Min
Min (Chinese: 閩; pinyin: Mǐn) was one of the Ten Kingdoms, a short-lived independent polity in southern China that existed from 909 to 945 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of fragmentation following the Tang dynasty's collapse.[1] Centered in the mountainous coastal region of modern Fujian province with its capital near present-day Fuzhou, the kingdom was founded by the warlord Wang Shenzhi, who was initially appointed by the Tang court as a local governor but declared independence after the dynasty's fall.[1] Under the Wang family rulers, Min emphasized maritime commerce, leveraging its southeastern ports for trade with Southeast Asia and Japan, which fueled economic prosperity through exports of porcelain, silk, and timber.[1] The kingdom's defining characteristics included strong patronage of Buddhism, with rulers constructing temples and supporting monastic communities that preserved cultural and artistic traditions amid national disunity.[1] Notable achievements encompassed administrative stability relative to contemporaneous states, agricultural advancements in rice cultivation suited to the humid subtropical climate, and the minting of coinage that circulated regionally.[1] However, internal conflicts, including succession disputes and factional rebellions, weakened Min; by 943, it fragmented into rival principalities, leading to its conquest by the expanding Southern Tang kingdom in 945.[1] Min's legacy endures in the distinct cultural identity of Fujian, influencing local dialects, architecture, and the historical roots of Min Chinese language varieties spoken by millions today.[1]Geographical locations
Rivers
The Min River (闽江; Mǐnjiāng) in Fujian Province, southeastern China, is the province's largest river, with a length of 577 kilometers and a drainage basin covering 60,922 square kilometers.[2] It originates from multiple headstreams in the Wuyi Mountains near the Fujian-Jiangxi border and flows generally eastward, branching into the Minjiang and Futianxi near Nanping before reaching its mouth at the East China Sea in Fuzhou, where it supports significant port activity and inland navigation.[3] The river's watershed sustains agriculture, hydropower generation, and urban centers, though it has experienced flooding risks mitigated by reservoirs constructed since the mid-20th century. Distinct from the Fujian river, the Min River (岷江; Mínjiāng) in central Sichuan Province flows 735 kilometers as a major tributary of the upper Yangtze River, joining it at Yibin.[4] Originating on the Tibetan Plateau near Songpan County, it descends through mountainous terrain, powering ancient irrigation systems like the Dujiangyan complex built in 256 BCE, which diverts water via a fish-mouth weir to irrigate over 5,000 square kilometers of farmland.[5] The river's steep gradients facilitate hydropower but contribute to seismic vulnerabilities, as evidenced by earthquake-induced landslides altering its course historically. No other major rivers worldwide bear the exact name "Min," though transliterations like the Minho River in Iberia derive from unrelated etymologies.[6] Both Chinese Min Rivers hold hydrological significance independent of cultural nomenclature, with the Fujian variant etymologically linked to regional Min-speaking populations via ancient hydraulic engineering and settlement patterns.Administrative divisions
Min County (Chinese: 岷县; pinyin: Mín Xiàn) is a county-level administrative division in southeastern Gansu Province, People's Republic of China, situated in the southern part of Dingxi City.[7] It lies in a mountainous region at the upper reaches of the Bailong River, encompassing terrain influenced by the Min Mountains to the southwest.[8] The county spans 3,578 square kilometers and recorded a population of 495,862 in 2019, reflecting a slight decline from prior years amid rural-urban migration trends observed in the province.[9][8] Administratively, Min County is subdivided into 15 towns, 3 townships, 359 administrative villages, and 13 communities, supporting a mix of agricultural and small-scale industrial activities.[8] These divisions facilitate local governance focused on farming, forestry, and resource extraction, with the county serving as a peripheral unit within Dingxi's prefecture-level framework established under China's standardized administrative hierarchy. No other major contemporary administrative divisions in China bear the primary name "Min," though historical precedents exist in regions associated with ancient Min River systems.[10]People
Personal names
