El Filibusterismo (El Fili) – Chapter 16
Chapter Title: The Tribulations of a Chinaman
Setting: Saturday evening, Quiroga’s bazaar (Escolta Street)
Characters:
- Chinaman Quiroga
- Senor Gonzales
- Don Timoteo Pelaez
- Simoun
- Don Custodio
- Ben Zayb
- Padre Camorra
- Padre Irene
- Padre Salvi
- Juanito Pelaez
- Capitan General (mentioned)
- Mr. Leeds (mentioned)
Plot:
Chinaman Quiroga hosts a dinner and the guests talk about the sphinx exhibit found in Quiapo square.
Chapter Summary:
Chinaman Quiroga hosts dinner at the top floor of his bazaar on Escolta street. Many people go and he is popular because he provides parishes and convents with their needs and accepts IOUs.
Friars and bureaucrats are in the sala praying tresillo and talking with one another. The sala is decorated with Chinese memorabilia, as well as Catholic objects and icons of Mohammed (Santiago / St. James). Chinaman Quiroga makes sure no one will “shanghai” (steal) anything, acting kind to some and mean to others because he knows that they came just for his dinner.
The ones who came just for dinner are:
- Senor Gonzales because he says he supports Chinaman Quiroga’s idea of establishing a Chinese consulate in Manila, but he writes a column under the name “Pitili” and attacks Chinese immigration.
- Don Timoteo Pelaez because he insults the Chinese memorabilia and thinks Chinese competition is ruining his business. Don Timoteo Pelaez , a bureaucrat and a government official.
- A bureaucrat who smuggled Mexican pesos to China
- A government official who knows that Chinaman Quiroga earned money from selling Manila lottery tickets in China for a higher price.
Simoun talks to merchants who are complaining to him about their businesses failing. They hope he will talk to Capitan General to help them. Don Timoteo Pelaez complains to Simoun about the port not being finished, but a merchant asks why he is upset since the Capitan General ordered the demolition of houses of light material, while Don Timoteo Pelaez has a shipment of galvanized iron arriving. But Don Timoteo Pelaez says the owners of the houses cannot buy from him because they are poor. Simoun suggests buying the houses, waiting for the order to be withdrawn and then reselling the houses at double the price.
Chinaman Quiroga respects Simoun because he believes Simoun is counseling Capitan General to favor the Chinese “to humble the natives”.
Before, mestizos and natives distrusted each other. At mass a gobernadorcillo native crossed his leg to show off his boots. The gobernadorcillo of mestizos spread his legs to show off a chain of gold and diamonds on his waistcoat. After that, all the members of each faction did the same. The Chinese had their own display: one leg tucked and the other swinging. Civil war was about to happen so Capitan General decreed that everyone should sit like the Chinese since they paid the most. But because the natives and mestizos wore narrow trousers, they couldn’t copy the Chinese properly so they were embarrassed.
Simoun asks about the bracelets Chinaman Quiroga bought from him. Chinaman Quiroga takes Simoun to a private room to complain because he bought them for 3,000 to 4,000 pesos per piece.. He showed the bracelets to his senora but they were supposed to be for a friend of a senor who would net him 6,000 pesos. He asked which one she liked best and she said she liked them all.
Chinaman Quiroga complains about everyone borrowing money from him. Simoun points out that he lends money from officials so they won’t borrow from Chinaman Quiroga, to make it easier for him. Simoun tells Chinaman Quiroga he will be in charge of collecting for Chinaman Quiroga from sailors and officials.
Simoun says that Chinaman Quiroga should do a favor for him since he will lower the cost of the bracelets to 7,000 pesos (from 9,000 pesos). Since Chinaman Quiroga can bring anything through customs (which is why he is the one who supplies the convents with weapons), Simoun asks him to bring in crates of guns to be kept in his warehouses as they can’t all fit in Simoun’s house.
Chinaman Quiroga is scared. But Simoun blackmails him by saying if he will not help, then Simoun will need the 9,000 pesos. Chinaman Quiroga agrees and they return to the party.
Outside, Don Custodio is talking to senoras about a commission sent to India to make studies on the footwear of soldiers. A senora says it is unnecessary because Indios can go barefoot so it will save money. A friend of the members of the Commission tries to argue that wounds on the soles of feet are a common casualty and that every soldier needs footwear but the senoras say that Indios can get used to it or else money will be wasted on leather. She says that instead, they should prioritize a pension on orphans and widows (like her).
Meanwhile, Ben Zayb is arguing with Padre Camorra (as usual). They are talking about the mummified human head (called “Sphinx”, even though it is not a sphinx) in the Quiapo Fair, exhibited by an American named Mr. Leeds. Juanito Pelaez claimed to have seen it. Padre Irene smiles when he hears about it, but Padre Salvi is serious.
Ben Zayb insists there is a scientific explanation and says it is a matter of “optics”. He takes down mirrors to prove it to them. He tilts the mirrors but his effect is not seen, so he just says it is optics. Padre Camorra says it is spiritism because “spiritists always avail themselves of tables” and he believes Padre Salvi should have the exhibit banned.
Simoun says they should go see the Sphinx. Padre Salvi and Don Custodio don’t want to go at first because they don’t want to be seen by Indios. Ben Zayb promises to ask Mr. Leeds to give them a private exhibit. He is sure that they will be admitted for free because Mr. Leeds wouldn’t want Ben Zayb to discover that he is a fraud in front of a crowd of Indios.
Simoun, Don Custodio, Padre Salvi, Padre Camorra, Padre Irene, Ben Zayb and Juanito Pelaez take carriages to Quiapo square.
Trivia:
- It is noted that calling the mummified head a “sphinx” is inaccurate, as a sphinx is a term for a regular head with the body of an animal.
Quotes:
Simoun: Study, all of you, why other nations prosper, and do the same as they.
Simoun: To have a people submissive, there is nothing better than to humiliate and degrade them in their own eyes.
Simoun smiled: When a Chinese merchant complains, it is because everything goes well for him, when he pretends that all goes like a thousand miracles, he foresees bankruptcy or is about to flee to his country.
Simoun: (to Chinaman Quiroga) Do not be alarmed, you do not run any risk: those rifles are to be concealed, a few at a time, in certain homes, and afterwards a search will be made and many will be sent to prison… You and I can earn much, procuring liberty for those detained. Do you understand me?
Senora: Why give them (the Indios) when they were born without them?
Senora 2: And what for give them shirts?
Senora 3: And what for give them trousers?
Padre Camorra: The devil with science! Punales!
Padre Salvi and Don Custodio showed a certain reluctance. They, at a fair, elbow to elbow with the public, to see sphinxes and talking heads! What would the Indios say? They might be mistaken for ordinary men, endowed with the same passions and dlaws as the others.
