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Lin Zexu

 

Southern "Han"

 

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Foochow

Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

The Foochowese people are a subgroup of the Han people (also known as the ethnic Chinese). They are a Min-speaking group, and are native to Foochow, in the Fujian province of the People's Republic of China.

They are referred to as "Hockchiu" in Malaysia.

After Han China's occupation of Minyue (閩越) in 110 BC, Han people began populating in what is Fujian Province today. Having lost their nationalities, the aboriginal Minyue people, a branch of Yue peoples (百越), were gradually assimilated into Chinese culture. The Ancient Wu and Ancient Chu language brought by the mass influx of Han immigrants from Northern area gradually mixed with the local Minyue language and finally developed into the Ancient Min language, from which Fuzhou dialect evolved.

Fuzhou dialect came into being during the period somewhere between late Tang Dynasty and "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms", and has been considered by most as a Chinese dialect ever since. However, it is also worth noting that its substratum is constituted by large quantities of well-preserved Minyue vocabulary. In this sense, Fuzhou dialect is a de facto mixed language of Ancient Chinese and Minyue language.

The famous book Qī Lín Bāyīn (戚林八音), which was compiled in the 17th century, is the first and the most full-scale rime book that provides a systematic guide to character reading for people speaking or learning Fuzhou dialect. It once served to standardize the language and is still widely quoted as an authoritative reference book in modern academic research in Chinese phonology.

 

* 台湾的福州籍移民

 

 

 

Fuzhou

Map Showing City of Fuzhou (Foochow)

Fuzhou (福州; also seen as Foochow, Fuchow, Fuh-chau or Hokchew in earlier Western documents) is the capital and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian (福建) province. It is also referred to as Rongcheng (榕城) which means "city of banyan trees" and Mindong (闽东} (lit. East of Fujian) along with Ningde.

It is the capital of the province, and is situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River, which gives access to the interior and to the neighboring provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

 

History

Pre-Han: The exact foundation date of this city is not known however when the Yue Kingdom to the north of Fujian was annexed by the Chu Kingdom in 306 BC, a branch of the royal family of the defeated Yue fled to Fujian and became the Minyue (闽越) tribe.

The first city wall of Fuzhou was built in 202 BC when Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, gave permission to Wuzhu (无诸), the king of Minyue, to set up his capital in Fuzhou. The city was named Ye (冶), meaning "The Beautiful". The name has changed many times, but the city has been continuously occupied since 202 BC and has never suffered major destruction by wars or natural disasters.

The Minyue was annexed by Han in 110 BC.

Han to Song: Under the Han, Fuzhou became Ye County.

During the Jin Dynasty, West Lake, East Lake (now silted up) and numerous canals in the city were constructed (282 AD). When the Jin Dynasty collapsed, the first wave of immigrants of the gentile class arrived in Fujian (308 AD).

Hualin Temple in the original Ye city, which has been declared a national heritage site, was built in 964 AD according to documentation, but was carbon-dated to the 4th or 5th century AD. It is probably the oldest existing wooden structure in China.

During the Tang Dynasty (725 AD), the city started to be called Fuzhou.

More immigrants arrived from the north starting from 892 as the Tang Dynasty was collapsing. After the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, the Wang family managed to establish a kingdom called Min (909 – 945) with its capital in Fuzhou, then known as Changle. Min is still used as another name for the province of Fujian, in names of region such as minnan, and the river that runs through Fuzhou is called Min Jiang.

New city walls were built in 282 AD, 901 AD, 905 AD, and 974 AD, so the city had many layers of walls — more than the Chinese capital.

Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty (宋) ordered the destruction of all the walls in Fuzhou in 978 AD but new walls were rebuilt later. The latest was built in 1371 AD.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Fuzhou became more prosperous; many scholars came here to live and work. Among them were Zhu Xi (朱熹), the most celebrated Chinese philosopher after Confucius, and Xin Qiji (辛弃疾), the greatest composer of ci (a specialized form of poem).

Mongolian Yuan Dynasty: Marco Polo, an Italian guest of the Emperor Kubilai, transcribed, after the conventions of Italian orthography, the place name as Fugiu. This was not the local Min pronunciation but that of the Mandarin administrative class.

Ming: Between 1405 and 1433 AD, a fleet of the Ming Imperial navy under Admiral Zheng He sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed on the east coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to the goddess Tian-Fei (Matsu) near the seaport.

In the so-called "Fujian Palace", unearthed during runway construction in Zhanggang Town in 2001, are statues of Zheng and other navy officers -- and of Niccolò da Conti, a Venetian merchant who joined the Ming fleet in Kozhikode in 1421.

