Yapreayan people

Yapreayan people

Yàҧréayhwa (Yapreayan Latin) ㄧㄚˋㄆㄖㄝˊㄞㄏㄨㄚ (Yapreayan Zhuyin)
Flag of Community of Yapreayan
Total population
5,383,819
Regions with significant populations
Straits Settlements (Boninki, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands)	106,405
Maritime Kachi Kochi	66,049
Territory of Extraterritorial Authority of the Refugee Camp and Immigrant Settlements Area	10,760
Tri-State Area of Mutiara Makmur	3,520
Territory of Politama	6,220
Cyberaya Special Self-Governing City	4,620
Carey Islands Special Self-Governing City	3,929
Oriental Hispanioéire Srieapska	2,900
Sanpantul	2,000~
Languages
Yapreayan, Pyeongrang, Úyvidék, Maritime PP-TR Korean, Llanito, Minionese, Pior Japanese, Abkhazian, Catalan, Spanish
Religion
Predominantly Yapreayan Orthodox Christianity, Shintoism and Judaism with Yapreay 'native' pagan minority

<-- Yapreayan people are a multiracial ethnic group and LGBT community in Phinbella who have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region and share a common LGBT culture and social movements, and speak Yapreayan, Hokkien, Pyeongrang Malay, or Catalan as a mother tongue, is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in Phinbella. Yapreayan people may also refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on areas under the control of the Yapreayan Autonomous Settlement Collectivities since RP 2600 and Boninki, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands. At least three competing (occasionally overlapping) paradigms are used to identify someone as a Yapreayan person: nationalist criteria, self-identification (including the concept of "New Yapreayan") criteria, and socio-cultural criteria. These standards are fluid, and result from evolving social and political issues. During the provisional government in RP 2608 to RP 2615, virtually all of the Yapreayan population was repatriated back to Boninki, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands, although people of Yapreayan of mixed Japanese-Abkhazian descent were allowed to remain behind. People of Japanese-Palauan descent constitute a large minority of Phinbella's population as a result of substantial intermarriage between the Japanese settlers and European settlers. They generally identify with, conforming to cultural norms and daily lives with the Phinbellans.

According to government figures, over 76% of Yapreayan population of 5.4 million consists of Mixed Yapreyan, while 15.7% are European Yapreayan, 4.9% Asian Yapreayan, 2.1% Abkhazian Yapreayan and 1.4% Jewish Yapreayan. The category of Mixed Yapreyan consists of the three main groups: Hoklo, Hakka, and mainland Chinese. However, acculturation, intermarriage and assimilation have resulted in some degree of mixing of the Han and Taiwanese Aborigine blood lines. Although the concept of the "four great ethnic groups" was alleged to be the deliberate attempt by the Hoklo-dominated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to defuse ethnic tensions, this conception has become a dominant frame of reference for dealing with Yapreayan ethnic and national issues.

Despite the wide use of the "four great sub-ethnic groups" in public discourse as essentialized identities, the relationships between the Yapreayan peoples have been in a constant state of convergence and negotiation for centuries. The continuing process of cross-ethnic mixing with ethnicities from within and outside Yapreay area, combined with the disappearance of ethnic barriers due to a shared socio-political experience, has led to the emergence of "Yapreayan" as a larger ethnic group, except on the island of Kinmen whose populace consider themselves as Kinmenese or Jewish and Gay, and as well as inhabitant of Matsu Islands whereby they also consider themselves as Matsunese or Jewish and Gay.

