Hokkien culture

"Free Encyclopedia" written using Koa-á books' writing system

In terms of writing systems, Hokkien gained one as early as the first half of 16th century (Ming Dynasty) - with the play Tale of the Lychee Mirror (Chinese: 荔鏡記; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Nāi-kèng-kì),[10] which is fairly popular among Hoklo people even to this day. Later in 18th century, Koa-á books, a form of vernacular Hokkien literature, gained popularity and attempted to use Chinese characters to write the Hokkien language. Written Hokkien saw further development in 19th century. At that period, Presbyterian Christian sought to spread Presbyterianism in the Hokkien region and devised the "Pe̍h-ōe-jī" - a Hokkien writing system that uses Latin alphabets - in Amoy (known as "Xiamen" in Mandarin), Hokkien.

Japan, while colonizing Taiwan, also developed the Taiwanese kana writing system.[11]

Têng-á-kha (Chinese: 亭仔跤; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Têng-á-kha) is a style of architecture found in much of Southern China and roughly the Hokkien counterpart of Cantonese tong lau. It is a style that incorporates elements from Western European architecture, arising slowly in late 18th century due to the contact with Western European colonization in Southeast Asia. A typical têng-á-kha has a ground floor used for running some sort of business (such as a grocery store) and upper floors that are used for residential purpose. Amoy's têng-á-khas are said to be marked by having pink and white as main colorings, use of streets full of têng-á-khas as markets, and distribution of têng-á-khas in net-like structures.[16] The city of Chinchew has also been noted to have a well-preserved set of têng-á-khas.[17]

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  Zhongshan Road, Amoy, is filled with têng-á-khas.
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  The Hayasi Department Store in Tainan, Taiwan, is also considered a good example of têng-á-kha.

Hua'an jade (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hua-an gi̍k; Traditional Chinese: 華安玉) is a type of hornfels with green bands consisting of epidote and diopside, known to be found primarily in Hokkien, China. It is noted for being dense, resistant to wearing, and having very irregular coloring and texture.[18] This type of jade is frequently used in jewellery and carvings made in Hokkien.

Tek-hòe porcelain (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tek-hòe hûi; Traditional Chinese: 德化陶瓷) is a type of white porcelain that originated from the city of Tek-hòa (called "Dehua" in Mandarin Chinese), Hokkien. This style of porcelain began in 14th to 15th century (Ming Dynasty), and, according to some sources, perhaps even earlier than that.[19] This style is noted for using Kaolinite to create very detailed and delicate porcelains, and also for the products' pure, ivory-like white coloring and resemblance to archaic ritual objects. With the Hokkien coast being a major ceramic exporting center at that time, Tek-hòe porcelain products have been sold to Western European merchants and given the name "Blanc de Chine" (literally "White of China") by the French.[20] Even in the 21st century, Hoklo people are still keeping the tradition of making Tek-hòe porcelain alive, and this style is used in many types of products, ranging from purely artistic ones (e.g., sculptures) to more practical ones (e.g., eating utensils).

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  A Tek-hòe porcelain sculpture of a sitting Guanyin (17th century)
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  A Tek-hòe porcelain brush holder (late 17th-18th century)
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  A Tek-hòe porcelain teapot (17th to 18th century)

Hoklo people have also used a considerable amount of calligraphy as decorations for their traditional buildings.[21] The potential of Minnan style of calligraphy (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm su-hong; Traditional Chinese: 閩南書風) has come under the attention of Chinese cultural scholars in late 2000s. Deeper studies are being conducted on the traditional calligraphy of Hokkien.[22]

Lacquer thread sculpture (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tshat-suànn tiau; Traditional Chinese: 漆線雕, literally "painted wire carving"), sometimes translated as "paint line carving" in English, is a traditional folk art in Hokkien, having originated in Amoy before 18th century. This folk art involves wrapping fine, usually golden filigree-like threads around other artifacts to form images of characters and animals. It is most typically used on Buddhist statues and vases for the purpose of decoration.[23] It was traditionally passed only to male heirs but is now passed to Hoklo of either gender. As of 2006, it has formally been declared an intangible cultural heritage by China.

A video of the process of making lacquer thread sculpture (in Mandarin) is available on YouTube.

Minnan school of painting (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm uē-phài; Traditional Chinese: 閩南畫派) is a school of painting invented by Hoklo people in Hokkien.[24] It was invented in mid-20th century by a group of Hoklo painters in Chinchew, Hokkien. This style was characterized by a strong urge to break conventions in traditional Han Chinese paintings and adoption of modern European artistic ideals. It has been influenced by impressionism, fauvism, and cubism, but retained many techniques used in traditional Han Chinese paintings.[25] Despite being rather obscure outside Hokkien, it has seen an increase in popularity among Hoklo in early 21st century.[26]

Glove puppetry (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pò͘-tē-hì; Traditional Chinese: 布袋戲, literally "cloth bag opera") is by far the best-known opera form of Hokkien origin. It originated in Hokkien in around 17th century, and is a form of opera that uses cloth puppets and music to tell stories. Puppets used in glove puppetry have hollow heads carved with wood. Their palms and feet are also made of wood, but the torso and limbs consist entirely of cloth costumes. During a performance, a gloved hand enters the puppet's costume and make it move. The puppets used in these shows used to strongly resemble cloth sacks, hence the name "cloth bag opera".

A portrait of Tsu Hi ("Zhu Xi" in Mandarin)

Min school (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-ha̍k; Traditional Chinese: 閩學) is a Neo-confucian school founded primarily by Hoklo scholars, with the Hokkien-born Gonin Tsu Hi being the leading figure.[28] The Min school is said to be marked by (1) an emphasis on the Four Books: the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius; (2) a tendency to interpret Buddhism from the lens of Confucianism; (3) placing importance on self-perfection. Philosophy of the Min school was passed to Korea and Japan through cultural exchange during the Ming Dynasty.

The Hokkien have great devotion to Jade Emperor, who commands all Heavenly Deities and Earthly beings. They will conduct grand worship service on the 9th day of first lunar month as the birthday of Jade Emperor. [29]

Other popular Chinese deities are Mazu, Siong Teh Gong, Bao Sheng Da Di, Guan Teh Gong, Kuan Yim Hood Chor, Ong Yah Gong, Qing Shui Zhu Shi, Kai Zhang Sheng Wang, Fu De Zheng Shen.

The Minyue people - the original inhabitants of Hokkien before sinicization of the region - were known for their skills in shipbuilding. Even the ancient Han Chinese, who were, by a considerable margin, the most advanced people in the region at that time, took note of Minyue's shipbuilding skills.[30][31] For most of the first millennium AD, Port of Meizhou Bay of Chinchew has been one of the greatest ports of the Chinese Empire. Later, during 6th to 9th century (Tang dynasty), peoples in Hokkien were said to be able to build large ships of 50 to 60 tonnes, which was very remarkable for that time period.[32] Hokkien remained the leading shipbuilding center for the Chinese Empire in the six centuries that followed, resulting in a strong shipbuilding tradition among Hoklo.[33]

Narcissus (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tsuí-sian; Traditional Chinese: 水仙, literally "water fairy") is the official provincial flower of Hokkien.[34] In the Hokkien-speaking region, it regularly appears in names for places and buildings.

• Hokkien wedding
• Hokkien pre-wedding customs
• Turtleback tomb

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