Islam in Hokchew (Fuzhou)

Islam has never been a mainstream belief at any period in the history of Hokchew (Fuzhou), and it may be difficult to trace the Islamic history of Hokchew to the very beginning. One important record of the early Islamic history of Hokchew is the inscriptions on a 16th century stone stele in Hokchew Mosque (Fuzhou Mosque), claiming that the first mosque in Hokchew was built in 628 AD. This can be doubtful, since 628 AD is too early even for many Islamic countries in the Middle East, like Iran and Egypt, and it is widely believed that Islam was first introduced to China in 650. However, according to the Book of Min (閩書) by He Qiaoyuan (何喬遠) in 1620, Muhammad sent 4 disciples to China by sea between 618-626, two of them resided in Hokchew, and the other two in Guangzhou and Yangzhou respectively. The two disciples finally died in Hokchew and buried in Ling-sang (灵山). If this is true, Hokchew can be one of the Chinese cities that has the earliest contact with Islam. Despite the disputes, we still learn that Islam arrived at Hokchew in the 7th century. Since Hokchew was already an important port in early Tang Dynasty, there was a considerable foreign population in the city, mostly from the Middle East (Persians and Arabs), therefore, a mosque was indispensable for them.

However, the heyday of Fuzhou as a commercial port did not last very long, and her importance was gradually surpassed by the Southern Min city of Chôan-chiu (AKA Quanzhou, 泉州), known as Zayton (刺桐) by the Persians and Arabs. Chôan-chiu became the largest port in China in the Song Dynasty (10th-13th century), and even the largest in the world in the Yuan Dynasty (13th-14th century). Most Persians and Arabs chose to live in Chôan-chiu, rather than Hokchew. As the Muslim population dwindled, the early Hokchew Mosque gradually went decrepit. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that Hokchew saw an increase of her Muslim population. So when the main prayer hall of Hokchew Mosque collapsed due to the lack of maintenance in the mid-14th century (Yuan Dynasty), the muslims, even some high ranked officials in Hokchew helped to rebuild the mosque. In early Ming Dynasty (14th century), it was again renovated, and the famous Sah Family in Hokchew also donated money for the renovation.

The classical Foochow saddleback gable in the Hokchew Mosque (Fuzhou Mosque)

The main prayer hall of the Hokchew Mosque

In 1541, after the Hokchew Mosque was destroyed in a fire, the local muslim rebuilt the mosque in the form of classical Foochow architecture style, which is today's Hokchew Mosque. If anything unique can be found in the Hokchew Mosque, it must be that the Hokchew Mosque is the only mosque in the world in classical Foochow style. Here you can find Foochow saddleback gables in a mosque! The pic on the left shows what the Foochow saddleback gables in the mosque look like. Certainly, you can also find Arabic inscriptions and Chinese stone stele accompanying the oriental main prayer hall. The only thing that reminds a non-native of the religious function of the building is its facade with a dome (in the pic), but this was added to the original mosque only in 1989, and in my opinion, this recent modification was such a bad idea that harmed the integrality of the building.

Added to the original building only in 1989, the dome of Hokchew Mosque doesn't look in tune

Chinese inscription in the Hokchew Mosque

Arabic inscription in the Hokchew Mosque

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Hokchew Islam was again heavily weakened due to the shrink of Hokchew muslim population. In hundreds of years, the Hokchew Mosque was maintained by the muslim officers in Hokchew from other Chinese provinces appointed by the emperor. We only saw significant muslim immigration to Fujian after the installation of the communism in 1949, when some muslims from north China came to Hokchew following its occupation by the communist army, whose solders were mostly Northern Chinese. Since the 1980s, the booming economy of Fujian attracted many muslims from northwestern China to Hokchew. These new immigrants "revived" the Hokchew Mosque. Currently, the Ulama of Hokchew Mosque is a Hui (回族), and the Hui people and Uyghur people constitute the majority of the worshippers here.

A 15th century stone stele in the Hokchew Mosque, which conveyed the Yongle Emperor's decree to protect Islam

However, following the increase of Muslim population in Hokchew is the uneasy relation between the local Foochow Han Chinese and the muslims, particularly the Uyghur, just like what is going on in many other Chinese cities. I'd like to go a little deeper into the issue. Many of the Uyghur people in Hokchew are from Southern Xinjiang, the poorest region in Xinjiang and one of the poorest in China. The arid land and bad economy drove many Uyghur there to the eastern coast of China to look for jobs and better lives. But some of them did this in an illegal way: they brought many Uyghur kids from southern Xinjiang to eastern China by promising their families a better income, even by kidnapping. But it turned out that these criminals used the little kids, mostly about 10 years old, as thieves to steal for them. The money the kids stole finally went to the adult criminals' pockets and the kids were only provided their basic needs. There are also some notorious Uyghur peddlers who try to sell by force, threatening the customers to buy their things (usually some good-looking cakes), otherwise the customers may get beaten up. Such problems rapidly damaged Uyghur's reputation and brought tension between them and the local people. Unfortunately, many Han Chinese do not know where the Uyghur people are from. They simply take them as the typical example of all Uyghur, and consequently consider most Uyghur as thieves or evil peddlers. This is so sad.