Min serves as a surname primarily in East Asian contexts. In Chinese, it derives from the character 閔 (Mǐn), connoting 'pity' or 'sorrow' in ancient usage, originating from the posthumous title of Duke Min of Lu, the 17th ruler of the state of Lu during the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE).[11] [12] Genetic ancestry data indicates that bearers of the surname Min exhibit predominantly Korean heritage, accounting for 61.6% of associated ancestry, reflecting its adoption and prevalence in Korean populations.[13] Globally, approximately 98% of individuals with the surname reside in Asia, with 62% in East Asia, underscoring its regional concentration.[14] As a given name or name element, Min appears unisex across cultures. In Korean, it functions as a standalone given name or syllable in compounds, often implying cleverness or quick-wittedness.[15] Chinese variants include 敏 (mǐn), denoting "quick," "clever," or "agile," and 民 (mín), meaning "people" or "citizens."[16] In Burmese tradition, Min translates to "king" or "ruler," used as a prefix denoting royalty or respect for males.[17] Less commonly, in European contexts such as Dutch, it arose as a nickname from Middle Dutch minne, signifying "beloved" or "sweetheart."[18] These etymologies highlight Min's adaptability, though East Asian usages predominate in frequency and historical depth.Notable individuals
Min Sun (c. 536–487 BC), courtesy name Ziqian, was a disciple of Confucius from the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period. Renowned for his filial piety, he endured harsh treatment from his stepmother, who provided inadequate winter clothing for him while favoring his half-brothers; when his father discovered this upon hearing the sound of the whip during a hunt, the stepmother was reformed, and Sun cared for his parents until their deaths. Confucius praised him as having the virtue of "warmth" among his students and included him among the Ten Philosophers.[19][20][21] Mindon Min (1808–1878), born Maung Lwin, served as the penultimate king of Burma's Konbaung dynasty from 1853 to 1878. He ascended after deposing his half-brother Pagan Min amid internal strife and British threats following the Second Anglo-Burmese War; his reign emphasized religious patronage, including convening the Fifth Buddhist Council in 1871 to purify the Pali Canon, alongside administrative reforms such as establishing a postal system and minting standardized coinage. Despite these efforts, British annexation of Upper Burma occurred shortly after his death.[22][23][24] Min Jin Lee (born November 11, 1968) is a Korean-American author whose novel Pachinko (2017) depicts four generations of a Korean family in Japan from 1910 to 1980s, addressing themes of discrimination and resilience; it became a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. Her debut Free Food for Millionaires (2007) explores immigrant experiences in New York City. Lee has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Radcliffe Institute.[25][26] Min Yoon-gi (born March 9, 1993), known professionally as Suga or Agust D, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and producer who debuted with BTS in 2013 under Big Hit Music (now HYBE). As the group's lead rapper, he has co-written and produced numerous tracks, including hits like "Daechwita" from his 2020 mixtape, contributing to BTS's global success with over 40 billion Spotify streams by 2023.[27][28]Groups of people
The Min-speaking peoples comprise subgroups of Han Chinese defined primarily by their use of Min varieties of the Chinese language, totaling around 75 million speakers concentrated in southeastern China, Taiwan, and overseas diaspora communities. These groups emerged from historical migrations and settlements in Fujian province, where Min dialects developed distinctly from other Sinitic languages due to geographic isolation and substrate influences from pre-Han populations. Unlike separate ethnic minorities, Min speakers are integrated within the Han majority, with cultural distinctions rooted in linguistic diversity rather than endogamy or self-identification as non-Han.[29][30] The predominant subgroup consists of Southern Min speakers, exceeding 45 million individuals, who inhabit southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Taiwan, and extensive Southeast Asian enclaves formed through 19th- and 20th-century emigration. In Taiwan, they are commonly termed Hoklo, forming about 70% of the population as of 2020 census data, while in Malaysia and Singapore, they constitute the core of Chinese communities, often retaining Hokkien dialects alongside local languages. This subgroup's maritime trade history facilitated its spread, with varieties like Teochew and Hainanese representing regional offshoots.[29][31] Smaller, more localized subgroups include Eastern Min speakers in northern Fujian around Fuzhou, numbering in the low millions and characterized by urban concentrations; Pu-Xian Min speakers in Putian and surrounding counties; and Central and Northern Min speakers in western Fujian prefectures like Nanping and Longyan, with populations typically under 2 million each per dialect cluster. Hainanese speakers on Hainan Island, a Southern Min variant, total about 4 million native users amid broader Mandarin shift. These inland groups exhibit less diaspora presence and greater assimilation to Mandarin due to state policies promoting standard Chinese since the 1950s.[29][30][32]Computing and technology
