NCKU hosts Minnan culture workshop
Tainan, Taiwan, Dec, 25, 2012
Early records about China are written in Minnan rather than Chinese, as can be found in the journals of western missionaries, according to San-Chin Wang, a professor of Chinese culture at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), at a workshop on Minnan culture Dec. 17.
Nearly 15 scholars of Minnan culture from Vietnam, Hong Kung, Japan, and China gathered at the 4th International Cooperation Workshop on Minnan Culture hosted by Minnan Culture Center of NCKU.
The focus of the this year’s workshop was on the representations of Minnan culture unveiled in Hong Kong and Vietnam which had been ignored in the past, according to Wang.
In Hong Kong, which has always been regarded as a domain of Cantonese, actually more than 1.2 million Hokkienese live, said Wang, who added that Vietnam serves as a transit center from Hokkien to Southeast Asia.
The establishment of Minnan culture has a great relation with navigation, said Wang, and with the boat sailing, Minnan culture has spread to nearby regions, including Japan, Korea, Hainan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Dating back to the Age of Discovery, journals of western missionaries were written in Minnan rather than English or Chinese, which indicated that their original access to China was rooted in the Minnan culture rather than the Chinese culture,” said Wang.
Fujian people spread throughout Vietnam, featured by their living in clusters, ancestor worship, Mazu belief and Guan Gong belief, according to a research by Fang-Jen Ruan, associate dean of Graduate Institution of Cultural Studies of Vietnamese Academy of Social Science.
Currently between 1 million and 1.2 millions Fujian people live in Hong Kong, accounting for one sixth of the total population of Hong Kong, most of them in North Point, which is called “Little Fujian” by local people, according to Min-Tse Kung, a researcher from Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, the University of Hong Kong.
He said that the residents of Hong Kong may not be all Cantonese and research on the representatives of Minnan culture in the regions has to be conducted further in the future.
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Early records about China are written in Minnan rather than Chinese, as can be found in the journals of western missionaries, according to San-Chin Wang, a professor of Chinese culture at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), at a workshop on Minnan culture Dec. 17.
Nearly 15 scholars of Minnan culture from Vietnam, Hong Kung, Japan, and China gathered at the 4th International Cooperation Workshop on Minnan Culture hosted by Minnan Culture Center of NCKU.
The focus of the this year’s workshop was on the representations of Minnan culture unveiled in Hong Kong and Vietnam which had been ignored in the past, according to Wang.
In Hong Kong, which has always been regarded as a domain of Cantonese, actually more than 1.2 million Hokkienese live, said Wang, who added that Vietnam serves as a transit center from Hokkien to Southeast Asia.
The establishment of Minnan culture has a great relation with navigation, said Wang, and with the boat sailing, Minnan culture has spread to nearby regions, including Japan, Korea, Hainan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Dating back to the Age of Discovery, journals of western missionaries were written in Minnan rather than English or Chinese, which indicated that their original access to China was rooted in the Minnan culture rather than the Chinese culture,” said Wang.
Fujian people spread throughout Vietnam, featured by their living in clusters, ancestor worship, Mazu belief and Guan Gong belief, according to a research by Fang-Jen Ruan, associate dean of Graduate Institution of Cultural Studies of Vietnamese Academy of Social Science.
Currently between 1 million and 1.2 millions Fujian people live in Hong Kong, accounting for one sixth of the total population of Hong Kong, most of them in North Point, which is called “Little Fujian” by local people, according to Min-Tse Kung, a researcher from Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, the University of Hong Kong.
He said that the residents of Hong Kong may not be all Cantonese and research on the representatives of Minnan culture in the regions has to be conducted further in the future.
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