Legal Classification of the Chinese Mestizo
Spanish law classified male descendants of Chinese paternal ancestors as Chinese mestizos, even after several generations.[6] However, both Chinese mestizos and indios could change their legal classification for tax purposes. This occurred primarily in the provinces, but Chinese mestizos in urban areas preferred to retain their status. Some rich indios also aspired to be classified Chinese mestizos because being a Chinese mestizo meant that one belonged to the higher socio-economic stratum in society.[7]
The situation was different for female descendants in terms of switching legal classifications. Only through marriage could a Chinese mestiza change her status. A Chinese mestiza marrying a Chinese mestizo or a Chinese man remained within the Chinese mestizo classification, as did her children. Anyone who married an indio or Spaniard assumed her husband’s classification, along with her children.[8]
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[5] It is not clear whether the Chinese mestizos had to render such labor services. According to Wickberg, in some areas they were required, but in some they were not (2000, 31).
[6] Edgar Bernard Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 1850-1898 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2000), 33.; Eliodoro G. Robles, The Philippines in the Nineteenth Century (Quezon City: Malaya Books Inc., 1969), 77.
[7] Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 33-44.
[8] Presumably, an india became a Chinese mestiza when she married a Chinese mestizo.