Siyi


The Siyi refers to the four former counties of Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping and Enping in the Pearl River Delta of southern Guangdong province, China.

Geography

is a city district and the other three are county-level cities, all four belong to Jiangmen prefecture administered from the city of Jiangmen. An alternative term, Wuyi, which refers to the five former counties of Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping and Enping as well as Heshan, all administered by Jiangmen, has become an official title, and is widely accepted by the local residents today. However, among overseas Chinese, the name Siyi is still popular and frequently used as Heshan County was established much later than the other four.
It is said that over 100 famous people come from the Siyi or Wuyi region of Guangdong province, making the region famous for producing more entertainment stars than any other region in mainland China. As a result, the local government in Jiangmen which administers the Siyi or Wuyi cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Enping, Xinhui, and Heshan, decided to build a Stars Park called Jiangmen Star Park.

Dialects

The area gave rise to the Siyi dialects, the most prominent of which is Taishanese. Although Siyi and Cantonese both belong to the Yue branch of Chinese, Cantonese speakers cannot easily understand Siyi dialect.

Emigration

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many people from the Siyi emigrated to Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Australasia, North America and South America. Of the Chinese American population from that time until the 1950s, Sze Yup accounted for the vast majority, about 80%, along with people from Sanyi and Zhongshan.
In America, people from Sze Yup generally worked as laborers; Sam Yup people worked as entrepreneurs; and Chung Shan people specialized in agriculture. The Punti-Hakka Clan Wars also erupted in the Sze Yup counties just prior to this time period of emigration. In 1851, two wuiguns were established in San Francisco: the Sze Yup Wui Gun and the Sam Yup Wui Gun. Endowed with only limited arable lands, with much of the terrain either rocky or swampy, Sze Yup was the "pre-eminent sending area" of overseas Chinese.
In addition to being a region of major emigration abroad, Sze Yup is a melting pot of ideas and trends brought back by overseas Chinese. For example, many tong lau in Chokham and diaolou in Hoiping and Toishan built in the early 20th century incorporate architectural features from both China and the West.
Notable people: