Sangley

Sangley (Sangleye, Sangley Mestizo, Mestisong Sangley, Mestizo de Sangley or Chinese mestizo; plural: Sangleys or Sangleyes), is an archaic term used to describe and classify a person of pure Chinese ancestry while mestizo de sangley was used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and Indio ancestry. It was widely used in the sixteenth to nineteenth-century Spanish Philippines to differentiate them from the other types of mestizos (such as those of mixed Indio and Spanish ancestry) living in the islands. The Chinese mestizos were granted the legal status of colonial subjects of Spain, with certain rights and privileges denied both the pure-blooded Chinese immigrants (sangleys) and indigenous persons (indios).

Today, Tsinito (literally, "little Chinese man"; Spanish: Chinito) is liberally used to describe a Sangley, but it also usually includes Filipinos of other East Asian ancestries (Japanese, Korean, etc.) who possess the same prominent physical features. Tsinoy or Chinese Filipino, on the other hand, is used to refer to Filipinos of Chinese descent, regardless of cultural orientation or racial pedigree. Among Spanish-Chinese mestizos, many simply use and prefer the generic term mestizo to describe themselves.

Etymology

This term comes from the Hokkien Chinese word seng-di (traditional Chinese:生意; POJ: seng-lí), meaning, 'business'. Although mestizo de sangley literally means 'mixed-race (person) of business', its implicit meaning is 'mixed-race (person) of Chinese descent'. By default, mestizo without the qualifying de sangley means a 'mixed-race (person) of Spanish/European and indio ancestry'. However, the common usage of the term mestizo referred to mestizo de sangley due to the minuscule numbers of español mestizos in the Philippines, as explained by W. E. Retana in his testimony before the United States Philippine Commission (1899-1900) and in his Diccionario de filipinismos (1921). The term chino mestizo was also used interchangeably with mestizo de sangley.

Background

During the Spanish Colonial Period, large numbers of Spaniards settled in the Americas which resulted in widespread miscegenetion between white male settlers, indigenous women and African slaves. The Spanish authorities developed and established a highly complex caste system based on a racial hierarchy of whiteness. The racial doctrine called limpieza de sangre or cleanliness of blood was applied to the caste system which described and classified a person based on their purity of Spanish blood. Some of the castes defined were as follows:

Term	Definition
Criollo	100% Spanish but native-born
Castizo	75% Spanish and 25% Indio
Mestizo	50% Spanish and 50% Indio
Cholo	25% Spanish and 75% Indio
Indio	pure-blooded indigenous person

Mixed-race persons of Spanish ancestry with less than one-eight indio blood could be legally classified as criollo or white.

In the Philippines, the number of Spanish settlers was so small that a different caste system was developed, as follows:

Term	Definition
Indio	indigenous person
Sangley	pure-blooded Chinese immigrant
Mestizo de Sangley	mixed-race person of sangley and indio ancestry; also called chino mestizo
Blancos	whites (español mestizos, tornatrás, insulares or español filipinos, and peninsulares)
Insulares	pure-blooded Spaniards born in the Philippines (literally "from the islands"); also called español filipinos
Peninsulares	pure-blooded Spaniards born in Spain (literally "from the peninsula"); also called Spanish Conquistadores

This legal system of racial classification based on patrilineal descent had no parallel anywhere in the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas. In general, a son born of a sangley male and an indio or mestizo de sangley female was classified as mestizo de sangley; all subsequent male descendants are mestizo de sangley regardless of whether they marry indio or mestizo de sangley. A daughter born in such manner, however, acquire the legal classification of her husband, i.e., she becomes an indio if she marries an indio but remains mestizo de sangley if she marries another mestizo de sangley or a sangley. In this way, a chino mestizo male descendant of a paternal sangley ancestor could never lose his legal status as a mestizo de sangley no matter how little percentage of sangley blood he has in his veins or how many generations has passed since his first sangley ancestor; he is thus a mestizo de sangley in perpetuity.

