The Bible, the Brits and Hong Kong nationalism

British protestant missionaries believed a nation originated from a group of people who had the Bible translated into their own vernacular. 

This seems to be the case in Hong Kong, albeit with a 100-year time lag. 

Cantonese with its Hong Kong characteristics has been a defining feature of the emerging Hong Kong identity. 

Cantonese has become the lingua franca of Hong Kong, despite the fact that only about a half of the population of the British commercial enclave was from Canton, the rest coming from various linguistic backgrounds, including the local dialect which significantly differs from Cantonese.

This was probably due to the influence of Canton traders who had a history of trading with western merchants. 

The Brits apparently kept the lessez-faire  attitude to language matter in the territory, partly in fear of Chinese nationalism, whose medium was Mandarin, seeping in across the border. 

Fast forward to 90s and 00s: Very few residents felt they were anything other than "Hong Kong Chinese."

However, since it became clear that Beijing didn't honor One Country Two Systems formula in the 10s, more and more Hongkongers started to be attracted to Hong Kong independence movement, hitherto unpopular. 

One of the things that made them really feel they were different from the rest of the world was their lingo, now increasingly in its written form, spread wide thanks to informal publications like magazines and comics. 

The Bible didn't result in a Canton Nation, but a people seem to be emerging, at least partly thanks to the language policy (or lack thereof) of the British. 

香港の広東語と香港アイデンティティ形成

香港の広東語は香港アイデンティティ形成に貢献した。香港では、英語などの影響を受けた広州語＝廣府話、俗称香港広東語（以下、広東語）がリンガ・フランカとして機能しています。

しかし、香港の人口で広州語エリアにルーツがある人は半数ぐらいに過ぎないと言われています。それ以外は、上海語、潮州語、福建語、客家語、広州語以外の広東の方言（香港の土着言語）などの話者でした。

それにも関わらず、広東語の浸透力はとても強く、それと英語以外の言葉は「いなか語＝鄉下話」と言われて蔑まれ、香港で育った第二世代は、事実上、広東語のモノリンガルになっていきます。

もともと、香港は商業で栄えた都市で、外国人との交易を担っていたのが広州人だったから彼らの言葉が街のリンガ・フランカになりました。

イギリス当局は、表面上は不干渉（レッセフェール）の政策をとっていましたが、本音は、中国国内と同じ言語が通用して中国ナショナリズムが香港に波及すると困るから、あえて広東語の発展を妨げなかったのではないかと思います。

さて、その効果が発酵したのが、最近の香港アイデンティティの高まりです。

９０年代、２０００年代とも、自分は中国人だと思わない香港人はそんなに多くなかったのです。ところが、中共が一国二制度を反故にした２０１０年代あたりから、それまでほぼ存在しなかった、香港独立運動が急に支持を集めるようになります。

香港の人が、自分は他とは違う香港人だ、と感じる一つの要素が香港独特の広東語です。正式には書き言葉はないのですが（香港の公式な書き言葉は英語と中国語）、雑誌や漫画などを通して、書き言葉も少しづつ浸透し、香港人がネットで書き込みする場合、香港英語以外では書き言葉の広東語が普通になっていています。

清朝末期のイギリスのプロテスタント宣教師たちは、人々が自分の言葉の話し言葉に訳された聖書を手にするとそこから「民族」が発生するという、マルティン・ルターの思想の影響を受けていたと思いますが、１００年以上のタイムラグで、本当にそうなりました。

琉球語和琉球腔日語的差別

片頭是琉球腔的日語所以沒字幕

內文則是琉球語，所以有字幕

大多數的琉球人也聽不懂，所以要有字幕

而且琉球語內部，琉球各地的方言互不相通

因此，琉球腔的日語可以說是今日全琉球的共通語

中年以下一般人是琉球腔日語和日語的雙語者

只有鄉村和老一輩，以及從事鄉土藝術工作者等才會琉球語

https://movie-a.nhk.or.jp/sns/xkK/mm0aem41.html?fbclid=IwAR16uuoAMevYGN2UZ5F2yF-oTOus9fSqO0SWmIZmoFh-CuTM43G0oomd-9k

Mainland Chinese fonts

Very mainland-China looking fonts. Signs produced in China are seen not only in Chinese restaurants in rural Japan, even here in Taiwan. I'm very sensitive to fonts. Even though they are not in simplified characters, I can tell they were designed in China. I mean, look at the shape. And look at the 物!

I've been obsessed with written scripts since young. My parents and those who know my childhood told me I was always fond of reading what was written on T-shirts, and stuff. As a child, I got mesmerized by Korean and Thai writings on banknotes. And I was very disappointed to find out after visiting a Chinese language school in Takadanobaba that they taught simplified characters.  I wanted to learn proper Chinese like the ones written on user's manuals of watches my grandmother's company was importing from Hong Kong and Taiwan!

Southern Indian

In Taiwan, there are many IT engineers and programmers from all over the world. Many of them are from Southern India. They're from Chennai (Madras, Tamil Nadu), Kerala, Bengaluru (Bangalore), and places like that. 

So there are restaurants catering for their dietary needs. 

Which is good for me, because Southern Indian is my favorite. 

It's been my favorite since I stayed with a Tamil family in Malaysia back in 1992. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, late-night snack... All South Indian!

In the UK, most restaurants and takeaways are owned by Bangladeshi people from Sylhet. The menus in most Indian restaurants all around the world resemble those in the UK. The food they offer (not Sylheti food!) is influenced by Persia-Mongol-Turk cooking: A lot of roasted meat (kebabs) and bread. Tandoori chicken, sheek kabab, butter chicken, keema, chicken tikka masala, with tandoori naan... Something like that. 

South Indian, on the other hand, are mainly vegetables. They are often watery, less greasy, non-creamy, and VERY spicy.

Unlike in Northern India where they drink chai (milk tea), they drink coffee in southern India. Very strong, milky and sweet coffee with lots of bubbles on top. Caution: Addictive