Parián (Manila)

Historical marker by the City at the a former site of Parián, Liwasang Bonifacio, 2002

Parián or Pantin, also Parián de Arroceros was an area adjacent to Intramuros at its east built to house Sangley (Chinese) merchants in Manila in the 16th and 17th centuries during the Spanish rule in the Philippines. The place gave its name to the gate connecting it to Intramuros (where most of the Spanish colonial and administrative government was located), the Puerta del Parián.

History

Before the Spanish conquest of Manila in the Battle of Manila (1570), a Sangley Chinese community had already settled in Baybay (modern-day San Nicolas) near Tondo on the north bank of the Pasig river. Around the years after 1581, a place closer to the city south of the Pasig river had been set aside as a market for the Sangley Chinese merchants. This market, known as Parián, rapidly attracted large numbers of traders and craftsmen, most of whom being Chinese immigrants coming from Southern Fujian, where the main port of embarkation at the time was at Haicheng.

As Manila's main market area directly outside the walls of Intramuros, the Parián rapidly became the main commercial center of Manila for centuries. The community had more than a hundred shops comprising the Chinese silk market, small shops of tailors, cobblers, painters, bakers, confectioners, candle makers, silversmiths, apothecaries and other tradesmen.

The location of the Parián moved from time to time and persisted until 1790, when it was torn down to make room for new fortifications on the northern side of Intramuros. The first Parián stood at the current site of the Arroceros Forest Park along the banks of the Pasig River. The second Parián was built in 1583 after the first Parián burned down. The original location is now called Liwasang Bonifacio (formerly Plaza Lawton). The second-to-last Parián was octagonal in shape, and also located beside the Pasig River. The Chinese community was later moved to other districts of Manila north of the Pasig river including Binondo, San Nicolas, Santa Cruz, and Tondo, which these areas are now known as "Manila Chinatown", especially Binondo as its heart. Finally, Binondo became known as Manila's Chinatown district due to its history as the settlement area for Catholic Sangley Chinese residents since the Spanish era.

Name

The name "Parián" or "padian" was derived from the Tagalog verb "pariyán" / "padiyán", similar to "puntahan" meaning "to go (to a certain place)", more specifically "puntahan diyán", meaning "to go there", where "pa-" (adverbial prefix) + "diyán" ("there" [near the listener, but far from the speaker]). Meanwhile, "de" is Spanish for "of". Finally, "Arroceros" is the plural form derived from the Spanish for “rice farmers”, where "arroz" (“rice”) + "-ero" (occupational suffix). The name suggests origins as a meeting place for local rice farmers around Manila, before soon becoming a commercial center with Chinese merchants. "Pantin" may be derived from Hokkien Chinese: 板頂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pán-tíng; lit. 'upstairs', possibly referring to the living quarters upstairs in the structure of the shophouses that many Chinese (Sangley) merchants traditionally lived in.

Current structures

Manila (1734) as depicted in the Velarde Map. Parián is illustrated above.

The modern areas of Liwasang Bonifacio and Arroceros Forest Park in the Ermita district occupy the areas once known as Parián. Part of the land of the former Parián is now occupied by the Manila Metropolitan Theater.

A map of Manila published in 1671 published by the Archivo General de Indias, the entire area to the northeast between the walls of Intramuros and the Pasig River encompassed Parián

Sources

• Van der Loon, Piet (1966). "The Manila Incunabula and Early Hokkien Studies, Part 1" (PDF). Asia Major. New Series. 12: 1–43.