COMMENTARY: Tracing back my ancestors' footsteps

BEIJING (MindaNews/17 August) – As a descendant of one of the Chinese immigrants living in the Philippines, going on a trip to China is both exciting trip and a bit of tricky especially since I have considered this country to be a foreign land rather than my ancestral land for quite a long time.

I grew up with my father’s tale on how those Chinese, particularly those coming from the Amoy (now Xiamen City) in southeastern coastal province of Fujian, have gone a long way to escape China’s poverty centuries ago and find new hope in other Asian countries to include the Philippines.

Majority of them, including my great grandparents of the Wee clan, have not bothered or for some reasons have decided not to go back to China.

I would consider that my great grandparents and some of their relatives were the tough ones among other Chinese immigrants. They did not content themselves in finding a living somewhere in Luzon, which is much closer to Taiwan (still considered to be a province of China), but continued instead their journey by sailing across the archipelago southward and landed in the island province of Basilan and eventually migrated to Zamboanga City in Mindanao Island.

At that time China — before the great revolution in mid 20th century– was in contrast to what it is today. It was a scene of political turmoil, civil wars, warlords that controlled the lives of the Chinese, and massive corruption in government that left the majority of the people in despair.

Deep poverty, lack of opportunities, and to some extent the diminishing of hope for a progressive China pushed some of its people to migrate to other countries, the exact situation that the Philippines, particularly Mindanao, is experiencing now. Hundreds thousands of Filipinos every year are heading to foreign lands to look for jobs and opportunities to feed their hungry families back home, and alleviate their living condition.

I have been in China for a little over a month now, and I can say that the old and ugly society that my father described had vanished. With gross domestic product hitting a record level every year, the communist-ruled country is poised to become the world’s largest economy and superpower possibly edging out the United States in the near term.

There are still flaws along the way to reform. China has been seen as notorious in its human rights record, and air pollution is high with 60% of its power provided by coal, considered to be the dirtiest source of energy.

Legally Yours Chester Cabalza: Virtual Ethnography 101: A Look ...

In celebration of the sesquicentennial (150th) birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippine's national hero, I asked my graduate students to visit museums that exhibit memorabilia for our dear renaissance Filipino man Jose Rizal, attend local and international academic symposium on The First World-Class Filipino Jose Rizal, travel to his ancestral house in Laguna, or pay respect to one of Asia's great intellectuals enshrined at Luneta Park, and so on... Last weekend I passed through the place where he was executed - the Rizal Park or Luneta. Efforts have been made there to display his monument and other memorabilia for the public to meaningfully remember him and be able to trace back his life as a student up to his last valiant days. It was for this reason that the Department of Tourism launched the “Rizal Passport” program so tourists could visit the places where our hero left his indelible marks as well as for them to better appreciate Rizal. Tourists should have their “Rizal Passport” stamped in every designated spot within the park and within Intramuros as well. Much to my desire to try this new activity, time did not permit me to. Instead I went to Fort Santiago. Aside from the Rizal Park, Fort Santiago in Intramuros is also a much visited place. Here, people are given a rare opportunity to see how our hero was held prisoner. I went there to see what has been improved since I last visited the place a few years ago. Inside Fort Santiago, everything looked the same. I chanced upon a Rizaliana Furniture Exhibit in the Baluarte de Sta. Barbara. I read the description and it said that the Rizals owned elegant wooden pieces of furniture which reflected how well-off they were. Dining set, four-poled bed, study table, side tables – these were turned over to the government by the great grand children of Pepe’s sisters. Some of them were taken from their house in Calamba while others were from Hongkong, where the family was exiled. I also saw this framed family genealogy of our hero hanging on the wall. My knowledge about his family was refreshed by remembering that his forefathers were Chinese immigrants. My fellow visitors were, at the same time, fascinated by this fact. Adjacent to the baluarte and dungeon is the Fort Santiago museum which showcases Jose P.

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