Min-speaking peoples (simplified Chinese: 闽民系; traditional Chinese: 閩民系; pinyin: Mǐn mínxì) are a major subgroup of the Han Chinese (also known as the ethnic Chinese). They are a Min Chinese-speaking people that mainly live in Fujian, Hainan, southern Zhejiang, and Guangdong province's Leizhou and Chaoshan regions. In the Chinese diaspora, they form the majority of people in Taiwan and the majority of Han Chinese in Southeast Asia including countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The latter three countries are Teochew-speaking.
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The present-day Jiangxi, Fujian and southern Zhejiang, large parts of which were inhabited by indigenous Austronesian peoples known to the Han Chinese as Min or Minyue. Minyue remained a de facto independent state until Han Dynasty times. In 111BC the Han Emperor Wudi (141-87BC) invaded Minyue simultaneously with land and sea forces, obliging the Minyue capital, Fuzhou, to surrender. From this time a process of Sinicisation began in the area, though it is noteworthy that the people of northern Fujian still honour their early Minyue monarchs in their temples today. [1]
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