Taishanese people


台山人
Hoi San Ngin
Total population
(Estimated: 8 - 9 million)
Regions with significant populations
Greater China (Guangdong, Hong Kong) North America (Canada, United States)
Languages
Taishanese, Cantonese, Mandarin
Religion
Predominantly Chinese folk religions (including Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and others) and Mahayana Buddhism. Minority: Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Other Han Chinese

Sze Yap Cantonese (Chinese: 四邑廣東人; Sze Yap: Sli Yip Gong Ong Ngin; Cantonese: Sze Yap Gwong Dong Yan; Mandarin: Sìyì guǎngdōng rén) are a Han Chinese group coming from a region in Guangdong Province in China called Sze Yap (四邑), now called Ng Yap, which consists of the cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping, Heshan and Jiangmen; which now administers these cities. Their ancestors are said to have arrived from what is today central China about less than a thousand years ago and migrated into Guangdong around the Tang Dynasty rule period and thus Taishanese as a dialect of Yue Chinese has linguistically preserved many characteristics of Middle Chinese. Although Taishanese is considered to be one of the Cantonese groups of the Yue Chinese family, it has also retained an identity that distinguishes themselves from other Cantonese groups. Among the Han Chinese, Taishanese are a source for most of the famous international Chinese celebrities and have produced the largest numbers of Chinese actors and singers than any city/region in mainland China. Among Asian Americans, Taishanese are influential in politics and were the first Americans of Asian descent to be elected as Governors, Mayors, U.S congress, including the first international actress and actor of Asian descent, and the America's first ace in World War II also have an Taishanese origin.

Linguistic and Identity

Taishanese is a dialect of Yue Chinese but is also treated separately from Standard Cantonese, since Cantonese speakers often find Taishanese difficult to understand and usually with an average intelligibility of only 30%, however this is also true for other Yue Chinese dialects such as Goulou dialects.[1][2] Like other varieties of Chinese dialects, Taishanese is known only by Taishanese and by other Chinese people as Toisan Cantonese. Unlike most varieties of Chinese, Cantonese has semi-official status in Hong Kong and Macau, and has an independent tradition of a written vernacular. Aside from Standard Mandarin, Standard Cantonese has achieved worldwide fame and is internationally well known due to popular Cantonese speaking action movies from Hong Kong, also because Cantonese in Hong Kong is the lingua franca for education, media, government, communication in Hong Kong, this leads to even more exposure of Cantonese throughout the world. Taishanese, who make up one-third of the population of Hong Kong, may identify themselves with Cantonese instead of Taishanese. Since Hong Kong culture is heavily Cantonese influenced and is a Cantonese speaking society, Taishanese and other Han Chinese who are Hong Kong born and raised, assimilate into the Cantonese identity of Hong Kong. Everything in Hong Kong from pop music, movies, media, education, TV series, cuisines, opera, communication is in Cantonese, and because Hong Kong, like Macau, has high autonomy and a different law and government system from China, this yet again strengthens Hong Kong identity. Cantonese is seen by all Hong Kong people as a cultural marker and identity that distinguishes themselves from mainland Chinese. Many Hong Kong activist are of Taishanese origin such as the late Szeto Wah who was a politician of the pan-democracy camp and sang democratic Cantonese songs with other activists to promote democracy in China.

Culture

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

Ruishi Diaolou 瑞石樓

Culturally, Taishanese people are very similar to Cantonese. Today many Sze Yap people have become successful in many areas such as the entertainment industry, business and politics. Hong Kongers of Sze Yap origin include: Andy Lau, Beyond (band), Danny Chan, Kenny Kwan, Joey Yung, Ronnie Chan, John Tsang, Andrew Li and many others. The Father of, Lai Man-Wai also has ancestry from the Sze Yap region of province. As a result, Sze Yap people have dominated in the entertainment industry and play most major roles in the music and movie sectors. In many films, Taishanese can be heard, especially in many of Karl Maka's films such as Merry Christmas and Aces Go Places.

