A brief of Hakka People

[teoh@cs.utk.edu]

>From chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au Sun Mar 23 11:17:50 1997
From: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>
Subject: A brief of Hakka People



This was the response to my story of the migrations of the 
Hakka People I received last year.  

My story:

The five big migrations of the Hakka People 

Hakka People were originally from the province of Henan.
There were five big migrations of the Hakka People to the South.

   The first migration was during the Period of The Sixteen Kingdoms
of the Five Barbarians 317AD to 581AD. Due to the invasion of the 
Non-Han Chinese from the Siberian steppes the Hakka People crossed
the Son Of The Ocean (Yangtze Jiang) and settled down in the provinces 
of Anhui and Jiangxi.

   The second migration took place during the end of the Tang Dynasty
(618AD to 907AD). This Period was called The Five Dynasty and The ten
Kingdoms. It lasted from 907AD to 954AD.

   The third started in around 1274AD during the Song Dynasty (960AD to 
1279AD).The Hakka People fled from the conquering Mongolian armies. 
The provinces of the middle and south China were already settled by the
earliers migrants. They had to settle farther south. 
They arrived in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and North
Vietnam. 

   The fourth migration occurred after the establishment of the Qing
Dynasty (1644AD to 1911AD). Zhang Xian Zhong, the "Yellow Tiger",
the rebel during the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368AD to 1644AD) invaded
Sichuan province. Although he established a government his main concern
was military control. He stamped out all his opponents. He killed thousands
upon thousands of people.
He composed a poem and it read, 
	"The Heaven gave rise to everything to nourish men.
	Men has not even a thing to thank the Heaven.	
        Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill."
He almost depopulated the province of Sichuan.
  The Qing Government encouraged the Hakka People living in southern China
to immigrate to Sichuan province and paid 8 ounces of silver per man, four 
ounces per woman or child. Many Hakka People accepted the offer and settled
down in Sichuan province.

   The fifth and the last migration took place at the end of the Taiping
Revolution (1851AD to 1864AD). To the Hakka this revolution was
their most glourious epic because the leader, Hong Xiu Quan, was a Hakka.   
Hong established a Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing. Unfortunately it failed to
oust the Qing Government. The revolution was destroyed by the Imperial Qing 
Government with the help of the Western Powers.

   After the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1864AD The 
Manchus killed all men, women and children with the surname Hong. Many
fled or changed their surnames. 
  Due to these massacres many Hakka People migrated to Nanyang. Some of
them went as far as Brazil, Panama, U.S.A and even to Africa. Today almost
100% of the Chinese descents in Sarawak State of Malaysia are Hakka.

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.

The response

From: jaskew@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Joseph Askew)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Re: The five big migrations of the Hakka People
Date: 8 Sep 96 05:49:26 GMT
Organization: Monash University

chungyn@collective.com.au (CHUNG Yoon-Ngan) writes:

>The five big migrations of the Hakka People.

>Hakka People were originally from the province of Henan.
>There were five migrations of the Hakka People.
>   The first migration was during the Period of The Sixteen Kingdoms
>of the Five Barbarians 317AD to 581AD. Due to the invasion of the 
>Non-Han Chinese from the Siberian steppes the Hakka People crossed
>the Son Of The Ocean (Yangtze Jiang) and settled down in the provinces 
>of Anhui and Jiangxi.

This is a nice story and is commonly repeated. Being the story
Hakka like to tell about themselves I suppose. But as a language
Hakka is not related to Mandarin or the northern dialects. It is
most closely related to other southern (but Chinese) dialects.
Now either you accept that all the Hakka forgot their own language
and learnt someone else's or you forget about fleeing from Henan.
Simple if you ask me.

According to stories you often hear from Cantonese people the 
Hakka are just assimilated "barbarians". Like the Tanka boat
people of Hong Kong. Which we know in late Imperial times were
non-Chinese but who have since become so assimilated that they
are more or less treated as Chinese. And speak Cantonese. It is
interesting that the only two sub-groups of Chinese people that
are commonly described using "jia" are the Tanka (Dengjia) and
the Hakka (Kejia). Both derogatory terms. On the other hand the
use of "jia" is wide spread for non-Chinese people of the south.
And then again only two Chinese subgroups failed to bind their
women's feet (a northern custom too which for some reason the
Hakka did not seem to have brought from the north). The Tanka 
and the Hakka. Just like all the non-Chinese people of the south.

>The Qing Government encouraged the Hakka People living in southern China to 
>immigrate to Sichuan province and paid 8 ounces of silver per man, four 
>ounces per woman or child. Many Hakka People accepted the offer and settled
>down in Sichuan province.

Which is why Deng Xiaoping can be both a Hakka and from Sichuan.

>   The fifth and last migration took place at the end of the Taiping
>Revolution(1851AD to 1864AD). To the Hakka People this revolution was
>their most glourious epic because the leader, Hong Xiu Quan, was a Hakka.   

If this bunch of mass murderers is the best that the Hakka can claim
I would given up if I were one. Let's not forget that the CCP was at
one time dominated by Hakka. Still is to a great extent. So much so
that the Long March was routed through mostly Hakka areas. 

>Hong established a Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing. Unfortunately it failed to
>oust the Qing Government. The revolution was destroyed by the Imperial Qing 
>Government with the help of the Western Powers.

Interesting use of the word "unfortunately". Given that the Taipings
killed more people while in government than any non-Communist regime
before or since why do you think it would have been a good idea for
them to have won?

>Due to these massacres many Hakka People migrated to Nanyang. Some of them
>went as far as Brazil, Panama, U.S.A and even to Africa. Today almost 100% 
>of the Chinese descents in Sarawak State of Malaysia are Hakka People.

The Hakka were early to come to Sarawak but they got displaced by 
later commers. Whole cities which were founded by Hakka people and
once were entirely Hakka are now majority Cantonese. Quite a lot of
Hakka people made it as far as Jamaica though. Which is why the model
Naomi Campbell is supposed to have a Hakka father.

Joseph

--
				Sherman Was Right