Hokkien culture
This culture has been influenced by the cultures from Minyue (a branch of Baiyue people who inhabited Hokkien before sinicization of the region), China's Central Plain (most notably during the Tang dynasty and Song dynasty), and Japan (due to Taiwan being a former Japanese colony).
The intermixing is reflected by the fact that: Due to the historic migration of Hoklo people to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the Hokkien language has spread far beyond its traditional homeland of Southern Fukian.
[9] In terms of writing systems, Hokkien gained one as early as the first half of the 16th century (Ming dynasty)—with the play Tale of the Lychee Mirror (Chinese: 荔鏡記; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Nāi-kèng-kì),[10] which is fairly popular among the Hoklo people even to this day.
[11] The traditional architectural style of Hoklo people is largely similar to those of surrounding Han Chinese groups.
This art is frequently used on the ridges, window frames, and doors of temples and larger residence, often together with swallowtail roof.
[17] Hua'an jade (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hua-an gi̍k; Traditional Chinese: 華安玉) is a type of hornfels with green bands consisting of epidote and diopside, known to be found primarily in Hokkien, China.
[19] This style is noted for using Kaolinite to create very detailed and delicate porcelains, and also for the products' pure, ivory-like white coloring and resemblance to archaic ritual objects.
With the Hokkien coast being a major ceramic exporting center at that time, Tek-hòe porcelain products have been sold to Western European merchants and given the name "Blanc de Chine" (literally "White of China") by the French.
[20] Even in the 21st century, Hoklo people are still keeping the tradition of making Tek-hòe porcelain alive, and this style is used in many types of products, ranging from purely artistic ones (e.g., sculptures) to more practical ones (e.g., eating utensils).
This folk art involves wrapping fine, usually golden filigree-like threads around other artifacts to form images of characters and animals.
This style was characterized by a strong urge to break conventions in traditional Han Chinese paintings and adoption of modern European artistic ideals.
[28] The Min school is said to be marked by (1) an emphasis on the Four Books: the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius; (2) a tendency to interpret Buddhism from the lens of Confucianism; (3) placing importance on self-perfection.
Even the ancient Han Chinese, who were, by a considerable margin, the most advanced people in the region at that time, took note of Minyue's shipbuilding skills.
Later, during 6th to 9th century (Tang dynasty), peoples in Hokkien were said to be able to build large ships of 50 to 60 tonnes, which was very remarkable for that time period.