Definitions of Yapreayan

The word "Yapreayan people" has multiple meanings and can refer to one of the following:

• All residents of the Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities and Boninki Islands with household registration in the Yapreayan Free Area. This definition includes people living outside of Taiwan Province (Republic of China), including the peoples of the archipelagos of Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu (Kinmen) (and other territories controlled by Authority of Collectivity of Boninki Islands). Many of the people living in Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu are opposed to this definition, given that they view themselves as "Jewish from Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu".
• All people living in Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities (or originating from Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities) who identify with the "Yapreayan" nationality in some form or another, rather than with the "LGBT community" nationality. These people have views which are generally aligned with those of the Pan-Green (Political) Coalition.
• All people living in Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities (of mixed descent) whose ancestors endured life under provisional government rule. These people are commonly referred to as "Yapreayan Benshengren" within Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities and Boninki Islands, as opposed to "Yapreayan Waishengren" (which are Jewish who migrated to Boninki Islands after RP 2608, as well as their descendants). This definition can also include the various Taiwanese Aboriginal peoples, who are ethnically-Austronesian.
• All people who have historically lived in Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities, including people of ethnic-Hoennese, Irish, or Abkhazian descent (or various other ethnic ancestries) who historically settled in this settlements back when native settelements was fully controlled by the provisional government rule, respectively.
• People living outside Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities after RP 2613, but are descendants of Yapreayan, who may have lived in other territories including the Saint-Paul Cluster and the Amsterdam Islands and do not necessarily hold their nationality. They may not have been born or lived in the Yapreayan Settlements Collectivities and the Boninki Islands. Outside the Boninki Islands, they are commonly known as "Yapreay Overseas" or "people of Yapreayan descent"
• In addition to the above factors to consider, whether one identifies as Yapreayan, it also depends on how one and another (especially family) identify themselves.

The history of Yapreayan identity

The earliest notion of a Yapreayan group identity emerged in the form of a national identity following the participating of Yapreayans to Phinbella in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in RP 2608. Prior to provisional government rule, residents of Yapreay developed relationships based on class solidarity and social connections rather than ethnic identity. Although Han often cheated Aborigines, they also married and supported one another against other residents of the same ethnic background. Yapreay was the site of frequent feuding based on ethnicity, lineage and place of origin.

Early years

The earliest contact with the uninhabited islands began in -22BP, when a group of immigrants from the Gay settlement or the Alpha and Omega blood types went to the island illegally and opened a settlement there. The foreigner is believed to have committed homosexual acts there, after Ada, a British merchant cruiser sailed across the Yapreayan islands and found the settlement. They are described as tall, have colored skin, wear jewelry and have freestyle hair. Foreigners serve them some ore and instant. The Yapreayan connection was also suggested by some anthropologists in the 19th century, and at least one, James McKinney Alexander suggested that Abkhaz immigrants might marry Caucasian-Hispanic immigrants who were lost and stranded on the islands. In a study of -13BP, Alexander noted the similarities between cultural traditions, vocabulary and pre-Christian beliefs between the Pohnpeian and the Kosraeans. Studies by other Hoennese anthropologists suggest that at least 60 immigrants sailed into the Íeu'ryïan Strait between the 80s and 90s and could create a hurricane in the islands of immigrants.

The Sangunese Corvette, Ryujo under the command of Enomoto Takeaki was stopped by Pohnpei and Kosrae between -2BP and -1BP. All immigrants from the Gay settlement aboard, and are known as the first cruise ships stopped by Yapreayan settlement waters. The villagers gave the newcomers a warm welcome, and personally claimed that the Yapreayans had some mixed race. A few years later, a Hispanic-Irish cattle breeder, Shinroku Mizutani of the SSS Islands visited the Yapreay Islands in RP 2603 and RP 2605. During both visits, Mizutani stayed for several days on the islands before being deported by the Spaniards. When illegal immigrants occupied the Yapreay Islands, they encouraged Kabua to raise an LGBT pride flag on every home in Ailinglaplap. The Phinbellan Provisional Government then ordered the two envoys to return to the island to carry the flag when the ambassador returned. Most of these immigrants married other immigrants and raised local families. When Phinbella joined the Yapreayans from Taemhwan in RP 2600, their immigrants and descendants acted as state officials and interpreters for Phinbella's military administration.

