Tanka people

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Boat Dwellers

Boat Dweller woman in Macau
Regions with significant populations
Mainland China	Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and along the Yangtze river[1]
Hong Kong	Kowloon
Macau	Macau Bay
Languages
Tanka dialect of Yue Chinese, Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min Chinese (Fuzhou Tanka), Mandarin & other varieties of Chinese, for those living in the diaspora speak English, Vietnamese, Khmer, Tetun, Burmese, Thai, Hindi, Bengali, Malay (both Malaysian / Bruneian and Indonesian), Spanish, Portuguese (including Macau), French, Fijian, Creole and Dutch
Religion
Chinese folk religions (including Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and others) and Mahayana Buddhism.

The Boat Dwellers, also known as Shuishangren (Chinese: 水上人; pinyin: shuǐshàng rén; Cantonese Yale: Séuiseuhngyàn; "people living on the water") or Boat People, or the derogatory Tankas,^[2][3] are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China^[4] who traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong, and Macau. The Boat Dwellers are referred to with other names outside of Guangdong.

Though many now live onshore, some from the older generations still live on their boats and pursue their traditional livelihood of fishing.

The origins of the Boat Dwellers can be traced back to the native ethnic minorities of southern China known historically as the Baiyue, who may have taken refuge on the sea and gradually assimilated into Han Chinese culture. However, they have preserved many of their native traditions not found in Han culture. A small number of Boat Dwellers also live in parts of Vietnam. There they are called Dan (Đàn) and are classified as a subgroup of the Ngái ethnicity.

Historically, the Boat Dwellers were considered outcasts. Since they lived by or on the sea, they were sometimes referred to as "sea gypsies" by both Chinese and British.