Nung people (Chinese)

In Vietnam, there was a group of ethnic Chinese called the Chinese Nùng (Vietnamese: Hoa Nùng or Tàu Nùng). These Chinese Nùng composed 72%[1] to 78%[2]of the population of the Nung Autonomous Territory of Hai Ninh (1947-1954) located in the northeast corner of Vietnam, covering parts of present-day Quảng Ninh and Lạng Sơn provinces.

For the Tibeto-Burman people Nung, see Nungish languages. For Nung (Tai), see Nùng people.

The Chinese Nùng's name originated from the fact that almost all of them were farmers (nong nhan in Cantonese).[3] After Treaty of Tientsin (1885), the French refused to recognize this group as Chinese due to political and territorial issues on Vietnam's northern frontier border, therefore the French classified them as Nùng based on their main occupation. The most widely used languages of the Chinese Nùng were Ngai, Cantonese, Hakka and San Diu[4] as they descended from people speaking these dialects.

After 1954, more than 50,000 Nùng led by Colonel Vong A Sang (or Swong A Sang) fled as refugees, joining the 1 million northern Vietnamese who fled south and resettled in South Vietnam, mostly in Đồng Nai and Bình Thuận provinces. During the Vietnam War, the Chinese Nung soldiers were best known for their loyalty to US Special Forces[5] and had a reputation as the most-feared fighters of all the minority groups trained by the Americans.

Diaspora

After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, many of the Nungs fled Vietnam as Boat People political refugees, many to Hong Kong's and Malaysia's refugee camps. Most were resettled in the US, Canada, France, Australia, Singapore etc.

Notes
  1. Trần Đức Lai 2013, p. 42.
  2. Xiaorong Han 2009, p. 1–36.
  3. Trần Đức Lai 2013, p. 3.
  4. Trần Đức Lai 2013, p. 7.
  5. William H. Mott IV; Jae Chang Kim (2 April 2006). The Philosophy of Chinese Military Culture: Shih Vs. Li. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 275–. ISBN 978-1-4039-8313-8.

References
  • Trần Đức Lai, ed. (2013) [2008]. The Nung Ethic and Autonomous Territory of Hai Ninh-Vietnam. Translated by Ngô Thanh Tùng. Hai Ninh veterans and Public Administration Alumni Association-Vietnam. ISBN 978-0-578-12004-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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