Fujian
Fujian
福建 Fuchien, Fukien, Hokkien | |
|---|---|
| Name transcription(s) | |
| • Chinese | 福建省 (Fújiàn Shěng) |
| • Abbreviation | FJ / 闽 (pinyin: Mǐn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân) |
| • Foochow | Hók-gióng |
| • Hokkien POJ | Hok-kiàn |
| • Hokkien Tâi-lô | Hok-kiàn |
.svg) Location of Fujian in China | |
| Coordinates: 25°54′N 118°18′E / 25.9°N 118.3°E | |
| Country |  China |
| Jiangnandong Circuit | 626 |
| Fujian Circuit | 985 |
| Partition of Taiwan | 1887 |
| Within the Republic of China | 1 January 1912 |
| Fujian People's Government | 1933–1934 |
| Division of Fujian | 17 August 1949 |
| Named after | 福 Fú: Fuzhou 建 Jiàn: Jianzhou |
| Capital | Fuzhou |
| Largest city | Quanzhou |
| Divisions - Prefecture-level - County-level - Township- level | 9 prefectures 84 counties[note 1] 1102 towns and subdistricts[note 1] |
| Government | |
| • Type | Province |
| • Body | Fujian Provincial People's Congress |
| • Party Secretary | Zhou Zuyi |
| • Congress Chairman | Zhou Zuyi |
| • Governor | Zhao Long |
| • Provincial CPPCC Chairman | Teng Jiacai |
| • National People's Congress Representation | 74 deputies |
| Area | |
• Total | 121,400 km2 (46,900 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 23rd |
| Highest elevation | 2,158 m (7,080 ft) |
| Population (2020)[2] | |
• Total | 41,540,086 |
| • Rank | 15th |
| • Density | 342.2/km2 (886.2/sq mi) |
| • Rank | 14th |
| Demographics | |
| • Ethnic composition | |
| • Languages and dialects | Min (inc. Fuzhounese as the prestige dialect of Eastern Min, Northern Min, Central Min, Pu-Xian Min, Hokkien as the prestige dialect of Southern Min and others), Mandarin, Wu, Gan, She, Hakka |
| GDP (2025)[3] | |
| • Total | CN¥6.02 trillion (8th; US$864 billion) |
| • Per capita | CN¥144,920 (4th; US$20,804) |
| ISO 3166 code | CN-FJ |
| HDI (2023) | 0.812[4] (7th) – very high |
| Website | www (in Chinese) |
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| Fujian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) "Fujian" in Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 福建 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Postal | Fukien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Happy establishment ("Fu(zhou) and Jian(zhou)") | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Abbreviation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 闽 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 閩 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | [the Min River] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fujian[a] is a province in southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Quanzhou, with other notable cities including the port city of Xiamen and Zhangzhou. Fujian is located on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait as the closest province geographically and culturally to Taiwan. Additionally, a small portion of historical Fujian is administered by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), romanized as Fuchien, a result of the Chinese Civil War.
While the population predominantly identifies as Han, it is one of China's most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces. The dialects of the language group Min Chinese are most commonly spoken within the province, including the Fuzhou dialect and other Eastern Min languages of Northeastern Fujian and Hokkien dialect and other Southern Min languages of southeastern Fujian. The capital city of Fuzhou and Fu'an of Ningde prefecture along with Cangnan county-level city of Wenzhou prefecture in Zhejiang province make up the Min Dong linguistic and cultural region of Northeastern Fujian. Hakka Chinese is also spoken in Fujian, by the Hakka people. Min dialects, Hakka, and Standard Chinese are mutually unintelligible. Due to emigration, much of the ethnic Chinese populations of Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines speak Southern Min (or Hokkien).
With a population of 41.5 million, Fujian ranks 15th in population among Chinese provinces. In 2022, its GDP reached CN¥5.31 trillion (US$790 billion by nominal GDP), ranking 4th in East China region and 8th nationwide in GDP.[6] Fujian's GDP per capita is above the national average, at CN¥126,829 (US$18,856 in nominal), the second highest GDP per capita of all Chinese provinces after Jiangsu.[6]
Fujian is considered one of China's leading provinces in education and research. As of 2023, two major cities in the province ranked in the top 45 cities in the world (Xiamen 38th and Fuzhou 45th) by scientific research output, as tracked by the Nature Index.[7]
Name
[edit]The name Fujian (福建) originated from the combination of the city names of Fuzhou (福州) and nearby Jianzhou (建州, or present-day Nanping (南平)). The province's name of Fujian means "happy establishment".[8]
One of the Chinese characters in the province fu (福; fú ⓘ), meaning 'fortune' or 'good luck', is represented both as a Chinese ideograph and, at times, pictorially, in one of its homophonous forms. It is often found on a figurine of the male god of the same name, one of the trio of "star gods" Fú, Lù, and Shòu. The second character, jian (建; jiàn) is translated as 'establish' and 'to establish'.
