Chaozhou-Shantou Region:
Geographical and Historical Notes
Him Mark Lai
Geography
The Chao-Shan 潮汕 or Chaozhou-Shantou 潮州汕頭 region is an area of 10,346 sq. km. located in the easternmost part of Guangdong Province. The region is mountainous on the northwest, which limited land communications with the Pearl River basin that was Guangdong’s center of political power. On the southeast the region faces the South China Sea 南海 and adjoins the southern part of Fujian Province. The region’s principal river is the Han 韓江, which is the second largest river system in Guangdong after the Pearl River 珠江 system. It forms a delta discharging into the South China Sea 南海. The delta is the third largest in area in South China after the Yangzi and Pearl River deltas. A short distance east of the Han River is the Rong River 榕江, the second longest river in the region. Another important river just east of the Han is the Lian River 練江. The Tropic of Cancer intersects the region and the climate is sub-tropical with an annual average temperature greater than 10 degrees Centigrade (50 degrees Fahrenheit). The region has plentiful rainfall and is sometimes visited by typhoons.
Historical Development
The Chaozhou-Shantou region was inhabited by man for at least 8,000 years. About 2,400 years ago after the state of Chu 楚 conquered and absorbed the state of Yue 越 in Zhejiang Province, part of the Yue migrated southward and established themselves in the Pearl River basin. They also introduced technological advances such as the use of bronze weaponry, which enabled them to extend political domination over the Pearl River basin and also the Chaozhou-Shantou region.
When the Qin state unified China, the Yue domains in Guangdong also became part of the empire. After the fall of the Qin empire, Nan Yue 南越 became an independent kingdom with its capital in Panyu (the present Guangzhou). Nan Yue established Jieyang County 揭陽縣 in the Chao-Shan region as part of Nanhai Prefecture 南海郡. After Nan Yue was conquered and became part of the Han Empire in 111 BC, the Chao-Shan region for the first time came under direct Han Chinese rule. Some Han Chinese settled among the population, but the culture of the region remained predominantly Yue. During the 400 years of the Han dynasty, settlers coming from the Yellow River basin slowly increased, but the region was still sparsely populated and Han Chinese influence limited. However, sinicization of the local population continued, sometimes peacefully and sometimes through the use of force.
By the Sui and Tang dynasties, there were two main native groups still living in the region. One was the Liao 僚 located in the Guangdong-Fujian-Jiangxi border region and who often resisted Chinese rule. Many were eventually sinicized as part of the Han Chinese people, while the remainder eventually evolved to become the contemporary She 畲 and Dan 蛋 peoples. The other major group was the Li 俚, descended from the Yue 越 and who assimilated with and integrated into the Han Chinese population and culture. The Feng 馮 clan among the Li became powerful allies of the Sui empire against the Liao was.
Until the late Tang dynasty this region was relatively undeveloped economically with crocodiles and wild elephants roaming the rivers and forests. It was a place where officials who offended the imperial court were exiled as punishment. However, during the earlier dynasties, periodic political chaos in the Yellow River basin had led to migrations, mainly southward, to seek more peaceful surroundings. Although much of the migration at that stage was to the Yangzi (Chang) River Valley, some migrants reached the Fujian and Guangdong regions. Thus, the number of Han Chinese families in the Chaozhou region increased from 1,119 families (hu 戶) in 413 AD to 9,337 around 725 AD, and to 10,324 in 801 AD. The economy in the region developed as rice became the most important crop. The region also developed sericulture and the ceramics industry. It was during this period that the Tang imperial court exiled Chang Gun 常袞 and then Han Yu 韓愈 to the area in 779 AD and 819 AD, respectively. Han Yu especially was revered for having eradicated the scourge caused by crocodiles in the region, encouraging the establishment of schools, and freeing the slaves. In general he was credited with being concerned with improving the welfare of the people. However, Han Yu was only in the region for eight months and it would have been impossible for him to have accomplished all that he was credited with. Both Chang and Han can be said to be symbolic of the direction and increased pace in economic and cultural development of the region as the population increased. However, it should be pointed out that even though the population in the region doubled from 40,800 in 801 AD to 80,000 in 901 AD, it still ranked as 23rd among 27 prefectures in Guangdong Province.
