Chinese New Year has just passed, peeple! Where's my tikoy? Just kidding!
If you have been to Binondo just recently and tried the food and toured around the oldest Chinatown in the world, I hope you enjoyed your visit despite the crowd, which I observed is the most packed Binondo has ever had.
The peeple were not only confined in Ongpin, but they were also everywhere!
I initially planned to have this blog posted before the Chinese New Year so that you peeple can have an additional layer of appreciation about Binondo, but I also became one of those in the crowd joining in the festivities. I brought my girlfriend here to witness the celebration.
Now, I am finally done writing and verifying the information I laid down here, please let me borrow several minutes of your time as I present to you facts that you might have never known about Binondo.
BINONDO IS MAINLY AN... Wonder why you have to cross some bridges when you walk to and from Binondo? Because Binondo is mainly an island!
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| Binondo and its component island (in yellow). With edits imposed over Google Maps. |
One book I read was this island was chosen for the Chinese to settle as it looked like a dragon's head. By looking at the map, the island does look like a head of a creature with a long snout. I cannot confirm the first statement though, what I do know is that the Spanish colonizers chose Binondo to keep the Chinese away from Intramuros, which is just across, with the Pasig River in between.
I cannot verify also as of writing if the island has an official name, such as Binondo Island or Chinatown Island. Binondo Island would sound politically neutral, though.
IN MORE THAN 75 YEARS, BINONDO'S GOT A... During the Spanish colonization, as I mentioned in the first item, Chinese are banned from entering Intramuros, the walled city which was the seat of colonial government for centuries.
Now, there is a direct land connection between Chinatown and the walled city.
Constructed in 2018 to 2022, the Binondo–Intramuros Bridge is the first bridge in the district built over the Pasig River since 1946, when the William Jones Bridge was rehabilitated after its regrettable destruction in the harshly fought Battle of Manila a year prior.
Through China aid, Binondo has finally gotten a new Pasig River-crossing bridge in more than seven decades.
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| Sourced from: Wikimedia Commons. Photo taken by Spanish photographer Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC BY-SA |
This bridge would surely take the Spanish colonizers by surprise should they use time-traveling and pay us a visit.
BINONDO IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF... Escolta is undoubtedly one of the most historical streets not only in Manila, but in the Philippines as well.
However, you might not know that two of the country's large media conglomerates sprouted from Escolta grounds.
The Calvo Building, the one that currently houses a Chinese seafood restaurant and the sole Tropical Hut branch in Manila city proper (advertisement intended, pro bono promotion!), was the origin of, currently, the largest television network in the Philippines.
GMA Network began its operations in Escolta, Binondo through its radio station DZBB in 1950, 75 years ago. They eventually moved to EDSA in Quezon City and expanded to television business in 1961.
Along the main corridor of Calvo Building, there are plaques and pictures acknowledging the fact that GMA was there in its years of infancy.
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| Sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Photo taken by User:Johnpaulo5860. Used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. |
There is another media company that has taken its roots in Escolta, and is undisputed more historical than GMA.
Radio station DZRH was first heard in the airwaves in 1939, that was more than 85 years back! DZRH is currently the only pre-war commercial (privately-owned) radio station in the Mega Manila market. Their broadcasting service spanned from President Manuel L. Quezon's Commonwealth period up to present Fifth Republic — they were even up and running during the Second World War. That's how amazing DZRH is!
The department store where it made its first broadcast, the Heacock Department Store, is no longer existing. Its location at Escolta corner Burke Streets is occupied by an abandoned building. (Recommended read: Manila Nostalgia through this link.)
DZRH, by the way, stands for DZ Radio Heacock. D is the first letter of all call signs given for the Philippines, while Z means that the station is situated in Luzon.
NOTE: ABS-CBN was the largest and most famous television network before the lapsation of their congressional franchise in 2020. They do not run a television network as of posting, therefore the "Philippines' largest network" title is now with GMA by default.
BINONDO IS THE SMALLEST BUT... Binondo, having just only 66 hectares (0.66 square kilometers) of land area, is the smallest of all geographical districts in the City of Manila.
But Binondo is not the least populated. That distinction goes to Intramuros, which understandably has lesser residential areas. On the other hand, Binondo right now has many skyscrapers that can house more people than the Walled City.
And another but, Binondo the smallest district has the most expensive real estate price tag in Manila. You can Google how much, and there's one entry from a legit broker that sells a plot of land along Escolta: 2,500+ square meters for more than 1 billion pesos (>1,000,000,000)!
Thanks to the historical significance of this beloved district!
