“Have Them Work Like the Indios”: Chinese Polistas in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines

2022-10-31T06:50:01+00:00

“To Work Like Indios” The decree, issued on June 19, 1867, was clear. All physically-capable male Chinese residents in the Philippines, between 18 and 60 years old, were required to render forced labor to the state. While the indios (i.e. Filipinos) had been under this labor system called polo y servicio (or polo) since the [...]