Fujian is historically rendered in postal romanization and Wade-Giles as Fukien or Fuchien for much of the 20th century.[9] The name of this province adopted its current pinyin name of "Fujian" in 1958 by the PRC authorities; after the United States government normalized relations with the PRC in 1979, the International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin in 1982, followed by the United Nations in 1986 with several Western media outlets (such as the Associated Press) adopted pinyin as the years went by. The Government of the Republic of China on Taiwan (who adopted pinyin in 2009) continues to use the older transliterations of Fujian for its own province.
History
[edit] | This section needs more citations. (February 2024) |
Prehistoric Fujian
[edit]Recent archaeological discoveries in 2011 demonstrate that Fujian had entered the Neolithic Age by the middle of the 6th millennium BC.[10] From the Keqiutou site (7450–5590 BP), an early Neolithic site in Pingtan Island located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Fuzhou, numerous tools made of stones, shells, bones, jades, and ceramics (including wheel-made ceramics) have been unearthed, together with spinning wheels, which is definitive evidence of weaving.
The Tanshishan (曇石山) site (5500–4000 BP) in suburban Fuzhou spans the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Age where semi-underground circular buildings were found in the lower level. The Huangtulun (黃土崙) site (c. 1325 BC), also in suburban Fuzhou, was of the Bronze Age in character.
Tianlong Jiao (2013)[11] notes that the Neolithic appeared on the coast of Fujian around 6,000 B.P. During the Neolithic, the coast of Fujian had a low population density, with the population depending on mostly on fishing and hunting, along with limited agriculture.
There were four major Neolithic cultures in coastal Fujian, with the earliest Neolithic cultures originating from the north in coastal Zhejiang.[11]
- Keqiutou culture (壳丘头文化; c. 6000 – c. 5500 BP, or c. 4050 – c. 3550 BC)
- Tanshishan culture (昙石山文化; c. 5000 – c. 4300 BP, or c. 3050 – c. 2350 BC)
- Damaoshan culture (大帽山文化; c. 5000 – c. 4300 BP)
- Huangguashan culture (黄瓜山文化; c. 4300 – c. 3500 BP, or c. 2350 – c. 1550 BC)
There were two major Neolithic cultures in inland Fujian, which were highly distinct from the coastal Fujian Neolithic cultures.[11] These are the Niubishan culture (牛鼻山文化) from 5000 to 4000 years ago, and the Hulushan culture (葫芦山文化) from 2050 to 1550 BC.
Minyue kingdom
[edit]
Fujian was also where the kingdom of Minyue was located. The word "Mǐnyuè" was derived by combining "Mǐn" (simplified Chinese: 闽; traditional Chinese: 閩; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bân), which is perhaps an ethnic name (simplified Chinese: 蛮; traditional Chinese: 蠻; pinyin: mán; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bân), and "Yuè", after the State of Yue, a Spring and Autumn period kingdom in Zhejiang to the north. This is because the royal family of Yuè fled to Fujian after its kingdom was annexed by the State of Chu in 306 BC. Mǐn is also the name of the main river in this area, but the ethnonym is probably older.
Qin dynasty
[edit]The Qin deposed the King of Minyue, establishing instead a paramilitary province there called Minzhong Commandery. Minyue was a de facto kingdom until one of the emperors of the Qin dynasty, the first unified imperial Chinese state, abolished its status.[12]
Han dynasty
[edit]In the aftermath of the Qin dynasty's fall, civil war broke out between two warlords, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. The Minyue king Wuzhu sent his troops to fight with Liu and his gamble paid off. Liu was victorious and founded the Han dynasty. In 202 BC, he restored Minyue's status as a tributary independent kingdom. Thus Wuzhu was allowed to construct his fortified city in Fuzhou as well as a few locations in the Wuyi Mountains, which have been excavated in recent years. His kingdom extended beyond the borders of contemporary Fujian into eastern Guangdong, eastern Jiangxi, and southern Zhejiang.[13]
After Wuzhu's death, Minyue maintained its militant tradition and launched several expeditions against its neighboring kingdoms in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, primarily in the 2nd century BC. This was stopped by the Han dynasty as it expanded southward. The Han emperor eventually decided to get rid of the potential threat by launching a military campaign against Minyue. Large forces approached Minyue simultaneously from four directions via land and sea in 111 BC. The rulers in Fuzhou surrendered to avoid a futile fight and destruction and the first kingdom in Fujian history came to an abrupt end.
Fujian was part of the much larger Yang Province (Yangzhou), whose provincial capital was designated in Liyang (歷陽; present-day He County, Anhui).
The Han dynasty collapsed at the end of the 2nd century AD, paving the way for the Three Kingdoms era. Sun Quan, the founder of the Kingdom of Wu, spent nearly 20 years subduing the Shan Yue people, the branch of the Yue living in mountains.
