Hakka and Xiongnu

[sllee <sllee@mail.asiawind.com>]

Dear Hakka Netters,

The following is a history of the integration of Xiongnu and Han from Han 
to Jin period. It might shed some light to the origin of Hakka. The names 
require Big5 to read. This will also be posted at the Homepage, in case 
the mailer has problem deciphering 8 bit codes.

SL Lee
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				Xiongnu and Hakka

There has been some discussion on the origin of Hakka and its relationship 
with Han and Xiongnu. The following is a collection of information intended to 
further explore this concept.

The definition of Han should be traced to Han dynasty as a conglomeration of
the various tribes Hua 地 , Xi甃 , Man芞 , Yi , RongΕ , Di╢ during the
Chunqiu-Zhanguo era. Although the unification was actually done in Qin
dynasty, historically Qin has been labeled a negative period in Chinese
history. So, even the word "Chinese" was derived from "Chin" (Qin) as it was
known to the west at that time, Chinese people rather identify with Han than
Qin. To that effect, Han people is in fact an inclusive term of many tribes. 

North of Han are a number of nomadic tribes which are more distinct in their
language, custom, and physical features: Xiongnu ィ , Xianbei翧  ,
Wuyuan疩  , FuYuひ 緇 ,Wusun疩 甝 , Dingling 箂 , Jiankun绊  . In the
south there were southwest Yi﹁ 玭 , southern Man玭 芞 , and the Hundred
Yues κ 禫 . 

At the end of Han dynasty, there was a major integration of the northern 
tribe with Han people. From the 4th century, Xiongnu, xianbei, Jie, Di, 
Jiang from the north established their kingdoms and moved to central China. 

The composition of Xiongnu is no less complicated than Han.

During Han dynasty, Xiongnu became a major tribe in the north, spanning from
Xinjiang to northeast China, driving Wuyuan and Xianbei to Liaodong狂 狥 ,
Liaoxi狂 ﹁ . Wuyuan and Xianbei both helped Han to fight Xiongnu, and some
of them adopted Han culture. 

Due to an internal dispute of inheritance, Xiongnu split into south Xiongnu
and north Xiongnu.  52 BC, South Xiongnu led by HuHanYe㊣ 龙 ǜ surrendered
his 5000 people and settled in Shanxi ﹁ .  They guard the border for Han
and fought against the north Xiongu.  During Han HeDi簙 ㎝  period, there
were 230,000 south Xiongnu under the sovereigntyof Han.  They started to
intermarry Han. 

North Xiongnu finally got defeated by a combined force of Xianbei, 
Dingling(from Siberia), south Xiongnu and Han. Around 90 AD, 400,000 
north Xiongnu surrendered to Han. Han sent back the south Xiongnu to take 
over the territory of north Xiongnu. Part of north Xiongnu's territory was 
also occupied by Xinabei. Some of the south and north Xiongnu people did 
settle down in Han territories.  The rest of the defeated north Xiongnu
moved westward to Siberia and perhaps Europe.  They were probably referred to 
as the Huns by the Europeans.

There were 19 tribes of Xiongnu settling in Han territories. During Wei肣
dynasty, the decendents of HuHanYe changed the name to Liu 糂 (that is how
it got confused. Liu Bang 糂 ü of Han dynasty which was about 400 years
earlier). The total number of Xiongnu was about several hundred thousand. 

During Jin dynasty, the population of all Chinese was 2.45 million while
around 280 AD, about 260,000 Xiongnu were allowed to settled in Shanxi
region.  However, they did not receive equality with Han, and were never
recognized as part of the Han group. Liu Yuan 糂 瞁 was a Xiongnu who
totally adopted the Han culture and used Han language. He later established
Han kingdom 簙 瓣 (304-318 AD, which was NOT the Han dyansty). They finally
took Henan 猠 玭 and Shanxi ﹁ , and destroyed West Jin ﹁  . Liu Yuan
claimed to be a nephew of the Liu of Han dynasty and adopted Han emporers as
his ancestors. EVEN SO, the Xiongnu Liu did not gain the confidence of the
Han people.  Their noblemen were only treated as peasants and servants by
the Han group. Finally his decendent Liu Yao 糂 耟 changed the name of the
kingdom to Zhao 化 (玡 化  , and abandoned the Liu Bang "Han" ancestry.
The Xiongnu "Han" kingdom was conquered by Hou Zha 化 led by Shi Le ホ 扒
of a Jie絶 tribe. Hou Zhao divided the Chinese territory with East Jin at
Huai River瞐  . 

Thewars between the xiongnu -Han and Jie, and the downfall of West Jin
caused the migration of the Han tribe. And this should be the origin of
Hakka. Jie 絶 tribe have high nose bridge and deep eye sockets, easily
recognized. When Shi Le's nephew became emporer, a Han general Yan Min__秢
overthrew the Hou Zhao and slaughter all people with high nose bridge. This
indicated an extreme ethnic conflict existed between the Han and non-Han at
that time. 

It is likely that to avoid genocide, some Xiongnu disguised as Han and move
to the south with the Han. However, Jin dynasty is a period with highly
distinct class difference .  It is difficult for someone with a clearly
distinct physical feature to infiltrate Han even as a civilian unless there
was some inter-ethnic marriage. It was almost impossible become a nobility. 
The number of Xiongnu who could mingle with Han and fled to the south could
not be in great number.  Cuturally speaking, although Liu Yuan was totally
Sinicized (Hanized) , most of the Xiongnu inhabitants in central China could
not have receive the kind of education.  It would be quite amazing if the
Xiongnu decend ents can upbring someone like Han Yu龙 稶 , Wang YangMing 
锭  , Zhu XiΧ 縌 . 

If Hakka was really a Xiongnu tongue they maintained, they would not have
survived at all in East Jin territory. They would have been all massacred. 
So Hakka language must be at least the language spoken by Han people during
Jin dynasty if not earlier. As indicated by the architecture of Hakka
5-Phoenix Buildingき 获 加 , the residents cannot be just ordinary
civilians, as the structure almost duplicate the Imperial palace design,
only much smaller.  They have to be related to the emporer or key court
officials. It is difficult to imagine that under such extreme ethnic
hostility at that time, that Hakka could be derived from Xiongnu and enjoyed
such treatment in Han occupied territories. (How many Bosnian can disguise
as Moslims, or Serfs?)

Even if some Hakkas were Xiongnu, their language, behavior must be totally
integrated with Han to survive this era.  Culturally speaking, if certain
Hakka were Xiongnu decendents, they should be totally indistinguishable from
the Hans.  It is not impossible, but unlikely that 400 years can upgrade the
identity and class of Xi ongnu to equality with Hans.  Even nowadays with
all the communication and education, African Americans took more than 200
years to gain their social status. 

In conclusion, the theory that Hakkas were derived from Xiongnu is a theory
that needs a lot more substantial support, but it cannot be excluded that
Hakkas do not have blood relationship with Xiongnu.