Akar NusaAkar Nusa / All peoples / Chinese
Chinese
Includes
Stories written
Srivijaya: the sea empire of Sumatra
A great Buddhist maritime power that controlled the Straits.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readShipwrecks of the Straits: what they carried
Ships found underwater show who traded with whom.
Melaka · 4 min readParameswara and the founding of Melaka
A prince from Palembang chose a river mouth that would change the region.
Melaka · 4 min readZheng He and the treasure fleets in Melaka
A Chinese admiral visited Melaka seven times.
Melaka · 4 min readHang Li Po and the legend of the Chinese princess
A famous tale about a link between the Ming court and Melaka.
Melaka · 4 min readChinese in Melaka before 1511
Traders and officials stayed on, marrying into Malay families.
The great migrations · 4 min readWhy so many Chinese came: the push and pull
War, famine and a call for labour sent millions south.
The great migrations · 4 min readHokkien: the traders of Penang and Melaka
The biggest Chinese dialect group in Penang, rooted in southern Fujian.
The great migrations · 4 min readCantonese: the miners of Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh
The Cantonese built tin towns and still shape their food.
The great migrations · 4 min readHakka: the guest people
Hakka communities moved many times, leaving a trail of mining villages.
The great migrations · 4 min readTeochew: river traders and gambier planters
Teochew pioneers opened the first plantations in Johor.
The great migrations · 4 min readHainanese: from island kitchens to coffee shops
Hainanese arrived late and built a famous food trade.
The great migrations · 4 min readFoochow: the Rajang river pioneers of Sibu
A Methodist-led community settled the Rajang delta in 1901.
The great migrations · 4 min readChinese surnames and clan houses
A family name often points to a district in China.
The great migrations · 4 min readThe tin rush of the Kinta valley
Tin turned Ipoh into a city and built great fortunes.
The great migrations · 4 min readLarut Wars and the Pangkor Treaty
Tin, secret societies and a British treaty in 1874.
The great migrations · 4 min readJunks to steamships: how people actually came
Chinese junks, then steamers, carried millions.
The great migrations · 4 min readThe coolie trade and credit-ticket system
Labourers paid for their ticket with years of work.
The great migrations · 4 min readRubber: from Brazil to Malaya
Henry Ridley's seeds changed who lives where.
Sabah · 4 min readThe Hakka of Sabah and the Basel Mission
Hakka farmers were brought to Sabah in the 1880s.
Sarawak · 4 min readFoochow of Sibu: the Rajang pioneers
A community led by Wong Nai Siong in 1901.
Sarawak · 4 min readHakka, Hokkien and Teochew in Sarawak
Three Chinese groups with their own towns and trades.
Living heritage · 4 min readChinese surnames and where they came from
Over 100 surnames cover most Malaysian Chinese.
Living heritage · 4 min readChinese clan associations: the surname halls
Associations helped new arrivals find work, lodging and burial.
Living heritage · 4 min readChinese dialect associations: Hokkien kongsi, Cantonese guilds
Dialect halls were the early "city hall" of migrants.
Living heritage · 4 min readHainanese chicken rice and the coffee shop
A dish that crossed the sea in a cook's hands.
Southeast Asia next · 4 min readSingapore: the island of many roads
A Chinese, Malay, Indian and mixed story on one island.
Coming soon
Kwongsai: the Cantonese from Guangxi
A smaller group of southern Cantonese in the tin towns.
Henghua: shoemakers and rubber dealers
Henghua from Putian arrived in small numbers, famous in trade.
Hokchia: the Foochow-speaking Sitiawan settlers
A Hokchia farming colony of Perak, born in 1903.
The kongsi: Chinese democracies in Borneo
Mining companies governed themselves like republics.
Secret societies: brotherhood and trouble
Hui and tong shaped life in the early Chinese towns.
Gambier and pepper: the Teochew frontier of Johor
The Johor kangchu system made fortunes and families.
The Chinese New Villages of the Emergency
Half a million people were resettled in the 1950s.
Thai-Chinese and Siamese-Chinese mixed families
Northern families with Siamese and Chinese roots.
Bak kut teh: Hokkien herbal soup of Klang
A coastal Hokkien and Teochew dish with a famous Klang story.
Kaya, kopi and the kopitiam
Coffee and toast from Hainan to Penang.
Chinese shophouse and Baba mansion
Penang and Melaka shophouses merge Chinese and European plans.
Places in these stories
Family lines linked in these stories
The seafarers' line
Line is likely 30,000 to 50,000 years oldMother line R9An old Southeast Asian line
Line is likely 40,000 to 55,000 years oldFather line O-M324China's most common father line
Line is likely 20,000 to 30,000 years oldDNA does not decide who anyone is. It does not show race, religion or any legal status. Every community tells its own story first, and we tell the DNA part with respect.