Today, to most Hokchew residents, Islam is such a strange and somewhat mysterious religion, even though the Hokchew Mosque locates on one of the busiest street at the heart of the city. The mosque itself is listed as a relic protected by the city of Hokchew and open to the public, but it seems that very few Foochowese have ever set foot in it. When I and my friends visited the mosque, I met a clergy who kind of vigilantly asked: "What are you doing here?" When I answered :"I'm a tourist." He stopped asking questions any more. When I took photos in front of a small door, I didn't notice that I was in the way of a person who murmured something to me seemingly in Uyghur, obviously, he was grumbling. I don't know if we are also strange to them as they are strange to most Foochowese.

一张民国时期的罗源照片

2009年时，我在南加州大学网上图书馆（USC Libraries）里的国际传教士档案里（Internet Mission Photography Archive）偶然发现了这张照片，原址在这里 ，标题为Laiyuan, Fujian, China, ca. 1930，显然，单从标题上看，大概谁也不会想到这个Laiyuan竟是Luoyuan之误。但当我第一次见到它时，瞬间便有一种难以言表的亲切感，仿佛似曾相识，几乎在1秒钟内，我立刻就怀疑起图书馆人员在录入资料时是否有误。在阅读了照片的描述和资料来源之后，我的怀疑愈深。

这幅照片实体的收藏者是耶鲁大学神学院图书馆（Yale Divinity School Library），是艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔女士收藏文献（Emily Susan Hartwell Papers）中的一部分，时间在1920-1937之间，照片的描述为：The town is completely enclosed by a fortified stone wall. The ramparts and gatehouses of the wall are visible. Rice paddies dominate the foreground. Mountains loom over the background. This photo is from the papers of Emily Susan Hartwell, an American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionary stationed in Foochow, Fukien from 1884.大意是：“该城完全由坚固的石墙环绕。墙体和城门楼清晰可见。前景由稻田占据。而背景则浮现重重山峦。该照片来自于由1884年起便驻于福建福州的美国公理会差会的艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔的文献。”那么，这个艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔究竟是谁，又凭什么鉴定这照片的拍摄地点和时间呢？

实际上，这位艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔女士是一位美国女性，她是在福州传教的美国基督教新教传教士夏察理（Charles Hartwell）的女儿，也在福州从事传教工作。这位夏察理先生还是位语言学者，就像那个年代在榕的许多外国人一样，他能说一口流利的福州话，不仅如此，他还参与了将《圣经新约》和三字经翻译为福州语（平话字）的工作以及第二版《福州话-英语词典》的编撰。1905年，夏察理逝世后，他的女儿艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔留在福州继续传教工作。艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔女士应该有一个汉文名字，但我至今没有找到。夏女士在榕期间，到过许多地方，也拍摄了大量照片，这些照片如今就以艾米莉·苏珊·夏威尔女士收藏文献的名字收录在耶鲁神学院图书馆中。

让我怀疑该照片为罗源城的理由先是来自于我血脉里藏着的直觉，对罗源旧城格局的了解，以及对照片描述的合理怀疑。夏女士活动范围主要在福州一带，而福州一代并没有一个名叫Laiyuan的城镇，就算放眼全福建，也只有龙岩有一个赖源乡，但那种小乡显然不具备如此大的规模以及完备的城墙的。为了求证，我在海墘闽语论坛上将照片发布于此处：，并询问罗源籍的网友mdese，这可能是这张照片自问世以来第一次出现在大学图书馆以外的网络上。作为户外爱好者的mdese一眼就认出背景的山脉就是罗源城南的莲花山脉，还特地从原照片的角度拍摄了一幅今日的罗源面貌照片，背景的山形完全一致，终于还这幅照片一个完美的答案：这就是罗源城！

注意到照片右下角占地颇大的建筑，应当是今日的岐阳天主教堂，但照片上的天主堂并没有今日天主堂的钢筋混凝土结构。由于1931年岐阳天主堂被台风损毁，现今的岐阳天主堂的钢筋混凝土结构是1932年由福州教区的宋金铃主教主持重修的，也是罗源第一处钢筋混凝土建筑，那么，可以确定这幅照片的拍摄时间一定早于1931年。而考虑到照片描述中1920-1937年的时间区间，这幅照片拍摄时间应该在1920-1931年之间。至于Luoyuan-Laiyuan之误，在抄录的时候，对相关历史和地理缺乏了解的工作人员出现这种错误是很正常的。如今，这幅照片已经传到了闽语论坛之外，在罗源卡溜帮论坛上也被转载，不知道是否还转载到其他地方。我也把它上传到了维基百科上，希望日后能在编纂词条时加以利用。