Programming and mathematical functions
In mathematics, the minimum of a finite set A = \{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n\} of real numbers, denoted \min A or \min_i a_i, is the smallest element a_k such that a_k \leq a_i for all i = 1, \dots, n.[33] For two values, \min(x, y) yields the smaller one, assuming a total order like the standard ordering on reals.[34] This concept extends to functions: the minimum value of a continuous function f on a closed interval [a, b] is the infimum attained at some point c \in [a, b], verifiable by the extreme value theorem.[35] The notation \min traces to mid-19th-century developments in logic and analysis, with early uses in George Boole's 1847 work on logical expressions, though systematic study of extrema dates to Pierre de Fermat's 17th-century adequality method for locating maxima and minima.[36][37] Properties include idempotence (\min(x, x) = x), absorption (\min(x, \min(y, z)) = \min(x, y, z)), and compatibility with order: if x \leq y, then \min(x, z) \leq \min(y, z). In optimization, minima classify as local (smaller than nearby values) or global (smallest overall), with algorithms like gradient descent seeking them numerically.[38] In programming,min functions compute the minimum over arguments or iterables, typically using pairwise comparisons for efficiency O(n) time on n elements. Python's built-in min(iterable) returns the smallest item, supporting keys for custom ordering (e.g., min(strings, key=len) for shortest string).[39] C++ provides std::min in <algorithm>, handling two arguments or ranges via iterators, with overloads for floating-point and user-defined types via comparators.[40] SQL's MIN() aggregate returns the smallest value in a column, as in SELECT MIN(salary) FROM employees.[41] Implementations often derive from comparison operators (< or custom <=>) rather than dedicated hardware instructions, enabling generality across types like integers, floats, or strings under lexicographic order.[42] Edge cases include empty inputs (raising errors) or ties (returning any minimum).
Software and browsers
Min is a free and open-source web browser designed for minimalism, speed, and user privacy, with its development beginning on April 13, 2016, via the first commit to its GitHub repository.[43] It employs a Chromium-based rendering engine through the Electron framework, allowing it to leverage web technologies for its user interface while providing core browsing capabilities similar to Google Chrome but with a stripped-down experience.[44] The browser automatically blocks most advertisements and trackers to enhance loading times and reduce data collection, and it integrates DuckDuckGo for search queries that include instant results from sources like Wikipedia entries and calculators without transmitting history to external servers.[44] Key interface features include compact tabs that fade for inactive ones to maximize screen space, a focus mode to conceal distractions like the address bar, and on-device full-text search across visited pages for quick retrieval without cloud dependency.[43] Users can organize tabs into collapsible "tasks" or groups with keyboard shortcuts for efficient multitasking, and bookmarks support tagging with automatic suggestions for better categorization.[44] Additional privacy-oriented elements encompass no built-in telemetry or history sharing, optional dark theme support, and integration with external password managers, though it lacks native extensions beyond basic ad-blocking.[43] Min supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS (both Intel and ARM architectures), various Linux distributions via Debian, Red Hat, or Arch packages, and Raspberry Pi in 32-bit and 64-bit variants, making it suitable for low-resource devices despite its Electron foundation.[43] Development remains active, with version 1.35.2 released on October 19, 2025, incorporating Chromium upgrades and interface refinements like hiding the debugging menu by default.[45] As of that release, the project has accumulated over 2,780 commits, reflecting ongoing enhancements focused on usability rather than feature bloat.[43] While praised for its distraction-free design in user reviews and open-source communities, its Electron dependency has drawn critiques for potentially higher memory usage compared to non-hybrid browsers, though blocking mechanisms mitigate some performance overhead.[46][47]Languages
Chinese dialects
