Chapter 11 Chapter VII The Bloody Massacre of the Spanish Colonialists

The Philippines is a close neighbor of China. As early as the Song Dynasty, there were trade and political exchanges between the two countries, and some Chinese people also moved in one after another. In the 16th century, Spain invaded and the Philippines gradually became a colony.Spain is a long way from the Philippines, and the consumer goods needed by the Spaniards are completely dependent on Chinese supplies, and they also need skilled Chinese craftsmen. Therefore, in the early days of the occupation of Manila in 1571, the Spanish colonial government encouraged overseas Chinese to enter the country. At the end of the 16th century, the overseas Chinese population in the Philippines reached two More than ten thousand people.However, due to the unbalanced trade between China and the Philippines, a large number of Spanish silver dollars were outflowed, and the increasing number of overseas Chinese also aroused the fear of the Spanish colonial authorities. Therefore, since the 1680s, it has implemented various restrictions and persecutions on overseas Chinese. And developed into a policy of mass murder in the early 17th century.

During the more than 150 years from the beginning of the 17th century to the middle of the 18th century, there were many bloody incidents of massacres of overseas Chinese. In 1603, the first massacre took place. Not long after the Spanish colonialists occupied Manila, in order to implement a policy of restriction and exclusion, they set up Palian, a residential area where overseas Chinese concentrated (the overseas Chinese called it "Jiannei").The purpose of Shepalian can be seen from its location.Palian was located in the south of the Pashi River, not far from the Spaniards' residential area, the government and the military camp, which was convenient for control and prevention. Once an accident happened, it would not affect the Spaniards immediately due to the distance.While strengthening control, it also imposed more import duties on overseas Chinese, prohibited overseas Chinese from operating retail businesses, forced overseas Chinese to convert to Catholicism, etc., and began to expel overseas Chinese and limit the number of residents in 1596.Against such a background of anti-Chinese, it is not surprising that the massacre of overseas Chinese occurred.The incident was caused by the farce of Zhang Yi, an official of the Ming Dynasty, who went to Cavite, Philippines to "prospect for gold" during the Wanli period.Zhang Ni and others said nonsense that Jiami was rich in gold, and the fatuous Emperor Wanli believed it, so he sent Zhang and three others to "prospect for gold".After Zhang Yi arrived in the Philippines, he was very arrogant and arrogant.The Spanish colonial authorities seized on the "gold prospecting" to make a big fuss, saying that Zhang Yi and others' prospecting was fake, and that the Philippine prospecting was true.On the one hand, Spain stepped up preparations for war, dispatched troops, built fortress walls, and confiscated ironware from overseas Chinese.Incidents of wantonly insulting overseas Chinese and taking the opportunity to plunder their property occurred in Manila. They also instigated and instigated Japanese overseas Chinese to participate in the persecution of overseas Chinese.Facing the provocations of the Spanish colonialists, in order to survive, the overseas Chinese had to fight back. They organized themselves to build a blockhouse on the outskirts of Manila, and started an armed uprising on October 3, 1603.There were as many as 10,000 people in the uprising. They used primitive weapons such as spears and sticks to annihilate the elite Spanish troops who came to suppress them, and killed some officers.But in the battle to attack Manila, the rebels suffered huge losses and were forced to retreat.The uprising persisted for 40 days. Although it dealt a great blow to the encircled and suppressed enemies, it finally failed due to being outnumbered.More than 20,000 overseas Chinese were killed, a large amount of property was looted, and the losses were heavy. The survivors fled one after another.The sharp decrease in the number of overseas Chinese means that there are no tailors, shoemakers, cooks, or skilled labor in the Philippines, which has plunged the Philippine economy into crisis.Therefore, shortly after the massacre, the Spanish colonial authorities were forced to take measures to encourage overseas Chinese to come to the Philippines, and the number of overseas Chinese increased again.

