Quiroga on Xian Lim, Kim Chiu, Jose Mari Chan, angpao, tikoy, pancit, lumpia and feng shui

Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances. — Jackie Chan

Choose the positive. You have choice, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. — Bruce Lee

Recently, while waiting for a dinner meeting at the crowded dim sum area of a Chinese resto in Greenhills, San Juan, a businessman who claims to be Quiroga asked if he could share my table. Not only did I agree, but I asked for an exclusive interview:

PHILIPPINE STAR: You claim to be Quiroga. Wasn’t he the Chinese entrepreneur who agreed to help Simoun the jeweler and subversive to smuggle weapons in the Jose Rizal novel El Filibusterismo?

MAN CLAIMING TO BE QUIROGA: I want to clarify, I’m not into smuggling, I just agreed to help my friend Simoun because I owed him some money but I am the classic entrepreneur who is apolitical. By the way, Kiong Hee Huat Tsai, that’s the Chinese New Year greeting in our Hokkien dialect.

Why is it, up to now, not a few in advertising agencies, mass media, restaurants and even hotels still use the Cantonese dialect greeting “Kung Hei Fat Choi”?

It’s due to superb international marketing of Hong Kong and Macau, where most of the ethnic Chinese are Cantonese. Most overseas Chinese communities in the US, Canada and even Kuala Lumpur City in Malaysia also speak the Cantonese dialect.

But here in the Philippines, most members of our ethnic Chinese minority — about two percent of our Philippine population — speak the Hokkien, Min-nan or south Fujian dialect similar to those in Singapore and Taiwan. I can compare the Cantonese dialect to Ilocano spoken by many overseas Filipinos in Hawaii or US, while Hokkien is like Ilonggo. 

Do you speak Hokkien? Is it true it was the language of the imperial family during the Tang Dynasty?

Yes, our Hokkien dialect traces its roots to the Tang Dynasty, since most people of Fujian province originated in central China (that area now called Henan province) in ancient times. Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese pronunciations of Chinese words are Hokkien-sounding and not Mandarin, because they imported Chinese writing system and Confucian culture during the Tang era.

Do you know that even the French Jewish mestiza actress Susan Roces, the Chinese mestizo anti-corruption advocate Jun Lozada and presidential spokesman Atty. Edwin Lacierda speak fluently our Hokkien dialect? Pancit, lumpia, siopao, siomai, bihon, sotanghon, hongba, patatim, pechay, taho, toyo and misua are Hokkien names. The English word “tea” comes from the Hokkien word te, but I’m eternally mystified why our Tagalog word for “tea” comes from the Mandarin pronunciation  “tsa!”

Yes, I once met Susan Roces at the Mabuhay Lounge of Philippine Airlines at the airport and she spoke to me in fluent Hokkien. Her paternal grandfather’s elder sister was married to a pre-war Chinese lumber tycoon Vicente Gotamco and her mom lived in that compound so they learned to speak Hokkien. People have asked me about our tradition of giving angpao during Chinese New Year; they wonder why it’s done.

It’s pronounced “angpao” in Hokkien and “hongbao” in Mandarin. It is not “ampaw,” and I don’t know how that became a Tagalog slang word meaning weak, vulnerable or empty.

Traditionally, we Chinese believe the giving and also receiving of angpao symbolizes blessings or good luck not only for lunar new year, but also for weddings, birthdays and other happy occasions. This tradition of angpao has spread all over Asia, called lai see in the Cantonese dialect of Hong Kong, lì xì in  in Vietnamese and sae bae don in Korean.

If you’re truly Quiroga, then you must be nearly two centuries old since Rizal’s El Fili was published in 1891 and you were already a rich merchant then. Are you an immortal like the Flying Dutchman of European lore?

One of my rules in life is not to keep counting my age, just money. (Laughs) Remember this: age is only a number. One can really be forever young with a positive attitude towards life. No need for stem cells. (Laughs)

I have met Dr. Jose Rizal at my bazaar in 19th century Manila, also the only Chinese general of the Philippine Revolution Jose Ignacio Paua. I enjoy listening to the 20th century ballads of Jose Mari Chan, and I also now watch the telenovela programs of the 21st-century part-Chinese mestizo young stars Xian Lim, Kim Chiu and Enchong Dee. As you can see, I am beyond age.

Regarding tikoy, people ask why we ethnic Chinese eat and give this glutinuous rice cake during the lunar new year?

As you know, we call this rice cake ti-ke or literally meaning “sweet cake” in our Hokkien dialect, and the name tikoy is already a Filipinized pronunciation and a nice version. In Mandarin, tikoy is nian gao or literally meaning “new year cake.”

In my opinion, another reason for the popularity of the delicious tikoy is its stickiness symbolizing family unity. The Chinese New Year is an occasion for family reunions.

What we give and eat here in the Philippines is the tikoy version from Fujian province, where our immigrant ancestors came from, but there are other varieties of tikoy such as the Shanghai, Cantonese or Jiang-Nan styles. Not Gangnam-style ha! (Laughs)

How to explain when people ask why our Chinese New Year keeps on changing every year?

I always explain to non-Chinese or even to younger Chinese like you that the Chinese New Year follows the Chinese lunar calendar, so it’s different from the Gregorian calendar of the West which follows the solar calendar. My best example of another moveable holiday similar to Chinese New Year is Easter Sunday of Christianity, which also is a moveable feast which falls on the first Sunday after the full moon (or the Paschal Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere’s vernal equinox.

What is your opinion on the territorial disagreements over the Spratley islands?

There are questions which might need 50 or 100 years for us to resolve. I recommend that politicos in both the Philippines and China agree to disagree over these islets but without being disagreeable. Do not let those issues unnecessarily poison over 1,000 years of friendly and multifaceted relations between two countries.

Even spouses and friends have disagreements, but dwell on our common interests, our many mutually beneficial links.

Have you heard some saying that Chinese Lunar New Year is our Chinese pasko (Christmas)?

Yes, both non-Chinese and even ethnic Chinese say that, but I explain that there’s only one Christmas or pasko because it’s the birthday of Jesus Christ. The Chinese New Year is actually our version of bagong taon which falls on the Western calendar’s Jan. 1.

Do you believe in feng shui and if so, what are your reactions to all those fortunetellers in mass media advising people to wear certain clothes or eat certain foods for prosperity?

Honestly, I’m wary of the many charlatans who peddle trinkets and the most absurd “good luck advice” because I believe they are bastardizing not only the ancient art of feng shui but also Chinese culture. Authentic feng shui or geomancy has for thousands of years guided emperors, scholars, taipans and ordinary folk in architecture for planning palaces, temples, homes and tombs based on principles of harmony, balance, ecology and Eastern mysticism.

However, not a few glib-tongued performers — not only here in the Philippines — have mixed some feng shui principles with an eclectic mix of ludicrous superstitions.

There’s no harm in wearing red during the new year or in being entertained by predictions according to the Chinese zodiac similar to Western zodiac signs like Pisces or Sagittarius. However, I believe the true sources of good luck are hard work, perseverance, positive attitude, nonstop learning and unceasing prayers.

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