¹ See, for instance, Hau, Caroline, ‘Conditions of visibility: Resignifying the ‘Chinese’/Filipino’ in Mana Po and Crying Ladies’, Philippine Studies 53.4 (2005), pp. 491–531Google Scholar.

² Ang See, Teresita, ‘Research on the Chinese in the Philippines in the last two decades’, in Keong, Voon Phin (ed.), Riding the Winds and Waves, Bridging the Deep Blue Seas: Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies 20^th Anniversary Commemorative Publication (Kuala Lumpur: Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, 2005), p. 92.Google Scholar

³ A term that Kaisa itself invented in lieu of ‘Philippine-Chinese’.

⁴ With the topic having been largely covered by Yuk-wai, Li, ‘The Chinese Resistance Movement in the Philippines during the Japanese Occupation’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 23.2 (1992): 308–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ ‘China's Nanjing Exhibit in Manila’, Manila Tribune, 7 December 2009.

⁶ Tan, Antonio, The Chinese in the Philippines During the Japanese Occupation, 1942–1945 (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1981), p. 73.Google Scholar

⁷ George Henry Weightman, ‘The Philippine-Chinese: A cultural history of a marginal trading community’, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Sociology, Cornell University, 1960, pp. 98–99.

⁸ Ibid., p. 99.

⁹ Velasco, Renato S., ‘The Japanese Occupation in Malaya and in the Philippines: The Chinese factor’, Asian Studies 28 (1990): 35–52.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Foronda, Marcelino A. Jr., ‘The Theater and Popular Entertainment in the Philippines During the Japanese Occupation’, The Journal of History 10.1–2 (1975): 40Google Scholar.

¹¹ Francia, Luis H., A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos (New York: The Overlook Press, 2010), p. 185.Google Scholar

¹² Though in some ways this paper represents a contribution to a wider attempt to try and remedy such deficiencies by focusing on the (often unofficial) archival record, material history, oral history and other methods. On this wider project see Edgar Wickberg, ‘Introduction’, in Chu, Richard T., Chinese Merchants of Binondo in the Nineteenth Century (Manila: UST Publishing, 2010), pp. i–xxviGoogle Scholar.

¹³ In this case, within the Chinese collections of the National Library of Australia.

¹⁴ Tan, op. cit., p. 71.

¹⁵ With all other newspapers ceasing to operate legally. Zhenxiang, Zhao, Feilübin Huawenbao Shigao (Essays on the History of Chinese Newspapers in the Philippines) (Beijing: Shijie Zhishi Chubanshe, 2006), p. 170Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Cheng Chue, Karl Ian U., ‘The Stories They Tell: Komiks during the Japanese Occupation’, Philippine Studies 53.1 (2005): 59–90.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Moore, Paul S., ‘The Social Biograph: Newspapers as archives for the regional mass market for movies’, in Maltby, Richard, Biltereyst, Daniel and Meers, Philippe (eds), Explorations in New Cinema Histories: Approaches and Case Studies (Oxford: Blackwells, 2011), pp. 263–279.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Such an approach has been used successfully by a number of film historians in recent years: Gil Toffel's close readings of cinema advertisements in the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Times and other local publications shows how a picture—albeit an admittedly limited one—of film exhibition in a given community can be drawn (in the case of a Jewish audience in inter-war London) from often the most ephemeral of sources. See Toffell, Gil, ‘“Come see, and hear, the mother tongue!” Yiddish cinema in interwar London’, Screen 50.3 (2009): 277–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁹ A point made by one historian of the era when comparing the realities of ‘actual’ rice prices in occupied Manila with prices published in the Occupation press. See Jose, Ricardo Trota, ‘Food Production and Food Distribution Programmes in the Philippines During the Japanese Occupation’, in Kratoska, Paul H. (ed.), Food Supplies and the Japanese Occupation in South-East Asia (London: Macmillan, 1998), p. 89.Google Scholar

²⁰ Guéguen, Catherine, ‘Moving from Binondo to the “Chinese villages” of the suburbs: A geographical study of the Chinese in Metro-Manila’, Journal of Chinese Overseas 6.1 (2010): 128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²¹ Amyot, Jacques, The Manila Chinese: Familism in the Philippine Environment (Quezon City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, 1973), p. 24.Google Scholar

²² A period during which there were various ‘push factors’ for Chinese emigration—population pressures in southern China, natural disasters in Fujian and the collapse of the Fujianese tea trade in the face of competition from British possessions in South Asia. Guldin, Gregory E., ‘The ebbing of the overseas tide: Fujian, the Philippines and the Rise of the PRC’, Asian Profile 8.6 (1980): 509.Google Scholar

²³ Viana, Lorelei de, Three Centuries of Binondo Architecture, 1594–1898 (Manila: University of Santo Tomas, 2001), p. 144.Google Scholar

²⁴ Witton's Manila and Philippine Directory (Manila: G. F. Witton, 1902), p. 259.

