rebuilt infrastructure, reinvigorated and redirected the national spirit to achieve swift and unprecedented growth and development. Thus, China has great reasons to celebrate, and it did. On Oct. 1, […]
Why the silence and inaction? The Commission on Elections on Sept. 9 released the report on the recount and revision of votes in three pilot provinces where losing 2016 vice-presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. alleged massive cheating had taken place. After the recount, Vice President Leni Robredo increased her winning margin by nearly […]
In this issue, allow me to reprint a lengthy excerpt from a speech delivered by known Chinese community leader Alfonso Zarata Sy Cip in Cebu in 1916. The speech, which opposed the extension of America’s Chinese Exclusion Act in the Philippines, is rare for a leading light of the Chinese community at the time, beside […]
People seldom pay attention to demography, even less appreciate its importance and social implication. From a newly acquired rare book, Our Island Empire by Charles Morris (1899), we came to know that in 1855, “among 525 Chinamen in the fortress of Manila (apparently, Intramuros—Ed), there were only two women and the 5,055 Chinamen in Binondo […]
Li Jing Rang (李景讓) was appointed by Tang Dynasty Emperor Wu Zhong (唐武宗) as supervisor of western Zhejiang (浙江) in September 846. But his fame was due in great part to his mother, Madame Zheng 鄭氏 (in ancient China, the wife is mentioned and recorded by her surname only), a person of good strong character. […]
The recent ruckus over the aborted release from prison of former mayor Antonio Sanchez of Calauan, Laguna, flushed out a lot of hitherto buried issues. The public outrage over the order to release Sanchez, a rape and murder convict, brought forth the issue of nontransparency and secrecy in implementing Republic Act No. 10592 or the […]
There is a Chinese saying, “Kaijuan youyi (開卷有益).” It means reading is always profitable. Another, “Shali taojin (沙裡淘金),” means there are gold grains to be found in sand or the essential from a large mass of materials. The two sayings have long been our motto in our research on the Chinese in the Philippines. To […]
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has publicly admitted the seriousness of problems emanating from their citizens’ involvement in Philippine offshore gaming operations and gambling-related crimes, for that reason they recommend that if you like gambling you research for all the info that you would need where that you start to be sure that you […]
Lin Ze Xu (林則徐 Aug. 30, 1785-Nov. 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar-official of the Qing Dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839-1842. On June 3, 1839, Lin Ze Xu ordered the destruction of opium. By June 25, all opium, totaling 2,376,200 jins (斤 or half a kilo) had […]
First, we hear self-ascribed whistleblower Bikoy, Peter Joemel Advincula in real life, implicating President Rodrigo Duterte’s children and allies in the illegal drug trade. Next thing we know, he was singing a different tune and accusing the political opposition of plotting to oust the president. In between were more twists and turns in his tales. […]