In the year 1027 BC, King Wu of Zhou and his younger brother Jidan overthrew the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) by enlisting the help of the slaves and established the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC). In order to consolidate the new state power, King Wu suppressed the rebellious tribes with the aid of Jidan, proclaiming himself […]
Starting June, Philippine passport holders will be able to enter Taiwan visa-free, and stay up to 30 days. The island nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the move – intended to boost tourism – will be on a trial basis for one year starting June 1, 2017 until July 31, 2018. Taiwan also extended to […]
I’m not sure if it has to do with my cousin and me being boys, but as early as 9 years old, our parents would leave us in the province at our aunt’s house for a few weeks during summer. If they were helicopter parents when we were younger, they eventually threw us off the […]
Since American historian Robert Batchelor discovered in 2008 the Selden Map at the basement of the Bodleian Library in Oxford University, scholars cannot agree whether it was made in the Wanli era (1573-1620), after the Dutch occupied the Moluccas in 1621, or sometime in between. But they basically agree that the map dates from the […]
Bank of China recently brought 95 client-companies to Cebu for an investors’ seminar that highlighted opportunities in the region, as well as the benefits of doing business in the Philippines. The bank’s country head Deng Jun said these companies – 25 are from Hong Kong and the rest from mainland China – had no business […]
The Department of Tourism has set as a target 12 million foreign tourists by the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022. The number may be too ambitious, but it is not unreachable if basic problems can be addressed soon. Infrastructure – roads, airport, facilities, communication and transportation – is the No. 1 logistical […]
One of the world’s oldest orchestra will perform the world premiere of Tsinoy composer Jeffrey Ching’s take on “Sinfonia Concertante in A Major,” an unfinished work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Slated for Sept. 22, the piece will be performed by Staatskapelle Dresden, an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany, founded in 1548. Esteemed German tenor and […]
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 […]
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 […]