Actually there is a lot of truth in that word "typical" not only of SEA Chinese but majority of early overseas Chinese around the world had the same expereince. Those were very trying times for Chinese life was all about preserverance, fortitude and about the future the future to give to their children, grand children a better life. Our forefathers went through a lot, Chinese in North America had to work in difficult condition as well but in the end they succeeded.

That is why majority of SEA nations one will find that the economies of those countries are mostly being manage and operated by hua kiao. Their success story speaks very clear of their discipline, dedication and strong family values to traditional Chinese way of life.

And this is what many mainlanders missed out they thought that we the hua kiaos have always had a comfortable life style but what they failed to see is that our forefathers went through a lot of hardship the same or maybe more hardship then those in mainland who suffer under Mao the only big difference is that the hardship that ourforefathers went through were investment that bare positive fruites and there was a rainbow at the end of the road.

Good thread. I'm half chinese-filipino (other half being Greek) myself, but I've never been to the Philippines (pretty much American).

I'd like to add that at least from stories from my relatives, they weren't treated as outsiders or very badly, but perhaps that is due to them being born in the PI than anything else. Everyone's experiences are different. Filipinos in general are a very warm and open people. You never saw the kind of discrimination you would see in let's say Indonesia. Most Chinese who change their names to more Filipino sounding names weren't generally forced to by the locals.

I agree Filipinos in general are very friendly and warm but IMO and in my expereince it was those Filipinos who have colonial mentality or upbringing that have a more hostile or call it racist attitude.

Most Chinese change their name to locals mainly because for convinience purposes. The Philippines have a very stringent anti forigner laws that are aim mainly on none Americans and none Spaniards. Chinese was what the law was targetted, both local Chinese even if they are of the second, third generation or even if they are married to Filipinas are not allowed to own properties or engage in business. That is why many Fil-Chinese own businesses are under the name of their Filipino relatives or wife. Fil-Chinese children whom many can hardly speak any hokkian were still holding immigration cards and are not Filipino citizens it was only during Pres. Marcos era that all Fil-Chinese especially those locally born and have Filipina mothers were allowed to become citizens.

Pres. Marcos saw the injustice towards the Fil-Chinese and he change that now majority of Fil-Chinese have become more connected to the Philippines than to China.

Philippine citizenship was very hard to acquire during those days because at that time from 1915 - 1960 the Philippines was the only productice, stable and rich nation in SOuth East Asia. Ironically though, the citizenship law was mainly only targetted against Chinese. Americans have no problem owning and operating big businesses.

In some degree it was force by the circumstances that discriminated against them to change their name to local names and this adaptation is a sign that Chinese were willing to sacrifice and work hard in order to provide a stable future to their decesdants they were willing to integrate be part of their new home new nation.

I know that. When my relatives went from China to the Philippines they changed their name in order to better assimilate into society. For example taking the full chinese name, making it your family name, and then adopting a Filipino first name, or simply filipinizing the last name to make it sound more Spanish.

In rural areas local Filipinos are very warm and hospitable they are very welcoming and many Chinese found their new homes and families in those areas. In urban settings it was different, it was a struggle as I have pointed out the hostility and aggression against the Chinese was very strong.

Time has change, the preserverance of our tai kong has bare positive fruites and the expereinces that local Pinoys have been expereincing in having to work overseas and taste for themselves what prejudisim is really like has made mojority of local Pinoys more tolerant and accepting. The many Fil-Chinese who are in the government both in the civil and military service has also made a difference. Their leadership, exemplarary duties and willingness to sacrifice their lives for the community and the nation plus their outstanding performance of improving the standard of living of their constituens and most of all the volunteer social organizations headed by different Fil-Chinese groups in providing much needed aid to the local community has really integrated Filipinos and Chinese as one.

In every disasters & calamities Fil-Chinese organization and personel will be at the fore front helping and aiding victims may it be fire, earthquake, typhoons or volcanic eruption Fil-Chinese aid groups will be there uncorruptably serving all.

dont u know that Sun Yat Sen is also a Sympathyzer for Philippine Independence? He used to support the Philippine Propagandists like Mariano Ponce in Japan. and he even Supplied arms for the Filipino Forces.
Maybe his inspiration, aside from american teachings, filipinos too. He would have Befriend Rizal in the Afterlife.

not "Sabun" but "Jabon" in Lengua Espanola.

Hello from Manila / Binondo (Chinatown)

Im probably the only white guy that lives here in Chinatown..I really live in the heart of it.
I find this thread here very interesting and I learned a lot more from the postings.
Looking forward to learn more and also to contribute...

