Pe̍h-ōe-jī Church Romanization
A sample of pe̍h-ōe-jī text
Type	Latin alphabet (modified)
Languages	Southern Min Amoy Taiwanese
Creator	Walter Henry Medhurst Elihu Doty John Van Nest Talmage
Time period	1830s–present
Child systems	TLPA Tâi-lô
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī (pronounced [peʔ˩ ue˩ dzi˨] ( listen), abbreviated POJ, literally vernacular writing, also known as Church Romanization) is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min, a Chinese language or dialect, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the 19th century and refined by missionaries working in Xiamen and Tainan, it uses a modified Latin alphabet and some diacritics to represent the spoken language. After initial success in Fujian, POJ became most widespread in Taiwan, and in the mid-20th century there were over 100,000 people literate in POJ. A large amount of printed material, religious and secular, has been produced in the script, including Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News.

The orthography was suppressed during the Japanese era in Taiwan (1895–1945), and faced further countermeasures during the Kuomintang martial law period (1947–1987). In Fujian, use declined after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (1949) and in the early 21st century the system was not in general use there. Use of pe̍h-ōe-jī is now restricted to some Taiwanese Christians, non-native learners of the language, and native-speaker enthusiasts in Taiwan. Full native computer support was developed in 2004, and users can now call on fonts, input methods, and extensive online dictionaries. Rival writing systems have been developed over time, and there is ongoing debate within the Taiwanese mother tongue movement as to which system should be used. Versions of pe̍h-ōe-jī have been devised for other languages, including Hakka and Teochew.

Name[link]

The name pe̍h-ōe-jī (simplified Chinese: 白话字; traditional Chinese: 白話字) means "vernacular writing", that is, written characters representing everyday spoken language.^[1] Though the name vernacular writing could be applied to many kinds of writing, romanized and character-based, the term pe̍h-ōe-jī is commonly restricted to the Southern Min romanization system developed by Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century.^[2]

The missionaries who invented and refined the system didn't use the name pe̍h-ōe-jī, however, instead using various terms such as "Romanized Amoy Vernacular" and "Romanized Amoy Colloquial".^[1] The origins of the system and its extensive use in the Christian community has led to it being known by some modern-day writers as "Church Romanization" (simplified Chinese: 教会罗马字; traditional Chinese: 教會羅馬字; pinyin: Jiàohuì Luōmǎzì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kàu-hōe Lô-má-jī); often abbreviated in POJ itself to "Kàu-lô" (simplified Chinese: 教罗; traditional Chinese: 教羅; pinyin: Jiàoluō).^[3] There is some debate as to whether "pe̍h-ōe-jī" or "Church Romanization" is the more appropriate name.

Objections raised to "pe̍h-ōe-jī" include that the surface meaning of the word itself is more generic than one specific system, and that both literary and colloquial register Southern Min appear in the system (meaning that describing it as "vernacular" writing might be inaccurate).^[1] Opposition to the name "Church Romanization" is based on the identification with the church, as the writing is used by a wider community than just Christians, and for secular as well as sacred writing.^[4] One commentator observes that POJ "today is largely disassociated from its former religious purposes".^[5] The term "romanization" is also disliked by some, who see it as belittling the status of pe̍h-ōe-jī by identifying it as a supplementary phonetic system, rather than a fully-fledged orthography.^[4] Sources disagree on which represents the more commonly used name of the two.^[3][4]

History[link]

Pe̍h-ōe-jī inscription at a church in Tâi-lâm commemorating Thomas Barclay

The history of Peh-oe-ji has been heavily influenced by official attitudes towards the Southern Min vernaculars and the Christian organizations that propagated it. Early documents point to the purpose of the creation of POJ as being pedagogical in nature, closely allied to educating Christian converts.^[6]

Early development[link]

The first people to use a romanized script to write Southern Min were Spanish missionaries in Manila in the 16th century.^[2] However, it was used mainly as a teaching aid for Spanish learners of the language, and seems not to have had any influence on the development of pe̍h-ōe-jī.^[7] In the early 19th century, China was closed to Christian missionaries, who instead proselytized to overseas Chinese communities in South East Asia.^[8] The earliest origins of the system are found in a small vocabulary first printed in 1820 by Walter Henry Medhurst,^[9][10] who went on to publish the Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language, According to the Reading and Colloquial Idioms in 1832.^[9]

This dictionary represents the first major reference work in POJ, although the romanization within was quite different from the modern system, and has been dubbed Early Church Romanization by one scholar of the subject.^[3] Medhurst, who was stationed in Malacca, was influenced by Robert Morrison's romanization of Mandarin Chinese, but had to innovate in several areas to reflect major differences between Mandarin and Southern Min.^[11] Several important developments occurred in Medhurst's work, especially the application of consistent tone markings (influenced by contemporary linguistic studies of Sanskrit, which was becoming of more mainstream interest to Western scholars).^[12] Medhurst was convinced that accurate representation and reproduction of the tonal structure of Southern Min was vital to comprehension:

Respecting these tones of the Chinese language, some difference of opinion has been obtained, and while some have considered them of first importance, others have paid them little or no intention. The author inclines decidedly to the former opinion; having found, from uniform experience, that without strict attention to tones, it is impossible for a person to make himself understood in Hok-këèn.

—W.H. Medhurst^[13]

Frontispiece of Doty's Anglo Chinese Manual of the Amoy Dialect (1853)

The system expounded by Medhurst influenced later dictionary compilers with regard to tonal notation and initials, but both his complicated vowel system and his emphasis on the literary register of Southern Min were dropped by later writers.^[14][15] Following on from Medhurst's work, Samuel Wells Williams became the chief proponent of major changes in the orthography devised by Morrison and adapted by Medhurst. Through personal communication and letters and articles printed in The Chinese Repository a consensus was arrived at for the new version of POJ, although Williams' suggestions were largely not followed.^[16]

The first major work to represent this new orthography was Elihu Doty's Anglo-Chinese Manual with Romanized Colloquial in the Amoy Dialect,^[16] published in 1853. The manual can therefore be regarded as the first presentation of a pre-modern POJ, a significant step onwards from Medhurst's orthography and different from today's system in only a few details.^[17] From this point on various authors adjusted some of the consonants and vowels, but the system of tone marks from Doty's Manual survives intact in modern POJ.^[18] John Van Nest Talmage has traditionally been regarded as the founder of POJ among the community which uses the orthography, although it now seems that he was an early promoter of the system, rather than its inventor.^[10][16]

