“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on Volume 4, Issue 4 which the world revolves, - slowly, evenly, without rushing Block 8, May 2008 toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this mo- ment is life..” -Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist monk) Imperialistic Domination: Relations between the Philippines and the US By Raquel Sáenz The United States a struggle ensued between pines has continued to be a has maintained a rather tu- the United States and the close ally with the United multuous relation with the Philippines, which resulted in States. Republic of the Philippines the deaths of one million throughout history. Through Filipinos. After this battle, Continued on Page 3... the imperialistic history of the Philippines remained the US, many Filipinos were under US control until 1946. subjugated by the American During this period of time, government. The Philippines, Filipinos were forced to now an independent nation serve with the US military in located in Southeast Asia, World War II. To this day, was under both Spanish and English remains one of the American control throughout official languages of the Phil- the past 500 years. From ippines, along with Tagalog. 1565 until 1898 Spain con- Nonetheless, about 180 dif- trolled the Philippines. In ferent languages and dialects 1899, the First Philippine are spoken throughout the Republic in Malolos was cre- islands. The influences of ated, but was later dissolved Spain can still be seen by the United States. Accord- through the periodic use of ing to both Spain and the Spanish, the predominance United States, the Philippines of Catholicism, and certain had been ceded to the US by Spanish influenced aspects of Spain. However, obviously music and dance. many Filipino nationalists As far as policies risked their lives to continue and politics are concerned, An Asian Studies Publication Studies An Asian the struggle for independ- the Republic of the Philip- Map of the republic of the Philippines ence. From 1899 until 1913, The Peranakan Culture in Singapore By Guest Writer Genevieve Lim-Roth migrating into the area as far In the Malay lan- Inside this issue: back as the 15th century. guage, the term Peranakan Here they intermarried with means “local born” and re- News Around Asia 2 indigenous women and fers to persons of mixed formed settled communities Bulletin Board 4 ethnicity. It is most com- Peranakans in Sin- Senior Majors & Minors 5 monly applied to the mixed gapore have developed a Chinese-indigenous commu- language called Baba Malay, Summer Movie Guide 6 nities that developed in the essentially a Malay vernacu- trading ports of Melaka, Sin- Pernakan Culture.. 3 lar. Male Peranakans are gapore, and Penang. Drawn known as Baba and the fe- by the lively commerce that males Nyonya. The latter has passed through the Malacca been affectionately Straits, Chinese traders began COLORADO COLLEGE The Lotus used in describing Continued on Page 3... ~NEWS AROUND ASIA~ Japan Mourns Death of Giant Rare Panda TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's oldest giant panda, Beijing Is To Impose Smoking Ban Ling Ling, a longtime star at Tokyo's largest zoo and a symbol of friendship with China, died Wednesday of The Chinese authorities are due to ban smoking heart failure, zookeepers said. Ling Ling was 22 in most public buildings in the capital Beijing, years and seven months old, equivalent to about 70 starting on Thursday. They say they are organis- human years, the Ueno Zoo said. It said he was the ing 100,000 existing employees to act as an en- fifth-oldest known male panda in the world. forcement team. Ling Ling began losing his appetite and strength last The move is an attempt to discourage some of August because of his old age, and recently suffered China's 350 million smokers and also part of from heart and kidney problems, zoo official Motoya- wider efforts to clean up the city in the run up su Ida said. Keepers and visitors mourned the panda, to the Olympics. For every three cigarettes lit the zoo's most popular attraction for more than 15 worldwide, one is smoked in China. Almost years. Public broadcaster NHK showed many visitors 25% of the Chinese smoke. Smoking is also writing condolence messages, with some brushing contributing to a rapid rise of cancer and heart away tears. An autopsy found he died of heart failure, disease in the world's most populous country. Ida said. The imminent Olympic Games have strength- Fukuji Sugimoto, chief panda keeper at the zoo, said ened motivation. China wants to promote Bei- he felt something was wrong as soon as he entered jing as a progressive, modern and clean city. Ling Ling's cage early Wednesday.” He always turned Less smoke and fewer cigarette butts could real- around when I called 'Ling Ling.' This morning he ly help. didn't. I rushed to him and touched his