CANTONESE

Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

 

Cantonese people (廣東人) broadly speaking, are persons originating from the present-day Guangdong province in southern China. A narrower definition of Guangdongren based on a sociolinguistics and cultural perspectives excludes groups that do not speak Cantonese (Yue) as a primary language and speak other languages native to Guangdong, such as Hakka, Teochiu (a variant of the Min Nan group). However, this sociolinguistic and cultural definition will often also include native speakers of Cantonese in nearby Hong Kong and Macao, which were traditionally part of Guangdong prior to European colonisation, and eastern and southern Guangxi, parts of which were part of Guangdong prior to administrative reforms made by the People's Republic of China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Punti subethnic group, and is sometimes known as Guangfuren (廣府人) for this narrower definition.

Cantonese is one of the major divisions of spoken Chinese with 110 million speakers. In the native areas of Guangdong and Guangxi, many closely related varieties exist, and linguists collectively refer to these as the Cantonese (or Yue) group.

Due to its political and economic status of being outside the direct control of the PRC, Hong Kong has been an active (and primary) producer of Cantonese language entertainment. Cantopop, Cantonese language pop music, enjoys a multinational fanbase, and the major center of the Cantonese music industry is in Hong Kong. Well-known Cantopop artistes include Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Faye Wong, Sammi Cheng, and Coco Lee. Many of these well known stars are Hakkas, and from the families of other internal Chinese immigrants. Hong Kong's Cantonese-language cinema is a thriving industry that enjoys international fame. One of the world's largest motion picture industries, recent films such as Kung Fu Hustle and Infernal Affairs have generated acclaim worldwide.

The Punti, a rough transliteration of the Cantonese term for "original locality," refers to the Cantonese-speaking populations of Guangdong province in southern China. They are contrasted with another Han Chinese linguistic group, the Hakka, which settled in the area after the Punti peoples and follow different cultural traditions.

The Mongol conquest of the Song Dynasty pushed even more Han Chinese refugees into the area including the descendants of the Chinese patriotic leader Wen Tianxiang. The "Great Five Clans" — the Hau (候), Tang (鄧), Pang (彭), Liu (廖), and Man (文) — were among the earliest recorded familial settlers of Hong Kong. Despite the immigration and light development of agriculture, the area was still relatively barren and had to rely on salt, pearl and fishery trades.

From 1854 to 1867 there were a series of battles between the Punti and Hakka peoples, concentrated mainly in the County of Xinning (present day the City of Taishan).

 

 

History of the Cantonese People

Until the 19th century, Cantonese history was largely part of the history of Guangdong. What is now Guangdong was first brought under Qin influence by a former Qin Dynasty general named Zhao Tuo, who annexed and absorbed territories into the kingdom of Nanyue. Nanyue included the territories of modern-day Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Vietnam and its capital was situated at modern-day Guangzhou. This kingdom was fully brought under Han control under the Han dynasty, but it wasn't until subsequent dynasties such as the Jin Dynasty (265-420), Tang dynasty and Song dynasty that major waves of Han Chinese literati migration to the South occurred. The migration came in waves, displacing the existing local populations at different time periods, although many native groups, such as the Zhuang, still reside. These peoples, however, tend to live in their own communities.

The turmoil of the second half of the 19th century compelled many residents of Guangdong to seek their fortunes overseas. Until the second half of the 20th century, the majority of overseas Chinese emigrated from two provinces of China, Fujian and Guangdong. As a result of these migrations, many Chinese with Cantonese ancestry have settled throughout the world. Unlike the migrants from Fujian, who mostly settled in Southeast Asia, many Cantonese emigrants also migrated to the western hemisphere, particularly the United States and Canada. Chinese immigrants in North America were brought as cheap labourers to build the transcontinental railroads in the United States and Canada, while those in South America were mostly forced laborers brought in as coolies. Chinese in California participated in the California Gold Rush, while Chinese in Hawaii found employment in sugar plantations as contract laborers. These early immigrants founded communities of Chinatowns but also faced hostility and a variety of discriminatory laws that targeted them. This includes denying the immigration of women to prevent Chinese families from taking root, culminating in anti-immigration laws that restricted Chinese migration. A large proportion of these early immigrants came from the Sze Yup (Seiyap) region of Guangdong. As a result, these early communities spoke mostly Taishanese, one of the dialects of Yue distinctive from Standard Cantonese. The Taishan (Toisan (Hoisan)) dialect is still spoken in Chinese communities in the Americas, by older people as well as more recent immigrants from Taishan. It should be noted that Taishanese and Standard Cantonese are not mutually intelligible. The relaxing of immigration laws after World War II allowed for subsequent waves of migration to the United States from both mainland China and Hong Kong, while the majority of the Chinese-Vietnamese boat people from the Vietnam War spoke Cantonese either as a first or secondary language. As a result, Cantonese continues to be widely used by Chinese communities of Guangdong and Hong Kong origin in the western world and has not been supplanted by Mandarin.

 

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* HLA Antigens in Three Normal Southern Chinese Dialect Groups -- Cantonese, Hokkiens and Teochew by S.H. Chan, et al.

Synopsis: The HLA profiles of the Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew dialect groups in the Chinese population were compared. The profiles of the three groups were remarkably similar. HLA-A2 and HLA-Bw46 were strongly and significantly associated in all three dialect groups. Other significantly associated antigen pairs were Aw19, B17 and A29, B7 in the Cantonese and Blank, B40 in the Teochews.

 

HLA-B46

Dark Red = 7% or greater,
Red = 3 to 7%
Orange = 1 to 3%
Green = O to 1%
Black = regions not typed

HLA-B46 (B46) is an HLA-B serotype. The serotype identifies the gene products of HLA-B*4601 allele. B*4601 resulted from a rare, interlocus, gene conversion between B62, probably B*1501, and a HLA-C allele. B*4601 is the most common HLA-B allele that does not have an origin within Africa, and estimated 400 million people in Eastern Asia carry a B46 allele. When found B*4601 segregates with only 2 HLA-Cw alleles, A limited number of HLA-A and HLA-DRB1 alleles suggesting that the allele recently expanded from a limited sized group within SE Asia. Extremely low frequencies outside of Eastern Asia are indicators of a recent expansion of B46 from a recently small population. The frequency distribution suggests the ancestral B46 population was in SE China, or, potentially Burma (Myanmar or Laos, untested). B46 in Asia correlates with wet-rice farming. The exceptions are notable, it has been found in the Nivkhi on north-eastern Sakalin Island, the Ainu, and the Nivkhi-related (genetically) Tlinglet population of Alaska at trace levels. This B46 contribution appears to have been recent.

A2-B46 is one of the most frequent, if not the most frequent A-B haplotype in the world, even though it is absent from the indigenous populations of most peoples in the world.

The most common haplotype, and probably the ancestral haplotype given its distribution from the Ninhivet to Indonesia is:

A*0207 : C*0102 : B*4601 : DRB1*0901 : DQA1*0302 : DQB1*0303

A different haplotype that is more common in Korea and Japan is

A*0207 : C*0102 : B*4601 : DRB1*0803 : DQA1*0103 : DQB1*0601

B46, or a closely linked allele may have been under positive selection in rice farmers of Asia.

 

West Rice Farming

A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Rice can also be grown in dry-fields, but from the twentieth century paddy field agriculture became the dominant form of growing rice. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of east, south and southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

Paddy fields can be built adjacent to otherwise natural areas such as rivers or marshes. They can be constructed, often on steep hillsides with much labor and materials. The fields require large quantities of water for irrigation. Flooding provides water essential to the growth of the crop. Water also provides a favorable environment for the rice strains being grown as well as discouraging the growth of many species of weeds. The water buffalo is one of the most important working animals adapted for life in wetlands so they are extensively used in paddy fields.

History: Archaeologists generally accept that wet-field cultivation originated in China. At Caoxieshan, a site of the Neolithic Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields. Some archaeologists claim that Caoxieshan may date to 4000-3000 B.C., but as of now the oldest excavated rice paddy field dated by absolute scientific dating techniques are from Korea. There is archaeological evidence that unhusked rice was stored for the military and for burial with the deceased from the Neolithic period to the Han Dynasty in China.

The Majiabang culture (馬家浜文化) was a Neolithic culture that existed at the mouth of the Yangtze River, primarily around the Taihu area and north of Hangzhou Bay in China. The culture was spread throughout southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. Initially, archaeologists had considered the Majiabang sites and sites in northern Jiangsu to be part of the same culture, naming it the Qingliangang culture. Archaeologists later realized that the northern Jiangsu sites were of the Dawenkou culture and renamed the southern Jiangsu sites as the Majiabang culture. The Majiabang culture coexisted with the Hemudu culture for over a thousand years as two separate and distinct cultures, with cultural transmissions between the two cultures.

Majiabang people cultivated rice. At Caoxieshan, a site of the Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields. However, faunal remains excavated from Majiabang archaeological sites indicated that people had domesticated pigs. In addition, the remain of sika and roe deer have been found, showing that people were not totally reliant on agricultural production. Archaeological sites also bear evidence that Majiabang people produced jade ornaments.

 

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* Indentification of HLA-A*02-B*46 Haplotype Allele Variant in Guangdong Han Populations on the Basis of PCR-SBT by Fu Xiong, et al.

Background: The HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype is one of the most frequent haplotypes among Guandong Han populations. To explore the characteristics of the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype in Guandong Han populations, the genetic polymorphism of HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype was analysed by PCR-SBT in our study. Findings: Among 88 samples with the homozygotes for HLA-A*02-B*46 in the low resolution, 4 different alleles for A*02 (A*0201, A*0203, A*0206, A*0207) and 1 allele for B*46 (B*4601) were indentified by PCR-SBT. Among them, the A*0207 allele was the predominant allele. Inversely, among the samples with HLA-A*2-B*46(-), six alleles were detected for A*02 (A*020101, A*0203, A*0205, A*0206, and A*0207), and the A*0201 allele was predominant. On the other hand, the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype presented moderate heterozygosis (32.95%). In addition, the linkage with DRB1 was analysed in HLA-A*2-B*46 haplotype, and there existed 10 alleles with DRB1. With the low resoultion for DRB1, the other 10 DRB1 alleles all linked with the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype except for DRB1*01, DRB1*10, and DRB1*17. Moreover, we found eight alleles of DRB1 in the HLA-A*0207-B*4601 haplotypes. Conclusion: The polymorphism distribution of the A*02 allele between the HLA-A*02-B*46 and HLA-A*02-B*46(-) haplotypes among the Guandong Han popultions provides useful information for research on unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (UHSCT), anthropology, and disease association for populations with the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype.

 

HLA A*0203 frequencies

Study population	Freq. (%)
China Guangxi Maonan	17.6
China Yunnan Lisu	15.2
Thailand Northeast	12.2
China South Han	10.8
China Guangzhou	9.8
Singapore Javanese Indone…	9.0
China Yunnan Nu	8.2
Thailand	7.7
Taiwan Minnan pop 1	6.4
Taiwan Puyuma	6.0
Taiwan Siraya	5.9
Singapore Riau Malay	5.2
India Khandesh Pawra	5.0
India West Bhils	5.0
Taiwan Pazeh	4.5
India Mumbai Marathas	3.7
Taiwan Hakka	3.6
China North Han	2.4

HLA A*0207 frequencies

Study population	Freq. (%)
Thailand Northeast	15.7
China Guangxi Maonan	13.4
Hong Kong Chinese	13.1
Singapore Chinese	13.1
Singapore Thai	12.2
Singapore Chinese Han	11.6
Taiwan Minnan pop 1	11.3
Thailand	10.9
China South Han	9.4
China Guangzhou	9.3
China Yunnan Nu	8.2
Taiwan Hakka	8.2
Taiwan Siraya	6.9
China Beijing	6.7
USA Asian	6.6
Taiwan Pazeh	6.4
China North Han	4.3
China Qinghai Hui	3.6

HLA B*4601 frequencies

Population	Freq (%)
Buyei (China)	21.6
Miao (China)	18.4
Han (2) (Yunnan, China)	17.9
Thai (in Singapore)	17.2
Southern Chinese (in Taiwan)	17.2
Chinese (in Hong Kong)	16.3
Hakka (2) (Taiwan)	15.6
Guangzhou (China)	15.5
Northeastern Thailand	15.1
Minnan (Avg 1 & 2) (Taiwan)	15.0
Middle' Chinese (in Taiwan)	15.0
Hakka (Taiwan)	13.6
Wuhan (China)	13.5
Maonan (Guangxi , China)	13.4
Chinese (in Singapore)	13.4
Vietnamese	13.2
Southern Han (China)	11.5
Shanghai (China)	11.2
Meizhou Han (Guangdong, China)	10.0

 

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* Genetic Structure of the Han Chinese Population Revealed by Genome-wide SNP Variation by Jieming Chen, et al.

Population Stratification of the Han Chinese

(The cluster and stratification of the samples from the ten provinces of China, showing an evident north-south genetic differentiation.)

 

Population Stratification of the Han Chinese

(The three dialect groups from the Guangdong province were shown against all of the Han Chinese samples from the ten provinces. There was stratification among the three dialect groups, along the same north-south trend observed for the overall Han Chinese.)

 

 

* HLA Class III and Non-HLA Blood Genetic Markers in Chinese by S.W. Serjeantson, et al.

Phylogenetic Relationships Between Eight Chinese Populations, Based on Seven Polymorphic Systems

 

 

Zhuang

The Zhuang (壯族) are an ethnic group of people who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Their population, estimated at 18 million people, puts them second only to the Han Chinese and makes the Zhuang the largest minority in China. The name of the Zhuang minority used to be written 獞. However, the character also refers to a variety of wild dogs, so it was considered an ethnic slur. In 1949, the "animal" radical was replaced by the "human" radical, and the character became 僮. Eventually, the character was replaced with 壮, a character already in existence meaning "sturdy" or "strong".

The Zhuang live mostly in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Some also live in the Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces.

The Zhuang language (壯語) is used by the Zhuang people in the People's Republic of China. Most speakers live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Zhuang, which belongs to the Tai language group, is an official language in that region. Standardized Zhuang is based on the dialect of Wuming County (武鸣县). Buyei, considered a separate language in China, is actually just a slightly different standard form of Zhuang, used across the province border in Guizhou. There is a dialect continuum between Zhuang and Buyei. Zhuang is a tonal language. It has six tones.

The Tai languages are a subgroup of the Tai-Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai-Kadai languages, including Thai, the national language of Thailand, Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos, Myanmar's Shan language, and Zhuang, a major language of southern China.

Prehistory: The Zhuang are of Tai origin, a people who migrated south from central China roughly 5000 years ago. The Zhuang settled in what is now Guangxi while other Tai peoples moved to Yunnan. It is suggested the Tai peoples migrated for food purposes, as the culture developed a unique irrigation system which was useful for growing rice. As the soil was unsuitable for this purpose in Central China, the Tai sought out more fertile plains. However, it is highly probable that struggles with emerging Chinese states that rapidly gained power with Mesolithic (Bronze Age) weapons had something to do with this. Long struggles with China to avoid destruction (as they were "barbarians") led Tais around 1100 AD to migrate south from Southern China to create the Lao, Thai and Shan peoples of Indochina, and even as far away as Assam, India.

 

 

* Genetic Relationship of Chinese Ethnic Populations Revealed by mtDNA Sequence Diversity by Yong-Gang Yao, et al.

Unrooted NJ Tree

 

 

* Genetic Diversity of Two Haploid Markers in the Udegey Population from Southeastern Siberia by HJ Jin, et al.

Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) Plot Based on (A) FST Distances of mtDNA Haplogroups

Closed diamonds: northeast Asians, Open squares: southeast Asians, Closed squares: south Siberians, Triangles: northeast Siberians, Closed circle: Udegey1, Open circles: southeast Siberians, Asterisk: Europeans.

Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) Plot Based on FST Distances of mtDNA HVS-I Sequences

 

 

* Genetic Relationships of Ethnic Minorities in Southwest China Revealed by Microsatellite Markers by Hongbin Lin, et al.

Principal Component Analysis with Normalized Allele Frequencies for the Full-loci Dataset

 

Unrooted Neighbor-joining Tree Constructed with DA Distances (full-loci dataset)

 

Unrooted Neighbor-joining Tree Constructed with DA Distances (full-population dataset)

 

 

Dai

Photo from paulnoll.com

The Dai peoples of China (傣族) is the officially recognized name of several ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture (both in southern Yunnan, China), but by extension can apply to groups in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma when Dai is used to mean specifically Tai Lue, Chinese Shan or even Tai in general.

Exodus: The original areas of the Tai Lue included both sides of the Mekong River in the Sipsongpanna. According to the Tai Lue, there were five city-states on the east bank and six on the west, which with Chiang Rung formed twelve rice field divisions with all twelve having another 32 small provinces.

Some portions of these Tai Lue either voluntarily moved or were forcibly herded from these city-states around one to two hundred years ago, arriving in countries of present-day Burma, Laos and Thailand.

 

Blang

Photo from The Joshua Project

The Blang (布朗族) (also spelled Bulong) people are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

Language: The Blang language belongs to the Palaung-Wa branch of the Mon-Khmer family of languages. Within the Palaung-Wa branch, Blang belongs to the Waic subgroup, which also contains the languages of the Wa and Lawa peoples in addition to Blang. Some Blang also speak Chinese language and Dai languages in addition to speaking Blang. Two systems of writing based on the Latin alphabet have been developed: 'Totham' in the Xishuangbanna and 'Tolek' from Dehong and Lincang.

History: Chinese ethnographers identify the Blang as descendants of an ancient tribe known as the "Pu" (濮), who lived in the Lancang river valley during ancient times. It is believed that these people were one branch of a number of peoples that were collectively known to the ancient Chinese as the Bǎipú (百濮, literally "Hundred Pu").

Culture: Traditionally, the Blang considered teeth blackened by chewing betel nuts a beauty characteristic.

The women usually dress in jackets with black skirts. The men had tattoos in the torso and the stomach. They dressed in wide black trousers and jackets buttoned to the front. Often they would wear turbans of either white or black fabric.

The houses of the Blang are made out of bamboo and usually consist of two floors. The first floor is designed as a warehouse for food and a stable for livestock animals, such as chickens, whereas the second is designed to house the family. The chimney is located in the center of the house.

The Blang are traditionally divided into small clans, with each clan owning its own land. Every Blang town has its own cemeteries, which are divided by clans. The deceased are buried, with the exception of those who perished due to unnatural causes. In this case they are cremated.

 

Mulam

photo by paulnoll.com

The Mulao or Mulan (仫佬族) people are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. In their name, Mulam, mu is a classifier for human beings and lam (in some dialects it is kyam) is another form of the name used by the Dong (Kam), whom the Mulam people are ethnically related to. A large portion of the Mulam in Guangxi live in Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County of Hechi, Guangxi.