In 1842 the Treaty of Nanking was concluded, which included among its provisions the creation of treaty ports in which Christian missionaries would be free to preach.^[6] Xiamen (then known as Amoy) was one of these treaty ports, and British, Canadian and American missionaries moved in to start preaching to the local inhabitants. These missionaries, housed in the cantonment of Gulangyu, created reference works and religious tracts, including a bible translation.^[6] Naturally, they based the pronunciation of their romanization on the speech of Xiamen, which became the de facto standard when they eventually moved into other areas of the Hokkien Sprachraum, most notably Taiwan.^[19] The 1858 Treaty of Tianjin officially opened Taiwan to western missionaries, and missionary societies were quick to send men to work in the field, usually after a sojourn in Xiamen to acquire the rudiments of the language.^[19]

Maturity[link]

Quanzhou and Zhangzhou are two major varieties of Southern Min, and in Xiamen they combined to form something "not Quan, not Zhang" – i.e. not one or the other, but rather a fusion, which became known as Amoy Dialect or Amoy Chinese.^[20] In Taiwan, with its mixture of migrants from both Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, the linguistic situation was similar; although the resulting blend in the southern city of Tainan differed from the Xiamen blend, it was close enough that the missionaries could ignore the differences and import their system wholesale.^[19]

The fact that religious tracts, dictionaries, and teaching guides already existed in the Xiamen tongue meant that the missionaries in Taiwan could begin proselytizing immediately, without the intervening time needed to write those materials.^[21] Missionary opinion was divided on whether POJ was desirable as an end in itself as a full-fledged orthography, or as a means to literacy in Chinese characters. William Campbell described POJ as a step on the road to reading and writing Hanzi, claiming that to promote it as an independent writing system would inflame nationalist passions in China, where Hanzi were considered a sacred part of Chinese culture.^[22] Taking the other side, Thomas Barclay believed that literacy in POJ should be a goal rather than a waypoint:

Soon after my arrival in Formosa I became firmly convinced of three things, and more than fifty years experience has strengthened my conviction. The first was that if you are to have a healthy, living Church it is necessary that all the members, men and women, read the Scriptures for themselves; second, that this end can never be attained by the use of the Chinese character; third, that it can be attained by the use of the alphabetic script, this Romanised Vernacular.

—Thomas Barclay^[23]

A great boon to the promotion of POJ in Taiwan came in 1880 when James Laidlaw Maxwell, a medical missionary based in Tainan, donated a small printing press to the local church,^[24] which Thomas Barclay learned how to operate in 1881 before founding the Presbyterian Church Press in 1884. Subsequently the Taiwan Prefectural City Church News, which first appeared in 1885 and was produced by Barclay's Presbyterian Church of Taiwan Press,^[24] became the first printed newspaper in Taiwan.^[25]

As other authors made their own alterations to the conventions laid down by Medhurst and Doty, pe̍h-ōe-jī evolved and eventually settled into its current form. Ernest Tipson's 1934 pocket dictionary was the first reference work to reflect this modern spelling.^[26] Between Medhurst's dictionary of 1832 and the standardization of POJ in Tipson's time, there were a number of works published, which can be used to chart the change over time of pe̍h-ōe-jī:^[27]

Taiwanese kana used as ruby characters

Competition for POJ was introduced during the colonial era in Taiwan (1895–1945) in the form of Taiwanese kana, a system designed as a teaching aid and pronunciation guide, rather than an independent orthography like POJ.^[37] From the 1930s onwards, with the increasing militarization of Japan and the Kōminka movement encouraging Taiwanese people to "Japanize", there were a raft of measures taken against native languages, including Taiwanese.^[38] While these moves resulted in a suppression of POJ, they were "a logical consequence of increasing the amount of education in Japanese, rather than an explicit attempt to ban a particular Taiwanese orthography in favor of Taiwanese kana".^[39]

The Second Sino-Japanese War beginning in 1937 brought stricter measures into force, and along with the outlawing of romanized Taiwanese, various publications were prohibited and Confucian-style shobō (Chinese: 書房; pinyin: shūfáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: su-pâng) – private schools which taught Classical Chinese with literary Southern Min pronunciation – were closed down in 1939.^[40] The Japanese authorities came to perceive POJ as an obstacle to Japanization and also suspected that POJ was being used to hide "concealed codes and secret revolutionary messages".^[41] In the climate of the ongoing war the government banned the Taiwan Church News in 1942 as it was written in POJ.^[42]

After World War II[link]

A decree (1955) banning Pe̍h-ōe-jī.

Initially the Kuomintang government in Taiwan had a liberal attitude towards "local dialects" (i.e. non-Mandarin varieties of Chinese). The Mandarin Promotion Council produced booklets outlining versions of Mandarin Phonetic Symbols ("Bopomofo") for writing the Taiwanese tongue, these being intended for newly arrived government officials from outside Taiwan as well as local Taiwanese.^[43] The first government action against native languages came in 1953, when the use of Taiwanese or Japanese for instruction was forbidden.^[44] The next move to suppress the movement came in 1955, when the use of POJ for proselytizing was outlawed.^[42] At that point in time there were 115,000 people literate in POJ in Taiwan, Fujian, and southeast Asia.^[45]

Two years later, missionaries were banned from using romanized bibles, and the use of "native languages" (i.e. Taiwanese, Hakka, and the Aboriginal languages) in church work became illegal.^[42] The ban on POJ bibles was overturned in 1959, but churches were "encouraged" to use character bibles instead.^[42] Government activities against POJ intensified in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when several publications were banned or seized in an effort to prevent the spread of the romanization. In 1964 use of Taiwanese in schools or official settings was forbidden,^[44] and transgression in schools punished with beatings, fines and humiliation.^[46] The Taiwan Church News (printed in POJ) was banned in 1969, and only allowed to return a year later when the publishers agreed to print it in Chinese characters.^[42][47]

In 1974 Bernard L.M. Embree's A Dictionary of Southern Min was banned by the Government Information Office, with a government official saying: "We have no objection to the dictionary being used by foreigners. They could use it in mimeographed form. But we don't want it published as a book and sold publicly because of the Romanization it contains. Chinese should not be learning Chinese through Romanization."^[48] Also in the 1970s, a POJ New Testament translation known as the "Red Cover Bible" was confiscated and banned by the Nationalist regime.^[49] Official moves against native languages continued into the 1980s, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Interior decided in 1984 to forbid missionaries to use "local dialects" and romanizations in their work.^[42]

With the ending of martial law in 1987, the restrictions on "local languages" were quietly lifted,^[50] resulting in growing interest in Taiwanese writing during the 1990s.^[51] For the first time since the 1950s, Taiwanese language and literature was discussed and debated openly in newspapers and journals.^[52] There was also support from the then opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, for writing in the language.^[44] From a total of 26 documented orthographies for Taiwanese in 1987 (including defunct systems), there were a further 38 invented from 1987 to 1999, including 30 different romanizations, six adaptations of Zhuyin fuhao and two Hangul-like systems.^[53] Some commentators believe that the Kuomintang, while steering clear of outright banning of the native language movements after the end of martial law, took a "divide and conquer" approach by promoting Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet (TLPA), an alternative to POJ,^[54] which was at the time the choice of the majority inside the nativization movement.^[55] Native language education has remained a fiercely debated topic in Taiwan into the 21st century, and is the subject of much political wrangling.^[56][57]