²⁵ Torres, Cristina Evangelista, The Americanization of Manila, 1898–1921 (Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, 2010), p. 215.Google Scholar

²⁶ The only theatre to be listed as having existed in Binondo in Rosenstock's Manila City Directory, 1921 (Manila: Yangco, Rosenstock and Co., 1921), is the Madrid (on a thoroughfare of the same name).

²⁷ Details are taken from a 1916 (but untitled) plaque hung within the Yu Uy Tong's offices in Manila.

²⁸ There may well have been political factors behind this name change: Da Hua and Hua Guang might be translated as ‘Great China’ and ‘Chinese Glory’ respectively, whereas Da Guangming might be translated as the far more ambiguous (and less overtly nationalistic) ‘Great Light’—a name given to a number of Chinese theatres throughout Asia.

²⁹ Despite its shared name, Manila's Rex was not affiliated with the string of Rex Theatres which were operated by the Shaw Brothers in Singapore and Malaya (and which did not open until the postwar years).

³⁰ Details are included in an advertisement for the Rex (and its affiliated film distribution business) in Yang Jingtong (ed.), Feilübin Huaqiao nianjian (The Philippine-Chinese Almanac) (Manila, 1935), no page numbers; and also in Feilübin gongshangye kaochaji (A record of industries in Manila) (Shanghai: Zhonghua Shuju, 1929), p. 43 (which lists the distribution business as being located at the same address as the Rex); details of Mabuhay Picture Co. (and its affiliation with the Rex) are listed in Manila City Directory, 1939–40 (Manila: Philippine Education Co., 1940), p. 383. ‘Mabuhay’ is a Tagalog exclamation comparable with the Spanish ‘viva’ or French ‘vive’.

³¹ Although such a question lies beyond the scope of this paper, further research may go some way in establishing the links, if any, between the earlier Teatro Guiñol Chino (mentioned above) on this street and the Chinese theatres which sprang up here some years later.

³² Wong, Kwok-Chuin, The Chinese in the Philippine Economy, 1898–1941 (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1999), p. 94.Google Scholar

³³ The wording is taken from an advertisement for the theatre in Yang Jingtong, op. cit., no page number.

³⁴ Chen Ziyu, ‘Yu yi’ (foreword), Yaxiya yingxi gongsi xingqi kan (Asiatic Cinema Weekly) 1.1 (April 1928): 1.

³⁵ This claim (‘guochan mingpian zonghui’) was maintained in the Asia's logo used in advertisements for the theatre in the Fookien Times (Xinmin ribao) as late as 1941.

³⁶ The English name Dian Hua (given in the Manila City Directory, 1934–5, p. 192) is perhaps an approximation of the Hokkien ‘Tiong-hoa’ (Zhonghua; lit., ‘Chinese’)—the company's Chinese name (the latter being listed in Feilübin gongshangye kaochaji, p. 43.

³⁷ Manila City Directory 1934–5, p. 941.

³⁸ Weightman, op. cit., p. 148.

³⁹ Chu, Richard T., Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity, and Culture, 1860s–1930s (Boston: Brill, 2010), especially pp. 281–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁰ Salumbides, Vicente, Motion Pictures in the Philippines (Manila: Vicente Salumbides, 1952), p. 20.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 30.

⁴² Being established well after the Land Acquisition Act of 1919, which stipulated that new purchases of land and property could only be made by Philippine or American nationals, Cathay was leased, rather than owned, by Yang. Very few Chinese residents of Manila in this era held Philippine citizenship (and in fact many were dissuaded from doing so). Like thousands of his peers, Henry Yang was not able to take up Philippine citizenship until 1975 and the introduction under Ferdinand Marcos of a new naturalization law in that year. It would appear that in the case of both the Yu Uy Tong and Vicente Gotamco, the land upon which their respective theatres were built was purchased prior to 1919, and they were thus allowed to maintain these properties after that date.

⁴³ Other theatres catering to the non-Chinese community were also established in the area due to its proximity to the main banking and retail districts, such as Elcano Street.

⁴⁴ The Nationalists took a particular interest in Manila's Chinese community as a result of the widespread support that the community had shown for the Fujian Rebellion of 1933–4—an anti-Nationalist uprising that Chiang Kai-shek had consequently crushed. Tan, Antonio S., The Chinese in the Philippines, 1898–1935: A Study of Their National Awakening (Quezon City: R. P. Garcia Publishing, 1972).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ ‘Beautiful Chinese Movie Star Visiting Here’, The Graphic, 24 November 1927, p. 5.

⁴⁶ de Vega, Guillermo C., Film and Freedom: Movie Censorship in the Philippines (Manila: Guillermo C. de Vega, 1975), p. 13.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Foronda, op. cit.

⁴⁸ In order to avoid undue repetition, references to the relevant film advertisements in the Xinwen are made in the main text of this paper, rather than as individual footnotes.

