Hi, Chris Chappell here in the Philippines
As part of our Pivot to Asia Tour.
Everyone knows that Filipino president, Duterte
has been cozying up to China.
But what you may not know
is that the Philippines and China already have a long history together.
That's why I'm standing here in Binondo,
the oldest Chinatown in the world -
over 400 years old.
So I thought I'd show you around, but
we could probably get a local to help me - show me around...
Hey, excuse me, sir!
You're Chris Chappell!
Oh my God, fellow YouTuber Travis Kraft!
You look a bit lost,
I'm the perfect guy
if you need any help being shown around.
I can take care of that for you.
What a wonderful, unstaged coincidence!
Let's go...
Thanks, Travis
I appreciate you taking the time
to show me around the Philippines.
Absolutely. And here's the river, and it actually looks like they cleaned it up.
Wow.
Believe it or not, it was worse.
What a wonderful smell you discovered!
Hi!
What a surprise seeing you here.
I've been looking for you, actually. Where did you go?
Chris, this is Imabelle, my wife.
I think you've seen her on my channel.
You look so familiar!
I recognize you from the show. What another coincidence!
I'm so excited!
You're here!
So are you gonna join us and help show me around?
My pleasure!
Wonderful!
Here we are, Chris!
Hopia!
So tell me a bit about this hopia.
What's special about it?
Hopia is favorite Chinese snacks.
There's a lot of flavors here that you can choose from.
I personally like munggo.
There's different kinds of munggos as well,
but if you wanna try that, then go for it!
Munggo is a type of bean.
It's not mango - munggo.
Oh, a bean - okay.
What's that, Shelley?
Go for the ube and cheese...
Thanks, Shelley...
Ube and cheese - let's get in there.
I bit it on the cheese end.
That's pretty nice!
It's very sweet cheese.
If it's good, if something here is delicious -
you should say,
"Ang sarap sarap!"
Ang sarap sarap!
Yeah, ang sarap sarap!
I like that!
Ang sarap sarap!
So this is obviously a Catholic church.
Catholicism here is radically different from what Americans think of Catholicism.
In America, there's a lot of emphasis on sin and living a moral lifestyle.
Here, it's less of that. A lot of people here
seem to have the attitude that
you can do whatever you want during the week,
but so long as you tell Jesus you love him,
He'll forgive you.
There's a lot of influence from the native religions before Catholicism.
So animism has a lot of influence. A lot of influence from animism.
And other native things.
So you'll see people going to church,
lighting candles for sculptures and pictures,
touching pictures of saints or the Virgin Mary,
crying and stuff...
When you see that, it's a little hard to imagine
Americans doing something like that and being so dramatic.
Early Chinatown was filled with mostly Catholic Chinese, correct?
It was actually started by the Spanish.
Spanish leader started this for Chinese Catholics.
And it was kind of a way to separate things,
to kind of segregate things.
The Spanish can live over here, and the Chinese can live over here...
And they could have that separation.
I guess they weren't into multiculturalism.
I guess not.
Apparently, we came in the middle of the wet season, so it's raining now.
So were gonna hop into one of these, uh...
deathtraps,
And go to a nearby Taoist temple.
Allen gave me a camera so I'm gonna be the cameraman for a little bit.
Oh, it's vibrating...
This is quite tight and scary.
This is just a motorcycle with a cage wrapped around it.
So how many people normally fit into one of these things?
Um, three people.
Most of them aren't our size, though.
Yeah, you lift weights, don't you, Travis?
A little bit.
So tell me more about the influence of China in the Philippines.
There's so much of a big impact
in terms of the food they eat here,
the holidays,
and Chinese people are very superstitious -
Filipinos very superstitious,
so there's a lot of crossover in terms of all of that.
So the cultures really have fused together - Oh my God!
Are we flipping upside down?
Travis, you're too big!
I'm gonna lean forward.
It felt like the whole thing was almost flipping.
Well, welcome to the last episode of China Uncensored.
I'm here with Ima and Travis...
How do the Filipinos feel about the new relations Duterte is pushing with China?
Happy.
We get to talk to different people, from taxi drivers to professionals,
well-educated, not-so-educated,
Some people say that they're not really
okay with Duterte trying to partner with China,
because they don't want communism.
Some people say, "I think it's good,
let's just trust Duterte because maybe it's his strategy
to make everything better for the Philippines."
Ah, interesting...
This is madness.
So I can definitely appreciate why you would want public transit,
because I would not want to drive in this!
This isn't madness. This is Manila!
This is Manila!
They took us to a different temple. It was a long, pleasant drive.
Hey, a Buddhist temple!
You can tell by all of the swastikas.
You know, the swastika is an ancient symbol,
and should not be associated with the Nazis.
It's an ancient symbol that's been found in the relics of ancient Greece,
I've seen it in viking temples,
Indian culture, Buddhist culture...
It's a sacred symbol - take it back from the Nazis!
So it's amazing to see all the ways
over the hundreds of years to the present they've been here.
And continuing to impact it - well certainly moreso now.
There are many temples in Binondo,
but the number of Buddhists here is not really big.
It's because there are many Chinese here.
And there are many Chinese here who are Buddhist and, at the same time, Christian.
So they identify as Christian and Buddhist!
A Buddhist nun here told us that,
you can be both Buddhist and Christian at the same time
They don't really conflict with each other since Buddhism
is not about worshiping a god.
Buddha's not God.
The idea is that Buddha - and there's been many Buddhas -
but the one that we call the Buddha
- he's attained enlightenment and ultimately
that's supposed to be our goal.
But that's a very difficult thing to do, and it might take the course of several lifetimes to do it,
but that's the goal. It's like a reminder when we look at the statues of Buddha.
We're supposed to attain to that perfection,
as elusive as it is.
Yep, I think I've gained enlightenment.
Shall we move onto the next place?
Okay, let's go.
Alright, great.
So the history of the Filipino Chinatown is pretty interesting in Manila.
I know at the beginning there was a lot of tension between the Spanish and colonial government.
There were issues of Chinese pirates who were unrelated to the
Filipino Chinese, but
that still creates tensions.
Then there was an uprising in the 1600s
which ended with the colonial government killing almost the entire 20,000
inhabitants of this Chinatown.
I sure am thirsty after all that exhaust I inhaled.
You can have some buko juice.
Wow, how perfect to have this right here!
So this is a coconut, right?
Less than a dollar!
Young coconut, that's what this is.
And he just pulled a machete outta nowhere.
It's kinda funny because
we're drinking out of coconuts
you would think we're in a tropical island paradise
but instead we're in this place.
Alright, cheers!
So where can I buy some nice Chinese souvenirs?
This is all made in China.
So for dinner,
is there any place we can go to
where they have something like Filipino food
and Chinese food together, all in one plate?
What an unplanned coincidence!
I'm so excited to try authentic Filipino Chinese food!
Well, we're here!
Oh. It's the Filipino Panda Express.
Okay, I got us some authentic Filipino Chinese buns.
It's kind of amazing how Filipino culture and Chinese culture have mixed together
to form something totally new.
And I hope you had a good time and learned some stuff.
How were we as your tour guides?
You guys were definitely the best tour guides I've ever had in the Philippines.
Alright let's dig in - uh, these look interesting...
It's filled with chocolate.
I think we're probably done for the day.
Well, thank you again.
Be sure to check out Travis's channel, it's called "Travis Kraft."
He's an actor and he gives you an inside look at the Philippines.
Ima is on there as well.
Once again, thank you for watching this episode of China Uncensored,
See you next time on our Pivot to Asia Tour.