Jin era
[edit]The first wave of immigration of the noble class arrived in the province in the early 4th century when the Western Jin dynasty collapsed and the north was torn apart by civil wars and rebellions by tribal peoples from the north and west. These immigrants were primarily from eight families in central China: Chen (陈), Lin (林), Huang (黄), Zheng (郑), Zhan (詹), Qiu (邱), He (何), and Hu (胡). To this day, the first four remain the most popular surnames in Fujian.[citation needed]
Nevertheless, isolation from nearby areas owing to rugged terrain contributed to Fujian's relatively undeveloped economy and level of development, despite major population boosts from northern China during the "barbarian" rebellions. The population density in Fujian remained low compared to the rest of China. Only two commanderies and sixteen counties were established by the Western Jin dynasty. Like other southern provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, Fujian often served as a destination for exiled prisoners and dissidents at that time.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, the Southern Dynasties (Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang (Western Liang), and Chen) reigned south of the Yangtze River, including Fujian.
Sui and Tang dynasties
[edit]During the Sui and Tang eras a large influx of migrants settled in Fujian.[14][12]
During the Sui dynasty, Fujian was again part of Yang Province.
During the Tang, Fujian was part of the larger Jiangnan East Circuit, whose capital was at Suzhou. Modern-day Fujian was composed of around 5 prefectures and 25 counties.
The Tang dynasty (618–907) oversaw the next golden age of China, which contributed to a boom in Fujian's culture and economy. Fuzhou's economic and cultural institutions grew and developed. The later years of the Tang dynasty saw several political upheavals in the Chinese heartland, prompting even larger waves of northerners to immigrate to the northern part of Fujian.
Five Dynasties Ten Kingdoms
[edit]
As the Tang dynasty ended, China was torn apart in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During this time, a second major wave of immigration arrived in the safe haven of Fujian, led by Wang Brothers (Wang Chao, Wang Shengui and Wang Shenzhi), who set up an independent Kingdom of Min with its capital in Fuzhou. After the death of the founding king, however, the kingdom suffered from internal strife, and was soon absorbed by Southern Tang, another southern kingdom.[15]
Parts of northern Fujian were conquered by the Wuyue Kingdom to the north as well, including the Min capital Fuzhou.
Quanzhou city was blooming into a seaport under the reign of the Min Kingdom.[citation needed][when?][16][17]
Qingyuan Jiedushi was a military/governance office created in 949 by Southern Tang's second emperor Li Jing for the warlord Liu Congxiao, who nominally submitted to him but controlled Quan (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian) and Zhang (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) Prefectures in de facto independence from the Southern Tang state.[18] (Zhang Prefecture was, at times during the circuit's existence, also known as Nan Prefecture (南州).)[19] Starting in 960, in addition to being nominally submissive to Southern Tang, Qingyuan Circuit was also nominally submissive to Song, which had itself become Southern Tang's nominal overlord.[20]
After Liu's death, the circuit was briefly ruled by his biological nephew/adoptive son Liu Shaozi, who was then overthrown by the officers Zhang Hansi and Chen Hongjin. Zhang then ruled the circuit briefly, before Chen deposed him and took over.[19] In 978, with Song's determination to unify Chinese lands in full order, Chen decided that he could not stay de facto independent, and offered the control of the circuit to Song's Emperor Taizong, ending Qingyuan Circuit as a de facto independent entity.[21]
Song dynasty
[edit]The area was reorganized into the Fujian Circuit in 985, which was the first time the name "Fujian" was used for an administrative region.[citation needed]
Vietnam
[edit]Many Chinese migrated from Fujian's major ports to Vietnam's Red River Delta. The settlers then created Trần port and Vân Đồn.[22] Fujian and Guangdong Chinese moved to the Vân Đồn coastal port to engage in commerce.[23]
During the Lý and Trần dynasties, many Chinese ethnic groups with the surname Trần (陳) migrated to Vietnam from what is now Fujian or Guangxi. They settled along the coast of Vietnam and the capital's southeastern area.[24] The Vietnamese Trần clan traces their ancestry to Trần Tự Minh (227 BC). He was a Qin General during the Warring state period who belonged to the indigenous Mân, a Baiyue ethnic group of Southern China and Northern Vietnam. Tự Minh also served under King An Dương Vương of Âu Lạc kingdom in resisting Qin's conquest of Âu Lạc. Their genealogy also included Trần Tự Viễn (582 – 637) of Giao Châu and Trần Tự An (1010 – 1077) of Đại Việt. Near the end of the 11th century the descendants of a fisherman named Trần Kinh, whose hometown was in Tức Mạc village in Đại Việt (Modern day Vietnam), would marry the royal Lý clan, which was then founded the Vietnam Tran dynasty in 1225.[25]
In Vietnam, the Trần served as officials. The surnames are found in the Trần and Lý dynasty Imperial exam records.[26] Chinese ethnic groups are recorded in Trần and Lý dynasty records of officials.[27] Clothing, food, and languages were fused with the local Vietnamese in Vân Đồn district where the Chinese ethnic groups had moved after leaving their home province of what is now Fujian, Guangxi, and Guangdong.
In 1172, Fujian was attacked by Pi-she-ye pirates from Taiwan or the Visayas, Philippines.[28][29][30]: 165–166
Yuan dynasty
[edit]After the establishment of the Yuan dynasty, Fujian became part of Jiangzhe province, whose capital was at Hangzhou. From 1357 to 1366 Muslims in Quanzhou participated in the