Something I'm kind of curious about, since the Philippines culturally seems so different from much of East Asia (China, Korea, Japan....), what is the general sentiment in the Philippines towards East Asia and East Asian cultures? Do Filipinos tend to feel "at one" with East Asians (not counting other Southeast Asians) or vastly different? What are some similarities?

Also, how do Filipinos tend to feel when they travel to East Asia? Is there a big culture shock or not so much?

I travelled to East Asia (China, HK, Taiwan and Japan) a few years back with my ex (Filipina) and she liked it alot, then again she is into East Asian culture so I guess it wasn't a problem.

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Was she American or from the Philippines? No culture shock?

I'm not exactly sure how they view Chinese culture, but I know that Filipinos kids make fun of Chinese people in the same way that American kids would. They stretch their eyes and say nonsense like "ching chang chong" I just thought it was interesting how even other Asian kids make fun of Chinese in that way. Generally, Filipinos like Koreans and Japanese (I think) more than Chinese

east asians are conisdered the ideal beauty in the philippines. just watch the televisions shows.

^ I dont think so. Every time I asked which one is preferred Mestiza, Chinita, or Morena? people would always put it in this order Mestiza, Morena, then Chinita. I asked my cousins in Bicol, my cousins in Manila, and some street kids in Manila.

yea i like the mestiza ,morena chinita as well,

you're right. i was speaking more to their complexion than facial features. but during my few years there, i did get the sense that many pinay found korean men to be quite attractive. and most pinoy just cared if it was breathing

on a side note i have a question for you Graham_Cracker07: i have seen some of your comments and seen some of your pics while in the philippines. you seem quite intelligent in many of your remarks. and you seem to "document" and identify the types of people you come across the way an academian would. are you an anthropologist or sociologist? or just plain curious and well read?

Haha. I grew up in Manila and we made fun of everybody (blacks, whites, indians etc...we rarely see them, when we see them it's interesting to us, I guess kids would be kids <<< I'm pretty sure we're not the ony 'racist' kids in the world and thought those were just games, I guess MLK Jr would send me to hell if he found out I nicknamed a friend "Neg-Neg" LOL). But THERE'S SO MANY CHINESE/Chinese-Filipinos AMONG US, and the number culture that most Filipinos experience aside from their own first hand is Chinese (the only show they broadcast aside from English and Tagalog was Cantonese dramas during Sunday morning), it's not like we grow some sort of xenophobia. When I was growing up it's impossible to tell who's "Chinese" and who's just 'Asian, looking in class.

Haha, no i'm not an anthropologist or sociologist. I'm just interested in people and culture. But yeah, I agree that Filipinos like Koreans, but for some reason they make fun of Chinese. As if they can tell the difference. I cant.





Yeah, one of the girls in the neighborhood was called "Ate Neg" because she was so dark. They also called a kid "Bumbay" because he had big eyes. This kinda racist language is very common in the Philippines, but most of the time it's not meant to hurt, but just for fun.

^ I think it's because you grew up in America that you see it like that, I mean as intense. I'm not saying it's good, but racism also rear it's ugly heads. But then a lot of those really weren't derogatory...I grew up in Hawaii where it was similar (but Hawai'i in comparison to the Philippines was more mixed) we use "Podagee" (Portuguese) to mean "dumb/blonde", Pake (Chinese) to mean cheap, ... but I think a lot of us are more accepting of other people than some people in the mainland who are 'proper' on the outside, but are freaking racists when you get to know them.

Discrimination is everywhere whenever there's a minority. Even in the Philippines itself, city folks look down on the rural people.
The Chinese were actually not treated well in the Philippines as well.
The issue was mostly about cleanliness and spitting. But that was in the past. Most are mixed now. I remember stories of my relatives who were teased in school because they smelled copra. Copra is a by-poduct of coconut. They used to buy copra and sell them in bulk. They have to stock the copra in their house which they extended to accommodate a bodega.

The culture shock would be mild. But since Filipinos are somewhat immersed in East Asian pop culture (not to mention some common cultural elements a.k.a the food), they now what's awaiting them.

btw the common cliche is that all east asians are somewhat more "disciplined" than the Filipinos.

People do seem to make fun of mountain or rural people. And what is so bad about smelling like Coconut. Afterall, there are plenty of shampoos and other stuff that people pay for which smell like coconut. Yes I use a shampoo that smells like Coconut.

This is the shampoo:

well i was born in cainta rizal and grew up in chicago. i joined the u.s. navy and when hanging out w/ my pinoy friends overseas, other pinoys we met would talk to me in english and then talk to my friends in tagalog. i guess i look chinese or something. my mom is from pampanga and light skinned but my dad is from zamboanga and looks strait up pinoy.

can't stand the mutul riducule, calling it discrimination or racism would be too much.

everybody likes throwing about "mukha ng katulong" or "tisoy-tisoy" about once in while

it's better to look up to european countries like usa, germany, or england. all the best is in the west.

