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Minh Hương

{{short description|Group of ethnic Chinese}}

{{Expand Chinese|明鄉人|date=December 2018}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Minh Hương people
Người Minh Hương
𠊛明鄉

| population = Uncountable as most of their descendants have assimilated into Vietnamese society and self-identify solely as Vietnamese

| region1 = {{flag|Vietnam}}

| pop1 = Unreported

| ref1 =

| languages = Vietnamese, also used various Chinese languages in the past

| religions = Predominantly Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism.

| related = Kinh people, Hoa people, Khmer people and Ngái people

| footnotes =

}}

File:Bên trong Đình Minh Hương Gia Thạnh.jpg

Minh Hương ({{lang-vi-hantu|{{linktext|明鄉}}}} or {{linktext|明香}}) refers to descendants of Ming dynasty immigrants who settled in southern Vietnam during the 16th and 18th centuries. They were among the first wave of ethnic Han who came to southern Vietnam.

History

Ming refugees of Han ethnicity numbering 3,000 came to Vietnam at the end of the Ming dynasty. They opposed the Qing dynasty and were fiercely loyal to the Ming dynasty. Vietnamese women married these Han refugees since most of them were soldiers and single men. Their descendants became known as Minh Hương and they strongly identified as Han despite influence from Vietnamese mothers. They did not wear the Manchu hairstyle unlike later Han migrants to Vietnam during the Qing dynasty.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFpdDwAAQBAJ&q=three+thousand+refugees+outlook+clothing+hair&pg=PA39|page=39|title=Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mang (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|series=Book collections on Project MUSE|issue=Issue 20 of Southeast Asia Program series|last=Choi|first=Byung Wook|edition=illustrated|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=2018|isbn=978-1501719523}}

After the Qing conquest of China proper, many Han people who refused to submit themselves to the Qing fled abroad. Ethnic Han leaders such as Mạc Cửu, Trần Thượng Xuyên and Dương Ngạn Địch arrived in the Mekong Delta where they established their own polities in Hà Tiên, Biên Hòa and Mỹ Tho. They later submitted to the Nguyễn lords, who provided them with noble titles and the offer of protection against Khmer and Siam threats. Many Minh Hương such as Trịnh Hoài Đức and Ngô Nhân Tịnh became Nguyen ministers and played important roles in the Vietnamese exploration and settlement of Mekong Delta.

Originally, the Chinese characters used to refer to them was {{linktext|明|香}} ("those who worship Ming dynasty ancestrals"). It was changed to {{linktext|明|鄉}} ("of Ming dynasty origins") in 1827 as ordered by the Minh Mạng Emperor of Nguyễn dynasty.Nguyễn Đức Hiệp. [http://www.vanhoahoc.edu.vn/nghien-cuu/van-hoa-viet-nam/van-hoa-nam-bo/344-nguyen-duc-hiep-ve-lich-su-nguoi-minh-huong-va-nguoi-hoa-o-nam-bo.html Về lịch sử người Minh Hương và người Hoa ở Nam bộ]. In official records of Nguyễn dynasty, they were called Minh nhân (明人) or Minh Hương to distinguish with those ethnic Han (Thanh nhân 清人) from Qing China.

Minh Hương often married with local Viet (Kinh) people. Since 1829, the Minh Hương were treated as Vietnamese instead of Han.{{Cite journal |title=越南的明鄉人與華人移民的族群認同與本土化差異|url=http://uibun.twl.ncku.edu.tw/chuliau/lunsoat/taibun/2013/Minh_Huong_2013_CC.pdf |author=蔣為文 |year=2013 |journal=台灣國際研究季刊 |publisher=國立成功大學越南研究中心|volume=9 |issue=4 |page=8|language=zh-tw|access-date=2014-06-23}}{{cite book |author=Leo Suryadinata |year=1997 |title=Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv-4ScjTO-AC |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9813055502 |access-date=2014-07-07|language=en}}{{rp|272}} They were not allowed to go to China, and also not allowed to wear the Manchu queue.{{cite encyclopedia |title=明鄉人|encyclopedia=Chinese Encyclopedia |year=1983 |publisher=Chinese Culture University |url=http://ap6.pccu.edu.tw/Encyclopedia/data.asp?id=700 |language=zh-tw|access-date=2014-06-24}}

In the present day, most of the Minh Hương have adopted Vietnamese culture. Unlike later waves of Han Chinese immigration, they are regarded as Kinh people instead of Hoa people by the Vietnamese government.{{rp|3}} In addition, they overwhelmingly self-identify solely as Kinh people.{{rp|6}}

Culture

=Famous persons=

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{Han subgroups}}

{{Overseas Chinese}}

Category:Chinese emigrants to Vietnam

Category:Ethnic groups in Vietnam