Chinoys

I just finished watching the movie "Ip Man". I didn't want to watch it ,but my son kept on calling me and insisted that I watch the movie. Well, he won. I watched it and it was a nice movie although we cannot understand it, since it was in Cantonese! Good thing it had a subtitle under it, whew!

Ip Man movie was the life story of a Chinese martial arts teacher who was well disciplined and loved by his disciples or students. He was an expert in "Wing Chun". As a matter of fact, he was the master of Bruce Lee.

Photo of Ip Man courtesy of TWK

Photo of Ip Man courtesy of times are priceless

I wish I knew how to read, write and understand Cantonese. There are so many Chinese schools in Manila and in other places in the Philippines but it was more expensive to study there, and so my parents opted to let me and my siblings study in Catholic schools.

For most people who have never gone to the Philipines, they did not know that the Chinese have been living in the Philippines way back even before the Spanish, Japanese, Americans and other nationalities have come in our country.

Aside from the Filipinos, the second largest group of people who live in the Philippines are the "Chinoys". Chinoy came from the word "chinese" and "pinoy". The Chinese in the Philippnes are known also as "Intsik", but the Chinoys didn't like it because it sounded like "insect".

I must say that all Filipinos have a mix blood of Spanish, Chinese, Americans, Indians, and all the nationalities you could think of. My mother's mother is Chinese and the mother of my father is Spanish. When I checked on the internet where our surname had first appeared, it said Mexico!
Some people mistook me for a Filipina-Mexican or Spanish-Filipina or Indian-Filipina since I have round eyes and fair complexion.

I don't think that there is a Filipino nowadays who could truly say that he has no foreign blood running through his veins.