菲律宾是中国人移民最早的一个目的国。自唐、宋时期，就曾经有中国人出现在吕宋岛上。但直到明、清两代，才有真正意义上开始的大规模移民。目前，菲律宾的华族已基本实现了从原来的移居到定居的过渡。一代代华人都不可避免地面临着怎样与本地人和平共处、更好地融入当地社会之中问题，以及怎样保持自己民族文化特色、怎样和菲律宾文化进行更好互动等问题。
菲律宾是一个被殖民文化深深浸染的民族，既有西班牙的天主教文化，也包括美国自由民主文化。这两种文化都对菲律宾产生了深刻的影响。中华民族5000年的文化历史与这些文化相遇，怎么实现与这些文化的交融，形成“互为依存、水乳交融”般的关系，华族的族群文化发展是否会对华人认同意向产生更大影响，这些问题都是现阶段华族群体、菲律宾政府（包括菲律宾学术界）、菲律宾各民族以及中国政府、广大人民群众普遍关心的重要问题。
带着上述问题，笔者综合运用问卷调查法、比较研究法、访谈法，充分利用菲律宾政府的有关数据，结合权威部门的民意调查，对菲律宾华人的国家、族群与文化认同进行检验和评估，试图揭示菲律宾华人身份认同的具体转变过程，以及如今的心理趋势。
研究发现：
(1) 社区身份认同依据职业的不同，存在较大的差异性。整体而言，从事事业单位、文教科技人员等行业的菲律宾华人，身份认同趋向于菲律宾。而其他的普通工人、农民、个体经营者的身份认同，则菲律宾与中国各占一半左右。其中，个体经营者的身份认同更偏向于中国。而学生，无论是华文学校或者非华文学校，都偏向于菲律宾。也就是说，文化资本越高的阶层，越倾向于接受自己“菲律宾人”的身份，也能更好地融入菲律宾社会。
（2）家族性菲律宾华人的身份认同存在显著的极端性。其中，祖父辈与父母辈的身份认同偏向于中国，尤其是祖父辈，还存在一些落叶归根的思想。而到了孙辈、曾孙辈，基本上被菲律宾同化，认为菲律宾是自己的祖国。而且，他们对于华语的学习也不积极，只能听懂简单的日常用语。这实际上也意味着，海外移民华人的身份认同跟个人在定居国定居的时间长短无关，跟个人自己与母国分离的时间以及自己的出生地则高度相关。在某种意义上可以说，身份认同高度关联到个人原有的国家与文化意向，也高度关联到个人先验的社会性。
（3）学生的身份认同偏向于菲律宾华人。他们在国籍上是菲律宾人，但从心里认同自己的中国血统，而且对中国传统节日、代表性的人物、事物以及中华文化艺术十分感兴趣。他们认同感强，一方面是由于调查的学生是在华文学校就读，另外一方面也告诉我们，在如今的融合趋势下，中国的重点可以放在进一步加大中国传统文化的传播方面。
由此可以进一步确认：
第一，菲律宾华人的身份认同经历了由中国向菲律宾的转变。从理论上而言，这个转变过程，是以主体为核心的身份认同向后现代去中心的身份认同演变的过程。在最初阶段，菲律宾华人遵从自己的内心，所谓的“落叶归根”“挣钱后还乡”等，都是从自己的内心出发。而受外界环境的影响，包括受战乱无法返回，以及菲律宾独立后中国政府的外交政策等因素的影响，菲律宾华人内心出现变动，出现了去中心化。从以主体为核心到去中心，菲律宾华人在身份认同转变的过程中，内心经历了巨大煎熬。
第二，在 1975年菲律宾华侨大规模地加入菲律宾国籍之后，菲律宾华人与本土社会经历了漫长的融合过程，在政治、文化、风俗习惯等也逐渐本土化。即使如此，随着华人社区关于中国传统文化的坚守，新时代移民的流入，尤其是中国国际地位的提升，菲律宾华人对中国仍然存在一些好感，而且继续维持着本族族群的文化与认同。可见族群认同，以及与此相关的文化认同，具有特别的韧性。
“人”的身份认同是以主体为核心的，但又存在着“去中心性”，这是大部分菲律宾华人身份认同转变的过程。菲律宾华人的身份认同向菲律宾转化，对菲律宾与中国都有很大的好处。随着菲律宾华人逐渐认同菲律宾，他们会增加关于菲律宾的信心，这有助于推动菲律宾的发展。只要菲律宾华人对菲律宾的发展做出了贡献，就有利于局域的和平与繁荣，会为整个亚洲大陆尤其是中国增加利益。

The Philippines was one of the earliest destinations for Chinese immigrants. Since the tang and song dynasties, Chinese people have appeared on luzon Island. But it was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that large-scale immigration began in its true sense. At present, the Chinese people in the Philippines have basically achieved a transition from their original migration to settlement. Generations of Chinese have inevitably faced issues such as how to coexist peacefully with locals, better integrate into local society, maintain their own ethnic cultural characteristics, and interact better with Filipino culture.
