The spread and distribution of Hokkien

As far back as 1500 years ago, or even earlier, in order to escape the war, the Han nationality in the Central Plains along the Yellow River and Luoshui moved from Henan and other places in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to southeastern Fujian. The culture of the Han nationality also This was brought here by his descendants, and then moved to southern Fujian. The last part crossed the strait and reached Taiwan, so it was called Heluo language.

The language that inherits this culture in southern Fujian, Taiwan and other places is what we commonly call "Minnan". In the long history of the motherland's traditional culture, the significance of Minnan lies in our Central Plains Chinese ancestors. During the many great migrations, the language reform caused by the integration of the Central Plains ethnic groups was avoided, and the ancient Central Plains Heluo sound of the Tang, Wei, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms eras was completely preserved, which was the Central Plains dialect at that time.

Because the Japanese language mainly comes from the fusion of ancient Chinese of the Han Chinese who migrated to Japan, the minority languages ??of northern China, Malay, English, and Japanese (Taiwan is mostly influenced by Japanese), so the Japanese today When reciting Buddhist scriptures and chanting poems, the pronunciation is almost the same as when the Hokkien people recite Buddhist scriptures and chant poems in ancient Chinese pronunciation of Hokkien. This is enough to explain why many Buddhist scriptures are transliterated or translated in Mandarin and it is difficult to understand their meaning, while in Hokkien But it is easy to understand; this is why many Dharma masters often lament that the loss of Hokkien Chinese pronunciation is a great loss to people who recite Buddhist scriptures.

In addition to southern Fujian and Taiwan, Minnan dialect is quite popular among Chinese in some places in northeastern Fujian and parts of the mainland, as well as in Southeast Asian countries and regions. The reason why the Hokkien dialect is so widely spread is mainly due to the migration and emigration of Hokkien people in history.

With the support of the Chief Envoy of Fujian, tens of thousands of disaster victims along the coast of Fujian were recruited and shipped to Taiwan for reclamation; in 1862, the imperial envoy Shen Baozhen came to Taiwan to handle defense and recruit wild land reclamation, thus once again lifting the nearly-long-term 200-year crossing ban. Most of Hailufeng are immigrants from southern Fujian. Some settled down because of fishing and drying salt, some settled down because of shipping, doing business, tea picking, and reclamation. There were also some who settled down with the army during the peasant uprising or resisting foreign invaders. The Hokkien people not only brought the Hokkien dialect to many places in Taiwan and mainland China, but also to many overseas countries and regions. There are two reasons for this. One is: because the overseas transportation in southern Fujian developed very early. Since the Tang Dynasty, Quanzhou has had transportation and trade exchanges with some countries in Africa and the Middle East. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhou Port has become the world's largest port. Later, Zhangzhou's Yuegang and Xiamen Ports also became important ports in the world. As trade with overseas countries increased, the Hokkien people naturally took their Hokkien dialect with them when they went abroad. Another reason is that, The people of southern Fujian are very hardworking. In those days, many people left their hometowns to make a living and moved to Nanyang to make a living. For hundreds of years, the Minnan people have lived and multiplied there, and the Minnan dialect has taken root and developed in various Southeast Asian countries along with them.

Among them, the Hokkien dialect in southern Fujian is the closest to the Hokkien dialect in Taiwan, as well as the Hokkien dialect spread overseas to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They are basically "fluent in speech", while Chaoshan dialect Although the Minnan dialect spoken in the southern Fujian area was brought to the area by immigrants from the southern Fujian area at different times, due to changes in society, history, geography, etc., it is different from the Minnan dialect in the southern Fujian area to varying degrees. There are also varying degrees of difficulty in making phone calls, but it can be said that no matter which area the southern Fujian dialect is popular in, its origin comes from the southern Fujian dialect in the southern Fujian region. Hokkien is mainly distributed in Fujian and Taiwan: Hokkien is mainly distributed in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xiamen, most of Xinluo District in Longyan and most of Zhangping City, most of Datian and part of Youxi in Sanming Prefecture, Fuding and Xiapu of Ningde City A small part, a small part of Jiaocheng District, and parts of Fuqing: some natural villages in Yuxi Town, Fuqing City, some natural villages in Wangkeng, Yidu Township, Shangjing Township, Yinxi Township, Yangxia Township, Dongzhang and other towns, Honglu Longtang Town, Zhenbian, Zhoudian and other villages. The Hui, Manchu, and Mongolian people in Quanzhou also speak fluent Hokkien, and the Hui people in Quanzhou who are not in the Hui Township also speak Hokkien.

Except for Fujian, Taiwan Province is the most popular place where Hokkien is spoken. The number of people in Taiwan who can speak Hokkien accounts for about 80% of the province's population.

It is also distributed in other areas of mainland China and Southeast Asia: Guangdong Province: some villages and towns in Huidong County, Huizhou City in the southeast; Chaoshan area, Hailufeng area, and Jiuxiangshan County in Guangdong in the east Dialect Islands [including Longdu, Denengdu, Sidadu, Gudu, Shanggongchangdu Qi'ao Township (i.e. Qi'ao Island)]; Leizhou Peninsula in Zhanjiang, Dianbai District in Maoming, parts of Yangjiang coastal areas, etc. in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: Sporadic distribution belt, Guiping, Pingnan, Beiliu and Liuzhou in the southeast. Hainan Province: Distributed in Haikou, Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning, Ding'an, Tunchang, Chengmai and other cities and counties, as well as Lingshui, Most areas of Ledong, Dongfang, Changjiang, Sanya, Qiongzhong, Wuzhishan and other cities and counties in Zhejiang Province: Pingyang, Cangnan, Dongtou, Ruian, Wencheng, Taishun in the Wenzhou area in the south, Yuhuan, Wenling parts, and Dong in the Taizhou area Parts of Touou and parts of Cangnan; the west is close to the Sanqingshan area of ??Jiangxi and parts of Huzhou; the east is Ningbo Xiangshan Shipu, Cixi Guanhaiwei and other places and a small part of the Zhoushan Islands; the north is Hangzhou Lin'an, Yuhang and other places, and Huzhou is Deqing, Anji, Changxing and other places in Jiangsu Province: The southern mountainous area of ??Yixing County, Jintan and Jurong areas Jiangxi Province: Parts of the northeast close to Zhejiang (Shangrao, Qianshan, Guangfeng, Yushan, etc.) Some towns and villages in southern Anhui and Sichuan Luzhou areas Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia , Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and other overseas regions: countries and regions where Hokkien people immigrate.