Unlike Latin America where large numbers of Spanish Conquistadores or Spanish male settlers procreated with indio women, the Philippines attracted successive waves of sangleys or Chinese immigrant males who intermarried with indio women and sired a new race called mestizo de sangley. During the Spanish Colonial Period, the offspring of a white Spanish male and an indio woman was called mestizo. If a white Spanish male procreated with a mestizo woman, the offspring was called castizo. If a white Spanish male procreated with a castizo woman, the offspring reverted back to criollo status based on the racial doctrine called limpieza de sangre or cleanliness of blood.

In the Philippines, the Spanish authorities classified peninsulares, insulares, tornatrás and español mestizos as blanco or white. The insulares were also called español filipinos to distinguish them from criollos born in the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas who were also called español americanos. The español mestizos were legally classified as blanco or white as distinct and separate from the chino mestizos who were legally classified as mestizo de sangley. A sangley could marry a blanco in which case the offspring would be classified as tornatrás, literally to turn back from indio. Also, a person could alter one's legal classification through an administrative procedure called gracias al sacar or dispensa de ley. Jose Rizal's father paid to change his status from mestizo de sangley to indio in order to avoid paying higher taxes. And thus, Rizal whose paternal ancestor was a Catholic sangley by the name of Domingo Lamco was legal classified as indio. To free his descendants from the anti-Chinese policies of the Spanish authorities, Domingo Lamco adopted the Spanish surname "mercado" which means 'market' signifying their sangley roots. Later, after Claveria's degree requiring the adoption of new Spanish surnames, Rizal's father adopted "ricial" which means 'green fields', later modified to the present form "Rizal". Towards the end of his brief life, the Spanish authorities reclassified Jose Rizal as mestizo de sangley during his trial despite his attempt to have himself classified as indio.

History

The Kingdom of Spain was born out of the marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabela of Castile in 1469. To consolidate their power, the Catholic Monarchs had initiated the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 to purge their newly united Kingdom of secret heretics. Their target were the Jewish conversos who had earlier converted to Catholicism in response to violent pogroms. In 1492, the Catholic Monarchs expelled the Jews from Spain upon recommendation of the Grand Inquisitor, a Jewish converso himself by the name of Tomas de Torquemada. That same year, the last Muslim Kingdom of Granada fell to Christian matamoros, capping more than seven centuries of the Spanish Reconquista. Meanwhile, Christopher Columbus landed in Hispanola to claim the New World on behalf of Catholic Spain, leading to the large-scale settlement of Iberian Conquistadores.

The Spanish Conquistadores landed in Las Islas de Filipinas which they named in honor of Philip II of Spain. But the Spanish colonization of the Philippines required an alien workforce which resulted in the influx of Chinese immigrants to the islands. Almost immediately, mutual suspicion and animosity arose between the Spanish authorities and the sangleys. Dependent upon the Chinese for their economic role as traders and artisans but fearful of sangley revolts, the Spanish authorities enacted policies designed to restrict their occupation, residence and movement, ultimately confining them to a place called the Parían near Intramuros. Distrustful of the sangleys, the Spaniards decided to interbreed a new race who would become loyal subjects of the Spanish Crown and faithful adherents to the Catholic Faith. To this end, the Spaniards succeeded in converting many of the sangleys to Catholicism, encouraged them to intermarry with the indios, and to adopt Spanish surnames and customs. In many cases, their Chinese names were Hispanized by concatenation, examples: Lacson, Biazon, Tuazon, Ongpin, Yuchengco, Quebengco, Cojuangco, Cukingnan, Yupangco, Tanbengco, Tanjuatco, Locsin, Tetangco, etc. Some adopted Spanish or indo surnames, examples: Lopez, Palanca, Paterno, Rizal, Laurel, Osmeña, etc.