Only after more than 30 years, a new massacre happened again. After the first massacre, the number of overseas Chinese continued to increase.Out of the needs of colonial rule, the Spanish colonial authorities encouraged overseas Chinese to enter the country on the one hand, but restricted and discriminated against them on the other hand.The most unbearable thing for overseas Chinese is to force them to work in Calamba.Calamba is a swamp with harsh natural conditions. In order to ensure the supply of military supplies, the Spanish colonial government forced more than 6,000 overseas Chinese to reclaim wasteland there.They overcame thorns and thorns, dug ditches to drain water, and gradually cultivated fertile land.Due to the high labor intensity and the epidemic, more than 300 people died in 1639 alone.Overseas Chinese were not only threatened by death, but also forced by heavy land rent and punishment. In order to get rid of the shackles around their necks, they had no choice but to choose the way out of armed uprising and resistance to violence. On November 19, 1639, the uprising broke out. The rebels rushed into the town of Calamba, burned the church, killed the governor and two priests, and then concentrated 3,000 troops and marched into Manila.Frustrated, the rebels were forced to retreat to Calamba and built fortifications on Mount Sucal to defend themselves, but under the attack of the Spanish army, they finally failed.However, the fire of the uprising it ignited spread to various places, and the number of people participating in the uprising increased to more than 6,000.The Spanish colonialists carried out brutal suppression, and the governor issued a bloody order to kill all overseas Chinese.After receiving this order, Spanish colonial officials in various places resorted to deception, raids and other means to wantonly massacre overseas Chinese. In three months, more than 20,000 overseas Chinese were killed.The brutal massacre, blood flowed into a river, and the river gave off the stench of rotting corpses.It is said that people stopped eating river fish for a time, because the fish became fat after eating human flesh.It was a tragic scene.

Twenty-three years later, in May 1662, another massacre of overseas Chinese occurred in the Philippines.That year, Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan from the Dutch occupiers. In view of the discrimination and persecution suffered by overseas Chinese in the Philippines, he wrote to the Spanish Governor in April, condemning the atrocities committed by Spain and expressing his position of protecting overseas Chinese and businessmen.For this purpose, Zheng Chenggong also sent envoys to Manila.The Spanish governor not only rejected Zheng Chenggong's legitimate request, but also fabricated the lie about Zheng's "invasion" and carried out "war preparation" activities, taking the opportunity to set off a new wave of anti-Chinese.The colonial government ordered non-Christian overseas Chinese to be concentrated in two prison areas and deported back to the country.Any non-Christian overseas Chinese found in any place outside the prison area shall be executed immediately.Overseas Chinese properties were frozen.They also mobilized heavy troops from various places to Manila, prepared supplies, built fortifications, and kept stirring up incidents to find excuses for the massacre.Under the instigation of the Spanish colonial government, incidents of harassment of overseas Chinese occurred from time to time, and the overseas Chinese were in panic.The tragedies of the previous two massacres are still fresh in the memory of the overseas Chinese. Facing new dangers, they were forced to flee in large numbers.Taking advantage of the chaos of overseas Chinese fleeing, the Spanish colonialists started a planned massacre.They deceived the overseas Chinese and pretended to "protect" the overseas Chinese. The overseas Chinese did not know what to do, and began to return to Manila in groups under the "protection" of the Spaniards. On June 6, overseas Chinese on their way back were attacked, and 1,500 overseas Chinese were killed.Then, the Spanish governor ordered that all overseas Chinese in Luzon should be killed, regardless of gender, age or age.The massacre lasted for 18 days, and about 4,000 people died.However, compared with the last two massacres, the number of overseas Chinese deaths this time is still relatively small. This is because: 1. After Zheng Chenggong learned of the tragedy, he was very angry and immediately ordered to organize a fleet to march to the Philippines to collect blood debts for the overseas Chinese.Although due to the sudden death of Zheng Chenggong on June 23, this action of protecting overseas Chinese was stranded, but it played a great deterrent effect on the Spaniards; 2. In view of the serious social and economic consequences of the last two massacres on the Philippines, Therefore, the Spaniards had to restrain themselves in their actions.After the incident, they agreed to the request of the Zheng regime in Taiwan to return the frozen and detained goods of Chinese merchants, and allowed overseas Chinese to continue to stay in Manila, but imposed strict restrictions on the entry of Chinese.

