Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:29:51.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chinese characters in the Spanish court: The Manila petition of 1598 to Philip II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2019

JOHN N. CROSSLEY  and
ANTHONY WAH-CHEUNG LUN
JOHN N. CROSSLEY
Affiliation:
Monash University, Australia, john.crossley@monash.edu
ANTHONY WAH-CHEUNG LUN
Affiliation:
Monash University, Australia, john.crossley@monash.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most information concerning relations between Spain and China in the context of the early colonial Philippines comes from Spanish sources. In this paper we present a contribution from the Chinese. Soon after the Spaniards started settling Manila, the number of Chinese there started increasing rapidly. Relations between Chinese and Spanish were always fraught and the only protectors the Chinese had were the Dominican priests who ministered to them. In desperation they wrote a letter in Chinese to King Philip II, which was “translated” into Spanish. We do not know of any other letter document conceived in Chinese being sent to a king in this period. We present the powerful letter in English translation.

Keywords

Chinese in ManilaSpanish PhilippinesMiguel BenavidesSangleys
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , October 2019 , pp. 727 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Western language references93

Aduarte, Diego OP, Historia de la provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Iapón y China, edition by Ferrero, M., two vols, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Departamento de Misionología Española, 1962 (originally published in 1640).Google Scholar
[Anonymous], De la historia De las Philipinas, que trata de la conquista de las yslas philipinas desde el gouierno de el adelantado Miguel lopez de legazpi que la començo, Bloomington, Indiana, Lilly Library, Philippine MSS II, [n.d.].Google Scholar
Blair, Emma Helen and Robertson, James Alexander, The Philippine Islands 1493–1898, (Cleveland, 1973). Translated from the originals, edited and annotated. 55 vols, 1903–1909, republished as 55 vols in 19, Mandaluyong, Rizal, Philippines, Cachos Hermanos, Inc. This work will be referred to as BR with the volume number.Google Scholar
Mateo, José Eugenio Borao, “The massacre of 1603: Chinese perception of the Spaniards in the Philippines”, Itinerario, 23, No. 1 (1998), pp. 22–39. Spanish version: “Percepciones chinas sobre los españoles de Filipinas: la masacre de 1603”, Revista española del Pacifico, 8 (1998), pp. 233–254.Google Scholar
Jiménez, José Antonio Cervera, Cartas del Parián: Los chinos de Manila a finales del siglo XVI a través de los ojos de Juan Cobo y Domingo de Salazar, Colección “El Pacífico, un mar de historia”, Palabra de Clío, (Mexico City, 2007).Google Scholar
Kong, James Chin, Merchants and other sojourners: The Hokkiens overseas, 1570–1760, PhD thesis, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, (Hong Kong, 1998).Google Scholar
Colín, Francisco SJ, Labor evangélica de los Obreros de la Compañía de Jesús en las Islas Filipinas, Nueva edición. Ilustrada con copia de notas y documentos para la crítica de la Historia general de la soberanía de España en Filipinas por el Padre Pablo Pastells, SJ, three vols, (Barcelona, 1900–04).Google Scholar
de la, Juan, Concepción ORSA, 1788, Historia general de Philipinas. Conquistas espirituales y temporales de estos Españoles Dominios, establecimientos Progresos, y Decadencias. Comprehende los Imperios, Reinos, y Provincias, de Islas, y continentes con quienes há havido comunicacion, y Comercio por immediatas Coincidencias. Con noticias universales Geographicas Hidrographicas de Historia Natural de Politica de Costumbres y de Religiones, en lo que deba ineresarse tán universal tiulo, 14 vols, Manila: Imprenta del Seminar, Conciliar, y Real de San Carlos: Por Agustin de la Rosa, y Balagtas, 1788–1792.Google Scholar
Crewe, Ryan Dominic, “Pacific Purgatory: Spanish Dominicans, Chinese Sangleys, and the Entanglement of Mission and Commerce in Manila, 1580–1620”, Journal of Early Modern History, 19 (2015), pp. 337–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crossley, John Newsome, Hernando de los Rios Coronel and the Spanish Philippines in the Golden Age, (Farnham, 2011).Google Scholar