Galeote Pereira, a Portuguese soldier and trader, was taken prisoner during the pirate extermination campaign of 1549 and imprisoned here. Later transferred to a sort of internal exile elsewhere in the province, Pereira escaped to Macau in 1553. The record of his experiences in the Ming Empire, logged by the Jesuits at Goa in 1561, was the first non-clerical account of China to reach the West since Polo's.

Qing: In the 19th century, Lin Zexu, a native of Fuzhou, led an unsuccessful attempt to resist the British fleet at Canton Bay, and Lin was exiled to the Russian border. At the end of the First Opium War, Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842).

 

Galeote Pereira

Galeote Pereira was a 16th century Portuguese soldier of fortune who has left us one of the earliest accounts by a westerner of life in China's Ming Dynasty, indeed the first detailed observation of that civilisation by a non-cleric since that of Marco Polo.

Pereira and other Portuguese mercenaries defended the Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom against the invading army of King Tabinshwehti of Bago in the 1540s. Pereira engaged in smuggling along the Ming Empire's South China Seacoast, for which enterprise one notorious centre was the isle of Wuyu in Xiamen Bay. He was aboard one of two junks seized in Ming Shizong (the Jiajing Emperor)'s Pirate Extermination Campaign of 1549. Happily not among the crewmembers executed extrajudicially, Pereira and others were incarcerated at Fuzhou. During and subsequent to his trial, the detained aliens were taken out "many times .. and were brought to the palaces of noblemen to be seen of them and their wives." Finally the prisoners were despatched to live out their sentences of separate internal exile.

By 1553 Pereira, knowing nothing of the fate of the others, had made his way by bribe and stealth to his countrymen's base at Macau. In mid-February he was in the Chuanshan Archipelago, assisting at the exhumation of the incorrupt remains of Francis Xavier. Sometime in the eight years following his reappearance at Macau, Pereira wrote down his tale of prison and exile (and hearsay) in the Ming Empire. His account was logged at the Goa Inquisition in 1561, and a copy of it appendixed in that year's report. Fernão Mendes Pinto's Peregrinação ("Pilgrimage", 1614) depends heavily on Pereira at several points.

 

Culture

Fuzhou, also known as the City of Banyan after the many Banyan trees that dot the city landscape, may not be as rich in history as some other ancient Chinese cities but still boasts a fair number of historical sights.

People in Fuzhou mostly speak Min Dong (閩東語̄) and Fuzhou dialect is consider the standard form of Min Dong language.

Min opera, known as Fuzhou drama, is one of major operas in Fujian Province. It enjoys a good popularity in Fuzhou, Middle Fujian, East Fujian and North Fujian where Fuzhou dialect is spoken, as well as in Taiwan and Malay Archipelago. It became a fixed opera in the early 20th Century. There are more than 1000 plays of Min Opera, most of which originates from folk tales, historical novels or ancient legends, including such traditional plays as "Making Seal", "The Purple Jade Hairpin" and "Switching Fairy Peach with Litchi".

 

姓氏

根據2006年的人口數據，福州人口最多的首十個姓氏依次是林、陳、黃、鄭、王、張、李、吳、劉、楊。這個排名與全國十大姓頗為不同，但與鄰近的台灣相近。

 

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Fuzhou Dialect

 

Fuzhou dialect (福州話), also known as Foochow dialect, Foochow, Foochowese, Fuzhounese, or Fuzhouhua, is considered the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it Bàng-uâ (平話), meaning the language spoken in everyday life. In Singapore and Malaysia, the language is known as Hokchiu, which is the Min Dong pronunciation of Fuzhou.

Although traditionally called a dialect, Fuzhou dialect is actually a separate language according to linguistic standards, because it is not mutually intelligible with other Min languages, let alone other Chinese languages. Therefore, whether Fuzhou dialect is a dialect or a language is highly disputable.

Centered in Fuzhou City, Fuzhou dialect mainly covers eleven cities and counties, viz.: Fuzhou (福州), Pingnan (屏南), Gutian (古田), Luoyuan (羅源), Minqing (閩清), Lianjiang (連江, Matsu included), Minhou (閩侯), Changle (長樂), Yongtai (永泰), Fuqing (福清) and Pingtan (平潭). Fuzhou dialect is also the second local language in northern and middle Fujian cities and counties, like Nanping (南平), Shaowu (邵武), Shunchang (順昌), Sanming (三明) and Youxi (尤溪).

Fuzhou dialect is also widely spoken in some regions abroad, especially in Southeastern Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The city of Sibu in Malaysia is called "New Fuzhou" due to the influx of immigrants there in the early 1900s. Similarly, the language has spread to the USA, UK and Japan as a result of immigration in recent decades.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou society had been largely monolingual. But for decades the Chinese government has discouraged the use of the colloquial in school education and in media, so the number of Mandarin speakers has been greatly boosted. It is reported that merely less than half of the children and youngsters in Fuzhou are able to speak this language.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that Fuzhou dialect is currently widely spoken among some native speakers as an "endearing" language. Speaking Fuzhou dialect in Fuzhou often allows mutual speakers a certain level of familiarity. Even though Mandarin Chinese is more often heard in casual conversations on the city streets, the careful observer will notice that in more communal settings, such as small neighborhoods in the city or the surrounding countryside, Fuzhou dialect is often the dominant language.