Hello, welcome, you are now part of kai ki lang

Hi everyone!
From Manila, Philippines..
glad to have found this forum and thread..
Hmm.. FYI.. just wanna share..
former Pres. Marcos has Chinese roots too!
Also, the husband of our President Gloria Arroyo..
a Tuason... Son - Tua...

Got Chinese ancestors too.. great, great grandpa is a Coseco.
Syllabication here.. Co-Se-Co..

noticed the word "co" at the end of most Filipino-Chinese surnames.
"Co" - is a polite word in Hokkien.

Do you agree that Filipinos nowadays aren't really what you can call pure Filipinos.
According to Dr.Otley Beyer Filipinos are mix of 80% Malay and 20% Chinese.
One forumer in another forum said that in every Filipino they've got Chinese blood running through their veins.

My mom's side from Pampanga and there are a lot of mestizos there. Also, Cardinal Santos has a Chinese blood. A far-off relative of my grandma.. His mom is a Jiao.

According to Al Chinn.. an expert in Chinese lineage and Chinese surname query..
You are a royalty..
Goes out to those who have Chinese ancestors..

It could also be a translation of the Chinese family name Ko, which some have.

I also agree that most Filipinos are not what you can call pure, but as for the percentages and ethnic mixture it's mainly a matter of opinion and family background.

I would agree that 80% of Filipinos are mix either and or of Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, English, Americans, Arabs. I think mostly will be of Chinese.

Where did you get Japanese, Arab and American. Sure there are some Filipinos who are mixed with these ethnicities, but there aren't that many of them.

Also, I don't agree with the statement that most Filipinos are mixed. This study shows that only 3.6% of Filipinos are mixed with European ancestry. Do not let the Spanish names fool you. Just because the names are Spanish doesn't mean they have Spanish ancestry. Spain forced a lot native Filipinos to adopt Spanish family names in the 18th century for taxing and census purposes. Very little mixing between them occured when compared to other Spanish colonies like Mexico where some 60% are Mestizo (mixed native and European ancestry). As for Chinese ancestry, liberal estimates put the number at 40% with some Chinese blood, but a more accurate estimate is about 10 - 15%.

That info. was from the research of Dr.Otley Beyer an anthropologist.

As far as Spanish is concern, yes the Spaniards force all Pilipinos to adopt Spanish names also, many Spanish "Dons" including business people, clergy, soldiers etc. have fathered many Pilipino children. The Americans, same thing especially after WWII remember the Philippines was designated as R&R for GIs fighting in Korea and in Vietnam.

Many Japanese soldeirs & strugglers have also fathered hundreds of Pilipino kids some of them may not be pure Japanese but are of Koreans, Taiwanese or Manchrians serving in the Japanese army during WWII.

It is well known in Philippine history that Arab traders have been trading in the Philippines before the arrival of the Spaniards in fact the contact between the Arabs and Pilipinos was one big reason how Islam reach our shores first before Christianity.

From the 1960s to the present with an upsurged of Pilipinos especially Pilipinas working overseas in Europe, North America, Japan, Taiwan, and the Middle East have resulted in more mix Pilipinos being born.

I think you misunderstood my post. I didn't say it never happened, I simply stated that it wasn't enough to make a considerable cultural dent in the Philippines. I mean, the Japanese were only there for 3 years... as for the Arabs, that was over 500 years ago. Any trace of Arab blood or culture is either insignificant or concentrated in the southern Philippines.

The only ethnicities to have significant mixture with Filipinos are Chinese, Spaniard, and maybe Americans. The vast, vast majority of Filipinos are of Malay stock like Malaysians and Indonesians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1jkuqvcIWM

Mabuhay! to Fil-Chinese or modernly known as Tsinoys.