In 1574, a few years after the Spaniards established Manila as the colonial Capital of the Philippines, the Chinese Pirate Limahong ((traditional Chinese: 林風) attacked Manila, burned it to the ground but failed to expel the Conquistadores. The visit of several Chinese Mandarins accompanied by a large fleet of ships led to suspicion and fear of another imminent invasion by Chinese forces. Led by Luis Pérez Dasmariñas who wanted to avenge his father's death (Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was the highest ranking Spanish official killed by sangleys), the First Great Massacre of 1603 took place in Manila in which up to 24,000 sangleys died. Fearing a reprisal from China, the Spaniards tried to explain their actions to the Chinese Ming rulers and were quite surprised to learn that the Chinese rulers viewed the sangleys as "wicked people" who had abandoned their ancestral homeland. As it were, the Chinese rulers at the time had banned the emigration of their subjects and considered those who had abandoned their ancestral homeland to settle in foreign lands as traitors who ceased to be Chinese. Besieged by the Dutch in the first half of the 17th century, the Spanish Conquistadores realized their vulnerable position in their newly established colony in the Far East. After the Dutch founded a colony in Southern Taiwan (Isla Formosa) in 1624, the Spaniards decided to establish their own base in Northern Taiwan (Isla Hermosa) in 1626 which was later lost to Dutch forces in 1642. Following a revolt by sangleys in the Parían, the Spaniards conducted the Second Great Massacre of 1639-40 which involved at least 22,000 lives. In 1662, after the Overseas Chinese Warlord Zheng Chenggong (traditional Chinese: 鄭成功) succeeded in waging the First Asian War of National Liberation against the Dutch in Taiwan and demanded submission from Manila, the Spaniards feared another attempted invasion and launched a preemptive massacre against the sangleys in the Parían and expelled 30,000 sangleys. Another massacre and expulsion took place in 1683 following the annexation of Taiwan by Chinese forces under the Manchu Qing rulers. After more than a century of warfare, the Spaniards finally succeeded in completing the Spanish Conquest of Luzon and Visayas but not Mindanao which was to remain predominantly Muslim until the arrival of the Americans some four hundred years later.

Economy

The Spaniards used the legal classification of the different races for the purpose of administration and taxation in the islands. Each person's legal status was based on ethnic origin which was printed on the cedula or tax certificate. The blancos (Spaniards and Spanish mestizos) paid no tax; the indios paid a base tax; the mestizos de sangley paid twice the indio rate, and the sangleys paid four times as much. In addition to paying higher taxes, the sangleys were confined to the Parían, within sight of the cannons installed in the walled city of Intramuros, where the Spaniards lived. The Spaniards also restricted their movement and occupation, and disallowed them from owning land or engaging in agriculture. As a result, most of the sangleys worked as skilled artisans or petty traders, serving the white Spaniards living in Intramuros. Aside from shopkeeping, the sangleys earned their livelihood as carpenters, tailors, cobblers, locksmiths, masons, metalsmiths, weavers, bakers, carvers and other skilled craftsmen. As metalsmiths, they helped in building the Spanish Galleons in shipyards located in Cavite. And as masons, they also helped in building Intramuros including the numerous structures therein. The poor indios were conscripted by forced labor to build the Churches and Galleons, working alongside sangley artisans.

The mestizos de sangley were given special rights and privileges as colonial subjects of the Spanish Crown and as baptized converts to the Catholic Church. The Spanish authorities distrusted the unconverted sangleys and preferred the mestizos de sangley to handle the domestic trade of the islands. In addition to handling the wholesale and retail trades, the mestizos de sangley were given the privilege of leasing land from the friar estates through the inquilino system. As inquilinos or lessees, they turned around and sublet those lands to indio tenant farmers. Later on, they were able to acquire indio lands for themselves, chiefly through a legal instrument called pacto de retro or contract of retrocession. In this scheme, the mestizo de sangley moneylender extended loans to indio farmers. In exchange for cash, the indio farmer pawns his land with the option of buying it back. In the event of default, the moneylender then recovers the loan by foreclosing the land from the farmer. Unable to pay back the loan due to excessive litigation initiated by the money lender, many indio farmers lost their lands to the mestizos de sangley in this manner.

