Fúníng

The Funing are Eastern Min speakers of north-eastern Fujian, on the rugged coast around Ningde, Fu'an and old Changxi, the future Xiapu, plus southern Zhejiang. Their dialects form the Fu-Ning branch of Eastern Min, distinct from the Houguan speech of Fuzhou.

A Wu kingdom shipyard was established here in 269, and in 282 the Jin created Wenma county, replaced under the Tang in 623 by Changxi, long the administrative centre of the north-east, covering later Ningde, Fu'an and other counties.

The Min kingdom split off Ningde county in 933 and the Southern Song carved out Fu'an in 1245. In 1286 the Yuan raised Changxi to Funing zhou, reduced to a county under the Ming before restoration; the Qing raised it to Funing prefecture in 1734. The hills behind the coast are a principal homeland of the She people.