In Mainland China, Fuzhou dialect has been officially listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage and its promotion work is being systematically carried out. In Matsu, Taiwan, the teaching of Fuzhou dialect has been successfully introduced into elementary schools, alongside the Taiwanese localization movement.

 

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Min (Ten Kingdoms)

Min (閩) was one of the Ten Kingdoms which was in existence between the years of 909 and 945. It existed in a mountainous region of modern day Fujian province and had a history of quasi-independent rule. Its capital was Fuzhou 福州. It was founded by Wang Shenzhi (王审知).

Wang Shenzhi’s father was given the title of Surveillance Commissioner in 892. Wang Shenzhi himself was named military commissioner, and in 909, in the wake of the collapse of the Tang Dynasty two years earlier, named himself the Prince of Min. Wang Shenzhi’s son declared himself the Emperor of Min in 933. At that point, his father was posthumously named Min Taizu.

The capital of the Min Kingdom was Changle, now known as Fuzhou. The kingdom was essentially limited to modern-day Fujian Province in China’s southeast.

The territory of the Min was relatively isolated and rugged, thus not as economically prosperous as other regions of the Chinese realm. The Min court attempted to attract scholars that would assist in constructing an effective bureaucratic and tax system to bring the kingdom up to contemporary standards. Maritime trade developed over this period of time. This would set the stage for a successful regional maritime trade that could continue during future Chinese dynasties.

In 943, one of Wang Shenzhi’s sons rebelled and declared independence from the Min in the northwest of the territory of the kingdom. The Min court asked the Southern Tang for assistance in quelling the rebellion in Yin. Rather than assisting the Min government, the Southern Tang came in and absorbed the territory into its own holdings.

Seeing the threat posed by the Southern Tang, the Min court declared its allegiance to the Wuyue kingdom to its north. However, this did not stop the Southern Tang from marching in and incorporating the remainder of the Min Kingdom into its holdings in 945

 

Sovereigns in Min (Ten Kingdoms) Kingdom 909-945 (including Yin (943-945)

Temple Names ( Miao Hao 廟號 miao4 hao4)	Posthumous Names ( Shi Hao 諡號 )	Personal Names	Period of Reigns	Era Names (Nian Hao 年號) and their according range of years
太祖	忠懿王 zhong1 yi4 wang2	王審知	909-925	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	王延翰	925-926	Did not exist
Tai Zong (太宗)	Hui Di (惠帝 hui4 di4)	王延鈞	926-935	Longqi (龍啟) 933-935 Yonghe (永和) 935
Kang Zong (康宗)	Too tedious thus not used when referring to this sovereign	王繼鵬	935-939	Tongwen (通文) 936-939
Jing Zong (景宗)	Too tedious thus not used when referring to this sovereign	王延羲	939-944	Yonglong (永隆) 939-944
Did not exist	Tian De Di (天德帝) (as Emperor of Yin)	王延政	943-945	Tiande (天德) 943-945

 

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Western Influence in Fujian

That people from the Western hemisphere have been visiting China from before the Christian era is beyond doubt. The first known name of a westerner is that of Alopen and he came from Syria in about 635. He may have been a Nestorian priest and his visit is recorded on the Nestorian Stone tablet, now in Xi’an. But before that it is recorded that an unnamed ambassador from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius arrived in Beijing in 166. The scarcity of records of Western visitations means little, since it is known for example that the upper classes in the Tang dynasty favored the employment of westerners as servants. When Alopen arrived in Chang An (Xi’an) it is very unlikely that he would find himself the sole representative of a foreign land as did many later arrivals in the last couple of centuries.

The first tangible record, for what it is worth, of Westerners in Fuzhou is that of Marco Polo, in about 1285 when he visited Fujiu. He observed that the people were the subjects of Kublai Khan, were ‘idolaters’, and much engaged in commerce and manufacture. ‘In these parts the tigers are of great size and strength. Ginger and galangal are produced in great quantities as well as other drugs.’ He did not seem to be very impressed with Fuzhou and barely gives the city a mention other than to remark that, ‘The people in this part of the country are addicted to eating human flesh, esteeming it more delicate than any other, provided that the person has not been occasioned by disease … They are a most savage race of men, insomuch that when they slay their enemies in battle, they are anxious to drink their blood and afterwards they devour their flesh.’

