Bahay Tsinoy: Museum of Chinese in Filipino Life

Last year, we went to Bahay Tsinoy, a museum in Intramuros about the Chinese in the Philippines. I didn’t know about it at all before I got an invitation to their temporary exhibit about the Chinese New Year celebration, which the kids and I were learning about then.

The exhibit was full of information about the different elements of the holiday.

We did not expect the museum to be so fascinating, though! It has a permanent exhibit of life-sized dioramas depicting early Chinese life.

The story starts with the trading between Chinese and Malay traders…

And continues with the Chinese settlement…

Once settled, the Chinese did various jobs, such as carpentry…

Barbers worked on the streets…

As did vendors…

Here’s an old sari-sari store…

“Sangley” was the term used by the Spaniards to refer to the Chinese who were mostly engaged as merchants and laborers.

Of course, there were already successful Chinese merchants back then…

There is also a section about the prominent members of the Filipino-Chinese community in the modern times. Though we didn’t find the display as fascinating as the dioramas (because, dioramas!), we still learned a lot about the early Chinese companies and businessmen who made a mark in our country.

Bahay Tsinoy is worth visiting and re-visiting, especially when you’re learning about the Chinese New Year (CNY), China and the Filipino-Chinese community. We’re definitely going back, as the CNY celebration will only end on February 23, 15 days after the first day of the lunar calendar. Yes, we’re tackling the Chinese New Year quite late this year! 🙂