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Min
閩語/闽语
Geographic distribution:	Mainland China: Fujian, Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou and Leizhou peninsula), Hainan, Zhejiang-Shengsi, Putuo and Wenzhou, Jiangsu- Liyang and Jiangyin; Taiwan (Overseas, United States-New York City)
Linguistic classification:	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min
Subdivisions:	Min Bei Min Dong Min Zhong Puxian Min Min Nan

A map of the primary varieties of Min.

Mǐn or Miin^[1] (simplified Chinese: 闽语; traditional Chinese: 閩語; pinyin: Mǐn yǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân gú; BUC: Mìng ngṳ̄) is the name of a broad group of Chinese languages spoken by 60 million people in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou, or Chaoshan area, and the Leizhou peninsula), Hainan, three counties in southern Zhejiang, and Zhoushan archipelago off Ningbo, and some towns in Liyang and Jiangyin city in Jiangsu province, and Taiwan. There are many Min speakers also among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as in New York City in the United States. The most widely spoken variety of Min outside Fujian (the Min Province) is Hokkien, which includes Taiwanese and Amoy, amongst other dialects; while in Fujian, Min Dong is considered the standard. The Min dialects preserve many of the archaic pronunciations of Old Chinese.^{[2][not in citation given]}

Varieties[link]

Min has greater dialectal diversity than any other division of Chinese. It is typically divided, on the basis of mutual intelligibility, into five to nine languages, such as Min Dong (Eastern Min) and Min Nan (Southern Min). Phylogenetically, there is a primary split between an Inland Min group consisting of Shao-Jiang Min (disputed), Min Bei, and Min Zhong and a Coastal Min consisting of Min Dong, Pu-Xian Min, Min Nan, and Qiong Wen. Shaojiang Min may also be classified as an outgroup within Min Chinese branching off first from the other Min languages.

Min Dong is centered around the city of Fuzhou (Fuzhou dialect is the standard dialect of Min Dong), capital of Fujian province, while Min Nan is dominant in the south of Fujian and into eastern Guangdong. Pu-Xian Min originated as a Min Nan dialect which underwent major phonological influence from Fuzhou Min Dong. Similarly, Qiong Wen, spoken in Hainan, is sometimes classed as a separate language; it originated from a Min Nan dialect that underwent major phonological shifts over time.

Min-Nan is also called by the name of its regional variants in the places it is spoken, especially Taiwanese. The Amoy dialect of Xiamen is the prestige dialect of Min Nan in mainland China and Taiwan, with Teochew also being an important variety.

Glossika divides the Min languages into eight: Northern Min (Min Bei in Nanping prefecture in Fujian, but Jian'ou dialect is the standard dialect of Min Bei), Shaojiang (eastern Nanping and surrounding areas; in broader classifications treated as a dialect of Min Bei), Eastern Min (Min Dong in Fuzhou and Ningde prefectures), Central Min (Min Zhong in Sanming prefecture), Puxian Min in Putian prefecture, Southern Min (Min Nan in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen (Amoy) prefectures and on Taiwan (Hokkien dialect), and in eastern Guangdong province (Teochew dialect); Hokkien and Teochew are sometimes considered separate languages), Leizhou (on the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong), and Hainanese (on Hainan Island; in broader classifications Leizhou and Hainanese are treated as a Qiongwen language or as dialects of Min Nan).

The Southern Min language in Guangdong is known as Hoklo, in Hainan as Qiong Wen or Qiongzhou hua (though some class Qiong Wen as a separate sub-group). Min Nan is the dominant Chinese dialect spoken by the Chinese minority in the Philippines, where it is known as Lan-nang. In Taiwan, Min Nan is known as Hō-ló-oē and is spoken by the majority of the population as their native language. In Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other areas in Southeast Asia, Min Nan is known as Hokkien, in addition to the Teochew variant, originating in the Chaoshan region, which is the ancestral home of many ethnic Chinese in Singapore as well as in Bangkok, Thailand (see Thai Chinese for more information about the Chinese community in Thailand).

