Hakka people

Migrants were referred to as Hakka and no specific people were referred to as Hakka at first. Northern China's Yellow River area was the homeland of the Hakka.[12]

Since the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), the ancestors of the Hakka people have migrated southwards several times because of social unrest, upheaval and invasions from the northern provinces (e.g. Gansu, Henan).[6] Subsequent migrations also occurred at the end of the Tang dynasty in the 10th century to 12th century, the last of which saw a massive flood of refugees escaping southward when the nomadic barbarians invaded as well as from starvation and poor weather.

During the 16th century, in response to an economic boom, the Hakkas moved into hilly areas to mine for zinc and lead and also moved into the coastal plains to cultivate cash crops. After an economic downturn, many of these ventures failed and many people had to turn to pillaging to make ends meet.[13]

Hakka peasants wearing Hanfu during Ming dynasty, as depicted in the Boxer Codex (1590)

Although different in some social customs and culture (e.g. linguistic differences) from the surrounding population, they belong to the Han Chinese majority. Historical sources shown in census statistics relate only to the general population, irrespective of particular districts, provinces or regions. These census counts were made during imperial times. They did not distinguish what Varieties of Chinese the population spoke. Therefore, they do not directly document Hakka migrations. The study by Lo Hsiang-lin, K'o-chia Yen-chiu Tao-Liu / An Introduction to the Study of the Hakkas (Hsin-Ning & Singapore, 1933) used genealogical sources of family clans from various southern counties.

According to the 2009 studies published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Hakka genes are slightly tilted towards northern Han people compared with other southern Han people.[14] Nevertheless, the study has also shown a common genetic relationship between tested Han Chinese testers with an average difference of 0.32%.[14] Lingnan Hakka place names indicate a long history of the Hakka being culturally Han Chinese.[15]

Unlike other Han Chinese groups, the Hakkas are not named after a geographical region, e.g. a province, county or city. The Hakka people have a distinct identity from the Cantonese people. As 60% of the Hakkas in China reside in Guangdong province and 95% of overseas Hakkas ancestral homes are in Guangdong. Hakkas from Chaoshan, Canton and Fujian may self-identify as only Chaoshanese, Cantonese and Hokkiens.

Strangers who find out that the other party is a Hakka will affectionately acknowledge each other as "chhit-kâ-ngìn" (自家人) meaning "(one)self’s family".

Hakka language distribution in mainland China and Taiwan.

It is commonly held that the Hakkas are a subgroup of the Han Chinese that originated in the central plains.[16][17] To trace their origins, a number of theories so far have been brought forth among anthropologists, linguists and historians:[18]

1. The Hakkas are Han Chinese originating solely from the Central Plain;[18]
2. The Hakkas are Han Chinese from the Central Plain, with some inflow of those already in the south;[18]
3. The majority of the Hakkas are natives from the south, with portions coming from those in the north.[18]
4. The Hakkas are, genetically, the hybrid descendants of Ancient Han Chinese and local non-Han Hmong–Mien speaking ethnic groups such as the She people.[19]
5. The modern Hakka language shows traits of both the Old Chinese and proto-Hmong–Mien

The latter two theories are the most likely and are together supported by multiple scientific studies.[17][18][14] Clyde Kiang stated that the Hakkas' origins may also be linked with the Han's ancient neighbors, the Dongyi and Xiongnu people.[20] However, this is disputed by many scholars and Kiang's theories are considered to be controversial.[21]

Hakka Chinese scientist and researcher Dr. Siu-Leung Lee stated in the book by Chung Yoon-Ngan, The Hakka Chinese: Their Origin, Folk Songs And Nursery Rhymes, that the potential Hakka origins from the Northern Han and Xiongnu and that of the indigenous Southern She (畬族) and Yue (越族) tribes, "are all correct, yet none alone explain the origin of the Hakka", pointing out that the problem with "DNA typing" on limited numbers of people within population pools cannot correctly ascertain who are really the Southern Chinese, because many Southern Chinese are also from Northern Asia; Hakka or non-Hakka.[22] It is known that the earliest major waves of Hakka migration began due to the attacks of the two aforementioned tribes during the Jin dynasty (266–420).[23]

