Oversea Hakkas Contributions

["Teoh, Jonathan" <eagle@eastman.com>]

Oversea Hakkas have always been a major economical and ideas contributor to
fellow Hakkas in mainland China.

All the high schools in Ha Yong town and surrounding area were sponsored by
oversea Hakkas and one of them Kiao Yuk, was the best in Yong Ding county
for a long time before it was eclipsed by the local government built high
school in Yong Ding county seat.

 All the "better" hospitals in Moi Yen areas including Yong Ding county was
built by Tian Ka Piang as he pledged to build a hospital in every Hakka
county just as Fu woon fu, the tiger palm king pledged to build a school in
every Hakka county !

The road from my dad's village, Shong Chuan  to Ha Yong town is built by the
my fellow oversea Hakkas from Shong Chuan village. The mayor of Ha Yong town
personally went to Singapore to collect the construction fees from my
relative whom I still keep in touch. By the way,  I found out that the
estimated expenses quoted by local government officials tends to be double
whenever the actual construction begin. Such is the case for the road from
my dad's village to Ha Yong and so is a Science building built in Kiao Yuk
high school by oversea Hakkas.

One local guide told me on my first visit to China that the Ha Yong town is
mainly boosted by oversea Hakkas. Also, when the flood strike the Hakka
areas several years, a lot of reconstruction fees were from oversea Hakkas
sending back to their relatives.

The Ka Yin University in Moi Yen was started and built by oversea Hakkas,
and so are many factories in Moi Yen from batteries to ties.  Oversea Hakka
have always play an important and leading part for the present status of Moi
Yen. Recently a Malaysian Hakka just built a modern, grand kindergarten
school in Moi Yen.

I have visited many villages, most that I can recall has some infrastructure
built by oversea Hakka relatives, such as a paved bridge, a Liong Ting(
Pavilion for farmers to rest), road, and school.

The love and the contributions of oversea Hakkas to Hakka area can never be
denied by anyone. If anyone is skeptical about this, just visit the Hakka
areas and ask who build this school,  who build that hospital, and who
invested and run that electric power station. 

PS: There is an internet cafe in Moi Yen charging 5 RMB / hour in case you
think Moi Yen is just a sleepy small town. It is the only "industrial" city
of the Hakkas with an airport. You can actually fly to Moi Yen from Hong
Kong, or from GuangZhou. 


Jonathan Teoh, Systems Analyst
Global Business System, IT
Eastman Chemical Company    (423) 229-6506