Scribd
Upload
57 views19 pages

Ascendance of Chinese Mestizos: Lesson 4

1) Chinese mestizos were more numerous than other ethnic groups in the Philippines and played a significant role in the development of the Filipino middle class and reforms. 2) They were readily assimilated into native society and assumed important economic and political roles. 3) By the 1800s, Chinese mestizos began to influence public opinion in the provinces and were seen as a potential leader of independence movements against Spain.

Uploaded by

Aivonny Peñaranda Corbita
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
57 views19 pages

Ascendance of Chinese Mestizos: Lesson 4

1) Chinese mestizos were more numerous than other ethnic groups in the Philippines and played a significant role in the development of the Filipino middle class and reforms. 2) They were readily assimilated into native society and assumed important economic and political roles. 3) By the 1800s, Chinese mestizos began to influence public opinion in the provinces and were seen as a potential leader of independence movements against Spain.

Uploaded by

Aivonny Peñaranda Corbita
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 19

LESSON 4

Ascendance of
Chinese
Mestizos
The Chinese Mestizos and the
Formation of the Filipino
Nationality
by: Antonio S. Tan
• Chinese mestizo played an important part in the
creation and evolution of what is now called the
Filipino nation.
• They played significant role in the formation of the
Filipino middle class, in the agitation for reforms, in
the 1998 revolution, and in the formation of what is
known as the Filipino NATIONALITY.
Chinese mestizo proved to be a more
significant element in the Philippine society for
three reasons:

• Chinese mestizo was more numerous as there was a greater


infusion of Chinese blood than any other blood in the
Filipino.
• Chinese mestizos were readily assimilated into the fabric of
the native society.
• They assume important roles in the economic, social,
political life of the nation.
The dilemma was resolved through the policy of:

“Converting the Chinese and


encouraging marriages
between Catholic Chinese and
Catholic Indio.
Any person born of a Chinese father and an
Indio mother was classified a Chinese mestizo.
Subsequent descendants were listed as Chinese
mestizo. A mestiza who married a Chinese or
mestizo, as well as their children, was registered
as a mestizo, but a Chinese mestiza who
married an Indio was listed, together with her
children, as Indio.
In 1740, inhabitants of the Philippines were
classified into 3 classes:
• Spaniards
• Indio
• Chinese
In 1741, the legal status of Chinese mestizo was resolved when the
whole population was reclassified for the purposes of tributes or tax
payment into four classes:

• Spaniards and Spanish mestizo – exempted.


• Chinese – pays 3x of the tax that Indios are paying.
• Chinese mestizo – pays 2x of the tax that indios are paying.
• Indios – pays the less tax.
• John Bowring described Chinese mestizo as more active and
enterprising, more prudent and pioneering, more oriented to trade
and commerce than the Indios.
• Feoder Tagor called the Chinese mestizo as the richest and most
enterprising portion of the entire population.
• W.G. Palgrave commented in 1876 that Chinese mestizo as
intellectually they are superior to the unmixed around them. Their
members; taken in comparison with that of the entire population is
not great; but their wealth and influence go far to make up this
deficiency
In 1760, expulsion of many Chinese because of their
cooperation with the British government who occupied
in Manila enabled the energetic and enterprising
Chinese mestizos to penetrate markets which had been
preserved by the Chinese.
The Rise of the
Middle Class to
Social Prestige
• The new middle class would express themselves in
novel artistic terms and followed the model of
Hispanic-European culture and was getting
entrenched in many pueblos or towns.

• According to Wickberg, the wealth they acquired and


the manner they spent it, made them the arbiter of
fashion, customs, and style of living.
• John Bowring, wrote in 1850 that many of them adopt the European
costume, but where they retain the native dress that is finer in quality,
gayer in color, and richer in ornament. The men commonly wear
European hast and stocking.

• In the 1870s more families were able to send their children to Spain,
and later to progressive countries like, France, England, Austria, and
Germany.
The Chinese Mestizo in the
Formation of the Filipino
Identity
The Chinese mestizo getting wealthy, too independent minded,
sizeable enough to be to form their own Grenio Mestizo de Sangley.
• By 1800s Chinese mestizo in the provinces began to set the
tone of public opinion.

• In 1827, Manuel Bernaldez Pizzaro already observed that the


Indio and Mestizo clerics had dangerous tendencies to
revolution.

• Is a potential nucleus around which the Indio insurrection


might be organized, and predicted that the Chinese mestizo
would in time dominate public opinion.
The government put pressure or race hatred between the Chinese mestizo and natives
to separate the two classes. They believed that they should be separated because:

• the native is strong in its number.


• the Chinese mestizo is intelligent
and wealthy.
The authorities suggest promoting rivalry and jealousy, and to
foment antagonism between the two classes:

• Declare the rank of gobernadorcillo for the Indio


superior to that meant of the mestizo.

• Have separate theatres for each, by which they could


attack and ridicule each other.

• Imposed land taxes on the Chinese mestizo and a


distinctive dress for them
THANK YOU
Reporters:
Shienacon Santos
Jhonna Villanueva

You might also like