It is believed that the Mulam are the descendants of the ancient Ling and Liao tribes (Liao dynasty?) that inhabited the region during the time of the Jin dynasty. During the Yuan dynasty, the Mulam lived in a feudal society and they paid a series of tributes twice a year to the emperor. During the Qing dynasty, their territories suffered an administrative division; their lands were divided into dongs, which were composed of units for 10 dwellings. Each dong had its own local leader, responsible for maintaining the order and of collecting the taxes. Each dong was generally formed by families that shared the same surname.

The Mulam speak the Mulam language, a Tai-Kadai language. The Mulam language, like that of the Dong, does not has voice stops; however, it does contains unvoiced and voiced nasals and laterals. Its vowel system contains eleven vowels. It is a tonal language with ten tones and 65% of their vocabulary is shared with the Zhuang and Dong languages. Since the Ming dynasty, Chinese characters have been utilized to read and write the Mulam language. The majority of the Mulam also speak Chinese as well as the Zhuang and Dong languages

Mulam have a population of 159,328, 80% of which lives in Luocheng Mulam Autonomous County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The rest are scattered throughout Xincheng, Yishan, Liucheng, Du'an huanjiang, Hechi, Rongshui and Rong'an etc. in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

 

Li

Photo from Hainan National Minority Traditional Culture

The Li (黎) or Hlai are a minority Chinese ethnic group, sometimes colloquially known as "Sai" or "Say." They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. 94% of the Li live off the southern coast of mainland China on Hainan, where they are the largest minority ethnic group. As well as Hainan, the Li people are also found in some islands in the South China Sea area that are considered Filipino territory. Native islanders of the Luzon Sea are included under the "Li" ethnic group in China.

During the Sui Dynasty they were known by the name Liliao, and presently they refer to themselves as the Hlai people. The Li suffered heavily under the Japanese occupation, and they are held in high esteem by the Beijing government because they fought on the side of the CPC against Chinese Nationalist rule during the Chinese Civil War.

The Li people can generally understand or speak Hainanese and Mandarin. Because many Li in Hainan relocate to Cantonese-speaking areas in southern mainland China near Hainan (such as Guangzhou and HK), it is common for Li people to learn and speak Cantonese.

The Li play a traditional wind instrument called kǒuxiāo (口箫), and another called lìlāluó (利拉罗).

The Hlai languages are a primary branch of the Kradai language family spoken on the island of Hainan. They include Hlai proper, with 600,000 speakers, its divergent 'dialect' Kamau, with 60,000, and Cun, which has 80,000 speakers.

 

 

* STR Polymorphisms of the Henan Population and Investigation of the Central Plains Han Origin of Chaoshanese by Li-Na Xu, et al.

Neighbor-joining tree constructed from Nei’s genetic distance based on the allelic frequencies of CODIS STR loci in 25 Chinese Han populations

 

 

* Genetic Polymorphisms of 15 STR Loci in Chinese Han population living in Xi'an city of Shaanxi Province by Y.M. Wu, et al.

Abstract: Fifteen autosomal STRs loci were analyzed from a population sample of 446 unrelated healthy individuals of Chinese Han population residing in Xi'an city of Shaanxi Province using a multiplex PCR system. We report allele frequencies distribution and statistical parameters for all STR loci, D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818 and FGA. The observed genotype frequencies and expected of genotype frequencies were evaluated by chi(2)-test and the Fisher exact tests. Chi-Square test showed all STR loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p<0.05). Our studied population data were compared with the previously published population data of other ethnics or areas. After comparing, significant differences were found between Chinese Han population in Xi'an and Korean, Tibetan, Uigur, Chinese Han population in Guangdong Province, Hui population, Chinese Salar, Dongxiang and Tu ethnic minority living in Qinghai Province of China at some loci. The forensic parameters from the data showed high values. The data in the present study can be used greatly for routine forensic application in the region of Xi'an city.

 

 

* Polymorphism of HLA-DRB1 in Han Population in Yunnan and Comparison with 9 Han Populations by SB Xu, et al.

Abstract: 129 samples of Han population in Yunnan province were detected by polymerase chain reaction and microtitre plate hybridization (PCR-MPH). The samples of DR*15 subgroup being detected by PCR-MPH were further analyzed by Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP). By first polymerase chain reaction and microtitre plate hybridization (PCR-MPH), all of the 129 samples were divided into the following subgroups, viz. DR*01, DR*03 ,DR*04, DR*0701, DR*08, DR*09012, DR*1001, DR*11, DR*12, DR*13, DR*14, DR*15, DR*1602 and DR*1604. The samples of DR*04, DR*08/12, DR*03/11/13/14 were further detected by second PCR-MPH and the ones of DR*15 by SSCP. 36 kinds of alleles on HLA-DRB1 were detected in these samples. Among them, DRB1*1501(0.1240), DRB1*09012(0.0969), DRB1*08032(0.0930), DRB1*1202(0.0891), DRB1*1201(0.0814), DRB1 *1401(0.0775), DRB1 *0701(0.0620), are the most frequent. The chi(2) test of HLA-DRB1 alleles was done between Yunnan Han and the other 9 Han populations. In detail, comparing with Yunnan Han on the chi(2) test, the chi(2) values of few alleles in the few Han populations was more than 10, they were Xian Han (DR8,chi(2)=13.9712), Shanghai Han (DR4,chi(2)=10.1632), Guangdong Han (DR9,chi(2)=12.6121) and Nanjing Han (DR4,chi(2)=10.5796). Comparing with 9 Han populations, the genetic distance between Yunnan Han and Liaoning Han was the nearest 0.0541), Guangdong Han was the farthest (0.1851). In the 9 Han populations, the genetic distance between Shanghai Han and Nanjing Han was the nearest (0.0122), and the one between Tianjin Han and Shanxi Han was also nearer (0.0219). Based on above analysis, the conclusion may be deduced that the resource of Yunnan Han may be close to Liaoning Han and it was not a typical southern Han population though Yunnan Han are resident in the South. Some gene flow may be exit between Yunnan Han and the local minorities and made Yunnan Han become a special population.

 

 

* Tracing the Origins of Hakka and Chaoshanese by Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by Wen-Zhi Wang, et al.

Population Analyzed

 

Two-dimensional PC Plot of mtDNA of Han Populations

 

PC Map of Y Chromosome of Han Chinese

 

 

* Genetic Data Obtained for Two Chinese Han Populations with a Quadruplex Fluorescent STR Typing System (HUMVWA, HUMTH01, D21S11 and HPRT) by Feng-Xia Xiao1, et al.

Abstract:  DNA typing of four tetrameric repeat loci (HUMVWA, HUMTH01, D21S11 and HPRT) was carried out in a Chinese Han population from Shanghai (East China) and one from Guangzhou (South-East China) using a quadruplex PCR amplification and detection of the fluorescent-labeled alleles on the ALF DNA sequencer. All loci were in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium except for D21S11 in the Guangzhou population. A test for population differentiation showed no statistical difference in the allele frequency distribution between the two populations. Comparison of the allele frequency data with other Chinese Han populations from North and South-West China for the STR loci HUMVWA and HUMTH01 revealed heterogeneity between Northern Chinese Han and Southern Chinese Han, which is in accordance with previous studies on the basis of protein markers.

 

 

* The Peopling of Korea Revealed by Analyses of Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosomal Markers by Han-Jun Jin, et al.

Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) Plot Based on FST Distances of mtDNA HVS-I Sequences

 

 

* Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA Polymorphisms in Guangdong Han Chinese by Feng Chen, et al.

Abstract: Previous investigations on Chinese mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation revealed that the matrilineal gene pool of southern Han Chinese is rather complex, with much higher genetic diversity and more basal/ancient lineages than the northern Hans. The extreme case is Guangdong Han populations, among which pronounced (matrilineal) differentiation has been observed, indicative of complex demography of the region. To get more insights into the maternal makeup of southern Han Chinese, mtDNA variation of a total of 106 individuals sampled from Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, was analyzed in this study. With the aid of the information from control-region hypervariable segments I and II (HVS-I and -II) as well as some necessary coding-region segments, the phylogenetic status of all mtDNAs under examination were determined according to the reconstructed East Asian mtDNA tree. In this way, the mtDNAs have been classified into various haplogroups or sub-haplogroups. The southern-prevalent haplogroups, such as R9 (20.8%), B (17.9%), M7b (14.2%), show relatively high distribution frequencies in Dongguan Hans; whereas the frequencies of Northern-prevalent haplogroups (with the exception of D) are quite low: C (1.9%), G2 (1.9%) and Z (1.9%), indicating the southern-origin of Dongguan Hans.

 

 

* Phylogeographic Differentiation of Mitochondrial DNA in Han Chinese by Yong-Gang Yao, et al. (2002)

PC Map of the mtDNA Data (with respect to the basal haplogroup profiles) of 13 Regional Han Samples

 

Zhanjiang, Guangdong

Zhanjiang (湛江; French: Fort-Bayard) is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, in southeast China.

Zhanjiang is located to the southwest of the city of Guangzhou on an inlet of the South China Sea. It is located on the eastern coast of the Leizhou Peninsula. The dialect of Leizhou is not Cantonese (Yue) but a dialect of Min Nan.

Zhanjiang was a small fishing port when it was occupied by the French in 1898. The next year, the French forced the Chinese to lease Zhanjiang to them for 99 years as the territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan. The French wanted to develop the port, which they called Fort Bayard, to serve southern China, in parts of which France had exclusive rights to railway and mineral development. Their efforts, however, were hindered by the poverty of the surrounding land. The French retained control of the region until 1943, when the Japanese occupied the area during World War II. At the end of the war the region returned briefly under French rule before being formally returned to China in 1946 by the general De Gaulle, then French head of state.

Until the introduction of Pinyin spelling, it was often known in the west as "Tsamkong" due to the Cantonese pronunciation of the name.

 

 

* Genetic Evidence Supports Demic Diffusion of Han Culture by Bo Wen, et al.

Abstract: The spread of culture and language in human populations is explained by two alternative models: the demic diffusion model, which involves mass movement of people; and the cultural diffusion model, which refers to cultural impact between populations and involves limited genetic exchange between them. The mechanism of the peopling of Europe has long been debated, a key issue being whether the diffusion of agriculture and language from the Near East was concomitant with a large movement of farmers. Here we show, by systematically analysing Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNAvariation in Han populations, that the pattern of the southward expansion of Han culture is consistent with the demic diffusion model, and that males played a larger role than females in this expansion. The Han people, who all share the same culture and language, exceed 1.16 billion (2000 census), and are by far the largest ethnic group in the world. The expansion process of Han culture is thus of great interest to researchers in many fields.

 

 

 

* Extreme mtDNA Homogeneity in Continental Asian Populations by Hiroki Oota, et al.

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Finns - Kirghiz Lowlander - British - Kazakh - Turks - Basques - Sardinian

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Finns - Indian - Ainu - Aboriginal Australian - Anatolia Turks - Borneo

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Korean - Philippines - Uighurs - Changsha - Taiwanese (aborigines) - Vietnamese - Vanuata - Indonesian - PNG

Tw (Taiwan Han Chinese) Ca (Cantonese) - Xi'an - Tottori (Japanese) - Kirghiz Highlander - Mongolian - Ngoebe - Altai of Siberia - Amerind - Argentina - Siberians

 

 

* Genetic Landscape of Eurasia Viewed from Large Allele Frequency Differences by Hui Li, et al.

Genetic Structure of Eurasian Populations

 

 

* Ethnic Related Selection for an ADH Class I Variant within East Asia by Hui Li, et al.

Haplotype Frequencies of the ADH1B Gene Region Including the Regulatory Region

(AMI: Amis, ATL: Atayal, CHT: Minnan, HKA: Hakka, CHS: Canton, WUU: Wu Chinese)

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Haplogroup O2a (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup O2a (M95) is a descendent branch of Haplogroup O2. Its closest extant phylogenetic relatives are the Haplogroup O2* Y-chromosomes found at a low frequency throughout most of East Eurasia and the Haplogroup O2b Y-chromosomes found at low frequencies among the indigenous populations of Inner Mongolia and Manchuria and at much higher frequencies in Korea and Japan.

Haplogroup O2a is distributed widely in Asia, from southern India to the Altai Mountains and Central Asia in the west, and from Indonesia to northern China and Japan in the east. It is found only at marginally low frequencies of approximately 1% at the periphery of its distribution in southern India, Central Asia, northern China, and Japan, but many populations within the vast intervening territory in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and southern China display a greatly elevated frequency of Haplogroup O2a Y-chromosomes. Patrilines within Haplogroup O2a predominate among the Austro-Asiatic populations of South and Southeast Asia, such as the Khmer of Cambodia and the Khasi of Meghalaya in northeastern India. Some researchers have reported that slightly over half of all men in a composite sample of Austro-Asiatic speakers belonged to Haplogroup O2a. Haplogroup O3 (M122), which attains its peak frequency among the Sino-Tibetan and Hmong-Mien peoples of China and Southeast Asia, and Haplogroup O1a (M119), which predominates among Taiwanese aborigines and many populations of the Philippines, also generally occur among speakers of Austro-Asiatic languages in South China and the Indochinese Peninsula, but usually at much lower frequencies than Haplogroup O2a. The hypothesis that Haplogroup O2a was the major Y-chromosome haplogroup of the proto-Austro-Asiatic population is strengthened by the fact that Haplogroup O2a is the only haplogroup found among many Austro-Asiatic-speaking tribes, such as the Juang of mainland India and the Shompen of the Nicobar Islands.

Haplogroup O2a also has been observed with high frequency in samples of Daic-speaking peoples of Thailand and neighboring areas, which may reflect assimilation of the older Austro-Asiatic Mon-Khmer populations that have left ample evidence of their presence in the region prior to the immigration of Daic speakers.

Outside of the region in which Austro-Asiatic languages are currently spoken or have a historically attested presence, Haplogroup O2a reaches its highest frequencies among the populations of the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Borneo in western and central Indonesia. Haplogroup O2a has been found to be by far the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among the Balinese, occurring in approximately 58.6% (323/551) of a sample of Balinese men; Haplogroup O1a-M119 and Haplogroup O3-M122, which are typical of Austronesian peoples outside of Malaysia and Indonesia, were observed in only 18.1% (100/551) and 6.9% (38/551) of Balinese men. Haplogroup O2a has also been found to be the most frequently occurring haplogroup among Malay men in Singapore. The reason for its substantial presence in these populations, all of which are Austronesian-speaking, is yet to be elucidated.

Subgroups: The subclades of Haplogroup O2a with their defining mutation, according to the 2006 ISOGG tree:

• O2a (M95) Typical of Austro-Asiatic peoples, Kradai peoples, Malays, Indonesians, and Malagasy, with a moderate distribution throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia
  • O2a*
  • O2a1 (M88, M111) Frequently found among Hani, She people, Tai peoples, Cambodians, and Vietnamese, with a moderate distribution among Qiang, Hlai, Miao, Yao, Taiwanese aborigines, populations of Borneo, and Han Chinese of Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guangdong
    • O2a1*
    • O2a1a (PK4) Found at low frequency among Pashtuns, Tharus, and tribals of Andhra Pradesh
  • O2a2 (M297)

 

 

Austro-Asiatic

The Austro-Asiatic languages are a large language family of Southeast Asia, and also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name comes from the Latin word for "south" and the Greek name of Asia, hence "South Asia." Among these languages, only Khmer, Vietnamese, and Mon have a long established recorded history, and only Vietnamese and Khmer have official status (in Vietnam and Cambodia, respectively). The rest of the languages are spoken by minority groups. Ethnologue identifies 168 Austro-Asiatic languages. These are traditionally divided into two families, Mon-Khmer and Munda, but two recent classifications have abandoned Mon-Khmer as a valid node, although this is tentative and not generally accepted.

Austro-Asiatic languages have a disjunct distribution across India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, separated by regions where other languages are spoken. It is widely believed that the Austro-Asiatic languages are the autochthonous languages of Southeast Asia and the eastern Indian subcontinent, and that the other languages of the region, including the Indo-European, Kradai, Dravidian and Sino-Tibetan languages, are the result of later migrations of people.

 

 

Shompen

The Shompen or Shom Pen are the indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Shompen people was known to Ptolemy and the Arab geographers, but no reliable information left the island before the 19th century. Admiral Steen Bille was the first to contact them in 1846 and de Roepstorff, a British officer who had already published works on the languages of Nicobar and Andaman, collected ethnographic and linguistic data in 1876. Since then very little has been added to the stock of reliable information on the Shompen, much because access to the Nicobar Islands has been restricted for foreign researchers since Indian independence.

Genetics: Studies of mitochondrial DNA have shown that the maternal lineage of Shompens is closest to that of Indonesians. Variations in DNA segments on the Y chromosome also reveal affinities to Austro-Asiatic people including the Nicobarese and Vietnamese, rather than to people from mainland India. Other researchers have described the proposal that the Shompens are "descendants of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers" as unsubstantiated.

 

* Molecular Insights into the Origins of the Shompen, a Declining Population of the Nicobar Archipelago by Rajni Trivedi, et al.

Abstract:  The Shompen, one of the most isolated and poorly understood contemporary hunter–gatherer populations, inhabit Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost island of the Nicobar archipelago. Morphological imprints in the Shompen were interpreted to favour a mixed Indo-Chinese, Malay, Negrito and Dravidian origin. Analyses of the mitochondrial, Y-chromosomal and autosomal gene pool of contemporary Shompen have revealed low diversity, illustrating a founder effect in the island population. Mitochondrial sequence analyses revealed the presence of two haplogroups of R lineage: B5a, and a newly defined clade, R12. Y-chromosomal analyses demonstrated the occurrence of a single lineage found predominantly in Austro-Asiatic speakers across Asia. With the different types of genetic markers analysed, the Shompen exhibit varying levels of genetic relatedness with the Nicobarese, and Austro-Asiatic speakers of mainland India and Southeast Asia. These genetic analyses provide evidence that the Shompen, an offshoot of the Nicobarese, are descendants of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers of Southeast Asian origin, deriving from at least two source populations.

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Haplogroup F (mtDNA)

Haplogroup F is centered in Asia and appears in eastern China and Japan. It is not found in the Americas. It is a descendant haplogroup of Haplogroup R.

Fairly common in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Higher frequencies occur in some areas like Nicobar at 50% and Arunachal Pradesh 31% (India), and Shors people from Siberia at 44%. There is also an important frequency in Taiwanese aborigines, Guangdong (China), Maluku (Indonesia), Thailand and Vietnam.

 

 

Nicobar Islands

The Nicobar Islandsare an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean, and are part of the Union Territory ofof Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. They are located southeast of the Indian subcontinent, separated by the Bay of Bengal by about 1,300 km.

