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Binondo
Constituent andCentral Business District ofManila
Other transcription(s)
• Chinese	岷倫洛
Binondo Church
Nickname:  Chinatown
Interactive map of Binondo
Country	Philippines
Region	National Capital Region
City	Manila
Congressional District	Part of3rd District of Manila
Barangays	10
Founded	1594
Founded by	Luis Pérez Dasmariñas
Area
• Total	0.66 km2 (0.25 sq mi)
Population  (2024 census)[1][2]
• Total	23,935
• Density	36,000/km2 (94,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+08:00 (Philippine Standard Time)
Zip codes	1006
Area codes	2
Languages	Hokkien Tagalog Mandarin

Binondo (Chinese:岷倫洛;pinyin:Mínlúnluò;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Bîn-lûn-lo̍h;Tagalog:Distrito ng Binondo) is a district inManila and is referred to as the city'sChinatown.^[3] Its influence extends beyond to the places ofQuiapo,Santa Cruz,San Nicolas andTondo. It is the oldestChinatown in the world, established in 1594^[4][5][6][7] by the Spaniards as a settlement nearIntramuros but across thePasig River for Catholic Chinese; it was positioned so that the colonial administration could keep a close eye on their migrant subjects.^[8] It was already a hub of Chinese commerce even before the Spanish colonial period. Binondo is the center of commerce and trade ofManila, where all types of business run byChinese Filipinos thrive.

Noted residents includeSaint Lorenzo Ruiz, the Filipinoprotomartyr, andVenerableMother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, founder of the Congregation of theReligious of the Virgin Mary.

Numerous theories on the origin of the name "Binondo", and that of "Tondo", its neighboring district, have been put forward. Philippine National ArtistNick Joaquin suggested that the names might have been derived from the archaic spelling of theTagalog term "binondoc" (modern orthography:binundók), or mountainous, referring to Binondo's originally hilly terrain.^[9][10] French linguist Jean-Paul Potet, however, has suggested that the river mangrove (Aegiceras corniculatum), which at the time was called "tundok" ("tinduk-tindukan" today), is the most likely origin of the term, with the 'Bi-" prefix in "Binondo" indicating Binondo's location relative to Tondo.^[11]

Founded in 1594, Binondo was created by Spanish GovernorLuis Pérez Dasmariñas as a permanent settlement for Chinese immigrants (the Spanish called the Chinesesangleys) whoconverted toCatholicism. It was across the river from the walled city ofIntramuros, where the Spaniards resided.

Originally it was intended to replace theParian near Intramuros, whereSangleyChinese merchants and artisans were first confined. The Spanish gave a land grant for Binondo to a group of Chinese merchants and artisans in perpetuity, tax-free and with limited self-governing privileges. The area also served as a midpoint in betweenParián (modern-dayArroceros Urban Forest Park) andSan Nicolas, since way before the Spanish conquest of Manila in theBattle of Manila (1570), a Sangley Chinese community had already settled in Baybay (former name ofSan Nicolas, Manila) nearTondo on the north bank of thePasig river directly on Binondo's west.^[12]

The SpanishDominican fathers made Binondo their parish and succeeded in converting many of the residents to Catholicism. Binondo soon became the place where Chinese immigrants converted to Catholicism, intermarried withindigenous Filipino women and had children, who became the Chinesemestizo community. Over the years, the Chinese mestizo population of Binondo grew rapidly. This was caused mainly because the lack of Chinese immigrant females and the Spanish officials' policy of expelling Chinese immigrants who refused to convert and casualties during Chinese revolts against the Spanish.

In 1603, a Chinese revolt took place led by Juan Suntay, a wealthy Chinese Catholic. The Chinese were at first successful and slaughtered the Spanish governor generalLuis Pérez Dasmariñas and his Spanish forces. The revolt took place right after a visit to Manila by three official Chinese representatives who disclosed they were searching for "a mountain of gold". This strange claim prompted the Spanish to conclude that there was an imminent invasion from China in the making and Luis tried attacking the Chinese first. At the time the local Chinese outnumbered the Spaniards by twenty to one, and Spanish authorities feared that they would join the invading forces. However, Filipinos loyal to the Spanish outnumbered the Chinese and the Filipinos saved the surviving Spanish and put down the revolt. In the aftermath most of the 20,000 Chinese that composed the colony were killed.^[13] In 1605, a Fukien official issued a letter claiming that the Chinese who had participated in the revolt were unworthy of China's protection, describing them as "deserters of the tombs of their ancestors".^[14] New Chinese migrants repopulated Binondo.