⁴⁹ Such as Fu, Poshek, ‘The Ambiguity of Entertainment: Chinese cinema in Japanese-Occupied Shanghai, 1941 to 1945’, Cinema Journal 37.1 (Autumn 1997): 66–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁰ Indeed, a fifth ‘theatre’ emerged out of the Occupation, when the Rex began to operate a smaller theatre known as the New Cathay (Xin Guotai) in the war years, using this as an outlet for the non-Chinese films it was able to obtain, whilst keeping the Rex operating as a site of almost entirely Chinese film exhibition.

⁵¹ All four theatres appeared in the Xinwen to wish readers a Happy New Year in 1944 within a similar message from the said association.

⁵² Velasco, op. cit., p. 40.

⁵³ Tan (The Chinese in the Philippines During the Japanese Occupation, p. 63) notes that the ‘manager of the movie house of the Chinese Association’ was assassinated in September 1944. It is not clear which ‘movie house’ Tan is referring to here.

⁵⁴ Maximo Tan, personal communication, 23 August 2010.

⁵⁵ This is something it had started to do prior to the Japanese invasion. On a number of days in early 1941, the Coco advertised its recent refurbishment in the Fookien Times (Ximin Ribao), stressing its superior audio-visual facilities and the quality of air flow in the theatre itself.

⁵⁶ A class of film that, interestingly, had been frowned upon by the Nationalist Chinese authorities prior to the war. On this topic, see Teo, Stephen, ‘The Hong Kong Cantonese Cinema: Emergence, Development and Decline’, in Lim, Song Hwee and Ward, Julian (eds), The Chinese Cinema Book (London: BFI Publishing, 2011), pp. 103–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁷ Zhen, Zhang, An Amorous History of the Silver Screen: Shanghai Cinema, 1896–1937 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), p. 212.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ On the significance of the original film, see Harris, Kristine, ‘“The Romance of the Western Chamber” and the classical subject film in 1920s Shanghai’, Zhang, Yingjin (ed.), Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922–1943 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999), pp. 51–73.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ These two theatres ‘swapped’ pre-war Chinese films with each other, for instance, but then advertised the same films in quite different ways, and often in direct competition with one another.

⁶⁰ The Chinese titles of the two movies, Du Shiniang and Shisan Niang, were thus highly similar.

⁶¹ Harris, Kristine, ‘Modern Mulans: Re-imagining the Mulan Legend in Chinese Film, 1920s–60s’, Otto, Elizabeth and Rocco, Vanessa (eds), The New Woman International: Representations in photography and film from the 1870s through the 1960s (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2011), pp. 309–330.Google Scholar

⁶² The film showing at the Rex, and being advertised in late June issues of the Fookien Times (Xinmin Ribao).

⁶³ Weightman, op. cit., pp. 99–100.

⁶⁴ On this wider topic, see Brook, Timothy, ‘Occupation state building’ in MacKinnon, Stephen R., Lary, Diana and Vogel, Ezra F. (eds), China at War: Regions of China, 1937–1945 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2007), pp. 22–43.Google Scholar

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⁶⁶ Baskett, Michael, The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008), 97–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶⁷ High, Peter B., The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Year's War, 1931–1945 (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), pp. 451–7.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ The event which led to the outbreak of the first Opium War.

⁶⁹ Baskett, Michael ‘All Beautiful Fascists? Axis Film Culture in Imperial Japan’, in Tasman, Alan (ed.), The Culture of Japanese Fascism (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2009), pp. 222–224.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ The term guixu is used here for ‘ghastly’; it is not, however, standard Chinese, and is instead borrowed from the Japanese kichiku. We do not know why a Japanese term is used in this context—was it inserted by a Japanese censor? Is it evidence of the influence of Japanese vocabulary on written Chinese in wartime Manila?—but its use here is significant.

⁷¹ On this topic, see Taylor, Jeremy E., Rethinking Transnational Chinese Cinemas: The Amoy-dialect film industry in Cold-War Asia (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 143.Google Scholar

⁷² With the two characters guang and hua being inverted.

⁷³ The name was a play on words: yin lou literally means a ‘building of sound’, but the phrase is deliberately similar in pronunciation (with only a tonal difference) to the word for ‘jewellery store’—yinlou.

⁷⁴ Fu, op. cit.

⁷⁵ This is how the entire war period was presented (p. 188), for example, in the late Edgar Wickberg's contribution to Lynn Pann (ed.), The Encylopedia of the Chinese Overseas (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999)—the Occupation being relegated to a single paragraph in this 13-page entry.

⁷⁶ See, for instance, Chu, Richard T., ‘Strong(er) Women and Effete Men: Negotiating Chineseness in Philippine Cinema at a Time of Transnationalism’, positions 19.2 (2011): 365–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷⁷ Taylor, op. cit., pp. 34–41.

⁷⁸ Smiley Co, ‘A Study on [sic] the Movie Theater operation Industry in Metro Manila’, Undergraduate Dissertation, Department of Commerce, De la Salle University, Manila, 1987.