The population of the islands was 42,026 in 2001. Roughly 65% of these are adivasi indigenous peoples (the Nicobarese and Shompen peoples, listed among the Scheduled Tribes of India), and 35% have ethnic origins from the Indian mainland and the island of Sri Lanka.

History: The Nicobar islands are believed to have been inhabited for thousands of years. Six indigenous Nicobarese languages are spoken on the islands, which are part of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family, which includes Mon, Khmer and Vietnamese languages of Southeast Asia, and the Munda languages of India.

 

 

Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh is the easternmost state of India. Arunachal Pradesh shares a border with the states of Assam to the south and Nagaland to the southeast. Myanmar lies towards the east, Bhutan towards the west, and Tibet to the north. Itanagar is the capital of the state.

63% of the Arunachalis belong to 19 major tribes and 85 tribes, who had a tradition which is diverse and of rich culture, language and beliefs. Most of them are either of Tibeto-Burman or Tai-Burmese origin. Another 35% of the population are made up of the immigrants, including 31,000 Bengali, Bodo, Hajong and Chakma expartriates from Bangladesh, and immigrants from neighbouring Assam, Nagaland and other parts

The first ancestors of the tribal groups migrated from Tibet during the prehistoric period, and were joined by Thai-Burmese counterparts later. Except for the northwestern parts of the state, little is known about the history of Arunachal Pradesh, although the Adi tribe had legendary knowledge of the history. Recorded history was only available in the Ahom chronicles during the 16th century. The tribal Monpa and Sherdukpen do keep historical records of the existence of local chiefdoms in the northwest as well. Northwestern parts of this area came under the control of the Monpa kingdom of Monyul, which flourished between 500 B.C. and 600 A.D. This region then came under the loose control of Tibet and Bhutan, especially in the Northern areas. The remaining parts of the state, especially those bordering Myanmar, came under the control of the Ahom and the Assamese until the annexation of India by the British in 1858.

 

 

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, the Spice Islands) are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. The islands were also historically known as the "Spice Islands" by the Chinese and Europeans, but this term has also been applied to other islands.

Most of the islands are mountainous, some with active volcanoes, and enjoy a wet climate. The vegetation of the small and narrow islands, encompassed by the sea, is very luxuriant; including rainforests, sago, rice and the famous spices - nutmeg, cloves and mace, among others. Though originally Melanesian, many island populations, especially in the Banda Islands, were killed in the 17th century. A second influx of Austronesian immigrants began in the early 20th century under the Dutch and continued in the Indonesian era.

The native Bandanese people traded spices with other Asian nations, such as China, since at least the time of the Roman Empire. With the rise of Islam, the trade became dominated by Muslim traders. One ancient Arabic source appears to know the location of the islands, describing them as fifteen days' sail East from the 'island of Jaba' - presumably Java — but direct evidence of Islam in the archipelago occurs only in the late 1300s, as China's interest in regional maritime dominance waned. With Arabic traders came not just Islam, but a new technique of social organisation, the sultanate, which replaced local councils of rich men (orang kaya) on the more important islands, and proved more effective in dealing with outsiders.

 

 

Taiwanese Aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines (原住民, literally “original inhabitants”) is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation stories, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 17th century (Blust 1999). The Taiwanese Aborigines are Austronesian peoples, with linguistic and genetic ties to other Austronesian ethnic groups, such as peoples of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar and Oceania (Hill et al. 2007; Bird, Hope & Taylor 2004).

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* Paternal Genetic Affinity Between Western Austronesians and Daic Populations by Hui Li, et al.

Geographic Distribution of Sampled Populations and Migration Routes Suggested by Y Chromosome Analysis

 

 

Daic People

The Tai "Chinese 泰" ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Tai family and share similar traditions and festivals, including Songkran. Despite never having a unified nation-state of their own, the peoples also have historically shared a vague idea of a "Siam" nation, corrupted to Shan or Assam in some places, and most self-identify as "Tai".

Origin of the Tai: Linguist Laurent Sagart recently hypothesized that the proto-Kradai language originated as an Austronesian language migrants carried from Taiwan to mainland China which then was heavily influenced by local languages from the Sino-Tibetan, Hmong-Mien, or other families, borrowing much vocabulary and converging typologically. Much closer to the present, some peoples speaking Tai languages migrated southward over the mountains into Southeast Asia, perhaps prompted by the coming of the Han Chinese to south China.

Linguistic heritage is not synonymous with genetic heritage, because of language shift where populations learn new languages. However, it is believed that the O1 Y-DNA haplogroup is associated with both the Austronesian people and the Tai. The prevalence of Y-DNA Haplogroup O1 among Austronesian and Tai peoples also suggests a common ancestry with the Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic, and Hmong-Mien peoples some 35,000 years ago in China. Y-DNA Haplogroup O2a is also found at high frequency among most Tai peoples, which is a trait that they share with the neighboring Austroasiatic peoples. Y-DNA Haplogroups O1 and O2a are subclades of O Y-DNA haplogroup, which itself is a subclade of Y-DNA Haplogroup K, a genetic mutation that is believed to have originated 40,000 yeas ago, somewhere between Iran and Central China.

Geographic Distribution: The Tai have historically resided in China, India and continental Southeast Asia since the early Tai expansion period. Their primary geographic distribution in those countries is roughly in the shape of an arc extending from northeastern India through southern China and down to Southeast Asia.

Population in China: In southern China, people speaking Kam–Tai (Zhuang-Dong) languages are mainly found in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong, and Hainan. According to statistics from the fourth census taken in China in 1990, the total population of these groups amounted to 23,262,000. Their distribution is as follows: Zhuang, Buyi, Kam, Hlai (Li), Dai, Sui (Shui), Mulam (Mulao), Maonan, Lin'gao.

Genetic Structure of Daic as Revealed by Y Chromosomes: Y-chromosome polymorphisms are powerful tools in delineating the genetic structure of human populations. A large number of populations in China have been studied in the last several years and 17 Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotypes have been found in them, some of which are specific to East Asians. Major ethnic groups tend to have their own characteristic profiles reflected by their respective Y haplotype distribution. Daic, an ethnic group dispersing from Assam to Taiwan is a diverse group and yet its genetic structure shows a distinctive profile, different from those of the other groups in East and Southeast Asia, although some resemblance between Daic and Austronesian groups, especially Taiwanese aborigines, is noticeable.

The distribution of Y-chromosome SNP haplotypes in 30 Daic populations were studied. Among the 19 SNPs studied, M119 (O1), M110 (O1a1a), M95 (O2a), and M88 (O2a1) are most informative in delineating the genetic structure of Daic. Linguistic and cultural classification are in general concordance with the genetic classification although it may be transgressed due to the apparent gene flow between the major branches of Daic. For example, some populations of Kadai, a major branch of Daic, are more similar to the populations Kam-Sui, another major branch. This phenomenon may be the result of the unitary self-identification and geographic assimilation of Daic system. The geographic distribution of the three principal components (PCs) were generated by superimposing the loading coefficients of each population on to a map, respectively.

The distribution first PC suggested a possible single origin of all the Daic populations. The second PC indicated a deep division of the Daics into two: east group and west group. The center of the east group is in Zhejiang, China, and that of the west one is on the border between China and Burma. The third PC implies the migration routes southern China towards northeast, northwest and southwest during the relocation of Daic populations. The gene flow between Daic and populations of other ethnic groups are noticeable. Han Chinese in Zhejiang and Shanghai have the highest concentration of Daic types of Y haplotypes among all the Han populations in China, suggesting a possible expansion of Daic people from southern China to Zhejiang via Jiangxi. Daic in Zhejiang and Fujian might have come by different routes, as suggested by the difference of their profiles. A diphyletic genetic structure was found in Taiwan Aborigines. The West Daic, Tai, Thai, Ahom and so on emigrated from southern China rather late. It might have happened one to two thousand years ago.

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Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common cancer originating in the nasopharynx, the uppermost region of the pharynx or "throat", where the nasal passages and auditory tubes join the remainder of the upper respiratory tract. NPC differs significantly from other cancers of the head and neck in its occurrence, causes, clinical behavior, and treatment. It is vastly more common in certain regions of East Asia and Africa than elsewhere, with viral, dietary and genetic factors implicated in its causation. It is most common in males.

NPC is uncommon in the United States and most other nations, but is extremely common in southern regions of China, particularly in Guangdong accounting for 18% of all cancers in China. It is sometimes referred to as Cantonese cancer because it occurs in about 25 cases per 100,000 people in this region, 25 times higher than the rest of the world. It is also quite common in Taiwan. This could be due to the South East Asian diet which typically includes consumption of salted vegetables, fish and meat. While NPC is seen primarily in middle-aged persons in Asia, a high proportion of African cases appear in children. The cause of increased risk for NPC in these endemic regions is not entirely clear.

 

 

* Is Nasopharyngeal Cancer Really a "Cantonese Cancer"? by JT Wee, et al.

Abstract: Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is endemic in Southern China, with Guandong province and Hong Kong reporting some of the highest incidences in the world. The journal Science has called it a "Cantonese cancer". We propose that in fact NPC is a cancer that originated in the Bai Yue ("proto Tai Kadai" or "proto Austronesian" or "proto Zhuang") peoples and was transmitted to the Han Chinese in southern China through intermarriage. However, the work by John Ho raised the profile of NPC, and because of the high incidence of NPC in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, NPC became known as a Cantonese cancer. We searched historical articles, articles cited in PubMed, Google, monographs, books and Internet articles relating to genetics of the peoples with high populations of NPC. The migration history of these various peoples was extensively researched, and where possible, their genetic fingerprint identified to corroborate with historical accounts. Genetic and anthropological evidence suggest there are a lot of similarities between the Bai Yue and the aboriginal peoples of Borneo and Northeast India; between Inuit of Greenland, Austronesian Mayalo Polynesians of Southeast Asia and Polynesians of Oceania, suggesting some common ancestry. Genetic studies also suggest the present Cantonese, Minnans and Hakkas are probably an admixture of northern Han and southern Bai Yue. All these populations have a high incidence of NPC. Very early contact between southern Chinese and peoples of East Africa and Arabia can also account for the intermediate incidence of NPC in these regions.

Excerpt: Before the last ice age, continental Asia extended to Japan and Taiwan through two coastal landmasses known as Tunghailand and Nanhailand (from the Gulf of Tonkin to Japan) and to Borneo and Java through Sundaland (now the Gulf of Siam and Java Sea); now all are under the sea after the rise in sea levels (Figure 3). The original southern China aborigines (protoBaiyue) probably wandered freely along this coastal region, but after the ice age and the following rising sea levels, they became isolated on the islands of Taiwan, Hainan, Borneo, and islandic Southeast Asia. Some of these people were also believed to have migrated north and across the Bering Strait into Alaska, Greenland, and the Americas.

Origins of the Polynesians

 

 

* Cancer Mortality Analysis Among Aborigines in Taiwan by YC Ko, et al.

Abstract: Mortality among Aborigines tribes in Taiwan from malignant neoplasms in the 1971-80 and 1981-90 decades were analyzed. Sex and tribe specific standardized mortality ratios were calculated from death certificate data and compared with the number of expected deaths derived from the cancer mortality of the entire population of Taiwan. Mortality due to oral cancer was statistically significantly higher than expected among Paiwan men in the 1971-80 decade and among Paiwan women from 1971-80 and 1981-90; as was mortality from nasopharyngeal cancer among Bunun, Paiwan and Rukai men from 1981-90 and among Bunun and Paiwan women from 1971-80 and 1981-90; mortality due to stomach cancer among the Atayal, Bunun and Paiwan people from 1971-80 and 1981-90, among Rukai men from 1971-80 and among the Tsou and mixed group women from 1981-90; mortality from liver cancer among Atayal and Bunun men in 1971-80, among Bunun women from 1971-80 and 1981-90 and among Paiwan women in 1981-90; mortality due to nasal cavity, middle ear and paranasal sinuses cancer among Rukai men from 1981-90; and mortality due to bone cancer among Tsou men and Atayal women from 1981-90. Mortality due to colorectal cancer was statistically significantly lower than expected among mixed group men from 1971-80 and in Atayal women from 1981-90; as was mortality from lung cancer among Atayal men and Paiwan women from 1971-80 and among Paiwan and mixed group men in the 1981-90 decade. Overall, the standardized mortality ratio of all cancers in aborigines was a little higher than in the general population of Taiwan. However, differences for ratio or site existed in different tribes.

 

Bunun

 

Paiwan

 

Rukai

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Stevens–Johnson Syndrome

Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are two forms of a life-threatening condition affecting the skin in which cell death causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis. The syndrome is thought to be a hypersensitivity complex affecting the skin and the mucous membranes. Although the majority of cases are idiopathic, the main class of known causes is medications, followed by infections and (rarely) cancers.

Signs and Symptoms: SJS usually begins with fever, sore throat, and fatigue, which is misdiagnosed and usually treated with antibiotics. Ulcers and other lesions begin to appear in the mucous membranes, almost always in the mouth and lips but also in the genital and anal regions. Those in the mouth are usually extremely painful and reduce the patient's ability to eat or drink. Conjunctivitis of the eyes occurs in about 30% of children who develop SJS. A rash of round lesions about an inch across arises on the face, trunk, arms and legs, and soles of the feet, but usually not the scalp.

Medication/Drugs: It can be caused by adverse effects of drugs (allopurinol, Aloprim, Zyloprim, Dilantin, Depakote, Levaquin, diclofenac, etravirine, Isotretinoin, aka Accutane, fluconazole, valdecoxib, sitagliptin, oseltamivir, penicillins, barbiturates, sulfonamides, phenytoin, azithromycin, oxcarbazepine, zonisamide, modafinil, lamotrigine, nevirapine, pyrimethamine, ibuprofen, ethosuximide, carbamazepine, nystatin, and gout medications).

Although Stevens–Johnson Syndrome can be caused by viral infections, malignancies or severe allergic reactions to medication, the leading cause appears to be the use of antibiotics and sulfa drugs.

Medications that have traditionally been known to lead to SJS, erythema multiforme and toxic epidermal necrolysis include sulfonamides (antibiotics), penicillins (antibiotics), barbiturates (sedatives), lamotrigine and phenytoin (e.g. Dilantin) (anticonvulsants). Combining lamotrigine with sodium valproate increases the risk of SJS.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are a rare cause of SJS in adults; the risk is higher for older patients, women and those initiating treatment. Typically, the symptoms of drug-induced SJS arise within a week of starting the medication. People with systemic lupus erythematosus or HIV infections are more susceptible to drug-induced SJS.

SJS has also been consistently reported as an uncommon side effect of herbal supplements containing ginseng. SJS may also be caused by cocaine usage.

Prognosis: SJS proper (with less than 10% of body surface area involved) has a mortality rate of around 5%. The risk for death can be estimated using the SCORTEN scale, which takes a number of prognostic indicators into account. Other outcomes include organ damage/failure, cornea scratching and blindness.

 

 

HLA-B75

HLA-B75 (B75) is an HLA-B serotype. The serotype identifies certain B*15 gene-allele protein products of HLA-B.

B75 is one of many split antigens of the broad antigen, B15. B75 (B*1502) is associated with a severe drug-induced skin condition in ethnic East Asians.

HLA-B*1502 is associated with Carbamazepine and phenytoin induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome in Chinese and Thai. One study showed a 100% association between B*1502 and the drug induced skin disorder in Chinese. In Europe the B*1502 positive patients are only found in this syndrome of persons of East Asian descent, however B58 confers susceptibility to both groups but to a lesser degree and is sensitive to allopurinol.

 

HLA B*1502 Frequencies

Population	(%)
Philippines Ivatan	22.0
Taiwan Puyuma	18.0
China Guangxi Maonan	14.8
China Yunnan Lisu	12.3
Taiwan Tao	12.0
Singapore Chinese Han	11.6
China Guangzhou	11.0
Hong Kong Chinese	10.2
China Yunnan Nu	9.0
Singapore Riau Malay	8.4
Singapore Javanese Indonesians	8.2
Thailand (3)	8.2
China South Han	7.1
Singapore Thai	6.1
India Khandesh Pawra	6.0
Taiwan Minnan pop 1	5.9
Singapore Chinese	5.7
India West Bhils	4.0
Taiwan Pazeh	3.6
China Guangdong Meizhou Han	3.5
South Africa Natal Tamil	3.1
China Qinghai Hui	2.7
Taiwan Hakka	2.7
Shijiazhuang Tianjian Han	2.4
China North Han	1.9
India Mumbai Marathas	1.9
India North Delhi	1.6
China Beijing	1.5
China Inner Mongolia	1.5
American Samoa	1.0
India North Hindus	1.0
Taiwan Siraya	1.0
Taiwan Tsou	1.0
Ingig. Australian Groote Eylandt	0.7
United Arab Emirates	0.6

 

 

Map of Guangzhou, Taiwan, and the Philippines

 

 

Ivatan People, Philippines (Photo by Anne Jimenez)

 

Puyuma People, Taiwan

 

Tao People, Taiwan

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Southern Mongoloid

Southern Mongoloid populations are a subgroup of Mongoloid populations, distinguished by older criteria like appearance and craniology, or dental patterns. They are a genetically unrelated group, according to Cavalli-Sforza (2000).

In Cavalli-Sforza's genetic clustering work (1988) South Chinese join Southeast Asians in genetic clustering while the North Chinese associate with Koreans, Japanese, Ainu, Bhutanese and Tibetans in genetic clustering. Other Southeast Asians include Malaysian, Viet Muong, Thai, Western Indonesian and Philippine.

Xiao and Cavalli-Sforza (2000) find the boundary between Northern and Southern Mongoloids to approximate the Yangtze River, and suggest that their ancestors arrived from Africa via separate routes. Principal component analysis of gene frequencies of Chinese populations

Other scientists have suggested that the finding of sharp genetic differences between North and South China is an artifact of using an insufficient number of samples. However, Xiao and Cavalli-Sforza (2000) has a larger number of samples than previous studies.

Modern biological evidence from the anthropological textbook Human Species (2003) contradicts earlier theories of which groups were more genetically related to other groups. The Human Species(2003) and Physical Anthropology used the genetic clustering of Cavalli-Sforza (2000) in their publication. Humans are all related. Humanity divided itself into the African and the Eurasian/Oceanic branch. The Eurasian and Oceanic branches are the products of this common origin. The Eurasian branch split into the Amerindian and major East Asian branch. The major East Asian branch divided itself into eastern Russian and the East Asian. The Oceanic branch divided itself into the Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders. According to the Human Species (2003), East Asians generally are more genetically similar to the South Asians than to Southeast Asians, because the Far East and the Indian Subcontinent are members of the Eurasian branch while Southeast Asians (including south Chinese) are members of the Oceanic branch. More interestingly, Asians have very local genetic clusters inside these regions, implying different Asian ethnic groups have not historically intermarried with each other. Examples of localized genetic clusters include Japan, Korea, Mongolia and China which form separate genetic clusters from each other.

