Information AboutTaishan |
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Taishan (台山 in Guangdong Province , China . The city is located in the Pearl River Delta , southwest of Jiangmen (to which administratively belongs) and 140 kilometers west of Hong Kong , with a population of approximately 1 million. It also contains 95 Island s and islets, including the largest island in Guangdong, Shangchuan Island . Because it is estimated that over 75% of all overseas Chinese until the mid- to late-20th century claimed origin in Taishan, the city is also known as the "Home of Overseas Chinese." HISTORY On February 12 , 1499 in the 12th year of the reign of the emperor Hongzhi during the Ming Dynasty , Taishan was founded as Xinning County (新寧縣) from land in the south-west of Xinhui County. Xinning has also been romanized as Sunning, Sinning, Hsinning and Hsînnîng. From 1854 to 1867 a Genocidal War broke out mainly in Taishan County between the Punti and Hakka people with disastrous results for all sides. In 1914 , Xinning was renamed Taishan to avoid confusion with the Xinnings of Hunan and Sichuan . Unfortunately it is now confused with Taishan Mountain in Shandong Province. On April 17 , 1992 , Taishan's status was upgraded from county to city. ADMINISTRATION Taishan is under the juridiction of Jiangmen. In a jurisdiction of 3,286 Km&2 , Taishan contains twenty Towns (鎮), which are subdivided into 503 village residential committees (村居委會) and 3655 natural villages (自然村).
DEMOGRAPHICS Since 1774 , 1.3 million people living Overseas trace their ancestry to Taishan, outnumbering those who live in Taishan. Among these are:
In Hong Kong, there is:
The locals natively speak Taishanese , or ''sei yap'' (four counties), a dialect of the Yue usually considered to be similar to Standard Cantonese . Prior to the 1970s, Taishanese was the predominant dialect spoken throughout North America's Chinatowns . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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