In Taiwan, there are three common ways to write Hoklo in Chinese characters, although none have been established as etymologically correct:
mistakenly used by outsiders to emphasize their native connection to Fujian province. It is not an accurate transliteration in terms from Hokkien itself although it may correspond to an actual usage in Hakka.
emphasizes their purported long history originating from the area south of the Yellow River. This term does not exist in Hokkien. The transliteration is a phonologically inaccurate folk etymology, though the Mandarin pronunciationHéluò has gained currency through the propagation of the inaccurate transliteration.
emphasizes the modern pronunciation of the characters ; phonologically accurate.
Meanwhile, Hoklo people self-identify as. In Hakka, Teochew, and Cantonese, Hoklo may be written as Hoglo and 學佬. Despite the many ways to write Hoklo in Chinese, the term Holo is used in Taiwan to refer to the language, and those people who speak it.
Culture
Architecture
Hoklo architecture is, for the most part, similar to any other traditional Chinese architectural styles. Hoklo shrines and temples have tilted sharp eaves just like the architecture of Han Chinese due to superstitious beliefs. However, Hoklo shrines and temples do have special differences from the styles in other regions of China: the top roofs are high and slanted with exaggerated, finely-detailed decorative inlays of wood and porcelain. The main halls of Hoklo temples are also a little different in that they are usually decorated with two dragons on the rooftop at the furthest left and right corners and with a miniature figure of a pagoda at the center of the rooftop. One such example of this is the Kaiyuan Temple in Fujian, China. Other than these minor differences, Hoklo architecture is basically the same as any other traditional Chinese architecture in any other Han Chinese region.
Language
The Hoklo people speak the mainstream Hokkien dialect which is mutually intelligible to the Teochew dialect but to a small degree. Hokkien can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, and it also has roots from earlier periods such as the Northern and Southern Dynasties and also a little influence from other dialects as well. Hokkien has one of the most diverse phoneme inventories among Chinese varieties, with more consonants than Standard Mandarin or Cantonese. Vowels are more-or-less similar to that of Standard Mandarin. Hokkien varieties retain many pronunciations that are no longer found in other Chinese varieties. These include the retention of the initial, which is now in Mandarin, having disappeared before the 6th century in other Chinese varieties. Hokkien has 5 to 7 tones or 7 to 9 tones according to traditional sense, depending on variety of hokkien spoken such as the Amoy dialect for example has 7-8 tones.
Diaspora
Taiwan
About 70% of the Taiwanese people descend from Hoklo immigrants who arrived to the island prior to the start of Japanese rule in 1895. They could be categorized as originating from Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou based on their dialects and districts of origin. People from the former two areas were dominant in the north of the island and along the west coast, whereas people from the latter two areas were dominant in the south and perhaps the central plains as well.
Southeast Asia
The Hoklo or Hokkien-lang are the largest dialect group among the Malaysian Chinese, Singapore and southern part of Thailand. They constitute the highest concentrations of Hoklo or Hokkien-lang in the region. The various Hokkien dialects/Minnan are still widely spoken in these countries but the daily use are slowly decreasing in favor of Mandarin Chinese, English or local language. The Hoklo or Hokkien-lang are also the largest group among the Chinese Indonesians. Most speak only Indonesian. In the Philippines, the Hoklo or Hokkien-lang form the majority of the Chinese people in the country. The Hokkien dialect/Minnan is still spoken there.
Hailufeng Hokkiens
The Minnan speaking people in Haifeng and Lufeng are known as Hailufeng Hokkiens or Hailufeng Minnan, in a narrow scope, but are often mistaken by outsiders as Chaozhou/Teochew people in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Chen Jiongming is a famous Hailufeng Hokkien who served as the governor of the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces during the Republic of China.
