 Bangka Chinese people celebrating theGhost Festival in the Kong fuk temple atMuntok | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Indonesia | |
| Bangka Belitung Islands | 99,624 (2010 census)[1] |
| Languages | |
| Hakka,Bangka Malay,Belitung Malay,Hokkien,Indonesian,Cantonese | |
| Religion | |
| Chinese traditional religion,Buddhism,Christianity,Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Benteng Chinese,Peranakans,Bali Chinese,Maluku Chinese and otherChinese Indonesians | |
Chinese Indonesians have lived inBangka Belitung Islands,Indonesia for centuries.[2][3] Bangka Belitung is one of the regions with the largest Chinese population in Indonesia besidesJava,Riau,North Sumatra andWest Kalimantan.[4]
Chinese immigrants came to the Bangka Belitung Islands in several waves during the 1700–the 1800s. Many Hakkas from various parts ofGuangdong came to the islands to work as tin miners.
Bangka Island Chinese is quite different from Belitung Island Chinese because the first Chinese generation who were entirely male and arrived in Bangka Island, left China without women, they took local women as wives, so many Chinese in Bangka had mixed blood (Indonesian: "Peranakan"), especially those who lived in the Eastern part of the island. Bangka Island Chinese language is acreole language mixed Malay and Hakka words. Belitung Chinese is considered purer (Indonesian: "totok") because they were the first generation who arrived on the island, and they did so with Chinese wives after the 1800s. Although some town in Bangka Island, purer degree of Hakka can be heard as well, the Hakka-Malay mixture language is uniquely of Bangka Island Chinese. In Belitung, Chinese people adapted well with local culture. They changed their clothes and would like to wear Malaybaju kurung withkebaya, pants withsarong.[2]Hakka is spoken among the majority of Chinese speakers on the islands with a minorityHokkien-speaking population.
