Introduction
The Leizhou (雷州) language is the main language spoken in Leizhou Peninsular in Guangdong province. The language is also known as Donghua (東話) because it came from east of Guangdong i.e. Fujian. It is also erroneously known as Li (黎話) language meaning the language of the native Li people.It is actually a Min Chinese language unlike most regions of Guangdong province where Yue Chinese languages are spoken instead.
This article explores the historical event that caused this anomaly to happen.
Proto-Putian
The first massive Han Chinese migration into Leizhou Peninsular occurred only towards the end of Song dynasty in 1279 AD and continued to the Yuan dynasty in the 14th century.Chen Wenlong aka Tan Boon-Leong (陳文龍) was born in Putian in southern Fujian and was the highest military official in charge of both Fujian and Guangdong provinces.
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| Chen Wen Long and the heroes of Song dynasty |
His descendants Chen Baxuan (陳八宣), Chen Ruji (陳汝楫) and second cousin Chen Ruoshui (陳若水) led the Chen clan and a civilian army of more than 300,000 Putian people to assist the Song emperor to escape from the Mongol army. This is in addition to the existing 170,000 Song army from non-Fujian provinces.
Due to the persistent attacks by the Mongol army along the coast of Guangdong province, Zhang Shijie (張世傑), the military commander, first led the Song emperor and army to Naozhou (硇州) island in Leizhou Peninsular in 1277 AD and established an army base there.
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| Migration path of Leizhou Min. (inset photo) Naozhou island |
The final destination of the Song army was actually Champa Kingdom on the southern border of Vietnam but the Mongol army managed to capture Leizhou Peninsular to block their escape path further south.
In June 1278 AD, after another attack by the Mongol army, the military commander abandoned the Leizhou army base and shifted the Song army eastwards to form a new army base in Xinhui (新會).
In March 1279 AD, the Mongol army finally vanquished the Song army at the naval battle of Yamen (崖門) and the last Song emperor drowned in the sea.
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| Tragic naval battle of Yamen |
After the defeat in Xinhui, a small group remained there and became part of the Seiyap people.
However, most of the surviving civilian army from Putian escaped via the sea-route to Leizhou (雷州) prefecture and Wuchuan (吳川), Huazhou (化州) counties in Gaozhou (高州) prefecture to form the Leizhou Min people. Note that these are ancient prefectures during the Tang and Song dynasties.
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| Migration via sea-route to Leizhou Peninsular |
The survivors chose Leizhou Peninsular because they had an army base there previously and the region was relatively unpopulated and undeveloped. Moreover, this region is the southernmost coast of China situated far away from the Mongol capital and served as a relatively safe haven.
During the Yuan dynasty until 1368 AD, Putian people continued to resist against the Mongol rulers. In order to escape persecution from the Mongols, many Putian people escaped to Leizhou Peninsular due to the familiar Southern Min language spoken there and the close kinship between them.
Leizhou language
The descendants of the Song civilian army spread across the Leizhou Peninsular and neighbouring region. They interacted with the native Tai-Kadai people and their language developed into the Leizhou Min language.The Leizhou Min language became the main Chinese language spoken in modern-day Zhanjiang (湛江) prefecture in Leizhou Peninsular and a few areas in neighbouring Maoming (茂名) prefecture to the east.
The main dialects of Leizhou Min language are
- Dianbai 電白
- Lianjiang 廉江
- Suixi 遂溪
- Leizhou city 雷城 aka Haikang 海康 (prestige dialect of Leizhou Min language)
- Xuwen 徐聞
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| Dialects of Leizhou Min language |
The Xuwen dialect has a higher mutual intelligibility with Hainanese Min language; some linguists consider Xuwen to be a dialect of Hainanese Min language rather than a dialect of Leizhou Min.
Southern Min language subfamily
Leizhou Min is actually a separate language within the Southern Min language subfamily and not a dialect as traditionally perceived. It descended from Proto-Putian which was a dialect of Southern Min language.
Leizhou Min has a higher degree of mutual intelligibility with the other Southern Min languages than Hainanese although some linguists erroneously grouped them under the same language called Qiong-Lei.
Leizhou Min language has about 50% mutual intelligibility with Quanzhang aka Hokkien and also around 50% with Chaozhou aka Teochew language.
Although Hainanese Min shares more cognates with Leizhou Min but its phonology is highly divergent from traditional Southern Min languages. The differences will be explored in more details in another article on 'Origin of Hainanese language'.
The table below lists some cognates between Leizhou Min and other Southern Min languages.
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| Southern Min language family |
Leizhou Min has a higher degree of mutual intelligibility with the other Southern Min languages than Hainanese although some linguists erroneously grouped them under the same language called Qiong-Lei.
Leizhou Min language has about 50% mutual intelligibility with Quanzhang aka Hokkien and also around 50% with Chaozhou aka Teochew language.
Although Hainanese Min shares more cognates with Leizhou Min but its phonology is highly divergent from traditional Southern Min languages. The differences will be explored in more details in another article on 'Origin of Hainanese language'.
The table below lists some cognates between Leizhou Min and other Southern Min languages.
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| Comparison between Southern Min languages |
Conclusion
The ancestors of Leizhou Min people are from Southern Fujian; mostly from Putian prefecture. They migrated in large numbers to western Guangdong later than the Teochew people who also migrated in large numbers to eastern Guangdong during the Song dynasty.Related links
Origin of Teochew languagehttp://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/08/origin-of-southern-min-languages-teochew.hsotml
Origin of Seiyap
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/01/ethnic-origin-of-seiyap.html
Origin of Hainanese language
Sources
http://www.nanchens.com/xqxx/xqxx32/3201/xqxx32614.htmhttp://www.sohu.com/a/295673121_100023129
https://kknews.cc/history/3zqyyl8.html
https://kknews.cc/history/2b8q32y.html
https://kknews.cc/zh-sg/history/mpr5jnp.html
https://kknews.cc/history/grqzjll.html
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