In one of my Manila travels, Manila Chinese Cemetery is a place I would never ever forget. Manila is basically a busy district, a bustling city of industry and businesses. For many people, Manila is just another spot on the map, a place where snatchers thrive and pirated DVDs spread all throughout the metro. But on the other part of this busy Manila district is a quiet place which is the home of the Chinese-Filipino residents. And in this area, an architectural "subdivision" can be found---the Manila Chinese Cemetery.
"Magnificently Chinese"
Being in the Manila Chinese Cemetery was a new experience to me, and it was like being transported from the Philippines to the China itself, wherein modern Chinese architectural designs which were distinctly Filipino thrive. The octagonal land area that the cemetery encompasses is home to the dead relatives of the Chinese citizens in the Philippines. But what was surprising was that the Manila Chinese Cemetery is not just another cemetery where "apartments" and graves are, but it is a full-fledged ghost subdivision where no living soul walk down the streets, save for the maintainers of the Cemetery. By the word subdivision, I meant the carefully designed and constructed "condo units" for dead Chinese relatives, one of which is a three-storey high mausoleum with a metal gate and a patriarchal bust on the side.
The Chinese Architecture
The mausoleum was tastefully done in a typically Chinese architectural design. Typically, Chinese architecture is keener in emphasizing the horizontality of a structure but the mausoleum was tall and imposing in, a clear deviation from the "horizontal emphasis". Horizontal emphasis has basically three characteristics: heavy platform, large roof and unemphasized vertical walls. But in this case, the vertical walls were emphasized although there was the presence of the heavy platform and large roof.
The roof, on the other hand, can be called the sweeping, multi-inclined roof wherein there are two inclined roofs for the three floors of the structure, with these roofs characterized by the curvature at the corners of the roof.
In addition, "enclosure" was also present, which is defined by the "taking up of an entire property but encloses open spaces within itself". Despite the limited space the mausoleum occupies, there is nevertheless little space in which a bust is strategically placed to complete the ownership and architecture of the mausoleum. The presence of a low fence is an evidence to this "enclosed" characteristic in which the fence also emphasizes the balanced design of the mausoleum. What you see on the right side is also present on the left side. Even the chairs and tables present at the left side of the 1st floor of the structure.
From what I remembered in my Manila Chinese cemetery visit, the inside of this mausoleum is particularly detailed and consistent, with green and red dotting most of the designs. There were four huge wooden columns which were painted in plain green which basically supports the whole three floors of the structure. - ALEXIS LAURA FELICIANO
The mausoleum was tastefully done in a typically Chinese architectural design. Typically, Chinese architecture is keener in emphasizing the horizontality of a structure but the mausoleum was tall and imposing in, a clear deviation from the "horizontal emphasis". Horizontal emphasis has basically three characteristics: heavy platform, large roof and unemphasized vertical walls. But in this case, the vertical walls were emphasized although there was the presence of the heavy platform and large roof.
The roof, on the other hand, can be called the sweeping, multi-inclined roof wherein there are two inclined roofs for the three floors of the structure, with these roofs characterized by the curvature at the corners of the roof.
In addition, "enclosure" was also present, which is defined by the "taking up of an entire property but encloses open spaces within itself". Despite the limited space the mausoleum occupies, there is nevertheless little space in which a bust is strategically placed to complete the ownership and architecture of the mausoleum. The presence of a low fence is an evidence to this "enclosed" characteristic in which the fence also emphasizes the balanced design of the mausoleum. What you see on the right side is also present on the left side. Even the chairs and tables present at the left side of the 1st floor of the structure.
From what I remembered in my Manila Chinese cemetery visit, the inside of this mausoleum is particularly detailed and consistent, with green and red dotting most of the designs. There were four huge wooden columns which were painted in plain green which basically supports the whole three floors of the structure. - ALEXIS LAURA FELICIANO
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