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By Go Bon Juan
Editor’s note: The Sixth Dr.
Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence will be held at 2 p.m., June 14,
at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda corner Cabildo
streets, Intramuros, Manila.
When people talk about the
galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco (1565 to 1815), much
attention is placed on the trade itself, its economic significance,
and, to a certain degree, its cultural influence. Little attention
is given to the movement of people, especially of the ethnic
Chinese.
In volume 2 of the five-volume
work entitled Five Thousand Years of History of China and Foreign
Cultural Exchange from China’s World Knowledge Publishing House,
section six of chapter 10 narrates the settlement of the Chinese in
Latin America.
According to documents that date
back to around the late 16th century and first half of the 17th
century, Chinese merchants, artisans, sailors and helpers arrived in
Mexico and Peru to do business or work there, through the Manila
galleon trade.
Since Spanish colonizers
monopolized the trade between the Philippines and Mexico, the
Chinese who went to Latin America had to pass through Manila.
Consequently, they were called Manila Chinese. They were mostly
merchants, serfs and sailors.
In the late 16th century, in
order to develop and exploit Latin America, the Spanish colonizers
ordered and allowed Chinese artisans to enter Latin America. Thus,
thousands of Chinese artisans, including weavers, tailors,
carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, jewelry smiths and barbers were
continuously transferred from Manila to work there.
Not only that, as it was said
that there were some Chinese sailors on the Manila galleon who could
not bear slave labor and the torture they suffered from the Spanish
colonizers. Thus, they often escaped when the galleon reached the
Acapulco port and settled down across Latin America. It was
estimated that in the middle of the 17th century, Manila Chinese who
moved to the Americas were about 5,000 to 6,000.
Persecution also encouraged the
Chinese to catch the galleon out of Manila. There were periodic mass
expulsions, plus five massacres during the 17th and 18th centuries
when 70,000 to 80,000 Chinese were killed.
This is the role played by Manila
in the history of the Chinese in Latin America. It is safe to say
that the forefathers of the Chinese in Latin America, especially
those in Mexico, were Chinese from the Philippines or the Manila
Chinese.
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