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By Go Bon Juan
(Editor’s note: The Sixth Dr.
Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held
at 7 p.m., June 14, at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda
and Cabildo streets, Intramuros, Manila.)
Do you know that an early 1901
book about war for Philippine independence became a “bestseller”
in China?
The book, History of Philippine
War for Independence, was written by Mariano Ponce in Japan in 1901
to make the world understand and sympathize with the Philippines in
its fight against the Americans for independence. Ponce had been
sent to Japan in 1898 by Emilio Aguinaldo to seek aid and buy arms.
During his stay in Yokohama, he met and befriended Sun Yat Sen,
first president of the Republic of China. Sun supported Philippine
independence by supplying Ponce with arms.
The 14 chapters of Ponce’s book
narrate how and why the Philippines had to fight the Americans right
after it had just gained her independence from Spain through armed
revolution. The book contains short biographies of Aguinaldo, Jose
Rizal and other Philippine revolutionaries.
While he was studying in Spain,
Ponce had joined Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and Graciano Lopez Jaena
in the Propaganda Movement and wrote in La Solidaridad under the
pseudonyms Naning, Kalipulako and Tikbalang.
Ponce’s History of Philippine
War for Independence was translated into Chinese in 1901 by a
Chinese student in Tokyo, and was published by Shanghai Publishing
House in 1902. The Chinese translator included an interesting and
touching subtitle for the Chinese version: “The people of China
share the same pain.”
In 1911, the book was published
again with short biography of Ponce added to the appendix. The book
was widely circulated among the Chinese revolutionaries, many of who
drew inspiration from it. By
1913, the book was on its third printing. It was again published in
1934.
People seem to think that the
Philippine fight for independence against both Spain and America
affected only Filipinos. We take for granted the significance and
impact of these great historical events in our country, unaware that
its impact transcends our borders. The Philippine Revolution of 1896
against the Spaniards was the first Asian revolution against a
Western colonial power. Our independence on June 12, 1896 and our
Malolos Constitution of 1898 were also firsts in Asia.
These events, in fact, had a
great impact on other countries in Asia, including China. Filipinos
inspired other Asians to rise up against Western colonizers. It had
got revolutionaries in other countries thinking: If a small
fragmented archipelago could rise up and free themselves from their
colonizers, why couldn’t other countries free themselves as well?
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