Global Hakka Chinese Overseas HISTORY, LITERATURE, and SOCIETY

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Global Hakka Chinese Overseas HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND SOCIETY

Chief Editor

Wang Gungwu

Subject Editors

Evelyn Hu-DeHart, David Der-wei Wang, Wong Siu-lun

Editorial Board

Ien Ang, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Liu Hong, Frank Pieke, Elizabeth Sinn, Jing Tsu

Volume 10

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/cho Global Hakka

Hakka Identity in the Remaking

Jessieca Leo

LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Olga Polunin (www.olgapolunin.com).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leo, Jessieca, 1953- author. Global Hakka : Hakka identity in the remaking / by Jessieca Leo. pages cm. — (Chinese overseas ; volume 10) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-30026-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-30027-9 (e-book) 1. Hakka (Chinese people) 2. Hakka (Chinese people)—Ethnic identity. 3. Hakka (Chinese people)—Migrations. I. Title. DS731.H3L45 2015 305.8951'7—dc23 2015020188

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This book is printed on acid-free paper. For

My mother Chew Mooi 鄒妹 (a.k.a. 鄒蓮娣 Hk. Tseu Lian Tai) (b. 1920)

My father Leow Fook 廖福 (a.k.a. 廖連福 Hk. Liau Lian Fuk) (1917–1992)

∵

Contents

Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi Illustrations and Photos xiv Glossary xv

Introduction 1

1 Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology and Problematics 16

2 Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 46

3 Migration Models 78

4 Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 116

5 Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 154

6 Hakka Cultural Markers 203

7 Conclusions 349

Appendices Appendix A: Global Hakka: A Case Study 361 Appendix A.I: Summary of Hakka Cultural Markers 382 Appendix A.II: Questionnaire for the Hakka Project 384 Appendix A.III: Summary of Interviews 387

Appendix B: Extract from the 廖氏大宗譜 Liaoshi da zongpu (The Complete Genealogical Register of the Liao Clan) 389

Appendix C: 班次 banci Hk. pan tshu, 派輩 paibei Hk. phai pui or 派字 paizi Hk. phai tshu (Generation Poem of a Liao Lineage) 400

Appendix D: 月光光 Yueguang Guang Hk. Nyet Kong Kong (The Moon Shines) 401

Appendix E: 孝順父母理應當 (Xiaoshun fumu li yingdang) Hk. Hau sun fu mu li yin tong (The Reasons Parents Deserve Filial Obedience) 407 viii contents

Appendix F: 人家日用 Renjia riyong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs) 413

Appendix G: 山歌九首 Shange jiushou Hk. San ko khiu tsiu (Nine Mountain Songs Collected by Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲) 439

Appendix H: 蕃人曉著褲 Fanren xiao zhuo ku Hk. Fan ngin hiau chok fu (When Natives Learn to Wear Trousers) 443

Appendix I: 亞婆買鹹菜 Yapo mai xiancai Hk. A pho mai ham tshoi (Granny Buys Salted Vegetables) 444

Appendix J: 我是客家人 Wo shi kejiaren Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am a Hakka Person) 448

Appendix K: 我是客家人 Wo shi kejiaren Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am a Hakka Person) 450

Appendix L: 客家母親河 Kejia muqinhe Hk. Hak ka mu tshin ho (Hakka Mother River) 453

Appendix M: 海邊看飛機 Haibian kan feiji Hk. Hoi pien kon fui ki (Watching Aeroplanes on the Beach) 455

Appendix N: A Survey on the Definition of Migration, Emigration, and Immigration 460

Appendix O: Hakka Language Skill Survey: Chinese Methodist Church Kindergarten, Beruas Class 2009 468

