Rizal In Hong Kong, Macao, Japan
February 3, 1888 Rizal left the country for for the second
time.
London
United States
Japan Hong Kong
Rizal In Hong Kong, Macao, Japan
February 8, 1888 - Rizal arrived in Hong Kong. February 18, 1888
Rizal visited Macao. February 20, 1888 Rizal returned to Hong
Kong.
Rizals experiences in Hong Kong: Noisy celebration of Chinese
New Year. Boisterous Chinese Theatre. The marathon lauriat party.
The Dominican Order was the richest religious order in Hong
Kong.
Of the Hong Kong cemeteries belonging to the Protestants,
Catholics, and Muslims, that of the Protestants was the most
beautiful, Catholic cemetery was most pompous, and Muslim cemetery
was the simplest.
February 22, 1888 Rizal left Hong Kong for Japan.
Rizals Romantic Interlude in Japan (February 28 April 13,
1888).
The beauty of the country its flowers, mountains, streams, and
scenic panoramas. The cleanliness, politeness, and industry of the
Japanese people. The picturesque dress and simple charm of the
Japanese women. There were few thieves in Japan. Beggars were
rarely seen in the city streets.Rizals Impression of JapanRickshaws
drawn by men as the popular mode of transportation. Rizal was
disgusted at the way human being was employed like horses.
Rizals bad impression of Japan
A Japanese samurais daughter who taught Rizal the art of
painting.Rizal saw the qualities of an ideal women in her.Rizal was
tempted to stay and settle in Japan but his strong desire to help
the Filipino people was stronger and bade her farewell.O-Sei-San
(Seiko Usui)
No woman, like you, has ever loved me. No woman, like you has
ever sacrificed for me. Like the flower of the chodji that falls
from the stem fresh and whole without falling leaves or without
withering with poetry still despite its fall thus you fell. Neither
have you lost your purity nor have the delicate petals of your
innocence faded Sayonara, Sayonara! Rizals DiaryRizal on
O-Sei-SanIf he (Rizal) were a man of lesser heroic mould, of lesser
will power, he would have lived permanently in Japan and happily at
that with O-Sei-San.Gregorio Zaide on Rizal April 28, 1888 the
steamer Belgic, with Rizal on board, docked at San Francisco.
Rizals arrival in America was marred by racial prejudice, for he
saw the discriminatory treatment of the Chinese and the Negroes by
the white Americans.
May 6, 1888 started travelling across the American continent.
Rizals Visit to the United States (1888) New York Canada Chicago
Nebraska Denver, Colorado Utah Reno, Nevada Oakland Across the
American continent (May 6-13, 1888)
May 6, 1888 Rizal left New York for Liverpool on board the City
of Rome.
Rizals Impression of America
The material progress of the country. The drive and energy of
the American people. The natural beauty of the land. The high
standard of living. The opportunities for better life offered to
poor immigrants.
Rizals Bad Impression of America
America lacks racial equality.
They do not have true civil liberty. In some states the Negro
cannot marry a White woman, nor a White man a Negress. Hatred
against the Chinese leads to difficulty for other Asiatics who,
Like the Japanese, are mistaken for Chinese by the ignorant, and
therefore being disliked, too. (Rizal to Mariano Ponce, London:
July 27, 1888)In 1890, Rizal was asked by Jose Alejandrino in
Belgium of his impression of America.
Jose Alejandrino: What impressions do you have of America?
Rizal: America is the land par excellence of freedom but only for
the whites. (Jose Alejandrino, The Price of Freedom, p.7.) Rizals
reasons of his brief stay in London: To improve his knowledge of
the English language. To study and annotate Morgas Sucesos delas
Islas Filipinas. London was a safe place for him to carry on his
fight against Spanish tyranny.
May 24,1888- Rizal arrived at Liverpool, England.Rizal in London
(1888-89)Bad News from Home Persecution of Filipino patriots who
signed the Anti-Friar Petition of 1888. The petition was signed by
800 patriots requesting for the expulsion of the friars, including
Archbishop Pedro Payo. Persecution of the Calamba tenants,
including Rizals family and relatives, for their courage to
petition the government for agrarian reforms. Furious attacks on
Rizal by Senators Salamanca and Vida in the Spanish Cortes, and by
Wenceslao Retana and Pablo Feced in Spanish Newspapers. Rizals
brother-in-law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, was exiled by Governor General
Weyler to Bohol without due process of law.