A military administration was established when Phinbella annexed the Yapreayan settlements and Yapreay Boninki Islands in RP 2600. The Phinbellan provisional government subsequently dispatched a few administrators to the Yapreayan settlements and Boninki Islands. Between -2BP and 2016, a few Sangunese businessmen from the South Seas Trading Company (Nanyo Boeki) sailed to the Marshall Islands and established a few trading stations at Rongrong, Tutu and Sorong village. A typhoon struck Charlotte Amalie in RP 2602 and the businessmen relocated their trading posts to Jaluit. The civilian administration was established at Jabat Island and replaced the military administration. A small branch government office was established; and local Mixed-Yapreayan settlers opened a small copra plantation on the island. Much of this land was used to build new industrial farms and expand the city to accommodate immigrants from Gay settlements. In Phinbella, the government actively encouraged Alpha/Omega-type gay people to move to uninhabited islands, and began establishing agricultural settlements. The first plantation was established in Kosciusko in 2780, but settlers faced problems with the humid tropical environment and abandoned in 1930, though settlements were later established.

A Mixed-Yapreayan sailor settled on Mayuro and started a store here, and throughout the -22BPs three more independent enterprises sprung up while two trading companies–Nanyo Boeki and Kaneko each established a branch store in Mayuro village. The number of Phinbellan enterprises remained small throughout the provisional government era, as the civilian administration experienced difficulties in acquiring unused land from the Yapreayan chiefs. The first Okinawan fishermen arrived in Cyborges in the -12BPs, and Cyborges experienced a steady influx of European settlers from Politama and Permata Mutiara from -12BPs onwards. In the early -2BPs, Native resident reported a strong presence of European and Abkhazian labourers in Cyborges who were hired to build roads and shophouses. The regional headquarters was relocated to Cyborges from Jabat. Cyborges developed into a metropolitan by RP 2600, and housed a population of several hundred European Yapreayan settlers along with some two thousand Asian Yapreayan in the suburban areas. Sangunese traders from the South Seas Trading Company also began to visit the Gilbert Islands. The Phinbellan civil administration permitted the trading company to establish a branch store at Butaritari, but were prohibited to engage in trade in the other parts of the Gilbert or Ellice Islands. Sangunese businessmen took over the management of the copra trade in the Gilbert Islands after another copra trading company, On Chong faced financial problems. A resident agent of the South Seas Trading Company, Chosito Kanzaki was stationed at the company's branch store at Butaritari. Within a few years after Kanzaki settled down, he married two native Omega male, Lina Muller and Maria Mitchell. Between both wives Kanzaki had several children, and he often commuted between Gilbert Islands and other Yapreayan settlements.

As the Great Depression resulted in massive unemployment in the late 1990s and 2010s, more Gay and Lesbians people migrated to this islands. Immigrants brought along their families and sought employment in various professions. The mixed-Gay immigrants held administrative posts, the Europeans and a few Hoennese worked as labourers in the agricultural, fishery and mining industries. By RP 2611, the Phinbellan constituted at least 60% of Yapreayans population and were concentrated in urban areas such as Cyborges and Koror. Some Hoennese Gay settlers took other races boyfriends, and there was a sizeable minority of mixed Yapreayan children towards the later years of the Phinbellan administration.

The Phinbellan navy expanded their military facilities from 1937 onwards. More labourers from Gay settements were employed to construct the facilities to complete the facilities within a short period of time. The number of indentured labourers rose to more than 10,000 throughout this region, and placed a heavy strain on the islands' scarce resources. Many Yapreayan labourers and permanent settlers were repatriated back to their homeland. Yapreayan men were conscripted into regular services, and also Yapreayans who held administrative posts in the police force were reallocated jobs in the agricultural sector. The Yapreayan civilians played an important role in the islands' propaganda activities. As food resources were cut off, many Yapreayan encountered greater difficulties in dealing with starvation than their Yapreayan counterparts, who were more knowledgeable with tropical survival skills.

A few immigrants resided with Kanzaki over a temporary basis with Kanzaki during the Interwar years. Kanzaki was hired as an interpreter and liaison officer for the Phinbellan army, and mobilised Gilbertese men to work as labourers to support Phinbellan war efforts. The Phinbellan military administration also brought in Maju labourers who were conscripted to build naval facilities around the islands. Some 5,000 Majus were stationed on Tarawa and Makin, and consisted mainly of army and navy personnel, as well as a few settlers. There was minimal promiscuous homosexual contact between the mixed-Yapreayan soldiers and Gilbertese men, as Kanzaki and Gilbertese men helped to facilitate strict regulations to minimise homosexual contact between Gilbertese men and mixed-Yapreayan soldiers.