最后，我还是在上图中对这幅照片里的一些景物做一些描述吧。图中标示1的是罗源城南的莲花山；标示2的地方据说是过去的灰炉厂，我估计如今的妈祖庙也在那附近；标示3的略有白顶建筑则是基督教新教教会创办的慈善机构“一善堂”；标示4的为罗源文庙旁的文昌阁，其故址就在今天的罗源县实验小学内；标示5的城门就是今天罗源北门的城头面（Siang-tau-meng）地区；而标示6则是今天的岐阳天主堂。就像当时所有的福州城邑一样，连绵的马鞍封火墙构成了罗源城美丽的天际线，城里的人们和他们喜怒哀乐的诸般故事，种种美丽，今天却已不存，让人空感悲切，唏嘘不已。另一幅图是闽语论坛上的mdese君去年在同一角度所摄的对比照片，真是物非人亦非，真不知我们摧毁了多少可以留恋的美。我常在梦境里徘徊于罗源故城，水城内的小桥过舟，盈满街巷的罗源话，抬眼可见的封火墙，这消逝的一切却在2009年的一天偶然撞见，不知冥冥中是何机缘安排。

福州忠懿閩王祠匆匆行 A Visit to the King of Min Memorial Temple

還是在09年夏天，約好某日下午和GnuDoyng見面，地點就選在了福州閩王祠。因為有事耽擱，4點才從臺江十四橋附近出發，叫了輛的士，上車說：“去閩王祠”，司機：“哪里？”，我：“慶城路閩王祠，鼓樓區那邊”，司機：“慶城路？慶城路是哪里？”，我：“五四路那邊啊”，片刻，司機：“是十九中那邊嗎？那里好像有個什么廟”，我：“Bingo！”終于出發了。(左圖：閩王祠大門)




(左圖：閩王祠前庭後墻) 如今許多人連閩王祠也不認識，多少有些數典忘祖的味道，但就像我常說的那樣：這是一段在近幾十年被遺忘的歷史，即便這就是我們族群自己的歷史。盡管閩人習慣將先祖入閩的歷史追溯到晉代的八姓入閩，但在福建歷史上最輝煌的一次入閩移民潮還是唐末五代時的“十八姓從王”。9世紀末黃巢亂唐之後，中原陷入又一波大規模戰亂，當時光壽兩州（如今的河南固始和安徽壽縣）的兵士在王緒的帶領下，南下轉戰福建，但是由于王緒暴虐，士兵們怨聲載道，秘密擁護軍中品行良好的王潮、王審知兄弟發動兵變，囚禁王緒。王氏兄弟于是就率領兵士民人平定了福建各派勢力，統一全閩，入主閩都福州。這次跟隨王潮、王審知兄弟南下入閩的光壽兵民據說共有十八姓，這便是十八姓從王。王潮去世後，王審知繼而主政，並在909年被後梁冊封為閩王，開創了五代十國中的閩國，這也開啟了真正意義上閩族群的歷史。這個忠懿閩王祠，就是祭祀王審知的祠廟。(右圖：唐代“恩賜瑯琊郡王德政碑”)

慶城路是一條不寬的街道，雖在市中心，交通也不擁擠，車進慶城路，立即就看到一座古建筑紅色的正立面，問都不用問，這就是閩王祠了。雖說王審知是五代時期的人物，這座閩王祠卻是明代所建，不過這個選址確實是選在了五代時王審知舊居故址之上。在抱怨同胞們對本族群歷史漠視的時候，我也沒忘了自己也沒有多乖，因為這也是我第一次拜訪閩王祠，即便我對它其實牽掛已久，一問家住鼓樓區的GnuDoyng，原來他也是第一次造訪這里，那么也好，大家都帶著新鮮感來參觀了。

(左圖：閩王祠正殿) 雖然掛著“閩王祠”這么威風的頭銜，但這座祠堂其實并不大，占地面積為1840平方米，福建比它更大的家族祠堂應當不在少數。閩王祠的正立面，也就是大門，采用的是福州本土祠堂常用的一種大門形式，門墻中間高、兩側低，上為兩端挑起的燕尾脊顶，三個門洞，正門大、兩儀門小，大門上方有“奉旨祀典”碑和“忠懿閩王祠”額，左右儀門上方分別書“报功”、“崇德”。進門就是前庭，整座閩王祠里最古老的物件就在前庭中，就是碑亭里的那座906年的黑色唐代“恩賜瑯琊郡王德政碑”，要知道這祠堂現建筑也不過400來年歷史（1601年），而這方碑比這厝要早了將近700年。從文物價值上可以說這碑比祠貴，閩王祠中的省級文物保護單位不是這祠，而是這碑。（右圖：閩王祠內的王審知像）