It's so sad that Filipinos still thinks that if you have a Japanese ancestor, your grandmother was raped by a Japanese soldier during the three-year occupation which is not true in all cases. Prior to the war, the Japanese(mostly mixed) was starting to flourish particularly in Davao and in the northern highlands by the turn of the century. Davao hosted the biggest community but the immigrants in northern Philippines were more 'assimilative'. Despite that, even prior to the war, many people from the 'mainstream' Filipinos were snobbish and looked down the Asian immigrants(both Chinese and Japanese) and their mixed descendants. Many mainstream Filipinos looked at the Japanese with disgust and perceived them as bowlegged. After the war, the spawning hate toward the Japanese descendants was at greater heights even if they were LEGITIMATE children(and were born PRIOR to the war) which further accelerated the assimilation process and denial of identity. Many changed their Japanese surnames to local surnames to avoid blatant discrimination but some didn't. Notable families in the north are the Hamadas and Okubos.
I don't know, but the Filipinos are starting to taste a dose of their own medicine. When the Philippines was a well off country, many Filipinos discriminated, looked down, violated human rights of the immigrants and indigenous people but now, it's otherwise. The poor nations which the Philippines used to laugh at are now faring better than the country itself and Filipinos do not make a good impression. Unlike the immigrants back then who were businessmen and skilled workers, Filipinos abroad are either maids or prostitutes. The nurses the Philippines send aren't making good
impression too. Filipinas make too much fuss about the 'good impression' when it cannot be denied that most younger nurses are not passionate about their nursing jobs. I could spare the older generations but not the younger ones. The younger ones even tainted the Nursing profession in the Philippines with the leakage scandal.

Then back in the days, Filipinos were really really racist towards the Chinese immigrants. The Philippines was never grateful to the help of the Chinese immigrants resisting the Japanese. Automatically after the war, the Chinese immigrants were bared from entering professions and acquiring citizenship. It was only during the Martial Law when the access to citizenship was not tedious. Again, another dose of medicine for Filipinos. In comparison to the non-Chinese, the poverty rate of the local Chinese is much lower than the non-Chinese.

Sadly for the Philippines, things hasn't changed much. Now hatred towards these people are not spawned by superior complex of Filipinos as it was in the past but is now spawned by jealousy. When the Desperate Housewives scandal broke out, I could not help but be ashamed of my countrymen for such hypocrisy. The guts they have in calling American names but the same is practiced by Filipinos here. Discrimination toward the Chinese and Indians is near its institutionalization. When you say China or Chinese in the Philippines, it's synonymous to drug smugglers, fake products, poor quality. When you say Indian, people, here think of them as smelly, treacherous businessmen and money lenders. Look, we even have a music video that makes fun of Indians!
http://bubblegang-video.blogspot.com/2007/...v-dj-vijay.html

In one of a local bands music video, they were mocking the Amerindian culture(Dooby doo by Kamikazee) but they are highly praised in the Philippines. When you try to correct them they call you sensitive but when Filipinos were called sensitive about the DH issue, they got madder. LOL.

Ironically too. Just days before the DH scandal one of our senators openly proclaimed, right in front of the PRC Chinese and local Chinese, that the 'Chinese invented corruption' and what's funny here is that she was one of the million who called the DH statement as a 'racist remark'. Look who's talking?

No wonder the Philippines regresses than progresses, it adheres to hypocrisy and double standards. People here even justify their wrong doings more than Mr. Bush does.

Regarding the Arab culture, it depends how you see it. If you mean direct, it's hardly plausible that the Philippines has. The Arab culture in southern Philippines is also indirect. But if you reconsider the indirect influence, it could be considered. Remember that the Arabs from Northern Africa occupied Spain of 700 years. So naturally, Spain will absorb
portions of their culture which has been passed to the Philippines due to 300 years of Spanish occupation.

The ancestry of most native Filipinos is almost impossible to trace. That's why it's funny that both Filipinos and foreigners give too much of a d**** about it. There are even some speculations that many northern hill tribes have significant amount of Chinese blood but undocumented and unrecorded. Many(not all) of them tend to look more north Asian than most Filipinos. Many people in the north who identify as 'pure indigenous' have much lighter skin(yellowish skin similar to north Asians) than tanned Filipinos. They also have very almond shaped eyes, only that they have more folds. They resemble the Chinese-mestizos.

Aside from that, I was browsing earlier and I read a post where it said that the original Chinese immigrants to the norther highlands were Cantonese? Is the Cantonese community up there still that strong or Hokkien immigrants have already outnumbered them?

I've never heard of a Filipino who assumes that if you have Japanese ancestry your grandmother was automatically raped by a Japanese soldier. Just as there were many who have been, I'm sure that there are also a lot who haven't been the product of Japanese brutality. Where did you get this misinformation?



What? Filipinos are anything but snobbish. We're some of the most hospitable people in the world (some may argue too much). In fact, Chinese culture is one of the most influential cultures in the Philippines with many people having Chinese ancestry. The Chinese-Filipinos helped build up the Filipino economy after WWII.



