BOOK REVIEWS
145
Spanish conquerors in 1560. During the early Spanish period, Chinese merchants in Fukien and other areas capitalized on the opportunities of the newly developing Manila Galleon trade between the Philippines and Mexico, as the way was then open for Chinese vessels to carry goods from China to Manila, there to be loaded for markets in Mexico. However, within a few years after the Spanish conquest, relations between the Chinese and Spaniards fell into a pattern of distrust and latent hostility. The term sangley, the Spanish name for Chinese immigrants, came to connote an invidious cultural stereotype. The distrust led to the shaping of harsh Spanish policies towards the Chinese and the establishment of the Parian, a kind of Chinese ghetto, for the Chinese in Manila.
The author devotes much space in the first part of the book to a lengthy discussion on the subject of the Chinese mestizos, vital to an understanding of the social history of the Philippines. The lineage history of the Filipino national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, is an example of the position of the Chinese mestizos in the social history of the Philippines. Dr. Rizal's paternal ancestor, a Catholic Chinese born in China, married a Chinese mestiza in the Philippines. Their son and grandson both married Chinese mestizas. The grandson was later able to have his family transferred from the mestizo padron (the tax-census register) to that of the indios (native Filipinos). Thus, Rizal's father, and Rizal himself, were considered indio. As a very relevant aside, this writer recommends that the reader consult Filipino historian, Mr. Esteban A. de Ocampo's article, “Chinese Greatest Contribution to the Philippines The Birth of Dr. Jose Rizal," in Dr. Shubert S. C. Liao's Chinese Participation in Philippine Culture and Economy (Manila: Bookman Inc., 1964).
Professor Wickberg continues on to discuss the growth of the Chinese economy in Manila and other areas, foreign trade and other kinds of economic activity in the Philippines, the general cultural and social context, and the position of Chinese during the years 1880 to 1890. He touches on the nature of the Chinese community in the Philippines, the relations of the Philippine Chinese with China, and the position of the Chinese at the end of the nineteenth century.
Before 1850, the Chinese in the Philippines were a largely