Given that Marco Polo dictated his book in prison several years after he returned from China, the accuracy of his remarks may be suspect. Either his memory was clouded by that time, or his ghost writer was more imaginative than he was. Some suggest that he did not visit this part of China at all. Nevertheless, he was impressed with Quanzhou (Zaiton), two hundred kilometres to the south of Fuzhou and according to Marco Polo, fifteen miles from Guangzhou. He claims to have visited Quanzhou, after leaving Fuzhou and making a detour that takes in Guilin and Guangzhou. He found Quanzhou to be a bustling port, was impressed by the quantity of pepper imports and noted that sugar was produced.

"There is a remarkable passage by Rustichello of Pisa, the "as-told-to" author of The Travels of Marco Polo, that appears to have escaped the attention of Jewish historians altogether. It tells how, when Messer Maffeo, Marco's uncle, and Messer Marco himself were in the city of Fu-Chau, there was in their company a certain Saracen who spoke to them as follows: "In such-and-such a place there is a community whose religion nobody knows. It is evidently not idolatrous, since they keep no idols. They do not worship fire. They do not profess Mahomet. And they do not appear to observe the Christian order. I suggest that we should go and have a talk with them. "Marco Polo and his uncle did just that. At first, writes Rustichello, the members of this mysterious community were reluctant to talk, for they were afraid that their visitors had been sent by the Great Khan to make this investigation in order to get them into trouble. But Maffeo and Marco attended the place regularly day after day, familiarizing themselves with these people and inquiring about their affairs. They discovered that they did indeed hold the Christian faith. For they possessed books and Maffeo and Marco, poring over them, began to interpret the writing. Translating it word by word from one language to another, till they found that they were the words of the Psalter.

A Psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms and which often contains other devotional material. Psalms (Hebrew: Tehilim‎, תהילים, or "praises") is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament), included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim.

They inquired from what source they had received their faith and their rule; and their informants replied: "From our forefathers." It came out that they had in a certain temple of their three pictures representing three apostles of the seventy who went through the world, preaching. They declared that it was these three who had instructed their ancestors in this faith long ago, and that it had been preserved among them for 700 years. For a long time they had been without teaching, so that they were "ignorant of the cardinal doctrines." In other words, it seems that their ancestors in China were practicing a form of Judaism but were unaware of the events of the Christian era.

The Moroccan traveller Ebn-e Batutta visited the port of Zaytun - (modern day Quanzhou) and still known as Citong - in the mid-fourteenth century. He encountered a certain Shaykh Borhã noddin who gathered donations for the Sufi congregation of the Shrine of Abu Es’hã q-e Kã zeruni in Kã zerun, Iran.

During the period of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, China was open for trade and foreign intercourse of all kinds, including religious tolerance. The Jesuits were most successful in introducing Christianity, but the inroads made and the accumulated trust that might just have encouraged trade were lost when the Pope decided to undo a couple of hundred years of the work of his missionaries by countermanding their acceptance of ancestor worship.

The Mongol empire fell and China officially closed its doors to foreign trade for 500 years. Many tried to engage in trade throughout the Ming and the early parts of the Qing dynasties, but the Chinese simply did not require to trade with the West or any other foreign trader, being satisfied that their own products satisfied their needs. For centuries the West failed to appreciate the validity of such a position and did not recognise the highly sophisticated systems that existed for trade and commerce in China. In 1000 years the only contribution that the West made was through the correction of the calendar by the Jesuits. Many an Emperor told Western ambassadors that he was not interested in the gadgets and toys that the West had to offer.

It was not until the 17th Century that Fujian started to feel pressure from the West to trade. The first probably came in the form of the Portuguese based in Macao who were not averse to raiding and pillaging along the southeast coast. When Portuguese influence was in decline, the Dutch in 1602 made their mark when the viceroy of Fujian Province reported to the Court in Beijing that the ‘Hong Mao’ (Red heads), had attempted to establish a base. He reported to the Emperor that they had been dissuaded from doing so. Whether they established a base or not, the Dutch were apparently in Fuzhou long enough to be able to make an extraordinarily detailed and accurate survey of the mouth of the Min River and Fuzhou District, as shown on Bellini's map of 1773 'suivant les Hollandois'. The Dutch were evidently in Fuzhou for some considerable time and were accepted by the Chinese generally. One could hardly create such a chart without the consent and assistance of the local people. This map and others created in the 16th to 18th centuries suggest that foreigners were in China in considerable numbers, sufficient to map accurately much of mainland China and not only the coastal areas.

In the ensuing years from the visit of Marco Polo and the opening of Fuzhou as a Treaty port in 1843, there were many other foreign visitors to Fuzhou, but there is little in the literature other than intense mapping, to mark such occasions. The reasons for this may be twofold. The first is the positioning of Fuzhou City. Fuzhou was established in 202 BC as the City of Ye. It is surrounded by mountains and the approach to the city by sea is through a narrow swift flowing passage of the Min River that is difficult to navigate. Furthermore, by land routes Fuzhou was, as it is now, the end of the line and not part of any major trading route. The second reason is that the only foreign trade port permitted in China was Guangdong (Canton) and foreigners were not supposed to be roaming freely around China.