Current system[link]

The current system of pe̍h-ōe-jī has been stable since the 1930s, with a few minor exceptions (detailed below).^[58] There is a fair degree of similarity with the Vietnamese orthography Quốc Ngữ, including the b/p/ph distinction and the use of ⟨ơ⟩ in Quốc Ngữ compared with ⟨o͘⟩ in POJ.^[59] POJ uses the following letters and combinations:^[60]

Chinese phonology traditionally divides syllables in Chinese languages into three parts; firstly the initial, a consonant or consonant blend which appears at the beginning of the syllable, secondly the final, consisting of a medial vowel (optional), a nucleus vowel, and an optional ending; and finally the tone, which is applied to the whole syllable.^[63] In terms of the non-tonal (i.e. phonemic) features, the nucleus vowel is the only required part of a licit consonant in Chinese languages.^[63] Unlike Mandarin but like other southern varieties of Chinese, Taiwanese has final plosives, which have no audible release, a feature that has been preserved from Middle Chinese.^[64] There is some debate as to whether these stops are a tonal feature or a phonemic one, with some authorities distinguishing between ⟨-h⟩ as a tonal feature, and ⟨-p⟩, ⟨-t⟩, and ⟨-k⟩ as phonemic features.^[65] Southern Min dialects also have an optional nasal property, which is written with a superscript ⟨ⁿ⟩ and usually identified as being part of the vowel.^[66]

A legitimate syllable in Hokkien takes the form (initial) + (medial vowel) + nucleus + (stop) + tone, where items in parenthesis indicate optional components.^[67]

The initials are:

b ch chh g h j k kh l m n ng

Medial vowels:

i o

Nuclei:

a e i o o͘ u m ng

Stops:

m n ng h p t k

POJ has a limited amount of legitimate syllables, although sources disagree on some particular instances of these syllables. The following table contains all the licit spellings of POJ syllables, based on a number of sources:

Tone markings[link]

Number	Diacritic	Chinese tone name	Example  listen (help·info)
1	none	yinping dark level	kha foot; leg
2	acute	shangsheng rising	chúi water
3	grave	yinqu dark departing	kàu arrive
4	none	yinru dark entering	bah meat
5	circumflex	yangping light level	ông king
7	macron	yangqu light departing	tiōng middle
8	vertical line above	yangru light entering	jo̍ah hot

The five tone markings used in pe̍h-ōe-jī, representing tones 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8

In standard Amoy or Taiwanese Hokkien there are seven distinct tones, which by convention are numbered 1–8, with number 6 omitted (tone 6 used to be a distinct tone, but has long since merged with tone 2).^[71] Tones 1 and 4 are both represented without a diacritic, and can be distinguished from each other by the syllable ending, which is a vowel, ⟨-n⟩, ⟨-m⟩, or ⟨-ng⟩ for tone 1, and ⟨-h⟩, ⟨-k⟩, ⟨-p⟩, and ⟨-t⟩ for tone 4.

Southern Min languages undergo considerable tone sandhi, i.e. changes to the tone depending on the position of the syllable in any given sentence or utterance.^[67] However, like Hanyu Pinyin for Mandarin Chinese, POJ always marks the citation tone (i.e. the original, pre-sandhi tone) rather than the tone which is actually spoken.^[72] This means that when reading aloud the reader must adjust the tone markings on the page to account for sandhi. Some textbooks for learners of the language mark both the citation tone and the sandhi tone to assist the learner.^[73]

There is some debate as to the correct placement of tone marks in the case of diphthongs and triphthongs, particularly those which include ⟨oa⟩ and ⟨oe⟩.^[74] Most modern writers follow six rules:^[75]

1. If the syllable has one vowel, that vowel should be tone-marked; viz. ⟨tī⟩, ⟨láng⟩, ⟨chhu̍t⟩
2. If a diphthong contains ⟨i⟩ or ⟨u⟩, the tone mark goes above the other vowel; viz. ⟨ia̍h⟩, ⟨kiò⟩, ⟨táu⟩
3. If a diphthong includes both ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩, mark the ⟨u⟩; viz. ⟨iû⟩, ⟨ùi⟩
4. If the final is made up of three or more letters, mark the second vowel (except when rules 2 and 3 apply); viz. ⟨goán⟩, ⟨oāi⟩, ⟨khiáu⟩
5. If ⟨o⟩ occurs with ⟨a⟩ or ⟨e⟩, mark the ⟨o⟩; viz. ⟨òa⟩, ⟨thóe⟩
6. If the syllable has no vowel, mark the nasal consonant; viz. ⟨m̄⟩, ⟨ǹg⟩, ⟨mn̂g⟩

Hyphens[link]

A single hyphen is used to indicate a compound. What constitutes a compound is controversial, with some authors equating it to a "word" in English, and others not willing to limit it to the English concept of a word.^[74] Examples from POJ include ⟨sì-cha̍p⟩ "forty", ⟨bé-hì-thôan⟩ "circus", and ⟨hôe-ho̍k⟩ "recover (from illness)". The rule-based sandhi behaviour of tones in compounds has not yet been clearly defined by linguists.^[76] A double hyphen is used when POJ is deployed as a full orthography (rather than as a transciption system) to indicate that the following syllable should be pronounced in the neutral tone.^[77] It also marks to the reader that the preceding syllable does not undergo tone sandhi, as it would were the following syllable non-neutral. Morphemes following a double hyphen are often (but not always) grammatical function words.^[78]

Audio examples[link]

POJ	Translation	Audio File
Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ.	A teacher/master speaks, students quietly listen.	listen (help·info)
Kin-á-jit hit-ê cha-bó͘ gín-á lâi góan tau khòaⁿ góa.	Today that girl came to my house to see me.	listen (help·info)
Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá—bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē—ô͘!	Everyone, what's up? Have you eaten yet? When you have the time, come on over to eat.	Listen (from NASA Voyager Golden Record)

Regional differences[link]

In addition to the standard syllables detailed above, there are several regional variations of Hokkien speech which can be represented with non-standard or semi-standard spellings. In Zhangzhou and parts of Taiwan which are closely related to the Zhangzhou dialect (particularly the northeastern coast around Yilan), the final ng is replaced with uiⁿ, for example in "egg" (nuiⁿ) and "cooked rice" (puiⁿ).^[79]

Texts[link]

Due to POJ's origins in the church, much of the material in the script is religious in nature, including several Bible translations, books of hymns, and guides to morality. The Tainan Church Press, established in 1884, has been printing POJ materials ever since, with periods of quiet when POJ was suppressed in the early 1940s and from around 1955 to 1987. In the period to 1955, over 2.3 million volumes of POJ books were printed,^[81] and one study in 2002 catalogued 840 different POJ texts in existence.^[82] Besides a Southern Min version of Wikipedia in the orthography,^[83] there are teaching materials, religious texts, and books about linguistics, medicine and geography.