IT'S NOT "BINONDO PLAZA" (WELL, IT USED TO BE). The open space in front of Binondo Church is an oblong-shaped plaza. A lot of peeple would call it "Binondo Plaza," but that is not the official name.
That plaza is now called Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz, named after the first Filipino saint, a mestizo layperson who was martyred in Guam. He was from Binondo according to historical accounts, hence the name. There is a huge statue of the saint right in the middle of the park.
But before that, this plaza was known as Plaza Calderon, and the very first name was just simply Plaza de Binondo, or Binondo Plaza.
Good thing the plaza name got changed as there is one Plaza Calderon in another part of Manila, in Sta. Ana district.
By the way, Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz is the only place in Manila that has two water fountains in one area. Just saying!
ONGPIN STREET IS NOT ENTIRELY... This might be an unpopular technicality, but the famous Ongpin Street is not entirely within Binondo. It is shared with the adjacent Sta. Cruz district.
So, when you are coming from Binondo Church and pass through Ongpin Street, you are well within Binondo, then you're going to cross the first small bridge after Salazar Street, and another small bridge approaching the big Salazar Bakery store. You have now reached the Sta. Cruz segment of Ongpin. Walk ahead, follow the curve to the end, and you will find the Sta. Cruz Church.
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| Ongpin Street (red curved line on the right) is shared between Binondo (in grey) and Sta. Cruz districts in Manila. Maps by OpenStreetMap. |
The Estero Restaurant, the Original Shanghai Fried Siopao store, and the cluster of jewelry and lucky charm stores are in Sta. Cruz.
But yeah, who cares? Just carry on with your Binondo Food Crawl!
WHAT IS THIS? At the main entrance of Binondo Church, only a few peeple might have noticed this stone:
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| Sourced from: OpenEdition Journals |
This is a Chinese tombstone for a certain "Juan Dionicio Coqua" who died in 1722. So, this stone is already 300 years old.
According to this OpenEdition journal written by prominent Tsinoy personalities Richard Chu and Teresita Ang-See, the wealthy Chinese, whose deceased remains were not transported back to China for burial, were instead interred inside the church.
Then, there was a time when Chinese tombstones were removed for church renovations (a blogger said it was intentional as the Chinese sided with the British over the Spaniards during Britain's short occupation of Manila). Mr. Chu and Mrs. Ang-See theorized in the journal that the family of Juan Dionicio Coqua might had been successful in persuading the friars not to have Coqua's gravestone removed from the church, with the Chinese inscription etched-out as part of the concession.
It begs the question, so is "Juan Dionicio Coqua" interred under that very gravestone?
That is possible, but I hope not. His remains might still be somewhere below the church. I believe its current location at the church doors was also a compromise agreed upon by the friars and Coqua family. We will never know for sure.
Just so you know, the La Loma Cemetery and Chinese Cemetery were not existing yet in 1700s.
A SURVIVOR OF QUAKES AND WARS. Another point of interest of Binondo Church is its belfry (bell tower).
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| The Binondo Church Bell Tower in 2012 prior to restoration and repainting. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Photo taken by User:Bondyag112665. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Unported 3.0 license. |
The belfry is octagon in shape, kind of resembles a pagoda, which pays homage to Binondo as the settlement for the Catholic Chinese.
Just like the other Catholic churches in Manila, Binondo Church went through several incarnations and restorations as well. The current one made of granite is completed in the 1850s. The height of the belfry is about 70 meters, so if you were given a rare chance to climb that tower, you really have to prepare your legs!
Now, this tower is a testament to history as it witnessed catastrophes and wars. It got destroyed in the 1863 earthquake, but after its restoration, it has been standing ever since. It endured damages brought about by the Battle of Manila during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and by the Second World War that nearly decimated Manila between 1944 and 1945.
The belfry continues to stand resilient even after the earthquakes of 1937, 1968, and the most recent major quake that was strongly felt in Manila in July 1990.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS NO MORE. Binondo used to have two public high schools, both of which were located within Divisoria as early as late-1940s, at the site of a former colonial military barracks called Cuartel Meisic.
Jose Abad Santos High School (JASHS) was larger in terms of land area and student population, the other one is Raja Soliman Science and Technology High School (RSSTHS). I can't remember exactly when, but around 2007 or 2008, these schools were relocated to the area of Numancia and Urbiztondo, which is geographically part of San Nicolas district, not of Binondo. This is to make way for land redevelopment. (Recommended read: blog by Ivan Henares through this link.)
