Introduction
This article talks about the Southern Min Chinese people in Taiwan and not the natives. The native Taiwanese is narrated in another article.
Earliest Han Chinese kingdom
The earliest Han Chinese kingdom in Taiwan was named Tungning kingdom (東寧) which ruled from 1661-1683 AD. The capital of this kingdom was called East Capital (東都).
The founder Zheng Cheng Gong (鄭成功) aka Koxinga (國姓爺) was a Southern Ming dynasty's general whose hometown was in Quanzhou of Southern Fujian.
His aim was to drive the Manchu people out from China and reestablish the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD). However, he failed and the Manchu Qing dynasty annexed Taiwan in 1683 AD and incorporated it as part of Fujian province.
First wave
From 1624-1630 AD, Gu Xi Qi (顏思齊) and Zheng Zhi Long (鄭芝龍) led the first group of Han Chinese from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou respectively to migrate to Taiwan due to severe drought and starvation. |
| Zheng Zhi Long |
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| Zheng Cheng Gong |
Second wave
In 1683 AD, Taiwan became part of Fujian province under the Qing dynasty rule. There was continuous migration from southern Fujian until 1811 AD even after Taiwan became part of Fujian province.
In 1887 AD, Qing dynasty upgraded Taiwan to become a separate province from Fujian.
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| Original homeland |
Southern Min speakers constitute the largest Han Chinese subgroup at around 70% of total Taiwanese Chinese today. Out of these Southern Min speakers, 45% came from Quanzhou, 35% came from Zhangzhou and 16% came from Chaozhou.
Han Chinese migration - other groups
History repeated itself during the Chinese civil war (1927-1949 AD) when the previous Chinese government led by Chiang Kai Shek (蔣介石) fled to Taiwan after losing the war with the People's Republic of China communist party in 1949 AD.
This second wave of Han Chinese are called external-provincial people (外省人) and are mostly Mandarin speakers in Taiwan today. They comprise the third largest subgroup of Han Chinese in Taiwan after the Southern Min and Hakka.
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| Chiang Kai Shek's statue |
Taiwanese Min language
Taiwanese Southern Min language became the defacto standard language for Han Chinese in Taiwan until recently when it was replaced by Mandarin in the late 20th century. In formal term, the language is called Min-Nan (Southern Min) or informally as Tai-Yu (Taiwanese language).
Taiwanese Min is a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialect and is highly intelligible to Xiamen Min which is also a mixture of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.
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| Map of Fujian |
However, the main difference between the two dialects is that Taiwanese Min contains some Japanese loanwords due to the Japanese rule of Taiwan during 1895-1945 AD when the Taiwanese Chinese were forced to learn Japanese language in schools.
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English |
Xiamen Min |
Chinese characters |
Taiwanese Min |
Japanese pronunciation |
| Addressing aunt |
Ah Ee | 阿姨 | O-pa-san | Obasan/おばさん |
| Addressing uncle | Ah Tsik | 阿叔 | O-tsi-san | Ojisan/おじさん |
| Boxed meal | Peng-Ap | 飯盒 | Pien-Tong | Bento/弁当 |
| Signboard | Tsio-Pai |
招牌 | Khan-Pan | Kanban/かんばん |
Conclusion
The Taiwanese Min Chinese, who came from Southern Fujian, are not the natives of Taiwan; they came as recently as the 17th century AD. They are the majority ethnic group in Taiwan today. |
| Dragon boat in Taiwan |
Sources
Related links
Origin of Hokkien languageOrigin of Hainanese Min language
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