This book deliberately reduces the presence of some figures in the history of Sino–Philippine interaction to counterbalance a historiographical abundance that has granted them outsized agency and influence. The legacies of imperialism and white supremacy live on in archives that abundantly preserve the perspective of the colonizers, in history books that privilege Americans, Japanese, and Europeans as agenda-setters, and in public discourses, which are steeped in the knowledge produced by said history books and archives.

Seeking to challenge imperial, orientalist, and globalizing ideas and narratives that continue to seep into our histories, this book highlights the roles of Filipino and Chinese figures in forming and fostering not just personal collaborations but also the institutions that allowed for those connections. For other, predominantly colonial actors from the so-called global north, it adopts a policy of purposive restraint. For instance, Chapter 7, instead of centering American Elwood S. Brown and his role in promoting the Far Eastern Championship Games, which has been the tendency in existing scholarship, centers Camilo Osias, John Mo (Ma Yuehan 馬約翰), Hoh Gunsun (Hao Gengsheng 郝更生), Regino Ylanan, and Chengting Thomas Wang (Wang Zhengting 王正廷).Footnote ¹ Although none was a founding member of the Far Eastern Athletic Association, each played a critical role in directing and shaping the institution, and this book is designed to present their history.

This is not to say that Americans, Japanese, and Europeans do not belong in the history of Sino–Philippine interaction. Imperial, evangelical, educational, and other types of American, Japanese, and European interventions in Asia were undeniable. This book simply recognizes the reality that, for the most part, their story has already been told, often at the expense of Filipino, Chinese, and other actors.