The Philippines is a nation deeply influenced by colonial culture, which included by Spanish catholic culture and American liberal and democratic culture. These two cultures had a profound impact on the Philippines. 5000 years cultural history of the Chinese nation meets these cultures, and how to achieve the integration with these cultures, forming a "interdependent and harmonious" relationship, and whether the development of Chinese ethnic culture will have a greater impact on Chinese identity intentions. These issues are all related to the current Chinese ethnic group, the Philippine government (including the Philippine academic community), various ethnic groups in the Philippines, and the Chinese government is an important issue of general concern to the general public.
With the above questions in mind, the author makes comprehensive use of questionnaires, comparative research, interviews, and the relevant data of the Philippine government to test and evaluate the national, ethnic and cultural identity of Filipino Chinese in combination with the public opinion surveys of authoritative departments, in an attempt to reveal the specific transformation process of Filipino Chinese identity, as well as the current psychological trend.
Research findings:
(1) Community identity varies greatly depending on profession. Overall, Filipino Chinese engaged in industries such as public institutions and cultural, educational, and technological personnel tend to have a Filipino identity. The identity of other ordinary workers, farmers, and self-employed individuals is about half of that of the Philippines and China, respectively. Among them, the identity of self-employed individuals is more biased towards China. Students, whether they are Chinese schools or non Chinese schools, tend to lean towards the Philippines. The point is, higher cultural capital of the class, more inclined they are to accept their "Filipino" identity and better integrate into Philippine society.
(2) There is a significant extreme in the identity of family Filipino Chinese. Among them, the identity of grandparents and their parents tends to be biased towards China, especially the grandparents, who still have some ideas of returning to their roots. And when it comes to grandchildren and great grandchildren, they are basically assimilated by the Philippines and believe in Philippines is their mother country. Moreover, they are not active in learning Chinese and only understanding simple using language. This actually also means that the identity for overseas Chinese immigrants is not related to the length of time an individual has settled in the country of residence, but highly related to the time an individual has separated from their home country and theirs place of birth. In a sense, it means that identity is highly related to an individual's original national and cultural intentions, as well as their prior sociality.
(3) The identity of students tends to be biased towards Filipino Chinese. They are Filipino in nationality, but they identify with their Chinese ancestry from the heart and very interested in traditional Chinese festivals, representative figures, things, Chinese culture and art. They have a strongly sense of identity, because of the surveyed students are studying in Chinese language schools, they tell us that in the current trend of integration, China can focus on further increasing the dissemination of traditional Chinese culture.
For confirming that:
First, the identity of Filipino Chinese has undergone a transformation from China to the Philippines. Basically on theory, this transformation process is the evolution of identity centered on the subject and decentralized towards postmodernism. In the initial stage, Filipino Chinese followed their own hearts, "returning to their roots after falling leaves" and "returning home after earning money" all started from their own hearts. Due to the influence of the external environment, including the inability to return due to war and the foreign policy of Chinese government after the independence of the Philippines, hearts of Filipino Chinese have undergone changes and decentralization. From being centered on the subject to being decentralized, Filipino Chinese have experienced tremendous inner suffering in the process of identity transformation.
Second, after the large-scale accession of Filipino Chinese to Filipino citizenship in 1975, Filipino Chinese and local society underwent a long process of integration, gradually becoming localized in politics, culture, customs, and habits. Even so, with the adherence of the Chinese community to traditional Chinese culture, the influx of immigrants in the new era, and especially the improvement of China's international status, Filipino Chinese still have some favoritism towards China and continue to maintain the culture and identity in their own ethnic group. It can be seen that ethnic identity, as well as the related cultural identity, has special resilience.
The identity of "people" is centered on the subject, but there is also a "decentralization", which is the process of most Filipino Chinese identity transformation. The transformation of Filipino Chinese identity towards Philippines is greatly benefits on both Philippines and China. As Chinese Filipinos gradually identify with the Philippines, they will increase their confidence in Philippines, which will help promote its development. As long as Filipino Chinese made contributions to the development of Philippines, it is conducive to local peace and prosperity, it will increase interests for the entire Asian continent, especially China.