In retaliation after defeating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Huxiang military killed 30,000 Hakkas every day during the height of the anti-Hakka mass-killing operation.[24]

Government officials mobilized officers and men to kill the Hakkas, regained the Guanghai villages (region of Taishan city (臺山市) of Guangdong province) which was occupied by the Hakkas and massacred Hakkas indiscriminately. The number of Hakkas killed was tens of thousands in the Dalongdong area of Guanghai alone.

In retaliation for killing three Hunanese officers, the Hunanese forces exterminated the entire Hakka population of Wukeng and Chixi during military counter-attacks on the Hakkas in the year 1888. The Xiang Army also massacred tens of thousands of other Hakkas in Guanghai.

Shenzhen Hakkas Folk Customs Museum-Hehu New Residence

The Cantonese Red Turban rebels carried out a genocidal campaign against the Hakkas during a revolt against the Qing dynasty. The Cantonese Red Turbans killed 13 Hakka village chiefs and 7,630 other Hakkas while on their way to Heshan where they killed another 1,320 Hakkas after conquering it.

The bloody Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, which eventually killed some 500,000 Hakkas (or quite possibly even more), saw large-scale massacres against the Hakkas by Cantonese forces. After Hakka masacres against them, the Cantonese peasants butchered 500 Hakkas in a village located in the rural Enping county forcing the Hakkas to flee but they were later all murdered as well when they were caught and massacred by Cantonese peasants, who spared neither women and children Hakka, killing 4,000 of those Hakkas. 2,000 people which comprised half of the Hakka inhabitants of a village were exterminated in another Cantonese attack. Large numbers of Hakkas were killed in other places as well by the Cantonese, with the assistance of Xiang army.

Government officials mobilized officers and men from the local Cantonese peasants to kill the Hakkas, regained the Guanghai villages which was occupied by the Hakkas, and massacred the Hakkas. The number of Hakkas killed was tens of thousands in the Dalongdong area of Guanghai alone.

The Cantonese murdered more than 70 Hakka fellow provincials in Shanghai under the justification of a Hakka conspiracy that the Jiaying group was surrendering the city to foreign control.[25] On 27 August 1925, villages in a county belonged to the Hakka minority were attacked, Chiang's Punti (Cantonese) men and soldiers did not hesitate to rape their women and pillage their homes.[26]

Resurfaced feelings of ethnic hatred and friction between the Hakkas and Cantonese in Perak, Malaya, led to the Larut Wars.

Upon arriving to Madagascar, the Cantonese colluded to prevent any Hakka migration to Madagascar.

More than 100,000 Hakkas were slaughtered by the Punti people again in Guangxi province during another clan war. In October 1850, the Cantonese and Hakkas were hacking and killing each other for over 40 days in Guigang.

Between 1925 and 1926, thousands were killed and wounded when the ethnic hatred of the Hakkas by the natives of Lingao turned violent in northwestern Hainan.[27]

Hakka hill songs are traditionally used by hillside farmers in parts of Taiwan and China, mainly for entertainment in the farming fields and courting practices. They are characterized by the strong, resonating melody and voice, which would echo around hills and can be heard for up to a mile around the area. Hill songs can be considered a form of communication, as its participants often use it to communicate love songs or news.

Hakkapop is a genre of Hakka pop music made primarily in China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Christian missionaries with Hakka students of a girls' school in Waichow, Guangdong, 1921.

