At the 400-year-old Manila Cathedralon Saturday, Michael Co, a Filipino businessman, gave a full kiss to his pretty Shanghai bride after saying "I do" in front of relatives and friends from both sides.
This is the new couple's second wedding ceremony in a month. The first was held in Shanghai, where the bride, 28-year-old Zhang Haixia, was born and grew up.
"I finally find my love, at the other side of the ocean," said the joyful Michael who was in a white Balong, the traditional wedding suit for Filipino men.
Seventeen months ago, 34-year-old Michael was sent to Shanghai to develop business for his company. He met Haixia, a cardiologist, at a party of friends there and fell in love at the first sight at her.
"I never dreamed I would marry a Shanghai girl. But at the first sight at her, I know she is my whole-life lover," Michael said.
Michael, a second-generation Chinese immigrant, can speak fluent Chinese. That makes the couple have no language barrier in exchange views and also the reason Michael was assigned to Shanghai, where in the mind of most Filipino businessmen a place of hope and profit.
"China's economic growth is the fastest in the world. There area lot of opportunities for Philippine businessmen," said Michael's boss, George Ty, who is the founder and chairman of Metro Bank, the largest commercial bank in the Philippines.
Ty himself goes to Shanghai every month for business inspection. He has foreseen the prosperity of Shanghai today 10 years ago, and waited with patience for eight years to get the license to open a branch in Shanghai.
Last November, Metro Bank Shanghai Branch, the first Philippine bank in China's mainland, was inaugurated with the presence of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was then at Shanghai to attend the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting.
The 69-year-old Ty who became a billionaire for business farsightedness and hard-working, believes Shanghai will become one of Asia's most important financial centers after China's entry into the World Trade Organization. He sent his heirs to study Chinese in Shanghai. His youngest daughter is now studying at the famous Shanghai Jiaotong University and two grandchildren also attend summer schools in Shanghai every year.
All members of Ty's family love Shanghai where they found more posh shopping malls and recreation places than Manila, and they needn't be afraid of kidnapping and ride bullet-proof vehicles under the protection of bodyguards all day.
More and more Philippine business people and their families get to love Shanghai after they find Shanghai has become a fantastic international metropolitan after years of opening-up and modernization development.
The national flag-carrier Philippine Airline started service between Manila and Shanghai since last year, shortening the trip from almost a day to four hours. Not only businessmen but more Filipino tourists are willing to visit Shanghai and other Chinese cities. Even the Philippines' biggest Chinese fast-food chains, Chowking, is planning to explore Shanghai market.
Michael is the first one among his friends in Manila who married a Shanghai girl. However he said he will not be the only one, and there must be more couples like him and Haixia in the near future. "China's fast economic growth and globalization made it possible. You know more and more Filipinos are going to Shanghai and other Chinese cities, " he said.
(eastday.com September 30, 2002)
