How about emigrating from Madagascar?

When it comes to Africa, most people think of vast grasslands, magnificent animal migration, hot and humid weather and African blacks who account for a large proportion of the population. But when you walk on the streets of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, the yellow skin and oriental faces everywhere will make you feel that you are in the wrong place in an instant.

Madagascar is located in the western Indian Ocean, facing the African continent across the sea. It is the largest island in Africa and the fourth largest island in the world. It is called "Noah's Ark" in the Indian Ocean. This famous island country is rich in tourism resources and attracts a large number of tourists every year.

Unlike other countries on the African continent, Madagascar has the highest proportion of yellow people in Africa, and even the current President André la Ciolina has a face that looks like a China. Scientists have done a lot of analysis about where Malagasy people came from in history. Today we will take a look.

In the third year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty, entrusted by Judy, the founder of Ming Dynasty, Zheng He, the eunuch of Sambo, led more than 200 ships and more than 27,000 people to anchor from Liujiagang, Taicang, and began his voyage, which was known as "Zheng He's voyage to the West".

As the largest maritime voyage in ancient China, with the largest number of ships and sailors and the longest sailing time, Zheng He's fleet reached the east coast of Africa and the Malagasy waters as far as possible. Up to now, many people think that so many Malagasy aborigines who look like China people are descendants of local sailors left by Zheng He's voyage to the West, and all of them are descendants of China.

In fact, whether Zheng He's fleet has been to Madagascar is still controversial in academic circles, but the Asian genes in Malagasy people have been going on for thousands of years. Today, Madagascar is mainly composed of 18 ethnic groups, among which the Merina people are the most.

Merina people are basically yellow, and a few are mixed-race. They are the main ethnic groups that constitute Madagascar, occupying the dominant position of the country for a long time (nearly three presidents of Madagascar are Merina), and they are local aristocrats. The study of the origin of Malagasy nationality is naturally inseparable from the study of Merina people.

Compared with the aborigines on the African continent, the Merina people really don't have much African characteristics. Most people here are petite, with thin lips, curly hair and small noses, quite like Southeast Asians. Local people grow rice, coffee, cotton and sugar cane, and cultivate terraces. Even the houses they live in are very similar to those of various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia.

In 20 16, Indonesian scientist withly sudo yo organized an international research team to study and compare the genes of hundreds of ethnic groups, and found that Malagasy's Asian genes mainly came from Banjar people in Kalimantan, while Banjar people were mixed descendants of Malays and indigenous Daya people in Kalimantan. The Indonesian scientist speculated that the Banjar people should have arrived in Madagascar with the caravan of shriver's death around the 10 century, and then merged with the Bantu blacks from South Africa.

Although it can't be denied that Chinese people have crossed the ocean to Madagascar since ancient times, from the genetic point of view, it should be a real hammer to say that Malagasy people are distant relatives of Indonesians, and the relationship between local Malagasy aborigines and Zheng He is really not too big. But when we go back to 5000 years ago, back to the distant Neolithic age, something more interesting happened.

Linguistically, Malagasy belongs to Austronesian language family and has no blood relationship with African continent. At present, Austronesian language family is the only large language family mainly distributed on the islands in the world, including 1200 languages, covering nearly 400 million people, forming a "Austronesian language family" with a huge population and a vast territory.

Austronesian ancestors can be traced back to 1 10,000 years ago. Long before Europeans traveled around the world, they had successfully discovered and conquered one island after another in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean with amazing navigation technology and Austronesian language family on ancient ships.

It was not until16th century that western explorers began to explore the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. When these navigators arrived at the islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean with advanced compasses, they were surprised to find that although the residents of these islands were far away from Wan Li and could not communicate, their appearance and living habits were similar, but their names and pronunciations for animals such as sharks, squid and shrimps were the same, and even the ships they built were the same.

With strong curiosity, historians began to trace back to the ancestors of Austronesian languages. In 1930s, some scholars speculated that China was the birthplace of Duan Duan Shi Guang in the Pacific region according to the types of Shi Guang, and further believed that the ancestor of Austronesian language family should be located on the east coast of China.

In the 1980s, with the appearance of more research results, it was generally acknowledged by the academic circles that the language spoken by the aborigines in Taiwan Province province of China is the oldest Austronesian family, which means that Taiwan Province province of China is the birthplace of Austronesian family, or at least a part of it.

With the development of history in 2000, especially under the influence of many northern immigrants going south, there are no Austronesian speakers in Fujian coastal areas. For a long time, linguists have not divided the distribution circle of Austronesian languages into the southeast coastal areas of Fujian. However, a large number of Neolithic sites discovered in Pingtan, Fujian in recent years are supporting the view that the southeast coast of China is the real origin and starting point of Austronesian language family.

In 2020, Chinese scientists successfully extracted DNA from prehistoric human bones in Xitou site, Fujian Province, and published it in the authoritative academic journal Science. By comparing DNA samples, it is further proved that the Neolithic people in Fujian are the ancestors of the Austronesian language family of the western Pacific islands. Pingtan was immediately considered by archaeologists as a key area for studying the origin of Austronesian languages.

The existing research results tell us that Austronesian language family originated from the southeast coast of Fujian, China as early as 12000~7500 years ago, and it was a crucial period for the formation of Austronesian language family in Taiwan Province Province around 8000~7000 years ago. About 6000 ~ 5000 years ago, the earliest Austronesian immigrants crossed the Taiwan Province Strait, and it was at this time that Austronesian ancestors began to migrate to the Pacific Islands on a large scale for the first time.