I can't think of any time that Filipinos "laughed" at other nations. The Philippines has always been the underdog. We have been invaded by the Spaniards, Americans, and the Japanese. Also, if you go to this statistic site on Asian Americans, on the bottom of the sixth page, you will see that Filipino-Americans have the highest level of income along with Indians of all Asian-Americans. Education is highly valued in Filipino culture so this is no surprise. The idea that all Filipino women grow up to be maids and prostitutes is a racist lie. Many Filipinos become nurses because Filipinos have a culture centered around hospitality.




I know from my family that this is not true. Of course there has been resentment against the Chinese in the Philippines, but it never goes beyond stereotypes and such. The racism that happens in Malaysia and Indonesia has never happened in the Philippines, which has been relatively peaceful in dealing with its immigrants.



The reason that Filipinos may have resentment towards the Chinese is that they are hard working and make a lot of money, but it is not a superiority complex. If anything, Filipinos have an inferiority-complex. Filipinos think that anything American is good and anything Filipino is bad. It's called a colonial mentality.



Yes, because when one Filipino is racist that automatically makes all 80,000,000 Pinoys racist.
No wonder the Philippines regresses than progresses, it adheres to hypocrisy and double standards. People here even justify their wrong doings more than Mr. Bush does.



No. Islam and Arab culture was first brought to the Philippines in the 14th century by Makhdum Karim, an Arab trader and missionary. Since then, Islam became very influential throughout the islands with many of the local datu and raja converting. It wasn't until the Spaniards arrived when Islam stopped spreading.



Impossible to trace? The first immigrants to the Philippines were the Aeta/Negrito many thousands of years ago. Some time afterwards, the Malay people came, and they form the vast majority of the Filipino people today. You then get Chinese and Arab traders in the Middle Ages, and the Spaniards in the 1500s through the 1890s. Finally, there were the Americans and Japanese who conquered the islands.

Still, 0f the 80,000,000 Filipinos, most are of Malay descent, like Malaysians and Indonesians with a lot of Chinese and Spanish mingling.

I can't really speak for everyone's case, because it differs person to person, but generally speaking, the Chinese people are not very group-oriented as other ethnic/cultural groups. Whether it's in Asia or elsewhere. My personal opinion is that they are probably one of the most individualistic and ambitious peoples in the world. Alongside how they value relationships.

I think it was Sun Yat Sen or another revolutionary who went overseas and stated how the Chinese were like grains of sand, you can pick a handful and it would fall through the cracks.

I don't think it's going to matter a lot whether China becomes very powerful or the overseas population increases. It might increase more pride and awareness of Chinese culture and identity though, and possibly more people wanting to learn more about it's history and culture. Maybe a little more respect or fear, but it depends.

Other than that, there is still going to be a lot of infighting and other problems. It's not too bad, in that at times it drives people to be more productive and work hard to achieve their goals.


I believe that some realistic solutions for overseas population would be to increase education and awareness of themselves, first as human beings, than whatever nationality they reside with, and finally being chinese.
A lot of discriminatory attitudes begin with dehumanizing a particular group, so start over by uplifting their humanity back. Most people (not including the psychopaths) would be less likely to harm another person if they first see them as human. The rest of the issues like nationality, culture, religion or origin they can argue as long as they want with respect.

Population proportion expected to drop to 20% by 2012

China has nothing to do with the ethnic Chinese with foreign nationality. Those ehtnic Chinese are technically foreigner in Chinese govmt eyes, and yes think about it, if your ancestors from Fujian, Guangdong or wherever chose to migrate overseas, and then you or your offspring are born in foreign country, have foreing nationality, why does Chinese gov't need to intevene in another country internal ehtnic issues? Only if when you are born overese but still retain Chinese nationality, should the Chinese Govt intervene. This is a fair thing to do at the current situation. Even though, I think ROC (TW) is treating those with ehtnic Chinese background a bit more differently before. But as of now, with the talk of TW indepence, and current economic clout of CHina, more are turned to China for a protection. I guess nowadays, being ethnic CHinese is no more sacred and inclusive as before, just like if you are German and have lived in USA for 3-4 generation, you are American, no longer a German govt problem.

