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LITO MONICO C. LORENZANA[/caption]
THIS is not to disparage the Chinese. I have Chinese blood. Also, what attracted me to my girlfriend ages ago was her having kutis porselana, mala-Intsik (porcelain-like skin, just like the Chinese). And she had “Chinita eyes (Chinese-like eyes). And I married her! This would put me squarely in the camp of the Chinese. Working as a partner of a Harvard Business School grad of Chinese ancestry who propelled me to my first real serious stab at business, I imbibed in some sense a trait called “dugong Intsik ”(Chinese blood). This is simply translatable to the noble traits of hard work, persistence and a healthy, but grudging respect for and perhaps fear of authority, especially the Bureau of Internal Revenue. These types have been fleecing Chinese businessmen perhaps even from the time of the Spanish regime, when the Sangley or Intsik were confined to the Parían — outside the walls of Intramuros.