Unlike the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas where the medieval institution of encomiendas and later haciendas allowed white Spanish settlers to become feudal lords overseeing large masses of indio serfs, the Spanish authorities discouraged such practices in the Philippines. Instead, the white Spanish settlers secluded themselves in the walled city of Intramuros with a few friars or soldiers living in the countryside. With neither mines nor plantations, the Spanish colonists lived off the foreign trade of the islands consisting mainly of the Spanish Galleon Trade [1565-1815] which tied China to Europe via Mexico. Acting as a transshipment port, Manila attracted Chinese traders from Xiamen (Amoy) who would arrive in armed ships called Chinese Junks to trade with the Spaniards. Chinese luxury goods such as silk, porcelain and furniture were exchanged for silver from Mexican and Peruvian mines, and shipped twice a year to Acapulco, Mexico from Manila and thence to Spain via Veracruz, Mexico. As the Spanish Galleons carried mostly Chinese luxury goods destined for Europe, they were called náo de China (Chinese Ship) by the Mexicans. The Spanish Galleon Trade was mainly a business affair involving Spanish officials in Manila, Mexico and Spain, and Chinese traders from Xiamen. Neither products originating from the islands nor domestic traders resident therein took part in the highly lucrative Spanish Galleon Trade. So profitable in fact the Mexican silver became the unofficial currently of Southern China with an estimated one-third of silver mined from the Americas flowing into China during that period. The Spanish Galleons also carried indio slaves from the Philippines who escaped and settled in Louisiana and Mexico. They were called Manilamen by the Americans and los indios Chinos by the Mexicans.

Apart from the Portuguese-led Macao-Manila trade in the 17th century and the British-controlled Madras-Manila trade in the 18th century, it was mainly the Spanish-ruled Manila-Acapulco trade that sustained the colony for much of that period. When the trade ended with the last ship sailing in 1815, the Spaniards needed new sources of revenue. With the penetration of the British Empire into the Far East and the successful revolts of the criollos in the Spanish Americas, Catholic Spain quickly lost its position amongst the Western Powers. After Mexico became independent in 1821, Spain took over direct control of the distant colony which had heretofore been under the Virreinato de Nueva España or Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico). Coinciding with the advent of steamships and the consequent expansion of the global economy, the Spaniards decided to open up their insular colony to foreign trade. As the subsistence economy shifted to an export crop economy, the Spaniards finally allowed both non-Spanish Westerners and Chinese immigrants to settle anywhere in the islands in 1834. Unable to compete against the newcomers, the mestizos de sangley largely abandoned wholesale and retail trading altogether. They expanded their landholdings and turned them into sugar plantations particularly in Central Luzon, Cebu, Iloilo and Negros, taking advantage of the rapid changes in the colonial economy which was now being integrated into the export markets of the Western World. Many prominent mestizo de sangley families belonging to this landlord class acquired vast landholdings during this period, next to the friars who owned the most land in the Philippines. This had ramifications far beyond their economic role as colonial merchants during much of the Spanish Colonial Period, a middleman role largely filled by Chinese traders. In the years to come, this economic base in the countryside would translate into a kind of feudal power with which the landed mestizo elites would exploit to insinuate themselves into the American colonial structure and eventually capture the Philippine semi-colonial state.

With the opening of the colony to foreign trade in 1834, Western (chiefly British and Anglo-American) merchants established import/export and financial companies in Binondo and aligned themselves with Chinese wholesale/retail traders spread throughout the islands. The mestizos de sangley shifted to the export crop economy by enlarging their plantations devoted to agricultural commodities. The penetration of British and Anglo-American commercial interests in Manila coincided with the founding of a network of British treaty port-cities in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, and the expansion of the Nanyang trade which had heretofore been limited to Xiamen, Quanzhou and Macao. In 1868, the United States and China signed the Treaty of Burlingame legalizing and liberalizing Chinese emigration, which had been illegal since the Ming Dynasty. This led to a rapid increase in the population of Overseas Chinese traders in the Philippines. Towards the end of the 19th century, the dominance of the British/Anglo-American capitalists and their Overseas Chinese trading partners turned the Philippines into an "Anglo-Chinese Colony under the Spanish Flag".

