is I am not speaking of things
heard, for I have it, and am thus certain of it, as of all
the things that happened. How far I have progressed with the
Chinese letters I shall say later. This book was printed in
China in 1584. It circulates freely in China whence we have
our copy, and because of the writing, contrary to what others
have misleadingly said about the Chinese, they have done him
no ill: from which it may be inferred that the lion is not
so wild as they paint him." [120]

There is no direct evidence to support our belief that it was during
the brief period after Castro returned, probably late in 1590, and
relieved Cobo of his executive responsibilities, and June 1592 when he
left for Japan, that Cobo began intensive plans for the production of
bilingual texts. His recorded interest in such books, his influence
with the Chinese, his energy and his own linguistic aptitude would
naturally have stimulated him to undertake the task. Whether he
actually began work on the blocks from which the books were printed,
or merely suggested the feasibility of the idea, we do not know,
but we feel sure that Juan Cobo was the father of the production of
books in the Philippines.

There is no need here to go into the history of printing in China;
the method used there and its antiquity have been fully described
by others. [121] That there were Chinese in Manila who understood
this age-old process would seem obvious from the reports of skilled
craftsmen whose presence was noted by all the writers of the period. We
have already quoted a reference to Juan Cobo's teaching them European
trades, and Salazar in his already cited letter speaks of them further:

"They are so skillful and clever, that, as soon as they see
any object made by a Spanish workman, they reproduce it with
exactness. What arouses my wonder most is, that when I arrived
no Sangley knew how to paint anything; but now they have
so perfected themselves in this art that they have produced
marvelous works with both the brush and the chisel.... What has
pleased all of us here has been the arrival of a bookbinder
from Mexico. He brought books with him, set up a bindery,
and hired a Sangley who had offered his services to him. The
Sangley secretly, and without his master noticing it, watched
how the latter bound books, and lo, in less than [lacuna in
MS.] he left the house, saying tha