Hainan people
Hainam Min speakers often refer to their native language as Qiongwen to distinguish themselves from other groups of Hainan such as the Cantonese, Tanka, Hlai, Miao, etc.
[3] By contrast, the Lingaoese, Hlai, Tanka migrated to the island much earlier and are regarded as part of the Nanyue or Baiyue peoples.
[4] Starting from the Song dynasty, Han colonists from northeastern Fujian began settling on the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan island, displacing Nanyue aborigines such as the Hlai, who moved to mountain areas.
Towards the turn of the 20th century, many Hainanese migrated to various Southeast Asian nations, where they worked as cooks, restaurateurs, coffee shop owners, clothes makers, sailors and hoteliers, filling niches left unoccupied by previous groups of immigrants from China.
The donations of overseas Hainanese helped to build schools, libraries and hospitals not just in their ancestral towns and villages, but also in Haikou, the provincial capital.
Overseas Hainanese introduced rubber, pepper, pineapple, cocoa, palm oil and lemon grass to Hainan Island and ensured its commercial production there.
[12] Hainan's Danzhou was traditionally regarded as a malaria-infested backwater and unfit for human habitation and was therefore used as a place of exile, and not the tropical paradise it is considered to be today.
It acquired a reputation as a place of exile for political prisoners and fallen ministers and literati, the most notable of whom was Su Dong Po, who made funeral preparations prior to his relocation to Hainan.
[13] When he arrived, Su Dong Po expressed dismay at the hardscrabble living conditions and dietary practices of fellow Han Chinese he found stationed on the island and is credited for introducing improvements to the lifestyle of the inhabitants.
They were not voluntary colonists, nor were they all criminals and outlaws, but the vassals of a despotic government, who obeying the orders of the emperor, left their homes in the more congenial region about Fukien [Fujian], to occupy and develop the sparsely peopled territory south of the sea.
Like other Chinese dialect groups outside of mainland China, individuals of Hainanese Han descent have also become prominent politicians, businesspersons and entertainers.
In Thailand, prominent individuals of Hainamese Han ancestry include the Thailand Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn and Prime Minister Pote Sarasin, Bank of Bangkok President Boonchu Rojanastien, singer Nichkhun of 2PM, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, the politically influential Sarasin family, as well as two of the wealthiest business families, the Chirathivats and the Yoovidhyas.
In Malaysia, notable Hainanese Han businesspersons and philanthropists include famous Malaccan-born Chinese entrepreneur, Pang Chin Hin, the founder of popular snack brand Mamee.
Politicians EntertainersBusinesspersonsThe administration of the island was handled by Guangdong for most of its history, and investment in infrastructure was negligible during the imperial era.
Hainanese are conscious of their distance from the mainland and mainstream China, and sensitive to the historical perception of the island as a remote and barbaric backwater, a place of exile for criminals and political malcontents.
There have been 105 successful Jinshi degree holders from Hainan during its 1,300 years of imperial history, a rate that is five times higher than the national average.
Linguists hypothesize this characteristic resulted from the contact between Han Chinese settlers in garrison towns and their Tai-Kradai tribal neighbours.
