7 replies to this topic

[TaishanLOVE]

Hong Kong( 香港人) vs Taiwan (台灣人) vs Singapore (新加坡人)

Which of these 3 doesn't want to identify as chinese the most? even though they are all different han chinese,they are still han chinese.However nowadays most taiwanese will refer to you "please don't call me chinese,I'm taiwanese". Some like hong kong people will be like "I'm from hong kong, I'm hong kong cantonese chinese". Others like Singaporeans prefer being being called sinaporeans first than chinese.Basically taiwanese are mostly made up of fujianese with all the other hans people in taiwan idendifying as taiwanese. And hong kong are mostly made up of cantonese people with all other han groups in hong kong that identifies with cantonese.And singapore are mix of mostly fujianese,teachow,cantonese,hakka but prefer to identify with being Singaporeans since their an majority.( btw it's strange how only the cantonese and fujianese descendants have their own native province,lands,entertainment media with majority population.While the hakka and teachew doesn't ,and always the minority)


http://en.wikipedia....aiwanese_people

Taiwanese people ethnic groups: the Hoklo (70%), the Hakka (15%), Mainlander (13%). In other words Taiwanese majority are basically fujianese people.But anyway whether they are fujianese or hakka makes no difference,as I'm sure they all don't want to identify as chinese.

(BTW the mainlander identify with both taiwanese and chinese)

http://en.wikipedia....ese_Singaporean

Singaporean chinese: Hokkiens or fujianese (福建人) constitute around 41%.Teochew (潮州人) in Singapore constitute about 21% of ,The Cantonese (广东人) make up 15% of the Chinese Singaporean population,Hakka (客家人) constitute 11.4%.Hainanese people (海南人)This group constitutes 5% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Taiwanese (台湾人 less than 2% of the Chinese Singaporean population.

(BTW keep in mind some cantonese Singaporeans are also toishan cantonese but are part of cantonese ethnic).

http://en.wikipedia....ong_Kong_people

Hong Kong people: Cantonese people represent the largest group in Hong Kong. Beside the Cantonese, people of other Han Chinese groups also reside in Hong Kong. However, the Cantonese remains the largest group even amongst other Han Chinese groups in Hong Kong. As such, Hong Kong culture is highly Cantonese-influenced. Together with the fact that Cantonese is most commonly used as the language of both everyday and formal conversations, as well as its use in the media and education. other Han Chinese groups in Hong Kong, such as the Hakka, the Hoklo (Hokkien), the Shanghainese, or the Teochew, in particular those who are Hong Kong born or raised, often assimilate into the mainstream Cantonese identity of Hong Kong.

(BTW taishanese makes up 30-40% of hong kong population, but we too are cantonese sub-group. Our dialect,culture,mentality were alrealy similar to those of cantonese and hong kong cantonese to begin with)

Edited by TaishanLOVE, 17 May 2011 - 11:17 AM.

[Loong]

This is political vs cultural.

Everyone is a chinese descent, which is agreeable. The nationality comes first, as it is more of a political issue. It would be same as a national of Thai but chinese descent would be call a citizen of Thailand, of Chinese descent.

Maybe it is convention, as we would put country before ethnicity. It doesnt mean they disown their chinese heritage.

[peger]

Singapore has never been under Chinese rule; Hong Kong was founded and developed by the British; Taiwan was likewise a frontier backwater which was largely developed into the modern state it is now by during fifty years of Japanese rule and then further politically and culturally on its own after '49. All three have Chinese roots, but all three have developed in unique ways. It is hardly surprising that most people in these countries identity with the locality and not Mainland China. How many Canadians, Americans, Australians or New Zealanders do you know refer to themselves as British?

As to your question, Singapore is probably the 'least Chinese', but I'd imagine Taiwanese far more vehemently reject the label given the heavy political connotations that carries.

[TaishanLOVE]

Singapore has never been under Chinese rule; Hong Kong was founded and developed by the British; Taiwan was likewise a frontier backwater which was largely developed into the modern state it is now by during fifty years of Japanese rule and then further politically and culturally on its own after '49. All three have Chinese roots, but all three have developed in unique ways. It is hardly surprising that most people in these countries identity with the locality and not Mainland China. How many Canadians, Americans, Australians or New Zealanders do you know refer to themselves as British?


As to your question, Singapore is probably the 'least Chinese', but I'd imagine Taiwanese far more vehemently reject the label given the heavy political connotations that carries.

It's true british founded hong kong and advance them,but this opportunity was given to hong kong people to developed for themselves and made it what they are today.If they didn't they would have been just like philippines,Burma or every other african nation who were colonized in past.All of them were given many opportunities to developed during their colonization but did not succeed while hong kong people did.Hong Kong is only 2% of guangdong(canton) and guangdong served as an very important trading port with rest world.The canton system was also set up in guangdong this is why british were so interested in guangdong, so they took piece of it which became to be known as hong kong.

You can't say singapore was never under chinese rule,it's true that it was under the british before,but after their independence it was mostly under the chinese rule,most of the president was chinese,the majority of the population is also chinese aswell and if the singaporeans chinese don't vote you other ethnics don't have a chance.It's true british advanced singaporeans,but this opportunity was given to the singaporeans people today.All of southeast asia were colonized by european powers in past and were given opportunity but in the end only singapore is the most wealthiest of them all.


