The Inheritance of Island Yi and the Acculturation of Maritime Fan in the Han People on Southeast Coast of China

Chunming Wu

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4079-7_5

Abstract

AbstractThe Han people of southern China living in the coastal regions lying to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River show a series of distinctive essences of physique, language or dialect, lifestyle and economic pattern, religion and worship of supernatural spirits, cultural orientations to the oceans and maritime character and so on. The maritime orientation of “living on boats as home, depending on sea as lifestyle, trading with Maritime Fan (诸番) ” was the most prominent characters of the Han people in south of China, especially in the southeast coast in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. The accumulation and assimilation of the prehistoric and early indigenous Bai Yue (百越), Island Yi (岛夷) and proto-Austronesian of the Maritime Region of Southeastern Asia, as well as the immigration and acculturation of the overseas ethnic groups of foreign Maritime Fan since the medieval ages, were the two main sources of the formation and development of the unique maritime cultural character of the Han people in southeast coast of China.

Highlights

Though the maritime culture was not originally the major feature of ancient Chinese civilization which was characterized in terrestrial farming culture, it was one of the cultural features of Han people in the southeast coast of China
These Han people were the main navigators of Junk and maritime merchants of ancient China since Tang and Song dynasties on, stubbornly constructing the cross-border maritime economy along the Maritime Silk Road in the Seas Surrounding China
The maritime features of the Han people represented by the ancient private merchants of southeast coast of China have been the spiritual connotation of the maritime culture in Seas Surrounding China, and the indispensable treasure of the ancient Chinese civilization

Summary

Chapter 5

The Han (汉) people of southern China living in the coastal regions lying to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River show a series of distinctive essences of physique, language or dialect, lifestyle and economic pattern, religion and worship of supernatural spirits, cultural orientations to the oceans and maritime character and so on. The private merchants in the South China Sea had made great contributions to the early globalization of the social economy in East Asia, resulting the introduction and assimilation of modern sciences, technologies, and cultures from the West, through the cross-border trade between the mainland coast of southeast China and islands in East and Southeast Asia, and the maritime connection indirectly with Euro-American societies. Their striving enriched the connotation of the integrated pluralistic cultures of ancient Chinese civilization. The accumulation and assimilation of the prehistoric and early indigenous Bai Yue (百越), Island Yi and proto-Austronesian of the Maritime Region of Southeastern Asia, as well as the immigration and acculturation of the overseas ethnic groups of foreign Maritime Fan since the medieval ages, were the two main sources of the formation and development of the unique maritime cultural character of the Han people in southeast coast of China (Wu, C.M. 2011b, 2017)

The Indigenous Island Yi’s Origin of the Maritime Essence of the Han People in South China

The Acculturation of Foreign Maritime Fan in Han People Along the Maritime History of Southeast China

Conclusion