It is said that over 100 famous people come from the Sze Yap region of Guangdong province, making the region famous for producing more stars than any other city/region in mainland China. As a result, the local government in Jiangmen which administers the Sze Yap or Ng Yap cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Enping, Xinhui, and Heshan, decided to build a Stars Park called Jiangmen star park (江门星光园).[3]

Taishan county is famous for being the Birthplace of China's Volleyball, that was brought to Taishan by overseas, and the city won many provincial and national championships. Taishanese are well known for their love for Volleyball and being China's champions.[4] Premier Zhou En-Lai once stated, "Taishan is Half of Country's (China) System.

In 2007, UNESCO named the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (开平碉楼与村落) in China as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO wrote, "...the Diaolou ... display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Eastern and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia, and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the close links between overseas Kaiping and their ancestral homes. The property inscribed here consists of four groups of Diaolou, totaling some 1,800 tower houses in their village settings." Today, approximately 1,833 diaolou remain standing in Kaiping, and approximately 500 in Taishan. Although the diaolou served mainly as protection against forays by bandits, a few of them also served as living quarters. Kaiping has traditionally been a region of major emigration abroad, and a melting pot of ideas and trends brought back by overseas. As a result, many diaolou incorporate architectural features from China and from the West.

Economy and Business

Besides dominating the entertainment industry, they are quite dominant and influential in Hong Kong's Business Industry, such as the Bank of East Asia (東亞銀行), Lee Kum Kee (李錦記), Hang Lung Properties, Maxim's Catering (美心), Hysan Development Limited, Li & Fung (利豐), Beijing Air Catering Ltd, Hysan Development Company Limited (希慎興業) and many others. Lui Che-woo once the second richest man in Asia.

Famous overseas Taishanese businessmen includes Loke Yew, the richest man of Malaysia in his time and who made significant impact in the growth of Kuala Lumpur, and was one of founder fathers of Victoria institution. Jack Yan who founded his company Lucire, is a magazine publisher in New Zealand and he also owns a software firm that created over 100 typeface designs himself for the firm, and inspired other local typeface designers such as Kris Sowersby to pursue careers in that industry. Norman Kwong who is the lieutenant governor of Alberta, is also president and manager of Calgary Stampeders a Canadian football league.

Academics

Sze yup or Jiamgmen is considered the home of Chinese Academician town: The total of academicians is 31 people, a city with over 20 is considdered extremely rare in China.[5]

Wu Lien-teh - First Han Chinese and Malaysian Chinese to be nominated for a Nobel prize in physiology or Medicine, Chu Ching-wu - Selected as the Best Researcher in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report in 1990., GUO Jing-Kun - pioneer and one of academic leaders in the field of Materials Research Nancy Ip - member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences., Vivian Wing-Wah Yam - she was a 2011 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureate "for her work on light-emitting materials and innovative ways of capturing solar energy. Huan Yong - China's modern plant taxonomy founder, Chen Haozhu - Career in medicine for many years, has won the national, military science and technology progress award more than 20 other awards Albert Chan (professor) - a Hong Kong professor of chemistry and traditional Chinese medicine. Huang Cuifen one of the founders, successive Chinese Academy of Military Medical Institute of Basic Medical researcher Liang Sili - Chinese Engineer. Chief Designer of inertial guidance platforms for Chinese ballistic missiles. Chen Guoda - Expertise in Mechanical Engineering Huang Benli - Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen University, Professor, Huang has won many awards: 2 2nd-class Major Science and Technology Achievements Awards of Chinese Academy of Science Zhangyou Qi - Computational mechanics, civil engineering experts Xue Shepu - Researcher in cell proliferation and differentiation Huan Yong - Is one of the founders of modern science of plant classification. His lifelong hard work, rigorous scholarship on China Plant Science has made outstanding contributions. Li Chunxuan - Aerospace aircraft design, high-speed collision mechanics specialist. Chen Hao Zhu - Medical experts in cardiovascular disease. member of China Engineering Academy. Mr Wong - Chinese Academy of Engineering academician, general surgery specialist. TANG Zhao - Former director of the International Union Against Cancer Cai Ruixian - Received the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology Progress Award, Chinese Academy of Natural Science Award I Guocong - Former China Engineering Thermophysics director, China Power Engineering Society executive director; China Energy Research Association executive director. Kuang Yu Ping- 1989 was awarded the First Prize in Physics Wu Xun, 2003 was elected to the Academy of Mathematics and Physics Academy of Sciences. Henry NC Wong - University of London, and then to Harvard University postdoctoral research. Albert Chan - An organic chemist, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Huang Cuifen - University of London, and then to Harvard University postdoctoral research. Li Shaozhen - improve cataract surgery quality in the introduction of technology and innovation Huangyao Xiang - Zhongshan University Department of Physics. Chen Yong-Su - Research on a new target of cancer chemotherapy drugs and biochemical modulation Maisong Wei - 1965-1969 any Associate Professor University of Western Ontario in Canada. Ye Danian - 1991 was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences Division of Earth Sciences and in 2001 as Peking University professor of Earth and Space Sciences. Feng Peide - well-known experts in the field of aviation.