From the Sui (581-618 AD) up to the mid-Tang period, numerous non-Han Chinese peoples on the northern borders of the empire had moved into North China, setting the stage for the rebellion of An Lushan 安祿山, a non-Han Chinese, in 755 AD. This marked the decline of Tang imperial power and two centuries of political instability that ended when the Song empire was established during the 10th century. However, the Song Empire itself was also constantly under pressure defending its northern borders against incursions by non-Han peoples. In 1127 AD an invasion by the Nüzhen 女真 from the northeast resulted in the Song emperor being captured and forcing the flight of the Song court to the region south of the Yangzi (Chang) River.
The An Lushan Rebellion and the Nüzhen invasion set off two waves of southward migrations. Fujian became one of the destinations where the migrants settled. However, the limited amount of arable land in the mountainous province quickly became inadequate to support the increasing population, thus forcing some of the population, especially in the southern part, to migrate further to still sparsely populated Chaozhou in neighboring Guangdong. The resulting increase in the Chaozhou population stimulated development of the economy during the Song period, as evidenced by the construction of hydraulic works to support agriculture such as the construction of levees and irrigation systems. Salt and making of ceramics also developed into important industries, the product of which in turn stimulated the development of a brisk commercial traffic.
Due to the heavy influx of settlers from neighboring Fujian, the spoken language and culture of the Chaozhou population became heavily influenced by the Minnan dialect and sub-culture. During this same period another dialect group that eventually became the Hakkas, were migrating to northern Guangdong and settling in the valley of the Mei River 梅江, a principal tributary emptying into the upper reaches of the Han River. This development further limited land communications with Guangdong’s dominant Cantonese dialect and culture centered in the West River basin, thus greatly facilitating the establishment of Minnan dominance in language and culture in the Chaozhou region. The Minnan dialect and culture of the settlers was in turn modified by the existing local non-Minnan language and culture in the region so that a dialect and culture with distinct Chaozhou characteristics emerged.
During the 13th century Mongol invasion of the Song Empire, Chaozhou became one of the battlegrounds where Song loyalists resisted the advancing Mongol armies that also included many Han Chinese. The native She also played pivotal roles in some of these developments as they sometimes were part of the Song resistance, while at other times they were allied with the Mongol invaders. These actions eventually paved the way for the assimilation of many of the She into Han Chinese society.
During the Ming dynasty, which succeeded the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the economy of Chaozhou continued to develop. The population also doubled from 214,404 in 1377 to 540,806 in 1592.
Historical Geography
As the region developed, the situation was reflected in an increasing number of political subdivisions to facilitate administration. During the Jin dynasty (265-420 AD) the Chao-Shan region became Yi’an Prefecture 義安郡, which in 589 AD during the Sui was renamed Chaozhou 潮州, the first time the name was applied. Subsequently, the name of the region changed back and forth several times until 758 AD when the name Chaozhou was applied permanently to the region; however, the extant of the territory administered by Chaozhou varied under different imperial administrations.
The first county to be established in the region was Jieyang 揭陽 during the Qin dynasty in the third century BC as part of Nanhai Prefecture 南海郡. The county covered practically all of northeast Guangdong including the entire Chaozhou region. During this early period the prefectural boundaries shifted back and forth as the region developed more in certain areas and less in others. During the Jin dynasty in 331 AD, Chaoyang 潮陽 and Haiyang 海陽 counties were formed, taking territory from part of Jieyang County and placed under the administration of Dongguan Prefecture 東官郡, which included the present Dongguan County 東莞 in the Pearl River Delta. However, in 413 AD both counties and Jieyang were placed again under the administration of Yi’an Prefecture 義安郡, which was formed from territory taken from Dongguan Prefecture.
