From Heung Shan to Tan Heung Shan – Understanding Early “Chinese” Migrants to Hawaii as Part of a Worldwide Cantonese (67034)

Session Information: Interdisciplinary Education
Session Chair: Clement Tong

Saturday, January 7, 2023 (10:15)
Session: Session 1
Room: 322B
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation

All presentation times are UTC-10 (Pacific/Honolulu)

Many early “Chinese” migrants arriving in Hawaii from China came from two groups in the Guangdong Province – people from Heung Shan (Xiangshan, later renamed Zhongshan) and the Hakka People. Long before the discriminative measures against Chinese workers being put in place starting in the late 19th century, these two groups of “Cantonese” were already settling in places like Honolulu and Hilo, engaging in business ventures and other kinds of labour work. Even the early name of the Hawaii Islands, Tan Heung Shan (the Sandalwoods Mountain), was reminiscent of the Cantonese linguistic characteristics, as Cantonese speakers tended to use “mountain” to denote a place, such as calling San Francisco Gam Shan (the Gold Mountain), and referring to their own country China as Tang Shan (the Tang People’s Mountain), rather than Zhongguo (the Middle Kingdom). This paper argues that by emphasizing the early migrants to Hawaii from China as primarily Xiangshan and Hakka “Cantonese”, we will be able to understand these early migrant communities from an interestingly different and revealing perspective. The Hawaiian situation would also be used to compare to the situations in Americas, where early Cantonese migrants came mostly from the Sum Yup and the Seiyap regions - areas adjacent to but different from the Xiangshan and Hakka areas - in order to better understand how the demographic differences affected the characteristics and expressions of these communities.

Authors:
Clement Tong, University of British Colombia, Canada


About the Presenter(s)
Professor Clement Tong is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at UBC in Canada

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Posted by Clive Staples Lewis

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00