(左圖：閩王祠內陳列的閩國宮殿遺物) 前庭那“紹越開疆”後墻後面就是閩王祠的主體——後庭，像所有的福州古典建筑一樣，後庭是由兩側的廂房和正面的正殿圍出一個天井的空間。今天的閩王祠，似乎並沒有祠堂的功能，而純粹是作為一座小型博物館開放的。正殿里除了正中那座王審知雕塑，其余的空間擺放的是各色有意思的文物，比如五代閩王宮建筑遺物（多是瓦當、地磚之類）、王審知妻子尚賢夫人墓志銘和“拜劍臺古跡”碑。不過在描述文物的“閩王宮建筑遺物”牌子上面，我發現了很搞笑的一個細節：吳越國的“國”字竟然被加上了引號，成了：閩亡後，吳越“國”將其拆除。在中國歷史上確確實實存在過的十國之一的吳越國竟然成了吳越“國”，天哪，不知是否是館方草木皆兵、敏感過度了。另外一個有意思的地方是，我在閩王祠并沒有發現福州式古典建筑典型的馬鞍形封火墻，按理說明代的建筑也該有馬頭墻吧，如果這是當時的工匠們考慮到閩王的中原出身以及其年代早于馬頭墻出現的年代，那我倒真的很佩服他們。

由于閩王祠只開放到5點，這次訪問也就匆匆結束，不過由于閩王祠確實很小，這點時間倒也足夠把它參觀得透透的了。其實相比前兩年去過的空無一人的華林寺，閩王祠還是有些游客的。也許這得益於福州市現在大小博物館一律免門票參觀的政策。我不得不說，這是市政府做的一件大好事，不但給福州的文化愛好者們更大的便利，也讓對相關知識不甚了解的民眾們有更多的機會接觸和了解我們自己的歷史和文化。(右圖：搞笑的“吳越‘國’”)



The King of Min Memorial Temple locates at Qingcheng Road, a less busy road in urban Fuzhou. It was built for commemorate Wang Shenzhi (in Foochow: Wong Sing-di), the founder and the first king of the Kingdom of Min in the 10th century. Wang Shenzhi and his brother Wang Chao (in Foochow: Wong Dieu) were the leaders of immigrants (soldiers and civilians) from Gwangchow (光州, currently Gushi 固始 in Henan Province) and Shouzhou (寿州, currently Shouxian 寿县 in Anhui Province) in Central China to Fujian, to flee the exhausting wars in Central China. The Wang brothers finally united and took full control of the entire land of Min (Fujian) in 893 AD. After Wang Chao's death, Wang Shenzhi took over power and was conferred the King of Min by the emperor of Later Liang in 909. Wang Shenzhi was known as an excellent leader who developed Fujian from a poor frontier region into a highly civilized kingdom, and remembered by many ethnic Min as the Founding King of Min (開閩王).

Although Wang Shenzhi is one of the most important figures in the history of Fujian, his memorial temple is not large – only 1840 square meters (~19800 square ft), even smaller than many family temples found in this area. The temple was built on the site of the former house of Wang Shenzhi, but its current structure was rebuilt in 1601 (Ming Dynasty). Its façade (front gate) is of one typical Foochow style (Eastern Min style), which is higher in the middle and lower at both sides. Behind the façade is the front courtyard, where stands the most precious relic in this temple: the Bestowed Stele for the Merits of King Langya (恩賜瑯琊郡王德政碑), given by the last Emperor of Tang Dynasty to Wang Shenzhi in 906. The inner court behind the 紹越開疆 wall has a typical traditional Foochow style layout. The main hall behind the atrium is now an exhibition room. Besides the statue of Wang Shenzhi in the middle, you can find fragments from the archaeological site of the 10th century Min Palace and the epitaph of Wang Shenzhi’s wife. The temple is so small that you can finish it less than half an hour, but in my opinion, it is still a must-visit place in Fuzhou for those who seriously want to know the history of Fujian and ethnic Min. In some way, it is a cultural shrine to the Min people, even though many Min today have almost forgot the place.

多元的土地——福建

在我开这个blog的时候，困扰我的第一个问题就是如何给我的母邦福建一个罗马化的名称，用于这个blog的英文部分。现时，中国官方以Fujian作为福建的罗马化名称，但我实在不太喜欢这个拼法，因为这个拼法完全基于北方汉语（官话），却和福建本土语言的发音没有关系，换句话说，如果你对一个在纯母语环境中长大的福建人（比如某些完全接受闽语单语教育的老人）说Fujian，他/她会完全不晓得你说的是什么。但问题是福建至少有9种主要的本土语言，而“福建”二字在这些语言中的发音各不相同，这就让我很难取舍究竟使用哪一种罗马化的拼法。因此，我只好选择了最常用的3种罗马化拼法：Fujian（官话/普通话），Fukien（老官话）和Hokkien（闽南语）作为这个blog的英文部分中福建的拼写。为此，我不得不牺牲了自己的母语福州语中的罗马化拼写Hok-giong，因为如今已经很少见到这种拼法了。

