Fuzhou dialect

The Fuzhou dialect (福州話, Foochow Romanized:  Hók-ciŭ-uâ ), also known as the Foochow dialect, Hoochew, Fuzhounese (福州語,Hók-ciŭ-ngṳ̄), or Fuzhouhua, is the standard dialect of Min Dong, which is a branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the eastern part of Fujian Province. Native speakers also call it Bàng-uâ (平話), meaning the language spoken in everyday life. In Singapore and Malaysia, the variety is known as Hokchiu in Min Nan, Hujiu which is the Min Dong pronunciation of Fuzhou.

Like many other varieties of Chinese, the Fuzhou dialect is dominated by monosyllabic morphemes which carry lexical tones, with mainly analytic syntax. Compared with the other Chinese dialects, the Fuzhou dialect and the other Min Dong dialects are much more similar to the Min Nan dialects than to other varieties, although the two groups are still not mutually intelligible. Both Min Dong and Min Nan dialects are sometimes both called the Hokkien dialect.

Centered in Fuzhou City, the Fuzhou dialect covers eleven cities and counties: Fuzhou, Pingnan, Gutian, Luoyuan, Minqing, Lianjiang (including Matsu), Minhou, Changle, Yongtai, Fuqing and Pingtan. Fuzhou dialect is also the second local language in northern and middle Fujian cities and counties, like Nanping, Shaowu, Shunchang, Sanming and Youxi.

Fuzhou

Fuzhou (Chinese: 福州; formerly Foochow) is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong (lit. East of Fujian) linguistic and cultural area.

Fuzhou's core counties lie on the north (left) bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River. All along its northern border lies Ningde, and Ningde's Gutian County lies upriver. Fuzhou's counties south of the Min border on Putian, Quanzhou, Sanming and Nanping prefectures. Its population was 7,115,370 inhabitants as of the 2010 census, of whom 4,408,076 inhabitants are urban representing around 61.95%, while rural population is at 2,707,294 representing around 38.05 percent.

Etymology and names

In older publications, the name "Fuzhou" (福州) was variously romanized as Foochow, Fuchow, Fūtsu, Fuh-Chow, Hock Chew or Hokchew.

The Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties, a Chinese geographical treatise published in the 9th century, says that Fuzhou's name came from Mount Futo, a mountain located northwest of the city. The mountain's name was then combined with -zhou, meaning "settlement" or "prefecture", in a manner similar to many other Chinese cities. During the Warring States period, area of Fuzhou was sometimes referred to as Ye (Chinese: 冶) and Fuzhou was incorporated into China proper during Qin dynasty. The city's name was changed numerous times between the 3rd and 9th centuries before finally settling on Fuzhou in 948.

Warriors Orochi

Warriors Orochi (無双OROCHI, Musō Orochi) is a beat 'em up video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, developed by Koei and Omega Force. It is a crossover of two of Koei's popular video game series, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors (specifically Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2) and the first title in the Warriors Orochi series.

The game was released on March 21, 2007 in Japan, September 18 in the United States, September 21 in Europe, September 27 in Australia and September 28 in New Zealand. The game came out for the Xbox 360 in Japan on September 13, and the UK version came out on the same date as the PlayStation 2 version in the United States. The game was ported to the PlayStation Portable, released in Japan on February 2008, March 25 in the US, and March 28 in the UK. A PC version was released in the US on March 25, 2008.

Plot

The fictional events of the game begin when the Serpent King Orochi created a rift in time and space. By creating a twisted new world and bringing together warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Warring States period of Japan (more than 1,000 years apart in history), Orochi wished to test the might of the warriors of these two eras.

Fujian

Fujian (Chinese: 福建;  listen ), formerly romanised as Foken, Fouken, Fukien, and Hokkien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. The name Fujian came from the combination of Fuzhou and Jianzhou (a former name for Jian'ou) two cities in Fujian, during the Tang dynasty. While its population is chiefly of Han origin, it is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces in China.

Most of Fujian is administered by the People's Republic of China. However, the archipelagos of Kinmen and Matsu are under the control of the Republic of China. Thus, there are two provinces (in the sense of government organizations): the Fujian Province administered by the People's Republic of China and the Fujian Province of the Republic of China.

History

Prehistoric Fujian

Recent archaeological discoveries demonstrate that Fujian had entered the Neolithic Age by the middle of the 6th millennium BC. From the Keqiutou site (7450–5590 BP), an early Neolithic site in Pingtan Island located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Fuzhou, numerous tools made of stones, shells, bones, jades, and ceramics (including wheel-made-ceramics) have been unearthed, together with spinning wheels, a definitive evidence of weaving.

Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors (真・三國無双, Shin Sangokumusō, literally translated as "True ・ Three Kingdoms Unrivalled") is a series of tactical action games created by Omega Force and Koei. The award-winning series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, from which it derives its name in Japanese.

The first game titled Dynasty Warriors, Sangokumusō in Japan, is a fighting game and different from the rest of the series. All English titles are a number ahead of their Japanese counterparts due to the English localization of naming Shin Sangokumusō, a spin-off of the previously mentioned Sangokumusō game, as Dynasty Warriors 2.

It is Koei's most successful franchise. Including its many spin-offs, 18 million copies of the Dynasty Warriors series have sold worldwide by 2011.

Main series

The first Dynasty Warriors (Sangokumusō) is a traditional one-on-one fighting game, released in 1997 for the PlayStation. Its gameplay style is reminiscent of Virtua Fighter and Tekken with the addition of weapons and some exotic moves.