Re: hakka: Tales of a Hakka Town (6)

[KONG-KHEN_KOO@HP-Singapore-om1.om.hp.com]

Hello,

I would like to comment on the statement:

'The Hakkas were known in China as the gipsies'.

I am not sure in China they really called the Hakka gypsies.  The term gypsies 
connotes a wandering tribe living in caravan and make shift habitat.

The Hakka, though they migrated many times from the north to the south, they 
live in very well established township and cities once they have settled down.  
Due to the fact they have to escape the invaders and establihed powers, their 
route south often followed the ravine and rivers cutting across mountainous 
terrain.  They live in very well designed tu-wu (dewellings made earth beaten 
into solid hard walls) which last for generations.

For the matter, I do not think it appropriate to describe the Hakka as the 'Jew'
of China.

The Hakka were and are known in China as the Hakka.  They are not a wandering 
tribe from the north.  They kept detailed genealogical records which could trace
their family roots to high officials or even emperors in past dynasties.

Rgds,
Koo 


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: hakka: Tales of a Hakka Town (6)
Author:  chungyn (chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au) at HP-Singapore,mimegw19
Date:    11/10/98 11:14 AM


     
     
    Tales of a Hakka Town (6)
     
   The Chinese Communist Party was founded in July 1921. In 1924 the 
Chinese Communists sent agents to Malaya, a British Colony, to spread 
Communism to the "Overseas Chinese". However, their political rival was 
"Kuomintang," the Nationalist Party, which was founded in China after Dr 
Sun Yat-sen had overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The influence of the 
Kuomintang among the Overseas Chinese was very strong. Although 
Kuomintang had been declared an illegal society by the British authority 
it had struck deep roots among the Overseas Chinese.    
     
  The Communists achieved little success as there were no oppressed 
labour force and downtrodden peasants in Malaya. The Overseas Chinese 
were too busy working with the intention to make some money so that they 
could return to their homes and families they left behind. Laour was quite 
well paid after the Fisrt World War.
     
 The Communists found the Khehs or Hakkas and the Hainanese were ready to 
listen to the "freedoms in the future". In those days the Hainanese were  
depised by other dialects who considered them people of aboriginal blood 
with poor mentality. They thought they took up Communism to get even
with other dialects. The Hakkas were known in China as the gipsies. The 
Hainanese monopolizied the food trade like running restaurants, coffee 
shops and lodging-houses. The Hakkas were mostly rubber tappers and tin 
mine workers.
     
In those days the majority of the new migrants from China were illiterate. 
The Communists established night schools for them so that they could 
learn a few Chinese characters. There the Communists taught them
Marxsim. Most of them could not understand the creed of Marxism. However, 
when the Communists preached the similarity of the Communist Revolution 
and the Taiping Revolution the Hakkas took it seriously as they had lost 
in the Taiping Revolution.      
     
 The Hakkas flocked to the Communist movements. Illigal trade unions and 
craft guides were formed. The Malayan Comminist Party was formed in 
Singapore in 1935.
     
Three months before the Japanese attacked Malaya the British Government in 
England sent Lieutenant Colonel Spencer Chapman to Singapore with the 
intention to train a special force called 136 to remain behind if Japan 
overran Malaya. There were no well established organizations except
the Malayan Communist Party. As soon as the Japanese attcked Malaya the 
Communists had been asking the British to train them, but the British 
refused. Just ten days before the British surrendered to the Japanese 
the British Colonial Authority finally accepted to train the Communists 
at the 101 Special Training School in Singapore. Altogether 
the British only trained 165 Communists. One of them was from this little 
town Pusing.
     
Later when the Japanese had occupied the whole of Malaya these 165 
Communist became the core of the Malayan People's Anti- Japanese-Army 
(MPAJA).  A formidable MPAJA force was formed in Pusing. For three years 
and eight months the MPAJA gave the Japanese the headache.
     
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.
     
     
     
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