TL;DR: The Hoa (also called Khach, Han, Tau) are one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, with 749,466 people according to the 1 April 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities. Their language belongs to the Han language group of the Sino-Tibetan family. They live mainly in urban areas and the plains of southern and central Vietnam, and their worship system centers on ancestors, lineages, and guardian deities tied to temples, shrines, and guild halls, with major festivals including Tết Nguyên dan, Tết Nguyên tieu, and lion, lion-servant, and dragon dances.
Who are the Hoa people and what is their official name?
The Hoa are one of the 54 ethnic groups recognized in Vietnam. Under the List of Ethnic Components of Vietnam issued with Decision No. 121-TCTK/PPCD dated 2 March 1979, this group's official name is Hoa, with other names being Khach, Tau, and Han. In many documents, the phrase "Hoa (Han)" is used to refer to the same ethnic group.
According to the 1 April 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities published by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, the Hoa number 749,466 people. Earlier, the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 823,071 people. These two figures do not contradict each other in terms of ethnic identity; they reflect two different survey dates and different data collection methods.
A clear distinction is needed: the Hoa are one ethnic group within the list of 54. Groups such as Quảng Đông, Quảng Tây, Hải Nam, Triều Châu, Phúc Kiến, Sang Phang, Xìa Phống, Thoòng Nhằn, Minh Hương, and He are recorded as local subgroups, not separate ethnic groups.
Local subgroups of the Hoa
| Local subgroup | Recorded in source |
|---|---|
| Quảng Đông, Quảng Tây, Hải Nam | Local subgroups per Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source |
| Triều Châu, Phúc Kiến | Local subgroups per Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source |
| Sang Phang, Xìa Phống, Thoòng Nhằn | Local subgroups per Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source |
| Minh Hương, He | Local subgroups per Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source |
The Government Portal also lists the Hoa with other names Khach, Tau, Han, along with small groups Triều Châu, Phúc Kiến, Quảng Đông, Quảng Tây, Hải Nam, Xia Phang, Thoòng Nhằn, and He. Official sources differ slightly in how they write subgroup names, but all agree that these are local subgroups within the Hoa ethnic group.
Where do the Hoa live?
The Hoa live in many provinces and cities, with greater concentration in urban areas and plains. The Government Portal lists their residence areas as Kiên Giang, Hải Phòng, Vĩnh Long, Trà Vinh, Quảng Ninh, Đồng Nai, Hậu Giang, Minh Hải, and Ho Chi Minh City.
The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source describes residence characteristics in two areas. In rural areas, those who farm often live in villages and hamlets, usually at the foot of mountains, in fields, stretching along the coast, near water sources and convenient transport. Within a village, houses are arranged close together by lineage. In urban areas, the Hoa often live concentrated in separate neighborhoods.
A Nhân Dân article on Vietnam's ethnic communities notes that some groups such as the Khmer, Cham, and Hoa live concentrated in the plains and urban areas of central and southern Vietnam. This residence pattern differs from most other ethnic minorities, who live mainly in mountainous regions.
What language group does the Hoa language belong to?
The Hoa language belongs to the Han language group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. This is consistently recorded by both the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source and the dantocmiennui source.
One point about scope should be noted: the Han language group is a language group, not a claim that all Hoa in Vietnam speak exactly the same language. Because there are many different local subgroups such as Quảng Đông, Triều Châu, Phúc Kiến, and He, multiple speech variants exist in community life. The reference sources provided for this article only confirm the language group and do not go into classifying each variant by local subgroup.
Regarding writing, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source states that Han characters are taught and learned in general schools, and that learning Hoa script is now widespread among Hoa residents in localities.
How did Hoa migration to Vietnam take place?
According to the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source, the Hoa migrated to Vietnam at different times from the 16th century, and later in the late Ming and early Qing periods, continuing into the first half of the 20th century. This was a migration process spanning many centuries, not a single wave.
This description shows that the Hoa community in Vietnam formed from multiple waves, with diverse local subgroup composition. The diversity of local subgroups, reflected in names such as Quảng Đông, Triều Châu, Phúc Kiến, He, and Minh Hương, is partly tied to the different origins of each group.
What occupations do the Hoa live by?
In rural areas, the Hoa live mainly by farming, with wet rice as the main crop. In cities, towns, and townships, they work in services and trade. Handicrafts are fairly developed, for example pottery in Quảng Ninh, Sông Bé, and Đồng Nai; paper-making and incense-making in Ho Chi Minh City. Some Hoa living along the coast live mainly by salt-making and fishing.
The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source emphasizes one feature in business activities: the Hoa always value the word "trust." This describes the community's business characteristics, not a ranking judgment among ethnic groups.
Cuisine and clothing
Regarding food, the staple is rice, but meals often include dishes such as stir-fried noodles and hu tieu. In ordinary families, breakfast is plain rice porridge with salted duck eggs, while better-off households have hu tieu, steamed buns, and shumai. The Hoa are recorded as having good cooking skills and liking stir-fried dishes with seasonings.
