Fúlǎo

The Fulao of Haifeng and Lufeng are Southern Min speakers on the coast between the Pearl River delta and Chaoshan, later called Hailufeng. Their name, also written Haklau, is the local form of Hoklo, originally a Hakka label for Min neighbours, later adopted by the people of the two counties, who remain distinct from Teochew and Quanzhou Hokkien speakers.

Haifeng county was created in 331 from Boluo under the Eastern Jin, briefly split in 622 when Tang set up Anlu, later Lufeng, and for most of its history under Huizhou prefecture rather than Chaozhou.

Local families descend chiefly from Ming and Qing Zhangzhou and Quanzhou migrants, so their Hai Lok Hong speech, though sharing Teochew features, keeps Zhangzhou phonology, with Hakka villages in the hills behind. The Ming carved Huilai out of Haifeng in 1524, and the Qing formed Lufeng from three of Haifeng's wards in 1731.