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* The GM Genetic Polymorphism in Taiwan Aborigines: New data revealing remarkable differentiation patterns
by Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, et al.

Excerpt: The MDS (characterized by a very good stress value of 0.041) segregates four Northern and Central Han populations at the top, the Minnan from Taiwan in a central position, and the Southern Han from Guangzhou, the eight Austronesian populations from Taiwan and the extra-Formosan Yami at the bottom. The four Northern and Central Han populations are genetically linked to each other according to a pattern recalling their relative geographic position. The Minnan are genetically intermediate between the Northern and the Southern Han but are very distant from both groups and significantly differentiated from all populations. Within the last group, we observe three clusters of genetically related populations: the Atayal, Taroko and Tsou; the Pazeh, Siraya, Bunun and Puyuma; and the Ami and Yami. In addition, we find that the Southern Han from Guangzhou are genetically very close to the Taroko, Atayal and Tsou, from whom they are not differentiated significantly according to the permutation statistical test (dotted lines). Genetic relationships are also suggested between the Taroko and both the Siraya and Bunun, and between the Puyuma and the Ami according both to the permutation test and to their relative position in the MDS.

Multidimensional Scaling Analysis among 15 Populations from Taiwan and
China Based on the Frequencies of GM ± 23 Sub-haplotypes

Solid lines link populations that are undifferentiated at the 5% level according to an exact test of population differentiation. Dotted lines link populations that are undifferentiated at the 5% level according to a permutation test on pairwise Fst’s, but not to the exact test. Final stress = 0.041 (excellent). White circles: Sino-Tibetans; triangles: Austronesians from Taiwan; black circle: Extra-Formosan Austronesians.

 

 

Southern Han from Guangzhou are genetically very close to the Taroko, Atayal and Tsou

Taroko

The Truku (太魯閣, also romanized as Taroko) people are an Indigenous Taiwanese tribe. Taroko is also the name of the area of Taiwan where the Truku tribe resides. The Executive Yuan, Republic of China has officially recognized the Truku since January 15th, 2004. The Truku are the 12th aboriginal tribe in Taiwan to receive this recognition. Previously, the Truku and the related Seediq people were classified in the Atayal group.

 

Atayal

The Atayal (泰雅), also known as the Tayal and the Tayan, are one tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. In the year 2000 the Atayal tribe numbered 91,883. This was approximately 23.1% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the second-largest tribal group. The meaning of Atayal is "genuine person" or "brave man."

Origins: In the past, many anthropologists believed the Atayal migrated from Malaysia or Indonesia. Evidence now suggests that they are the descendants of those who crossed over the Taiwan Strait almost 7,000 years ago from regions that are now inside southern China, northern Laos or Vietnam. The first record of Atayal inhabitance is found near the upper reaches of the Choshui River. However, during the late 17th century they crossed the Central Mountain Ranges into the wilderness of the east. They then settled in the Liwu River valley. Seventy-nine Atayal villages can be found here.

Lifestyle: The Atayal Tribe was a fairly advanced culture. They originally lived by fishing, hunting, gathering, and growing crops on burned-off mountain fields. The tribe also practiced crafts such as weaving, net knotting, and woodworking. They also had traditional musical instruments and dances.

The Atayal were known as great warriors. When they defeated an invader, they would remove the head of the enemy to display. (See Headhunting) They were known to be fierce fighters as observed in the case of the Wushe Incident in which the Atayal fought the Japanese.

Traditional Dress: The Atayal were good weavers as well and symbolic patterns and design can be found on Atayal traditional dress. The features are mainly of geometric style, and the colors are bright and dazzling. Most of the designs are argyles and horizontal lines. In Atayal culture, horizontal lines represent the rainbow bride which leads the dead to where the ancestors' spirit live. Argyles, on the other hand, represent ancestors' eyes protecting the Atayal. The favorite color of this culture is red, because it represents “blood” and “power.”

The Atayal tribe was also known for using facial tattooing and teeth filing as rituals of initiation. The practice of tattooing their faces has attracted much attention; in the past a man had to take the head of an enemy, showing his valor as a hunter to protect and provide for his people and the women had to be able to weave cloth to show their coming-of-age and maturity before they could tattoo their faces.

Atayal in Modern Times: The Atayal tribe in Taiwan resides in central and northern Taiwan. The northernmost village is Ulay (Wulai in Chinese), about 25 kilometers south of central Taipei. The name Ulay is derived from /qilux/, hot, because of the hot springs on the riverbank. The Wulai Atayal Museum in the town is a place to learn about the history and culture of the Atayal.

In recent years the mainly Christian community of Smangus has become well-known as a tourist destination, as well as an experiment in tribal communalism.

Many Atayal are bilingual, but the Atayal language still remains in active use.hed. Atayal is written in the Latin alphabet.

 

Tsou

The Tsou (鄒) are an Indigenous people of central southern Taiwan. They are spread across three districts, Nantou County, Chiayi County and Kaohsiung County.

They are sometimes confused with the Thao people of Sun Moon Lake. In the year 2000 the Tsou numbered 6,169. This was approximately 1.6% of Taiwan's total Indigenous population, making them the seventh-largest tribal group.

Language: The Tsou language is the Austronesian language of the aboriginal Taiwanese Tsou people.

The dialectal variation of Tsou is not great. There are four recorded dialects, Tapangu, Tfuea, Duhtu, and Iimcu, of which Tapangu and Tfuea are still spoken. Iimcu is not well described. The grammar of the other three dialects is nearly identical, and phonological variation is marginal

 

 

* The GM Genetic Polymorphism in Taiwan Aborigines: New data revealing remarkable differentiation patterns
by Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, et al.

Multidimensional Scaling Analysis among 63 Populations from Southeast Asia Excluding all Sino-Tibetans but the Southern Chinese (grouped)

Guangzhou (Guangdong) clusters with She

Guangzhou (Guangdong) clusters with Miao, Malay, Java, Aetas, Banggai

The ‘mixed’ sample is composed of individuals from Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan. ST-SC: Sino-Tibetan, Southern Chinese (Min, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Yue); AA: Austroasiatic; KA: Tai-Kadai; AN-EF: Extra-Formosan Austronesian; AN-TW: Autronesian from Taiwan; HM: Hmong-Mien.

 

 

She

Photo from Cultural China

The She (畲) people are a Chinese ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They are the largest minority in Fujian province. They are also present in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Guangdong.

Language: The She language is a Hmong-Mien language. Most of the She today speak Chinese dialects, like Hakka. Those who retain their own language - approximately 1,200 individuals in Guangdong province - call themselves Ho Ne "mountain people" (活聂).

 

Guangdong Province

Heyuan Municipality

Zhangxi She-nation Ethnic Township (漳溪畲族乡) in Dongyuan County

 

 

* The ADH1B Arg47His Polymorphism in East Asian Populations and Expansion of Rice Domestication in History by Yi Peng, et al.

The Distribution of the ADH1B*47His Allele and the Sites of Early Rice Relics

 

The Distribution of the ADH1B*47His Allele in the 38 East Asian Populations

Population	Sample Size	Language	ADH1B*47His Frequency (%)
Han Chinese	679		66.7
Jilin	14	Han	50
Gansu	174	Han	59.8
Shanxi	44	Han	61.4
Shannxi	52	Han	62.5
Shandong	90	Han	63.3
Henan	56	Han	64.3
Anhui	34	Han	66.2
Liaonin	28	Han	67.9
Hubei	41	Han	70.7
Jiangsu	24	Han	70.8
Guangxi	9	Han	72.2
Guizhou	61	Han	75.4
Hunan	20	Han	82.5
Zhejiang	32	Han	98.5
Tibetan	1088		14.1
Shannan	34	Tibeto-Burman	11.8
Dangxiong	816	Tibeto-Burman	13.1
Changdou	56	Tibeto-Burman	14.3
Rikaze	55	Tibeto-Burman	16.4
Qinghai	127	Tibeto-Burman	20.5
Bulang	30	Austro-Asiatic	1.7
Cambodian	17	Austro-Asiatic	20.6
Hani	30	Tibeto-Burman	41.7
Bai	30	Tibeto-Burman	50
Yi	30	Tibeto-Burman	55
Tujia	31	Tibeto-Burman	66.1
Dai	30	Daic	43.3
Maonan	15	Daic	60
Buyi	45	Daic	63.3
Shui	11	Daic	66.7
Chuang	33	Daic	72.7
Gelo	10	Daic	75
Mulam	12	Daic	75
Dong	58		65.5
Hunan	42	Daic	64.3
Guangxi	16	Daic	68.7
Yao	58	Hmong-Mien	64.7
Miao	29	Hmong-Mien	70.7
She	12	Hmong-Mien	91.7
Manchu	27	Altai	66.7

 

Miao

The Miao (苗族) are a linguistically and culturally related group of people recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component sub-groups, which include (with some variant spellings) Hmong/Mong, Hmu, A Hmao,and Kho (Qho) Xiong. The Miao live primarily in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei. Some members of the Miao sub-groups, most notably Hmong/Mong people, have migrated out of China into Southeast Asia (northern Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand).

Historically, the term "Miao" had been applied inconsistently to a variety of non-Han peoples often with the connotation of "barbarian." This former meaning has not kept members of the modern nationality from self-identifying as Miao.

Though the Miao themselves use various self-designations, the Chinese traditionally classified them according to the most characteristic colour of the women's clothes. The list below contains the self-designations, the colour designations and the main regions inhabited by the four major groups of Miao in China:

• Ghao Xong; Red Miao; west Hunan.
• Hmu, Gha Ne (Ka Nao); Black Miao; southeast Guizhou.
• A Hmao; Big Flowery Miao; northwest Guizhou and northeast Yunnan.
• Hmong, White Miao, Mong, Green (Blue) Miao, Small Flowery Miao; south Sichuan, west Guizhou and south Yunnan.

According to the 2000 census, the number of Miao in China was estimated to be about 9.6 million. Outside of China, members of Miao sub-groups live in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar due to migrations starting in the 18th century. As a result of recent migrations in the aftermath of the Indochina and Vietnam wars between 1949 and 1975, many Hmong/Mong people now live in the United States, French Guiana, France and Australia. Altogether there are approximately 8 million speakers of Miao languages. This language family, which consists of 6 languages and around 35 dialects (some of which are mutually intelligible) belongs to the Hmong/Miao branch of the Hmong/Mong-Mien (Miao-Yao) language family.

Archaeological Discoveries: Many Miao scholars believe the Dawenkou Culture to be Miao. They cite the pottery designs found in the tombs as examples. The designs are very similar to present day Miao embroideries. Combine this with the presence of Miao in Shangdong suggests the Miao's origin is not the south but the mouth of the Yellow River. It would also support the Miao's claim to the Shang Dynasty since Shangdong is part of Shang.

Lady Dai found in Tomb no. 1 at Mawangdui is believed by many Miao as a Miao woman. They cite the T-shaped banners draped over her coffin as an example of Miao burial practices and beliefs. This dispel the belief that the sinicization of the Miao was by force or even sinicized during the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang is a general under Xiang Yu meaning he commanded Miao troops and they are his base of power. When the dispute with Xiang Yu broke out Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Bo and Fan Kuai saved Liu Bang's life. This meant Liu Bang's support among the Miao was strong. The Han-Chu contention was not about a struggle between two groups of people but between two individuals. This explains why Miao beliefs and culture flourished during the Western Han. It would also mean that the Han nationality began when the Miao and Huaxia came together as one. The present day Miao may be the remnant of those who fled when Qin conquered Chu. They left before peace came and never returned. It would explain why Chu is acknowledged by the Miao as a Miao Kingdom but not Han given Liu Bang's base of power was former Chu in the South.

 

Malay

Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian peoples predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and parts of Sumatra and Borneo. The Malay ethnic group is distinct from the concept of a Malay race, which encompasses a wider group of people, including most of Indonesia and the Philippines. The Malay language is a member of the Austronesian family of languages.

The Malay people are believed to have originated in Borneo and then expanded outwards into Sumatra and later into the Malay Peninsula. These people were descendants of Austronesian-speakers who migrated from the Philippines and originally from Taiwan. The main foundation of this school of thought lies in the fact that the oldest Malay settlements have been discovered in Sumatra and not in the Malay Peninsula. This suggests an upward - south to north - migratory route.

The Malay ethnic group is the majority in Malaysia and Brunei and a sizable minority in Singapore and Indonesia. This people speak various dialects of Malay language. The peninsular dialect is the standard speech among Malays in Malaysia and Singapore. Meanwhile, the Riau dialect of eastern Sumatra has been adopted as a national tongue, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), for the whole Indonesian population.  The ethnic Malay have had a Muslim culture since the 15th century.

 

Java

The Javanese are an ethnic group native to the Indonesian island of Java. They are predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of the island. At 90 million people (as of 2004) it is the largest ethnic group on the island, and also in Indonesia.

The Javanese were traditionally concentrated in the provinces of East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta, but due to migration within Indonesia (as part of government transmigration programs or otherwise) there are now high populations of Javanese people in almost all the Indonesian provinces. (The province of West Java is home to the Sundanese, Indonesia's second largest ethnic group who are ethnically distinct from the Javanese).

Javanese people use Javanese language in everyday speech. In a public poll held circa-1990, approximately 12% of Javanese used Indonesian, around 18% used both Javanese and Indonesian, and the rest used Javanese exclusively.

 

Banggai

Banggai Archipelago is a group of islands, which is located at the far eastern end of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It makes up a newly established regency (kabupaten) after splitting out of Luwuk. It is surrounded by the Banda Sea's Gulf of Tolo (Teluk Tolo), and the Molucca Sea. Peleng Straits (Selat Peleng) separates it from mainland Sulawesi.

Its islands consist of Peleng, Banggai Island, Bowokan, Labobo, Kebongan, Kotudan, Tropettenando, Timpau, Salue Besar, Salue Kecil, Masepe, and Bangkulu.

 

Aeta

(Photo from The Peopling of the Philippines by Robert Lindsay)

The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta,”), Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are considered to be Negritos, who are dark to very dark brown skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small frame, curly hair, small nose, and dark brown eyes. They are thought to be among the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian migrations.

The history of the Aeta continues to confound anthropologists and archaeologists. One theory suggests that the Aeta are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines, who, contrary to their sea-faring Austronesian neighbors, arrived through land bridges that linked the country with the Asian mainland about 30,000 years ago.

The life expectancy at birth of the Aeta is just 16.5 years, with only a third of children surviving to adulthood at 15 years – at which point life expectancy is still only 27.3 years. Young women reach full adult height (average 140 cm) at age 12 or 13.

 

 

Negrito

The term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia. Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands of the Indian Ocean.

Negritos share some common physical features with African pygmy populations, including short stature, natural afro-hair texture, and dark skin; however, their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation. They are genetically distant from Africans at most loci studied thus far (except for MCR1, which codes for dark skin). They have also been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early migration out of Africa, or that they are descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans

Etymology: The term "Negrito" is the Spanish diminutive of Negro, i.e. "little black person", referring to their small stature, and was coined by early European explorers who assumed that the Negritos were recent arrivals from Africa. Occasionally, some Negrito are referred to as pygmies, bundling them with peoples of similar physical stature in Central Africa, and likewise, the term Negrito was previously occasionally used to refer to African Pygmies.

Sometimes the term "Negroid" will be used when referring to these groups, especially to their superficial physical features, such as their hair texture and skin color.

According to James J.Y. Liu, a professor of comparative literature, the Chinese term Kun-lun (崑崙) means Negrito

Origins: Being among the least-known of all living human groups, the origins of the Negrito people is a much debated topic. The Malay term for them is orang asli, or original people. They are likely descendants of the indigenous populations of the Sunda landmass and New Guinea, predating the Mongoloid peoples who later entered Southeast Asia. Alternatively, some scientists claim they are merely a group of Australo-Melanesians who have undergone island dwarfing over thousands of years, reducing their food intake in order to cope with limited resources and adapt to a tropical rainforest environment. Anthropologist Jared Diamond in his bestselling book, Guns, Germs, and Steel suggests that the Negritos are possible ancestors of the Aboriginal Australians and Papuans of New Guinea.

A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos and African pygmies, especially in the Andamanese Islanders who have been isolated from incoming waves of Asiatic and Indo-Aryan peoples. (No other living human population has experienced such long-lasting isolation from contact with other groups.) These features include short stature, very dark skin, woolly hair, scant body hair and occasional steatopygia (a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks). The claim that Andamanese pygmoids more closely resemble Africans than Asians in their cranial morphology in a 1973 study added some weight to this theory before genetic studies pointed to a closer relationship with Asians. Other more recent studies have shown closer craniometric affinities to Egyptians and Europeans than to Sub Saharan populations such as that of African Pygmies. Walter Neves' study of the Lagoa Santa people had the incidental correlation of showing Andamanese as classifying closer to Egyptians and Europeans than any Sub Saharan population. Multiple studies also show that Negritos from Southeast Asia to New Guinea share a closer cranial affinity with Australo-Melanesians (Australoid). Further evidence for Asian ancestry is in craniometric markers such as sundadonty, shared by Asian and Negrito populations.

It has been suggested that the craniometric similarities to Asians could merely indicate a level of interbreeding between Negritos and later waves of people arriving from the Asian mainland. This hypothesis is not supported by genetic evidence that has shown the level of isolation populations such as the Andamanese have had. Some studies have suggested that each group should be considered separately however as the genetic evidence refutes the notion of a specific shared ancestry between the "Negrito" groups of the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula, and Philippines.

While earlier studies such as that of WW Howell allied Andamanese craniometrically with Africans they did not have recourse to genetic studies. Later genetic and craniometric (mentioned earlier) studies have found more genetic affinities with Asians and Polynesians. A study on blood groups and proteins in the 1950s suggested that the Andamanese were more closely related to Oceanic peoples than Africans. Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on polymorphic blood enzymes and antigens, showed they were similar to surrounding Asian populations.

Genetic testing places all the Onge and all but two of the Great Andamanese in the mtDNA Haplogroup M, found in East Africa, East Asia, and South Asia, suggesting that the Negritos are at least partly descended from a migration originating in eastern Africa as much as 60,000 years ago. This migration is hypothesized to have followed a coastal route through India and into Southeast Asia, which is sometimes referred to as the Great Coastal Migration. Analysis of mtDNA coding sites indicated that these Andamanese fall into a subgroup of M not previously identified in human populations in Africa and Asia. These findings suggest an early split from the population of African migrants whose descendants would eventually populate the entire habitable world. In this sense, Negritos may provide a hint as to the appearance of early modern humans.