The Min varieties form a primary branch of the Sinitic languages, exhibiting phonological, lexical, and syntactic features that distinguish them markedly from Mandarin and other northern varieties, with mutual intelligibility often low or absent across subgroups. These varieties evolved in relative isolation in southeastern China, particularly Fujian Province, and spread to Taiwan and Southeast Asian diaspora communities through migration waves starting in the 17th century. Approximately 75 million people speak Min varieties natively, concentrated in coastal Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and Taiwan, with significant populations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.[30][48] Min is conventionally subdivided into six to nine subgroups based on isoglosses in phonology and lexicon, including Northern Min (centered in Fuzhou), Southern Min (centered in Xiamen, encompassing Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien), Central Min, Eastern Min (such as Pu-Xian), and minor groups like Qiongwen in Hainan; these divisions reflect geographic clustering and limited intelligibility, with Southern Min alone accounting for over 40 million speakers in mainland China and Taiwan. Southern Min, the most expansive subgroup, features conservative retentions such as multiple series of initial stops and affricates, alongside complex tone sandhi rules that alter citation tones in connected speech. Northern Min, by contrast, preserves distinct nasal initials and fewer mergers in finals compared to Middle Chinese reflexes in other Sinitic branches.[49][30][48] Archaeolinguistic evidence, including substrate influences from pre-Sinitic languages in the Min-Yue region, indicates that proto-Min diverged from the common Sinitic ancestor prior to the Middle Chinese period, likely during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), as evidenced by retained Proto-Sinitic *s- prefixes and unmerged dentals not innovated in northern varieties. This early split, predating the Qieyun rhyme dictionary's standardization (601 CE), allowed Min to conserve archaisms like sesquisyllabic morphese structures and non-palatalized velars, though contact with Wu and Hakka varieties introduced later borrowings. Romanization efforts, such as Pe̍h-ōe-jī for Southern Min developed by missionaries in the 19th century, have facilitated literacy in Taiwan, where Southern Min speakers number around 70% of the population as of 2020 surveys.[50][51][52] Despite official promotion of Mandarin in the People's Republic of China since the 1950s, Min varieties persist in daily use and media, with Southern Min dominating Fujianese opera (Min opera) traditions dating to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644); however, intergenerational transmission faces decline in urban areas due to education policies favoring Putonghua, as documented in 2010 census data showing reduced fluency among youth under 30 in Fuzhou. Overseas, Hokkien-influenced Southern Min serves as a lingua franca among Chinese communities in Penang and Singapore, preserving dialectal literature like the 19th-century Amoy vernacular texts.[50][48]Other linguistic terms
In Biblical Hebrew, the noun min (מִין) refers to "kind," "sort," or "species," appearing 31 times in the Old Testament, notably in Genesis 1 to describe reproduction "after its kind" (e.g., plants and animals propagating within fixed categories). This term emphasizes categorical distinctions without implying modern biological species concepts, as its semantic range includes broader groupings like types or classes.[53][54] The preposition min (מִן) in Biblical Hebrew, often proclitic as mi- or me-, conveys "from," "out of," or "than," marking origins, separation, partitive senses, or comparisons; it appears over 500 times, with its full form predominant before consonants and reduced before vowels or certain gutturals, reflecting phonological assimilation rules. In Arabic, the cognate preposition min (مِنْ) similarly denotes "from," indicating spatial/temporal origins, partitives ("some of"), or ablative separation, as in min al-bayt ("from the house"); it governs the genitive case and assimilates in pronunciation before sun letters (e.g., minn before nūn).[55][56] In Modern Greek, min functions dually: as a negative imperative particle (e.g., prohibiting actions) or an epistemic modal expressing speaker commitment to a proposition's truth, often implying positive bias or certainty (e.g., min eíse áxristos "you can't be useless," asserted as fact). This modal usage, distinct from its negative role, highlights evidentiality and speaker attitude in declarative contexts.[57]Min also appears as a historical possessive pronoun form in Germanic languages, deriving from Proto-West Germanic mīn ("my/mine"), preserved in Middle English min and Scots min, denoting ownership before nouns (e.g., min hous "my house"), with the -n retained unlike modern English my.[58]