Through Hongkong-Manila Networks: Cantonese Chinese in Spanish Philippines, 1778-1898

Dear Colleagues and Students,

🏮🏝️Through Hongkong-Manila Networks: Cantonese Chinese in Spanish Philippines, 1778-1898

You are cordially invited to a talk on “Through Hongkong-Manila Networks: Cantonese Chinese in Spanish Philippines, 1778-1898” organized by the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies. Details of the talk are as follows:

Date: 26 Jan 2026 (Mon) 

Time: 16:00 - 17:30 (HK Time)

Speaker: Dr Jely Galang

Mode: Zoom https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/98524144276?pwd=2u3bvtFlRj3oi0FEAMsZ560bcQLewa.1

Zoom details:

Meeting ID: 985 2414 4276
Passcode: 627069
Registration link: https://forms.gle/basBgXgxxL3oT1r37

Abstract

In this presentation, I challenge the prevailing view of the “Chinese” in the Spanish Philippines as a monolithic community by highlighting its internal linguistic and regional diversity. While Chinese migrants shared a common ethnic identity, they were divided primarily between Hokkien from Fujian and a smaller Cantonese group from Guangdong. Existing scholarship has overwhelmingly focused on Hokkien migrants, leaving the immigration patterns, settlement dynamics, and occupational activities of the Cantonese—particularly after the establishment of regular Hong Kong–Manila steamship service in the 1870s—largely unexplored. I trace the emergence and development of the Cantonese community, known locally as macanistas, from the late eighteenth century to the end of Spanish rule. I examine Spanish colonial perceptions and policies toward Chinese subgroups, reconstruct a history of Cantonese migration and community formation, and analyze their economic roles in Manila and provinces. By doing so, I offer a more nuanced understanding of Chinese diversity under Spanish colonialism.

About the Speaker

Jely A. Galang is Professor of History at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman. He serves as Deputy Director of the UP Third World Studies Center, and Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Studies Journal (CSJ). His first book, tentatively titled Vagrants and Outcasts: Chinese Laboring Classes, Criminality and the Spanish Colonial State, 1831-1898 will be published by Cornell University Press.

Yours Sincerely,

Department of Literature and Cultural Studies