从本土复杂的语言系统上，就可以窥见福建文化高度多元的一斑。我知道相当多人（甚至包括不少福建人），都并不了解福建各种语言的相互亲缘关系以及地理分布状况，所以还是借助这一张福建语言地图和下面的语言分类树状图来解释这个问题吧。这张地图上标出了8种语言的分布，分别是东北部的闽东语（Eastern Min），东南部的闽南语（Southern Min），中部沿海的莆仙语（或称兴化语，Puxian），西北部的闽北语（Northern Min），中西部的闽中语（Central Min），西南部的客语（Hakka），以及西北部最北端的一小块吴语（Wu）和西北部西端的小块赣语区（Gan）。前面提到的福建9大本土语言中唯一没有在地图上标识出的是畲语，即福建畲族人的母语，分散于福建沿海的山区中，大概由于历史上畲族人在迁到现今聚居地之前曾与客家人混居的原因，福建闽东一带的畲语十分接近于客语。闽南语、闽东语、闽北语、莆仙语、闽中语共同构成闽语，而闽语也是福建使用人数最多的一个语支，客语次之。闽南语是福建使用人数最多的语言，它不仅分布在福建的南部，还分布于广东东部的潮汕一带（潮州话）和西南端的雷州半岛（雷州话），及海南的很多地区（海南话）；闽南语同时也是占台湾人口约70%的闽南族群（河洛人）的母语，在台湾被通称为台语，台湾官方则称之为台湾闽南语；闽南语还是东南亚华人各族群母语中使用人口最多的一门，包括了福建话（Hokkien）、潮州话（Teochew）、海南话（Hainan）等分支。闽东语是闽语支中的第二大语言，包括了南片的福州话（福州语）和北片的福安话两大分支，且南北两支之间的交流起来非常困难。闽东语（这里特指的是福州话）也是比较国际化的一门语言，它随着历史上的福州移民潮而分布于马来西亚、印尼、文莱、新加坡、美国、日本、英国等许多国家。莆仙语在东南亚也有一些使用人口，但据说现在东南亚的兴化族群基本上很少说母语了。客语则是福建又一门广泛分布于东南亚和世界其他地区的语言。赣语和吴语则分别存在于福建与江西和浙江交接的小片地区。


这种语言的多元化来自于福建的移民史以及福建多山而相对隔绝的地理环境。从晋代八姓入闽开始的几次大规模中原移民潮带来了上古和中古汉语，而这些中原移民可能和当时福建残留的少数原住民闽越人相互通婚，从而又将一部分古闽越语的元素带入语言中，这些不同时期的移民在福建山水隔绝的不同地区繁衍出了福建的几大族群，而这些使用不同语言的族群又发展出各自独特的文化习俗、艺术和建筑形式等。福建的族群文化是个庞大的主题，不可能在短短的一篇文章中讲清楚，还选择建筑和曲艺这两个在视觉和听觉上最直接和形象的主题来讲讲吧。

福建的古典建筑形式的种类就像她的语言一样界限分明，各地的建筑形式迥然不同。而不同建筑形式的地理分布常常是和某种语言的地理分布相重合的，因此你一眼就能分辨出哪个是闽东式建筑、哪个是闽南式建筑、哪个又是闽北式建筑或哪个是土楼式建筑。闽南式古典建筑最突出的特点就是红砖墙、以中庭为中心有明确中轴线的对称布局、以及复杂夸张的屋脊装饰，由于各个布局单元的可重复性，一些闽南式民居规模相当庞大，比如泉州南靖的蔡氏古民居占地面积就超过10000平方米。闽南式建筑主要分布在福建南部的闽南语区（但并非所有的福建闽南族群都使用这一形式，有的闽南人就住在土楼中），还随着历史上的闽南移民潮被带到了台湾，不过像潮汕、雷州、海南一带却没有这类建筑形式（大概是由于闽南族群前往这些地区的移民潮要早于这一建筑的成熟时期），但奇怪的是闽南裔移民似乎鲜有把闽南式建筑带往东南亚的，不知为何。红砖墙配上高度雕琢的屋脊，以及与闽东相比较为保守和稳重的封火山墙形状，让闽南式古典建筑在视觉上很容易辨别，泉州南靖的蔡氏古民居、鲤城区的杨阿苗宅、台湾台中的霧峰林宅都是非常典型的闽南式古典建筑。闽东式古典建筑则主要分布在使用闽东语的福州、宁德地区，其最鲜明的特点是弧度夸张的马鞍形封火墙、白色或灰色的外墙、带雨披和牌堵的大门以及同样以中庭为中心由可重复性空间单元构成的平面布局。其中，马鞍形封火墙是最容易辨别的特征，尽管闽东式建筑存在着地区差异，但马鞍形封火墙却是普遍的。闽东式建筑同样可以占据巨大的空间，实际上，中国目前最大的单体古民居就是属于闽东式建筑的闽清宏琳厝（面积17000平方米），而位于福州市中心的三坊七巷则是中国都市区现存占地面积最大的明清古建筑群。
闽北式建筑分布在福建西北部山区（闽北语区），它以精致的砖雕为特征，尤其是大门和檐墙等位置的砖雕特别突出，这些砖雕的主题多以动物和植物花样为主。莆仙古民居则同闽南古民居多有相似，同样也是以红砖砌墙，但与闽南建筑多使用硬山顶的情况不同，许多莆仙民居采用了悬山顶。闽中民居则像是各种建筑形式的混合体（闽南式、闽东式、客家式）。有些建筑形式并非只被一个族群采用，而是由几个族群共同分享，比如享誉盛名的土楼就分布于福建西南部和深南部，是由部分客家人和闽南人共有的建筑形式，比如漳州闽客混居的南靖县，就同时拥有客家族群的土楼（如田螺坑土楼群）和闽南族群的土楼（如下坂村裕昌楼）。土楼外观多呈圆形（也有方形土楼），外墙之内是多层向心的居住空间，包围着中心的公共建筑，土楼内的居民是聚族而居的。自2008年起，福建土楼被列入了联合国教科文组织的世界文化遗产名录。







