Hoklo people
Encyclopedia
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
Chinese people whose traditional Ancestral homes are in southern Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
of South China. They are also known by various endonym as Hok-ló, Hō-ló, or , or other related terms such as Min-nan people (閩南人) or Hokkiens (福建人).
In narrower scope, the Hoklo people refers mainly to people who speak and use the Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
dialect of Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
Chinese spoken in southern Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia.
In wider scope, the Hoklo people can include speakers of other Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
languages, such as Zhongshan Min
Zhongshan Min
Zhongshan Min , is a variety of Min Nan Chinese spoken in the Zhongshan region of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. The Zhongshan Min people had settled in the region from Fujian Province as early as the Northern Song dynasty period hence Zhongshan Min has a history of close to one...
, Zhenan Min
Zhenan Min
Zhenan Min , is a variety of Min Nan Chinese spoken in the Wenzhou region of the southern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The Zhenan Min people had settled in areas such as Cangnan County, Pingyang County, Yuhuan County and Dongtou County from Fujian Province as early as the Tang dynasty period and...
, Teochew dialect, and Hainanese.
Taiwanese Hoklo
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Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, the Hoklos are the largest linguistic and sub-cultural group (see Demographics of Taiwan
Demographics of Taiwan
This article is about the demographic features of the population in Taiwan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
). Most Hoklos trace their paternal ancestry to male settlers who migrated to Taiwan from Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Because about 70% of the population in Taiwan are Hoklo, Taiwanese is often used interchangeably with Hoklo. People who are aware of the multi-ethnic nature of Taiwan recognize the two are not identical, although most people will know by context when this word refers to people from Taiwan and when this word refers specifically to Hoklos.
Guangdong Hoklo Boat people
Of the boat people who live in Guangdong around Canton and Hong Kong, there ar two groups. One is the Tanka people, who speak a dialect of Cantonese, and the other are Hoklo boat people who are of partial Fujian descent. Their language is Min like other Hoklo"Boat people" was a general category for both the Tanka and the Hoklo
Hoklo
Hoklo can mean the following:* The Hoklo people, a geographically widespread cultural-linguistic group originating in southeast China , also called Hokkien.* Min Nan, the Chinese language group spoken by the Hoklo....
(teochew), who made their living on boats. They spoke different dialects, and the Hoklo originated from Fujian. The Hoklo used the term Hoklo to refer to themselves, while the name Tanka was used only by Cantonese to describe the Tanka.
There were two distinct categories of people based on their way of life, and they were further divided into different groups. The Hakka and Cantonese lived on land, the Tanka and Hoklo lived on boats and were both classified as boat people.
The differences between the sea dwelling Tanka and land dwellers were not just based on merely their way of life, Cantonese and Hakka who lived on land fished sometimes for a living, but these land fishermen never mixed or married with the Tanka fishermen, barring the Tanka from celebrations.
British reports on Hong Kong described the Tanka and Hoklo living in Hong Kong "since time unknown". The encyclopedia Americana described Hoklo and Tanka as living in Hong Kong "since prehistoric times".
During the British colonial era in Hong Kong, the Tanka were considered a separate ethnic group from the Punti, Hakka, and Hoklo. Punti is another name for Cantonese people, who are Han chinese, the Hakka and hoklo are also Han chinese.
The three Han chinese groups, the Punti, Hakka, and Hoklo, all of whom spoke different Chinese dialects, despised and fought each otherduring the late Qing dynasty. However, they were all united in their overwhelming hatred for the Tanka, since the aboriginals of southern china were the ancestors of the Tanka.
In 1962 a typhoon struck the Tanka and Hoklo boats, with hundreds being destroyed.
Malaysia Hoklo
The Hoklo make up one of the Malaysian ChineseMalaysian Chinese
Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...
groups, one of the other being the Hakka people
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
. There are also Hoklo among the Chinese Indonesians.
Chinese characters for Hoklo
In Taiwan, there are three common ways to write Hoklo in Chinese characterChinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s (Min Nan pronunciations are given in POJ):
- 福佬 (Hok-ló; lit. "Fujian person") – emphasizes their connection to Fujian province.
- 河洛 ' onMouseout='HidePop("11020")' href="/topics/Yellow_River">Yellow RiverYellow RiverThe Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
and Luo RiverLuo RiverLuo River may refer to:*Luo River , river in Henan, China*Luo River , river in Shaanxi, China*Lô River, river in Vietnam...
") – emphasizes their purported long history originating from the area south of the Yellow River. This Han-character reading does not reflect the actual pronunciation in the southern-Chinese languages but only in Mandarin. It is likely a result of folk etymology. - 鶴佬 – emphasizes the modern pronunciation of the characters (without regard to the meaning of the Chinese characters). This variant is used by the Chinese Wikipedia version of this article.
In Hakka, Hoklo may be written as 學老 (lit. "knowledge aged") and 學佬 (lit. "knowledge person").
Despite many ways to write Hoklo in Chinese, many Taiwanese will use the term Hō-ló to refer to the language and Hoklo culture.
See also
- Demographics of TaiwanDemographics of TaiwanThis article is about the demographic features of the population in Taiwan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
- Taiwanese peopleTaiwanese peopleTaiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
- Teochew peopleTeochew peopleThe Chaozhou people are Han people, native to the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province of China who speak the Teochew dialect. Today, most Teochew people live outside China in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. They can also be found almost anywhere in the...
- Hokkien dialectHokkienHokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
- HokloHokloHoklo can mean the following:* The Hoklo people, a geographically widespread cultural-linguistic group originating in southeast China , also called Hokkien.* Min Nan, the Chinese language group spoken by the Hoklo....
(disambiguation)