6,000 years ago, how did the ancients conquer Xinghai with simple ships without food supply, and complete the arduous task of ocean navigation and even ethnic diffusion that was impossible for contemporary people? It's incredible to think about it, but they did it.

Judging from the existing archaeological remains, generations of Austronesian immigrants sailed back and forth in the vast sea without modern navigation devices, driving double canoes. This should be a great feat of immigrants in Shanghai in human history, and under their relay, the blood of civilization gradually penetrated from the southeast coast of China to the southernmost tip of Africa-Madagascar.

No matter how deep the ancestors of Malagasy people are with the aborigines in Taiwan Province Province, China, after thousands of years of integration and evolution, there are still many strange customs here. Malagasy people have a peculiar "cow worship" from generation to generation, and they have unusual feelings for cows, even being dubbed as "the country on the back of cows".

In Madagascar, cows are more expensive than people. This is the only country in the world that gives cows a holiday. Every cow can have a holiday every week, and no one can force the cow to work on that day. Pedestrians and vehicles on the road should take the initiative to give way when they meet cows, and even the signs on both sides of the road are decorated with bulls.

As one of the least developed countries in the world, Malagasy people earn less than RMB in 400 yuan every month, while the market price of an adult bull is more than 3,200 yuan. The number of cattle has become an important symbol to measure the wealth accumulation and status of local families. In local paintings and sculptures, cows inevitably become "heavyweight" totems symbolizing Madagascar culture, and their horns and bones are made into various jewels, toys and decorations. It has become a special souvenir that tourists who come to Madagascar will definitely buy.

The most shocking thing in Madagascar is the annual corpse festival. "Turn over the corpse" as its name implies is to take out the body of a loved one and turn it over. This traditional festival was originally implemented to celebrate the harvest, but in the view of local aborigines, the joy of harvest should be shared not only by the living, but also by the dead. Under the guidance of this special emotion, the "corpse festival" was born.

Corpse Festival is a traditional form of sacrifice for Merina people, the highest caste in Madagascar. Not all Malagasy people are qualified to "turn over" after death. If a living Merina thinks he is rich enough, he will buy a tomb similar to a hanging coffin on the mountain. Coffins are like drawers in graves, which can be opened at any time. If the descendants of the deceased want to thank their ancestors for their kindness, they will pay a lot of money to invite the elders of Nedgard to preside over the sacrifice ceremony.

The time of the annual corpse-driving festival is uncertain, but it must be sunny. On this day, the sacrificial patriarch personally opened the coffin, took out the bones of the deceased, cleaned each piece and put it on the thigh of a girl of 14 years old, exposed to the sun and bathed in sunshine. After noon, under the command of the patriarch, people put the bones on the board one by one, covered with clean white cloth, and began to March in the street singing and dancing until dark.

At this time of the year, the corpse-turning team can even slaughter cows for sacrifice, and don't make way for noble cows. After the parade, the bones were put together and people gathered around to sing and dance. The louder they sing, the more they respect the dead. Finally, in the song, the patriarch personally arranged the bones one by one, wrapped them in white cloth and put them back in the hanging coffin.

The mourning day carries the Merina people's respect for the dead. Every country has different customs and habits. We should learn to respect the historical traditions of each country. With the progress of the times, there are fewer and fewer people holding corpse-turning sacrifices in Madagascar for many reasons, the most important of which is the change of people's concept. It's time to get rid of these bad habits.

Although Madagascar, as far away as the southernmost tip of Africa, was not mentioned in the Biography of Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty, Malagasy people issued commemorative stamps on 1997 to commemorate Zheng He.

Over the past century, China and this Indian Ocean island country have maintained close contacts, although far away from Wan Li. According to reliable records, 150 years ago, some Chinese in the Qing Dynasty were employed by British and French enterprises to cross the ocean and engage in planting, handling and mining, and some of them took root in the local area.

1972, China and Madagascar formally established diplomatic relations. At present, China is Madagascar's largest trading partner. In 20 15, 97% of China's products exported to China enjoyed zero tariff treatment, and its direct investment exceeded USD 400 million, creating17,000 local jobs.

According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 654.38 million China citizens living in Madagascar. In recent years, China has actively participated in helping Malaysia's domestic construction and provided assistance to the local area within its capacity. China has built more than 20 infrastructure projects, covering hospitals, schools and sports centers. China-Malaysia relations have improved steadily.

With the gradual warming of relations between the two countries, "Chinatown" came into being. This "Chinatown" is located in North Auric, the central area of the Antananarivo Tower and the capital. There are many shops in China that sell all kinds of goods made in China, from clothes, shoes and socks to all kinds of electronic products.

As a country with agriculture as its economic pillar, Madagascar's industrial base is extremely weak, and the products made in China are of good quality and low price, which are well received by local residents. You're welcome to say that Malagasy China people can make a lot of money by setting up stalls, and the strength behind this is the strong competitiveness made in China.

With the continuous promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, more and more China people are traveling or developing in Madagascar. Madagascar, as the Noah's Ark in the Indian Ocean, is rich in animal and plant resources, more than 70% of which are unique to the island. Tourism resources are extremely rich, and some experts say it is the most underestimated island in Africa by tourists.

In Madagascar, you can enjoy the lovely local national treasure-lemurs in Ranumafana National Park, the beautiful sunset and the vast starry sky on Baobab Avenue, and experience the most beautiful beaches in South Africa on Nosibe Island. Before the outbreak of the epidemic, the number of China people traveling to the country increased rapidly at the rate of 20% every year.

This is Madagascar, an "atypical" African country full of yellow people, a country riding on the back of cattle, a beautiful country where many people don't want to leave when they come. Look forward to the early end of the epidemic, open the country and take a trip!