Overseas

Because the history of the going abroad is long, and there are many people sojourning widely in various districts, is called " No.1 Homeland of Overseas Chinese ".[6] Now, 1.3 million overseas distribute in 91 countries and regions of the five continents including US, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Trestle, c.1869. : Carleton Watkins

Taishanese have large influence in the course of Asian-American history, as they were first Asian Americans to be elected as Governors, Mayors, U.S congress in the continental United States. The first international celebrity of Asian descent, and America's first Ace in world war II. They also represented the largest Asian community in America and have a significant contribution in building the First Transcontinental Railroad of United States. The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. About 12,000 such emigrant workers were employed as laborers by the Central Pacific Railroad representing 90 percent of the entire work force.[7] J. O. Wilder, a Central Pacific-Southern Pacific employee, commented that “The Chinese were as steady, hard-working a set of men as could be found. With the exception of a few whites at the west end of Tunnel No. 6, the laboring force was entirely composed of Chinamen with white foremen. A single Irish foreman with a gang of 30 to 40 Chinese men generally constituted the force at work at each end of a tunnel; of these, 12 to 15 worked on the heading, and the rest on the bottom removing material. When a gang was small or the men needed elsewhere, the bottoms were worked with fewer men or stopped so as to keep the headings going.”[7] The laborers usually worked three shifts of 8 hours each per day, while the foremen worked in two shifts of 12 hours each, managing the laborers.[8]

The Sun Ning Railway (aka Sunning Railway and Xinning Railway ) 新寧鐵路 (pinyin: Xinning Tielu) was a standard gauge railway in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province founded in 1906 by a man of Taishanese origin Chin Gee Hee 陳宜禧 (pinyin: Chen Yixi) and Yu Shek 余灼 (pinyin: Yu Zhuo). It was South China's second railway[9][10][11] and one of only three railways in pre-1949 China built solely with private Chinese capital.[12][13]

List of Notable people from China and Hong Kong

List of Notable people from China and other countries in U.S, Canada, New Zealand, Australia etc

Artists

Business

Athletes

Education

Historical figures

Politicians

References

  1. ↑ Cantonese speakers have been shown to understand only about 30% of what they hear in Taishanese (Szeto 2000)
  2. ↑ (Ma & Cartier 2003)
  3. ↑ "江门星光园" nddaily
  4. ↑ http://www.taishan.com/english/
  5. ↑ https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.southcn.com/news/dishi/jiangmen/shizheng/200410160354.htm&prev=search
  6. ↑ http://www.gdts.gov.cn/en/xgz.htm
  7. 1 2 Kraus, "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific," p. 49.
  8. ↑ John R. Gillis, "TUNNELS OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD." Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine, January 5, 1870, p. 418-423,
  9. ↑ The of Xinning Railway, Bureau of Archives of City.
  10. ↑ Scigliano 2007.
  11. ↑ Another transliteration of 余灼 (pinyin: Yu Zhuo) is Yu Chuek (Editors' note, p. 125, Chin Gee Hee, "Letter Asking for Support to Build the Sunning Railroad" (1911), p. 125–128 in Judy Yung, Gordon H. Chang, and Him Mark Lai (compilers and editors), Chinese American Voices, University of California Press (2006). ISBN 0-520-24310-2.)
  12. ↑ Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida, The Asian American Educational Experience: A Source Book for Teachers and Students, Routledge (1995). ISBN 0-415-90872-8. p. 55.
  13. ↑ Jue (1983) for the ideographs and spellings.


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