• Lán ê Kiù-chú Iâ-so͘ Ki-tok ê Sin-iok (1873 translation of the New Testament)
• Lāi-goā-kho Khàn-hō͘-ha̍k
• Amoy–English Dictionary
• Lear Ông (translation of King Lear)

Computing[link]

POJ was initially not well supported by word-processing applications due to the special diacritics needed to write it. Support has now improved and there are now sufficient resources to both enter and display POJ correctly. Several input methods exist to enter Unicode-compliant POJ, including OpenVanilla (Mac OS X and Windows), the cross-platform Tai-lo Input Method released by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, and the Firefox add-on Transliterator, which allows in-browser POJ input.^[84] When POJ was first used in word-processing applications it was not fully supported by the Unicode standard, thus necessitating work-arounds. One employed was encoding the necessary characters in the "Private Use" section of Unicode, but this required both the writer and the reader to have the correct custom font installed.^[49] Another solution was to replace troublesome characters with near equivalents, for example substituting ⟨ä⟩ for ⟨ā⟩ or using a standard ⟨o⟩ followed by an interpunct to represent ⟨o͘⟩.^[49] In 2004 with the introduction into Unicode 4.1.0 of the combining diacritic COMBINING DOT ABOVE RIGHT (U+0358) all the necessary characters were present to write regular POJ without the need for workarounds.^[85][86] However, even after the addition of these characters, there are still relatively few fonts which are able to properly render the script, including the combining diacritics. Some of those which can are Charis SIL, DejaVu, Doulos SIL, Linux Libertine, and Taigi Unicode.^[49]

Han-Romanization mixed script[link]

One of the most popular modern ways of writing Taiwanese is by using a mixed orthography^[88] called Hàn-lô^[89] (simplified Chinese: 汉罗; traditional Chinese: 漢羅; pinyin: Hàn-Luó; literally Chinese-Roman), and sometimes Han-Romanization mixed script.^[90] In fact, the term Hàn-lô does not describe one specific system, but covers any kind of writing in Southern Min which features both Chinese characters and romanization.^[88] That romanization is usually POJ, although recently some texts have begun appearing with Tâi-lô spellings too. The problem with using only Chinese characters to write Southern Min is that there are many morphemes (estimated to be around 15 percent of running text)^[91] which are not definitively associated with a particular character. Various strategies have been developed to deal with the issue, including creating new characters, allocating Mandarin characters with similar meanings (but dissimilar etymology) to represent the missing characters, or using romanization for the "missing 15%".^[92] There are two rationales for using mixed orthography writing, with two different aims. The first is to allow native speakers (almost all of whom can already write Chinese characters) to make use of their knowledge of characters, while replacing the missing 15% with romanization.^[88] The second is to wean character literates off using them gradually, to be replaced eventually by fully romanized text.^[93] Examples of modern texts in Hàn-lô include religious, pedagogical, scholarly, and literary works, such as:

• Chang Yu-hong. Principles of POJ. 
• Babuja A. Sidaia. A-Chhûn. 

Adaptations for other languages or dialects[link]

POJ has been adapted for several other languages and dialects, with varying degrees of success. For Hakka, missionaries and others have produced a Bible translation, hymn book, textbooks, and dictionaries.^[94] Materials produced in the orthography, called Pha̍k-fa-sṳ, include:

• Hak-ngi Sṳn-kin, Sin-yuk lau Sṳ-phien: Hien-thoi Thoi-van Hak-ngi Yit-pun (Hakka Bible, New Testament and Psalms: Today's Taiwan Hakka Version). Bible Society. 1993. 
• Phang Tet-siu (1994). Thai-ka Loi Hok Hak-fa (Everybody Learn Hakka). Taipei: Southern Materials Center. ISBN 957-638-017-0. 
• Phang Tet-siu (1996). Hak-ka-fa Fat-yim Sṳ-tien (Hakka Pronunciation Dictionary). Taipei: Southern Materials Center. ISBN 957-638-359-5. 
• Hak-ka Sṳn-sṳ (Hakka Hymns). Tainan: PCT Press. 1999. ISBN 957-8349-75-0. 

A modified version of POJ has also been created for Teochew.^[95]

Current status[link]

Some books which use pe̍h-ōe-jī, including textbooks, dictionaries, a bible, poetry, and academic works

Most native Southern Min speakers in Taiwan are unfamiliar with POJ or any other writing system for the language,^[96] commonly asserting that "Taiwanese has no writing",^[97] or, if they are made aware of POJ, considering romanization as the "low" form of writing, in contrast with the "high" form (Chinese characters).^[98] For those who are introduced to POJ alongside Han-lo and completely Chinese character-based systems, a clear preference has been shown for all-character systems, with all-romanization systems at the bottom of the preference list, likely because of the preexisting familiarity of readers with Chinese characters.^[99]

POJ remains the Taiwanese orthography "with the richest inventory of written work, including dictionaries, textbooks, literature [...] and other publications in many areas".^[100] A 1999 estimate put the number of literate POJ users at around 100,000,^[101] and secular organizations have been formed to promote the use of romanization among Taiwanese speakers.^[102]

Outside Taiwan, POJ is rarely used. For example, in Fujian, Xiamen University uses a romanization known as Bbánlám pìngyīm, based on Pinyin. In other areas where Hokkien is spoken, such as Singapore, the Speak Mandarin Campaign is underway to actively discourage people from speaking Hokkien or other Chinese dialects in favour of switching to Mandarin instead.^[103]

In 2006, Taiwan's Ministry of Education chose an official romanization for use in teaching the language in the state school system.^[104] POJ was one of the candidate systems, along with Daighi tongiong pingim, but a compromise system, the Taiwanese Romanization System or Tâi-Lô, was chosen in the end.^[105] Tâi-Lô retains most of the orthographic standards of POJ, including the tone marks, while changing the troublesome o͘ character for oo, swapping ts for ch, and replacing o in diphthongs with u.^[106] Supporters of Taiwanese writing are in general deeply suspicious of government involvement, given the history of official suppression of native languages,^[5] making it unclear whether Tâi-Lô or POJ will become the dominant system in the future.