Annotating Antonio Morgas book Sucesos delas Islas Filipinas
(Historical Events of the Philippine Islands) was Rizals greatest
achievement in London.
Rizal becomes leader of Filipinos in Europe Asociation
Solidaridad (Solidaridad Association) patriotic society founded by
Filipinos in Barcelona unanimously voted Rizal as honorary
president.Rizal and The La Solidaridad Newspaper
La Solidaridad the organ of the Propaganda Movement founded by
Graciano Lopez Jaena (Feb. 18, 1889). Rizals advise to Graciano
Lopez Jaena: Be careful not to published exaggerations or lies or
imitate others, who avail themselves of dishonest means and of
vulgar and ignoble language to attain their ends. See that the
periodical is just, honest, and truthful so that its opinion may
always be respected.
Los Agricultores Filipinos (The Filipino Farmers) Rizals first
article published in the La Solidaridad. In his article Rizal
portrayed the deplorable conditions in the Philippines which cause
the backwardness of the country. The Filipino farmer has to
struggle not only against petty tyrants and robbers. After the
floods, locusts, fires, bad harvests, and the like, the farmer
capitalist has to deal with the constable who takes away from him
his laborers for personal service, some public works, repair of
roads, bridges, and others; with the civil guard who arrest them
for various reasons, sometimes for not carrying with them their
personal cedulas, for not saluting properly, for being suspicious
persons or for no reasons whatsoever.. If not they take away his
carabaos, oxen, in spite of many protests. Rizal praise the young
women of Malolos for their courage to establish a school where they
could learn Spanish, despite the opposition of Fr. Felipe
Garcia.
Main points of the letter: A Filipino mother should teach her
children love of God, fatherland, and mankind; Filipino mother
should be glad, like the Spartan mother, to offer her sons in the
defense of the fatherland;Rizals Letter to the Young Women of
Malolos Filipino woman should know how preserve her dignity and
honor;Filipino woman should educate herself, aside from retaining
her good racial virtues;Faith is not merely reciting long prayers
and wearing religious pictures, but rather it is living the real
Christian way, with good morals and good manners.Rizals Romance
with Gertrude Beckett She showered him with affection and
care.Rizal did not marry her because he has a mission to
fulfill.Rizal gave the Beckett sisters a group carving as a sign of
friendship.
March 19, 1889 Rizal bade goodbye to the kind Beckett family and
left London for Paris.Rizal and the Paris Exposition of 1889 (May
6, 1889) International Art Competition Felix R. Hidalgo, Juan Luna,
Felix Pardo de Tavera, and Rizal participated. Hidalgos painting
awarded second prize Juan Luna and Felix Pardo de Tavera paintings
obtained third prize each. Rizals entry a bust got no prize.
Rizals Second Stay in Paris and the Universal Exposition of
1889Kidlat Club a society founded by Rizal on March 19, 1889) for
the purpose of bringing together the young Filipinos in the French
capital so that they could enjoy their stay in the city during the
Universal Exposition.Will last only during the Universal
Exposition.
Indios Bravos (Brave Indians) a new society of Filipino patriots
founded by Rizal replacing the Kidlat Club.Why should we resent
being called Indios by the Spaniards? Look at those Indios from
North America they are not ashamed of their name. Let us be like
them. Let us be proud of the name Indio and make our Spanish
enemies revise their conception of the term. We shall be called
Indios Bravos!
Its members pledged to excel in intellectual and physical
prowess in order to win the admiration of the foreigners,
particularly the Spaniards.
R.D.L.M Society a mysterious society founded by Rizal during the
Universal Exposition.
Aims of R.D.L.M The propagation of all useful knowledge
scientific, artistic, literary and the like in the
Philippines.Redencion de los Malayos (Redemption of the
Malays)Rizal dedicated his new edition of Morga to the Filipino
people so that they may know their glorious past.
the necessity of first giving an understanding of the past in
order the better to judge the present
Annotated Edition of Morga Published (1889)Annotated Edition of
Antonio Morgas Sucesos Delas Islas Filipinas
In this historical work, Rizal proved that the Filipinos were
already civilized before the advent of Spain. They had clothes,
government, laws, writing, literature, religion, arts, sciences and
commerce with neighboring Asian nations.
