Fuzhou people

Fuzhou people or the Fuzhounese (Chinese: 福州人; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciŭ-nè̤ng), also known as, Foochowese, Hokchew, Hokchia, Hokchiu, Fuzhou Shiyi people (福州十邑人), Eastern Min or Mindong refer to Chinese who originate from the Fuzhou and Mindong regions and the Gutian and Pingnan counties of Fujian province and Matsu Islands. Fuzhounese are a part of the Min Chinese-speaking group that speaks Eastern Min or specifically Fuzhou dialect. There is also a significant overseas Fuzhounese population, particularly distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, United States (Fuzhou Americans), Singapore and the United Kingdom.[2]

Native location of Fuzhounese people (includes Gutian County and Pingnan County which are unrepresented in this map.
Fuzhounese people
  • 福州人
  • 福州儂 (Hók-ciŭ-nè̤ng)
  • 福州十邑儂
Hockchew women in Bible Women's Training School during a women's class in Fuzhou, 1873.
Total population
~10,000,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Fuzhou language (Min county dialect 闽县话 (prestige), Gutian dialect 古田话, Ningde dialect 宁德话 and Fuqing dialect 福清话)
Religion
Atheism, Chinese folk religions (including Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and others), Chinese Buddhism, non religious, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Fuzhou Americans, Putian people, Hoklo people, Ancient Minyue people† and other Han Chinese

Language
Main article: Fuzhou dialect

Fuzhou dialect is a tonal language that has extensive sandhi rules in the initials, rimes, and tones. These complicated rules make Fuzhou dialect one of the most difficult Chinese varieties.[3]

Fuzhou dialects

List of dialects of the Fuzhou language (福州语的方言):

City History

Fuzhou throughout the 1800s had many missionaries from the West coming in and out of the city.[4] The lack of communication between government officials and local town people led to uproar among local residence regarding missionaries.[4] Although around 1850 five major port were allowing foreigners to reside temporarily for missionary work, Fuzhounese people believed only their city was allowing this.[4] Fuzhou natives were against missionaries as well as confronting Europeans in regards to business arrangements. At the same time Fuzhou had missionaries present, other cities such as Guangzhou started rebelling against foreigners. Daoist people as well as monks showed hospitality towards missionaries unlike most other residents. Following the lead of Guangzhou people, Fuzhounese natives soon also rebelled. Miscommunication was a large part of misunderstanding by Fuzhounese people. During the 1800s there were five port cities that were of interest of Europeans. Shanghai and Ningbo in addition of Fuzhou, were also allowing residency for missionaries during this time. The western powers felt similar resentment towards China as China did on the West.[5]

Education and Technology

Throughout the Ming and Qing Dynasties, local lineages were of high importance. The success rate regarding education throughout Fuzhou was often linked to the lineage members. As part of a lineage, it was the responsibility of a community to ensure successful education occurred. Education began as a private matter and not regulated throughout different lineages. The ability for a lineage to teach the fundamentals would determine people's later success with examinations given throughout much of China. Shu-yuan were considered highly educated people who succeeded on given examinations. Many of these shu-yuan, around eighteen, were associated with Fuzhou province throughout Ming and Qing Dynasty. Some of the eighteen may have been from Song Dynasty. However, there is less evidence to back up those claims.[6]

Although over time southern Fujian Province (Minnan region) is more developed in terms of technology and resources, Fujian decided on the capital Fuzhou which is in North Fujian.[5] Fujian has had a lower rate of urbanization in comparison to China as a whole. As a result, in provinces such as Fuzhou, the locals tend to be behind on methods in regards to agriculture and technological advancements. Fujian is rich in their ability to fish due to their location along the coastline. Fuzhou can not only participate in fishing itself but also the transporting of goods along the sea. Due to the richness of resources, the desire for migration to Fuzhou is high. As a result, people desiring to move to Fuzhou must have high education levels as well as skills necessary to contribute to the society.[5]

Emigration and diaspora
A native Fuzhou detective, 1898.

History

Fuzhou's history of emigration began since the Ming dynasty with Zheng He's voyages overseas. As the result of immigration of Fuzhouese to southeast Asia, Fuzhou dialect is found in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The city of Sibu of Malaysia is called "new Fuzhou" due to a large wave of Fuzhounese immigration in the early 1900s. They are referred to as "Hockchiu" or "Hokchew" in Singapore and Malaysia.[7]

Japan

Some Fuzhou people have moved to Japan. Conversely, many Japanese have historically been interested in Fuzhou language. During the Second World War, some Japanese scholars became passionate about studying Fuzhou dialect, believing that it could be beneficial to the rule of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. One of their most famous works was the Japanese-Chinese Translation: Fuzhou Dialect (日華對譯: 福州語) published in 1940 in Taipei, in which katakana was used to represent Fuzhou pronunciation.