Politics

The Spanish authorities had initially depended upon the unconverted sangleys to manage the colonial economy of the islands. But after nearly losing their newly founded colonial Capital to the pirate attacks of Limahong, the Spanish Conquistadors viewed the sangleys differently thereafter and regarded them as enemy aliens who posed a security threat to their minuscule numbers. To protect their precarious position, the Spaniards enacted policies designed to control the residents of the islands by means of racial segregation and cultural assimilation.

The residents of the islands were racially segregated as follows:

Place	Residents
Intramuros	Blancos or whites
Parían	Sangleys
Binondo	Catholic Sangleys, Mestizos de Sangley
Islands	Indios

The Parían was founded in 1581 as the official marketplace and designated residence for the unconverted sangleys. Circumventing a royal decree outlawing the sangleys, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas created Binondo in 1594 for both the Catholic sangleys and mestizos de sangley with a land grant given to them in perpetuity with their own self-governing guild called Gremio de Mestizos de Binondo. To protect themselves from unwanted indios, the walled city of Intramuros was planned in 1573 and completed in 1606 to serve as the seat of power for the Spanish Empire in the Far East. For their own safety and security, only the whites were allowed to reside in the heavily-fortified walled city of Intramuros where they lived in relative isolation from the rest of the population of the islands. The sangleys were allowed entry to the walled city during the day but were expected to return to the Parían by night, in close proximity to the cannons installed in Intramuros which was used against them during the numerous anti-Chinese massacres. Moreover, they were restricted from leaving the confines of certain areas of Manila and were not allowed to venture into the countryside. The sangleys who converted to Catholicism were allowed to reside in Binondo together with their mixed-race offspring, the mestizos de sangley. The father of San Lorenzo Ruiz and the paternal ancestor of Jose Rizal were precisely such Catholic sangleys. This racial determinism extended to their chino mestizo descendants who were legally classified as mestizo de sangley. In contrast, the español mestizos were legally classified as blanco or white together with the español filipinos, both of whom lived in the whites-only Intramuros.

Aside from racial segregation, the Spaniards decided to assimilate the sangleys into the Hispanic culture and Catholic religion of the white Conquistadores. They also interbred the Catholic sangleys with indio women to create a new race called mestizo de sangley. This policy was designed to turn the mixed-race descendants of the converted sangleys into eternally loyal subjects of the Spanish Crown who could then serve as the middleman between the Spaniards and the indios. The Spaniards also decided to limit the number of resident sangleys to around 6,000. Confined to the Parían, the sangleys acted primarily as court servants to the whites living in Intramuros.

Adopting policies similar to the Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish authorities succeeded in diminishing the Chinese element in their Christian colony by making the essential distinction between Catholic and non-Catholic sangleys. The Catholic sangleys were allowed to intermarry with indio women unlike the unconverted sangleys who were not. Also, the Catholic sangleys were allowed to reside in Binondo and anywhere in the islands unlike the unconverted sangleys who were confined to the Parían. Lastly, during the bloody massacres and numerous expulsions conducted by the Spaniards, the unconverted sangleys were targeted while the converted sangleys were spared. During the 17th century, the Spaniards carried out four Great Massacres and Expulsions against the unconverted sangleys in response to real or imagined fears of an imminent invasion from China, at the time still the richest and most powerful nation in the world. In the bloody aftermath, many sangleys converted to Catholicism, adopted Hispanized names, and intermarried with indio women. Beginning 1600, the first generation of mestizos de sangley had formed a small community of several hundred in Binondo, among whom was San Lorenzo Ruiz who would later become the First Filipino Saint. After the Parían was finally abolished in 1790, sangleys were now allowed to settle in Binondo. The population of mestizos de sangley grew rapidly over the years as more Chinese male immigrants arrived, converted to Catholicism, settled in Binondo and intermarried with indio women. As there were no legal restrictions on the movement of the mestizos de sangley, their population eventually spread to Tondo, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Cavite, Cebu, Iloilo, Samar, Capiz, etc. These policies had the effect of effacing the Chinese element from their mixed-race descendants who would later develop a strong antipathy towards their own sangley origins. The number of unconverted sangleys dropped from a high of 25,000 prior to the First Great Massacre of 1603 to below 10,000 until 1850. By then, the population figures for the islands were as follows:

Race	Population (1810)	Population (1850)	Population (1894)
Indio	2,395,677	4,725,000	6,768,000
Mestizo de Sangley	120,621	240,000	500,000
Sangley	7,000	10,000	100,000
Blanco	4,000	25,000	35,000
Total	2,527,298	5,000,000	7,403,000

From their very inception, the mestizos de sangley were socialized into becoming loyal subjects of the Spanish Crown and faithful followers of the Catholic Church. Born to a sangley father and an indio mother, San Lorenzo Ruiz belonged to the first generation of mestizos de sangley who resided in Binondo. Faithful to the very end to his Catholic faith, he died from torture in Nagasaki, Japan and would later become the First Filipino Saint. Calling themselves "True Sons of Spain", the mestizos de sangley tended to side with the white Spanish Conquistadores during the numerous indio revolts against brutal Spanish rule. Jose Rizal, a fifth-generation mestizo de sangley, belonged to a group of wealthy, Spanish-educated Filipinos called Illustrados who advocated reforms in the administration of the colony, integration as a province of Spain and representation in the Spanish Cortes. After being exiled to Dapitan, Jose Rizal enlisted in the Spanish Army as a medical doctor in Cuba, and then chose to disown the Katipunan Revolution led by indios calling themselves Anak ng Bayan ("Sons of the Nation") as it broke out. Loyal to the Spanish Crown to the very end, he wrote to Ferdinand Blumentritt in his last letter: "I am innocent of the crime of rebellion..." He died by firing squad and would later become the National Hero of the Philippines.

From the 18th century onwards until the latter half of the 19th century, Spanish authorities came to depend upon the mestizos de sangley as the racial bourgeoisie in the colonial economy. From their original birthplace of Binondo, the mestizos de sangley spread to Central Luzon, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros and Cavite to handle the domestic trades of the islands. From trading, they branched out into landleasing, moneylending and later landholding. With wealth came the ability to afford an elite education at the best schools in the islands and later in Europe. By the early 1820s, Spain had lost almost all its colonies in the Americas after criollo-led revolutions in Mexico, Central and South America. Many of the peninsulares from the newly-independent colonies fled to Puerto Rico which was granted the status of a Spanish Province with representation in the Spanish Cortes following the promulgation of the Cádiz Constitution of 1812. Along the same lines, the Illustrados campaigned for the Philippines to be turned into a Spanish Province with representation in the Spanish Cortes. As colonial subjects, they also sought Spanish Citizenship for Philippine-born Filipinos, and thus legal equality with Spanish-born Spaniards in the Philippines. Towards the end of Spanish rule in the 19th century, they appropriated the identity of the native-born, pure-blooded whites or español filipinos and began calling themselves Filipinos.

Culture

From the onset of colonial rule, the Spanish Conquistadores wanted to implant their Christian religion onto the fertile soil of their island colony. Massive stone-and-brick churches were built throughout the islands in the Spanish or Mexican Baroque style. Located inside the walled-city of Intramuros, the San Agustin Church was the first stone church built in the colony and the spiritual center of the Spanish Conquistadores where the remains of Miguel López de Legazpi, Juan de Salcedo and Martín de Goiti (who was killed during Limahong's siege) were interred. During the short-lived British invasion (1762-64) , Intramuros was pillaged and the San Agustin Church desecrated. Within the walled-city, the Palacio del Gobernador served as the residence of the Spanish Captain-General (later Governor-General after Mexican Independence). The Spanish Conquistadores and their descendants, the español filipinos, lived in splendid stone-and-brick houses built in the colonial Spanish style. Spanish-language schools and colleges run by Catholic Orders could be found there including the Ateneo de Municipal and Universidad de Santo Tomás. In 1863, the Spanish authorities finally allowed the privileged scions of wealthy chino filipino (traditional Chinese: 華菲; pinyin: Huáfēi) families to attend these exclusive schools which were previously limited to español filipinos. Jose Rizal attended both institutions where he excelled. Not only that, he went on to the Universidad Central de Madrid where he obtained his licentiate in medicine and the University of Heidelberg where he earned a second doctorate.

