Tanka people
Eberhard concludes (1968:378-9) that the "jiao", which "occur in the whole of Central and South China", "is a special form of the snake as river god. The snake as river god or god of the ocean is typical for the coastal culture, particularly the sub-group of the Tan peoples (the Tanka people)". :26 also suggests, "The Chinese lore about these southern krakens seems to have been borrowed from the indigenes of the monsoon coast".