# Quiroga — El Filibusterismo character guide

> Quiroga in El Filibusterismo by José Rizal.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Quiroga the Chinaman, the grateful Quiroga

**First appearance:** 0018-xvi-the-tribulations-of-a-chinese

## Snapshot

A Chinese merchant who fences smuggled goods and dreams of a consul's uniform, forever balancing friar favors against customs officers' palms.

## Who they are

Quiroga runs a bazaar that is half shopfront and half warehouse of contraband, and he will bribe, flatter, or grovel to keep it running. His consuming ambition is to be named consul for his country, a title that would let him stand before the Spaniards as something more than a tolerated foreigner. He is comic and pathetic at once, and his willingness to trade dignity for protection shows how the colonial order turns even outsiders into accomplices.

## Relationships

### [Simoun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/simoun)

_professional_

Quiroga, a Chinese merchant, is a business associate of Simoun, who uses him to smuggle weapons.

### [Simoun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/simoun)

_professional_

Quiroga, a Chinese merchant, is a business associate of Simoun, who uses him to smuggle weapons.

### [Simoun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/simoun)

_professional_

Quiroga, a Chinese merchant, is a business associate of Simoun, who uses him to smuggle weapons.

## In the story

### [The Tribulations of a Chinese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/chapters/xvi-the-tribulations-of-a-chinese)

Hosts a dinner at his bazaar, aspiring to become consul. He is swindled by a lady who keeps three diamond bracelets, and he laments his losses to Simoun.

### [XXVIII: Tatakut](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/chapters/xxviii-tatakut)

Fears for his business and seeks Simoun's advice; later suspected of orchestrating the pasquinades to smuggle silver.

### [Exit Capitan Tiago](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/chapters/xxix-exit-capitan-tiago)

Asks about making a contract for a cockpit with Christ after death.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced for his picturesque butchery of Spanish and Tagalog, the dialect of Manila Chinese.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters/quiroga
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/el_filibusterismo_se/characters