像这里多元的古典建筑形式一样，福建的曲艺也是高度多元，拥有34种曲艺形式，很多族群都有自己独特的剧种或曲种。比如福州族群就以闽剧为典型，而兴化人则有莆仙戏，闽南族群有高甲戏、芗剧和梨园戏，闽北人有游春戏，而客家人则拥有闽西汉剧。在这大大小小34中剧种中，闽剧、莆仙戏、芗剧（在台湾常称为歌仔戏）、高甲戏和梨园戏的影响力尤其大，被认为是福建的五大剧种。闽剧根植于福州，流传于包括福州和宁德在内的整个闽东地区和一些周边地区，甚至还随着福州移民而传播到东南亚，闽剧一般是以闽东语福州话的福州市区腔调为标准吟唱的。莆仙戏据说已有700年历史，用莆仙话表演，但由于莆仙话的局限性，该剧种仅在莆田、仙游以及惠安北部流行。得益于分布世界各地庞大的闽南语人口，高甲戏、芗剧（歌仔戏）、梨园戏这些用闽南语表演的戏曲在福建南部、台湾、东南亚诸国的闽南人社区都广为流传。

尽管福建的语言文化多元性在中国以汉人为主的省份中是最高的，但不幸的是许多人，不仅是中国人，甚至许多福建人都没有意识到这点。我不止一次被人问起“福州人说闽南语吗”或“闽南人不是客家人吗”之类的问题，希望这篇短文能回答这些疑问，让大家更了解福建这片多元的土地。

Fujian: a land of diversity

Interestingly, the first difficulty I ran into when I started this blog, a really annoying one, was to designate a Romanized name for my motherland. In Chinese characters, her name 福建 is a very unique one which could not be confused by Chinese, Japanese, Korean or ancient Vietnamese who share the similar hieroglyphic writing system of Chinese characters (漢字). But East Asian languages have different pronunciations of 福建, especially in 福建 itself where at least 9 different native languages are spoken, so the pronunciations become a big problem for a Romanized name. Although the official Romanized name for 福建 is Fujian in mainland China, I really don't like it, simply because it's from Mandarin Chinese (普通話/官話), the official language in China, which is not a native language in 福建 (Fujian) but a language spoken in North and Southwest China. However, since I can't use 9 different Romanized names for one land, I have to choose the most commonly used names, which are Fujian (in Mandarin), Fukien (in old Mandarin) and Hokkien (in Hokkien/Southern Min 閩南語). Sadly, I excluded the name "Hok-giong" in my mother tongue of Foochow/Eastern Min (福州語/閩東語), because this Romanized name is not well known.

To demonstrate such a complicated situation, I adapted and slightly revised a linguistic map of Fujian from Wikipedia. The 8 languages on this map are all in the Chinese language family, and they can be categorized into 4 groups: Min (including Southern Min, Eastern Min, Northern Min, Central Min and Puxian), Hakka, Gan and Wu. Min (閩語) is the largest language group in Fujian by both population and area, and has the greater dialectal diversity than any other division of Chinese. And Hakka is the second largest. The Min language group includes Southern Min (閩南語), Eastern Min (閩東語), Northern Min (閩北語), Central Min (閩中語) and Puxian (莆仙語). Southern Min (閩南語), commonly known as Hokkien (福建話) in Southeast Asia, is the largest language in Fujian and a very international one. In mainland China, it is spoken in Southern Fujian, Eastern and Southwestern Guangdong (廣東) and Hainan (海南). It is also spoken by a majority of people in Taiwan (台灣), where it is officially named Taiwanese Hokkien (台灣閩南語) and commonly known as Taiwanese (台語). In Southeast Asia, it is the largest language among the ethnic Chinese there, spoken in the Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, etc. The total speaker of Southern Min worldwide is close to 50,000,000. Eastern Min (閩東語), the second largest language in Fujian, has two major dialects: Foochow (福州話) and Fu'an (福安話), who are hardly mutually intelligible. And Foochow is also spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, US, Japan, UK, etc by oversea ethnic Foochowese. Northern Min (閩北語) is spoken mainly in today's Nanping region. Puxian (莆仙語), AKA Hinghua (Hsinghua, 興化語), is spoken in the eastern coast of Fujian. Central Min (閩中語) is the smallest of the five Min languages, spoken only by hundreds of thousands in Central Fujian. The Hakka language (客語) is spoken by the Hakka people (客家人), who immigrated to Fujian later than the majority ethnic Min, occupy the mountainous areas in Western Fujian and the adjacent provinces of Guangdong (廣東) and Jiangxi (江西). The Hakka also have a significant population in Southeast Asia. Gan (贛語) and Wu (吳語), the major native language in Jiangxi and Zhejiang (浙江) respetively, distributed on the border between Fujian and the two provinces mentioned above. Of the 9 major native languages spoken in Fujian, the only one off the map, which is also the only none Han-Chinese language, is the She language (畬語) spoken by the She people (畬族人) scattered in the mountainous areas on the east coast of Fujian. But the modern She language in Fujian is similar to Hakka, possibly because the She lived side by side with the Hakka in history before they migrated to their present locations.

