Fuzhou people (; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciŭ-nè̤ng), also known as, Foochowese, Hokchew, Hokchia, Hokchiu, Fuzhou Shiyi people (), Eastern Min or Mindong refer to Chinese who originate from the Fuzhou and Mindong regions and the Gutian and Pingnan counties of Fujian province and Matsu Islands in Taiwan. Fuzhou people are a part of the Min Chinese-speaking group that speaks Eastern Min or specifically Fuzhou dialect. There is also a significant overseas Fuzhou population, particularly distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, United States (Fuzhou Americans), Singapore and the United Kingdom. Language Fuzhou dialect is a tonal language that has extensive sandhi rules in the initials, rimes, and tones. These complicated rules make Fuzhou dialect one of the most difficult Chinese varieties. Fuzhou dialects List of dialects of the Fuzhou language (): Min county dialect 福州閩縣話 (prestige) - Fuzhou city and Minhou county. Gutian dialect 福州古田話 - Gutian county Ningde dialect 福州寧德話 - Ningde city and prefecture Changle dialect 福州長樂話 - Changle district Fuqing dialect 福州福清話 - Fuqing, Pingtan Island and parts of Changle Matsu dialect 福州馬祖話 - Matsu islands Minqing dialect 福州閩清話 - Minqing county City History Fuzhou throughout the 1800s had many missionaries from the West coming in and out of the city. The lack of communication between government officials and local town people led to uproar among local residence regarding missionaries. Although around 1850 five major port were allowing foreigners to reside temporarily for missionary work, Fuzhounese people believed only their city was allowing this. Fuzhou natives were against missionaries as well as confronting Europeans in regards to business arrangements. At the same time Fuzhou had missionaries present, other cities such as Guangzhou started rebelling against foreigners. Daoist people as well as monks showed hospitality towards missionaries unlike most other residents. Following the lead of Guangzhou people, Fuzhounese natives soon also rebelled. Miscommunication was a large part of misunderstanding by Fuzhounese people. During the 1800s there were five port cities that were of interest of Europeans. Shanghai and Ningbo in addition of Fuzhou, were also allowing residency for missionaries during this time. The western powers felt similar resentment towards China as China did on the West. Education and Technology Throughout the Ming and Qing Dynasties, local lineages were of high importance. The success rate regarding education throughout Fuzhou was often linked to the lineage members. As part of a lineage, it was the responsibility of a community to ensure successful education