After nearly 100 years of the "massacre era" in the 17th century, from the end of the 17th century to the 1860s, the Spanish colonial government's discrimination and persecution policies were concentrated in the frequent and large-scale expulsion of overseas Chinese, so it was called " Era of Expulsion".From massacre to expulsion, the blood is less, but the essence is the same.The main reason for this change is that the previous massacres have caused serious social and economic consequences.Overseas Chinese are craftsmen, gardeners, farmers, middlemen and food suppliers in the Philippines, and their importance in the social economy cannot be underestimated.Practice has proved that the policy of massacring overseas Chinese is unworkable.However, the ever-increasing number of overseas Chinese was regarded by the Spaniards as a threat to colonial rule, so they had to suspend the massacre policy and instead deported the overseas Chinese on various trumped-up charges.During the "Era of Expulsion", the number of overseas Chinese increased year by year, reaching 40,000 in 1749, and they were widely distributed in the Philippine archipelago. They got along well with the Filipino people, gradually integrated into Philippine society, and contributed to the socio-economic development of the Philippines.

In 1762, another massacre of overseas Chinese took place. From 1756 to 1763, the Anglo-French War broke out, and Spain stood on the side of France. In January 1762, Britain declared war on Spain and attacked the Philippines. In October, Manila was captured by the British army, and the Spaniards retreated to Bulacan Province to form a new government.In the face of the British attack, the Spanish colonialists were vulnerable, fully exposing their weak nature.During the British occupation of the Philippines (AD 1762-1764), the Filipinos launched an anti-Western uprising.In addition to actively supporting the anti-Western uprising in the Philippines in terms of actions and materials, the overseas Chinese were also brewing uprisings themselves.They planned secretly, assembled their personnel, and prepared to attack on the eve of Christmas (December 25), 1762.But days before the scheduled action date, plans for the uprising leaked.The Spaniards immediately counterattacked. They launched an attack on the overseas Chinese settlements and ordered that all Chinese in all parts of the archipelago be hanged.According to incomplete estimates, since 1762, more than 6,000 overseas Chinese died by butcher knives, bullets and gallows.In some cases, every group of 10 to 15 people is tied together with braids, tied with stones, thrown into the sea and drowned. The method is extremely cruel.Because many overseas Chinese were killed during Christmas in 1762, Christmas of that year is called "Red Christmas of 1762" by historians. After the Anglo-French War ended in 1763, the Spaniards regained dominance over the Philippines. They intensified their counter-offensive against overseas Chinese and incited the exclusion of Chinese. In 1766, the King of Spain actually issued an order to expel overseas Chinese.According to this order, many overseas Chinese who survived the massacre were gathered, and the deportation began in 1769.The Spaniards once again tasted the bitter fruit they had planted. Due to the expulsion of overseas Chinese, business in the Philippines almost came to a standstill, and the economy faced depression again, and economic life could not function normally.If the deportation order was continued, it would be tantamount to finding a way out. Therefore, the deportation order was revoked in 1778.The colonial government changed the policy of periodic massacres and large-scale expulsions of overseas Chinese that had been implemented for more than 100 years, and implemented new and more tolerant laws to encourage overseas Chinese to immigrate, and then strictly controlled and supervised them.Although the new decree is still discriminatory against overseas Chinese, and anti-Chinese actions and anti-Chinese propaganda will occur from time to time in the future, but the massacre and expulsion of overseas Chinese that lasted for more than 170 years since the 17th century ended. Fact: Overseas Chinese are a positive factor in developing the Philippine economy and promoting the development of Philippine society.In a relatively tolerant and stable environment, overseas Chinese in the Philippines developed, and their number increased to 100,000 in the 1890s.They were more deeply integrated into Philippine society. Overseas Chinese actively participated in the Philippine War of Independence from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Their dedication in the Revolutionary War was praised by the Filipino people.