The Sangley rebellion was a Sangley Chinese rebellion which took place in Manila, Philippines, in October 1603.[1]
The reasons for the rebellion are unclear,[2] but they seemed to have originated in the suspicions of the Spanish Archbishop Benavides against Chinese ambitions to control the Philippines.[1]
The rebellion was quelled by the Spaniards, together with the support of Filipinos and the Japanese settlement at Dilao.[1] The Japanese especially showed no mercy in the repression. Altogether 20,000 Chinese were killed.[2]
The former Governor of the Philippines, and failed conqueror of Cambodia, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas died during the rebellion when, over-confident of Spanish strength, he attacked a vastly superior number of Chinese. When cautioned from attacking by his fellow officers, he famously treated them as cowards and retorted that "twenty five Spaniards were enough to conquer the whole of China".[3]