 

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The Cantonese King of Palembang

Map of Liang Dao Ming's Old Port Palembang.

Liang Dao Ming (梁道明) was a 14th century Cantonese Ming abscondee (he is also a king of Palembang) inhabiting Palembang, Srivijaya. According to Ming record, he had thousands of followers and a sizable military troop in Palembang.

The Cantonese King of Palembang: During the declining of Srivijaya kingdom (around 1365-1400s), the Majapahit squashed down the Sumatran rebellions and conquered the thousand years kingdom, left only the area of Southern Sumatra in chaos and desolation. The capital of Srivijaya was in a shambles, Cantonese headman Liang Dao Ming established a base there and later he was pushed by his rebellion military followers to be the king of the region (Palembang), and so they named the new kingdom as Old Port (旧港). The name Old Port was named when majority of Chinese Muslims from Ming China, and also from Palembang, migrated to Surabaya’s New Village. Meantime, other group leaders from Ming China, Zhang Lian occupied West Java and Ling Dao Qian took Pattani, and it was at this very chaotic period, the last prince of Srivijaya fled to Temasek (see Parameswara).

Liang Returns Home: The Kingdom of Old Port and Majapahit fought over the territory of the region, in within a decade or more, thousands of fleeing Ming armies, from Canton and Hokkien (Fujian), joined Liang in the battle. As the military powers of Old Port expand, in year 1406, the Ming emperor sent Liang’s fellow countryman, the censor Tan Sheng Shou, Yang Xin and others to negotiate pacification. Finally Liang, his partner Zheng Ba Ke and gangs decided to return home for peace tribute.

Pirates of the Old Port: Year 1407, admiral Zheng He on his second voyage returned back from Africa, he was attacked by pirates of Old Port Palembang, the pirate leader was Tan Chor Ee (陈祖義 Chen Zu Yi), a criminal from Teochew. Tan eventually failed and was captured alive, thanks to the help of Shi Jin Qing who sent a report in advance. Tan was brought back to Nanjing, Ming China for decapitation. In that same year, Shi Jin Qing sent his envoy to Ming imperial for tribute, the Ming emperor awarded him Xuan Wei Shi (宣慰使), a special title for his effort and granted him coronal cincture. Shi Jin Qing (施進卿), a Chinese Muslim of Hui family became the chieftan of the Old Port region and permanent resident there.

 

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海禁

Hai jin (海禁 literally "ocean forbidden") was a ban on maritime activities during China's Ming Dynasty and again during the Qing Dynasty. It is commonly referred to as "Sea Ban". Intended to curb piracy, the ban proved ineffective for that purpose, while imposing huge hardships on coastal communities and legitimate sea traders.

Ming Policy: Under the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Emperor was the first to propose the policy to ban all maritime shipping in 1371. The only way that foreigners might visit Ming China was via the tribute system. The policy contained 3 parts.

1. Build a navy of 110,000 to defend coastal provinces
2. Engage Japanese authorities to curtail the raiders
3. Regulate maritime trade to control smuggled goods.

After extreme pressure from the bureaucracy, by 1550 the ban was lifted. To facilitate the maritime trade, the Ming government established ambassadors at Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou. Each vassal state received about 200 paper passports afterwards.

Depending on the state of the policy, the earliest possible date is 1368. The latest possible year which terminated the policy is 1567.

Qing Policy: Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) was a military leader from the Ming government situated in the coastal region, capable of threatening the Qing. In 1647, another sea ban was issued to limit foreign trade with severe punishment imposed. In 1655 the "Frontier Shift" was imposed in Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shandong. It required coastal residents to move in land 30-50 li (est. 15 to 25 kilometers). All private boats and ships were burned. Small rafts were not allowed at sea. In 1684, the ban was stopped, trading was reopened under Kangxi Emperor. In 1685 a "Taxation Rule for Sea Trade" was drafted by Yiergetu.

Controversy: The purpose of the Ocean Prohibition is unclear and disputed; the only certainty is that the law prohibited private ships from sailing in the ocean.

Some have argued that the Hai jin marked a retreat from maritime activities such as the voyages of Zheng He and was symptomatic of a technological decline and stagnation that would culminate in China's 19th-century humiliation by Europe. This view has been popularized by the Chinese film, River Elegy.

The ban was also seen as a deceptive proposal, since it prevented the rise of any self-sufficient economies along the coast. Eventually new economies could not be born, and no power was drawn away from the existing imperial courts, thus making this ban a political move.

The law worked a great hardship for coastal dwellers and stimulated rebellions, piracy and a great wave of overseas migration. Traditionally, southeast Asia was the preferred destination for Chinese emigrants.

 

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Chinese Emigration

Canton (Guangzhou) port, photo from 1895

Chinese emigration (also known as the Chinese Diaspora) first occurred thousands of years ago, but the mass emigration that occurred from the 19th century to 1949 was mainly caused by wars and starvation in mainland China as well as political corruption. Most immigrants were illiterate, poorly educated peasants and manual labourers, historically called coolies (苦力, translated: Hard Labour), who were sent to countries such as the Americas, Australia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Malaya and other places.

According to Lynn Pan's book Sons of the Yellow Emperor, the Chinese coolie emigration began, after slavery had been abolished throughout the British possessions. Facing a desperate shortage of manpower, European merchants were looking to replace African slaves with indentured labourers from China and India. A British Guiana planter found what he was looking for in the Chinese labourers "...their strong physique, their eagerness to make money, their history of toil from infancy..."

Large numbers of unskilled Chinese were sold as labourers, in the coolie trade, to the colonies overseas in exchange for money to feed their families; this type of trading was known as maai jyu jai (selling piglets : 賣豬仔) by the Chinese, and their lives were extremely miserable. Some tricky labor recruiters promised good pay and good working conditions to get them signed onto three year labor contracts. It was recorded on one pepper estate, 50 coolies hired, only 2 survived in half a year. Most coolies were treated badly and many died in route to South America and South Africa because of bad conditions. Usually, they were cheated out of their wages and were unable to return to China after their contracts expired.

Chronology of Historical Emigration:

• 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) dispatched Xu Fu (徐福) to sail overseas in search of elixirs of immortality, accompanied by 3,000 virgin boys and girls. History is entangled in legend.
• 661 AD Tang dynasty, Zheng Guo Xi of Nan An, Fujian was buried at a Philippine island.
• 7-8th century, the Arabs recorded large numbers of Tang traders residing at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and they had families there.
• 10th century, Arab trader Masuoti recorded in his Golden Ley, in the year 943, he sailed passed Srivijaya and saw many Chinese people farming there especially at Palembang. These people migrated to Nanyang (南洋) to evade chaos caused by war in Tang Dynasty China.

10-15th Century:

• Java: Zheng He's (鄭和) compatriot Ma Huan (马欢) recorded in his book (瀛涯胜览) that large numbers of Chinese lived in the Majapahit Empire on Java, especially in Surabaya (泗水). The place where the Chinese lived was called New Village (新村), with many originally from Canton, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.
• Cambodia: Envoy of Yuan dynasty, Zhou Daguan (周达观) recorded in his The Customs of Chenla (真腊风土记), that there were many Chinese, especially sailors, who lived there, with many intermarrying with local women.
• Siam: According to the clan chart of family name Lim, Gan, Ng, Khaw, Cheah, many Chinese traders lived there. Some of the Siamese envoys sent to China were these people.
• Borneo: Many Chinese lived there as recorded by Zheng He.
• 1405 Ming dynasty, Tan Sheng Shou, the Battalion Commander Yang Xin (杨欣) and others were sent to Java's Old Port (Palembang; 旧港) to bring the absconder Liang Dao Ming (梁道明) and others to negotiate pacification. He took his family and fled to live in this place, where he remained for many years. Thousands of military personnel and civilians from Guangdong and Fujian followed him there and chose Dao Ming as their leader.
• 1459 Ming emperor sent Hang Li Po (汉丽宝) to Malacca along with 500 other female attendants, many attendants later married officials serving Mansur Shah as Li Po married the sultan after she accepted conversion to Islam.

Map of Chinese Migration During the 1800s - 1949

20th Century, Modern Emigration: Through most of China's history, strict controls prevented large numbers of people from leaving the country. In modern times, however, periodically some have been allowed to leave for various reasons. For example, in the early 1960s, about 100,000 people were allowed to enter Hong Kong. In the late 1970s, vigilance against illegal migration to Hong Kong was again relaxed somewhat. Perhaps as many as 200,000 reached Hong Kong in 1979, but in 1980 authorities on both sides resumed concerted efforts to reduce the flow.

More liberalized emigration policies enacted in the 1980s facilitated the legal departure of increasing numbers of Chinese who joined their overseas Chinese relatives and friends. The Four Modernizations program, which required access of Chinese students and scholars, particularly scientists, to foreign education and research institutions, brought about increased contact with the outside world, particularly the industrialized nations. Thus, as China moved toward the twenty-first century, the diverse resources and immense population that it had committed to a comprehensive process of modernization became ever more important.

In 1983, emigration restrictions were eased as a result in part of the economic open-door policy. In 1984, more than 11,500 business visas were issued to Chinese citizens, and in 1985, approximately 15,000 Chinese scholars and students were in the United States alone. Any student who had the economic resources, from whatever source, could apply for permission to study abroad. United States consular offices issued more than 12,500 immigrant visas in 1984, and there were 60,000 Chinese with approved visa petitions in the immigration queue.

Export of labor to foreign countries also increased. The Soviet Union, Iraq, and the Federal Republic of Germany requested 500,000 workers, and as of 1986, China sent 50,000. The signing of the United States-China Consular Convention in 1983 demonstrated the commitment to more liberal emigration policies. The two sides agreed to permit travel for the purpose of family reunification and to facilitate travel for individuals who claim both Chinese and United States citizenship. Emigrating from China remained a complicated and lengthy process, however, mainly because many countries were unwilling or unable to accept the large numbers of people who wished to emigrate. Other difficulties included bureaucratic delays and in some cases a reluctance on the part of Chinese authorities to issue passports and exit permits to individuals making notable contributions to the modernization effort.

The only significant immigration to China has been by the overseas Chinese, who in the years since 1949 have been offered various enticements to return to their homeland. Several million may have done so since 1949. The largest influx came in 1978-79, when about 160,000 to 250,000 ethnic Chinese refugees fled Vietnam for southern China, as relations between the two countries worsened. Many of these refugees were reportedly settled in state farms on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

 

 

Overseas Chinese

Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the territories administered by the rival governments of the People's Republic of China (PRC) (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau) and the Republic of China (ROC)(Taiwan). People of partial Chinese ancestry may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese. A vast majority of the overseas Chinese hail from only three coastal provinces of the mainland viz. Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan.

The term Overseas Chinese is ambiguous and inconsistent as to whether it can refer to any of the ethnic groups that live in China (the broadly defined Zhonghua minzu) or whether it refers specifically to the Han Chinese ethnicity, narrowly defined. In Southeast Asia and particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, the state classifies the Peranakan as Chinese despite partial assimilation into Malay culture.

One study on overseas Chinese defines several criteria for identifying non-Han overseas Chinese: there is evidence of descent from groups living within or originating from China, they still retain their culture, self-identify with Chinese culture or acknowledge Chinese origin, although they are not categorized as ethnic Han Chinese. Under this definition, "ethnic minority".

Terminology: The Chinese language has various terms equivalent to the English "Overseas Chinese". Huáqiáo (華僑) refers to Chinese citizens residing in countries other than China. Huáyì (華裔) refers to ethnic Chinese residing outside of China. Another often-used term is 海外華人 (hǎiwài huárén), a more literal translation of Overseas Chinese; it is often used by the PRC government to refer to people of Chinese ethnicities who live outside the PRC, regardless of citizenship.

Overseas Chinese who are ethnically Cantonese, Hokkien or Hakka refer to Overseas Chinese as 唐人 (tángrén). Literally, it means Tang people, a reference to Tang dynasty when it was ruling China proper.

 

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization—equal to or surpassing that of the earlier Han Dynasty—as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.

Seaports and Maritime Trade During the Tang Dynasty: Chinese envoys had been sailing through the Indian Ocean to India since the 2nd century BC, yet it was during the Tang Dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, into Persia, Mesopotamia (sailing up the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq), Arabia, Egypt, Aksum (Ethiopia), and Somalia in East Africa. From the same Quraysh tribe of Muhammad, Sa'd ibn Abi-Waqqas sailed from Ethiopia to China during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. He later traveled back to China with a copy of the Quran, establishing China's first mosque, the Mosque of Remembrance, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. To this day he is still buried in a Muslim cemetery at Guangzhou.

During the Tang Dynasty, thousands of foreigners came and lived in numerous Chinese cities for trade and commercial ties with China, including Persians, Arabs, Hindu Indians, Malays, Sinhalese, Khmers, Chams, Jews and Nestorian Christians of the Near East, and many others. In 748, the Buddhist monk Jian Zhen described Guangzhou as a bustling mercantile center where many large and impressive foreign ships came to dock. He wrote that "many big ships came from Borneo, Persia, Qunglun (Indonesia/Java)...with...spices, pearls, and jade piled up mountain high", as written in the Yue Jue Shu (Lost Records of the State of Yue). After Arab and Persian pirates burned and looted Guangzhou in 758, the Tang government reacted by shutting the port down for roughly five decades, as foreign vessels docked at Hanoi instead. However, when the port reopened it continued to thrive. In 851 the Arab merchant Suleiman al-Tajir observed the manufacturing of Chinese porcelain in Guangzhou and admired its transparent quality. He also provided a description of Guangzhou's mosque, its granaries, its local government administration, some of its written records, the treatment of travellers, along with the use of ceramics, rice-wine, and tea. However, in another bloody episode at Guangzhou in 879, the Chinese rebel Huang Chao sacked the city, and purportedly slaughtered thousands of native Chinese, along with foreign Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the process. Huang's rebellion was eventually suppressed in 884.

Vessels from Korean Silla, Balhae and Hizen Province of Japan were all involved in the Yellow Sea trade, which Silla dominated. After Silla and Japan reopened renewed hostilities in the late 7th century, most Japanese maritime merchants chose to set sail from Nagasaki towards the mouth of the Huai River, the Yangzi River, and even as far south as the Hangzhou Bay in order to avoid Korean ships in the Yellow Sea. In order to sail back to Japan in 838, the Japanese embassy to China procured nine ships and sixty Korean sailors from the Korean wards of Chuzhou and Lianshui cities along the Huai River. It is also known that Chinese trade ships traveling to Japan set sail from the various ports along the coasts Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

The Chinese engaged in large-scale production for overseas export by at least the time of the Tang. This was proven by the discovery of a silt-preserved shipwrecked Arab dhow in the Gaspar Strait near Belitung, which had 63,000 pieces of Tang gold, silver, and ceramics (including a Changsha bowl inscribed with a date: "16th day of the seventh month of the second year of the Baoli reign", or 826 AD, roughly confirmed by radiocarbon dating of star anise at the wreck). Beginning in 785, the Chinese began to call regularly at Sufala on the East African coast in order to cut out Arab middlemen, with various contemporary Chinese sources giving detailed descriptions of trade in Africa. The official and geographer Jia Dan (730–805) wrote of two common sea trade routes in his day: one from the coast of the Bohai Sea towards Korea and another from Guangzhou through Malacca towards the Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka and India, the eastern and northern shores of the Arabian Sea to the Euphrates River. In 863 the Chinese author Duan Chengshi (d. 863) provided a detailed description of the slave trade, ivory trade, and ambergris trade in a country called Bobali, which historians suggest was Berbera in Somalia. In Fustat (old Cairo), Egypt, the fame of Chinese ceramics there led to an enormous demand for Chinese goods; hence Chinese often traveled there (this continued into later periods such as Fatimid Egypt). From this time period, the Arab merchant Shulama once wrote of his admiration for Chinese seafaring junks, but noted that their draft was too deep for them to enter the Euphrates River, which forced them to ferry passengers and cargo in small boats. Shulama also noted that Chinese ships were often very large, with capacities up to 600-700 passengers.

Waves of Immigration of Overseas Chinese: There were different waves of immigration which led to subgroups among overseas Chinese such as the new and old immigrants in Southeast Asia, North America, Oceania, Latin America, South Africa and Russia.

In the 19th century, the age of colonialism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora began. Many colonies lacked a large pool of laborers. Meanwhile, in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong in China, there was a labor surplus. The Qing Empire was forced to allow its subjects to work overseas under colonial powers. Many Hokkien chose to work in Southeast Asia with their earlier links starting from the Ming era, as did the Cantonese. The city of Taishan in Guangdong province was the source for many of the economic migrants. For the countries in North America and Australia, great numbers of laborers were needed in the dangerous tasks of gold mining and railway construction. With famine widespread in Guangdong, this attracted many Cantonese to work in these countries to improve the living conditions of their relatives. Some overseas Chinese were sold to South America during the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. Many people from the New Territories in Hong Kong emigrated to the UK (mainly England) and the Netherlands in the post-war period to earn a better living.

From the mid-19th century onward, emigration has been directed primarily to western countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and the nations of Western Europe; as well as to Peru where they are called tusán, Panama, and to a lesser extent to Mexico. Many of these emigrants who entered western countries were themselves overseas Chinese or were from Taiwan or Hong Kong, particularly from the 1950s to the 1980s, during which the PRC placed severe restrictions on the movement of its citizens. In 1984, Britain agreed to transfer the sovereignty of Hong Kong to the PRC; this triggered another wave of migration to the United Kingdom (mainly England), Australia, Canada, USA, Latin America and other parts of the world. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 further accelerated the migration. The wave calmed after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. In addition, many citizens of Hong Kong hold citizenships or have current visas in other countries so if the need arises, they can leave Hong Kong on a short notice. In fact, after the Tiananmen Square incident, the lines for immigration visas increased at every consulate in Hong Kong. More recent Chinese presences have developed in Europe, where they number nearly a million, and in Russia, they number over 600,000, concentrated in Russian Far East. Chinese who emigrated to Vietnam beginning in the 18th century are referred to as Hoa.

In recent years, the People's Republic of China has built increasingly stronger ties with African nations. As of August 2007, there were an estimated 750,000 Chinese nationals working or living for extended periods in different African countries. An estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese live in South Africa.

Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. Experts predict that the Chinese diaspora in Russia will increase to at least 10 million by 2010 and Chinese may become the dominant ethnic group in the Russian Far East region 20 to 30 years from now.

Southeast Asia: Within Southeast Asia, the language situation of overseas Chinese vary greatly even amongst neighboring nations. On one hand, ethnic Chinese in Indonesia and Thailand had been subjected to official, and at times draconian, assimilation policies, and as a result many of them are no longer proficient in the Chinese language (particularly Chinese ethnic who lived in Java). Chinese who lived in Sumatra did not give up some of the dialects. Most of the Chinese ethnic in Medan is still able to speak Hokkien within their circle. This is due to the amount of the generation who lived in Indonesia and exposed to the cultural assimilation. Most of the Chinese ethnic who lived in Java have a long generation of forefathers before them (10 generations), where the Chinese ethnic who lived in Sumatra have a relatively short generation of forefathers (4 or 5 generations).