During the briefBritish occupation of Manila, between 1762 and 1764, Binondo was damaged during thecapture of the city. The new governor of Manila,Dawsonne Drake, formed a war council which he termed the "Chottry Court". Drake imprisoned several Manilans on charges known "only known to himself", according Captain Thomas Backhouse, who denounced Drake's courtas a sham.^[15]

Binondo became the main center for business and finance in Manila for the ethnic Chinese, Chinese mestizos and Spanish Filipinos. During the Spanish colonial period, manyesteros (canals) were constructed in the Binondo area, from where they entered thePasig River. Among the many who married at the historic Binondo Church wasAndres Bonifacio in 1895, who became a hero of thePhilippine Revolution.

BeforeWorld War II, Binondo was the center of a banking and financial community which included insurance companies, commercial banks and other financial institutions from Britain and the United States. These banks were located mostly alongEscólta, which used to be called the "Wall Street of the Philippines".

After the war and new development, most businesses began to relocate to the newerZobel de Ayala family-ledarea ofMakati. During the financial crisis of the early 1980s under thepresidency of Ferdinand Marcos, it had the moniker "Binondo Central Bank",^[16] as the local Chinese businessmen engaged in massiveblack market trading of US dollars, which often determined the national peso-dollar exchange rate. Given its rich historical and financial significance, Binondo is said to have one of the highest land values nationwide.

The Binondo was plot setting for the episode "Mata" and "Mukha" of the 2010 horror filmCinco.

A geopolitical incident erupted within Binondo in August 2020, when Manila mayorIsko Moreno took an exception to an imported beauty product in which the product packaging labelled the importer's address as "707 Sto. Cristo St. San Nicolas,Manila Province,P.R. China". He said in anger that Binondo is "not and will never be a province of China", and ordered the city officials to close down all Chinatown area stores selling the product.^[17]PBA Partylist RepresentativeJericho Nograles suggested the blacklisting of both the Chinese manufacturer and the importer of the beauty product.^[18]Malacañang palace dismissed the incident as "nonsense" and claimed "no one believes we are aprovince of China"; political analystRichard Heydarian opined this response as a proof of theDuterte administration's leaning towards China in the midst of both theterritorial dispute with China and the survey results showing the desire of the majority of the Filipinos to hold China accountable for the economic impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.^[19]

• Historical images of Binondo
• 
  View ofPuente de España, the bridge that once connected Binondo fromErmita. (1800s)
• 
  View of the Binondo Side ofPasig River with itsBahay na bato structure's lined beside the river. circa 19th century
• 
  Escolta street (1910)
• 
  La Insular Cigar Factory
• 
  El Hogar Filipino Building, built in 1914, example ofBeaux-Arts style architecture
• 
  Hotel De Oriente
• 
  Plaza Moraga in the 1930s.

The most populatedbarangay in Binondo is Barangay 293.
Zone 27: 287, 288, 289, 290, 291
Zone 28: 292, 293, 294, 295, 296

• Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz
• Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto - A building notable due to being mentioned inJosé Rizal's novelNoli me Tangere.
• Plaza Moraga
• Plaza Cervantes
• Binondo Church
• Escolta Street
• Ongpin Street - Various Chinese vendor establishments and Chinese commercial space/building on the area. Several tea houses, restaurants, and hawker-style stalls that serve authenticdimsum and Chinese cuisine can be found along Ongpin Street. As such, this area has become popular as a gastronomic and cultural hotspot. Locals and tourists are known to embark on a what is called as aBinondo Food Crawl^[20] to sample the cuisine along Ongpin Street.
• Chinese New Year
• Lucky Chinatown Mall
• Chinatown Arch
• Jones Bridge
• One Financial Center Manila Chinatown by Anchor Land is a 45-story Grade-Aoffice at 531 Quintin Paredes Street, Binondo, the tallest inManila. It features sleek, low-e-glass curtain wall façade, with lobby drop-off and 9multistorey car park with 5 high-speedelevators.^[21]

Binondo was mentioned several times in the novels of Dr.José Rizal, for example, inNoli Me Tangere andEl Filibusterismo.

• 
  A now redesigned street sign in Chinatown
• 
  Binondo, with theManila City Hall and theUnited Nations station
• 
  Binondo, withQuiapo,Santa Cruz, thePasig River, and theArroceros Forest Park
• 
  Buildings along the Pasig River in Escolta
• 
  Manila Chinatown Welcome Arch during the Chinese New Year (2020)
• 
  Interior of theBinondo Church
• 
  Filipino-Chinese Friendship Arch

• Wilbert Tolentino
• Joey De Leon

• El Hogar Filipino Building
• Juan Luna Building (next to El Hogar Building)
• Davao Chinatown
• Philippine Hokkien
• Hokaglish
• List of ethnic enclaves in Philippine cities

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

• Media related toBinondo at Wikimedia Commons
• Binondo travel guide from Wikivoyage

14°36′00″N120°58′01″E / 14.600°N 120.967°E /14.600; 120.967

• Binondo
• Chinese-Filipino culture
• Districts of Manila
• Chinatowns in Asia
• Central business districts in the Philippines

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