Quiet or we'll start robbing yours ! LOL

european had done the most to improve the lives of all people in the past two century: tv, internet, airplane, internal combustion engine, intergrated circuit, transistor, dna double helix, and much much more..

since when was the US of A a european country??? LOL

you're right. i kept think the usa is european countries lol. it's got the anglo-saxon culture and the majority of people are still europeans.

Filipinos should smell like coconut because the Philippines is a coconut country and produces the most coconut in the world and the Philippines even do not know what to do to the rest of the coconut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut#Production

The Japanese would even be more culturally shocked by the Chinese. Filipinos know the Chinese very well. We know their customs.

When I came to America, I got shocked. Small kids just call me by my first name and seem to treat me like their equal.
In the Philippines, seniority is important.

The Chinese also have seniority. I don't know about Japanese and Koreans.

Filipinos who work abroad have less of a culture shock when in places like Japan, China/Taiwan/HK and Korea compared to places in the Middle East & Europe.

Filipinos are very familiar with East Asian culture because of TV (Japanese anime, Korean tele-novelas, Chinese dramas), and movies (HK-made).

Filipinos like Japanese electronics, Chinese food and Korean tele-novelas.




Obviously you don't know since you did not grow up in the Philippines.

Filipino kids make fun of everyone that are not like them. Black, white, yellow etc.

Honestly the question is kind of loaded since alot of filipinos here say they're mixed with chinese. ^_^

Dunno. I don't think the reaction to East Asians would be much different, since anybody with chinese admixture won't really be considered Chinese anyways.

Nevertheless they would defend china if you made a bad post about the country, so bias yes.

thats true. But the Filipino-Chinese have mostly have "gone native" anyway so to speak.

I think another prejudice would be that "East Asia" begins in Vietnam and Singapore already

RP-China ties are actually good. I mean look at it this way...are we really close with the other Southeast Asian cultures? Do we have monuments like the Angkor Wat or Borubudor? We don't. We also don't have Pagodas or golden Buddhas. So the way we view other East Asian culture is as much difference as we view the Malaysian or the Indonesian one...the only difference is our exclamation of how much we associate our looks to the Southeast Asians than the East Asians. But honestly, due to the strong ties with China, culturally wise, we have a generally positive outlook with them.

Ditto. But i think South Korea would still rank in popularity at No. 1, while Japan would be No. 2 (even with bad WW2 memories). China would be No.3, just because of the local contact and cultural connections there might be some prejudices.

I remember when the Philippine basketball team played in China years and years ago, I watched it live on TV in the Philippines with my cousins. I never felt anything for China even just a little bit. Even my cousins who have more Chinese blood than me jumped for the Philippine team.

But I felt bad during the recent Olympics when the Spanish Team made a slant eye gesture. I look very Pinoy, I'm not slant eyed either, but somehow it hurt me.

But I wonder why I don't get hurt when Pinoys criticize the Chinese. Maybe I got used to it since my mom would sometimes yell at my dad and say " Yung mga ugaling intsik ng mga kamag anak mo" referring to my dad's relatives.

^^ From what I observed, most 2nd generation Chinoys are in love or at least inclined to the Philippines. They love their ancestral home, but that's fine with me since it's a respect for heritage (which I think we should promote). However, there are some Chinoys that are proud of China more than the Philippines, which kind of irks me. Take note that only a small number of them do these, most still love this country and they're as much of my countrymen as to the pure Pinoy without mixed blood.

I actually know Filipino/Chinese people get offended when I tell them they look chinese and not filipino. I guess they lean more towards filipinos

not for long

How about in terms of religion, are there a lot of Catholic missionaries from the Philippines that go to East Asia?


I used to use that shampoo a lot.

Filipino Missionaries used to go South Korea (maybe 30 or 20 years ago). I guess the South Koreans are Christian enough nowdays lol

btw those were also missionaries of the smaller, Protestant groups. Haven't heard of Filipino Muslim missionaries, but they could be out there as well.

some go to indo-china trying to convert hill tribes from those countries...they setup schools and such

Speaking of Filipino missionaries, the first Filipino saint Lorenzo Ruiz was a missionary sent to Japan during the early 17th century.
He was tortured to death by the Japanese.

You sound like some Pro-Statehooders we have here.

dedicated to dutayfan lol



THE DOORS - The End

Well what about the East Asia's view on the Philippines. Well some East Asians view us Filipinos being NON-Asians - which is ridiculous, but the rest they consider us a paradise in Asia when it comes to Tourism. The Philippines in well-known in East Asia for being a top tourist spot, and now we need to let the whole world know that.

try and stay on topic

Well sorry, well it's nice to stay off-topic sometimes but okay.