First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino DigestSeptember 6-19, 2016, vol. 29, no. 7 What does Francisco Balagtas, the “Prince of Tagalog Poets,” have got to do with Binondo?Balagtas was a significant part of Binondo’s cultural history, according to a book by Fred Sevilla.Most historians refer to Binondo as the economic center of the Philippines during […]
First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digestvol. 29 | no. 14 | December 20, 2016-January 16, 2017 In 1221, the army of the Northern Jin (金) Dynasty (1115-1234) moved southward to attack Qi Zhou (蘄州) of the Song Dynasty. At the time, the term of Li Cheng Zhi (李誠之) as governor of Qi Zhou prefecture […]
Halfway into his reign, Ming Emperor Wan Li (萬曆 1573-1620) deployed a lot of eunuchs across the country to serve as mine supervisors and tax collectors. Invoking revenue generation, the eunuchs wantonly extorted large sums of money from the people. This further oppressed the masses, especially those living in dire poverty and had no livelihood. […]
China’s reformists and revolutionists had paid great attention and importance to the Philippine war for independence. This is attested by the fact that a book written by renowned propagandist Mariano Ponce is probably the first book by a Filipino translated into Chinese and published in China – not once, but twice. The first edition came […]