Hokkien People of Malaysia

About the Hokkiens

Hokkien is a dialect group of the Chinese in Malaysia. They are the largest Chinese dialect groups as well as the earliest group to settle in the country.

Hokkien is the dominant dialect spoken in Penang, Malacca, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perlis and Sarawak. Penang Hokkien is spoken as far south as Taiping, beyond which Cantonese is dominant. In Selangor, Hokkien is spoken in Klang. However, it is different from Penang Hokkien. The Hokkien spoken in the northern states of Penang and Kedah bears closer mutual intelligibility with the Hokkien spoken in Medan, than it does to the Hokkien in Klang and Singapore. This is because Penang Hokkien is based on the Hokkien spoken in Zhangzhou whereas the Hokkien spoken in the southern part of the peninsula is based on the Hokkien spoken in Amoy, in present-day Xiamen.

The first wave of Hokkien migrants came from Amoy and settled in Malacca from as early as the time of the Malacca Sultanate. However, it is debatable whether their earliest settlement was at Bukit Cina, despite popular belief, or elsewhere in Malacca. So far, the earliest tomb stones on Bukit Cina dates to the Dutch period, so it is not known whether the Chinese have used Bukit Cina any earlier.

The second wave of Hokkien migrants settled further north, in Kedah and Medan. They came from the port city of Zhangzhou, also in Fujian Province. When Penang was established as a trading port in the late 18th century, many of them moved to settle there.

In the early 19th century, the British embarked on a concerted effort to dismantle Malacca, which was under their temporary administration. During that time, many Hokkien traders, especially the wealthier ones, migrated south to the newly established Singapore. Despite efforts of the British to prop up the trading port of Penang, it was quickly apparent that Singapore was a superior location.

The result of the movement of the Hokkien people in the 19th century explains the form of Hokkien spoken in Peninsular Malaysia today. As the earliest group of Chinese people to settle in Malaya, they were also the earliest to reap prosperity from the land. tin-mining in Larut was financed by wealthy Hokkien Chinese in Penang. However, being the earliest arrivals in the country, they absorbed more of the local culture than the later groups. The Peranakans of Malacca, the earliest of the Straits-born Chinese - trace their ancestry to these early traders. By the late 18th century, later waves of Hokkiens arrived to settle in Penang, Malacca and later on Singapore. As the early arrivals, they were the early ones to gain prosperity, which allowed them to bring in later waves of impoverished immigrants as tin miners.

In East Malaysia, Hokkien is spoken in Kuching and Sibu. As in the case with the peninsula, Hokkien is the dominant dialect in Sarawak.

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Exploring Malaysia is researched and written by Timothy Tye. Content and articles in Exploring Malaysia are provided in goodwill and are believed to be correct at time of writing. While every reasonable care is taken to check and verify the information shared, Exploring Malaysia disclaims responsibility for its use. All pages may be printed out for your own personal, non-commercial use. Photographs appearing in Exploring Malaysia are available according to the licensing terms specified in its caption. Photographs not credited to a third party belong to Timothy Tye and may not be reused in any form unless you are first given permission. Write in to inquire if interested. Third party photographs are governed by their respective licenses.

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