Xiamen Travel Forum

Isn't gongfu the same as kongfu or Cantonese.Like cantonese peole call themselves gongfu yen in their own dialect?

gongfu and kongfu are the same. i think they understand :))

yup, kungfu is the old romanization of gong1fu4 功夫, same thing same characters

功夫茶 - in chinese characters

Yes and no.
Yes, gongfu is mandarin (beijing dialect) meaning martial arts. It's commonly spelled as kungfu for non-mandarin speakers to pronounce.
No, gongfu is also cantonese (guangzhou dialect) meaning cantonese. So gongfu yen is cantonese (gongfu) people (yen).
Confusing because there are more than 100 different dialects in China and they are all very different so the same sound can mean different things in different parts of China.

功夫 = gonf1 fu4 martial arts

廣東人(广东人 simplified）= cantonese people (in mandarin pronounced guang3 dong1 ren2) but in canto pronounced like gwong2 dung1 yan4

so,does the tea mean cantonese tea or martial arts tea...?

it's more like "martial arts tea", it does not mean cantonese tea. its 功夫茶 (gongfu cha = matrial arts tea), not 广东茶 (cantonese tea)

thanks a lot...it helps me understand more of the chinese culture.I am hokkien chinese and wish to learn more of my roots and that's why i focusing on Fujian province and hopefully know more of ancestors.

awesome. fujian is a great place. if you have any chinese language questions always feel free to send me an e-mail

To SumTingWong:
Your explanation on Gongfu Tea is marvellous, interesting. You took the trouble to get into the deep details.
If you don't mind me saying. Your name is SumTingWong. And as what I understand your name means Lightning Wong. It literally means your are a speedy boy/man. But your answer in such a "snail pace" fashion to allow one to absorb all of the subject is an answer I love more than I can say.

yes,he is really good at this...cheers from canada!

haha. thanks! I really appreciate it. funny thing is, is that I'm not chinese, not at all, totally american. BUT, I lived in China for a good while and major in chinese literature and international relations of east asia. Please, if you have any chinese language questions, throw them my way :)
ps my real chinese name is sun mingxia 孙明夏. sumtingwong = some thing wrong - but yes, in canto it would mean lightning 王雷霆 ...hehe

To SumTingWong:

Hats Off to you.

I have uncovered the real YOU from my piece of honest appreciation.

The knowledge that you have put me and many other overseas Chinese to shame including me.

same here too..u deserve another cup of green tea :)

To Pilz88:

SumTingWong deserves Maotai wine - the best Chinese wine produced in Guangxi Province.

You may continue with your Gongfu Tea in Xiamen.

Cheers to you and to Sun Mingxia (SunYatSan is the father of Modern China) and SumTingWong has the same Surname. Don't forget!!! I mean the Chinese Culture of yesteryear where Surname means a lot. Am I right?

true ,true,that's why i am on a personal quest to find my hokkien roots :)

well your surname is 施 (shi1), which i believe was a royal name from chinese early history.

thanks a lot...i never knew that...the wongs,no doubt,are pretty royal too:)

To Pilz88:

In Hanyu pingyin Hokkien is no longer valid in China or Taiwan. You are now a "FUJIAN REN" in Mandarin (Putonghua).

well, yes and no, in mandarin it would be fu2 jian4 ren2 福建人, but in local fujianhua language it may sound more like 'hokkien', i dont speak fujianhua tho.

yes,somehow i know of fujian province and the people are fukien but in s'pore we were once classified as hokkien.Hokkien province would be strange...

To SumTingWong:

To overseas Chinese if you are from Fujian Province you are called Hokkien particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. Being called Hokkien is short form of "Hokkien lan" meaning one is from the Province of Fujian in China.

The fact of the matter is that other than Malaysia and Singapore most overseas Chinese, be there in London, US cities and other parts of the world, speak and converse mainly in Cantonese dialect.

Now Cantonese dialect is actually the Putonghua of Guangdong Province as the dialects in Guangdong Province are many such as Teochew,Hakka (and Hakka dialect is spoken in as many as 3 or more version as well as the many version of cantonese in the outlaying areas of Canton), and many more.

Now Canton, the capital city of Guangdong Province, is no longer called as such. It is now called Guangzhou. The Putonghua (common dialect/spoken language) of Guangzhou or as other Chinese in China called it "Paihua/cantonese" is used and spoken in HongKong in a way Hokkien is spoken in Taiwan. But in Taiwan Mandarin is widely used and take precedence to that of Hokkien dialect which is unlike "Paihua/contonese" in Hongkong. Hongkong people spell and read Chinese language in "Paihua/Cantonese" not in Mandarin.

That much I know. Am I right?

yup, that is correct. but because of todays education system stressing "guoyu" (国语, 普通话，华语）what ever chinese name you want to use it is still Mandarin, many people in china and taiwan, no matter where they are from (except some ethnic minority areas like tibet and southern xinjiang) now speak mandarin. about 70% of people between 20-30 i believe can speak mandarin, and in probably 10 years that will probably be 90%. canto in its old form is known as "yuet" in cantonese, and "yue" in mandarin, the character is of course the same: 粤

Thank you. I have now a better idea on the extend of the usage of Mandarin in China. So as of now, other than about 70% of the population between 20-30, the older age group would still converse among themselves in their own dialect in the greater part of China. Right?

as a whole, 53% of chinese can speak mandarin, but thats increasing rapidly.

For some people that are new to S'pore,the younger generation have been encouraged to speak Mandarin but the older generation ,around 50 or more can speak their own personal dialects like Hakka,cantonese,hokkien and a combination of these...wow!