宗族、方言与地缘认同——19世纪英属槟榔屿闽南社群的形塑途径

Clan,Dialect and Geopolitical Identity—Formation of the Minnan Community of the British Penang during the 19^(th) Century

1786年槟榔屿开埠,属于英属东印度公司管辖之下,1826年和马六甲、新加坡组成海峡殖民地(Straits Settlements),隶属英属印度马德拉斯省。1867年,海峡殖民地才改为皇家直辖殖民地(Crown Colony),由英国殖民地部直接管理。伴随着槟榔屿开埠,华人迅速涌入,在19世纪初就在乔治市东南沿海处形成聚居区,这些建筑成为今日槟城世界文化遗产的重要组成部分,而这里的华人就成为马来西亚华人史重要的研究内容,本文所描述的大背景,就是19世纪的槟榔屿乔治市。

Represented by the Big Five,the Minnan clans of Penang were able to complete the construction of clan organizations after experienced decades of accumulation in the middle of the 19th century.In the first half of the 19th century,the borders of the Minnan community were maintained by the Hokkien Cemeteries.The clan bloodline identity within the community was relatively higher than that of the Zhangzhou and Minnan regions,which in turn delayed the emergence of Fujian provincial community organizations in Penang.The clan bloodline and the Minnan dialect became the main symbols of the borders of the Minnan community in the 19th century.The so-called kinship-based clan identity or the geo-identity within the dialect group are the survival choices of the Chinese people in Penang under different external pressures.