Module 4 - Learning Activity 1

Asendance of
Chinese
Mestizos
Chinese before the Spanish
The Chinese have already established relations with the Philippines even
before the Spanish came, and even when they came the Philippines
already had a significant amount of Chinese migrants from the Ming
Dynasty in China.
There were also evidences that the Chinese were involved in

intermarriages with the native Filipinos much longer than when the
Spanish arrived on the shores of the Philippines.
One of the reasons why colonial and pre-colonial Chinese in the

Philippines were largely painted out of the picture and their significance
largely downplayed is the suspicious relationship they had between the
Spaniards. This relationship intermittently turned violent, with the Chinese
always on the losing side.
Binondo
Binondo was founded by Spanish Governor Luis Perez Dasmarinas on

1584, Binondo is arguably the first Chinatown in the world.
Binondo was established by the Philippines' Spanish colonizers for the

Catholic Chinese residents of Manila
Binondo is one of the reasons Manila was chosen as capital of the

archipelago as the presence of bulk of the Chinese population was here
and they needed access to Chinese missionaries and traders.
Although the financial district of the country has moved elsewhere,

Manila's Chinatown remains a bustling business destination
The turbulent relationship of
the Chinese Mestizos and the
Spanish
In 1603, there was a mass uprising by the Chinese that is called the
Sangley Rebellion by historians today. It is still unclear as to why the
rebellion was started but it is clear to historians to day that the Spanish
reprisal was brutal. It is estimated that approximately 20,000 and another
24,000 were killed during a related quelling in 1639.
There was a famous pirate, named Koxinga, that was rumored to invade
Manila. This then prompted the Spanish to reinforce their garrisons in
Manila. However, the invasion did not materialize and anti-Chinese
sentiments grew as widespread massacre of the Chinese ran rampant
during this time, killing at least a few thousand.
The Galleon Trade
The Manila – Acapulco Trade was an important source of income for the
Spanish Empire and when it declined in middle of the 19th century, they
looked upon other items to trade to mainland Europe.
When the Suez Canal was completed in 1869, the demand for Philippine
sugar and abaca was rising and the ones who benefited the most from this
were the Chinese mestizos who owned the land where sugar and abaca
were planted on.
This created a new class in the society that reverberates to this day.
Several prominent politician and businessmen trace their roots of being a
Chinese Mestizo
Classification
From the beginning of the Spanish occupation to about 1740, the
inhabitants of the Philippines were classified into 3 classes: Spaniards,
Indios, and Chinese. The legal status of the Chinese mestizo were
ultimately resolved in 1741 when the whole population was reclassified for
purposes of tribute or tax payment into four classes: Spaniards and
Spanish mestizos who were exempted from the tribute; Indios, Chinese
mestizos, and Chinese who were all tribute-paying classes although each
class was assessed a different amount. With the classification of the
mestizos as a legally distinct class, they were entitled to form their own
Gremio de mestizos Sangleys (Guild of Chinese Mestizos) and listed apart
from the records of the natives under their own gobernadorcillo. In
villages where the mestizo tribute payers numbered from 25 to 30, they
formed their own barangay, otherwise they belonged to the nearest
barangay of the natives
A description of Chinese
Mestizos
Over the course of the 17th to 19th centuries, the treatment of the
Chinese improved, largely because of intermarrying with Filipinos, and
their indispensable role in the Philippine economy. At the end of the
1800s, there were so many wealthy and mestizo Chinese in the Philippines
that they comprised 23 percent of the population of Filipinos and
mestizos. According to Corpuz (2007), the Chinese mestizos in the
Philippines at that time were “rich, active, and intelligent.”
In the social stratification in the 19th century, the Chinese had

significantly improved their status, from being a despised outsider to being
an essential economic asset in the Philippines. In that period, the Spanish
were still considered the altas – they were at the top, while the Indios were
at the base. Meanwhile, the Chinese mestizos became a neutral populace
that served as an economic link for the Spaniards and the Indios.
Rizal’s Chinese Ancestry
Rizal’s paternal lineage can be traced back to the village of Sionque in
Chin-Chew (or Chang-chow) district in Fujian, southern China, near the
prosperous and ancient trading port of Zaiton. Among his earliest
identifiable ancestors were Siang-co and Zun-nio who gave birth to a son
who later acquired the name Lam-co. Lam-co migrated to the Philippines
sometime during the late 1600s.
Lam-co and Ines de la Rosa had a son born in 1731. They named him
Francisco Mercado, believed as a gesture of gratitude to another friar of
the same name, and also after a Spanish mestizo friar renowned for his
botanical studies. The surname “Mercado”, which means “market” in
Spanish, was quite appropriate, too, since many ethnic Chinese were
merchants, and many having adopted the same surname.
Francisco then had son who fathered another Francisco, who then
moved to Calamba where he started his own family that includes Jose Rizal
y Mercado, a loving son.
Chinese Mestizos Today
The Chinese population here in the Philippines is one of the largest in

the world and with interbreeding between Filipinos and Chinese, It’s
arguable that the number of Chinese-Filipinos may still be higher.
During the past years, almost all of the billionaires of the Philippines
were Chinese and Chinese Mestizos and it is a testament of how strong
their influence is over the Philippines for a long time.
However, during these hard times, there has been a huge anti-Chinese
sentiments here in the Philippines. There has been abuses against
Chinese-Filipino Mestizos and Mestizas alike. Coupled with the fact that
the Chinese are land-grabbing in the west Philippine sea, it’s only going to
get worse. I hope that there will be a peaceful arrangement between two
nations that has been intertwined for more than a century
Thank you,
Salamat,
谢谢
Mr. Gerard Dominic Vizcocho

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Module 4 - Learning Activity 1

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Asendance of

There were also evidences that the Chinese were involved in

One of the reasons why colonial and pre-colonial Chinese in the

Binondo was founded by Spanish Governor Luis Perez Dasmarinas on

Binondo was established by the Philippines' Spanish colonizers for the

Binondo is one of the reasons Manila was chosen as capital of the

Although the financial district of the country has moved elsewhere,

In the social stratification in the 19th century, the Chinese had

The Chinese population here in the Philippines is one of the largest in

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