Hakkas who live in Guangdong comprise about 60% of the total Hakka population. Worldwide, over 95% of the overseas-descended Hakkas came from this Guangdong region, usually from Meizhou and Heyuan as well as other towns such as Shenzhen, Jieyang, Dongguan and Huizhou. Hakkas live mostly in the northeast part of the province, particularly in the so-called Xing-Mei (Xingning–Meixian) area. Unlike their kin in Fujian, Hakka in the Xingning and Meixian area developed a non-fortress-like unique architectural style, most notably the weilongwu (Chinese: 圍龍屋; pinyin: wéilóngwū or Hakka: Wui Lung Wuk) and sijiaolou (四角樓; sìjǐaolóu or Hakka: Si Kok Liu).

Gun port of Chengqilou in a Hakka Fujian Tulou.

A firearm for defence against enemies in a Hakka Fujian Tulou.

Tradition states that the early Hakka ancestors traveling from north China entered Fujian first, then by way of the Ting River they traveled to Guangdong and other parts of China, as well as overseas. Thus, the Ting River is also regarded as the Hakka Mother River.

The Hakkas who settled in the mountainous region of south-western Fujian province developed a unique form of architecture known as the tulou (土樓), literally meaning earthen structures. The tulou are round or square and were designed as a combined large fortress and multi-apartment building complex. The structures typically had only one entrance-way, with no windows at ground level. Each floor served a different function: the first floor contained a well and livestock, the second food storage and the third and higher floors living spaces. Tulou were built to withstand attack from bandits and marauders.

Today, Western Fujian is inhabited by 3 million Hakkas, scattered around villages in 10 counties (county-level 'cities' and districts) in Longyan and Sanming prefectures, 98% of whom are Hakkas living in Changting, Liancheng, Shanghang, Wuping, Yongding, Ninghua, Qingliu and Mingxi counties.[34]

Jiangxi contains the second largest Hakka community. Nearly all of southern Jiangxi province is Hakka, especially in Ganzhou. In the Song dynasty, a large number of Han Chinese migrated to the delta area as the Court moved southward because invasion of northern minority. They lived in Jiangxi and intermixed with the She and Yao minorities. Ganzhou was the place that the Hakka have settled before migrating to Western Fujian and Eastern Guangdong. During the early Qing dynasty, there was a massive depopulation in Gannan due to the ravage of pestilence and war. However, Western Fujian and Eastern Guangdong suffered population explosion at the same time. Some edicts were issued to block the coastal areas, ordering coastal residents to move to the inland. The population pressure and the sharp contradiction of the land redistribution drove some residents to leave. Some of them moved back to Gannan, integrating with other Hakka people who lived there already for generations. Thus, the modern Gannan Hakka community was finally formed.[35]

The Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662–1722), after a tour of the land, decided the province of Sichuan had to be repopulated after the devastation caused by Zhang Xianzhong. Seeing the Hakka were living in poverty in the coastal regions in Guangdong province, the emperor encouraged the Hakkas in the south to migrate to Sichuan province. He offered financial assistance to those willing to resettle in Sichuan: eight ounces of silver per man and four ounces per woman or child.

Sichuan was originally the origin of the Deng lineage until one of them was hired as an official in Guangdong during the Ming dynasty but during the Qing plan to increase the population in 1671 they came to Sichuan again. Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan.[36]

Hakka people are mainly concentrated in Liuyang and Liling villages.

As with those in Sichuan, many Hakka emigrated to Xinyang Prefecture (in Southern Henan Province), where Li Zicheng carried out a massacre in Guangzhou (now in Huangchuan) on 17 Jan, 1636.

There are two groups of Hakka in Vietnam. One is known as Ngái people and lives along the border with China in Northern Vietnam. Another group are Chinese immigrants to Southern Vietnam, known as Người Hẹ and is located around Saigon and Vũng Tàu.