Immediately before the First Opium War there was considerable visible activity. Opium receiving stations of the great trading houses floated offshore Fuzhou and handled about $2 million of business annually by the mid 1840s - before the port was officially opened.

Problems for the Chinese with foreigners started in the late 18th Century. The British East India Company trading in India, China and Indonesia was prohibited by protectionist Acts of Parliament from importing into Britain any textiles, silks and the like, that would compete with local industry. This left the Company with only tea as a commodity of importance that could be sold in Britain. Since China demanded in exchange for tea, only gold or silver and would not accept any trade materials other than materials from India, the company was left with a serious imbalance in their dealings. From 1792 to 1807 imports to England were valued at 27 million pounds while exports to China were worth only 16 million pounds.

At first diplomatic representations to the Court were made, first by Lieutenant-Colonel Cathcart in 1788 who died on the way to China, and then by Lord Macartney in 1792. Lord Macartney was unsuccessful in obtaining any of the concessions that the Company had hoped for from the Chinese Government and the Company had to take other measures to improve the balance of trade. Two products from India found acceptance in China, one was raw cotton and the other was opium. As the Chinese took up the use of opium for recreational rather than medicinal purposes, imports increased from 600 cases in 1750 to 5000 cases in 1815. In that year a further attempt was made to open trade by diplomatic means through Lord Amherst. He was even less successful than Lord Macartney.

Nonetheless, attempts were made to trade in Fujian before Fuzhou was 'officially' opened to trade. In 1832 the redoubtable Prussian missionary doctor cum diplomat interpreter and later opium trader Karl Friedrich August Gutslaff visited Fuzhou with Captain Lindsey of the British ship Lord Amherst. Lindsey managed to sell some of his trade goods but Gutslaff distributed Christian tracts 'to eager and grateful readers'. Gutslaff also reported that the common people were very friendly, but they received a less friendly welcome from the City’s officials.

By 1825 the balance of trade had swung in the other direction, wherein the demand for silver to pay for opium was beginning to affect the national economy. The trade in opium was made illegal in 1798 but little was done to enforce the law. In 1838 the Emperor appointed Lin Zexu, a highly respected official from Fuzhou to put a halt to the opium trade. Lin had gained some credibility as an honest dealer through the suppression of salt smuggling.

Lin first appealed to the populous to stop using opium, and to the Chinese traders to stop dealing in opium with foreign traders. He even wrote to Queen Victoria threatening to cut off the trade in tea and rhubarb. He felt that to withhold the laxative might bring the constipated nation to reason. In 1839 Lin Zexu finally took decisive action. He demanded that the dealers hand over their opium but for six weeks they refused to comply. He tried to arrest Lancelot Dent, one of the major opium dealers and then blockaded the factories. The dealers persuaded by the British resident handed over some three million pounds of raw opium that Lin Zexu contrived with some difficulty to destroy.

By a curious sleight of mind, the opium traders persuaded the British Government that it was unreasonable to destroy the goods that they intended to smuggle into China. The British Superintendent of Trade in China wrote to the ‘Minister of the Emperor of China’ protesting against the violent outrages against British residents. In response, in June 1840, the British, with 4,000 troops backed by four armed steam ships, blockaded Guangzhou’s harbour and so the First Opium War began. The war ended after the British supported by a number of other nations looking for spoils, had destroyed defences in Guangzhou and Tianjin, and had taken part of Guangzhou city. The Treaty of Nanjing was signed in August 1842. This treaty stipulated the opening of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai to Foreign trade and the ceding of Hong Kong in perpetuity. The treaty provisions were then extended to the Americans, the French and later to other nations. From that time on, but only for another twenty or so years, the name of the city of Fuzhou – or Foochow - became well recognised in England.

 

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Fuzhou Diaspora

 

Hainanese and Eastern Min in Singapore

This group constitutes 5% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Of them, the majority are Hainanese, from Hainan, speaking Hainanese.

The others, who included the Hockchew (Fuzhou), Hockchia and the Hinghwas, who came from Northeastern Fujian and Southern Zhejiang. They spoke various Eastern Min languages. As late-comers to Singapore (late 19th century), most of them worked as shop helpers, chefs, and waiters in the hospitality sector. Hainanese Chicken Rice is a famous dish.

The Singaporean Hainanese were also known for their Western food, as many of the early Hainanese migrants worked as cooks on European ships.

