Re: Tang Ren

[Clem Lee <clem2@idt.net>]

If Mr. Charles Louie's speculations are true as to why Southern 
Chinese call themselves 'Tang Ren', including Hakkas who lived in 
Guangdong, are we to assume that hakkas living elsewhere don't 
call themselves 'Tang Ren' or 'Tong Ngin' ?     

>Mr. Charles Louie wrote:
>I am an American born Chinese of Toisan descent, and growing up 
>we also called our selves Hong Ngin (= Tong Yahn in Cantonese). 
>I've also wondered about why we always refered to ourselves as 
>"Tang Ren", instead of Han Ren (Han being the dominant Chinese 
>ethnic group defined by having historical roots to the Han 
>Dynasty). My speculations reveal that Guangdong province was 
>never part of the Han Dynasty but became incorporated into the 
>greater Chinese culture during the Tang Dynasty.
>Because the Tang Dynasty became the defining point of Chinese 
>culture when the people of Guangdong province became "Chinese", 
>I believe that is why us Southern Chinese still refer ourselves 
>as Tang Ren.
>Politically, the Tang Ren does not exist but instead as part of 
>the greater Han Chinese ethnic group. In this way, the Chinese 
>descents from the northern Han ethnic group can project to the 
>world that their numbers are actually larger than they really 
>are. It's sort of lying with statistics giving them strength in 
>numbers.

>Sincerely,
>Charles Louie