Crossley, John Newsome, The Dasmarinases: Early Governors of the Spanish Philippines, (Abingdon, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crossley, John Newsome and Griffin, Clive, The earliest (Spanish) history of the Philippines? The Journal of History, LXI (2015), pp. 56–77.Google Scholar
Crossley, John Newsome and Owens, Sarah E., “The First Nunnery in Manila: The Role of Hernando de los Ríos Coronel”, The Catholic Historical Review, 102 (2016), pp. 469–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumol, Paul Arvisu, translator, The Manila Synod of 1582: The Draft of its Handbook for Confessors, (Quezon City, 2014).Google Scholar
Felix, Alfonso Jr, (ed.), The Chinese in the Philippines, vol. 1: 1570–1770, (Manila, 1966–69).Google Scholar
Galende, Pedro G. OSA., Apologia pro Filipinos, (Manila, 1980).Google Scholar
Garcia, R. R., Díaz, H. F., Herrera, R. García, Eischeid, J., Prieto, M. del Rosario, Hernández, E., Gimeno, L., Rubio Durán, F., and Bascary, A. M., “Atmospheric Circulation Changes in the Tropical Pacific Inferred from the Voyages of the Manila Galleons in the Sixteenth–Eighteenth Centuries”, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 82(11) (2001), 2435 ff.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gil, Juan, Los chinos en Manila (Siglos XVI y XVII), (Lisbon, 2011).Google Scholar
Goodrich, L. Carrington and Fang, Chaoying, (eds), Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644, 2 vols, (New York and London, 1976).Google Scholar
Gutierrez, Lucio OP, Domingo de Salazar, O.P., First Bishop of the Philippines (1512–1594), (Manila, 1985).Google Scholar
de Lavezares, Guido, “Relación del suceso de la venida del tirano chino sobre este campo”, edición Maura, de Juan Francisco, Anexos de la Revista Lemir (2004), pp. 2–26.Google Scholar
van der Loon, Pieter, “The Manila incunabula and early Hokkien studies”, Asia Major, Part 1: 12, 1–43, part 2: 13, pp. 95–186 (1966–7).Google Scholar
Escudero, Miguel Angel Medina, “Fray Miguel de Benavides Añoza, “Una vida al servicio de Dios y del hombre. En el cuarto centenario de su muerte”, Studium, 45, no. 3 (2005), pp. 445–476.Google Scholar
de Morga, Antonio, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, Hakluyt Society, Second Series, vol. 140, Cambridge: Published for the Hakluyt Society at the University Press, translated and edited by Cummins, J. S., 1971. (First published in 1609 Mexico: in the house of Geronymo Balli by Cornelio Adriano Cesar.)Google Scholar
Ocio, Hilario OP, Neira, Eladio OP, Misioneros Dominicos en el Extremo Oriente 1587–1835, Manila: Life Today Publications. Volume 1 of Orientalia Dominicana, General, no. 7, 2000, corrected and updated edition by Fr Hilario Ocio, O. P.: Compendio de la Reseña Biográfica de los Religiosos de la Provincia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores, (Manila, 1895).Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Manel Ollé, La invencion de China / The invention of China: Percepciones Y Estrategias Filipinas Respecto a China Durante El Siglo XVI / Philippine Perceptions and Strategies Towards China During the Sixteenth Century, (Wiesbaden, 2002).Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Manel Ollé, Estrategias filipinas respecto a China: Alonso Sánchez y Domingo Salazar en la empresa de China (1581–1593), PhD Thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 1998.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Manel Ollé, La empresa de China, (Madrid, 2002).Google Scholar
Retana, Wenceslao E., Archivo del bibliófilo filipino: recopilación de documentos históricos, científicos, literarios y políticos y estudios bibliográficos, (5 vols), (Madrid, Viuda de M. Minuesa de los Ríos, 1895–1905).Google Scholar
Sanz, Carlos, Primitivas relaciones de España con Asia y Oceanía, (Madrid, 1958).Google Scholar
Sheehan, Kevin Joseph, Iberian Asia: The Strategies of Spanish and Portuguese Empire Building, 1540–1700, PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 2008.Google Scholar
Villarroel, Fidel OP, de Benavides, Miguel O.P. (1550–1605), Friar, Bishop and University Founder: Insights into the Life and Works of the Founder of the University of Santo Tomás. On the Occasion of the Fourth Centennial of his Death, (Manila, 2005).Google Scholar