About 65% of the Hakka trace their roots back to Meizhou and Heyuan prefectures in Guangdong Province. About 70% of the Hakkas are found in Phnom Penh where they dominate professions in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine and shoemaking. Hakkas are also found in Takéo Province, Stung Treng and Rattanakiri who consist of vegetable growers and rubber plantation workers. Hakka communities in the provinces migrated to Cambodia through Tonkin and Cochinchina in the 18th and 19th centuries.[50]

The Hakkas association of Pak Chong

There are no records as to when Hakka descendants arrived in Thailand. In 1901, Yu Cipeng, a Hakka member of The League Society of China came to visit Thailand and found that the establishment of many varied organizations among the Hakka was not good for unity. He tried to bring the two parties together and persuaded them to dissolve the associations in order to set up a new united one. In 1909 The Hakka Society of Siam was established and Chao Phraya Yommarat (Pan Sukhum), then interior minister, was invited to preside over the opening ceremony for the establishment of the society's nameplate, located in front of the Chinese shrine "Lee Tee Biao". Yang Liqing was its first president.[51]

In 2010, 232,914 people in Singapore reported Hakka ancestry. Singapore's most prominent Hakka is its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

Muar Hakka Association in Johor.

Hakka people form the second largest subgroup of the ethnic Chinese population of Malaysia, particularly in the peninsula, with several prominent Hakka figures emerging during colonial British rule. There are 1,729,000 people of Hakka ancestry in Malaysia as of 2016.[52] Chung Keng Quee, "Captain China" of Perak and Penang, was the founder of the mining town of Taiping, the leader of the Hai San, a millionaire philanthropist and an innovator in the mining of tin, having been respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement. Another notable Hakka was Yap Ah Loy, who founded Kuala Lumpur and was a Kapitan Cina of the settlement from 1868 to 1885, bringing significant economic contributions and was also an influential figure among the ethnic Chinese.

In the district of Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Hakka people make up more than 90% of the Chinese subgroup with dialect itself acting as a lingua franca there. This has contributed greatly to the fact that the place is commonly known among Hakka Chinese as "Hakka Village". The greatest concentration of Hakkas in northern peninsular Malaysia is in Ipoh, Perak and in Kuala Lumpur and its satellite cities in Selangor. Concentrations of Hakka people in Ipoh and surrounding areas are particularly high. The Hakkas in the Kinta Valley came mainly from the Jiaying Prefecture or Meixian, while those in Kuala Lumpur are mainly of Huizhou origin.[53]

A large number of Hakka people are also found in Sarawak, particularly in the city of Kuching and Miri, where there is a notable population of Hakka people who speak the "Ho Poh" variant of Hakka.

In Sabah, most of the ethnic Chinese are of Hakka descent. In the 1990s, the Hakkas formed around 57% of the total ethnic Chinese population in Sabah.[54] Hakka is the lingua franca among the Chinese in Sabah to such an extent that Chinese of other subgroups who migrate to Sabah from other states in Malaysia and elsewhere usually learn the Hakka dialect, with varying degrees of fluency.[55]

In 1882 the North Borneo Chartered Company opted to bring in Hakka labourers from Longchuan County, Guangdong. The first batch of 96 Hakkas brought to Sabah landed in Kudat on 4 April 1883 under the leadership of Luo Daifeng (Hakka: Lo Tai Fung). In the following decades Hakka immigrants settled throughout the state, with their main population centres in Kota Kinabalu (then known as Jesselton) and its surroundings (in the districts of Tuaran, Penampang, Ranau, Papar, Kota Belud as well as a lesser extent to Kota Marudu), with a significant minority residing in Sandakan (mainly ex-Taiping revolutionists) and other large populations in other towns and districts, most notably in Tawau, Tenom, Kuala Penyu, Tambunan, Lahad Datu, Semporna, Sipitang, Beaufort, Keningau and Kudat. The British felt the development of North Borneo was too slow and in 1920 they decided to encourage Hakka immigration into Sabah. In 1901, the total Chinese population in Sabah was 13897; by 1911, it had risen 100% to 27801.[56] Hakka immigration began to taper off during World War 2 and declined to a negligible level in the late 1940s.

