Hoklo (Hokkien)
The Hokkien (福建人) constitute around two-fifths of the Chinese
Singaporean population. They are the largest linguistic group in
Singapore. They come from the Minnan or Hoklo
people who originated in the southern parts of the
Fujian province,
including Xiamen,
Quanzhou, and
Zhangzhou.
They speak Singaporean
Hokkien, the standard of which is based on the Amoy
dialect of Xiamen, which is 50.4% comprehensible
with Teochew
although less so with Hainanese.[6]
The Hokkien language was a lingua
franca among coastal Chinese and was also used by
other ethnic groups such as the Malays and
Indians to communicate with Chinese
before Mandarin came to dominance during 1980s and 1990s.
Unlike some other areas,[example needed]
Singaporeans do not use "Hokkien" as a catch-all in reference to
Chinese from Fujian, but only to the Minnan from its southern
coast. Thus Singaporean Hokkien is not inclusive of northern
Fujianese such as those arriving from Fuzhou, Putian, and so on. Early Hokkien
migrants settled around Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street, forming
enclaves around the Thian Hock
Kheng Temple. They subsequently set up clan headquarters
(Hokkien Huey Kuan) there and later expanded to Hokkien
Street and the vicinity of China Street. The Hokkien were the most
active in early trading that centred along the Singapore
River.
As early settlers came from the southern coast of China, they
were active in sea trade and worshipped one of the patron-deities
of Taoist pantheon, the Heavenly Mother Ma
Zhu, a protectress of sailors. In Singapore, her idol
was at the Thian Hock Kheng Temple, which was thus also known as
the Ma Zhor Kheng. Other popular deities are the Nine Emperor
Gods and the Jade
Emperor, who is celebrated on his birthday on the 9th
day of Chinese New
Year.[citation
needed]
A traditional Taoist practice by a spiritual medium (乩童, p
jītóng, Hokkien
tangki) is also popular. The tangki goes into a
trance and purportedly channels a chosen deity for the petitioner.
The deity then provides a wide range of help ranging from religious
rituals to answering queries to providing protective
talismans.[citation
needed]
The Teochew
in Singapore constitute about a fifth of the Chinese population in
Singapore, making them the second largest Chinese dialect group in
Singapore. They originated from Chaoshan region in eastern Guangdong, in
cities like Chaozhou, Shantou, and Jieyang. Many trace their origins from
different Northern cities, but were settled there to maintain as
county authorities within the south of China.
Despite similarities, the Teochews and Hokkiens consider
themselves distinct and did not get along during their early
settlement in Singapore, especially during the British colonial
era. The Teochew were dominant for a period of time during the 19th
century. Mass immigration from Fujian changed this, although the
majority of the Chinese along the banks of the Straits of
Johor were Teochew until the HDB initiated redevelopment in the
1980s. The Straits
Times reports that Hougang still has a relatively high
concentration of Teochew residents.[citation
needed]
Most Teochew settled along the Singapore
River in Chinatown during the 19th and early
20th century. Teochew who settled in Chinatown worked in many
commercial sectors as well as the fisheries. Commercial sectors
once dominated by Teochews include Circular Road and South Bridge
Road. Other Teochew businessmen set up gambier and pepper
plantations in the dense forests of north Singapore and Johor Bahru.
The Chinese first started their plantations with the approval of
the Sultan of
Johor and then developed the kangchu (江厝,
p
jiāngcuò, lit.
"river house") system. Chu was the clan name of the first
headman of the plantations in the area. These kangchus
gave rise to modern place names such as Choa Chu
Kang, Lim Chu
Kang and Yio Chu
Kang, all of which were plantation areas prior to urban
redevelopment.
Early Chinese immigrants clustered themselves to form clan and
language associations. These clan associations (kongsi)
served as unions for the mostly illiterate Chinese labourers and
represented them when dealing with their colonial administrators or
employers. One of the more prominent associations for the Teochew
was the Ngee Ann
Kongsi, formed in 1845 and still in operation.
The Cantonese make up 15% of the Chinese
Singaporean population. They originated from Hong Kong and the
southern region of Guangdong province in China, including
Guangzhou,
Zhaoqing,
Shunde,
Taishan, and
Heshan.
The Cantonese speak several dialects belonging to the Yue family.
Yue Hai is considered the prestige
dialect from its occurrence in Guangzhou. Other variants include
Luoguang, Seiyap and Gouyeung. The
Gwainaam is spoken by immigrants from Guangxi and
shares close affinity with Pinghua.
The Cantonese worked mainly as professionals and tradesmen
during the early and mid 20th centuries, and their businesses
dominated the shop houses along Temple Street, Pagoda Street, and
Mosque Street. Cantonese women from the Samsui
district worked at construction sites and contributed greatly
toward Singapore's development. These Samsui
women left their families behind in China and came to
Singapore to work at construction sites for a living during the
early 20th century. They were noted for their distinctive navy-blue
outfits and bright red headgear,[clarification
needed] meant to protect their hair as
they worked. This headgear was first worn by Wang Chao Yun (王朝云, 字子霞), a concubine
of Su Dongpo who
lived in the Hakka Fui Chiu district of Guangdong;[citation
needed] it eventually became the
traditional headgear of Hakkas, whence it was adopted by the
Cantonese women who worked alongside them. Cantonese women from the
Seiyap district
of Jiangmen
wore black headgear similar to the Samsui women and mainly worked
at Keppel
Harbour and the shipyards at the old harbour along the
Singapore
River. More Cantonese immigrated from Hong Kong in
the late 1980s and early 1990s.
As of 2010, Singaporeans recognize Chinatown for having a large number of
Cantonese people.
The Hakka
constitute 11.4%.[clarification
needed][7]
They originated mainly from the northeastern part of Guangdong in
China, from such
areas as Mei and Dapu. Mr.
Lee Kuan
Yew, the first prime minister of the Republic of
Singapore, has Hakka ancestry tracing back to Dapu.
Since the Hakka language is strongly influenced by Minnan and Cantonese but still somewhat similar
to Mandarin, the Hakka were long thought
to have migrated from northern China between the 4th and 13th
century. Recent genetic studies, however, have shown that the
Hakkas have for the most part originated from southern China, like
most of the other Chinese language groups in Singapore.[citation
needed]
Many Hakka women who came to Singapore during the early 20th
century worked in construction sites and wore headgear similar to
the Samsui women. However, unlike the Samsui, the Hakka women wore
black headgear.
