What are the influences of the Chinese traders to the early Filipinos?

Answer 1

I'm assuming this question refers to the pre-colonial era of the archipelago that was to be collectively called the "Philippines" resultant of Spanish colonial rule from the 16th Century.

It is a difficult question to answer as there is no recorded history prior to the colonial era of the islands; however, we can make some safe assumptions through historical context.

The early 15th Century did not know of the Spanish as a naval power, the Chinese had boats that made Magellan's Victory look puny indeed. The emperor Yong Le ordered naval exploration that sought tributes and trading partners rather than foreign colonies (with the exception of present-day Vietnam, which his army occupied for 20 years).

With such a great derth of direct evidence nonetheless, it would be reasonable assume that they would have, as the world superpower of the 15th Century, exerted considerable influence on the early inhabitants of the archipelago.

One can reasonably reckon that the gene pool, trade customs and language of the proto-Philippinos must have been influenced by the Chinese trading expeditions of the early 15th Century; however, these influences are difficult to detect today because of the incursion of Islam and then the Spanish conquistadors followed by the US occupation.

The influence of subsequent waves of foreigners has been so great that it is difficult to gauge with any accuracy the influence of an ancient trading partner no matter its size or importance a century prior.

Spanish influence on contemporary Philippine culture has been so great that the nation is considered Latino instead of Asian by many. It is difficult to determine with precision what the islands were like prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

For instance, one could identify a Philippine citizen who has Chinese ancestry, but it would be near impossible to detect how old this ancestor was when he entered the archipelago's gene pool.

Chinese New Year may be celebrated in modern Philippines, but this is probably a modern occurrence as the Spanish would not have tolerated it.