On the other end, Malaysian Chinese speak a wide variety of dialects, their prevalence being concentrated around particular metropolitan centers: the Penang, Klang and Malacca groups are predominantly Hokkien-speaking; the Kuala Lumpur, Seremban & Ipoh group is predominantly Cantonese and Hakka-speaking; whereas in East Malaysia (Malaysian Borneo), Hakka and Mandarin are widely spoken, except in Sibu, where Fuzhou dialect is predominant, and in Sandakan, where Cantonese is spoken.

In Singapore, a nation with an ethnic Chinese majority population, Mandarin is recognized as one of its official languages, along with Simplified Chinese characters, in contrast to other overseas Chinese communities which almost exclusively used Traditional Chinese characters until the 1990s when PRC nationals began to emigrate in substantial numbers. The official policy in Singapore also has an impact to the neighboring Johor, in the south of Peninsular Malaysia, where Mandarin is predominantly spoken among the Chinese communities there.

North America: Many overseas Chinese populations in North America speak some variety of spoken Chinese. In the United States and Canada, Chinese is the third most spoken language. Cantonese has historically been the most prevalent variety due to immigrants being mostly from southern China from the 19th century up through the 1980s. However, Mandarin is becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the opening up of the PRC.

In New York City at least, although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only ten percent of Chinese speakers, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them and is on its way to replace Cantonese as their lingua franca. Although Min Chinese is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population there, it is not used as a lingua franca because speakers of other dialect groups do not learn Min.

Vancouver, British Columbia officially recognizes Chinese as a regional language due to the large number of Chinese people living in Vancouver, particularly the suburb of Richmond, which the majority of residents formed are Chinese.

The Los Angeles area and Santa Clara County have particularly high numbers of Mandarin speakers, partly due to immigration from Taiwan.

* Chinese American History

* History of Chinese Immigration to Canada

 

New Asian Emperors : The Overseas Chinese, Their Strategies and Competitive Advantages by George T. Haley, Chin Tiong Tan, Usha C. V. Haley

 

 

 

The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy by Gungwu Wang

 

 

 

Hidden Heritage: Historical Archaeology of the Overseas Chinese by Priscilla Wegars (Editor)

 

 

 

 

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Map of the Maritime Silk Road

 

Map of Southeast Asia

 

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Chinese Filipinos

Photo of Manuel Tinio

Chinese Filipno (華菲): Most of the Chinese in the Philippines trace their ancestry to the southern part of Fujian province. The Lan-nang variant of Min Nan, also known as Hokkien or Lán-lâng-oē (咱人話; "our people's language"), is the lingua franca of the Chinese-Filipino community. The rest are descendants of migrants from Guangdong, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. The other Chinese dialects that can be heard in the Chinese-Filipino communities are Mandarin Chinese (which is taught in Chinese schools in the Philippines and spoken in varying degrees of fluency by Chinese Filipinos), Taiwanese (which is mutually intelligible with the Quanzhou and Xiamen dialects), and Cantonese. The vast majority of the Chinese in the Philippines, however, are fluent in English as well as Tagalog, and for those residing outside of Metro Manila, the local language of the region, like Ilokano, Cebuano (Cebu, Davao, Iligan, and Zamboanga), and Chabacano. Mandarin Chinese used to be the medium of instruction in Chinese schools prior to the Filipinization policy of Former President Ferdinand Marcos. Partly as a result of Marcos' measures, Tagalog and English are gradually supplanting Chinese (Minnan and Mandarin) as the preferred medium of communication among the younger generation.

Presence of peoples from the Chinese mainland in the Philippines has been evident since during the Ice Age, when a land bridge enabled many people from southern China to settle in the Philippines. But they are not to be confused for the later Sinitic-speaking peoples (ethnic Chinese) who came long after the land bridge submerged. These ethnic Chinese sailed down and frequently interacted with the indigenous tribes as evidenced by a collection of priceless Chinese artifacts found in the Philippines, dating back right up to the 10th century. Prehistoric evidence attest to the fact that many datus and rajahs (indigenous rulers) in the Philippines were of mixed Filipino and Chinese ancestry. They formed the group which is to be called Principalia during the Spanish period, and were given privileges by the Spanish colonial authorities.

The arrival of the Spaniards to the Philippines attracted many Chinese male immigrants from China, and maritime trade flourished during the Spanish occupation. The Spanish authorities restricted the activities of the Chinese immigrants and confined them to the Parían near Intramuros. With low chances of employment and prohibited from owning land, most of them engaged in retail trades or acted as skilled artisans to the Spanish colonial authorities. Many of the Chinese who arrived during the Spanish period were Cantonese, who worked as stevedores and porters, but there were also Fujianese, who entered the retail trades. The Chinese revolted fourteen times, against Spanish abuses, but their revolts were quickly put down by joint forces of the indigenous Filipinos, Mexicans, and the Spaniards. Deeply distrustful of the Chinese immigrants, the Spaniards conducted a total of six massacres against the them, two of which were successful. Fearful of a reprisal from China, Spanish authorities sent envoys to China explain their actions but were surprised to learn that the Chinese rulers were markedly indifferent to the plight of the Chinese immigrants. As it were, the Chinese rulers at the time forbade their Chinese subjects from emigrating and made the crime of leaving China punishable by death upon their return. To the Chinese rulers, those who had abandoned their homeland to settle in foreign lands were considered traitors who ceased to be Chinese. In addition, the Spanish authorities decided to segregate the Chinese immigrants into two groups: Parían (unconverted) and Binondo (converted). The massacres and expulsions targeted the unconverted while sparing the converted Chinese. To avoid this grim fate, most Chinese male immigrants converted to Catholicism, intermarried with indigenous women, and adopted Hispanized names and customs. The children of unions between indigenous Filipinos and Chinese were called Mestizos de Sangley or Chinese mestizos, while those between Spaniards and Chinese were called Tornatrás and were classified as blanco or white, together with the mixed-race Spanish mestizos and pure-blooded Spanish Filipinos. The Chinese mestizos were largely confined to the Binondo area. However, they eventually spread all over the islands, and became traders, moneylenders and landowners.

During the American Colonial Period, the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States was also put into effect in the Philippines. Nevertheless, the Chinese were able to settle in the Philippines, despite strict American law enforcement. During World War II, the Japanese massacred many unmixed Chinese. Following World War II and the fall of the Chinese mainland to communism, many Chinese migrated from Fujian province in China to the Philippines. This group formed the bulk of the current population of Chinese Filipinos.

 

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Hoa

Hoa (越南華人) refers to a minority in Vietnam consisting of persons considered to be ethnic chinese or Han Chinese. They are often referred to as either Chinese Vietnamese, Vietnamese Chinese, Sino-Vietnamese, or ethnic Chinese in/from Vietnam by the Vietnamese populace, Overseas Vietnamese, and other ethnic Chinese. The Vietnamese government's classification of the Hoa excludes two other groups of Chinese-speaking peoples, the San Diu ('mountain Chinese') and the Ngai.

According to the 1999 Vietnamese census, with 1.1% of the population, the Hoa are the 6th-largest ethnic group in Vietnam.

Language: The people who escaped from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) China to Vietnam declared themselves as the Minh-huong (明鄉) which means the people of the Ming Dynasty. The Hoa are descended from early settlers from the Guangdong province who arrived in Vietnam from the 18th to 20th centuries. The final group of mainland China migrants came during the 1940s. A large proportion of Hoa who are living outside of Vietnam speak Cantonese as their mother tongue, albeit in a Vietnamese accent. The second largest group of Hoa tend to speak Teochew (Chaozhou), but may also speak Cantonese as a lingua franca, again usually in a Vietnamese accent. The younger generation of Hoa in Vietnam tends to speak both Vietnamese and Cantonese.

The intermarriage between the Hoa and the majority Kinh ethnic groups is the highest compared to other minorities in Vietnam.

They are predominantly urban dwellers. A few Hoa live in small settlements in the northern highlands near the Chinese frontier, where they are also known as ngai. In 1955, North Vietnam and China agreed that the Hoa should be integrated gradually into Vietnamese society and should have Vietnamese citizenship conferred on them.

Occupations: Before 1975 the northern Hoa were mainly rice farmers, fishermen, and coal miners, except for those residing in cities and provincial towns. In the South, the French colonizers had allowed the Cholon Hoa to be the trading middleman. Subsequently, they became dominant in commerce and manufacturing. According to an official source, at the end of 1974 the Hoa controlled more than 80 % of the food, textile, chemical, metallurgy, engineering, and electrical industries, 100 % of wholesale trade, more than 50 % of retail trade, and 90 % of export-import trade. Dominance over the economy enabled the Hoa to "manipulate prices" of rice and other scarce goods. This particular source further observed that the Hoa community constituted "a state within a state," inasmuch as they had built "a closed world based on blood relations, strict internal discipline, and a network of sects, each with its own chief, to avoid the indigenous administration's direct interference." It was noted by Hanoi in 1983 that as many as 60 % of "the former bourgeoisie" of the south were of Hoa origin.

Nowaday, due to these efforts, the Hoa take a small part in the economic of Vietnam.

Population: As of 2006, the Hoa became the largest ethnic minority in Vietnam, with figures of 2.3 million.

In mid-1975, when North and South Vietnam were unified, the combined Hoa communities of the North and South numbered approximately 1.3 million, and all but 200,000 resided in the South, most of them in the Saigon metropolitan area, especially in the Cholon district (Chinatown). Beginning in 1975, the Hoa bore the brunt of socialist transformation in the South.

An announcement on March 24 outlawed all wholesale trade and large business activities, which forced around 30,000 businesses to close down overnight, followed up by another that banned all private trade. Further government policies forced former owners to become farmers in the countryside or join the armed forces and fight at the Vietnam-Cambodia border, and confiscated all old and foreign currencies, as well as any Vietnamese currency in excess of the US value of $250 for urban households and $150 by rural households. While such measures were targeted at all bourgeois elements, such measures hurt ethnic Hoa the hardest and resulted in the takeover of Hoa properties in and around major cities. Hoa communities offered widespread resistance and clashes left the streets of Cholon "full of corpses".

These measures, combined with external tensions stemming from Vietnam's dispute with Cambodia and China in 1978 and 1979 caused an exodus of as the majority of the Hoa, of whom more than 170,000 fled overland into the province of Guangxi, China, from the North and the remainder fled by boat from the South. China received a daily influx of 4-5,000 refugees, while Southeast Asian countries saw a wave of 5,000 boat people arriving at their shores each month. China sent unarmed ships to help evacuate the refugees, but encountered diplomatic problems as the Vietnamese government denied that the Hoa suffered persecution and later refused to issue exit permits after as many as 250,000 Hoa had applied for repatriation. In an attempt to stem the refugee flow, avert Vietnamese accusations that Beijing was coercing its citizens to emigrate, and encourage Vietnam to change its policies towards ethnic Hoa, China closed off its land border in 1978. This led to a jump in the number of boat people, with as many as 100,000 arriving in other countries by the end of 1978. However, the Vietnamese government by now not only encouraged the exodus, but took the opportunity to profit from it by imposing a price of five to ten taels of gold or an equivalent of US $1,500 to $3,000 per person wishing to leave the country. The Vietnamese military also forcibly drove the thousands of border refugees across the China-Vietnam land border, causing numerous border incidents and armed clashes, while blaming these movements on China by accusing them of using saboteurs to force Vietnamese citizens into China. This new influx brought the number of refugees in China to around 200,000.

The size of the exodus increased during and after the war. The monthly number of boat people arriving in Southeast Asia increased to 11,000 during the first quarter of 1979, 28,000 by April, and 55,000 in June, while more than 90,000 fled by boat to China. In addition, the Vietnamese military also began expelling ethnic Hoa from Vietnam-occupied Kampuchea, leading to over 43,000 refugees of mostly Hoa descent fleeing overland to Thailand By now, Vietnam was openly confiscating the properties and extorting money from fleeing refugees. In April 1979 alone, Hoa outside of Vietnam had remitted a total of US $242 million (an amount equivalent to half the total value of Vietnam's 1978 exports) through Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City to help their friends or family pay their way out of Vietnam. By June, money from refugees had replaced the coal industry as Vietnam's largest source of foreign exchange and was expected to reach as much as 3 billion in US dollars. By 1980, the refugee population in China reached 260,000, and the number of surviving boat people refugees in Southeast Asia reached 400,000. (An estimated 50% to 70% of boat people perished at sea.) By the end of 1980, the majority of the Hoa had fled from Vietnam. In addition to ethnic Hoa, an estimated 30,000 ethnic Vietnamese refugees fled to China.

Immigration to Other Countries: Today, there are many Hoa communities in Australia, Canada, France, and the United States, where they have been instrumental in breathing new life into old existing Chinatowns. For example, the established Chinatowns of Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto, and Paris have a Vietnamese atmosphere due to the large presence of Hoa people. Some of these communities also have associations for transplanted Hoa refugees such as the l'Association des Résidents en France d'origine indochinoise in Paris.

The Vietnamese poulation in China now number up to 300,000, and live mostly in 194 refugee settlements mostly in the provinces of Guangdong, Yunnan, Fujian, Hainan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi. Most (85%+) have achieved economic independence, but the remainder still live below the poverty line in rural areas. While they have most of the same rights as Chinese nationals, including employment, education, housing, property ownership, pensions, and health care, they had not been granted citizenship and continued to be regarded by the government as refugees. Their refugee status allowed them to receive UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) assistance and aid until the early twenty-first century. In 2007, the Chinese government began drafting legislation to grant full Chinese citizenship to Indochinese refugees, including the ethnic Hoa which make up the majority, living within its borders.

There is also a sizable Hoa refugee population - many of whom speak Cantonese - in Hong Kong, but they have experienced discrimination in housing and employment.

In the United States, the Hoa have also started businesses in prominent Vietnamese communities called Little Saigon near Los Angeles and San Jose, including those in the states of California, Texas, and Washington. They own a large share of businesses especially catering to the local Vietnamese population.

Hoa Concentrations in Vietnam:

• Ho Chi Minh City: Cho Lon
• Da Lat
• Tra Vinh province

 

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Cantonese in Singapore

The Cantonese make up 15% of the Chinese Singaporean (新加坡華人) population. Unlike the Hokkien, Teochew and the Hainanese, the Cantonese speak a language belonging to the Yue family. The Cantonese community is also further sub-divided into several dialect groups. Yue Hai is considered to be the purest form of Cantonese because of its close proximity with Guangzhou. Other variants include Luoguang, Seiyap and Gouyeung. The Gwainaam variant is largely based in Guangxi and shares close affinity with Pinghua. As with the Hokkiens and Teochews, some Cantonese also share Taoist beliefs.

The Cantonese mainly worked as goldsmiths, tailors and restaurateurs during the early and mid 20th century, and their businesses predominated the shophouses along Temple Street, Pagoda Street, and Mosque Street.

Cantonese women from the Samsui district (三水区), worked in construction sites, and contributed greatly towards the development of Singapore. These Samsui women left their families behind in China and came to Singapore to work in construction sites for a living during the early 20th century. They were noted for their distinctive navy blue outfits and bright red headgear, which were meant for protecting their hair as they worked. The headgear was first worn by Wang Chao Yun (王朝云 字子霞), a concubine of Su Dongpo, in the Hakka Fui Chiu district of Guangdong province and it eventually became the traditional headgear of Hakkas. Cantonese women who worked alongside female Hakka labourers adopted the use of the headgear.

Cantonese women from the Seiyap (四邑) district in Jiangmen prefecture wore black headgear similar to the Samsui women. Seiyap women who wore black headgear mainly worked in shipyards at the old harbour along Singapore river as well as at Keppel Harbour.

Today Chinatown (Singapore) is known among Singaporeans for having a large number of Cantonese people.

The term Samsui women broadly refers to a group of Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore between the 1920s and the 1940s in search of construction and industrial jobs. Their hard work contributed to Singapore's development, both as a colony and as a nation.

The Samsui women came from Sanshui of Guangdong (Canton) Province in China, in addition to Shunde and Dongguan. Most Samsui women are Cantonese (90%) but there are Hakka (10%) as well.

In Chinese, these women are referred to as 紅頭巾, which translates as "red bandana", a reference to the trademark red cloth hats that they wore.

Coming to Singapore as cheap labourers, Samsui women worked mainly in the construction industry and other industries that required hard labour. They also worked as domestic servants. They had a reputation of rejecting jobs involving drug (particularly opium) peddling, prostitution, or other vices, even if that meant they sometimes had to live in poverty.

Before arriving in Singapore, most Samsui women took vows never to marry, although there are exceptions. They lived in cramped conditions with other Samsui women, helping out each other and forming tightly united cliques.

Samsui women also remained in touch with their relatives back home in China, communicating with them frequently through letters. Occasionally, they would send money to them.

Working as menial labourers, Samsui women seldom earned enough money for a financially worry-free retirement. Some managed to save enough to return to their homeland to retire, while others had just enough for a final trip back home to visit their relatives and pay homage to their ancestors before they died. Many became too old to travel, and were unable to return to China.

There are less than a hundred Samsui women left in Singapore today, all of them in their 80s and 90s. Organizations exist to raise awareness of these women's achievements and contributions to Singapore's development, and their current state. Some of these organization also strive to provide free travel for the women back to China to visit their relatives before they die.

 

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Peranakan

Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (峇峇娘惹) are terms used for the descendants of the very early immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort (chronological adaptation) to be assimilated into the local communities. While the term Peranakan is most commonly used for those of Chinese descent, whose are also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements), there are also other, comparatively small Peranakan communities, such as Indian Hindu Peranakans (Chitty), Indian Muslim Peranakans (Jawi Pekan) and Eurasian Peranakans (Kristang).

In both Malay and Indonesian, 'Peranakan' means 'descendants'. Babas refer to the male descendants and the Nyonyas the female. The word nyonya (also commonly spelled nonya) may originate from the Portuguese word dona, which means 'lady'. The word Peranakan is also used to describe Chinese Indonesians.

Most Peranakan are of Hoklo (Hokkien) ancestry, although a sizable number are of Teochew or Cantonese descent. Originally, the Peranakan were part Chinese, part Malay, and part descended from the original inhabitants of Princess Hang Li Po of Malacca. Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that Peranakan men usually took brides from within the local Peranakan community. Peranakan families also frequently imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands.

The language of the Peranakans, Baba Malay (Bahasa Melayu Baba), is a dialect of the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), which contains many Hokkien words. It is a dying language, and its contemporary use is mainly limited to members of the older generation. English has now replaced Baba as the main language spoken at home amongst the younger generation.