As the historic birthplace of the mestizos de sangley, Binondo served as the traditional center of community life for the Catholic sangleys and their descendants, the mestizos de sangley. The Gremio de Mestizos de Binondo was the official guild chartered to administer the community affairs of Binondo. Born in Binondo, San Lorenzo Ruiz was a mestizo de sangley who served as an altar boy and convent scribe in the Binondo Church which is now named after him. Established by the Spanish Dominicans for Catholic sangleys, the Binondo Church, now known as the Minor Basilica de San Lorenzo Ruiz, became the site for religious rites such as baptisms, marriages, funerals and processions for the community. As devout followers of Spanish Catholicism, the mestizos de sangley displayed their intense religious devotion with lavish processions marking important occasions such as the Feast of La Naval de Manila, commemorating the naval victory of the Spanish Conquistadores over the Dutch off Manila Bay in 1646.

Towards the late 19th Century, a tropical efflorescence of cosmopolitan mercantilism emerged in Binondo even as Western and Chinese merchants established themselves in the island's economy which was being integrated into the global trading system. At the same time, the Spaniards distanced themselves from the modern dynamism of the urban milieu by secluding themselves in Intramuros where the medieval culture of Hispanic Catholicism permeated the increasingly fossilized walled-city. The rapid urbanization brought about by the twin forces of globalisation and mercantilism quickly transformed the ethnic enclave of Binondo into a thriving commercial district within an expanding urban core. The Overseas Chinese (traditional Chinese: 華僑; pinyin: Huáqiáo) merchants essentially displaced the mestizos de sangley from their role as the domestic traders of the islands. Although officially still under Spanish rule, cosmopolitan Binondo quickly became the semi-official Capital of an "Anglo-Chinese Colony" in late 19th-Century Philippines.

In fashion, Chinese-Filipino merchants dominated the textile industry in Molo and Jaro, Iloilo which produced sinamay, a hand-woven cloth made from very fine abaca threads which was used for the casual camisa de chino; jusi (Chinese term for raw silk), a translucent fabric woven from silk yarn for the formal barong tagalog; and piña, a handwoven fabric made of pineapple fiber for heirloom garments. During the late 19th century, the mestizos de sangley wore exquisitely embroidered barong tagalog while indios wore multicolored camisa de chino. The indios were not allowed to wear European-style clothing and were expected to bow their heads before the white Spaniards in muted deference.

In food, Chinese-Filipinos adapted Hokkien food from Fujian, China using indigenous ingredients and Spanish names to improvise what became part of Filipino cuisine. During the 19th century, noodle shops called panciterias serving "Comida China" (Chinese food) dotted the islands. The ubiquitous pancit (meaning "noodle" from the Hokkien word pian-e-sit) became pancit luglog and lomi (flavored with sauce); mami (served with broth); pancit molo (cooked as pasta) and pancit Malabon (mixed with seafood). The rice staple (and wet-rice agriculture) common to East Asia originated in China and so is the rice porridge called arroz caldo. Other well-known Filipino dishes such as lumpia (egg-roll), maki (soup dish), kiampong (fried rice) and ma-chang (sticky rice) among others trace their origins to the culinary arts of the Hokkien migrants settling in the islands over the centuries.

