Historical Backdrop
The year the cemetery plan was submitted to the Spanish government in Manila, the authorities had already been for several years embroiled in sporadic but bitter fighting with Filipino insurgents. On April 25,1898 the United States declared war on Spain and on May 1st Commodore Dewey captured Manila Bay. Under the leadership of Aguinaldo, the Filipino Nationalists laid siege on Manila with U.S. support. Without the protection of a navy, surrounded on all sides, the Spanish government surrendered to the U.S. on August 13th.By the end of the year, the Spanish government and military left the islands taking with them many official documents which eventually were deposited in various libraries of Spain. Among those documents was the plan for the octagonal cemetery.The century-old document proved a mystery. Was the cemetery ever built or was the plan lost in the confusion of war? If it was built, where is it located and is it still in existence? Lastly, why the unusual eight-sided shape?Clues from the History of the Chinese in the Philippines
The proximity of the Philippine Islands to mainland China made contact with that expanding civilization inevitable. The Sung Annals of the 10th century mention the islands and record visits by Filipino explorers and traders to the mainland. No doubt the Chinese also ventured to the Philippines as traders and migrants seeking new land. There was an ancient Taoist belief about the existence of the "Isles of the Immortals" somewhere in the Eastern Sea. At least one expedition was sent to discover these islands where one could eat the abundant food of eternal youth. Could these mythical isles have been the Philippines?Archaeological evidence suggest that groups from China had already settled in the Philippines during prehistory and most likely became assimilated with the native populations. When the Spanish arrived in Manila in 1571, they encountered Chinese merchant ships and a resident population of 150 Chinese. Asked where they came from they replied seng-li (or xang lai), meaning "we are traders" and thenceforth all Chinese were called "Sangleys" by the Spanish. It was with these traders that the Spanish developed the lucrative Manila galleon trade shipping Chinese silk, porcelain, spices, furniture, secular and religious jewelry and many other goods to Europe via Mexico. The Spanish called the galleons nao de la China or "ships of China."Because of the economic importance of the traders, the Chinese were tolerated in Manila but mistrusted. As trade grew and the Chinese population increased eventually outnumbering the resident Spanish, the Spanish authority required all non-Christian Chinese to reside in a walled compound called the Parian beginning in 1582. The Parian became the commercial center of Manila with the many Chinese craftsmen providing their skilled services as shipbuilders, carpenters, sculptors, weavers, cobblers, bakers, food vendors, apothecaries, jewelers and much more.A colony far from its homeland, the Spanish in Manila were subject to threats of attack from other empire-seeking European as well as Asian nations. Its proximity to mainland China and the attack by the Chinese warlord Lim-Ah-Hong (or Lin Tao Kien) in 1574, even though successfully repelled, only abetted the distrust of the Sangleys. The ongoing discrimination and repression led to a series of Chinese revolts in 1603, 1639, 1662, 1686 and 1762 with the invariable response of indiscriminate slaughter of thousands of innocent Chinese. Chroniclers noted that economic depression often followed the massacres because so much of the island's commerce depended on Chinese trade. The Eighth Parian |
The location of the Parian moved from time to time and persisted until 1790. The second-to-last Parian was built across the Pasig River from the Spanish fortress called Intramuros and its layout was an interesting shape -- it was an octagon.The Mystery of the Octagon
Was there some relationship between the octagonal cemetery plan and the similarly shaped Parian of more than a hundred years earlier? The octagon figures prominently in Chinese architecture particularly in religious structures. When Buddhism arrived in China and melded with the already existing Taoist and Confucian beliefs, many temples and pagodas were built as places of worship. The round stupas of India were transformed into polygon-shaped pavilions and pagodas in China. I couldn't find a direct reference to the significance of the octagon but I believe it may be related to the Buddhist tenets of the "Eightfold Path Toward Enlightenment": right views and right aspiration; right speech, right conduct and right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation. Over the centuries, the three beliefs borrowed freely from each other and the octagon became a feature of Taoist architecture as well. Binondo Catholic Church |
When the Chinese came to the Philippines, they brought their religious beliefs and building skills with them. The eighth (and coincidentally shaped?) Parian is one example of the use of the octagon and the pagoda-like belfry of the Binondo church is yet another. Is the octagonal cemetery plan of 1898 another example of Chinese design?The Chinese cemetery of Manila had already been founded in 1879. By this time the Chinese community was well organized with its own leader called the Gobernadorcillo de Chino. Any building plans probably still had to be submitted and approved by the Spanish government. Was the octagonal cemetery a planned extension of the existing Chinese cemetery or was it to be built in another part of the city or in another city altogether? Maybe it wasn't Chinese at all. Or was the plan lost and forgotten in the turmoil of political upheaval?The mystery remains for historical sleuths but the clues are intriguing.
