Unlike in the 19th century when Cebu City's export economy created wealth for the elite comprised of the Parian Mestizos and the Chinese, the post- war export economy couldn't do the same for an even bigger city population many of whom were less entrepreneurial. With lessened export players at the port in the 1950s and 1960s wealth was not as well dispersed as in the 19th century. But there slowly rose a new middle class among enterprising as well as better-educated Cebuanos and Filipino-Chinese not dependent on the export trade.
It wasn't until the 1960s that real manufacturing was developed in the city. “No real Manufacturing district had developed prior to 1960, though fabrication and agricultural-processing activities were increasing.” (Wernstedt, Spencer, 1967)
New players like the Filipino-Chinese infused new dynamism to the city's economy as did their countrymen in centuries past. They led in the creation of new wealth among the city's lower and middle classes in the postwar period. In the years to come they, too, would constitute the city's elite. But unlike the Chinese mestizos of Parian, many of them would remain faithful to their traditions.
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