In the historic district of Vigan, Ilocos Sur known as kasanglayan (meaning where sangleys live), prosperous Chinese-Filipino merchants built stone-and-wood houses called bahay na bato which followed the structure of Malay village houses-on-stilts called bahay kubo. Instead of bamboo and thatch, wooden pillars from molave forests framed the two-story house which was then encased in brick walls coated with plaster. Sliding window panels akin to Japanese shoji screens but made of translucent capiz shells in latticework patterns enclose the large horizontal windows. Outside, sliding wooden shutters similar to the Japanese amado form another layer. In contrast to stone-and-brick Spanish colonial houses in Latin America, this style of design and architecture was better suited to the tropical environment of the islands both in form and in function. Unlike the Spanish colonial houses serving aristocratic white Spanish hacienderos, the stone-and-wood house served the utilitarian needs of its owner-occupant, wealthy Chinese-Filipino merchants. Similar to colonial shophouses of Chinese merchants in Southeast Asia, the stone-and-wood house has the upper floor as the living room and the lower floor as the office or storage space. Located in a tropical archipelago, the stone-and-wood house could better withstand frequent earthquakes and shield the inhabitants from seasonal monsoons. During summer seasons of hot weather, the sliding windows perform an excellent function of allowing the circulation of wind and the entry of light into the house enabling respite from the summer heat. Illuminated at night, the house resembles a giant Chinese lantern with the window panes lighted from within. This tropical style of Asian architecture can be seen in sliding windows which offers selective entry of light and wind, steep roofs with overhanging eaves which provides effective shelter against rain and storms, and the sense of openness and space which connects the interior to the exterior of the house. As the stone-and-wood house became widespread throughout the islands, this prototypical Chinese-Filipino merchant's house came to be known as the colonial Filipino style.

Known for their cultural creativity, the mestizos de sangley synthesized a hybrid culture incorporating Hispanic and European influences with both indigenous and Asian elements. Nowhere was this more evident than in fashion, cuisine, design and architecture where a distinctive style emerged especially among the wealthier segment. As they prospered from trading, they built the first and in many cases the only stone-and-wood houses in the countryside. Lavish ostentation along with conspicuous consumption signify their craving for status and quest for respect. Given to gambling and womanizing and known for their craftiness and vanity, the mestizos de sangley would hold sumptuous feasts to commemorate baptisms, weddings, funerals and processions. Nevertheless, despite their wealth and privileges, the mestizos de sangley had remained a restless and discontented class, prone to abuse the indios and eager to please their white masters. As the 19th century drew to a close, the medieval Spanish Empire crumbled before the industrial might of a new Anglo-Saxon Empire, the United States of America. After the Spanish-American War, the United States took possession of the Philippines and turned the mestizos de sangley into Filipinos.

References

1. http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/1129/1/CEAS.1964.n10.pdf Wickberg, Edgar. (March 1964) The Chinese Mestizo in Philippine History. The Journal Southeast Asian History, 5(1), 62-100. Lawrence, Kansas: The University of Kansas, CEAS.

2. http://www.analitica.com/Bitblio/emily_monroy/race_mixing.asp Monroy, Emily. (23 August 2002) Race Mixing and Westernization in Latin America and the Philippines. analitica.com. Caracas, Venezuela.

3. Gambe, Annabelle R. (2000) Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship and Capitalist Development in Southeast Asia. Münster, Hamburg and Berlin: LIT Verlag.

4. http://www.public-conversations.org.za/_pdfs/anderson_12.pdf Anderson, Benedict. (1988) Cacique Democracy in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams.

5. Weightman, George H. (February 1960) The Philippine Chinese: A Cultural History of A Marginal Trading Company. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Dissertation Information Service.

6. Tettoni, Luca Invernizzi and Sosrowardoyo, Tara. (1997). Filipino Style. Periplus Editions Ltd. Hong Kong, China.

7. Tan, Hock Beng. (1994). Tropical Architecture and Interiors. Page One Publishing Pte Ltd. Singapore.

8. http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/502rev.pdf (1999) Advisory Body Evaluation. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

9. http://www.xeniaeditrice.it/lens.pdf Medina, Elizabeth. (1999) Thru the Lens of Latin America: A Wide-Angle View of the Philippine Colonial Experience. Santiago, Chile.

10. http://www.seacex.es/documentos/imag_colonial_13_identidad.pdf (2006) The Colonial Imaginary. Photography in the Philippines during the Spanish Period 1860-1898. Casa Asia: Centro Cultural Conde Duque. Madrid, Spain.

11. http://www.fullbooks.com/History-of-the-Philippine-Islands-Vols-1-and1.html Blair, E. H. and Robertson, J.A. (editors). (1907) History of the Philippine Islands Vols. 1 and 2 by Dr. Antonio de Morga (Translated and Annotated in English). The Arthur H. Clark Company. Cleveland, Ohio.