Southeast Asia

The Hockchius and Hockchias migrated to Nanyang (South-East Asia) in much smaller numbers compared to the Hokkien, Cantonese, hakkas and Hainanese but achieved remarkable success. Amongst others, Robert Kuok (Hockchiu) rose to become the "Sugar King" of Malaysia and is currently ranked the richest man in south-east Asia[8] whereas Liem Sioe Liong (Sudono Salim) who was of Hockchia origin, was once the richest man in Indonesia, controlling a vast empire in the industry of flour, cement and food manufacturing.[9]

United States
Main article: Fuzhounese Americans

Fuzhounese people first started immigrating to America during the late Qing dynasty. Some of these immigrants were students who, after completing their studies returned to back to their fatherland (Fuzhou).

However, after the USA passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, immigration from China to the USA stopped for nearly a century. Only in 1980s with the China-USA detente and subsequent reform and opening, a wave of Fuzhounese settled in America. These new Fuzhounese immigrants set up their own separated communities such as "Little Fuzhou" in Manhattan.

Notable Fuzhou people

Scientists, mathematicians and inventors
  • Chen Jingrun, a widely known mathematician who invented Chen's theorem and Chen prime.
  • Yan Fu, a Chinese scholar and translator, best known for introducing western ideas such as Darwinian evolution.
  • Chih-Tang Sah, Graduate Research Professor at the University of Florida, USA from 1988. Professor of Physics and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
  • Hou Debang, a chemical engineer.
  • Hsien Wu, a Chinese protein scientist who was the first to propose that protein denaturation was a purely conformational change, corresponded to protein unfolding and not to some chemical alteration of the protein.
    • Ray Wu, (born in Beijing) his son; A Chinese-American geneticist and pioneer of plant genetic engineering
  • Zhang Yuzhe, a Chinese astronomer who is widely regarded as the father of modern Chinese astronomy.
  • Chia-Chiao Lin, a mathematician and Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[10]
  • Tung-Yen Lin, a structural engineer who was the pioneer of standardizing the use of prestressed concrete.
  • Deng Xuquan, a scientist specialising in microbiology, he served in many universities as both a researcher and lecturer.[11]
  • Wang Shizhen, Father of Chinese nuclear medicine.
  • Wu Mengchao, widely considered to be the Father of Chinese Hepatobiliary Surgery, for his achievements he was awarded China's highest scientific prize in 2005 by President Hu Jintao.
  • Guo Kexin, an important Chinese physicist, metallurgist and crystallographer who is considered as the main pioneer of electron microscopy of China.
  • Liu Yingming, a mathematician and academician.
  • Sun Shensu, a geochemist and PhD holder from the Columbian University (1973).
  • Chen Zhangliang, a Chinese biologist, elected as vice-governor of Guangxi in 2007.
  • Min Zhuo, a famous pain neuroscientist at the University of Toronto in Canada, he won many prestigious awards for his outstanding scientific achievements.

Politicians and revolutionaries

Writers and poets

Businessmen

Others
  • Go Seigen, Weiqi/Go player, considered by many players to be the greatest player of the game in the 20th century and one of the greatest of all time.
  • Lin Chi-ling, Taiwanese model, actress, singer and television host.
gollark: Your specific example isn't very deathy, I mean.
gollark: That doesn't seem very deathy.
gollark: Or, well, everyone is very sure but in different ways.
gollark: It's a hard philosophy problem. Nobody is very sure.
gollark: You believe in *two* dimensions? Government shill.

See also

References
  1. "Peoples Listing: MinDong People". Joshua Project. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  2. 福州市志(第八册). 方志出版社. December 2000. ISBN 978-7-80122-605-1.
  3. Khoon Choy Lee (2005). Pioneers of Modern China: Understanding the Inscrutable Chinese. World Scientific. p. 20. ISBN 978-98-127-0090-2.
  4. Chin-keong, Ng (2017). Boundaries and Beyond. Singapore: NUS Press. pp. 147–174.
  5. Chen, Aimin (January 2006). "Urbanization in China and the Case of Fujian Province". Modern China. 32: 99–130. doi:10.1177/0097700405283503 – via JSTOR.
  6. Zurndorfer, Harriet (1992). "Learning, Lineages, and Locality in Late Imperial China. A Comparative Study of Education in Huichow (Anhwei) and Foochow (Fukien) 1600-1800. Part II". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 35 (3): 209–238. doi:10.2307/3632732. JSTOR 3632732.
  7. Chinese Overseas: Comparative Cultural Issues. Hong Kong University Press. p. 92.
  8. Leo Suryadinata (2006). Southeast Asia's Chinese Businesses in an Era of Globalization: Coping with the Rise of China. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 184. ISBN 978-98-123-0401-8.
  9. Timothy Brook & Hy V. Luong (1999). Culture and Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia. University of Michigan Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-04-720-8598-9.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2019-12-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. 邓叔群. dangan.njau.cn.
  12. Roberts, Siobhan (2015-07-14). Genius At Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway. p. 62. ISBN 9781620405949.
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