Hoklo people
The Hokkien people () are an ethnic group within the Sinitic people who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to Southeastern Fujian, China and known by various endonyms or other related terms such as Banlam (Minnan) people () or more commonly known in southeast asian countries as Hokkien people (). The Hokkien people are found in significant numbers in Mainland China (Fujian), Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, the United States, Hong Kong, and Macau. The Hokkien people have a distinct culture and architecture, including Hokkien shrines and temples with tilted sharp eaves, high and slanted top roofs, and finely detailed decorative inlays of wood and porcelain. The Hokkien language, which includes the Taiwanese Hokkien dialect, is the mainstream Southern Min (Minnan), which is partially mutually intelligible to the Teochew language, Hainanese, Luichew, Hailokhong. Etymology 

In Southern Fujian (Mainland China), the Hokkien speakers refer to themselves as Banlam people () or generally speaking, Hokkien people (). In Mandarin, they also call themselves Minnan people (). In Taiwan (ROC), the term "Hoklo" is usually used for the people. The term Holo () is also used to refer to the language (Taiwanese language) and those people who speak it. The term is likely an exonym originating from Hakka and/or Cantonese that some Hokkien and Teochew speakers, particularly in Taiwan and Mainland China, borrowed from, since the term is not recognized by Hokkien speakers in Southeast Asia. There are three common ways to write Hoklo in Chinese characters, although their etymological correctness is often disputed: 

   an exonym emphasizing the people's native connection to Fujian province. It is not a phonologically accurate transliteration in terms of Hokkien itself although it may correspond to and originate from an actual usage in Hakka. an exonym emphasizing the people's purported long history originating from the area south of the Yellow River. Although used in Mandarin, this term does not exist in the Hokkien language itself. The transliteration is a phonologically inaccurate folk etymology, though the Mandarin pronunciation Héluò has gained currency through the propagation of the inaccurate transliteration. a variant exonym emphasizing the modern pronunciation of the characters (without regard to the meaning of the Chinese characters); more phonologically accurate in Hokkien. In Hakka, Teochew, and Cantonese, Hoklo may be written as Hoglo () and 學佬 (). In the Philippines, Chinese Filipinos, where most are usually of ethnic Hokkien descent, usually generally refer to themselves as Lannang () or sometimes more specifically Hokkien people (). In Malaysia & Singapore, Hokkien Malaysians & Hokkien Singaporeans generally refer to themselves as Tng Lang (), where those of Hokkien-speaker descent are more specifically known as Hokkien people (). In Indonesia, Hokkien Indonesians generally refer to themselves as Tionghoa (), where those of ethnicHokkiendescent are more specifically known as Hokkien people (). 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 traditional 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. Language 

The Hokkien people speak the mainstream Hokkien (Minnan) language which is mutually intelligible to the Teochew language 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 sinitic languages as well. Hokkien has one of the most diverse phoneme inventories among sinitic varieties, with more consonants than Standard Mandarin or Standard Yue. Vowels are more-or-less similar to that of Standard Mandarin. Hokkien varieties retain many pronunciations that are no longer found in other Sinitic varieties. These include the pronunciation of the  initial as , which is now  (Pinyin 'zh') in Mandarin (e.g. 'bamboo' 竹 is tik, but zhú in Mandarin), having disappeared before the 6th century in other Sinitic varieties. Hokkien has 5 to 7 tones, or 7 to 9 tones according to traditional sense, depending on the variety. The Amoy dialect for example, has 7-8 tones. Distribution 

Speakers of proper Min Nan language live in the areas of Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in southern Fujian. Most Min Nan-speaking groups in southern Fujian refer to themselves by the area where they live, for example: Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Teochew people or Loichiu people (speakers of Leizhou Min). 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 (Quanzhou-speaking) were dominant in the north of the island and along the west coast, whereas people from the latter two areas (Zhangzhou-speaking) were dominant in the south and perhaps the central plains as well. Hailufeng people/ethnic Hailiokhong 
The Southern-min speaking people in Haifeng and Lufeng are known as Hailufeng people or Hailufeng Minnan, in a narrow scope, but are often mistaken by outsiders as Teochews in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong

Diaspora

Southeast Asia 
The Hoklo or Hokkien-lang (as they are known in Southeast Asia) are the largest ethnic group among Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the southern part of Thailand. These communities contain the highest concentrations of Hokkien-lang in the region. The various Hokkien language are still widely spoken in these countries, but the daily use of them is slowly decreasing in favor of Mandarin Chinese, English, and local languages. The Hokkien-lang also make up the largest ethnic group among Chinese Indonesians. In the Philippines, the Hoklo or Hokkien-lang call themselves Lannang and form the majority of the Sinitic people in the country known as Chinese Filipinos. The native Hokkien language is still spoken there. United States 

After the 1960s, many Taiwanese people (大員民族/大員族） from Taiwan) began immigrating to the United States and Canada. Notable Hoklo people

See also 
 Hokkien honorifics
 Demographics of Taiwan
 Taiwanese people
 Teochew people

Notes

References

Bibliography 

Ethnic groups in Fujian
Ethnic groups in Taiwan