JASHS had a very spacious campus quadrangle. That's why JASHS was always frequented by camping and training activities organized by the school's senior scout outfit or by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines - Manila Council. I've never been inside RSSTHS, but I would say their old campus is also large. They had a footbridge over Sta. Elena Street that connected one school building to another.
JASHS's former location is now occupied by the main building of Lucky Chinatown Mall and the adjacent Hotel Lucky Chinatown, while the Cityplace Residences and its parking entrance on the other side of Sta. Elena Street is where RSSTHS once stood.
So right now, apart from San Andres Bukid, Binondo is one of two districts in Manila that is no longer home to any government-run schools (discounting Barangay Day Care Centers here).
PAPARATING NA SA ... STATION. If you've seen old photos of Manila, particularly of Escolta, you might have noticed railroad tracks on the streets. These tracks are no longer present as we do not use the first railway system in Manila anymore, which is the Tranvia.
The Tranvia used to have a very extensive railway network, it might even rival the total length of all light rail systems in Metro Manila combined.
It was widely used in the final years of Spanish occupation and even flourished during the American Commonwealth period; it was the most popular mode of public transport that plied around the important economic centers of Manila as it was more efficient than a calesa (horse-drawn carriage, still existing around Luneta and Intramuros) or caruaje (fancier version of calesa with bigger coach).
Sadly, the Tranvia became one of the irreparable damages of the Second World War as no successful restoration took place, paving the way for jeepneys to become Manila's king of the road.
Since then, rail transportation within Binondo is absent.
But maybe not for long?
There have been talks that the current LRT Line 2, which has its western terminus at Recto station, would be extended further west. Since I was a child, I have been hearing rumors about it, and it has been a very long time.
Should the extension plans push through, it would continue its way westward over Claro M. Recto Avenue. One of the new stations would be erected somewhere near the main entrance of Tutuban Center. Since C. M. Recto Avenue is shared between Tondo and Binondo, this would be the first railway station for the district since the war.
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| Manila Tranvia Map in 1905. With edits imposed over the map. Tranvia service route in dark black lines. Texts in yellow highlight are current street names. Binondo District is in blue shade with red border. Red circle is the planned location of LRT Line 2 Tutuban Station. Background Map sourced from: Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. |
I hope this would come to fruition very soon. It would surely be an excellent investment given how busy Tutuban, Divisoria and Binondo are!
EXTRA: THAT AREA IS NOT BINONDO. When you come from Binondo Church and cross the San Fernando Bridge, you are actually exiting Binondo district.
Welcome to San Nicolas. My home district.
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| When you cross San Fernando Bridge towards that direction, you are technically no longer in Binondo. Screenshot from Google Maps. |
A lot of peeple, even locals, are still identifying this area as part of Binondo, but it really is part of San Nicolas.
To emphasize the fact that Binondo and San Nicolas are geographically distinct, they were assigned different ZIP codes: 1006 for the former, 1010 for the latter.
Well, you can consider San Nicolas as an "extension" of Binondo as there are a lot of Chinese and Chinese Filipinos (Tsinoy) living in this area. You can also find Chinese restaurants along San Fernando Street, and a number of Buddhist altars on top of the buildings.
SPECIAL MENTION: THE PHILIPPINES' FIRST CHINESE SCHOOL IS (RIGHTFULLY) SITUATED IN BINONDO. Tiong Se Academy (TSA) was established as "The Anglo-Chinese School" on 15 April 1899, in the first year of American Occupation of the Philippines. It was housed inside the tribunal de sangleyes (or the court for the Chinese, which later became the de-facto Chinese consulate) located at the present-day Marcela Agoncillo Elementary School in San Nicolas District.
There was no permanent location for TSA in its first few decades. Where the Chinese consulate will relocate, TSA would go along. But it has been in Binondo since 1900 when they transferred somewhere in Ongpin area.
TSA would finally find a permanent home in its present location at Sta. Elena Street, flanked by shopping malls within Divisoria.
I mentioned TSA as the first Chinese school in the Philippines and this fact is concurred not only by Chinese locals in the country, but also by multiple publications in China. TSA, however, is not the oldest Chinese school existing outside China as there is one Chinese school in Japan that pre-dates TSA by just one year, the Yokohama Yamate Chinese School which first opened their classes in February 1898.
Nonetheless, TSA is historic in its own right — the origin of formal Chinese education in the country and the pioneer of bilingual curriculum (English and Chinese) which has since been mirrored and implemented by all Chinese schools in the Philippines.
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| Illustration I made in 2019 for TSA's Facebook page to show where the school transferred over its first 20-30 years |
MINI BLOG PLUG.
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Thanks for dropping by, peeple!
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