But if you are ethnic Chinese, isn't it easier to get citizenship in PRC?

kumusta kayo diyan

ok pa ba ang thread na ito

anyway well if you notice my username its Greek coz i;m a big a Eastern Roman Empire Fan NOT that "Byzantine"

plus i;m a chinese fil talk about wierd LOL anyway i didnt inherit the eye (thank god) but i did inherit the nose so thank god i dont have that flat malay nose.

anyway the chinese is on the maternal side well my moms father once you look at him is obvious chinese while me well just the nose and an apperent appetite for chinese foods and yeah my ancestors were shipwrecked sailer form ZHeng He's treasure fleet NAH just kidding..........well my ancestors are those fleeing the commies

you're welcome here
i also a filipino with spanish and chinese blood.
by the way, not all malays are having flat noses.

just more prevalent

anyway.......my mom forgot our original chinese name after changing to "Cartago" hell that wont help much coz Cartago is Latin for Carthage but you guys might already know that. and oh yeah i never did learned chinese or mandarin although there are plenty of chinese schools here in my city. Thank God i never did LOL coz my uncle who did found it hard. I;m just maybe suited to english, bicol and tagalog

and btw the current stereotype of a tsinoy is him in in slit eyes and buck tooth then speaking in broken tagalog or english..always related to money like

"Hindi, ako, bili. niyan LUGI LUGI!"

man I maybe the one who always do that in parody but today hell they scarcely care anymore of ethinicity here.........just speak tagalog, fluently and eat balot then you can be part of it

hell one guy who is an obvious white dude can pass for a fil anytime, solely for his tagalog and bicol accent. Just cover his face and you wont notice his white....

Generally, the Philippines has already evolved to become a melting pot of cultural diversity it is more accepting and open than Malaysia or Indonesia. this evolution is a positive event that has transform the Philippines into a nation of "cultural democracy".

The only negative aspect that has not yet happen is the revitalization or rebirth of the Philippine Political system into a mature and responsible government.

What is ironic is that the Philippines has a very high rate of college and University graduates not only from local schools but many from foreign schools in the USA and Europe. Those Pilipinos who went to study abroad graduated with honors and those who graduated locally seem to have very little influence or effect in improving the Philippine political system?

As soon as they start to get invloved they too become corrupt and the system remain unchange.

Socially & culturally the Philippines is very rich and strong.

Generally because the Chinese are more accepting of Catholicism/Christianity than they are towards Islam

Not really, it just happens that catholicism and or Christtianity is more liberal, multicultural and respect cultural heritage and diversity.

One does not have to surrender or give up their ethnic identity to become a Christian.

the philippine society is rather semifeudal, semicolonial and semicapital. since the ones whom control the nation are consists of landlords and its bureaucrat-capitalists whom used to get involved in business and government affairs. in spite of being called rich and strong, and its rising economy, the philippines remained weak and poor. how will you call ang bayang pilipino rich while the gap between the rich and poor is very far? the answer is corruption, feudalism, and irresponsible governance both government and in private affairs.

ika nga:
"Ang pilipinas ay mayaman pero mahirap ang pilipino."

and on education?
the situation of education in the philippines is more like oppressive, commercialized, and on employment seemed more on manpower than in making professionals. like nurses, call centre agents, or rather, the traditional maids and masons. instead of teachers, doctors, or even farmers.

well.....
what the filipino needs is be organized and guided, and be given discipline in reforming the filipino society.

I left the Philippines in 1995, before that I use to criticised my friends and relatives for leaving or abandoning the Philippines because of the challenges there. I always said to myself and them that the only way for the Philippines to change is for us to get involved and make change happens. Little did I know that I will eat my words

After I graduated from college in 1979, and enter the work force or should I say the real life in the Philippines I would discover that the deep pit holes are full of traps, the many man eating beast that roam around in disguised.

For 15 years I presevered to make things happen and to create a stable life to myself & my young family. Could not make it it was too tough even my kung fu skill I was no match against the tenacity of evil that existed there, it was a no mans land the rule of law was very weak.

In the end, with deep sorrow I migrated with my family.

And for the last 13 years the Philippines has not change unbelievable.

That is why I have great admiration for people like Dr. Sun Yet Sen or local heroes like Benigno Aquino, or my freinds and relatives who choosed not to leave. I wish I had their fortitude and courage

I SALUTED YOU KASAMA
NARARAPAT SA IYO BIGYAN NG PAGPUPUGAY DAHIL SA IYONG KAMULATAN SA LIPUNANG PILIPINO.

if sun yat sen met rizal-they'll understand well. anyway, sun met mariano ponce, also a friend of rizal. sun is worthy to become a member of propaganda movement, but its too late, the propaganda movement end away before sun created the kuomintang.

Good to see a thread dedicated to Chinese-Filipinos. I am a Tsinoy myself.