History: In the 15th century, the city states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as the kingdoms of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century, during the reign of Parameswara, when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca. According to traditional accounts, in 1459 CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute. The royalty and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakan. The Peranakan retained most of their ethnic and religious origins (ancestor worship), but assimilated the language and culture of the Malays. They developed a unique culture and distinct foods. Numerous sources claim that the early Peranakan inter-married with the local Malay population; this might derive from the fact that some of the servants who settled in Bukit Cina that travelled to Malacca with the Admiral from Yunnan were Muslim Chinese. However, the general lack of physical resemblance has led many experts to believe that the Peranakan Chinese ethnicity has hardly diluted. Some Peranakan distinguish between Peranakan-Baba (those Peranakan with part Malay ancestry) from Peranakan (those without any Malay ancestry). The Peranakan often sent their sons and daughters to China to look for spouses. Also, the religion of the local Malay population was Islam which forbids inter-marriage with other religions without conversion first. In the early 1800s, new Chinese immigrants to the Straits Settlements bolstered the Peranakan population.

Over the centuries, the Peranakans have evolved a unique culture that maintains many Chinese traditions, such as celebrating the Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival, while adopting the customs of the land they settled in, as well as those of their successive colonial rulers. There are traces of Portuguese, Dutch, British, Malay and Indonesian influences in Baba culture.

By the middle of the twentieth century, most Peranakan were English educated, as a result of the British colonisation of Malaya, and the natural propensity of these people who were able to easily embrace new cultures. Because the Peranakans readily embraced English culture and education, administrative and civil service posts were often filled by prominent Straits Chinese. The interaction with the British also caused many in the community to convert to Christianity. The Peranakan community thereby became very influential in Malacca and Singapore and were known also as the King's Chinese due to their perceived loyalty to the British Crown. Because of the interaction of the different cultures and languages that Peranakans had, most Peranakans were (and still are) trilingual, being able to converse with Chinese, Malays and the British. Common vocations were as merchants, traders, and general intermediaries between China, Malaya and the West; the latter was especially valued by the British, since the Babas also enjoyed good relations with the Malay community and served as advisors to the royal Malay courts. In fact the term "Baba" is an honorific term in Malay; probably derived from Hindi/Sanskrit [Baba: literally means grandfather or father, and is used as a term of reverence and affection for an elderly gentleman].

Culture: Historical and cultural items from the Baba culture are displayed in cultural establishments on Heeren Street, Jonker Street and other streets in the same neighbourhood in Malacca and in Penang in Malaysia, and at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore. There one can find museums displaying furniture, food stuff, and even traditional clothes of the Baba and Nonya. There are also a small number of "Nyonya" restaurants in Singapore, Penang, Malacca, and the West. Free weekly street shows featuring Baba performances, and traditional and pop Chinese cultural performances are found in Jonker Street in Malacca (Melaka). The shows are part of the night market scene, and are usually crowded with shoppers, both local and foreign.

The Peranakans were partially assimilated into the Malay culture (especially in food, dress, and language), while retaining some Chinese traditions (religion, name, and ethnic identity), thereby creating a fusion culture of their own. For instance, from their Malay influence, a unique "Nyonya" cuisine has developed using the spices of Malay cuisine (examples are Chicken Kapitan, a dry chicken curry, and Inchi Kabin, a Nyonya version of fried chicken). The women (Nyonyas) have taken to wearing the baju kebaya (a Malay dress, seen most notably as the uniform of Malaysia and Singapore Airlines' female flight attendants), and beaded slippers called Kasut Manek. Traditionally these exquisitely-crafted footwears were typically hand-made, and worn by Nonyas. Making kasut maneks required much patience, as in the past they are strung, beaded and sewn onto canvas with tiny facetted glass beads from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic). In modern times, glass beads from Japan are preferred. Traditional kasut manek design often have European floral subjects, with colours influenced by the hues of Peranakan porcelain and batik sarongs. They were made onto flats or bedroom slippers. But from the 1930s, modern shapes became popular and heels were added.

Proposals of marriage were made by a gift of a "pinangan", a 2-tiered lacquered basket to the intended bride's parents brought by a go-between person who will speak on behalf of the suitor. However, most of the Peranakans are not Muslim, and have retained the traditions of ancestor worship of the Chinese; though some converted to Christianity. The wedding ceremony of the Peranakan is largely based on Chinese tradition, and is one of the most colorful and fascinating wedding ceremonies in Malaysia and Singapore. At weddings, the Dondang Sayang, a form of extempore rhyming song in Malay, sung and danced by guests at the wedding party was a highlight. Someone would start on a romantic theme which will be carried on by others, each taking the floor in turn slowly dancing in slow gyrations as they sang, It required quick wit and repartee and often gave rise to laughter and applause when a particularly clever phrase was sung. The melodic accents of the Baba-Nonya and their quaint turns of phrase lend to the charm of this performance.

Peranakan culture is disappearing. Without colonial British support for their perceived racial neutrality, government policies in both countries following independence from the British have resulted in the assimilation of Peranakans back into mainstream Chinese culture. In Singapore, the Peranakans are classified as ethnically Chinese, so they receive formal instruction in Mandarin Chinese as a second language (in accordance with the "Mother Tongue Policy") instead of Malay. In Malaysia, the standardization of Malay as Bahasa Melayu — required for all ethnic groups — has led to a disappearance of the unique characteristics of Baba Malay.

The migration of some Peranakan families, particularly the well-to-do ones, has led to a small Peranakan diaspora in neighbouring countries, from Vietnam to Australia. However, these communities are very small, and with the increasing use of the various languages in their respective countries, the use of Peranakan Malay or Baba Malay will be diluted.

 

The Straits Chinese: A Cultural History by Khoo Joo Ee

 

 

 

The Nyonya Kebaya: A Century of Straits Chinese Costume by Datin Seri

 

 

 

Straits Chinese House Domestic by Peter Lee

 

 

 

Peranakan Chinese Porcelain: Vibrant Festive Ware of the Straits Chinese by Kee Ming-Yuet

 

 

 

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Chinatown (Manhattan)

Photo from newyorkchinatown.org

New York's Chinatown (紐約華埠) — a neighborhood of Manhattan — is an ethnic Chinese enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans as well as a long-standing Chinese cultural influence. Manhattan's Chinatown is one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities outside of Asia.

Ah Ken and early Chinese immigration: Although Quimbo Appo is claimed to have arrived in the area during the 1840s, the first Chinese person credited as having permanently immigrated to Chinatown was Ah Ken, a Cantonese businessman, who eventually founded a successful cigar store on Park Row. He first arrived in New York around 1858 where he was "probably one of those Chinese mentioned in gossip of the sixties [1860s] as peddling 'awful' cigars at three cents apiece from little stands along the City Hall park fence -- offering a paper spill and a tiny oil lamp as a lighter", according to author Alvin Harlow in Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street (1931).

Later immigrants would similarly find work as "cigar men" or carrying billboards and Ah Ken's particular success encouraged cigar makers William Longford, John Occoo and John Ava to also ply their trade in Chinatown eventually forming a monopoly on the cigar trade. It has been speculated that he may have been Ah Kam who kept a small boarding house on lower Mott Street and rented out bunks to the first Chinese immigrants to arrive in Chinatown. It was with the profits he earned as a landlord, earning an average of $100 a month, that he was able to open his Park Row smoke shop around which modern-day Chinatown would grow.

Chinese Exclusion Period: Faced with increasing discrimination and new laws which prevented participation in many occupations on the West Coast, some Chinese immigrants moved to the East Coast cities in search of employment. Early businesses in these cities included hand laundries and restaurants. Chinatown started on Mott Street, Park, Pell and Doyers streets, east of the notorious Five Points district. By 1870, there was a Chinese population of 200. By the time the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed, the population was up to 2,000 residents. By 1900, there were 7,000 Chinese residents, but fewer than 200 Chinese women.

The early days of Chinatown were dominated by Chinese "tongs" (now sometimes rendered neutrally as "associations"), which were a mixture of clan associations, landsman's associations, political alliances (Kuomintang (Nationalists) vs Communist Party of China) and (more secretly) crime syndicates. The associations started to give protection from harassment due to anti-Chinese sentiment. Each of these associations was aligned with a street gang. The associations were a source of assistance to new immigrants - giving out loans, aiding in starting business, and so forth.

Post-immigration Reform: In the years after the United States enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, allowing many more immigrants from Asia into the country, the population of Chinatown exploded. Geographically, much of the growth was to neighborhoods to the north. In the 1990s, Chinese people began to move into some parts of the western Lower East Side, which 50 years earlier was populated by Eastern European Jews and 20 years earlier was occupied by Hispanics. Although very much diminished from its hey-day at the turn of the century, there is still a small Jewish community primarily on eastern part of Grand Street as well as some businesses on Grand and Essex and elsewhere, such as the famous Katz's Deli and a number of synagogues and other old religious establishments (see The Lower East Side Remembered & Revisited, Joyce Mendelsohn, Columbia University Press, revised edition, 2009.

By 2009 many newer Chinese immigrants settled along East Broadway instead of the historic core west of the Bowery. In addition Mandarin began to eclipse Cantonese as the predominant Chinese dialect in New York's Chinatown during the period. The New York Times says that the Flushing Chinatown now rivals Manhattan's Chinatown in terms of being a cultural center for Chinese-speaking New Yorkers' politics and trade.

Demographics: Until the 1960s, the majority of the Chinese population in Chinatown emigrated from Guangdong province and Hong Kong, thus they were native speakers of Cantonese, especially the Canton and Taishan dialects. A minority of Hakka was also represented. Mandarin was rarely spoken by residents even well into the 1980s. Most recent immigrants are from Mainland China, and hence speak Mandarin, the official spoken language of China. Immigration reform in 1965 opened the door to a huge influx of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong, and Cantonese became the dominant tongue. But since the late 1980s and 1990s, the vast majority of new Chinese immigrants have come from mainland China, especially Fujian Province, and tend to speak Mandarin along with their regional dialects. Most Fuzhou immigrants are illegal immigrants while most of the Cantonese immigrants are legal immigrants in Manhattan's Chinatown. With the coming of illegal Fuzhou immigrants during the 1990s, there is now a Fuzhou Community within the eastern portion of Manhattan's Chinatown which started on the East Broadway portion during the early 1990s and later emerged north onto the Eldridge Street portion of Manhattan's Chinatown by the late 1990s and early 2000s. Although the Fuzhou community and its population — which is now hardly growing — have emerged within Manhattan's Chinatown, the Cantonese population successfully still remains stable and large and successfully continues to retain the large stable Cantonese community identity where the Cantonese residents still have a place of gathering that was established decades ago in the western portion/main section of Manhattan's Chinatown — unlike the Cantonese population/community identity that is declining very rapidly in Brooklyn's Chinatown.

 

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Chinese Peruvian

Photo of Juan Pablo Chang Navarro from Caidos en la guerrilla boliviana

A Chinese Peruvian (秘魯華人), also known as tusán, a loanword from 土生 ("local born"), is a person of Chinese ancestry born in Peru, or who has made Peru his or her adopted homeland.

Most Chinese Peruvians are multilingual. In addition to Spanish, Quechua, and English, many of them speak one or more Chinese dialects that may include Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. Since the first Chinese immigrants came from Macau, some of them also speak Portuguese. In Peru, Asian Peruvians are estimated at 3% of the population, but one source places the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population.

History: Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, who took a four-month trip from Macau (then a Portuguese territory), settled Peru as contract laborers or "coolies". Other Chinese coolies from Guangdong followed. One hundred thousand Chinese contract laborers, almost all male, were sent mostly to the sugar plantations from 1849 to 1874, for the termination of slavery and continuous labor for the coastal guano mines and especially for the coastal plantations where they became a major labor force until the end of the century. While the coolies were believed to be reduced to virtual slaves, they also represented a historical transition from slave to free labor.

Another group of Chinese settlers came after the founding of Sun Yat-sen's republic in 1912, World War II, and the establishment of Communist rule in 1949.

Recent Chinese immigrants settled in Peru from Hong Kong and, again, Macau because of fear of their return to Communist rule in 1997 and 1999, while others have come from other places in mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian Chinese communities, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Many Chinese Indonesians and Chinese Malaysians came to Peru after anti-Chinese riots and massacres in those countries the 1960s, 1970s, and late 1990s. These recent Chinese immigrants make Peru the home of the largest ethnic Chinese community in Latin America.

Emigration: Many Chinese Peruvians left Peru in the 1960s and 1970s to escape the dictatorial government of Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado, worsening poverty, and earthquake. Most of them headed to the United States, where they were called Chinese Americans or Peruvian Americans of Chinese descent, while others went to Canada, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia, or New Zealand.

Prominent Chinese Peruvian

• Juan Pablo Chang Navarro-Lévano (1930 - 1967) communist student leader and guerrilla, died alongside Che Guevara

Role in the Economy: After their contracts ended, many of them adopted the last name of their patrons (one of the reasons that many Chinese Peruvians carry Spanish last names). Some freed coolies (and later immigrants) established many small businesses. These included chifas (Chinese-Peruvian restaurants - the word is derived from chī fàn, or "eat meal" in Mandarin). Calle Capón, Lima's Chinatown, also known as Barrio Chino de Lima, became one of the Western Hemisphere's earliest Chinatowns. The Chinese coolies married Peruvian women, and many Chinese Peruvians today are of mixed Chinese, Spanish, and African or Native American descent. Chinese Peruvians also assisted in the building of railroad and development of the Amazon Rainforest, where they tapped rubber trees, washed gold, cultivated rice, and traded with the Indians. They even became the largest foreign colony in the Amazon capital of Iquitos by the end of the century.

 

Chifa

A Chifa dish called "Airport"

Chifa is a term used in Peru to refer to a style of food produced by the fusion of creole Limean food with Chinese food brought by Chinese immigrants mainly from the province of Canton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also used to define a restaurant where this type of food is served. Chifa has become one of the most popular types of food in Peru and has achieved international fame. The term chifa probably comes from the mandarin 酒饭 jiǔfàn which means food and drink. However, the jiǔfàn is highly speculative and disputed. A more plausible origin of the name "chifa" seems to be a corruption of the Mandarin phrase "chi fan" (吃饭, eat rice, eat meal) which is supported by a similar corruption, "chaofa" in the Peruvian colloquial language, which should actually be "chao fan" (炒饭, fried rice) in mandarin. Despite the fact that the founding element of the Andean Chinese community has been Cantonese, Mandarin words were used in the creation of the name "chifa" (as Mandarin "chi" in Cantonese is either "heg", "sek" or "yag", a far cry from the chosen pronunciation). The similar type of overseas Cantonese cuisine is called Chop suey in North American, a culinary term nonexistent in China proper. This means overseas Cantonese cuisine, called "Chifa" and "Chopsuey" variably, lacked a common name when it was first invented.

Nowadays, chifa has evolved enormously and has acquired its own personality forming part of the Gastronomy of Peru.

Peruvian chifa is very different than Chinese food that is found in other parts of the world. Its integration or fusion with creole Peruvian food has given a unique taste to its varied dishes. As a result of this it is known known as having an exquisite flavor unmatched and internationally recognized as one of the best gastronomies in the world.

Chifa in Peru in enjoyed by all socio-economic levels, as evident by the ability to find Chifas directed towards those with a more ample budget and seeking a more refined atmosphere whereas chifas de barrio are directed towards a different social strata and do not have the same level of atmosphere and are directed towards consumers accustomed to the type of food which they serve. Currently, in the city of Lima there are over 6,000 chifa restaurants.

Typical Chifa Dishes:

• Chaufa Rice (Fried Rice)
• Fried Noodles
• Fried Soy
• Wantan
• Wantan Soup
• Kam Lu Wantan
• Chijaukai chicken
• Tipa Kay Chicken (A variant based on cuy known as Tipa Cuy)
• Airport (A more recent typical dish popular in the low and mid class chifas of Lima)

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Chinese Cuban

Photo of Wifredo Lam

A Chinese Cuban (古巴華人; Spanish: chino-cubano) is a Cuban of Chinese ancestry who was born in or has immigrated to Cuba.

Chinese immigration to Cuba started in 1847 when Cantonese contract workers were brought to work in the sugar fields. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers were brought in from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan during the following decades to replace and / or work alongside African slaves. After completing 8-year contracts or otherwise obtaining their freedom, some Chinese immigrants settled permanently in Cuba, although most longed for repatriation to their homeland. Havana's Chinatown (known as Barrio Chino de La Habana) is one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns in Latin America. Some 5,000 immigrants from the U.S. came to Cuba during the late 1800s to escape the discrimination present at the time. A small wave of Chinese immigrants also arrived during the early 20th century to escape the political chaos in China.

The Chinese tended to concentrate heavily in urban areas, especially in the Havana Chinatown. Many used the money they accumulated as indentured laborers to open small grocery stores or restaurants. Generations of Chinese-Cubans married into the larger Spanish, mulatto and Afro-Cuban populations. Today almost all Chinese-Cubans have African, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. Many of them have Spanish surnames.

Some Chinese fought in Cuba's Ten Year's War. Chinese Cubans, including some Chinese-Americans from California, joined the Spanish-American War in 1898 to achieve independence from Spain, but a few Chinese, who were loyal to Spain, left Cuba and went to Spain. Racial acceptance and assimilation would come much later.

When the new revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the economic and political situation changed. Many Chinese grocery store owners, having had their properties expropriated by the new government, left Cuba. Most of these settled in the United States, particularly nearby Florida, where they and their U.S.-born children are called Chinese-Americans or Cuban-Americans of Chinese descent, while a relatively few to nearby Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries, and also to U.S.-ruled territory of Puerto Rico, where they are called Chinese Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Puerto Ricans of Chinese descent, or Cuban-Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese refugees to United States include people whose ancestors came to Cuba 10 years before the Cuban Revolution and those from the United States. These Chinese American refugees, whose ancestors had come from California, were happy to be back in the United States. As a result of this exodus, the number of pure Chinese dropped sharply in Havana’s Barrio Chino. The places they migrated to had a unique Chinese culture and a popularity of Chinese Cuban restaurants.

The Chinese Cubans fought in the Cuban war of independence on the side of those seeking independence from Spain. A memorial consisting of a broken column memorializes Chinese participation in the war of independence at the corners of L and Linea in Havana.

The Barrio Chino de La Habana today is now not the largest Chinatown in Latin America. Most Chinese Cubans live outside Barrio Chino. Some of the Chinese stayed after the start of Castro's rule. Younger generations are working in a larger variety of jobs. There are many song composers and entering show-business: actors, actresses, singers, and models.

