X-Nico

12 unusual facts about Hoklo


Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau had already been settled by people from other places in Southern China; for example, Hoklo, they are mainly fishing people; Hakka people; Chiu Chau; and Yue Ca.

Hoklo

The Hoklo people, a geographically widespread cultural-linguistic group originating in southeast China (Fujian province), also called Hokkien

Taiwanese Hokkien, a variety of the Min Nan language group, also called Holo

Min Nan, the Chinese language group spoken by the Hoklo

Min Nan

The (sub)ethnic group for which Southern Min is considered a native language is known as the Holo (Hō-ló) or Hoklo, the main ethnicity of Taiwan.

Many ethnic Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Burma (Myanmar), Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) and present day Malaysia and Singapore (formerly Malaya and the British Straits Settlements).

The correspondence between language and ethnicity is generally true though not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Southern Min while some non-Hoklos speak Southern Min fluently.

Quguan

The Hoklo (or Holo) immigrated from Fujian starting in the 17th century, and brought with them informal folk music, as well as more ritualized instrumental and operatic forms, which were taught in the quguan.

Taiwanese identity

Of the 23 million people in Taiwan, most are descendants of immigrants from Fujian and identify themselves as Hoklo whilst 15% are descendants of Hakka from Guangdong (Canton) and also Fujian.

There are Taiwanese historians who believe that the Hoklo, especially, are 90%-100% direct descendants of pure lowland aborigines in Taiwan.

During the period of Martial Law, when the Kuomintang (KMT) was the only authorised party to govern Taiwan, the KMT government has "modified" Taiwan's history from a Greater China perspective and lump the pre-existing Hoklo and Hakka with the Mainlanders as Chinese, who came to Taiwan and forced aboriginal communities into the mountains.

Also, due to several government factions that ruled Taiwan prior to Japanese rule, many lowland aborigines were forcefully assimilated, and it was in their incentives to pass as Hoklo.