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

External links[link]

	China portal
	Languages portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

General

Input methods

POJ-compliant fonts

Texts and dictionaries

Teresa Teng 鄧麗君
200px
Chinese name	鄧麗君 (Traditional)
Chinese name	邓丽君 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Dèng Lìjūn (Mandarin)
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Tēng Lê-kun (Hokkien)
Birth name	Teng Li-chun (鄧麗筠)
Ancestry	Daming, Hebei, China
Origin	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Born	(1953-01-29)January 29, 1953 Baojhong, Yunlin, Taiwan
Died	May 8, 1995(1995-05-08) (aged 42) Chiang Mai, Thailand
Resting place	Chin Pao Shan (Jinbaoshan), Taiwan 25°15′04″N 121°36′14″E / 25.251°N 121.604°E / 25.251; 121.604
Other name(s)	Teresa Tang, Teresa Deng
Occupation	Singer
Genre(s)	Mandopop, Cantopop, J-Pop
Instrument(s)	Singing
Label(s)	Taiwan: Yeu Jow (1967–1971), Haishan (1971), Life[disambiguation needed ] (1972–1976), Kolin (1977–1983), PolyGram (1984–1992) Hong Kong: EMI (1971), Life[disambiguation needed ] (1971–1976), PolyGram (1975–1992) Japan: Polydor K.K. (1974–1981), Taurus (1983–1995)
Years active	1967–1995
Awards Golden Melody Awards Special Award 1996

Teresa Teng (January 29, 1953 – May 8, 1995) (traditional Chinese: 鄧麗君; simplified Chinese: 邓丽君; pinyin: Dèng Lìjūn; Wade–Giles: Teng Li-chun; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tēng Lē-kun, Japanese: テレサ・テン), was an immensely popular and influential Chinese pop singer from Taiwan. Teng's voice and songs are instantly recognized throughout East Asia and in areas with large Asian populations. It is often said, "Wherever there are Chinese people, the songs of Teresa Teng can be heard." Her songs enjoy popularity among Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indonesian listeners as well.

Teng was known for her folk songs and romantic ballads. Many became standards in her lifetime, such as "When Will You Return?" (何日君再來) and "The Moon Represents My Heart" (月亮代表我的心).^[1] She recorded songs not only in her native Mandarin but also in Taiwanese, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and English.^{[citation needed]}

Teng, a lifelong sufferer from asthma, died in 1995 from a severe respiratory attack while on holiday in Thailand. She was 42.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Teresa Teng was born in Baozhong, Yunlin County, Taiwan, to a mainland Chinese family from Hebei. She was educated at Ginling Girls High School. As a young child, Teng won awards for her singing at talent competitions. Her first major prize was in 1964 when she sang "Visiting Yingtai" from Shaw Brothers' Huangmei opera movie, "The Love Eterne" (梁祝), at an event hosted by Broadcasting Corporation of China. She was soon able to support her family with her singing. Taiwan's rising manufacturing economy in the 1960s made the purchase of records easier for more families. With her father's approval, she quit high school to pursue singing professionally.

Career[link]

Teng's singing style conveyed simplicity and sincerity. Yeh Yueh-Yu, a professor of Cultural Theory at the University of Southern California said, "It was the sweetness in her voice that made her famous. She had a perfect voice for folk songs and ballads, and she added traditional folk song stylings into Western-style compositions." Her voice was also described as being "like weeping and pleading, but with strength, capable of drawing in and hypnotizing listeners." Songwriter Tsuo Hung-yun said Teng's voice was "seven parts sweetness, three parts tears."

Teng gained her first taste of fame in 1968 when a performance on a popular Taiwanese music program led to a record contract. She released several albums within the next few years under the Life Records label. In 1973 she attempted to crack the Japanese market by signing with the Polydor Japan label and taking part in Japan's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a year-round singing match of the most successful artists. She was named "Best New Singing Star".^[2] Following her success in Japan, Teng sang many Japanese songs, including original hits such as "Give yourself to the flow of Time" (時の流れに身をまかせ, Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase^?) which was later covered in Chinese as "I Only Care About You" (我只在乎你).

In 1974 the song "Airport" (空港) became a hit in Japan. Teng remained popular in Japan despite being barred from the country briefly in 1979 for having a fake Indonesian passport she purchased for US$20,000. The subterfuge had seemed necessary due to the official break in relations between Taiwan and Japan that occurred shortly after the People's Republic of China replaced the ROC in the United Nations.

Teng's popularity boomed worldwide in the 1970s after her debut in Japan. Singing by now in Cantonese, Japanese and English besides her native Mandarin, Teng's popularity quickly grew in Malaysia and Indonesia. In Taiwan she was known not only as the island's most popular export, but as "the soldier's sweetheart" because of her frequent performances for servicemen. Teng was herself the child of a military family. Her concerts for troops featured popular music and Taiwanese folk songs that appealed to natives of the island as well as Chinese folk songs that appealed to homesick refugees of the civil war.

In the early 1980s, continuing political tension between mainland China and Taiwan led to her music, along with that of other singers from Taiwan and Hong Kong, being banned for several years in mainland China as too "bourgeois".^[3] Her popularity in China continued to grow nonetheless thanks to the black market. As Teng songs continued to be played everywhere, from nightclubs to government buildings, the ban on her music was soon lifted. Her Chinese fans nicknamed her "Little Deng" because she had the same family name as Deng Xiaoping; it was said that Deng the Communist leader ruled China by day, but that Deng the singer ruled China by night.^{[citation needed]}

Teng's contract with Polydor ended in 1981. She signed a contract with Taurus Records in 1983 and made a successful comeback appearance in Japan. In 1983 Taurus released her album, dan dan you qing (淡淡幽情). This album consisted of settings of twelve poems from the Tang and Song dynasties. The music, written by composers of her earlier hits, blended modern and traditional styles of East and West. The most popular single from the album today is "Wishing We Last Forever" (但願人長久). The number of hits released in the years from 1984–1989 make them "Teresa Teng's Golden Years" in the views of her fans. She was the first singer to win the All-Japan Record Awards for four consecutive years (1984–1988).

Teng performed in Paris during the 1989 Tiananmen student protests on behalf of the students and proclaimed her support for democracy. On May 27, 1989, over 300,000 people attended the concert called "Democratic songs dedicated to China" (民主歌聲獻中華) at the Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong. One of the highlights was her rendition of "My Home Is on the Other Side of the Mountain."^[4]

Though Teng performed in many countries around the world during her career, her hopes of performing one day in mainland China never materialized. The Communist Party of China eventually invited her to do so in the 1990s but she died before the opportunity came.^[5]

Death and commemorations[link]

Teng died from a severe asthma attack while on holiday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the age of 42 (43 by Chinese reckoning) on May 8, 1995. She was an asthmatic throughout her adult life. Teng was given state honors at her funeral in Taiwan, with the flag of the Republic of China draped over her casket and then president Lee Teng-hui in attendance among thousands in mourning.

