What to do in Manila?

Visit the Manila Chinese Cemetery! 

​The Millionaire's Row

The south entrance

The Manila Chinese Cemetery, popularly known as “Millionaire's Row” and ”The Beverly Hills of the dead”. The Manila Chinese Cemetery was built in the late 19:th century and was designated as the resting place for the Chinese citizens who were denied burial in Catholic cemeteries during the Spanish colonial period. ​A plot in the Manila Chinese Cemetery can easily cost up to 50 million PHP for a 25 year lease, after which another leasing fee must be paid or the body will have to be moved to another place.

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​I was overwhelmed!

When it comes to cemeteries I had never seen something like this before! In Sweden, a cemetery is basically a designated area for the dead, where you put up a headstone with some flowers or other plants to honor the dead. But here! The Manila Chinese Cemetery is like a community of spectacular mansion-like tombs that are equipped with everything from kitchens to air-conditioning and bedrooms to running water! The reason is so relatives can be near to their deceased at all times. They would often visit the dead in their homes during weekends, and offer food and light incense sticks.

Yeah that's me with an umbrella

Many of these tombs are as large as a regular house - some even bigger!

I recommend to hire a guide when visiting the cemetery.

​Who needs a guide?

Normally I used to deny the services of a guide. Who needs a guide when you have a smartphone and Google? But sometimes however, I have to admit that hiring a guide can be really useful. The Manila Chinese Cemetery is roughly 5.4 hectare. So it's a big area and it's like a maze in there so in order to find the highlights you might need some help. I was lucky to meet a guide who was nice and knowledgable and told me many good ​anecdotes about the cemetery. He charged me 600 PHP for one-hour walking tour. As an option you can also hire a bicycle (per hour P100) to get around the area.

You might think you are visiting a residential suburb but these are actually mausoleums with tombs inside. That's not all, they are fully functional homes fitted with modern conveniences.

Not all buried here can afford grand houses. The cemetery has a poorer section with regular-sized tombs and mausoleums.

Notice the bible on top of the tomb.

A tomb in the form of a turtle shell.

Here is everything made of stainless steel.

The creator of mami and siopa

Ma Mon Luk, the creator of mami and siopao!

Ma Mon Luk, was a Chinese immigrant best known in the Philippines for his eponymous restaurant and the creator of mami (a noodle soup) and siopao (a steamed bun based on the cha siu bao). Arriving penniless in Binondo, Manila, Ma decided to peddle his own version of chicken noodle soup. He would soon open his first restaurant with the name “Ma Mon Luk Mami King”. He would promote his restaurant by giving away free samples of siopao. After Ma’s death, his children would continue the restaurant expanding to as many as six branches during the 1980s. Today two restaurants remain and are operated under the family owned Ma Mon Luk International Corporation.

The kids tombs

According to my guide the kids were always buried separately from their parents

The vegetation slowly takes over here

​The squatters climbed the fences...

Before the squatters climbed the fences to get in. Until the 1960:s, many families employed grave watchmen to stay at the mausoleums around the clock. But when the guards started bringing their families to live on the grounds, the practice was banned. Although the squatters no longer spend the nights at the cemetery, the caretakers and their families find it a nice place for a picnic, and even a nap. They stretch out on the cool marble floors or even on top of the crypts. 

My guide is patiently waiting for me.

Someone did not renew the lease of the tombs...

Yeah the umbrella was to protect myself from the heat...

​Ruby Tower Memorial

At the end of the street you see the Ruby Tower Memorial. This memorial is dedicated to Chinese-Filipinos who were among the 260 people who perished in the collapse of the six-storey Ruby Tower building in the Manila suburb of Binondo during the deadly "Casiguran" earthquake that hit the capital city on 2 August 1968. ​The memorial is located just in the rear of the famous Lee See Tong Martyr's Hall.

​Weird anecdotes

 According to my guide, if the children died before their parents, they were not going to be buried together with the parents but separately at another place in the cemetery. But there were some cases of married men who happened to have had a mistress who was buried together with him and his wife in the same mausoleum! My guide showed me an even weirder example, where a married man and his mistress were dead and consequently they had been buried together. But the husband's wife was still alive and the wife had already got her designated resting place set up beside her husband and his mistress when the time was ready for her!

There are also ultra modern mausoleums as this one built by the Lim Family.

The Manila Chinese Cemetery
Santa Cruz, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
Phone: +63 2 253 4202

How to get there
​Take the metro LRT to Abad Santos then walk or take a tricycle (P25) to the south entrance.

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