Introduction
The Ong-Be aka Lingao who lives in Hainan island was called sinicised Hlai in ancient past. They are actually a different ethnic group from the Hlai but are often confused with the earliest inhabitants of Hainan which are Hlai aka Li.Ong-Be are part of Kra-Dai people and this article explores their origin.
Homeland
One-Be people's homeland is along the northern coastal regions of Hainan around Nandu River basin. Nan-Tu is the Mandarin pronunciation for the Ong-Be words Nam (water) and Ta (river).
The mass migration of the Han Chinese into north-eastern Hainan at the end of Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) pushed them mainly to the north-western coastal region in Lingao (臨高), Chengmai (澄邁) and Qiongshan (瓊山) counties where most of them live today. Refer to yellow region of map above.
The original homeland of proto-Ong-Be people is in the south-eastern region of Guangxi near the Leizhou peninsular. Refer to map below.
The proto-One-Be people split off from the ancient Luo Yue during the Qin army invasion of their original homeland in 221-214 BC which triggered a migration to Hainan.
The Jizhao (吉兆) language spoken in Jiazhao village in Wuchuan (吳川) county in south-western Guangdong lies near this homeland and these people are the small remnants who didn't migrate to Hainan island in ancient times.
The Hlai people call the Ong-Be 'guest people' which means they migrated later than the Hlai to Hainan island. The Ong-Be people were the second ethnic group to mass migrate to Hainan from the mainland to escape from the Qin army attack around 214 BC.
The mass migration of the Han Chinese into north-eastern Hainan at the end of Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) pushed them mainly to the north-western coastal region in Lingao (臨高), Chengmai (澄邁) and Qiongshan (瓊山) counties where most of them live today. Refer to yellow region of map above.
Original homeland
The ancient Luo Yue aka Lac Viet were the ancestors of the Ong-Be people.The original homeland of proto-Ong-Be people is in the south-eastern region of Guangxi near the Leizhou peninsular. Refer to map below.
The proto-One-Be people split off from the ancient Luo Yue during the Qin army invasion of their original homeland in 221-214 BC which triggered a migration to Hainan.
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| Qin army invasion |
The Jizhao (吉兆) language spoken in Jiazhao village in Wuchuan (吳川) county in south-western Guangdong lies near this homeland and these people are the small remnants who didn't migrate to Hainan island in ancient times.
Migration into Hainan
In 111 BC, Han dynasty history books mentioned two ethnic groups living in Hainan which are the Luo Yue (駱越) and Li (俚) aka Hlai.The Hlai people call the Ong-Be 'guest people' which means they migrated later than the Hlai to Hainan island. The Ong-Be people were the second ethnic group to mass migrate to Hainan from the mainland to escape from the Qin army attack around 214 BC.
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| Migration to Hainan |
This migration happened before the merger of the Luo Yue people and Western Ou Yue people in the mainland. Thus, Ong-Be is considered a branch of Luo Yue who didn't merge with the Western Ou Yue people. Refer to 'Ethnic origin of Zhuang' for more details of the merger.
Their migration to the coastal regions of northern Hainan pushed the earliest ethnic group i.e. Hlai into the mountains in the south-west.
Central Tai subgroup
The Ong-Be language belongs to a separate branch of the Kra-Dai language family. Some linguists group Ong-Be under Be-Tai branch meaning that Ong-Be and Tai share a very close common ancestor.
Judging from their origin, they should be considered a subgroup of the Central Tai people together with the Southern Zhuang whose ancestors are also called Luo Yue (Mandarin) aka Lok Yut (Cantonese).
Judging from their origin, they should be considered a subgroup of the Central Tai people together with the Southern Zhuang whose ancestors are also called Luo Yue (Mandarin) aka Lok Yut (Cantonese).
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| Southern Zhuang |
It is interesting to note that some Ong-Be people said that they originally came from Fujian province. This relationship will be explored in another article.
Conclusion
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| Ong-Be cultural singing |
Related links
Ethnic origin of Zhuang- Lingao language《臨高語》by Liang Min 梁敏、Zhang Jun Ru 張均如
- Proto-Ong-Be Phd dissertation by Yen-ling Chen. 2018, University of Hawaii.
- Kra-Dai and the Proto-History of South China and Vietnam. By James R. Chamberlain. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 104, 2016.
- The Lingao people and Hui-An people - a mysterious relationship. By Timo Schmitz.
- https://kknews.cc/culture/omeogj6.html
- https://kknews.cc/zh-mo/culture/zp9e49l.html
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