 

 

Sibu, Sarawak

Sibu is a town, and the capital of Sibu District in Sibu Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia. It is located at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers, some 60 kilometers from the ocean. The population is dominated by Chinese especially the Fuzhou as well as indigenous Melanau, Malay, and Iban.

Sibu has a reputation as a rough, frontier town on the riverside. Even today, it is one of the most bustling towns in East Malaysia. It was originally called “New Foochow” after the Foochow (福州) immigrants from the Fujian province of China, who settled in Sibu in the early 20th century at the invitation of Rajah Charles Brooke. However, there were many ethnic groups immigrant from China at that time, such as Heng Hua (兴化), Hokkien (福建) and others. These people brings a lot of positive changes to Sibu town, putting effort to make a greater SIBU. The new settlement was located next to a small Melanau village that had been established in the 1850s. The first group of Chinese immigrants from Fuzhou,China , led by Pastor Wong Nai Siong (黄乃裳牧师), reached Sarawak in year 1900.

With the Rajang River becoming increasingly bustling with economic activity, Sibu served an important role in the Brooke administration as a trading centre between the coast and the vast upriver hinterland. Sibu continues to fulfill this role today.

Sibu Fort, which was built by Rajah Brooke in 1862, and once located at Race Course Road, no longer exists.

There are a few cultural attractions of the local Chinese community, especially the Foochows. The Sungai Merah Heritage Walk is a landscaped park situated in a township called Sungai Merah where the earliest Foochow settlers first landed when they arrived in 1902. The Foochow Centennial Celebration Building commemorates 100 years of Foochow immigration to Sibu. Another landmark of Sibu is the century old Tua Pek Kong Temple with Sibu’s landmark 7-storey pagoda. Sibu Gateway, which is located on Pedada Road and Kampung Nyabor Road, houses displays of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals.

 

 

Chinatown, Manhattan

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 Guangzhou 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. A significant portion are from Fuzhou, Fujian province, so they are native speakers of the Fuzhou dialect. 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 in the eastern portion of Manhattan's Chinatown which started on East Broadway and later on emerging onto other streets in the eastern portion of Manhattan's Chinatown, however their influx has slowed down a lot since then and now the Fuzhou population is almost as dominant as the Cantonese population in Manhattan's Chinatown. After the Fuzhou influx slowed down, their influx then later on shifted over to Brooklyn's Chinatown on 8th avenue which was traditionally an almost completely Cantonese community like all Chinatowns and now the Fuzhou influx is increasing a lot more quickly in Brooklyn's Chinatown than in Manhattan's Chinatown. With Brooklyn's Chinatown much more smaller size than in Manhattan's Chinatown, the Fuzhou influx has had a lot more better success than in Manhattan's Chinatown in overpopulating the Cantonese population in Brooklyn's Chinatown and it is now on it's way of surpassing the already Fuzhou population in Manhattan's Chinatown and it is more than likely expected that Brooklyn's Chinatown will become a much more established and bigger Fuzhou Community than the one in the eastern portion of Manhattan's Chinatown.

Snakeheads (蛇頭) are Chinese gangs that smuggle people to other countries. They are found in the Fujian region of China and smuggle their customers into wealthier Western countries in Western Europe, North America or Australasia. The rate of payment for successful smuggling can be as high as US$50,000. Snakeheads use various methods to get their customers to the West. They may employ the use of stolen or altered passports, improperly obtained visas, and bribes to move people from nation to nation until they arrive at their final destination.

One notable Snakehead member is Cheng Chui Ping or "Sister Ping".

* 紐約50萬福州人受社區關注 by www.ntdtv.com

* Journey to the Golden Mountain

* Clinical, Social, and Service Use Characteristics of Fuzhounese Undocumented Immigrant Patients by Samuel Law, et al.

* Forbidden Workers and the U.S. Labor Movement: Fuzhounese in New York City by Peter Kwong

 

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Notable Fuzhounese

 

沈葆禎

沈葆禎，福建省閩侯縣人，清末重臣，諡文肅。葆禎妻林普晴是清朝著名大臣林則徐的女兒。沈葆禎是晚清「同治中興」時洋務運動的重臣之一，先後曾任總理船政大臣及南洋大臣。

1874年牡丹社事件時被清廷任命為欽差大臣到台灣督辦軍務。在其任內曾修築今台南市內的億載金城，廢除限制漢人渡台禁令。

牡丹社事件: 1874年5月，日本派兵攻打台灣，清廷聞訊後派遣時任福建船政大臣的沈葆楨，緊急前往台灣籌辦防務。不久之後，清廷獲知日軍已登陸台灣，且與原住民發生激戰，因此改授沈葆楨為「欽差辦理台灣等處海防兼理各國事務大臣」，將福建所有鎮、道歸其節制，江蘇、廣東沿海各口輪船准其調遣，以便與日本及各國按約交涉。沈葆楨受命後，便與福州將軍文煜、閩浙總督兼署福建巡撫李鶴年聯合上奏，提出聯外交、儲利器、儲人才、通消息等四項要求，清廷均予以嘉許，並命迅速辦理。