I apologize if this was brought up before in this forum but the demografix and actual realistic size of the Chinese population in the Philippines is often always wrong. If you just go to say Wikipedia, encyclopedias, country guides, atlases, fact books, CIA website, etc - almost all will tell you that the Chinese-Filipino population is at 1 percent, 1.5 percent or 2 percent at most. It is pretty annoying. I actually brought this up to at a Yahoo groups Chinese-Filipino board. I will now tell you why the facts about the Chinese in the Philippines are wrong.

One reason is that compared to Chinese in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, the Tsinoys are more inactive in general society, and like to keep a lower profile and are not very vocal. As a result, the Chinese-Filipinos are not as well represented in Philippine society.

Another reason (and this one's for you all Tsinoys reading this) is the crappy statistics and censuses or surveys the Philippine government would conduct. Just think of this: Can you imagine your ang-kongs and ah-mas and toa-kus and toa-is participating in surveys, filling out censuses or any of that sort? Have they even ever done that? Yes, exactly, the answer is No. My own ang-kong has certainly never answered any census before. Hence, it is pretty obvious that a HUGE number of the Chinese are not even counted in the so-called 'official stats' on the demografix of the oountry and the Chinese in particular. No way do Chinese only constitute 1 or 2 percent in the entire country. Anyone who has eyes and a brain and if especially you ARE Chinese-Filipino, after a serious thought, will come to the conclusion that there's something wrong with '1 percent'. Just go to Cebu (my home city) or Manila and you'll soon realize that the official stats you see on books and Wikipedia are wrong. Even a chimp would figure it out.

I wouldn't like to 'guess' as to what the actual percentage the Chinese-Filipinos constitute (as in people who identify as 'Chinese') , but I'm pretty sure it is more than 1 percent. A more realistic and probable size is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent.

This train of thought also goes out for the Chinese in Indonesia (who are also blatanlty underrepresented in that country's official stats).

That is true. Back in Cebu, I went to church AND went to the temple to pay respects to my ancestors with oranges and pistachios!!

It varies. My angkong and ahma and the older gen practice ancestor worship but at the same time also practice Christianity. Most of the younger gen are more Christian than ancestor worship dudes.

Arguably the most common Chinese language is Hokkien. In my case, when I went to school as a small kid back in the mid 90s, I went to a Chinese school. We were taught in English, plus talked 'Filipino' (aka the Tagalog language in disguise) in 'Filipino class' and in Chinese class, we were taught in Mandarin. So it was a very multilingual atmosphere (something that I came to appreciate only now, now that I'm living in a 'boring' mono-lingual English-speaking country) and so the answer is, where I came from, six languages were spoken. Cebuano, English, Hokkien, Tagalog, Mandarin, Cantonese.

Btw, I hate the fact that people continue to call the various Chinese (and Filipino) tongues as 'dialects'.. That term is very degrading and were called so in the first place to instill a sense of inferiority in the speakers of those languages. We cannot continue to call them 'dialects' especially if they are mutually unintelligible to each other !! (Which they are)!!. Cebuano and Tagalog are separate languages, not dialects.. US and UK English ARE dialects of the English language.

Hey Spadia,

Good to see a fellow Tsinoy on the net!

Do you or did you know of any other Philippine-Chinese from other groups other than the Hokkiens and Cantonese?
It's just interesting to find out about the much smaller groups like the Hakkas, Teochius and Hailam.

I would agree on your assessment on the stat at 1% very questionable and I am glad you brought it up. Back in the 80s before I left I have travel a lot around most parts of the Philippines from Luzon, Visiaya and Mindanoa. And all the places that I have been I notice large or maybe many Fil-Chinese. Some of them are in their 4th-5th & 6th generation. Many can hardly speak hokkian dialect but they still profess their link to their hokkian ancestors & roots.

My personal assessment it would be 30% this include all those with Chinese roots of at least 25%. Many Filipinos have great grandfathers and great-great grandfathers or parents that are Chinese. Chinese that arrived in the Philippines way back in the 1800s.

The Spaniards and the Americans may have ruled the Philippines for decades but Chinese immigrants have peacefully dominated the Philippines for centuries.



I think it is also becoming a practice that many Chinese temples are also worshipping Jesus Christ as God the Father in conjunction with "Te Yah Kong"?

Hmm.. Let me guess. Driver?

Lolz, I'm cheating.. I already knew since I am Hokkien Filo too!!

