Fujian and Spain are the larger sister of the Portugal / Chaoshan pair. Where the smaller cousin specialised in trade, the larger one converted that maritime instinct into territory: Hokkien-speakers across Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, southern Malaysia; Spanish-speakers across the Americas. Both have a mountain wall between coast and inland that keeps the maritime culture pure and forces the language to crystallise its own grammar.福建与西班牙，是「葡萄牙／潮汕」配对的大姐。当那位小表亲专注于贸易，这位大姐则把同样的海洋本能转化为领土：闽南语遍布台湾、菲律宾、新加坡、马来亚南部；西班牙语遍布美洲。两地都有山墙隔开海岸与内陆——这墙让海洋文化保持纯度，并迫使语言把自身语法结晶下来。

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  A mountain barrier between coast and inland.海岸与内陆之间的山墙。

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  A maritime-conquest period followed by long economic eclipse.海上征服期之后是漫长的经济黯淡。

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  A diaspora that's the dominant business class in another country.成为他国主导商业阶层的侨民群。

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  Tea, tobacco, sugar — same colonial-era cash crops.茶、烟、糖——殖民时代的同一批经济作物。

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  Spain's colonies became nation-states; Fujian's never did.西班牙的殖民地后来成为民族国家；福建的从未。

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  Spain's catholic; Fujian's syncretic Buddhist-Daoist-folk.西班牙天主教；福建则是佛道民间混融。

1. Maritime opening海洋开拓
   CN

   Song–Yuan — Quanzhou is the largest port on earth.宋元——泉州，地球上最大的港口。

   EU

   711–1492 — Reconquista; 1492 — Columbus sails.711—1492——光复运动；1492——哥伦布出航。

2. Empire帝国
   CN

   Ming — Zheng He's fleets, then turn inward.明——郑和远航，随后内转。

   EU

   1500s — silver from Potosí, an Atlantic civilization.1500 年代——波托西银山，一个大西洋文明。

3. Diaspora century侨民世纪
   CN

   1700–1900 — Hokkien Southeast Asia.1700—1900——闽南人下南洋。

   EU

   1500–1800 — Spanish America.1500—1800——西属美洲。

Hokkien is heard in 50 cities; Spanish in 21 countries. Both Fujian and Spain still set the cuisine, the tongue, and the family architecture of vast hinterlands they no longer govern.闽南话回响在 50 座城市；西班牙语横跨 21 个国家。两地至今仍为它们已不再统治的广袤腹地，定义饮食、口音与家庭结构。

• Empires of the Atlantic World
  J. H. Elliott · 2006
• Maritime Quanzhou
  Hugh Clark · 1991