6月，沈葆楨與福建布政使潘霨一同來台。沈葆楨以軍備刻不容緩，府城為根本之地，遂於安平興建砲台，置放西洋巨砲以為防禦（即「億載金城」），同時派兵分駐枋寮、東港等地，並請調淮軍最精銳的武毅銘軍（劉銘傳部）唐定奎部隊六千餘人，及總兵張其光、吳光亮等洋槍隊及粵勇共八千餘人先後抵台，積極備戰。

雖然此時台灣情勢一觸即發，但清廷本身海防空虛，新疆回亂未平，不希望與日本發生正面衝突；日本也因飽受台灣南部瘴癘之氣所苦，同時並未具備大規模對外征戰能力，雙方遂簽訂北京專約，日軍撤離台灣。

行政區劃的調整: 牡丹社事件後，沈葆楨決定在日軍登陸的瑯嶠地區設置恆春縣，同時奏請在台灣北部設立台北府，將淡水廳及噶瑪蘭廳分別改為淡水縣及宜蘭縣。另將淡水廳頭前溪以南地區單獨劃設為新竹縣，雞籠地區單獨設廳，並改名為基隆。於是大甲溪以北地區新設台北府，下設淡水、新竹、宜蘭三縣及基隆廳，以淡水縣為附郭縣，使北部在行政組織上的比重大為增強，以配合其在台灣開港以後的迅速發展。

除北部外，沈葆楨為解決台灣行政組織與移墾開發速度脫節的問題，也對中南部的行政區劃加以調整。由於當時嘉義縣南部的曾文溪以南地區距離縣治過遠，且為加強台灣府之附郭縣台灣縣的轄境，因此將此一地區劃入台灣縣。此外又將彰化縣埔里地區單獨設立埔里社廳，改「北路撫民理蕃同知」為「中路撫民理蕃同知」，移駐埔里。另在後山地區設置卑南廳，移「南路撫民理蕃同知」駐守。於是大甲溪以南的中南部地區仍設台灣府，下轄彰化縣、嘉義縣、台灣縣、鳳山縣、恆春縣五縣及埔里社廳、澎湖廳、卑南廳三廳。

開山「撫蕃」: 沈葆楨除奏請增設台北府，以平衡南北地位的失調外，也亟思改善台灣前山、後山的地形阻隔、交通困難的問題。他認為開山、「撫蕃」必須同時進行，且必須積極開發後山地區，以免為外人所佔，因此他急於打通前後山的通道，分北路、中路、南路同時進行。北路由噶瑪蘭廳蘇澳至花蓮奇萊，共計205里、中路由彰化林圮埔至花蓮璞石閣，共計265里，以及南路由屏東射寮至台東卑南，共計214里，其中中路即是三路中碩果僅存，現今為國家一級古蹟的八通關古道。

沈葆楨所謂的「撫蕃」，乃是有計畫的使「蕃」民漢化，其所擬定的計畫包括選土目、查蕃戶、定蕃業、通語言、禁仇殺、設「蕃學」、修道路、易冠服等。他在開山深入山地之時，道路所經之處，隨時隨地招撫當地「蕃社」，使其承諾願意接受漢化，不再以武力狙殺漢人，若有不服招撫或仍以武力抵抗者，便以兵力展開討伐。

此外，沈葆楨認為若要徹底落實「撫蕃」工作，則必須將過去限制漢人攜眷入台、禁止漢人偷渡、禁止漢人進入山地、禁止漢人娶原住民女子為妻等禁令加以解除，否則漢人對山地的開墾仍將裹足不前。因此沈葆楨於1875年2月奏准解除對台灣的一切禁令。

 

 

Lin Zexu

Photo by RK Chin, A Journey Through Chinatown

Lin Zexu (林則徐) was a Chinese scholar and official during the Qing dynasty. He is most recognized for his conduct and his constant position on the "high moral ground" in his fight, as a "shepherd" of his people, against the opium trade in Guangzhou. Although the non-medicinal consumption of opium was banned by Emperor Yongzheng in 1729, by the 1830s China's economy and society were being seriously affected by huge imports of opium from British and other traders based in the city. Lin's forceful opposition to the trade on moral and social grounds is considered to be the primary catalyst for the First Opium War of 1839–42. Because of this firm stance, he has subsequently been considered as a role model for moral governance, particularly by Chinese people.

Early Life and Career: Lin was born in Fuzhou, in Fujian province. In 1811, he received the Jinshi degree, the highest in the imperial examinations, and the same year, he was appointed to the prestigious Hanlin Academy. He rose rapidly through various grades of provincial service and became Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei in 1837, where he launched an opium suppression campaign.