This linguistic diversity comes from the immigration history and the geographic isolation of Fujian. Waves of immigrants from central China at different eras in history brought the ancient Chinese language of different ages to Fujian, and probably the intermarriage between these ancient Chinese immigrants and a few native Minyue people of Fujian gave birth to the Min language group. The isolated regions in Fujian created by the mountainous terrains helped preserve the linguistic diversity. The differences in language resulted in the formation of different ethnic groups, and each ethnic group fostered its own unique culture.


Ethnic culture is too big a topic to deal with, so I narrow down this topic to architecture and opera, two objects that are visually and aurally vivid.

Like the languages, the traditional architecture styles in Fujian are distinct from region to region. The boundaries between different architecture styles usually coincide with the corresponding linguistic boundaries. So it is easy to distinguish Eastern Min architecture from Southern Min architecture or Northern Min architecture. The Southern Min architecture is distinguished by the red bricked walls, symmetric layouts with central atria and highly decorated roof ridge, and many of them can be huge, with areas of over ten thousand of square meters (over 2 acres). The most famous Southern Min architectures include the Cai's Mansion in Nan'an, Fujian (福建南安蔡氏古民居) and the Lim's Mansion in Taichung, Taiwan (臺中霧峰林宅). Southern Min migrants brought their architecture to Taiwan, but one question still puzzles me: why does Southern Min architecture only reach as far as Taiwan and I didn't see many of them in Southeast Asia? I really don't know.
Found in the Eastern-Min-speaking regions of Fuzhou (福州) and Fu'an (福安), the Eastern Min architecture is marked by the white or grey walls, saddle-shaped gables and gates with water drip eaves (雨披) and pai-du (牌堵). Eastern Min architectures can be huge, too, in fact, the largest single traditional mansion in China is said to be Hong-lin-cuo (宏琳厝), an Eastern Min architecture in Minqing, Fujian (福建閩清) with an area of 17,000 square meters (4.2 acres); and the largest living traditional urban building complex in the metropolitan areas in China is the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys (三坊七巷) at the heart of Fuzhou City, which consists of Eastern Min buildings. Northern Min architecture in Northwestern Fujian is famous for its brick carving, particular on the front gates and walls. The themes of the carvings are mostly plants and animals. With its red walls, the Puxian style architecture is somewhat similar to Southern Min, but it usually has overhanging gable roofs (懸山頂) rather than the flush gable roofs (硬山頂) in Southern Min architecture. Central Min architecture is a style mixed with many styles (Hakka, Eastern Min, Southern Min, etc). There are also architectures shared by different ethnic groups in Fujian, like the world-renowned Tulou (土樓), which can be found in southern and southwestern Fujian and is shared by both Hakka and Southern Min people. The shape of Tulou is a circular configuration surrounding a central shrine, inhabited by some clan groups. Fujian Tulou has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008.

There are 34 different kinds of operas in Fujian, including both existing and extinct ones. Almost each region or ethnic group has their own unique operas, for example, the Foochow people have Min Opera (閩劇), the Hinghua people have Puxian Opera (莆仙戲), the Southern Min have Gaojia Opera (高甲戲), Xiang Opera (known as Koa-á-hì or Taiwanese Opera in Taiwan, 薌劇/歌仔戲) and Liyuan Opera (梨園戲), the Hakka have Hakka Han Opera (閩西漢劇) and the Northern Min have Youchun Opera (游春戲). Among these 34 operas, the most influential five are Min Opera, Puxian Opera, Liyuan Opera, Xiang Opera and Gaojia Opera. Min Opera is rooted in Fuzhou and has influence in all over the Eastern Min speaking regions and even in some Southeast Asian Foochow communities. Min Opera is performed in standard Foochow language. Puxian Opera is said to have more than 700 years of history, but due to the relatively small Puxian-speaking population, it is restricted in Putian, Xianyou and part of Hui'an. Thanks to the large Southern-Min-speaking population, Gaojia Opera, Liyuan Opera and Xiang Opera are thriving in Fujian, Taiwan and many Southeast Asian countries, and they are all performed in Southern Min language.

Although Fujian has the highest linguistic and cultural diversity of all the Han-Chinese-dominant provinces in China, most people remain, unfortunately, unaware of this. More than once I heard people asking me if Hakka is the other name of Southern Min, or if the Foochowese speak Southern Min. Yes, many Chinese, even some Fujianese (not to mention the foreigners) fail to recognize the different ethnic groups in Fujian. I believe, once they see the uniqueness of the different ethnic cultures of Fujian, they'll be surprised. That's why I wrote this article.