head, and he was already cold. That broke my heart," Sugimoto Smoking is deep-rooted in Chinese culture and said. "He was such a darling." Ling Ling died just one there is still a general lack of awareness about day after the zoo withdrew him from public view the impact on health. The WHO is discussing because of his worsening health. further measures with the government, like an increase in taxes on cigarettes. But smoking is Born at China's Beijing Zoo in 1985, Ling Ling came big business, and some officials are worried to Tokyo in 1992. He had traveled to Mexico three about damaging that. However, financial loss times in recent years for unsuccessful mating. Ling now could be more than off-set by savings on Ling was the only giant panda owned by Japan, with health care in the future. eight other pandas elsewhere in the country all loaned by China, according to media reports. Giant pandas are one of the world's rarest animals, with about 1,600 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia- living in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and pacific/7376560.stm Shaanxi provinces. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/30/ japan.panda.ap/index.html Imperialistic Domination Continued from page 1... Meanwhile, the brutal history of racism in the United Another important bond between the two countries States affected these relations both during and after the exists through the 2 million Filipino-Americans living American control over the Republic of the Philippines. the US, many of whom send remittances back to the During the first half of the 20th century, theories of eu- Philippines. These emigrants provide an important genics dominated US immigration policy. This particular chunk of foreign exchange earnings. Furthermore, trade genetic theory, dominated by scientific racism, sought to talks between the US and the Philippines continue to improve the American gene pool by excluding groups generate positive results for both countries. Although a that were thought to be difficult to assimilate. Obvious- good deal of animosity continues to exist against the US ly, in the minds of many racist politicians, this included a in some parts of the Philippines, the relations between great deal of the world’s population, including Filipinos. the two countries continue to grow stronger. Nonethe- However, US relations with the Philippines have less, animosity against the US represents a perfectly nat- “evolved from a lessor-lessee relationship to equal part- ural reaction to the American history in the Philippines, nership because [they] no longer have the [military] ba- which included a great deal of human and resource ex- ses” (Republic of the Philippine’s Secretary of Foreign ploitation. Affairs Dominguo Siazon). The Pernakan Culture Continued from page 1.. Peranakan cuisines and fashion. Peranakan dress try, although fair denominations of them are of the Teo- and cuisine are influenced by the community's Malayan chew or Cantonese descent. In its rites and rituals, how- history. The dress for women is adapted from the Malay ever, the Peranakans follow old Chinese traditions. baju kurong and the sarong kebaya. Hoping that the younger generation of Peran- Kebayas and Sarongs are the popular costumes akans would imbibe some of the rich culture and for the of Nyonyas and Babas. Though of Malay origins, these rest of the population to appreciate a homegrown cul- are often embroidered with Chinese motifs to distin- ture, the Singapore government has taken every possible guish from their Malay counterparts. The Peranakans preservation effort since the 80's. also created a whole new repertoire of exquisite orna- Houses bearing unique Peranakan characteris- ments and jewelry. However, the most popular costume tics were restored and conserved. Relentless efforts were pieces among Nyonyas and others alike, are the colorful spent in re-enacting the Peranakan experience in the beaded shoes and handbags. Singapore History Museum as part of their permanent The food - Nyonya cuisine - is well-known for exhibitions. Another exhibition called The Peranakan its spices and flavors characteristic of Malay and Thai Legacy is being held in conjunction at the Asian Civiliza- cooking. This is evident, as dozens of Peranakan restau- tions Museum, with some of the exhibits on loan from rants have sprouted all over the island city. Singapore, prominent Peranakan families in Singapore. being a food paradise, does help in more ways than one to preserve this colorful aspect of Peranakan culture. Laksa, a special dish of rice-noodles cooked in prawn and chicken curry gravy is perhaps the commonest among Nyonya cooking. It can be found in almost eve- ry eatery in Singapore and is quite inexpensive. Though spicy to the unwary, connoisseurs often eat this and many other Nyonya dishes with generous helping of belacan or chili paste.