History[link]

There are controversies among scholars about when Min Chinese was initially formed. But it is generally consensus that several huge immigrations from Zhongyuan greatly shaped and influenced Min Chinese. By the Middle Chinese period, Min Chinese had already split off,^[3] just like Ba-Shu Chinese.

• In 308 AD (晋永嘉二年), a big immigration from north to south happened in China because of Wu Hu uprising (more commonly referred in Chinese as 永嘉之乱). Sanshanzhi (三山志) stated that the population in Jinjiang county almost doubled. The tide of immigration brought the Chinese spoken in Jin Dynasty to Fujian.^[4][5]
• In 669 AD, Chen Zheng and his son Chen Yuanguang from Gushi County in Henan set up a regional administration in Fujian and governed the area of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou for four generations.^[6] They brought with them the Chinese spoken in early Tang Dynasty.
• During Tang Dynasty, following the development of Imperial examination (科舉), Qieyun's vowel system was introduced into Min Chinese.^[7]
• At the end of Tang Dynasty, in 892 AD, Wang Chao was appointed jiedushi of Fujian and his brother Wang Shenzhi founded Min Kingdom in 909 AD following the fall of Tang Dynasty. Min Kingdom was one of the Ten Kingdoms in Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi were also from Gushi County in Henan and the Chinese spoken in late Tang Dynasty entered Fujian.

Writing system[link]

When using Chinese characters to write a non-Mandarin form, standard practice is to use characters that correspond etymologically to the words being represented, and to invent new characters for words with no evident ancient Chinese etymology or in some cases for alternative pronunciations of existing characters, especially when the meaning is significantly different. Written Cantonese has carried this process out to the farther extent of any non-Mandarin variety, to the extent that pure Cantonese vernacular can be unambiguously written using Chinese characters. Contrary to popular belief, a vernacular written in this fashion is not in general comprehensible to a Mandarin speaker, due to significant changes in grammar and vocabulary and the necessary use of large number of non-Mandarin characters.

A similar process has never taken place for any of the Min languages and there is no standard system for writing Min, although some specialized characters have been created. Given that Min combines Chinese languages from several different periods and contains some non-Chinese vocabulary, one may have trouble finding the appropriate Chinese characters for some Min vocabulary. In the case of Taiwanese, there are also indigenous words loaned from the Taiwanese aborigines, as well as a substantial number of loan words from Japanese. In Singapore and Malaysia, the Min variants spoken have borrowed heavily from Malay and to a lesser extent, from English and other languages. The result is that cases of Min languages written purely in Chinese characters do not represent actual Min speech, but contain a heavy mixture of Mandarin forms.

Attempts to faithfully represent Min speech necessarily rely on romanization, i.e. representation using Latin characters. Some Min speakers use the Church Romanization (Chinese: 教會羅馬字; pinyin: Jiaohui Luomazi). For Min Nan the romanization is called Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) and for Min Dong called Bàng-uâ-cê (BUC). Both systems were created by foreign missionaries in the 19th century (see Min Nan and Min Dong Wikipedia). There are some uncommon publications in mixed writing, using mostly Chinese characters but using the Latin alphabet to represent words that cannot easily be represented by Chinese characters.

See also[link]

• List of Chinese dialects

Notes[link]

1. ^ While it is usually classified with Minbei, sometimes it's excluded from Min and classified as Gan instead

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Branner, David Prager (2000). Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology — the Classification of Miin and Hakka. Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015831-0. 
• DeBernardi, J. E. (1991). "Linguistic nationalism--the case of Southern Min". Order from Dept. of Oriental Studies, University of Pennsylvania.. 

