A Chinatown in Dagupan?
Posted on March 1, 2008 - Filed Under General |
SO FAR, it’s just a plan, alright?
But surely, creating a novel Chinatown in Dagupan sounds romantic enough, considering that the Chinese entrepreneurs of the city have been here for as long as those now in their late fifties can remember.
The Chinese-owned stores in Dagupan have come as huge and imposing as the CSI and Magic mall chains and as modest and sturdy as the Botica China and Kwong Tay and Sanitary bakeries downtown. Their managements have been passed on from one generation to the next and while the heirs have imbibed the native Dagupenos’ culture and street ways, they basically adhere to the cool efficiency of the mostly Mandarin community.
They even have, for good measure, their own firefighting unit, the Panda whose young firemen have earned the public’s admiration for their quick-and-sure response and modern fire retardants during conflagrations.
Dagupan will only be paying proper tribute to our Chinese brothers when and if such a Chinatown is created in these parts. Only problem (?) though is, what would stop the Indians from clamoring for such an honor too? They’ve also been more or less permanent fixtures of Dagupan business all these many years. Ask Ashok VashandaniOh, and never mind the Muslim groups; they’ve had their own ‘flourishing’ community in these parts long time ago. Ask Michael Bagul.
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