Taiwan was developed by japan for long time since it was under it for 50 years, before it was under the spanish rule and dutch rule who they also developed taiwan.Japans was the first asian nation to accept western civilization in all asia.After their surrender,atomic bombing of their country.The japan mainland was under 7 years american rule and allies and Okinawa was under for more than 30 years under american rule, even though it's still has 8 u.s base in japan.Americans build their country and forming modern japan today, the same goes with south korea, it was developed by japan in beginning but it was mostly built by americans.


(I know this has nothing to do with question on the topic but I can't help but feel annoyed about giving all credits to westerners.It's true that western civilization dominated modern asians civilization and world in last 500 years, but since history it was chinese,indian,mesopotamia civilization that have dominated the west and world, for many thousands of years.Europe was still uncivilized during this period.)

Edited by TaishanLOVE, 19 May 2011 - 11:37 PM.

[Loong]

If I may add, you have touched a very good subject.

As you know, the chinese have absorbed a lot of cultural influence from mongols, jurchen etc over the course of history. During this current century, the chinese (ethnicity, not the country) is now exposed to western culture, which is starting to contribute to the identity of the younger generation. I guess it'll be interesting to see how the next generation develops in their thinking, mentality, outlook etc.

[TaishanLOVE]

If I may add, you have touched a very good subject.

As you know, the chinese have absorbed a lot of cultural influence from mongols, jurchen etc over the course of history. During this current century, the chinese (ethnicity, not the country) is now exposed to western culture, which is starting to contribute to the identity of the younger generation. I guess it'll be interesting to see how the next generation develops in their thinking, mentality, outlook etc.

Isn't the cultural influence weak? other than the manchu's qipao and the altaic influence in mandarin language I don't see how they influenced chinese.Mongolian architecture was influenced by chinese, the khitan script was influenced by chinese aswell.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Hong Kong( 香港人) vs Taiwan (台灣人) vs Singapore (新加坡人)

Which of these 3 doesn't want to identify as chinese the most? even though they are all different han chinese,they are still han chinese.However nowadays most taiwanese will refer to you "please don't call me chinese,I'm taiwanese".

Taiwanese prefers to be called Taiwanese first than later Chinese. Pro-Taiwan Independence-leaning Taiwanese do not recognize themselves as Chinese nationally (Zhongguoren 中国人), but do not deny their "ethnic Chinese roots" or Chinese cultural roots (Huaren 华人). Only aborigine Taiwanese will not recognize themselves to have Chinese cultural roots (or ethnic Chinese), and they are not culturally or ethnically han-Chinese. Pro-China leaning Taiwanese do recognize themselves as Chinese nationally (Zhongguoren) and culturally Chinese (Huaren). So it's matter of different perceptions amongst Taiwanese people. However, if you're holding a Republic of China (ROC) nationality, you are not just a Taiwanese and by right also a Chinese nationally (Zhongguoren 中国人), though of course in today's world, "Zhongguoren" usually refers to people holding PRC nationality.

It might be better to label Taiwanese as "Huaren 华人" (a neutral label for all Chinese) instead of "Zhongguoren 中国人" (Chinese national) to avoid the controversy. However, in reality, most Taiwanese prefer to be called Taiwanese

[peger]

It's true british founded hong kong and advance them,but this opportunity was given to hong kong people to developed for themselves and made it what they are today.If they didn't they would have been just like philippines,Burma or every other african nation who were colonized in past.All of them were given many opportunities to developed during their colonization but did not succeed while hong kong people did.Hong Kong is only 2% of guangdong(canton) and guangdong served as an very important trading port with rest world.The canton system was also set up in guangdong this is why british were so interested in guangdong, so they took piece of it which became to be known as hong kong.

You can't say singapore was never under chinese rule,it's true that it was under the british before,but after their independence it was mostly under the chinese rule,most of the president was chinese,the majority of the population is also chinese aswell and if the singaporeans chinese don't vote you other ethnics don't have a chance.It's true british advanced singaporeans,but this opportunity was given to the singaporeans people today.All of southeast asia were colonized by european powers in past and were given opportunity but in the end only singapore is the most wealthiest of them all.


Taiwan was developed by japan for long time since it was under it for 50 years, before it was under the spanish rule and dutch rule who they also developed taiwan.Japans was the first asian nation to accept western civilization in all asia.After their surrender,atomic bombing of their country.The japan mainland was under 7 years american rule and allies and Okinawa was under for more than 30 years under american rule, even though it's still has 8 u.s base in japan.Americans build their country and forming modern japan today, the same goes with south korea, it was developed by japan in beginning but it was mostly built by americans.


(I know this has nothing to do with question on the topic but I can't help but feel annoyed about giving all credits to westerners.It's true that western civilization dominated modern asians civilization and world in last 500 years, but since history it was chinese,indian,mesopotamia civilization that have dominated the west and world, for many thousands of years.Europe was still uncivilized during this period.)

I don't think you quite understood my point. What I said had nothing to do with giving Britain or Japan credit for the development/achievements of Taiwan, HK, or Singapore; I was illustrating that all three areas have been heavily influenced by outside cultures in ways mainland China was not, and have thus developed culturally in divergent paths.

In addition, I wasn't saying Singapore has never been ruled by ethnic Chinese, but by mainland China. It seems like you're heavily focusing on ethnic identity whereas I was talking about cultural and political identity. All three groups are obviously still 汉族, but they also clearly have distinct identities.