清代福建人向海峡殖民地的移民

福建人移民海峡殖民地的历史颇早。海峡殖民地是清代尤其晚清福建人移民马来亚的集中地。在海峡殖民地各华人方言群中,除了1911年马六甲海南人比福建人略多之外,福建人所占的比重都是最大的。按人数看,19世纪80年代以来,新加坡的福建人在马来亚各邦和各殖民地的福建人中占绝对多数。19世纪末20世纪初,福建人的儿童移民数远超过其他方言群及国籍的儿童移民,从厦门港出发移民槟榔屿和新加坡的福建人绝大多数是男性移民。1893年清朝廷正式废除海禁政策对福建人经厦门港移民海峡殖民地产生了重要的影响。

Hokkiens' Migration to the Straits Settlements during 1644-1911

The Hokkiens migrated to the Straits Settlements rather early in the history, and the Straits Settlements were the main places where the Hokkien migrants in Malaya concentrated during the Qing Dynasty, especially the Late Qing Period. The Hokkiens constituted the largest dialect group among the various dialect groups in the Straits Settlements except that the number of the Hainanese was a bit more than that of the Hokkiens in 1911. The Hokkieus in Singapore had absolutely been the most numerous among all dialect groups since 1880s. In the late 19th and early 20th, centuries, the number of the Hokkien children migrants far exceeded that of other dialect groups or nationalities, and most of the Hokkien migrants from Amoy port were male. It was the abolition of the seafaring prohibition policy of the Qing Government in 1893 that had important effects on Hokkieus' migration from Amoy port to the Straits Settlements, which meant the continuous increase in the number of Hokkien migrants in Singapore and Penang.