Before Hong Kong became a British colony in the mid-19th century,
the Boat Dwellers (known as the Tanka) were one of the four main Chinese ethnic groups living in Hong Kong.
They spoke a peculiarly accented version of Cantonese,
and their sea-borne habitat covered the coastal waters of Guangdong and Guangxi.
The Boat Dwellers traditionally spent their entire lives on boats and segregated themselves from land-based people.

Posted on 16 July 2008
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