Subei people

The Subei people (simplified Chinese: 苏北人; traditional Chinese: 蘇北人), also known as Jiangbei People (Chinese: 江北人; pinyin: Jiāngběirén), are a Jianghuai Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese people of the Subei region (northern Jiangsu province).

Subei people

江淮民系
Total population
More than 29.76 million in China[1]
Regions with significant populations
China (Northern Jiangsu, Northern Yangtze Delta, Huizhou, and Shanghai)
Languages
Mandarin Chinese (Jianghuai as primary, Standard as secondary)
Religion
Atheism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity and Taoism
Related ethnic groups
Jianghuai people, Huizhou people and other Han Chinese

Due to natural disasters and insurrections in their native region, during the Qing and the Republican periods, they migrated in large numbers to the Wu-speaking Jiangnan region (south of the Yangtze), especially Shanghai.^{[2] [citation needed]}

The Subei culture was seen a symbol of sophistication during the mid-Qing dynasty period, but lost its status after China entered Railway era instead of Canal Age.^[3]

Diaspora (outside of Jiangbei)

In the Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasties, Jianghuai speakers moved and settled into Hui dialect areas.^[4]

Notable people

• Zhou Enlai
• Jiang Zemin

References

1. , Jiangsu Provincial Statistical Bureau
2. Honig, Emily (Jul 1989). "The Politics of Prejudice: Subei People in Republican-Era Shanghai". Modern China. 15 (3): 243–274.
3. Hershatter, Gail. Remapping China: Fissures in Historical Terrain. p. 147–154.
4. Hilary Chappell (2004). Hilary Chappell (ed.). Chinese Grammar: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives (illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-19-927213-1. Retrieved 23 September 2011. According to Hirata, however, Hui is composed of many layers: its dialects are spoken in an area originally occupied by the Yue i* tribe, suggestive of a possible substrate, later to be overlaid by migrations from Northern China in the Medieval Nanbeichao period and the Tang and Song dynasties. This was followed by the Jiang-Huai Mandarin dialects of the migrants who arrived during the Ming and Qing periods, and more recently by Wu dialects in particular, acquired by peripatetic Hui merchants who have represented an active

Further reading

• Emily Honig (1992). Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai, 1850–1980. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05105-6.