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Tanka woman in Macau | |
Regions with significant populations | |
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![]() | Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and along the Yangtze river[1] |
![]() | Kowloon |
![]() | Macau Bay |
Languages | |
Tanka dialect of Yue Chinese, Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min Chinese (Fuzhou Tanka), Mandarin & other varieties of Chinese, for those living in the diaspora speak English, Vietnamese, Khmer, Tetun, Burmese, Thai, Hindi, Bengali, Malay (both Malaysian / Bruneian and Indonesian), Spanish, Portuguese (including Macau), French, Fijian, Creole and Dutch | |
Religion | |
Chinese folk religions (including Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and others) and Mahayana Buddhism. |
Tanka people | |||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 1. 蜑家 2. 艇家 3. 水上人 4. 曲蹄 5. 蜑民 6. 曲蹄囝 | ||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | 1. Dan families 2. boat households 3. people on water 4. crooked hoof, bowlegged 5. Dan people 6. crooked hoof children, bowlegged children | ||||||||||||||||
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The Tankas or boat people are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China[2] who traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong, and Macau. The boat people are referred to with other different names outside of Guangdong. Though many now live onshore, some from the older generations still live on their boats and pursue their traditional livelihood of fishing. Historically, the Tankas were considered outcasts. Since they were boat people who lived by the sea, they were sometimes referred to as "sea gypsies" by both Chinese and British. Tanka origins can be traced back to the native ethnic minorities of southern China known historically as the Baiyue who may have taken refuge on the sea and gradually assimilated into Han Chinese culture. However, Tanka have preserved many of their native traditions not found in Han culture.
A small number of Tankas also live in parts of Vietnam. There they are called Dan (Đàn) and are classified as a subgroup of the Ngái ethnicity.
Tanka, a marginalised boat people which could be found in the Southern provinces of China.