External links[link]

Min Nan edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Min Dong edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Classification of Min Dialects
• Min Bei Chinese at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Min Dong Chinese at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Min Nan Chinese at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Min Zhong Chinese at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Pu-Xian Chinese at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Seaside Min Language Forum (Chinese)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

Park Jung Min
Park Jung Min at Incheon Airport on Jun 3rd 2011
Background information
Birth name	박정민 (朴政珉)
Born	(1987-04-03) 3 April 1987 (age 25) Seoul
Origin	South Korea
Genres	K-pop, J-pop, Dance, R&B
Occupations	Singer, Dancer, DJ, MC, Actor, model
Years active	2005–present
Labels	DSP Media (2005 - 2010) CNR Media (2010 - 2012) Pony Canyon (Japan) Sony Music Taiwan (2010-present)
Associated acts	SS501 (2005-present)
Website	www.parkjungmin.net

Park Jung Min (Hangul: 박정민, Hanja:朴政珉, Kana: パク・ジョンミン) was born on 3 April 1987. He is a South Korean entertainer and member of boyband SS501.^[1] He made his musical debut in Grease and was the first SS501 members to debut as a solo artist with mini album Not Alone.

Early life[link]

Park Jung Min was born, and grew up in Seoul; he was raised as a Christian. He has two older siblings, a brother and a sister, neither of whom work in the entertainment industry. As the late child of the family (his brother is 14 years older than him), he receives great love from his parents and his siblings, who keep support him at whatever he does. His sister is now managing Park's online shopping mall Royal Avenue. Park's awareness of his health and body is largely influenced by his mother - a nutritionist who always takes great care of him.

In the TV show Jeong Bo-seok’s One o’clock in the Morning Chungdam Dong, Park openly told stories about an unfortunate family incident that occurred when he was young. When he was in primary school, the building which his family was living in had to be reconstructed so they were supposed to move out; however, since their financial status was rather poor, they could not find another place to live. Park and his family then had no choice but to live in an apartment where the power was cut off. After some time, they finally found a place to settle down. When he became a teenager, Park worried about his sister's security, so he even accompanied her to her school. ^[2]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

When he was a high school student, Park Jung Min was offered a chance to audition from an agency when he was wandering on the streets in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. However, it was a fraud agency which Park will have to pay 4-month fees. Since he really wanted to become an artist and aid his family, Park convinced his mother to pay the fees. Because of the limited training and strange atmosphere, he left that agency with other students who were receiving training. Among these trainees in the fraud agency was actress Hong Soo Ah.^[3]

At first, he first had dreamt of becoming a policeman, but then changed his mind and chose to pursue the path of an artist. When he was 13 years old, Park was scouted by an agency and later on, he was casted into both DSP Media and S.M. Entertainment. At the time, SM told him that they were preparing a new group, but that the group consisted of many members (which according to Park, "it was probably Super Junior". I saw them rehearsing, too"). Park had to choose between one or the other, so eventually he chose DSP Media because he wanted to see himself on TV and believed that he would be able to debut faster through DSP Media. Even though he initially wanted to become an actor, Park chose to debut as a singer instead as he believed that his wish would be fulfilled later.^[4]

Before joining SS501, Park was seen VJ-ing and appeared in various commercials. He was the MTV Fresh VJ from March 2003 to November 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Park attended Dongguk University Teacher’s College High School, where he was the Student Council President with fellow SS501 member Kim Hyung Jun. However, because of Kim Hyung Jun's constant absence from school due to his training with DSP Media (which later became their agency), Park said that he had never met Kim before SS501 was formed.^{[citation needed]}

2005-2010: SS501[link]

He debuted with SS501 on 8 June 2005, and was the second to audition for the group.

Park along with the other members of SS501, except for Young Saeng, who was recovering from surgery, lent their voices to the Korean version of 2006 animated film Pi's Story.^[5]

In 2006, Park hosted radio programme SS501's Youngstreet on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) with fellow band member Heo Young Saeng beginning 1 May 2006. Then continue to host with Kim Kyu Jong, another of his band mates, when Heo left the programme on 21 August 2006, due to a throat condition requiring laryngeal surgery.^[6]

Park starred in two television programmes: Human Theater 2010, playing himself as the main character, and What Women Want. In 2008, he made his musical debut in Grease, playing the lead role, 'Danny Park'.^[7]

2010: Solo artist[link]

In June 2010, upon the expiration of Park's contract with DSP Media, he signed with CNr Media on 10 August 2010, a company jointly set up by Taiwanese producer Comic-Ritz and Korean Roy Media, to embark on his solo career. CNr Media stated that SS501's activities are top priority in his contract and that they have not disbanded.^[8]