It's weird. How come Chinese-Filipinos (like my family) tend to call it Fukien, while Taiwanese and Singaporeans tend to call the language Hokkien?

Really? We always call ours, Hokkien.
It's Cantonese who call Hokkien, Fukkien, because Hokkien is Fukkien in Cantonese.
Plus I call it Hokkien because Fukkien sounds ridiculous.

It is hokkian.

In one of Jackie Chan's early movies can't remember the title there was one segment where he went into a restaurant to eat, he was hungry and have no money. He spotted a businessman eating alone and he went over him started conversing with him in hokkian it goes something like this..." o kai ki lang ah, sa kap chia..etc. etc.....then when the bill came Jackie pretended he wanted to pay for the bill to show his brotherly love to a fellow province mate, the stranger step forward and insisted he pay for the bill...."bo keh ki" ah....etc. etc. " and Jackie was able to get a free meal from the stranger

No, 'Hokkien' is the agreed upon conventional English spelling of 福建人.

I am not Tsinoy but have an interest in overseas Chinese in general. I read Edgar Wickberg's book in which he says that the Chinese mestizo becomes/is regarded not as a special kind of Chinese but as a special kind of Filipino. It is a startling claim and I wondered if this was due to their conversion to Catholicism or self-identification or ...

Perhaps this is why the Chinese in Malaysia, who seem to insist that they remain Chinese (whatever that means), have more difficulties.

On the other hand, Amy Chua's World on Fire starts with a horrible account of her aunt being murdered by her driver.

I also read recently an interesting book about the Maritime College started by a Juan Lacson, a Chinese mestizo. It appears the family was completely assimilated.

How many Chua- type (un-assimilated) Chinese remain in the Philippines?

IMO, the Chinese mestizos have not really assimilated but instead have created or evolved a new identity of Filipinos with thier own tradition, heritage and customs that are differenet from ethnic Filipinos and Chinese.

Different from Filipinos and Chinese? I would say it's more of a mix between the two.

That is why a new breed, a new culture and a new society of Pilipinos.

Tell me a prominent Filipino who can trace his/her ancestry to an Aeta ancestor. Gloria Arroyo?. But then again, I doubt anyone will do. If he Igorots themselves are looked down upon by the 'other' ethic groups in the Philippines, what more with the Aetas?

I think you are mistaking 'peopling' or 'waves of migration' to 'tracing one's ancestry'

The Philippines has not always been an underdog. Back in the 50's it is a fact that the Philippines was the second richest Asian nation, only beaten by Japan, not it's one of the countries at the bottom, perhaps a little better than Junta-lead Myanmar. And sadly, such arrogance remains among many Filipinos. Take a look at this topic in crunchyroll. It's so darn racist and conceited regarding having English as an official languages. We compare ourselves that we are better in English that our Asian counterparts. Darn, such arrogance. As if many Filipinos don't interchange f's with p's and v's with v's and the inability of many to pronounce the schwa resulting therefore to pronouncing uncle as ang-khel or ang-khol. Darn, too proud about English but these people are not even alarmed that other native languages speakers are dwindling in numbers, that many Filipinos could hardly read in their mother tongue.

"The racism that happens in Malaysia and Indonesia has never happened in the Philippines, which has been relatively peaceful in dealing with its immigrants."

Don't be a fool. Racism does not exist in the Philippines? What about the Instik-beho-hindi-salita-derecho-Tagalog media stereotype that eventually permeated the psych of many Filipinos? What about the SSS that depicted the Visayans as maids, and the depiction that their accent is funny. Dude, racism is very much alive in the Philippines, it is even institutionalized. People with foreign-sounding names have to provide additional papers to prove their citizenship. Yes, including Chinese surnames and maiden names that are a**-common in the Philippines like Tan or Chua. I knew this girl who was a quarter Chinese, bearing a Chinese surname who went to the PRC for license. Guess what? She was told to get her parents birth certificate to prove her Filipino citizenship. If her surname had been Cruz, she would only need her birth certificate, not her parents. Heck, as if Cruz only exist in the Philippines. I wonder how do the government deal with the Muslims in the south who have names similar to those found in the Arab countries and Malaysia. maybe, they should present documents too in order to prove that they are not terrorists.

That is completely racist and it is institutionalized . And so is this video.

