25 July 2014 – To celebrate the 153rd birth anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal and as part of the month-long celebration of the 116th anniversary of Philippine independence, the Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen organized a wreath-laying ceremony at the Rizal Shrine in Jinjiang City, as well as the formal opening of the Consulate General’s Sentro Rizal with Tsinoy Corner on June 19.
Philippine Consul General Julius Caesar A. Flores led a wreath-laying ceremony at the Rizal Shrine in Jinjiang City with a delegation of 30 Filipinos, including Consulate General personnel, officers of the Filipino Association in Xiamen (FAX), and Filipino students studying at the Chinese Language Institute of Huaqiao University, Xiamen campus.
Formally completed in January 2003, the monument dedicated to Dr. Rizal stands inside the five-hectare People’s Cultural Plaza in Qiongque Village, the ancestral home of Rizal’s paternal great, great grandfather, Ke Yinan, who was later baptized with the Christian name, Domingo Lamco, when he immigrated into the Philippines about 300 years ago.
Subsequent to the wreath-laying ceremony, the Consul General addressed the gathering and briefly made note of Dr. Rizal’s life, achievements and his Chinese ancestry.
Consul General Flores was able to discuss possible future cooperative activities with Jinjiang FAO Director General, Mr. Chen Jianjun, who hosted a lunch for Consulate General officers who came to Jinjiang.
The following day saw another milestone activity for the Consulate General with the official opening of its very own Sentro Rizal with Tsinoy Corner on June 20 within the Consulate General premises attended by Consulate General personnel and FAX officers.
The Sentro is an officially designated portion of the Consulate General’s 1st floor space serving as a repository of materials and resources on Philippine culture, arts and heritage for the promotion of Philippine culture within for the public, as well as the education of Filipinos based in Xiamen City and the provinces Fujian and Jiangxi.
As an added feature, the Consulate General’s Sentro Rizal has a Tsinoy Corner, which highlights the unique place of southern Fujian as the ancestral of a great majority of Filipino-Chinese – Tsinoys – who have helped shape Philippine history, economy and our culture as we know it today. The Tsinoy Corner contains reading materials that discuss overseas Chinese in the Philippines, their life and works, as well as other aspects of Philippines-China exchanges throughout history. END