Where are the Teochews?

[alexchau]

Hello mate,

I am Teochew Vietnamese, is there anything you need to know.


GAGINANG

[alexchau]

Well, guys

tell you this,

most Teochew in Vietnamese can speak Teochew and Cantonese (but some can speak mandarin as well) and theyh still keeping their identity and culture because we have very strong sense of our teochew.

With the one, who they teochew in USA speak Cantonese and preferred as a Cantonese, well I doubt it.

[niuc]

Welcome, Alex! I know a Teochew from (southern) Vietnam who speaks Teochew and Mandarin. I met many Teochews in Thailand during business trips.

[alexchau]

Hello, guys,

yeah, you're right. Actually I just got an Australian citizenship so I am no longer a Teochew Vietnamese

[xiaojian]

In Rangoon, the Chinese there is nearly half Taishanese & half Fujianese with a slight majority tilt leaning towards Fujianren. Intermarriage among the two groups is quite common and Mandarin is used between these two groups. There is no discrimination against Chinese in Burma compared to Huaren in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Kampuchea under the Khmer Rouge. And unlike Thailand, Chinese in Burma are not pressured to assimilate since Burma is not a homogenus society both in language & in culture compared to Thailand.

Not true, from firsthand experience. There is a huge desire for Burmese Chinese to assimilate to the mainstream Burman/Bamar culture, and Burmanization is frequent, especially in mixed families. However, there is now a growing trend to reverse the lack of Chinese language education (i.e. Mandarin) among Chinese families, with families sending their kids to Chinese tuition, alongside Burmese and English classes.

In fact, one of my cousins is dating a Fujianese from Rangoon and their common language is Mandarin.

Interesting to note. I know that in the States and elsewhere, Burmese Chinese families will opt to use Mandarin as their home language (given the parents can speak it), not their mother dialects, out of practicality (or so-called 'usefulness' in the real world). It's sort of disheartening to see.

There are also small Sichuanese populations scattered throughout Burma speaking Sichuan Mandarin.

Not sure about that, but there's a huge Yunnanese community in upper Burma, as well as Chinese Muslims who speak a Yunnan dialect of Mandarin. Many have settled in Burma for generations.

I wouldn't be surprised if AngSang SuChee has Chinese paternal ancestry.
Her father really looks Chinese to me and I'm guessing that her surname "Ang Sang" may be transliterated from "Mr. Ong, Hong or Wong". (Someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Simply untrue. Perhaps Karen or some other indigenous minority, but not Chinese. "Aung San" is a name of her father, and means "success" and "new", not 王生 or anything of that sort. His family has ancestry from upper Burma (Magwe), which doesn't have as much Burmese Chinese, unlike Mandalay or Rangoon.

[amhoanna]

Interesting. I wonder if there are a lot of Chinese south of Rangoon?

[xiaojian]

Interesting. I wonder if there are a lot of Chinese south of Rangoon?

Yes, there are, especially in other provincial towns like Mawlamyaing (Moulmein), and along the thin coastal strip of land where Burma borders Thailand. But for the most part, Lower Burma is more Southern Chinese, while Upper Burma is more mixed (a fair share of Southern Chinese, but also Mandarin speakers). I know a few Muslim Chinese families from Mandalay, which seems to be a hotspot for Muslim Chinese and Yunnanese.

[amhoanna]

What's your impression of the Hokkien spoken in Mawlamyaing and south of there? If any?

[hokkien_learner]

I was born in Cho Lon or 堤岸 and now immgrated to Australia. We Teochew are the second largest Chinese group in Vietnam and most of us can speak Cantonese , and Teochew as our native language so dont misunderstand that we speak Cantonese doesn't mean we are Cantonese.

[amhoanna]

so dont misunderstand that we speak Cantonese doesn't mean we are Cantonese.

Of course. Happens all the time.

It's cool that U're learning Hokkien. If U speak good Teochew, U could be fluent in Hokkien in a matter of weeks.

Sometimes it still amazes me how much Cantonese is spoken all around Saigon - and I haven't even spent time in or around Cholon. It's just a person here, a person there, but they're everywhere. There's a thread on this in the Canto-forum.