4 replies to this topic

[General_Zhaoyun]

They are 4th generation descendents of Malaysian Chinese of northern Chinese descent from Beijing, Tianjing, Hebei, Shandong region. There are even Chinese muslims (hui-Chinese). They lived in Sabah. There is actually a Tianjin town over there. Many descendents still speak Mandarin with northern Chinese accent, and some can still speak the Shandongnese dialect.






Interesting..If don't notice, you might still think they are from China. But they are actually Malaysian Chinese of northern Chinese descent.

[mrclub]

Different from Singapore, where the northern Chinese started to enter Singapore in recent years

[General_Zhaoyun]

Different from Singapore, where the northern Chinese started to enter Singapore in recent years

The general history of northern Chinese entering Singapore was during the late 1980s, esp. after 1990s when Singapore established diplomatic ties with PRC in 1990. They were initially sailors working on ships who travel to Singapore. However, I'm still researching to see if there is any Singaporean Chinese of northern Chinese descent whose ancestors came into Singapore during early 20th century. I do know there are Singaporean Chinese of Shanghainese descent who came to Singapore during early 20th century. I've met quite a number of them whose grandparents originated from Shanghai.

[calibre2001]

This is interesting.

A pity the younger generation will likely lose that distinct northern accent in their mandarin in years to come. I must admit listening to all that northern slurs woke me up. I'm more curious to hear these folks speaking other languages like English / Malay / some local Sabah language.

Have you heard of Sandakan (again in Sabah) with its HK,Guangzhou accent cantonese speakers?

Edited by calibre2001, 20 September 2011 - 05:53 AM.

[xng]

This is completely new to me. I thought all Malaysian Chinese are from Southern China except recently ie. after 1980s which is just a trickle from North China through intermarriages.

http://en.wikipedia....Chinese#Origins

Edited by xng, 28 September 2011 - 09:07 PM.