She was buried in a mountainside tomb at Chin Pao San, a cemetery in Jinshan, Taipei County (now New Taipei City) in northern Taiwan. The grave site features a statue of Teng and a large electronic piano keyboard set in the ground that can be played by visitors who step on the keys. The memorial is often visited by her fans. (This represents a noteworthy departure from the traditional Chinese practice of shunning grave sites.)^[6] Geotagging of the Teresa Teng Memorial Park (Yun Garden)^[7]: Geolocation on Google Maps from the tomb of Teresa Teng with view from the driveway on her golden statue: 25.248582,121.601843 (Latitude/Longitude).

A house she bought in 1986 in Hong Kong at No. 18 Carmel Street has also become a site of pilgrimage for her fans soon after her death. Plans to sell the home to finance a museum in Shanghai were made known in 2002,^[8] and subsequently sold for HK$ 32 million. It closed on what would have been her 51st birthday on January 29, 2004.^[9]

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death, the Teresa Teng Culture and Education Foundation launched a campaign entitled "Feel Teresa Teng". In addition to organizing an anniversary concert in Hong Kong and Taiwan, music fans paid homage at her shrine at Chin Pao San Cemetery. Additionally, some of her dresses, jewelry and personal items were placed on exhibition at Yuzi Paradise, an art park outside Guilin, China.^[10]

In May 2002, the wax figure of Teng was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.

Influence on popular culture[link]

• Her songs have been covered by a number of singers, including Faye Wong who released a tribute album (Decadent Sounds of Faye, 靡靡之音, 1995) of Teng's popular hits.
• The 1996 Hong Kong film Comrades: Almost a Love Story (甜蜜蜜 – Tiánmìmì) directed by Peter Chan features the tragedy and legacy of Teresa Teng in a subplot to the main story. The movie won best picture in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and at the Seattle Film Festival in the United States.
• Her songs are featured in various films, e.g. Rush Hour 2, Prison On Fire, Formosa Betrayed, Gomorrah.
• In 2007, TV Asahi produced a tanpatsu (単発, TV movie), entitled Teresa Teng Monogatari (テレサ・テン物語)^[11] to commemorate the 13th anniversary of her death. Actress Yoshino Kimura starred as Teresa Teng.
• Teresa Teng, Judy Ongg (1950–), Agnes Chan (1955–), Ouyang Feifei (1949–), and Yu Yar (尤雅, 1953–) were billed as the "Five Great Asian Divas" during the 1970s and 1980s due to their huge cross-cultural popularity.^{[citation needed]} Teng's music remains the most popular.
• Her song "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" was played numerous times in the film "Ban zhi yan" (also known as "Metade Fumaça" which means "half smoked" in Portuguese), including the opening scene. It can be called the theme of the film.

Awards received in Japan[link]

Teng received the following awards in Japan:^[12]

• The New Singer Award for「空港」(Kūkō) in 1974.
• The Gold Award in 1986 for「時の流れに身をまかせ」(Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase).
• The Grand Prix for「つぐない」(Tsugunai) in 1984:「愛人」(Aijin) in 1985; and「時の流れに身をまかせ」(Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase) in 1986. This was the first time anyone had won the Grand Prix three years in a row.
• The Outstanding Star Award for「別れの予感」(Wakare no Yokan) in 1987.
• The Cable Radio Music Award for「別れの予感」(Wakare no Yokan) in 1987 and 1988.
• The Cable Radio Special Merit Award (有線功労賞) in 1995 for three consecutive Grand Prix wins.

References[link]

See also[link]

• Zai shui yi fang (song)
• Ni zen me shuo

External links[link]

	Taiwan portal
	Biography portal
	Music portal

• Teresa Teng Foundation 鄧麗君文教基金會
• 鄧麗君 Teresa Teng テレサ・テン – One And Only
• Teresa Teng at Allmusic
• Teresa Teng discography at MusicBrainz
• Teresa Teng at the Internet Movie Database

Như Quỳnh
Background information
Birth name	Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như
Born	(1970-09-09) 9 September 1970 (age 41) Ðông Hà, Quang Tri, Vietnam
Genres	Vietnamese folk
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Thuy Nga, Asia Productions
Website	www.nqstarlight.com

Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như (born 9 September 1970^[1]) is a contemporary Vietnamese folk singer. Her songs include her trademark debut single, "Chuyện Hoa Sim" (The Story of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa), "Làng Tôi" (My Village), "Nủa Vầng Trăng" (The First Quarter Moon), "Vào Hạ" (Summer Arrival), "Nỗi Buồn Châu Pha" (Sorrow for Châu Pha), and "Chờ Người" (Waiting For Somebody), "Thương Về Miền Trung" (Love For Central Region), "Chuyện Tình Của Người Thiếu Nữ Tên Thi" (The Love Story From An Adolescent Girl Named Thi), "Chung Mộng" (Sharing The Same Dream). She is also known for her work within Paris By Night in which she spent most of career residing with as well as being the 'Queen of Folk'.

Career[link]

In the past 10 years, Nhu Quynh's stellar climb to the top of the Vietnamese music industry has set her apart from many of her contemporaries. Today, Nhu Quynh is a mega star in the Vietnamese music circle with her own record label (Nhu Quynh Entertainment). Her first album (Chuyen Hoa Sim) sold out and is still in high demand. Her appearances in music videos have proven the selling point for the producers.

Like a brilliant star, Nhu Quynh's fame came to her very quickly. Many critics speculate that her success and stardom will only reach greater heights as Nhu Quynh is still very young at that time. She also has great command over her voice and a varied repertoire in her musical skills. Since her debut, Nhu Quynh has steadily developed into a very solid performer.

Nhu Quynh was born in Dong Ha township, Quang Tri prefecture not far from Huế. She is the oldest in a family of three. Her mom was going to name her Dong Ha, after her birth place but decided to name her Lam Quynh Nhu instead. At a very young age, Nhu Quynh has already demonstrated her skills and talent as a performer. She regularly performed on the stage of her old elementary school and later graduated to performing in local television programs for children. Nhu Quynh studied music under professor Ba Thai of the Vietnamese National Music Institute and for a time, she taught music to young children in District 1 of Saigon.

In the spring of 1993, Nhu Quynh's family immigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1994, her parents met a fellow countryman with connections to Asia Productions. Her first appearance is on Asia Đêm Sàigòn 5 with the song "Nguoi Tinh Mua Dong" translated from Chinese to Vietnamese by Anh Bang directed by the songmaker Truc Ho. This music left an unforgettable image of a beautiful singer with a sweet voice.After her first appearance she came back with another song in Asia Đêm Sàigòn 6 with her song "Chuyen Hoa Sim" written by Anh Bang again. After listening to both songs, "Chuyen Hoa Sim" and "Nguoi Tinh Mua Dong", she proved to everyone that she is versatile.

