Jose Rizal’s Trip to Hong Kong and

Macau

Rizal leaving the Philippines for the Second Time

Hounded by powerful enemies, Rizal was forced to leave his country for the second time in 1888.

He was 27 years old, a practicing physician, and a recognized man of letters.

After six months of staying in the Philippines Rizal left via the steamer Zapiro bound for Hong Kong.

Amoy – the first stop over of the ship

Rizal did not get off the ship for the following reasons:

He was not feeling well

It was raining hardHe heard that the city is dirty.

Hong Kong A British colony Rizal stayed in

Victoria Hotel He met :

→Jose Maria Basa

→Balbino Mauricio →Manuel Yriarte (son of the alcalde mayor in Calamba)

Hong Kong

According to Rizal in his letter to Blumentritt, is a small, but very clean city.

Many Portuguese, Hindus, English, Chinese and Jews.

There are some Filipinos exiled in Marianas Islands since 1872, they were former financiers and rich but now poor, gentle and timid.

A Spaniard, Jose Sainz de Varanda, shadowed Rizal’s movement in Hong Kong. It is believed that he was commissioned by the Spanish authorities to spy on Rizal.

Macau A Portuguese

colony near Hong Kong.

Rizal together with Basa boarded a ferry named Kiu-Kiang going to Macau.

Macau He was surprised to see among the

passengers a familiar figure – Jose Sainz de Varanda.

Don Juan Francisco Lecaros – a Filipino gentleman who is married to a Portuguese lady. He was rich and spent his days cultivating plants and flowers.

Rizal and Basa stayed in his house for two days while they were in Macau.

During his two-day sojourn, Rizal visited the theatre, casino, cathedral and churches, pagodas, botanical garden, and bazaars, he also saw the famous Grotto of Camoens, Portugal’s national poet.

He witnessed a Catholic procession, in which the devotees were dressed in blue and purple dresses and were carrying unlighted candles.

Rizal and Basa returned to Hong Kong, again on board the ferry steamer 

Kiu Kiang

Grotto of Camoens

• During Rizal’s two week vacation in Hong Kong, he studied Chinese life, language, drama and customs and found out the following which he wrote in his diary:

1.Noisy celebration of the Chinese New Year which lasted from February 11th (Saturday) to 13th (Monday). Continuous explosions of firecrackers. The richer the Chinese, the more firecracker he exploded

2. Boisterous Chinese theatre, with noisy audience and noisier music. In the Chinese dramatic art, Rizal observed the following:

a. a man astride a stick means a man riding a horseback

b. an actor raising his legs means he is entering a house

c. a red dress indicates a wedding d. a girl about to be married coyly

covers her face with a fan even in the presence of his fiancé

e. a man raising a whip signifies he is about to ride a horse.

3. The Marathon Lauriat party, the longest meal in the world. Wherein the guests were served numerous dishes, such as dried fruits, geese, shrimps, century eggs, shark fins, bird nests, white ducks, chicken with vinegar, fish heads, roasted pigs, tea, etc.

4. The Dominican Order was the richest religious order in Hong Kong. It engaged actively in business. It owned more than 700 houses for rent and many shares in foreign banks. It had millions of dollars deposited in banks which earned fabulous interest.

5. Of the Hong Kong cemeteries belonging to the Protestants, Catholics, and Muslims, that of the Protestants was the most beautiful because of its well-groomed plants and clean pathways. The Catholic cemetery was most pompous, with its ornate and expensive mausoleums and extravagantly carved sepulchers. The Muslim cemetery was the simplest, containing only a little mosque and tombstone with Arabic inscription.

DEPARTURE FROM HONGKONG February 22, 1888 – Rizal

left Hong Kong Oceanic – an American

steamer, his destination was Japan

He did not like the meals on board, but he liked the ship because it was clean and efficiently managed.

His cabin mate was a British Protestant missionary who had lives in China for 27 years. Rizal called him “a good man.”

The End