All pictures are from the internet:)

福州琉球馆之访

2009年暑假回闽的时候，闽语论坛上的几个朋友商议聚会，在榕城逛街访古是主题。一些核心地带，比如三坊七巷、文庙之类，虽然大家都去过N次，却也不能免俗的再次造访。但有一个地方我慕名已久，一提出来，居然没有人曾去过，连在博物馆系统工作的C君也不晓得在哪里。是的，这是福州城里又一处被绝大多数人遗忘的建筑，尽管它曾经头顶“中国唯一”的光环而辉煌过，不过值得庆幸的是，尽管几乎所有人已将它遗忘，但由于它本身太过重要的历史价值，居然也逃过了福州城这半个世纪来的文化毁灭风潮，而作为文物幸存下来。如今，它静静的藏在台江区闹市中无名的小小琯后街里无人问津，以至于我要像寻宝一样在这个水泥丛林中将它发现————福州琉球馆。

明朝时，朝廷实行锁国政策，福州是中国唯一的对琉球开放港口。虽然琉球仅仅是个很小的市场，但由于明朝锁国政策严重遏制了日本、东南亚與明朝的贸易，琉球实际上成为了日本及东南亚国家與明朝贸易的中介，而琉球和明朝交易的地点，被严格限制在了福州一地。成化八年（1472年），明朝在福州城水部门外的河口地区设立了怀远驿，专门用于接待琉球国使臣和商人，并负责存储琉球的贡品和商品，到了万历年间，怀远驿被改名为柔远驿，以区别于广州的怀远驿，而它的俗称就是琉球馆。到了清代，中琉贸易恢复后，清廷又对琉球馆进行了修缮和扩建。其全盛期的面积达到了6000平方米。除了贸易和朝贡，琉球馆还成为了许多琉球留学生求学的地方，他们在此师从福州的儒者，琉球国所习的带有浓重福州语元素的官话，大概就是从这里传播往琉球的吧。1875年琉球被日本合并后，琉球馆日渐衰落，馆舍被逐步侵蚀，直到20世纪末被作为文物保护起来，并被辟为福州对外友好关系史博物馆。

就是这样一个中国独一无二的馆驿，却淹没在现代台江参差不齐的钢筋水泥中，当我们一路打听一路摸索着进到琯后街里，大概走了几百米，就看见了小巷中的一块开阔地和它后面的那座典型的福州建筑：白色的马头墙、带雨披的门首和门首上“柔远驿”的牌匾——这条巷子中唯一一座完好的福州式建筑，周边的古厝早就被蚕食成了福州人司空见惯的大杂院。后来才想到，这“琯后街”和附近的“琯前街”的街名大概就来自与这个琉球馆吧。来到琉球馆门口时，俨然发现它大门紧闭。亏得C君是博物馆系统的，敲门说我们是本系统的要来参观，里面两位女工作人员这才探出头来，没底气的说：“我们今天没接到上级通知啊……”咳，我们只是自己来参观的，希望没吓到她们。

今天的琉球馆，只能用一个“小”字来形容，和清代鼎盛期的6000平方米不可同日而语（据说现在仅剩600平方米），甚至比大部分能见到的福州古民居都要小许多，仅有一进，天井两侧是书院（即廊庑），作为博物馆的办公室使用，过了厅堂，就是后墙，勉强围出了个迷你天井（连半个天井都不算，因为两侧没有书院），倒是其中布置的假山盆栽把狭小的空间点缀的赏心悦目。与一般福州民居不同的是，琉球馆的厅堂非常的高，明显可以看见两侧正房的二层阁楼要比一般老厝高许多，老实说，那是我第一次见到这么高的正房阁楼，也算是开了眼了。厅堂两侧的两层正房被开辟为博物馆展厅，不仅展出福州和琉球交流史的文物，也有福州和其他国家文化交流的陈列。上阁楼一看，阁楼果然不像其它老厝般低矮狭促，里面的展出文物中居然连闽国时期番国舶来的玻璃碗碎片都有，还有从福州各处搜集来的客死福州的琉球人墓碑。房子和展品是挺有意思，只是时值盛夏，福州市区气温在3、40摄氏度，琉球馆阁楼上也没空调，简直像个闷锅，不晓得几百年前的琉球人是怎么度过这炎炎夏日的……


琉球馆厅堂两侧的正房比一般的福州式民居显得要高些。


厅堂上方的“海不扬波”匾额寄托了渡海而来的琉球人希冀航行平安的愿望。


厅后的假山也许是近年建造的？


阁楼内部陈列。


清末或民初福州水部门外河口地区（琉球馆附近）照片


福州琉球馆（柔远驿），暨福州对外友好关系史博物馆
*地址：福建福州台江区琯后街40号
*建筑年代：清代（17世纪）重修
*建筑形式：传统福州式（闽东式）建筑
*面积：约600平方米，一进院落