28 replies to this topic

[kaixin]

I hear this often among the Cantonese and Toisanese in America. For them to be Chinese means= "Tang-ren." A Chinatown is "Tangren-jie or Tangren-fou".

But, China (esp. their ancestral village) is "Tang-shan." (Tang mountain) Why?

[wlee15]

My family is from Guangdong province but I've never heard them refer to the ancestorial village or China as Tang Shan. Are you sure they're not actually reffering to a actual place in China?

[tongyan]

My family is from Guangdong province but I've never heard them refer to the ancestorial village or China as Tang Shan. Are you sure they're not actually reffering to a actual place in China?

Traditionally, China is referred to by Cantonese as Tang Shan, especially for people living during the Qing Dynasty or the early 20th century. If you watch some 80s HK flicks depicting the Qing Dynasty era, they will refer to China as "Tang Shan" and America as "Hua Qi Guo" or "Jin Shan"

[General_Zhaoyun]

For Hokkien people (Fujianese), they would refer China as "Dng Suang" 长山 (long mountain), b'cos where Fujiang province consists of so many mountains which are long .

[kaixin]

The Cantonese also refer to anything pertaining to Chinese as "Tang."

For example:

1) Tang chan= Chinese food.
2) Tang men, Tang wa= Chinese language.
3) Tangjong sam= Chinese clothing. (Qing Dynasty style)

Slowly, "Tang" is being replaced by "Zhong-guo" among the overseas Cantonese.

[urofpersia]

Slowly, "Tang" is being replaced by "Zhong-guo" among the overseas Cantonese.

At least here in SE Asia, we prefer Hua 华 I know of many OC organisations in America who prefer Hua as well, and refer to themselves as Huaren or Huaqiao.

[DStylezInc]

The reason y a lot of Chinese that speak Cantonese referred themselves as Tong Yan / Tang-ren is because it was actually the Tang Dynasty that really unified southern part of China. You gotta understand that Tang meaning that we are consider ourselves part of the Tang Era. That was when China really blossom as a unified nation. In Teochiu we call ourselves Duong Nang meaning that we are our the people of Tang. I alwayz thought Duong Nang means Long People but itz actually means Tang/Tong/Duong/Dung People.

[naruwan]

For Hokkien people (Fujianese), they would refer China as "Dng Suang" 长山 (long mountain), b'cos where Fujiang province consists of so many mountains which are long .

Not Taiwanese people. It's Dong Shan as in 唐山. I have never heard DenG (nasal) Shan before.

[urofpersia]

My ancestors, Hakka refer to China as Tangshan as well. Is this strictly limited to Southern China?

[许-89]

My parents use "Heung ha" when they mean ancestral village or the village where my grand-parents were born (In mainland China). I'm not certain though.

[urofpersia]

My parents use "Heung ha" when they mean ancestral village or the village where my grand-parents were born (In mainland China). I'm not certain though.

If this is Cantonese it means the countryside, 乡下

[fsgien]

If this is Cantonese it means the countryside, 乡下

a familiar phrase for me too,
being from Mah Guwh, 'Heung' , Suhn Dak 'yuen'

but 'harh' is the heung hahr pronounciation
whwhat is the Chinese ideogram
which i do not think is lower or lesser

[Douglas Lam]

Not Taiwanese people. It's Dong Shan as in 唐山. I have never heard DenG (nasal) Shan before.

I guess they sound the same in Hokkien (long and tang), some hokkiens in Singapore thought it is "long mountain"too. Tang ren, means people of the Tang's- basically chinese. Thus Chinatowns are always called Tang Ren Jie.

My guess is Tang is from Tang Dynasty, and Shan means the greatness of China. A respect shown from oversea chineses to their land of origin. Most chineses plan to "return"to their homeland then.

Therefore, it is not the Cantonese who refer to China as Tangshan, most oversea chinese used and some are still using it.

[fuxun]

Not Taiwanese people. It's Dong Shan as in 唐山. I have never heard DenG (nasal) Shan before.

here in the philippines, we also call china 唐山 and not 长山. but we pronounced it as deng sua (nasal). and people from china are called 唐山人 (deng sua lang). and most of the chinese here are from fujian. my granparents are also from fujian. and so we speak minnanhua.

[naruwan]

Actually in Taiwan it was more common to call people from China "a-soaⁿ" before KMT occupation.

Now we just call people from China "A-Lio-a"

As for 唐山, I am not sure if you are familiar with the concept of Text pronounciation 文讀音 and Speech pronounciation 白話音 in the Taiwanese Holo.

Text Speech
唐山 Tong San Tang Soaⁿ

I suppose I see how you can read it as Tang Soaⁿ, but this is a "term" so usually read in Text pronounciation.