Re: Migration History

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

Dear Dylan, 

Thank you very much for the comment and the information.
Hope you don't mind that I post your very interesting article to 
the forum for all the Hakkas friends to read. 

On Thu, 12 Feb 1998, Dylan W.H. Sung wrote:

> Hi there, 
> 
> This is just a private comment, so I've not sent a copy to the forum. You
> can use this info if this helps in anyway.
> 
> Whilst in Shataukok, about 3 years ago, I was in the community hall there
> where village matters of all the separate Shataukok villages used its
> government services for rural matters. Anyhow, there were boxes of small
> pamphlets/booklets there about the region, and in the time I was there
> waiting in line, I looked into one of these (sadly I regret not asking if I
> could have a copy), and it said that the Qing Government had once had the
> policy of removing every one from the coastal regions of Guangdong, mainly
> due to piracy. This included what Cantonese stock and others there were as
> well as Hakka. This created a depopulation of the coastal regions, and also
> the movement of peoples inland. 
> 
> I can't remember the dates, but it was around the Early Qing period, so I
> am guessing it may have something to do with the escaping Ming followers of
> the time. 


It was during the period from 1649AD to 1662AD of the piratical, 
commercial and political activities of Zheng Cheng Gong (Coxinga)
on the rich maritime cities of the coast from Xia Men in southern 
Fujian to southern Zhejiang and north-eastern Guangdong. 

> 
> Later, the Qing government reversed this policy and people went back. But
> not all the original inhabitants went because they had already established
> themselves inland. Those that migrated into the coastal area took up
> possession of the land, eventually there were only the rocky mountainous
> areas left which are predominantly Hakka.
> 
> I know Shataukok is quite a localised remote place to you, but it is
> typical of an area of mixed ethnic groups living in relative harmony. There
> doesn't seem to be any stories handed down of any conflicts with Qing
> troops or anything. 
> 
> The romanisation Su should be Shu for the Sichuan province that was once
> part of the Three Kingdoms.
> 
> You may also be interested in the book, Unequal Treaty 1898-1997 by  Peter
> Wesley-Smith. It tells of the boundary marking of Hongkong's New
> Territories, and hence the border became a place of covert illegal
> immigration of all types of people. Shataukok, if you ever get to visit it,
> is divided in two parts, and people go freely from one into the other, so
> that any II's can do so without much trouble in the past before all the
> road checks and things that plague the locals nowadays.
> 
> The history of the migrations is very detailed, and you may like to index
> it also with all the various names. For instance, Yue Fei is in fact Ngok6
> Fui1 (or Fi1 depending on the speaker), as you see the mandarin doesn't do
> a good job in preserving the ng- initial. With the Chinese characters, we
> can say it without using an intemediary such as Mandarin.
> 
> I hope the above is constructive in your efforts to enlighten all of us! I
> have a brief page on Shataukok at

> http://ubik.virtual-pc.com/sapienti/shataukk.htm
> 
> Highest Regards,
> Dylan. 


With your permission, some of your information will be included
in my story "An abstract of the five Migrations of the Hakkas".

Thanks again and best wishes
Sincerely
Yoon-Ngan