Campaign to Suppress Opium: A formidable bureaucrat known for his competence and high moral standards, Lin was sent to Guangdong as imperial commissioner by the Daoguang Emperor in late 1838 to halt the illegal importation of opium from the British. He arrived in March 1839 and made a huge impact on the opium trade within a matter of months. He arrested more than 1,700 Chinese opium dealers and confiscated over 70,000 opium pipes. He initially attempted to get foreign companies to forfeit their opium stores in exchange for tea, but this ultimately failed and Lin resorted to using force in the western merchants' enclave. It took Lin a month and a half before the merchants gave up nearly 1.2 million kilograms (2.6 million pounds) of opium. 500 workers laboured for 22 days in order to destroy all of it, mixing the opium with lime and salt and throwing it into the ocean outside of Humen Town. Finally, Lin pressured the Portuguese government of Macau to deport the British, resulting in their settlement of then still barren Hong Kong.

Lin also wrote an extraordinary "memorial" (摺奏), by way of open letter published in Canton, to Queen Victoria of Britain in 1839 urging her to end the opium trade. The letter is filled with Confucian concepts of morality and spirituality. As a representative of the Imperial court, Lin adopts a position of superiority and his tone is condescending, despite the British clearly having the upper hand when the event is examined with hindsight. His primary line of argument is that China is providing Britain with valuable commodities such as tea, porcelain, spices and silk, while Britain sends only "poison" in return. He accuses the "barbarians" (i.e. private merchants) of coveting profit and lacking morality. His memorial expressed a desire that Victoria would act "in accordance with decent feeling" and support his efforts. He writes:

We find that your country is sixty or seventy thousand li from China. Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of making a great profit. The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience?

—Lin Zexu, Open letter addressed as if to the "King" of England but only published in Canton (1839)

The memorial was never delivered to the queen, though it was later published in The Times. Open hostilities between China and Britain started in 1839.

Exile in Xinjiang: Lin made significant preparation for war against the possible British invasion. As a result the British force was defeated numerous times in the battles in the Canton region. The British force was compelled to sail north to attack JiangSu and Zhejiang. The governors of these two provinces failed to heed a warning from Lin, however. As a result, they were unprepared, and the British easily landed and occupied Dinghai.

Because of this defeat, and also because of the corrupt political structure of the Qing Dynasty, Lin was used as a scapegoat for these losses. He was replaced by Qishan in September 1840. As punishment for his failures, Lin was demoted and sent to exile in Ili in Xinjiang. However, the Chinese government still considered Lin to be an official of rare virtue and eventually reinstated him to take care of several difficult situations.

While in Xinjiang, Lin was the first Chinese scholar to take note of several aspects of Muslim culture there. In 1845 he noted in a poem that the Muslims in Ili did not worship idols, but bowed and prayed to tombs decorated with poles that had the tails of cows and horses attached to them. This was the widespread shamanic practice of erecting a tugh, but this was its first recorded appearance in Chinese writings. He also recorded several Kazakh oral tales, such as one concerning a green goat spirit of the lake whose appearance is a harbinger of hail or rain.

Death and Legacy: He died in 1850 while on the way to Guangxi, where the government was sending him to help put down the Taiping Rebellion. He was a patriot of ability who attained an international reputation as "Commissioner Lin." He was opposed to the opening of the country but felt the need of a better knowledge of foreigners, which drove him to collect much material for a geography of the world. He later gave this material to Wei Yuan, who published an Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms (Hǎiguó túzhì 海國圖志) in 1844.

June 3, the day when Lin confiscated the crates of opium, is celebrated as Anti-Smoking Day in the Republic of China in Taiwan. Manhattan's Chatham Square, in Chinatown, contains a statue of Lin, commemorating his early struggle against drug use. Although he has in essence led the war against the debilitating drug with some initial success, with the arrest of 1,700 opium dealers and destruction of 2.6 million pounds of opium, he had been made the scapegoat for the actions leading to British retaliation, and ultimately failing to stem the tide of opium import and use in China. Nevertheless, Lin Zexu is popularly viewed as a hero of superlative conduct and national service, and whose likeness have been immortalized at various locations around the world.

Despite the antagonism between the Chinese and the British at the time, the renowned English sinologist Herbert Giles, who was active in the later period of the century and was the co-creator of Wade-Giles transliteration, praised and admired Lin. He wrote: "He was a fine scholar, a just and merciful official and a true patriot." A wax statue of Lin also appeared in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London.

Influence: Although he was not seen as such until well into the twentieth century, Lin Zexu is now seen as a National hero for Chinese people; no less than three films have been made on his role in the Opium Wars; and he is now one of the symbols of modern China's resistance to European imperialism.