Across Santa Ana Police Station, which is right beside Magsaysay Park, is a strip of durian fruit stands whose location is noteworthy given the historical references previous occupants attached to the names of an establishment opened there in prewar years.
The site is on the left side of the Chinatown archway when entering Magsaysay Street from the sea. Prewar pictures show that the place, now holding a cheap store, once hosted a Chinese restaurant known as Chiang Kai-shek, later renamed Nanking Restaurant in the late 1930s.
The question that begs explanation is when the names, based on historical order, were introduced. Noticeably, the two titles are significant, and the bistro owner could have a clear connection to two momentous events that defined prewar China.
Chiang Kai-shek, a nationalist Chinese leader, earned global fame after leading the successful 1911 Xinhai Revolution that dethroned China’s last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing.
Consequently, he established the Republic of China (ROC), effectively ending the Chinese monarchy that ruled China for over 2,000 years.
His achievements became a source of inspiration for pro-democracy supporters in and out of China, In Davao, where some of Chiang Kai-shek’s sympathizers had migrated and permanently settled, the Chinese nationalists honored him by naming some of their businesses after him.
(In Manila, such practice of naming landmarks after famous Chinese luminaries survive to this day in Pasay City through the Chiang Kai-Shek College, the first Filipino-Chinese institution founded in 1939 in the Philippines.)
Following the defeat of the Kuomintang Party in the hands of the Chinese Community Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War (1927-49), Chiang Kai-shek was forced to move his government to Taiwan where he presided over its growth for a quarter of a century (1950-75) until his death.
The opening of the eatery in the 1920s coincided with the rising Chinese influence in the sphere of business in town. Five key events could be linked to their presence in Davao during this period, namely: the opening of Davao Chinese High School, the appointment of Lim Juna as ROC honorary consul, the building of the town hall by a Chinese firm led by Tan C. Tee, the expansion of Santa Ana wharf, and the formation of the Davao Chamber of Commerce.
During the Commonwealth, the restaurant was renamed Nanking Restaurant, in tribute to the victims of the gruesome Nanjing Massacre.
The Nanjing Massacre, also known as The Rape of Nanking, refers to the six-week massacre of Chinese civilians in Nanking, the ROC’s capital, that started on December 13, 1937.
Committed by the Japanese Imperial Army, this bloody episode, led by Gen. Iwani Matsui, cost the lives of 200,000 civilians and prisoners of war who were murdered, raped, looted, or burned to death.
Because the Chinese are known to be secretive, there is nothing weighty in available archival accounts that copiously describes the history of the establishment. Housed in a two-story wooden structure, its second floor was dedicated to transient lodging. Given its location, which is only a stone’s throw from the pier, it was likely a favored destination for traders transacting business with warehouses in the area.
The restaurant, situated just across the very famous prewar Lucky Studio, most likely survived the ravages of war. But the huge fire—the city’s biggest–that gobbled the entire Oyanguren area in December 1954 could have not spared it from total incineration.
(Interestingly, Davao author Dr. Macario Tiu, a multi-awarded historian and fictionist, inspirationally adopted the massacre site in his 1999 short story, Nanking Store, which won third prize in the Palanca Awards. The tale is about a Chinese couple living in Davao City.)