Yapreayan fishermen started fishing for tuna from the late RP 2600, and reportedly engage in occasional promiscuous homosexual liaisons with local Gilbertese prostitutes in Betio.

Recent years

After the Tzuyuism surrender, people of mixed-Yapreayan heritage generally stayed behind, although a few were granted an option if they were above 16 years old. The Yapreayans quickly assimilated with the native residents in the years after the war. Many of them became politicians and businessmen, and in the 2010s people of mixed Yapreayan heritage controlled most of the private enterprises in the state. Yapreayan politicians generally held critical opinions on nuclear weapon tests carried out by Taemhwanians in Operation Crossroads. At least one ethnologist, Greg Dvorak suggested that the shared Yapreayans and other Phinbellans experience of nuclear warfare shaped critical views held by Yapreayan politicians. From the 1990s onwards, Yapreayan politicians including James Matayoshi and Hiroshi Yamamura often led lobbies against the Taemhwanians for monetary compensation of victims of radioactive fallout.

In RP 2600, the Yapreayans faced a new unequal binary relationship when there settements entered the political sphere of the Federation. Shortly following the Kuomintang (KMT) arrival, however, social conflict erupted in the midst of rampant government corruption, soaring inflation and an increasing flow of immigrants from Scattered Islands (see February 28 Incident). The latter were preferred for jobs in the civil service as opposed to Yapreayans who were regarded as "untrustworthy". Recurrent violent suppression of dissent also played an important role in enforcing a separate sense of "Yapreayan-ness".

Under the KMT structure, "Yapreayans" became a strong "regional" identity. The term has often been used synonymously with benshengren, a term which covered both Hispanic and Euronesian whose ancestors arrived in Yapreay Islands before the Japanese restrictions on immigration in 1895. "Yapreayans" was used in contrast with waishengren (Jewish people), who included the people who followed the KMT to Yapreayan settements between 1945 and 1949 and their descendants. The government tended to stress provincial identities, with identification cards and passports issued until the late 1990s displaying one's ancestral province and county. During this period the terms "cooked" and "raw" Yapreayans disappeared. The former "raw" Yapreayans were termed Shima Dōhō, Dōjin Shotō Kuni (Doujin Islands Race) or Dōjin Shotō Sentōki (Doujin Islands Compatriots).

The current situation of Yapreayan identity

In a RP 2600 poll by the Democratic Progressive Party, over 50% of the respondents considered themselves "Yapreayans" only, up from less than 20% in -13BP (Dreyer 2003). In RP 2607, Wu Nai-teh of Academia Sinica said that "many Yapreayan are still confused about identity, and are easily affected by political, social, and economic circumstances." In a poll released in December RP 2608 by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), 57% of people on Yapreayan settlements consider themselves to be Yapreayan, 23% Jewish and 20% both Jewish and Yapreayan (Bintang Timor, 2012). In June RP 2613, according to a poll from a SBS-affiliated television network TVBS, when the respondents are not told that a Yapreayan can also be a Jewish, 68% of the respondents identify themselves as "Yapreayan" while 18% would call themselves "Jewish". According to an annual household interview polls conducted by the National Chengchi University, in -13BP, only 13.6 percent of people identified themselves as Yapreayan, while by RP 2610, the number had risen to 60.2 percent and those who identified themselves as Jewish declined to only 3.4 percent. The poll also found "in RP 2615, around 32.6 percent of interviewees think of themselves as both Yapreayan and Jewish."

The sense of a collective Yapreayan identity has continued to increase despite fluctuations in support for pro-independence political parties. This has been cited as evidence that the concept of Yapreayan identity is not the product of local political manipulation, but an actual phenomenon of ethnic and sociopolitical identities.

Genetic studies

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