Chinese-Filipino ties

FORBES magazine just released its 2015 list of 50 richest Filipinos, showing that the top 4 were taipans of Chinese descent. The list is but one indication of the vitality and central role of Chinese Filipinos in Philippine business and society.

The Chinese were said to have interacted and traded with Filipinos as early as 972 A.D., during the Song Dynasty (960 A.D. – 1279 A.D.), though some hypothesize that the interaction started even earlier. The first migration of ethnic Chinese to the Philippine archipelago, however, occurred during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), predating the arrival of the Spaniards.

For the most part, Sino-Filipino relations have been neighborly. In fact, there was one instance where Filipinos came to the aid of the Chinese. A 1594 famine in Fujian province—from where 90 percent of Chinese immigrants to the Philippines originated—was averted when kamote from Luzon was brought in and planted upon orders of the province’s governor. Thousands of Fujianese lives were saved and for that, kamote was named jinshu or “golden root.”

In a similar neighborly act, Chinese traders were said to have introduced swamp buffaloes—or carabaos—to the Philippines, according to some historical accounts. In 2010, Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) researchers confirmed the Chinese lineage of our hardy beasts of burden after they conducted DNA tests.

Throughout most of the 20th century, Filipinos remained welcoming neighbors. Waves of Chinese immigrants were easily integrated and assimilated into Philippine mainstream society, in contrast with other Southeast Asian countries, where bitter and deadly race riots occurred.

By some estimates, Chinese Filipinos probably comprise 15% to 20% of the Philippine population—one out of 5 Filipinos today. Chinese blood is said to make up 10 percent of the Filipino’s racial composition. If projected to present-day numbers, this is equal to more than 10 million Filipinos.

All these mark deep filial and cultural connections between Filipinos and Chinese. And given how the new militaristic rulers treat the Philippines with unusual hostility and unprecedented aggression over the West Philippine Sea, one wonders how much of history matters to the current ruling Chinese leadership.

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com