Indonesian Hakka Museum in Jakarta.

Migration of Hakka people to Indonesia happened in several waves. The first wave landed in Riau Islands such as in Bangka Island and Belitung as tin miners in the 18th century. The second group of colonies were established along the Kapuas River in Borneo in the 19th century, predecessor to early Singapore residents. In the early 20th century, new arrivals joined their compatriots as traders, merchants and labourers in major cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, etc.

In Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Hakka people are sometimes known as Khek, from the Hokkien (Southern Min) pronunciation kheh of 客 (Hakka: hak). However, the use of the word 'Khek' is limited mainly to areas where the local Chinese population is mainly of Hokkien origin. In places where other Chinese subgroups predominate, the term 'Hakka' is still the more commonly used.

Belinyu, a little Hakka town in northern part of Bangka Island.

Hakka also live in Indonesia's largest tin producer islands of Bangka Belitung Islands province. They are the second majority ethnic group after Malays. The Hakka population in the province is also the second largest in Indonesia after West Kalimantan's and one of the highest percentages of Chinese living in Indonesia.

The first group of Hakka in Bangka and Belitung reached the islands in the 18th century from Guangdong. Many of them worked as tin mining labourers. Since then, they have remained on the island along with the native Malay. Their situation was much different from those of Chinese and native populations of other regions, where legal cultural conflicts were prevalent since the 1960s until 1999, by which Indonesian Chinese had finally regained their cultural freedoms. Here they lived together peacefully and still practiced their customs and cultural festivals, while in other regions they were strictly banned by government legislation prior to 1999.[57] Hakka on the island of Bangka spoke Hopo dialect mixed with Malay, especially in younger generations. Hakka spoken in Belinyu area in Bangka is considered to be standard.

Hakka people in Pontianak live alongside Teochew speaking Chinese. While the Teochews are dominant in the centre of Pontianak, the Hakka are more dominant in small towns along the Kapuas River in the regencies of Sanggau, Sekadau and Sintang. Their Hakka dialect is originally Hopo which influenced by Teochew dialect and also has vocabulary from the local Malay and Dayak tribes. The Hakka were instrumental in the Lanfang Republic.

The Hakka in this region are descendants of gold prospectors who migrated from China in the late 19th century.

The Hakka in Singkawang and the surrounding regencies of Sambas, Bengkayang, Ketapang and Landak speak a different standard of Hakka dialect to the Hakkas along the Kapuas River. Originally West Borneo has diverse Hakka origin but during the 19th century, a large people came from Jiexi so more Hakkas in the region speak Hopo mixed with Wuhua and Huilai accents that eventually formed the dialect of Singkawang Hakka.[58]

Hakka people in Jakarta mainly have roots from Meizhou, who came in the 19th century. Secondary migration of the Hakkas from other provinces like Bangka Belitung Islands and West Borneo came later.

A mixed wedding of East Timorese and Hakka in East Timor, where the four flower girls and the mother of the bride on the far right are of Hakka descent.

There was already a relatively large and vibrant Hakka community in East Timor before the 1975 Indonesian invasion. According to an estimate by the local Chinese Timorese association, the Hakka population of Portuguese Timor in 1975 was estimated to be around 25,000 (including a small minority of other Chinese ethnicities from Macau, which like East Timor was a Portuguese colony). According to a book source, an estimated 700 Hakka were killed within the first week of invasion in Dili alone. No clear numbers had been recorded since many Hakka had already escaped to neighbouring Australia. The recent re-establishment of Hakka associations in the country registered approximately 2,400 Hakka remaining, organised into some 400 families, including part-Timorese ones.

