Welcome. Hoklo is the name of a people, it is also the name of the language spoken by this people. Today's Hoklo people are distributed mainly in Taiwan, Fujian and some other parts of Southern China, and scattered areas in Southeast Asia. Within China, a majority of the population of the Hainan island and the city of Chaozhou (Teochew) are considered to be Hoklo as well. Unlike many other ethnicities (for instance, the Hakka or the Cantonese), there is no strong cultural identity linking the various Hoklo ethnic subgroups. It is not surprising that many Hoklo people themselves are not aware of their Hoklo heritage. In fact, many are not even familiar with the term "Hoklo": a term used by this people in the old days to refer to themselves. Keeping in mind that intermarriage and/or assimilation are widespread between the Hoklo and its surrounding ethnicities, particularly with the Hakka and the various aborigine groups on the Chinese Mainland and in Taiwan, "Hoklo" is therefore more a cultural-linguistical heritage than anything else. The history of the Hoklo people may be blurry, but the existence of a linguistic group serves to indicate that this is an identifiable ethnicity, with a shared heritage that is now simply forgotten. Early Citations (as early as 1843 A.D.) Typhoon, Taiwan, Hoklo 「颱風」「台灣」「福佬」 |