First published in Tulay, Fortnightly Chinese-Filipino Digest 25, no. 7 (September 11-24, 2012): 5. Surname 梁 (Liong in Hokkien, Liang in Mandarin) ranks as the 20th biggest surname in China, but only 31st among Chinese in the Philippines. The origin of the surname Liang is quite simple. It was said that an heir of the […]
First published in Tulay, Fortnightly Chinese-Filipino Digest 25, no. 5 (August 14-27, 2012): 5-6. Surname 邱 (Cu, Koo or Khu in Hokkien, Qiu in Mandarin) ranks 30th among Chinese in the Philippines. In China, it ranks only 65th. 邱 was written as 丘 without the 阝 ear character on the right side. In fact, this […]
First published in Tulay, Fortnightly Chinese-Filipino Digest 28, no. 13 (December 8-21, 2015): 5-6. In the course of researching an article of Salvador P. Escoto (1960-2007) on “Expulsion of the Chinese and Readmission to the Philippines: 1764-1779” in Philippine Studies 47.1 (1999), we found another article Escoto co-authored with John N. Schumacher in Philippine Studies […]
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 24, nos. 15-16 (January 17-February 6, 2012): 5. The surname 高 (Ko in Hokkien, Gao in Mandarin) ranks 19th among Chinese surnames in China, and 24th among Chinese in the Philippines. Gao was first used as surname in China by Lü Fu (呂服), the son of the sixth […]
First published in Tulay, Monthly Chinese-Filipino Digest 2, no. 5 (October 22, 1989): 5. Up to the first half of this century, there were few Chinese families in Cagayan de Oro, and most of them were engaged in the retail and wholesale trade. According to A History of Cagayan de Oro: 1622-1901 (Mardomo Lao, 1980), […]
First published in Tulay, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 3 (August 1988): 10. The history of Chinese women in Southeast Asia has been a recent one. Most of the early Chinese who came to the Philippines were traders or laborers who left their wives and families in China. Thus, even as late as 1903, there were […]
First published in Tulay Monthly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 1, no. 1 (June 1988): 3. Definition of Terms Ethnic Chinese are people with some measurable degree of Chinese parentage, who can speak and understand at least one Chinese dialect, who have received a minimum of Chinese education and who have retained some Chinese customs and traditions enough […]
In 1948, a few years after the close of World War II, the number of the Chinese in the Philippines decreased in proportion to the country’s total population. Of the 121,702 Chinese in the Philippines, 2,126 were cooks and 963 were carpenters. Interestingly, there were 1,114 Chinese bankers, 1,669 domestic helpers, 181 family drivers, 99 […]
In the minds of many people, there is a prevailing perception that most, if not all, the Chinese in our country are businessmen. But is it true? Based on the 1903 census, among the 41,035 Chinese in the Philippines, there were 2,931 cooks, 2,508 carpenters, 1,363 shoemakers, 1,355 messengers, 998 servants, 549 bakers, 495 blacksmiths, […]