Hakka and "Yab6gung1 hau4liung2"

[96981339r@polyu.edu.hk (cflau)]

Dear Dixie,

There is a study report on "Were the Sun of Cuiheng Village Hakka?" by Lin
Jiayou, presented to the Second International Conference on Hakkaology,
1994. The article is collected in the Proceeding of the Conference. The
whole article is in Chinese, but there is an English summary (p.827 of the
Proceeding):

TThere has been considerable discussion on the question of whether the Sun
of Cuiheng village were Hakka. In the 1930s, the idea that Sun Yatsen was a
Hakka was first put forward. In 1942, a paper titled "A Textual Criticism on
the origin of Sun Yatsen's Lineage', Luo Xianglin proved that Sun Yatsen's
ancestral home was Zijin, and more people came to accept the idea that he
was a Hakka. But other scholars argued against this idea. The present paper
examines the value of the argument on the basis of an investigation into the
language, customs and the place of origin of the people in the Cuiheng area.
It examines the ideas of both those who affirm that Sun Yatsen was a Hakka
and those who deny it, as well as the history and current condition of the
people of Cuiheng. On the basis of these investigations, it becomes clear
that the ancestor of Sun Yatsen were not among the Hakka removed from Zijin
in the early Qing (Dynasty). It remains an open question whether the
ancestor in the Ming were Hakka."

Mr. Lin Jiayou is also Hakka, but he found that none of the villager in
Cuiheng speaks Hakka. However, almost all the villages around it are
speaking Hakka, leaving Cuiheng a "Cantonese dialect island". The
relationship between the two dialect groups are said to be not too bad. The
Sun's in Cuiheng also deny their "Zijin origin", but claim a "Dongguan
Origin", insisting that they are Cantonese. Therefore, Mr. Lin concluded
that the notion of Zijin origin is not so credible, but he added that it is
not important for Dr. Sun to be a famous man whether he is Hakka or not.

Remember that the name "Hakka" in the Pearl River Delta always means
"intruders" and even "barbarian" in the eye of the Cantonese, who name
themselves Punti (Bendi, or natives). Therefore, if the Suns came to
Zhongshan before the wave of migration at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty,
they may have been assimilated and considered themselves native, even their
ancestor spoke the Hakka dialect. 

I hope this article can help you. If you are interested in the article,
please tell me your mailing address.

Liu zinfad