Racism does go beyond stereotypes. it results to verbal attacks. In my life I've heard many people comment, feeling maganda maitin naman, hindi naman siya mestiza. What wrong with being maitim? It even goes to the point that people don't hire this certain person because he belongs to the 'dark tribes' or the 'head hunter tribe' or the 'war freak tribe'. I came past a person who shouted "Hoy Abusayyaf!" to a muslim kid. Discrimination in the Philippines transcends stereotypes. It becomes verbal attacks and to the lesser degree(yet existent), physical attack.

The Philippine society in general is very hypocritical, hypocritical in the sense that we raise arms against foreigners who make scripts like "I want to make sure that it's not from a med school in the Philippines" yet calling people who are offended by their jokes as 'sensitive, regionalistic, kj, totoo naman...' That's pure hypocrisy. Indeed, the Filipino society is such a double standard one. It only stops being funny, when you become the butt of jokes. We find i funny if we poke jokes at other people but if we are in their shoes, we almost run amok. We like laughing at people but we can hardly laugh WITH them

"The reason that Filipinos may have resentment towards the Chinese is that they are hard working and make a lot of money, but it is not a superiority complex. If anything, Filipinos have an inferiority-complex. Filipinos think that anything American is good and anything Filipino is bad. It's called a colonial mentality."

I wonder if you understood what I was generally trying to say. True that Filipinos are colonial minded thinking that Western stuff are better but there is also superiority complex among Filipinos towards their Asian neighbors and their own fellow Filipinos. We perceive ourselves to be better in English that any other Asians, a case which is HIGHLY DISPUTABLE. We comment much on how bad the accents of our Asian neighbors are while admiring the 'sexy' British accent. Anybody who speaks Tagalog with their 'provincial' accents are mocked, bullied, made fun off.

Back then, Filipinos had superiority complex towards the Chinese. Similar to the superiority complex that the local Chinese have towards the GIs in DV. Now, because the tables have been turned, Filipinos have inferiority complex, going to the point in saying things "Bakit Chinese ang may ari ng mga negosyo dito? Dapat hindi sila, dapat purong pinoy". This mentality is a sign of inferiority complex.

"I've never heard of a Filipino who assumes that if you have Japanese ancestry your grandmother was automatically raped by a Japanese soldier. Just as there were many who have been, I'm sure that there are also a lot who haven't been the product of Japanese brutality. Where did you get this misinformation?"

It's not a secret that rape is one of the atrocities that the Japanese practiced, not only in the Philippine but in entire East Asia. That's why I said, many would be UNABLE to trace their ancestries just like many people who are the descendants of the friars won't be able to trace their Spanish ancestry. But be careful, not all Japanese-descended Filipinos are products of rape. Cities like Baguio and Davao had significant Japanese immigrants before the world war 2. One Japanese-descended family in Baguio are the Okubos and Hamadas.

And that Malay, Indonesian ancestors of Filipinos up to date, remain as a THEORY. Actually, it isn't a theory anymore because it has been disproved. Many scholars now theorize that most Filipinos have migrated from Mainland asia. It think this is more plausible because tribal people in the North(Igorots, Ibanags, Ibatans) seem to have a culture that echo the culture of the aborigines of Taiwan and the minorities of China rather than your typical SEA which is either Indian-influenced or Arab-influenced. And Malay is not even a proper term to refer to the 'brown' Filipinos, it is Austronesian.

No. Islam and Arab culture was first brought to the Philippines in the 14th century by Makhdum Karim, an Arab trader and missionary. Since then, Islam became very influential throughout the islands with many of the local datu and raja converting. It wasn't until the Spaniards arrived when Islam stopped spreading.

In the contrary, Islam was limited to certain parts of Mindanao and a little are in Manila. Majority of the islands, until the Spaniards came were animistic. As in they were pagans. Even in Mindanao, the sultanates were limited to south western Mindanao, indigenous Mindanao tribes like the Lumads were predominant then.

It's very questionable, indeed. I even wonder how they came up with such estimation when the Philippines never asks about ethnicity. It's usually what languages you speak.

Just like what reflects in the statistics. Back then, the Tagalogs were only 19% of the population, now they are 29%. It must be something with the language policy than 'ancestry'. Some non-Tagalogs might have even mistaken themselves are Tagalogs because they primarily speak Tagalog but their bloodline whould actually be Kapampangan or Ilocano(high probability in provinces like Nueva Ecija and Tarlac)

I am a Filipino-Chinese. And I am proud to be one. However, lemme remind you that there is a downside here if you are not pure chinese and you are dating someone who is from Traditional chinese family. There is a problem on this one. Most of them even if you have chinese blood, they would still not accept you to be part of their family and they would usually call you 'huana'.