Several community groups, especially Chinatown Promotional Group (Spanish: Grupo Promotor del Barrio Chino), worked to revive Barrio Chino and the faded Chinese culture. Chinese Language and Arts School (Escuela de la Lengua y Artes China) opened in 1993 and has grown since then, helping Chinese Cubans to strengthen their knowledge of the Chinese language. Today, Chinese Cubans tend to speak Mandarin, Cantonese, and a mixture of Chinese and Spanish, in addition to Spanish and English. They also promoted small businesses, like beauty parlors, mechanical shops, restaurants, and small groceries, provided to them to create a view of Barrio Chino. Havana’s Barrio Chino also experienced buildings of Chinese architecture and museum with backgrounds about China. As a result, the Chinese Cuban community has gained visibility.

The influence of the Chinese migration to Cuba is thoroughly reflected in the novel The Island of Eternal Love by Cuban-American author Daína Chaviano. Originally published in Spain as La isla de los amores infinitos (Grijalbo-Random House 2006), it has been sold to 23 languages. The plot covers 150 years of history, beginning in the 1840s through the 1990s.

The Island of Eternal Love by Diana Chaviano

 

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Chinese Hawaiian

Photo of Jason Scott Lee

The Chinese in Hawaii constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom (75%) have ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent. If all people with Chinese ancestry in Hawaii (including the Chinese-Hawaiians) are included, they form about 1/3 of Hawaii's entire population. As United States citizens, they are a group of Chinese Americans.

Origins: Historical records indicated that the earliest immigration of the Chinese came from Guangdong province: a few sailors in 1778 with Captain Cook's journey, more in 1788 with Kaina, and some in 1789 with an American trader who settled in Hawaii in the late 18th century.

By 1790, a handful of Chinese lived on the island of Oahu, including the 1789 group. They lived together with the chief Kamehameha the Great. Because these Chinese men had not brought any Chinese women along with them, they intermarried with Hawaiian women. They became assimilated and created Chinese-Hawaiian surnames like Akaka, Ahina, etc, in which words of Chinese origin are pronounced with a soft Hawaiian tone. The practice of intermarrying with Hawaiian women continued well into the 19th century, when Chinese women were still a rarity in Hawaii.

Most of the Chinese immigrants to Hawaii arrived in the mid-to-late 19th century, when 46,000 people immigrated to the islands. Although many came as laborers for sugar plantations in Hawaii, they concentrated on getting education for their children. Many opened businesses in areas such as Chinatown, Honolulu after their contracts expired. By 1950 most Chinese American men in Hawaii were educated and held good jobs. Today 95% of Chinese Americans in Hawaii live in Honolulu and work at professional jobs.

List of Notable Chinese People from Hawaii

• Daniel K. Akaka
• Chang Apana
• Brian Ching
• Norm Chow
• William K.S. Chow
• Kam-Fong Chun
• Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon
• Hiram L. Fong
• Clayton Hee
• Don Ho
• Hoku Ho
• Kelly Hu
• Jason Scott Lee
• Richard Loo
• Tai Sing Loo

 

Chinatown, Honolulu

The 1900 fire

The Chinatown Historic District is a neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii known for its Chinese people.

The area was probably used by fishermen during ancient Hawaii but little evidence remains. Kealiimaikai, the brother of Kamehameha I lived in the area at the end of the 18th century. One of the first early settlers from outside was Isaac Davis, but he died in 1810. Spaniard Don Francisco de Paula Marín lived in the southern end of the area in the early 19th century, and planted a vineyard in the northern end, for which Vineyard Boulevard is named. Durng the 19th century laborers were imported from China to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii. Many became merchants after their contracts expired and moved to this area. The ethnic makeup has alway been diverse, peaking at about 56% Chinese people in the 1900 census, and then declining.

Two major fires destroyed many buildings in 1886 and 1900. The 1900 fire was started in an attempt to destroy a building infected with bubonic Plague, which had been confirmed December 12, 1899. Schools were closed and 7000 residents of the area were put under quarantine. After 13 people died, the Board of Health ordered structures suspected of being infected to be burned. Residents were evacuated, and a few buildings were sucessfully destroyed while the Honolulu Fire Department stood by. However on January 20, 1900 the fire got out of control after winds shifted, and destroyed most of the neighborhood instead.

Many of the buildings date from 1901. Very few were over four stories tall. The natural boundary to the south is Honolulu Harbor, and to the northeast Nuuanu stream. Beretania Street is usually considered the northeastern boundary, named for the first British Consul Richard Charlton, and southeastern boundary is Nuuanu avenue. A few blocks to the east is the Hawaii Capital Historic District, and adjacent to the south is the Merchant Street Historic District.

Popular Culture: The character Charlie Chan was based on detective Chang Apana (1871–1933). Earl Derr Biggers read about Apana and based the character in Honolulu after a vacation in 1919. The character Wo Fat in the TV series Hawaii Five-O was named after a restaurant in Honolulu's Chinatown. The business first opened in 1882, but the buildig was destroyed in the 1886 fire. A new building was built after the 1900 fire, and then another in 1932. It was located at 115 North Hotel Street, The building now houses a nightclub.

 

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Cantonese Culture

Cantonese language opera exists in the form of Cantonese opera, which uses a theatrical form of Cantonese singing and rhyming patterns in its performances. The Cantonese opera tradition may date back as far as the Southern Song Dynasty in the 13th century.

Due to its political and economic status of being outside the direct control of the PRC, Hong Kong has been an active (and primary) producer of Cantonese language entertainment. Cantopop, Cantonese language pop music, enjoys a multinational fanbase, and the major center of the Cantonese music industry is in Hong Kong. Well-known Cantopop artistes include Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Faye Wong, Sammi Cheng, and Coco Lee. Many of these well known stars are Cantoneses, and from the families of other internal Chinese immigrants. Hong Kong's Cantonese-language cinema is a thriving industry that enjoys international fame. One of the world's largest motion picture industries, recent films such as Kung Fu Hustle and Infernal Affairs have generated acclaim worldwide.

Cantonese cuisine is one of the most famous types of Chinese cuisine, popular both within and outside China and is characterized by its variety of cooking methods, freshness and use of seafood. Dim sum is equally famous for its variety of small servings.

 

Cantonese Opera : Performance as Creative Process by John C. Reynolds

 

 

 

Gems from the South: Traditional Crafts of Guangdong Province by Susan Lam and Ruan Huaduan

 

 

 

Daughters of the Canton Delta: Marriage Patterns and Economic Strategies in South China, 1860-1930 by Janice Stockard

 

 

 

Paintings by Guangdong Artists by Art Museum Staff

 

 

 

 

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Cantonese Cuisine

Cantonese (Yue) cuisine comes from Guangdong Province in Southern China, or specifically from Guangzhou (Canton). Of all the regional varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is the best known outside China; most "Chinese restaurants" in Western countries serve Cantonese cuisine and dishes based on it. Its prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. In China, too, it enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country.

Traditional Dishes: A number of dishes have been a part of the Cantonese cuisine collection since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong province. While many of these are on the menus of typical Cantonese restaurants, some are more commonly found among Chinese homes due to their simplicity. Home-made Cantonese dishes are usually served with plain white rice.

• Chinese steamed eggs (蒸水蛋)
• Congee with century egg (皮蛋粥)
• Cantonese fried rice (炒饭)
• Sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉)
• Steamed spare ribs (pai gwhut) with fermented black beans and chili pepper (豉椒排骨)
• Stir-fried vegetables with meat (e.g. chicken, duck, pork, beef, or intestines) (青菜炒肉片)
• Steamed frog legs on lotus leaf (荷葉蒸田雞)
• Steamed ground pork and salted duck egg meatballs (咸蛋蒸肉饼)
• Blanched vegetables with oyster sauce (油菜)
• Stir fried water convolvulus with shredded chili and fermented tofu (椒丝腐乳通菜)

Noodle Dishes: A number of noodle dishes are part of the Cantonese cuisine. These are commonly available at dai pai dong or dim sum side menus.

Includes:

• Wonton noodle (雲吞麵)
• Chinese noodles with fish balls, beef balls, or fish slices
• Beef chow fun (乾炒牛河)
• Shahe fen (沙河粉)
• Lo mein (撈麵)
• Pan-fried crispy noodles (炒麵)

Siu Mei: Siu mei is essentially the Chinese rotisserie style of cooking. Unlike most other Cantonese dishes, Siu mei consists only of meat, with no vegetables. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor that is usually enhanced by a flavorful sauce, a different sauce is used for each meat.

• Char siu (叉烧)
• Roasted duck (燒鴨, siu ngap)
• Roasted goose (燒鵝, siu ngo)
• Roasted pig (燒肉)

Siu Laap: Just about all the Cantonese-style cooked meat including siu mei, lou mei and preserved meat can be mixed together under the generic name (燒臘, Siu laap). Siu laap also includes foods such as:

• White cut chicken (白切雞)
• Orange cuttlefish (鹵水墨魚)
• Poached duck in master stock (滷水鴨)
• Soy sauce chicken (豉油雞, si yau gai)

Dessert: After a night meal or dish, Cantonese restaurants usually offer tong sui, or sweet soups [literally meaning sugar water]. Many of the varieties are shared between Cantonese and other Chinese cuisines. Some desserts are more traditional, while others are more recent with local chef creativity. Higher end restaurants usually offer their own blend and customization of desserts.

• Red bean soup (紅豆沙)
• Black sesame soup (芝麻糊)
• Sai mai lo (西米露)
• Sweet potato soup (番薯糖水)
• Mung bean soup (綠豆沙)
• Dau fu fa (豆腐花)
• Guilinggao (龟苓膏)
• Sweet Chinese pastry (糕點)
• Coconut bar (椰汁糕)
• Shaved Ice (刨冰)
• Steamed egg custard (燉蛋)
• Steamed milk custard (燉奶)

 

Chinese Cuisine : Cantonese Style by Lee-Hwa Lin (Editor) , Veronica Lim (Translator)

 

 

 

 

Chop suey

Chop suey ('mixed pieces') is an American-Chinese dish consisting of meats (often chicken, fish, beef, shrimp or pork), cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the addition of deep-fried noodles.

Chop suey is part of American Chinese cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, and Indian Chinese cuisine. Filipinos also have their own version of chop suey. The typical Filipino-Chinese variation includes wood ear (also known as tenga ng daga in Tagalog; lit. ear of the rat), carrots and chayote along with the cabbage. Some may even include bell peppers and/or cauliflower.

Origin: Chop suey is widely believed to have been invented in America by Chinese immigrants, but in fact it appears to originate in Taishan, a district of Guangdong Province which was the home of most of the early Chinese immigrants; the Hong Kong doctor Li Shu-fan reported that he knew it in Taishan in the 1890's.

Nonetheless, there are various colorful stories about its origin, which Davidson (1999) characterizes as "culinary mythology": Some say it was invented by Chinese immigrant cooks working on the United States Transcontinental railway in the 19th century. Others say that it was invented during Qing Dynasty premier Li Hongzhang's visit to the United States in 1896 by his chef, who tried to create a dish suitable for both Chinese and American palates: when reporters asked what food the premier was eating, his cook found it difficult to explain the dishes, and replied "mixed pieces". Chop suey first appears in an American publication as early as 1898. In his popular book, The Gangs of New York (1927), Herbert Asbury attributes the Americanized version of the term to a San Francisco dishwasher, calling it a bastardized version of the Cantonese phrase tsap sui, meaning "odds and ends", "miscellaneous pieces", or more simply "hash".

Outside of Taishan, the name "chop suey" or "shap sui in Cantonese, and "za sui", when used in Mandarin, has the somewhat different meaning of cooked animal offal or entrails. For example, in the classic novel Journey to the West (c. 1590), Sun Wukong tells a lion-monster in chapter 75: "When I passed through Guangzhou (Canton), I bought a pot for cooking za sui - so I'll savour your liver, entrails, and lungs."

During his exile in the United States, Liang Qichao, a Guangdong native, wrote in 1903 that there existed in the United States a food item called chop suey which was popularly served by Chinese restaurateurs, but which local Chinese people did not eat. The term "za sui" (杂碎) is found in newer Chinese-English dictionaries with both meanings listed - cooked entrails, and chop suey in the Western sense.

This dual meaning has meant that some Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries label mixed entrails as "chop suey" on their English menus.

Varieties: Chop suey may be prepared in a variety of styles, such as chicken, beef, pork, king prawn, plain and special. Plain, or vegetable chop suey, is often one of the few traditional Chinese American take-out dishes offered without meat at many restaurants. Chop suey can also be translated as "left overs".

 

 

Dim Sum

Dim sum (literally meaning "touch the heart") is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day. Dishes come in small portions and may include meat, seafood, and vegetables, as well as desserts and fruit. The items are usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Yum cha (literally "tea drinking") is the term used to describe the dining session, especially in contemporary Cantonese. Chinese families in particular typically like to gather at Chinese restaurants for dim sum on special occasions such as Mother’s Day or Chinese New Year.

History: Travellers on the ancient Silk Road needed a place to take a nap, so teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would also go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain. People later discovered that tea can aid in digestion, so teahouse owners began adding various snacks and the tradition of dim sum evolved.

In Hong Kong, and most cities and towns in Guangdong province, many Chinese restaurants start serving as early as five in the morning. It is a tradition for the elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises, often enjoying the morning newspapers. For many southerners in China, yum cha is treated as a weekend family day. Consistent with this tradition, dim sum restaurants typically only serve dim sum until the afternoon (right around the time of a traditional Western 3 o'clock coffee break); other kinds of Cantonese cuisine are served in the evening. Nowadays, various dim sum items are sold as take-out for students and office workers on the go.

Drinking Tea: The drinking of tea is as important to dim sum as the food. A popular tea which is said to aid in digestion is bolay (pu erh), which is a strong, fermented tea. Chrysanthemum, oolong and green tea can be served as well.

It is customary to pour tea for others during dim sum before filling one's own cup. A custom unique to the Cantonese is to thank the person pouring the tea by tapping the bent index and middle fingers together on the table, which symbolises 'bowing' to them.

This is said to be analogous to the ritual of bowing to someone in appreciation. The origin of this gesture is described anecdotally: an unidentified Emperor went to yum cha with his friends, outside the palace; not wanting to attract attention to himself, the Emperor was disguised. While at yum cha, the Emperor poured his companion some tea, which was a great honour. The companion, not wanting to give away the Emperor's identity in public by bowing, instead tapped his index and middle finger on the table as sign of appreciation.

Cuisine: Traditional dim sum includes various types of steamed buns such as cha siu baau, dumplings and rice noodle rolls (cheong fun), which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed green vegetables, roasted meats, congee porridge and other soups. Dessert dim sum is also available and many places offer the customary egg tart. Having a meal in a Chinese teahouse or a dim sum restaurant is known as yum cha (飲茶), literally "drinking tea", as tea is typically served with dim sum.

Dim sum can be cooked by steaming and frying, among other methods. The serving sizes are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces in one dish. It is customary to order family style, sharing dishes among all members of the dining party. Because of the small portions, people can try a wide variety of food.

Dim sum dishes can be ordered from a menu or sometimes the food is wheeled around on a trolley by servers. Traditionally, the cost of the meal is calculated based on the number, size, and sometimes color of the dishes left on the patron's table (more below). Some modern dim sum restaurants record the dishes on a bill at the table. Not only is this tidier, it also prevents patrons from cheating by concealing or stealing the plates. Servers in some restaurants use distinct stamps so that sales statistics for each server can be recorded.

Dishes:

Sweets:

• Egg tart (蛋撻 dan tat): composed of a base made from either a flaky puff pastry type dough or a type of non-flaky cookie dough with an egg custard filling, which is then baked. Some high class restaurants put bird's nest on top of the custard. In other places egg tarts can be made of a crust and a filling of egg whites and some where it is a crust with egg yolks. Some egg tarts now have flavors such as taro, coffee, and other flavors. There are also different kinds of crust. There is also a flaky crisp outer crust with layers and layers of crunchy crumbs.
• Jin deui or Matuan (煎堆 or 麻糰): Especially popular at Chinese New Year, a chewy dough filled with red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep fried.
• Dou fu fa (豆腐花): A dessert consisting of silky tofu served with a sweet ginger-flavored syrup.
• Mango pudding (芒果布甸 mong guo bo din): A sweet, rich mango-flavoured pudding usually with large chunks of fresh mango; often served with a topping of evaporated milk.
• Sweet cream buns (奶皇包 naai5 wong4 baau1): Steamed buns with milk custard filling.
• Malay Steamed Sponge Cake (馬拉糕 ma5 lai1 gou1): A very soft steamed sponge cake flavoured with molasses.
• Longan Tofu: almond-flavoured tofu served with longans, usually cold.

 

Dim Sum : A Pocket Guide by Kit Shan Li

 

 

 

 

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Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (李小龍; born Lee Jun Fan, 李振藩; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was an actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.

Lee was born in San Francisco, California to parents of Hong Kong heritage but raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. Upon reaching the age of 18, Lee emigrated to the USA to claim his US Citizenship and receive his higher education. It was during this time he began teaching martial arts, which soon lead to film and television roles.

His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked a major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. He is noted for his roles in five feature length films, Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Bruce Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse, and The Game of Death (1978).

Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world and remains very popular among Asian people and in particular among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism through his films. While Lee initially trained in Wing Chun, he later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favoring instead to utilize useful techniques from various sources in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).

Early Life: Bruce Lee was born on 27 November 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown. His father Lee Hoi-Chuen was Chinese, and his mother Grace Ho (何愛瑜), a Catholic, was the daughter of a Chinese mother and German father. He was the fourth child of five children: Agnus, Phoebe, Peter, and Robert. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old.

Bruce's father, Lee Hoi Chuen was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time, and was embarking on a year-long Cantonese opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during the Second World War. Lee Hoi Chuen had been touring the United States for many years performing at numerous Chinese communities.

Although a number of his peers decided to stay in the US, Lee Hoi Chuen decided to go back to Hong Kong after his wife gave birth to Bruce. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived the ensuing 3 years and 8 months under Japanese occupation. The Lee family survived the war and had actually done reasonably well. After the war ended, Lee Hoi Chuen would resume his acting career and become an even bigger star during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.

Bruce Lee's mother Grace belonged to one of wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho Tungs. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho Tung, patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment. Despite this advantage of his family's status and because of the mass number of people fleeing communist China to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong neighborhood he grew up in became over-crowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries.

"Post war Hong Kong was a tough place to grow up. Gangs ruled the city streets and Lee was often forced to fight them. But Bruce liked a challenge and faced his adversaries head on. To his parents dismay Bruce's street fighting continued and the violent nature of his confrontations was escalating."

After being involved in several street fights, his parents decided that Bruce Lee needed to be trained in the martial arts. Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, Lee Hoi Cheun. He learned the fundamentals of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan from his father.