During Nhu Quynh's early stages, she came out with three of her own albums which all are from the Asia Entertainment Productions. Her first album was Nhu Quynh 1: "Chuyen Hoa Sim" (The Story of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa), which was maybe one of the best sellers in Vietnamese Music industry. Her second album, Nhu Quynh 2: "Rung La Thay Chua", and "Chuyen Tình Hoa Trắng" (The Love Story From White Flowers) was her third solo album. After these three solo albums she was also in other Asia Entertainment various albums with 2 or 3 songs in each CD.

Nhu Quynh's contract with Asia Entertainment ended towards the end of the month of October, 1996 and after that she made her own music production with the name of N-Q Records. After a few successful releases from NQ Records such as "Mot Doi Tim Nhau" & "Em Van Hoai Yeu Anh", there were internal problems within the production. Nhu Quynh ended her recordings for NQ Records and started her new label Nhu Quynh Entertainment. At the same time she signed a contract with Thuy Nga to appear in Paris By Night videos. She made her first appearance on Paris By Night Video 38 in which she performed "Hoa Tim Ngay Xua" and "Toi Van Nho" a duet with The Son which was extremely successful. In performing on Thuy Nga videos she made popular songs like "Cho Nguoi", "Noi Buon Chau Pha", "Tieng Hat Chim Da Da", "Chuyen Di Ve Sang", "Nua Vang Trang", "To Tam", and many other songs. She continues to shine on stage today performing and recording for Thuy Nga. Currently she is in big demand for performing in concerts around the world.

In March 2006, Thuy Nga releases "Nua Doi Huong Phan" which starred Nhu Quynh in a 'Ca Nhac Cai Luong' DVD which also features Manh Quynh as her co-star, Huong Lan, Hoai Linh, Chi Tai etc. This is her first "debut" into the Cai Luong style of music. This style involves the capability of acting as well as singing.

Career[link]

Debut: Asia Music Corporation | Asia Entertainment Incorporated[link]

Her first appearance was on Asia Video 5 with her performance titled, "Nguoi Tinh Mua Dong" translated from Chinese by Anh Bang directed by the songwriter Truc Ho. This piece left an unforgettable image of a beautiful female singer with a sweet, clear and blissful voice. After much anticipation from her debut performance, she returned with another performance in Asia Video 6 with, "Chuyen Hoa Sim" written by Anh Bang. She proved to many that she was capable of singing many genres and styles of music.

During Nhu Quynh’s early stages, she came out with three of her own albums which all are from the Asia Entertainment Productions. Her first album was Nhu Quynh 1: "Chuyen Hoa Sim", which included her two hits, "Chuyen Hoa Sim" and "Nguoi Tinh Mua Dong", as well other songs such as "Mong Du", written by Pham Duy. Album "Chuyen Hoa Sim" is one of the best sellers in Vietnamese Music industry. Her second album, Nhu Quynh 2: "Rung La Thay Chua" was also a hit, including songs such as "Rung La Thay Chua" as well as "Nhu Vat Nang" (written by Truc Ho), which she and singer Gia Huy made extremely popular. Her third solo album was Nhu Quynh 3: "Chuyen Tinh Hoa Trang", again, another good seller, which included the song "Chuyen Tinh Hoa Trang", another song written by Anh Bang for Nhu Quynh. Along with her solo albums, she also was in other various albums and videos from Asia Entertainment.

1996-2006: Thúy Nga[link]

After leaving Asia Productions in 1996, Nhu Quynh signed a contract with music label, Thúy Nga in 1996. She debuted in Thúy Nga's Paris By Night 38 with performance titled, "Hoa Tím Ngày Xưa". As the ten years progressed, Nhu Quynh made herself an icon of Vietnamese women as well as her title of being the "Queen of Folk". Such performances in Thuynga feature, "Vào Hạ", "Nỗi Buồn Châu Pha", Đêm Chôn Dầu Vượt Biển, "Chuyện Tình Buồn", "Nửa Vầng Trăng", "Chung Mộng" and "Em Đi Xem Hội Trăng Rằm". These titles are some of the most famous performances in the Vietnamese music industry and to this day are still remembered for its revelation and impact on Vietnamese music.

2007-2009: Pregnancy & Return to Asia Music Corporation | Asia Entertainment Incorporated[link]

Shortly after her departure from Thuynga in mid-2006, Nhu Quynh gave birth to a baby girl in 2007, named Melody Dong Nghi. Controversy had stirred as a result on whether Nhu Quynh was really pregnant or had even gotten married. Prior to giving birth to Melody, she didn't disclose her personal information. After giving birth, some pictures of her husband and daughter were released and she also informed the public about her marital status including her husband’s name, Nguyễn Thắng, an aviation engineer, working for U.S Federal Aviation Administration.

In 2007, Nhu Quynh would make her final appearance in Thuy Nga Productions with performance titled, "Mua Tren Que Huong" in Paris By Night 89. In August 2007, after more than 10 years, Nhu Quynh returned to the production that made her the star she is today, Asia Entertainment. This was a shock to many fans and viewers from across the globe. However, Nhu Quynh's support continued by many of her fans as well as gaining many more as well along the way. Her returning performance was in Asia 56 "Mua He Ruc Ro 2007: Yeu Doi Yeu Nguoi" and was entitled "Mua Buon", which is another new song written by Anh Bang especially for Nhu Quynh. She then made her second appearance in Asia 57 "The Gioi Tinh Yeu", performing Lien Khuc Trinh Cong Son & Vu Thanh An with other singers, as well as performing a solo, "Khoc Me", a song written by Mac Thien, in Viet Nam. Nhu Quynh has since then appeared in subsequent CDs, Karaoke DVDs, and Asia Show DVDs, including "Tiec Thuong" (duet with Lam Nhat Tien in Asia 58 "La Thu Tu Chien Truong"), "Tham Mo Me" (composed by Anh Bang in Asia 59 "Mot Thoi De Nho"), and "Nhung Kiep Hoa Xuan" (in Asia 60 "Xuan Thanh Binh, Xuan Chinh Chien, Xuan Tha Huong").

2009-present: Return to Thúy Nga[link]

After two years with Asia, Nhu Quynh returned to the production that was responsible for her fame today, Thúy Nga. After Asia 63, it had been revealed that she would not make an appearance on Asia 64. However, it was later announced that Nhu Quynh would be returning to Thúy Nga in Paris By Night 98. The show was taped in Las Vegas where Nhu Quynh performed "Mo Trang Anh Ve". It was highly debated and discussed on whether Nhu Quynh should reside with Asia or Thuy Nga. Upon her own decision, Nhu Quynh returned to Thúy Nga with great ease and is still regarded as our famous "Queen of Folk", like she never left the production in the first place.

