The Truth About the Hakka - Blog

blog.IslaFormosa.comMonday, January 15, 2007

The Truth about the HakkaSome interesting facts about the oftenoverlooked Hakka:-They are a migratory society-They are the source of many influentialrevolutionary and political leaders.-Traditionally, they did not practice footbinding, which suggests the women had towork

Hakka or 客家 (guest families) are asub-group of Chinese. Originally resettled bythe Chinese central government, it wasbelieved they kept the name because ofbeing outsiders to the areas where theyfinally settled.

They've been described as the Jews of Asiadue to their persecution in history:

"Hakkas are considered in mainstream Chinese society as a taboo caste or "the Jewsof China" due to their forced migratory patterns and systematic victimization by otherChinese ethnic groups."

"[Due to persecution,] the Hakka people placed a greater reliance on the internalstrengths of their own customs and cultural identity"

Also: "Hakka dissenters featured in the anti-government rebellion and subsequentlywere persecuted following the failure of the Tai Ping revolution. One notable feature ofthe Hakka culture was their marked embrace of the Christian faith which at the time ofanti-Western sentiment in the Qing dynasty added more cultural impetus for theirpersecution."

As relative outcasts in many ways, he Hakkas have emigrated to many regionsworldwide, much in line with their migratory nature, being a larger proportion ofoverseas Chinese in some countries.

One last interesting thing to note is, for the size of their population, there are quite a fewnotable Hakka. To name a few: Hong Xiuquan (leader of the failed Taiping Rebellion),Mao Zedong, Lee Denghui and Lee Kwan Yew. Others, including singers and actors,are here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka#Entertainers

Non-Hakka in Taiwan generally perpetuate the usual stereotypes (that might have beenassociated to Jews in other places): Hakka are stingy people and keep to themselves,intermarrying rather than going outside their culture, and they are not to be trusted.How much this is really true remains something that is best determined on a case bycase basis. It could be the typical case that other cultures are jealous of the remarkablesuccess of some Hakka and just propagate these kinds of things. The proud Hakka thatI know are friendly, open and hard-working.

One student has suggested to me that Hakka language's pronunciation most resembles

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Have you ever asked the Taiwanese why theybehave the way they do? Think about all thosestrange customs, superstitions and commonlyheld beliefs that you can't quite wrap your headaround.

If you do this frequently, you might oftenreceive this answer:

没有為什麼 or "MeiYou WeiShenMa"

It literally translates as "There is no why." Butwhy would someone answer like this?

Well, Taiwanese sometimes don't questionthings the way we do. Kind of like saying, wellthat's just the way things are. No need to askquestions...

Well, this site's challenge and goal is todisprove this expression. There must be a why!Not only must there be whys but also whos,whats, whens, wheres and hows. The answersare out there lurking in the streets, homes,landscape and cyberspace that is Taiwan!

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Posted by David W. at 10:29 AM

the court language of the Tang or Sung Dynasty and may have been the officiallanguage of that time. There may be some truth to this but also a whole load ofdisagreement too:

"Actually, there is only one 'north' imperial language but this language has evolvedthroughout time to become the mandarin of today.

During the tang dynasty, the imperial language probably sounded closest to cantonese,during the sung dynasty probably sounded closest to hakka. My assumption if you lookat the link that I provided earlier are as follows.

Qin ---> Cantonese ---> Hakka/Gan ---> Mandarin

During the progression, you notice that several mutations occur [in pronunciation]"

These days "younger Hakka speakers [also] face alienation from their own mothertongue" due to pressure from larger language and cultural groups surrounding them.Due to the numbers game they are doomed to falling into the giant vat of soy paste thatis Chinese society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka

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3 comments:Ivan said...

I'm a Hakka myself living in Europe for the last ten years, and thanks for thearticle. It's a muse to read what other people say about my own people,though none of them are new to be of course. Just to add a few things:

- Apart from the language, they might be the closest to Han Chinese due totheir tradition to intermarry, while the other sub-group of Han Chinese atone point or another in the history mixed with other ethnicities.

- Regarding the language. There are many old poems that rhyme the best ifread out with hakka instead of mandarin. Which seems to support thetheory about it being the old court language.

- Like Jewish families, Hakka families emphasize education. Because that'swhere they're likely to suceed given that the most resourceful lands had allbeen occupied by the "locals". To this, the motto in our family is "耕讀傳家“,which means: farm, study, and passing (them to the next) generations.

That's all I can think of at the moment!

5/31/2007 2:55 AM

Anonymous said...

Hakka are stingy people!! no doubt about that!!!!

10/01/2010 4:11 PM

Anonymous said...

Sorry to say. But at first I liked the Hakka then I married into a TaiwaneseHakka family. Later I found them to be extremely stingy and controlling.Their homes were like rubbish tips. They never threw anything away - evenkept broken TVs and VCRS, boxes, shopping bags, you name it! It wasridiculous. I am sure this is not the case in all Hakka families, but I canunderstand now why people have called them so. This family was of afemale majority - I don't know if that had anything to do with it!

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