Hoa drinks, besides quenching thirst, are considered cooling medicine that nourishes the "six organs and five viscera." Ginseng tea and chrysanthemum tea are common in every family. During festivals, holidays, and Tet, men are also accustomed to drinking alcohol.
Regarding clothing, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source notes that so-called traditional Hoa clothing is now seen only among some elderly people or in wedding and funeral rituals. Women often wear high-collared, side-buttoned, high-slit tunics, or long-fitting qipao-style dresses that hug the hips and are slit below the thigh. Men wear black or dark blue shirts with side cloth buttons, attached shoulders and stand-up collars, with slits, or four-panel shirts split in the middle with stand-up collars, attached shoulders, and pockets. Women like jewelry such as bracelets of bronze, gold, stone, or jade, earrings, and necklaces. Men like gold teeth and regard them as a form of adornment.
What is notable about housing and traditional social relations?
Houses are usually of three types: three-room two-wing houses, and houses shaped like the characters Mon and Khau. Houses are often built of stone, unburnt brick, or rammed earth, roofed with trough tiles or cinnamon leaves, bamboo leaves, or split bamboo. A prominent feature of housing is altars to ancestors, lineages, Buddha, and deities, along with parallel sentences, scrolls, and red paper with Han characters seeking blessings, profit, and peace.
Regarding social relations, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source describes a deeply class-divided and strongly patriarchal society. Relations with people of the same surname are valued. Each lineage has an ancestral hall for worship. Every year on a certain day, people of the same lineage gather at the ancestral hall to hold a lineage memorial ceremony.
Business and production activities often have corresponding occupational guilds. These guilds each have a patron deity and an annual patron memorial day.
Regarding marriage, families are built on fairly durable monogamy and are patrilineal. The Hoa often arrange marriages for their children within the same local subgroup. Lineage heads, matchmakers, and local officials play fairly important roles in marriage. The source also records that today women establish families relatively late, with average marriage age of 28 to 30, and the fewest children, with an average woman bearing 2 or 3 children.
What do the Hoa worship?
Prominent in Hoa folk beliefs are worship of ancestors, clans, and lineages; worship of guardian deities such as the kitchen god, earth god, and wealth god; and some saints and bodhisattvas such as Quan Công, Lady Thiên Hậu, Ong Bon, and Nam Hải Quan Âm.
The temple and shrine system is fairly developed. Hoa temples and shrines are often tied to guild halls and schools. They are also places of community cultural activity and festival celebrations. This organization shows that temples and shrines are not only places of worship but also centers of collective community life.
The article describes these belief practices as part of the community's culture. Studying them helps identify the Hoa worship system and does not aim to affirm or deny the spiritual efficacy of any practice.
What are the main festivals and Tet celebrations of the Hoa?
During the year, the Hoa have many festival days: Nguyen dan, Nguyen tieu, Thanh minh, Doan ngo, Trung nguyen, and Trung thu.
Tết Nguyên dan takes place at the transition from the old year to the new year by the lunar calendar and lasts until the full moon of the first month, that is, Tết Nguyên tieu. The Nguyen tieu festival is described by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source as characteristic of Hoa Tet celebrations, with the most concentrated activities of traditional belief and culture expressed on this occasion.
Lion, lion-servant, and dragon dance
Lion, lion-servant, and dragon dance is a traditional performing art of the Hoa, usually held from the 23rd day of the twelfth month, when the kitchen god goes to heaven, to the 15th day of the first month, Tết Nguyên tieu, at temples. The Hoa carefully prepare costumes before the lion dance. Lion, lion-servant, and dragon dance are also deeply popular art forms, performed annually on major holidays and Tet.
Other performing arts
Traditional cultural activities of the Hoa include many genres such as singing, dancing, and comedy, with many instruments: flute, pipe, and stringed instruments such as pipa, erhu, moon lute, and zheng. Shan ge singing (san co) is favored by many, especially young people. Traditional amateur folk arts organizations have long existed as music societies.
Points to note when learning about the Hoa ethnic group
First, on population figures, different sources give numbers at different times. The figure 823,071 people is from the 2009 Population and Housing Census, while 749,466 people is from the 1 April 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities. Readers should state the date when citing to avoid confusion.
Second, on names, official sources all use the ethnic name Hoa, with other names Khach, Han, and Tau. In current writing, the official name Hoa is widely used. Other names may appear in older documents or in some historical contexts.
Third, on scope of description, cultural features such as traditional clothing, housing architecture, and marriage customs are recorded generally for the Hoa, but the degree to which each feature is present may differ between localities and local subgroups. The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source also notes that so-called traditional clothing is now seen only among some elderly people or in wedding and funeral rituals.
Fourth, on general context, the Nhân Dân article on Vietnam's ethnic communities states that some groups such as the Khmer, Cham, and Hoa live concentrated in the plains and urban areas of central and southern Vietnam. This information helps place Hoa residence characteristics within the overall distribution of Vietnam's ethnic groups.
