The arrival of the Hakkas in Sichuan Province

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

   The arrival of the Hakkas in Sichuan Province

   At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Mandate of Heaven 
of the Ming Dynasty (1368AD to 1644AD) was slowly slipping away from the 
grip of the Ming Imperial House to massive peasant revolts through out 
the country. Many peasants organised themselves into armed bands to 
fight against the tyrannies. There was a carpenter by the name of Zhang 
Xianzhong who was born in 1600AD in Yan An county in the province of 
Shaanxi. It was due to him that many Hakkas emigrated from Meixian in 
the province of Guangdong to Sichuan province.    

   In 1628AD there occurred a famine in the province of Shaanxi. Many 
hungry peasants formed armed bands and they roamed Northern China. Zhang 
Xianzhong became a leader of one of such bands. He went plundering and 
pillaging from the north to the south. Zhang Xianzhong titled himself 
the Ba Da Wang (Eighth Great King) and his followers nicknamed him the 
Huang Hu (Yellow Tiger). The armed forces of the Ming Court were too 
weak to stop him from crossing the Yellow River. He captured a large 
part of the province of Hubei where there was abundance of water and 
rice for his men to eat. He killed all the landlords and confiscated 
wealth from the rich and gave it to the poor; a Robin Hood.

   In March 1635AD Zhang first entered Sichuan and captured its capital 
Chengdu. However, the Sichuanese resisted him strongly and he had to 
withdraw to the north to Shaanxi province his homeland where, later, he 
formed an alliance with other armed bands. 

   In 1640AD with 100,000 men Zhang Xianzhong again invaded Sichuan 
through the Yangtze gorges and captured Chengdu the second time. 
According to the history recorded by the Manchu Qing Dynasty Zhang 
Xianzhong put all the residents in Chengdu to the swords.
This was what the Yellow Tiger said about this massacre:
 
	"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 city of Chengdu. 

   The Ming Dynasty ended in 1644AD and the Manchus established the 
Qing Dynasty (1644AD to 1911AD). Zhang Xianzhong founded his own 
Kingdom called Da Xi (Great West Kingdom). The Manchu troops entered 
Sichuan in 1645 and defeated Zhang. Again Chengdu was razed to the 
ground by the Manchus. The province of Sichuan was almost depopulated 
by the sackings of Zhang and the Manchus.     
   
   Emperor Kang Xi (reigned 1662AD to 1722AD), after a tour of the land,
decided the province of Sichuan had to be repopulated. Seeing the Hakkas 
were living in poverty in the coastal regions in Guangdong province the
Emperor encouraged the Hakkas in the south to emigrate to Sichuan 
province. He offered financial assistance to those who were willing to 
resettle in Sichuan; eight ounces of silver per man and four ounces per 
woman or child. Knowing the land in Sichuan was much fertile than that
where they lived and in order to escape the hardship and miserable lives
thousands upon thousands of Hakkas living in the regions between the
provinces of Guangdong and Fujian responded and accepted the offer by
Emperor Kang Xi. This migration is referred as the fourth migration of
the Hakkas. 

   Nowadays, millions of Sichuanese could trace their roots back to the 
province of Guangdong, especially the district of Meixian. 
 
   Deng Xiaoping, the former paramount leader of China, was born into a 
Hakka family in Guang An county in Sichuan province. Deng's ancestors could
be traced back to Meixian. Zhu De, the famous commander-in-chief of the 
Chinese Red Army since its inception in Jing Gang Shan in 1927, was 
born in Yi Long county in Sichuan province. His father, a Hakka, was born 
in Guangdong province. Zhu De's grandfather took his family and emigrated to 
Sichuan province. He was one of the thirteen children of the Zhu family. 


CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.