Origins of Chinese dialects
Founded in 1816 by the London Missionary Society, the Anglo-Chinese College, Melaka, included Chinese literature among the subjects on its curriculum.
Speakers of the Chinese dialects form the second-largest speech group in Malaysia after Malay. This is the result of long-standing historical links with China, culminating in Chinese immigration on a vast scale in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The majority of these immigrants were from southern China and spoke one of nine Chinese dialects. Despite the growing use of Mandarin over the last 40 years, these same original dialects still retain their importance.
- Information in the full article includes
- Early contacts with China
- Migration in the 18th and 19th centuries
- The 20th century and the rise of Mandarin