The Arab connection to the Ding families in Taishi in Yunlin County…
Is there an Arab connection to Taishi in Yunlin County? It’s a small town near Beikang along the coast, I heard, and according to some people who told me this, local Taiwanese, a long time ago, mainlanders went to Taiwan and landed at Taishi and made their home there. They were not Han Chinese exactly, and they were not Hakka either. They were Chinese people who had intermarried with Arab traders long ago, maybe 1000 years ago, and most of them have the last name of DING or TING.
Anyone heard about this and is it true? It’s a little known part of Taiwan history, I guess.
Seems that there is an old mosque building in Taishi, yes, and some Arabic writings on old markets, too. And many of the Taishi people are said to have “lion like” noses, whatever that means, but I think it means they don’t have Western noses or Chinese noses, but Arabic noses, if such a thing exists. And their DNA is part Arab.
I would love to visit that place next time I have a vacation in the south of the island. I have seen it on a map, small place, lots of gangsters I heard.
The United Daily News had a story on this on July 7, 2002 in Chinese, on the Web too, my gf told me, researched it for me. But even she said she doesn’t really understand the article. Anybody know?
There were Arab and Persian traders in Quanzhou in Fujian Province a long time ago, and many - 40 percent or more - of the ancestors of the Hokkien (Fujian) Taiwanese came from Quanzhou, so it is no great surprise that there should be an ancient Arab or Moslem presence in Taiwan.
[quote=“ax”]This site also give alot about people of the colors… colorq.org/colorQ.htm[/quote]
:? Completely irrelevant, ax. The link you posted has nothing to do with the thread.
[quote]Black Africans in West Asia
It is not easy to present a contiguous story of the African presence in pre-modern Asia. Many medieval sources refer to Africans in West Asia, but much of this literature is in Arabic. Details like the number of subSaharan Africans were in Asia, which countries they came from, when the migration started/stopped, their distribution in various occupations, and intermarriage rates were not subjected to rigorous study by medieval Arab writers.
In this article, we present glimpses into the ancient and medieval Asia that African emigres lived in. It is our hope that readers can refer us to more sources and help us present a more complete picture of the history of Africans in Asia. [/quote]
Well…I guess. It’s a bit of a stretch, though - more of a parallel example. The thread is about the Arab connection to Yunlin County, and your link is about the African influence in Arabia (Asia Minor/West Asia). I guess I just don’t see what your point is. Maybe I’m missing it? :?
Today, I received an email from a gentleman in Taipei whose last name is Ding or Ting, and was born in Taishi. I asked him about this and he replied:
"There is a joke about the “Ting” family which you may be interested at.
Why we people have “Ting” as our family name?
“Ting” has the simplest writing in Chinese. The people chose it because
they were of poor literacy.
This joke may have its historical stance. According to the article in the newspapers,
the Ting family in Taihsi are descendants of a Arabic trader
fleet. It is not difficult to image how poor they were when everything
was deprived by the god. Hence they and their descendants did not have
the chance to accept good education.
This joke was not a joke in my hometown, Taihsi. The people there was
poor educated in the past time because of poverty. You may have heard a
true joke that Taihsi is the origin of gangsters. How does one survive
without good education?"