Park released his debut solo mini album, Not Alone, on 20 January 2011, and visited Taiwan and Singapore to promote it.^[9] His albums are distributed in Taiwan by Sony Music Taiwan.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2011, Park performed with Japanese duo Mihimaru GT at a UN Charity Concert in Yokohama, Japan to aid victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[10]

2012: Lawsuit against CNr Media[link]

On Feb 24th, the Taiwanese drama Fondant Garden, in which Park played the lead role Park Hee Hwan alongside with Kingone Wang, Jian Man Shu and Lia Lee, was first broadcasted on free-to-air China Television (CTV).^[11] The series consists of 16 episodes and was on air once a week every Friday night at 10pm (local time).

During the 2012 Seoul Fashion Week, Park participated in the Dominic's Way fashion show as the vedette and donned the creation of designer Song Hye Myung, who designed SS501's clothes for their Destination mini album jacket . He attracted audiences' attention in the event as he walked down the runway wearing dark angel attire with spreading wings with a fierce facial expression. ^[12]

According to the legal circle, on April 12th, Park has filed an injunction to the Seoul Central District Court against his agency CNr Media to suspend the exclusive contract. A source close to Park said, “The exclusive contract with CNr Media stated that the profits would be divided 8-to-2 for those coming from Korea and 5-to-5 for those coming from overseas, but the profits were never distributed except for the 150 million won given since last year.” ^[13] According to other media sources, Park has actually departed from CNr Media since March 2012, which answers to his fans' raising inquiries about the fact that Park hadn't been seen with his former manager for months and why he had been driving by himself lately. Park has showed his professional quality by departing to Japan on April 13th afternoon and following his schedules in Japan on the 14th despite of the on-going lawsuit with his former agency. ^[14]

Personal life[link]

Aside from singing and acting, another speciality of Park Jung Min is tap dance, which he learned before joining SS501. He also enjoys composing songs and hiking.^{[citation needed]}

On MBC Golden Fisheries – Radio Star on 6 May 2009, Park admitted that he has not had a girlfriend since his debut in 2005 and said "since I haven’t been in a relationship in a long time, I feel like all the love cells inside of me are dying.", which he confirmed it once again on Jeong Bo-seok’s One o’clock in the Morning Chungdam Dong. Because of Park's long time single relationship status and Kim Hyun Joong's pranks, there were even gay rumours about him dating his fellow member Kim Hyun Joong from late 2007 until early 2008. He then cleared the rumours up stating, “I’m just a regular guy. I’m going to save a little more, and when I meet the right person, I want to get married.". He also revealed that his ideal girl was actress Ko So-young, who he has liked since his middle school, when she was on the TV drama Mother’s Sea.^[15]

Park went through an extremely hard time after SS501 ended their contracts with DSP Media and before he released his first mini album Not Alone. During the time he was starting his solo career, Park even thought about stopping everything and committing suicide. However, Park was able to get through these hard times because he knew that there were people who believed that he could be successful as one person, Park Jung Min. ^[16]

Park's motto for his life is "Always be thankful". Because of the hardships he has gone through since his childhood, Park has always put in his utmost effort into becoming a son his parents are proud of and worked really hard without resting, which has raised the concern of his fans about his health. On 12 October 2010, Park was brought to the emergency room after he fainted due to fatigue, which accumulated during the time he was working on his first mini album Not Alone, and an overwhelming release of tension.^[17]

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• 2007: "Here" - Kokoro
• 2009: 나 뿐인가요(Only Me?) - Taiwan SS501 1st Solo Album
• 2009: 하면은 안돼" (If You Can Not) - Solo Collection
• 2011: 그립다 (Missing You) - The Princess' Man OST (공주의 남자 OST)
• 2011: 君色 (Your Colour) - Love Song in August OST (八月のラヴソング OST)

Korean[link]

Japanese[link]

1. Sales: 24,580

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• (Korean) Park Jung Min's official site
• (Japanese) Park Jung Min's official site
• Park Jung Min's official Youtube channel
• (Korean) Royal Avenue homepage