The Timorese Hakka diaspora can currently be found in Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia; in Portugal; in Macau; and in other parts of the world in smaller numbers. They often are highly educated and many continue their education in either Taiwan or the People's Republic of China, while a majority of the younger generation prefer to study in Australia. The Australian government took some years to assess their claims to be genuine refugees and not illegal immigrants, as partially related to the political situation in East Timor at the time. As Asian countries were neither willing to accept them as residents nor grant them political asylum to the Timorese in general, they were forced to live as stateless persons for some time. Despite this condition, many Hakka had become successful, establishing restaurant chains, shops, supermarkets and import operations in Australia. Since the independence of East Timor in 2000, some Hakka families had returned and invested in businesses in the newborn nation.

There used to be 1500 Hakkas largely at Tangra and Bombay, arriving after the great British Raj violence and chaos.

However, from the 1960s, after armed fighting broke out, there has been a steady migration to other countries, which accelerated in the succeeding decades. The majority moved to Britain and Canada, while others went to the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Austria and Sweden. The predominant dialect of Hakka in these communities is Meixian.

Hakkas are the largest Chinese community in India after Chinese Cantonese people of Indian ancestry. During the time he held office in Kolkata until the late 2000s, Yap Kon Chung, the Hakka ambassador, protected and helped the Chinese residents in India. Specifically, during the Indo-Chinese war of 1962, oppression of Sino-Indian residents by the Indians was escalated. Yap then made appeals to Prime Minister Nehru to bridge a bond between the Indians and Chinese persons. During his office, he was also the principal at a highly regarded school as well as a political facilitator who helped many families migrate to other countries such as Britain, Canada, the United States and parts of Europe until he himself migrated to Toronto, Canada to join his family. Yap died surrounded by family on 18 April 2014, at the age of 97.

Some Hakka people, notably from Taiwan, migrated to South Africa.

The vast majority of Mauritian Chinese are Hakkas. Most Mauritian Hakkas who emigrated to Mauritius in the mid-1940s came from Northeastern Guangdong, especially from the Meizhou or Meixian region.

As of 2008, the total population of Sino-Mauritian, consisting of Hakka and Cantonese, is around 35,000.

Many Chinese people in Réunion are of Hakka origin.[59] They either came to Réunion as indentured workers or as voluntary migrants.[59]

Hakka from all over the world have also migrated to the USA. One group is the New England Hakka Association, which reminds its members not to forget their roots. One example is a blog by Ying Han Brach called "Searching for My Hakka Roots". Another group is the Hakka Association of New York, which aims to promote Hakka culture across the five boroughs of New York City.[60] In the mid-1970s, the Hakka Benevolent Association in San Francisco was founded by Tu Chung. The association has strong ties with the San Francisco community and offers scholarships to their young members. There are significant Hakka American communities in San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Los Angeles.

There are around 20,000 Taiwanese Hakkas in the United States.

There are several Hakka communities across Canada. One group that embraces on Hakka culture in this diverse country is the Hakka Heritage Alliance. Also see Jamaica.

Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka; they have a long history in Jamaica. Between 1854 and 1884, nearly 5,000 Hakkas arrived in Jamaica in three major voyages. The Hakkas seized the opportunity to venture into a new land, embracing the local language, customs and culture. During the 1960s and 1970s, substantial migration of Jamaican Hakkas to the US and Canada have occurred.[61] The Hakkas in Jamaica came mainly from Dongguan, Huiyang and Bao'an counties of Guangdong Province.[53]

The Chinese in Suriname are homogeneous as a group and the great majority can trace their roots to Huidong'an (惠东安). One famous Hakka is President Henk Chin A Sen.[53]

Chinese people are a small minority at Guyana. Guyana's most prominent Hakka Chinese is its first president, Arthur Chung.

Hakka people first arrived in Australia in the 1880s. Hakka arrivals were halted along with other Chinese immigrants during the White Australia Policy era from 1901 to 1973 and resumed thereafter. Some estimate that there are now 100,000 Hakka people in Australia.[62]

There are people of Hakka descent in New Zealand.[63][64]

Hakka people first arrived in Papara, Tahiti in 1865 [65]

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