Researchers looking into the origins of Austronesians

A study research institute has been set up to determine whether Austronesians - a distinct ethnic group that speaks a family of languages and is today spread across Southeast Asia, Oceana and Madagascar - originated on the Chinese mainland.

The International Research Center for Austronesian Archaeology in Pingtan, Fujian province, is being led by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology and Fujian Museum.

Austronesian languages have nearly 400 million speakers, making the language group the world's fifth-largest by population.