Discography[link]

Solo Albums from Thúy Nga[link]

• 2010: Duyên Phận
• 2007: The Best Of Như Quỳnh 2 - Áo Hoa (Flower Dress)
• 2005: The Best Of Như Quỳnh
• 2004: Khúc Ca Ðồng Tháp (The Song From Đồng Tháp)
• 2003: Tơ Tằm (Silkworm)
• 2000: Nhớ Em Lý Bông Mai (Remembering You, The Melody From Bông Mai)
• 2000: Yêu Tiếng Hát Ngày Xưa (Love The Singing From The Past)
• 1999: Tình Yêu Vỗ Cánh (Love On The Wing)

Solo Albums - Asia Music | Asia Entertainment![link]

• 2009: Mưa Buồn (Rain of Sadness)
• 1996: Chuyện Tình Hoa Trắng (Love Story From White Flowers)
• 1995: Rừng Lá Thay Chưa (Have The Forest Foliages Been Shed)
• 1995: Chuyện Hoa Sim (The Story of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa)

Solo Albums from NQ Entertainment[link]

• 2011: Lạ Giường (Stranger's Bed)
• 2002: Tình Ơi...Có Hay (Dear Love... Seemingly)
• 2001: Người Thương Kẻ Nhớ (Missing & Loving You)
• 1998: Nếu Ðời Không Có Anh ( If I Live My Life Without You)

Solo Albums from NQ Records[link]

• 1998: Vòng Tay Giữ Trọn Ân Tình (The Hands That Protect Our Love)
• 1997: Em Vẫn Hoài Yêu Anh (I Will Still Love You)
• 1996: Một Ðời Tìm Nhau (The Whole Life of Searching For Each Other)

Duet Albums[link]

• Anh Tiền Tuyến Em Hậu Phương (You, The Solder And I, Your Love)- duet with Trường Vũ (Thúy Nga)
• Không giờ rồi (It's 12:00 AM)- duet with various male singers (Thúy Nga)
• Khi Con Tim Biết Yêu (When You Are Falling In Love)- duet with Thiệu Kỳ Anh (Thúy Nga)
• Gọi Đò (Calling For Raft)- duet with Tường Nguyên (NQ Ent.)
• Xin Ðừng Trách Ða Ða (Please Don't Blame On The Chinese Francolin)- duet with Trường Vũ (Thúy Nga)
• Ðiều Chưa Dám Nói (Things That I Cannot Tell You)- duet with Tường Nguyên (NQ Ent.)
• Tim Vỡ (Heartbreak)- duet with Don Hồ (Thúy Nga)
• Bọt Biển (Sea Foam)- duet with Thế Sơn (Thúy Nga)
• Nói Với Người Tình (Speak With Lover)- duet with Tường Nguyên (NQ Records)

Latest News[link]

Apart from returning to Thuynga in Paris By Night 98 after almost three years residing in Asia, performing "Mơ Ánh Trăng Về", Nhu Quynh’s 10th album from Thuynga was released on September 1, 2010 and includes the songs "Duyên Phận" (PBN 99), "Nước Cuốn Hoa Trôi & Tình Nàng La Lan" (PBN Divas), and "Mơ Ánh Trăng Về" (PBN 98). Nhu Quynh then released her 11th album "Lạ Giường " in Spring 2011 under the collaboration with Thuy Nga and her own label, Nhu Quynh Entertainment.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Nghe Nhạc Như Quỳnh
• Như Quỳnh photo pages

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Yami people show in Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village in Taiwan

Old photo of the Tao people on the shore of Orchid Island, near Taiwan published in a Japanese colonial government publication, ca. 1931.

The Tao (Chinese: 達悟族; pinyin: Dáwù zú; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ta̍t-ngō͘-cho̍k), originally recognized as Yami (雅美), are a Taiwanese aboriginal people, native to tiny outlying Orchid Island in Taiwan. The Tao are an Austronesian people linguistically and culturally closer to the Ivatan people of the Batanes islands in the Philippines than to other aboriginal peoples on the main island of Taiwan. The word "Tao" (pronounced Ta-o) means "person" or "people" in both the Tao language and all Philippine languages. The Tao people are traditionally good at making balangays (native canoes), which is a symbol of their tribe.

In the year 2000 the Yami numbered 3,872. This was approximately 1% of Taiwan's total indigenous population.^[1]

Diet[link]

The Tao people of Pongso no Tao (Orchid Island)is a small island approximately 42 km in diameter. The coastline is the only inhabited area of the island, with ocean and volcanic rock on the shore and then mountains of great height inland. The soil of Orchid island is very salty. The Tao farming near the shore usually grow sweet potato for its edible root and leaves and Taro. As of the last few decades other non-indigenous fruits and vegetables have since been introduced. Coconuts are also available on the island but are not common or usually owned by families and kept on their own private land. It is rare to find a coconut tree or any tree for that matter that is not owned by anyone on the island. Being a small island everyone has claimed some part of and regularly farms there during the day. Millet is also grown on the island and is usually pounded down into a sticky cake and eaten with pork. Traditional millet festivals can be seen in the beginning of the summer months around the island. Taro is also mashed and mixed with smoked pork.

Crab,land crabs and coconut crab, lobsters are commonly gathered and eaten. There is also a wild type of Lychee nut that is green and tastes different than lychee that comes from Taiwan. The Tao also raise black pigs but more often these days pigs are imported from Taiwan for the preference of their softer and less wild tasting meat. The Noni fruit also grows on the island but traditionally it was regarded as an evil fruit and people who brought back to the village were usually told to leave, only recently has the noni fruit been recognized for its health benefits and now made into juice. There are also some foods that the Tao consider taboo and will not be eaten such as shark, turtle and eels, which they consider to be disgusting tasting.

The waters and coral reefs around Orchid island are rich in thousands of varieties of tropical fish which provide ample variety to their diet. Finally, the flying fish is considered the single most important food available on the island is only hunted during certain months of the year and while the flying fish hunt is on no man may enter the water to fish any other fish until the 3 month flying fish ceremony is over. The flying fish is considered like god and there are many different taboo and customs involved in the hunting of the flying fish and certain things that must be said before going out to sea to catch them. Once caught the flying fish is air dried and salted and then stored.

The Tao language includes names for about 450 species of fish. Their fish taxonomy distinguishes edible fish (ovod a among) from inedible fish (maharet a among). These are subdivided into fish for men or taboo/forbidden for women. Pregnant women may only eat four species of fish, and the elderly consume only certain species.

Customs[link]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

See also[link]

• Taitung County
• Ivatan language
• Batanes
• Austronesian languages
• Taiwanese aborigines

References[link]

External links[link]

• BBC News photo gallery of a boat building festival