Additional counties were not formed in this sparsely populated, economically underdeveloped region for the next millennium. Population increase and economic development of the region during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties then established conditions for more county formation during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). In 1478, part of the territory of Haiyang County became Raoping 饒平 County. In 1524 Huilai 惠來 County was formed from territory taken from Haifeng 海豐 and Chaoyang. In 1525 Dapu 大埔 County was formed with territory taken from Raoping. In 1563 Chenghai 澄海 County was formed with territory taken from Haiyang, Jieyang, and Raoping counties. In 1564 Puning 普寧 County was formed with territory taken from Chaoyang County. Going into the early Qing dynasty in 1738, Fengshun 豐順 County was formed with territory taken from Haiyang , Jieyang, and Dapu counties as well as from Jiaying Zhidizhou 嘉應直隷州 (independent department).
In 1738 during the Qing dynasty, Chaozhou was designated as Fu-ranked prefecture, and had under its administration Haiyang 海陽, Chaoyang 潮陽, Jieyang 揭陽, Raoping 饒平, Huilai 惠來, Dapu 大埔, Chenghai 澄海, Puning 普寧, and Fengshun 豐順 counties. The overwhelming majority of the population in these counties, except Dapu and Fengshun, spoke a variation of the Chaozhou dialect, which in turn was derived from the Minnan or Southern Fujian dialect. In Dapu and Fengshun, however, a sizable number among the population spoke the Hakka dialect.
In 1914 Haiyang County was renamed Chao’an 潮安. That same year, Nan’ao 南澳, an island on the Fujian-Guangdong border and under joint administration of the Fujian and Guangdong provincial governments, was made into a county under the sole administration of Guangdong Province. Shantou 汕頭 (Swatow), which had become the principal port in the region, was part of Chenghai County during the Qing period. The first railroad in China, 39 kilometers in length, was completed between this port and Chaozhou in 1906. In 1921 Shantou became a separate municipality in Guangdong province.
During the P.R.C. Jieyang was divided into Jiedong 揭東 and Jiexi 揭西 counties. The region was divided into three regional-level municipalities 地級市 that were further sub-divided into urban districts (qu 區), county-level cities (xianji shi 縣級市), and rural counties (xian 縣), the designation of which can change with economic development of the administrative unit. As of year 2000 the three regional-level cities and their administrative subdivisions in the Chaozhou-Shantou region are as shown in the accompanying table, “Chaozhou-Shantou Region Political Subdivisions.” Dapu and Fengshun, which used to be part of Chaozhou, were put under the administration of the Hakka-speaking, regional-level city of Meizhou 梅州. Note that the overall population density of the three regional-level cities is greater than in any of the regional-level cities in the Pearl River Delta region. This is one of the reasons why there was so much more pressure to emigrate from this region, which is much smaller in area than the Pearl River Delta.
Chao-Shan Culture
The Chao-Shan region is noted not only for the dialect that is different from Cantonese and Mandarin, but it also has a distinctive sub-culture. In contrast to the Cantonese opera, which was derived from the Beijing opera 京劇, the Chaozhou opera traces its origins to the Nanxi 南戲 of the Song dynasty. Chaozhou cuisine is considered a branch of Cantonese cuisine, but with greater use of seafood. Typical items served in many Chaozhou-style restaurants include brine immersed geese (lushui’e 鹵水鵝), oyster “omelet” (haole 蠔烙), dishes prepared with pork, beef, or fish meatballs (rouwan 肉丸), and a sweet dessert made from mashed cooked taro roots (yuni 芋泥). The Chaozhou mi 糜 corresponds to the Cantonese baak jook 白粥 except that in contrast to the Cantonese jook, the cooked rice in the mi still retains the basic shape of each grain of rice. Guotiao 粿條 (rice noodles; sometimes written phonetically as guidiao 貴刁), which is consumed in light meals or snacks, is as widely known as Guangzhou’s shahe rice noodles 沙河粉. The well-known gongfu cha 工夫茶 in which the process of preparing and enjoying tea is raised to the level of a ceremonial art, is somewhat analogous to that of the Japanese tea ceremony, although scholars have so far failed to find a connection between the two. The region is also well known for its handicrafts that include items such as embroidery 潮繡, drawn work 抽紗, paper cuts 剪紙, gold lacquered wood carvings 金漆木雕, stone sculpture 石雕, and multi-colored porcelain ware 彩瓷.