Rizal blasted the historical heresies of the Spanish writers who
claimed that the early Filipinos were savages and were of low
mentality.Important Essays of RizalThe Philippines Within a Century
(Filipinas dentro de Cien Aos)
In this work Rizal expressed his views on the Spanish
colonization in the Philippines and predicted the tragic end of
Spains sovereignty in Asia. He portrayed at the beginning of his
article the glorious past of the Filipino people, then described
their economic stagnation and unhappiness under the harsh Spanish
rule. In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to
open the book of its past. Scarcely had they been attached to the
Spanish crown than they had sustained with their blood and the
efforts of their sons the wars and ambitions, and conquest of the
Spanish people, and in these struggles, in that terrible crisis
when a people changes its form of government, its laws, usages,
customs, religion and beliefs; the Philippines was depopulated,
impoverished and retarded caught in the metamorphosis without
confidence in their past, without faith in their present and with
no fond hope of the years to come. They (Filipinos) gradually lost
their ancient traditions, their recollections, - they forgot their
writings, their songs, their poetry, their laws in order to learn
by heart other doctrines, which they did not understand, other
ethics, other tastes, different from those inspired in their race
by the climate and their way of thinking. Then there was a falling-
off, they were lowered in their own eyes, they become ashamed of
what was distinctively their own, in order to admire and praise
that was foreign and incomprehensible; their spirit was broken and
they acquiesed. Of what use is life, if there is no security in the
home, no faith in justice and confidence tranquillity of
conscience? What will become of the Philippines within a century?
It is impossible to brutalize the inhabitants of the Philippines!
When there are wealth and abundance, there is less discontent, less
complaint and government itself wealthier, has more of sustaining
itself. Transformation will be violent and fatal if it proceeds
from the ranks of the people, but peaceful and fruitful if it
emanates from the upper classes. A government that rules a country
from a great distance is the one that has the most need for a free
press more so even than the government of the home country, if it
wishes to rule rightly and fitly. History says; uprisings and
revolutions have always occurred in countries tyrannized over in
countries where human thought and the human heart have been forced
to remain silent. Rizal peered into the future and warned Spain of
what would happen to her colonial empire in Asia if she would not
adopt a more liberal and enlightened policy towards the
Philippines. the Philippines will remain Spanish if they enter upon
the life of law and civilization, if the rights of their
inhabitants are respected, if the other rights due them are
granted, if the liberal policy of the government is carried out
without trickery or meanness, without subterfuges or false
interpretations.The Indolence of the Filipinos (Sobre la Indolencia
de los Filipinos) Is an able defence of the alleged indolence of
the Filipinos. Rizal made a critical study on the causes why his
people did not work hard during the Spanish regime. His main thesis
was that the Filipinos are not by nature indolent. Long before the
coming of the Spaniards the Filipinos were industrious and hard
working.
They were very active in agriculture, industries, and commerce.
The Spanish conquest of the country brought about a decline in
economic activities because the Filipinos had abandoned their
pre-Spanish industries and worked less that their ancestors. Such
decline in economic life was due to the following:The native
revolts and other internal disorders.The wars which the Filipinos
fought for Spain against the Dutch, Portuguese, English, and other
enemies.3. The frightful raids on the coastal towns and village of
Christian Philippines by the Muslim pirates of Mindanao and Sulu;4.
The forced labor policy,5. Lack of stimulus to work harder because
people could not enjoy the fruits of their labor; 6. Government
neglect and indifference to agriculture, industry and commerce;7.
The bad example shown by the Spaniards in despising manual labor;8.
The teaching of Spanish missionaries that it is easier for a poor
man to enter heaven than for a rich man; 9. Encouragement of and
propagation of gambling by the Spanish authorities;10. System of
Spanish education did not promote economic enterprise and
activity.
Rizal on Spanish Education
The education of the native was from his birth until he sinks
into his grave ..is brutalizing, depressive and anti-human and
deprives him of his dignity. It is true that Filipinos are
easy-going and do not work so hard because they are wise enough to
adjust themselves to their warm, tropical climate. They do not have
to kill themselves working hard in order to live because nature
gives them abundant harvests by working less than those in
temperate and arid countries. The fact is that in tropical
countries violent work is not a good thing, as it is death,
destruction, annihilation. An hours work under that burning sun .
is equal to a days labor in a temperate climate; it is, then, just
that the earth yields a hundred fold!Rizals magnificent project
plan to establish a modern college in Hong Kong.
Its aim was to train and educate men of good family and
financial means in accordance with the demands of modern times and
circumstances.Rizals project failed to materialized.
Por Telefono a satirical work of Rizal which ridiculed Father
Salvador Font, attacker of the Noli Me Tangere and masterminded as
well its banning. Rizals Project for Filipino in Hong Kong