Bibliography 471 Index 521 Foreword

We can say that beginning with the 19th century, the Hakka became an important part of the global Chinese communities. Having been the ‘guest people’ in certain regions of the Chinese empire over a long period, Hakka people then became ‘guests’ in even more remote places like Southeast Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean. Migration did not end in the 20th century. With the transfer of Hong Kong under the sovereignty of PR China, Hakka people once more, as well as other Chinese ethnicities, moved into the overseas communities. Globalization now provides new challenges for Hakka communities around the world. Community bonds dissolve and ‘being guests’ turns into an obsolete epithet in a time where economic, political and social stimulations and pressures dislocate families and communities daily. Although the group identity and history of the Hakka people refer to emigration and settlement, migration in the era of globalization entails new conditions and appearances for life and identity in ethnic communities. Societies change, constructions of cultural and ethnic identity too. Most research on Hakka identity focuses on local communities and identifies variations in social habits, linguistic practices and cultural narratives, thereby per- sisting in writing about Hakka identity along the lines of ethnic history. But how can cultural or ethnic identity be described when personal living conditions and social environments cease to provide a constant framework in a local community, where ethnic and cultural identity is reflected in and can be observed in interactive situations and social communication? Jessieca Leo’s study offers a quite different approach. It provides a new perspective of Hakka identity in the context of a global society. In short, Hakka identity becomes personalized. Rather than the life and culture of ethnic communities, the multifaceted world of the individual serves as the base for describing cultural and ethnic identity. The global context sets new parameters for identity constructions. This does not mean that traditional cultural properties for identity construction have to be abandoned, rather their significance changes. They become part of the greater process constructing the personal and social identity of the individual. The status of some of these ethnic identi- fications and cultural markers, like language and values, shift into contingency, which means that I may relate my personal identity to a certain ethnic identity, although my cultural background and linguistic biography may define my person in a quite different way. Thus, besides the insights in constructions of Hakka identity in the global world today, the present study offers new views on how we should think about x foreword concepts like ethnic and cultural identity. Is ethnic identity a property of my personal identity and does it belong to the constituent parts that make me the person I am? My personality may change and I may deny or accept, strengthen or reduce the importance of how ethnic relationship defines my personality. Otherwise, living in an open society, my relationship with my ethnicity may be observed in my social interactions, but it may have no real significance in constituting my social identity. And my personal cultural socialization might differ from the social and cultural formations my ethnic relationship is commonly related to. This makes ethnic identity a flexible concept, which still maintains its significance albeit within a wider frame of reference. We need new concepts to describe the manifold processes which shape our identity and allow us to refer to an ethnic identity without being forced to relate to certain properties and values. A concept like ‘Hakkaness’ gives credit to the various interactions between individual determinants and social adher- ence which underlie identity construction in different cultural contexts. It rec- ognizes, too, the impact of values and habits of other cultures and societies which transform the ethnic identity of an individual in certain ways—making his or her perception of his or her own ethnic identity different from other regions and localities. A person who lives abroad and comes back to her or his hometown after a long time may be astonished by some of the transformations in the local habits not known to her or him before, while local persons already accustomed to these modifications see them as the vital testimony of their own tradition. On the other hand, some habits and values that she or he may have imperceptibly adopted while living abroad may offend traditions from the others’ point of view. Perceptions of the same identity become un- identical, yet persist to be interrelated with each other. In the global context, ethnic identity becomes personal-centered, flexible, and elastic to the various cultural settings and social conditions which an individual is faced with. Flexibility and elasticity do not mean that ethnic identity does not play a significant role today, rather that they show its prominence in the construction of personal and social identities in the global world. Hence, it is quite fascinating to see how Hakka identity prevails even when people are dislocated and dispersed through different parts of the world, where traditional forms of communitarian life have changed dramatically.

Dennis Schilling Professor Ludwig Maximilian University Munich Acknowledgements

My interest in Chinese Studies started at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Though of Chinese descent, I could not read or write Chinese because I went to English-medium schools in Malaysia. It was at the LMU that I learned how to read Chinese. Naturally, my thanks go to everyone who taught and guided me at the Institute of Sinology in the Faculty of Southeast Asian Studies. In addition, my gratitude goes to the many informants who became vital links in my research and gave this book context, color, texture and character. This is the reason that the acknowledgement for this work is long because so many people contributed to it. Without their enthusiastic participation, generous sharing and kind assistance this work could not have been written. First and foremost I wish to thank Professor Dennis Schilling for his guid- ance, forbearance and support, without which I would have given up long ago. He honed my skill in text analysis, demanded precision in my arguments, and gave me confidence where it was lacking. I am honored to be his student. I am also grateful to Professor Thomas O. Höllmann for valuable suggestions and advice on the ethnological aspects of this study and Professors Hans van Ess and Roderich Ptak who have supported me throughout my studies. I am thankful to Etain Addey and Richard Bannerman for their wonderful friendship, encouragement and correction of parts of the manuscript; Angela Lee for generous support, warm friendship and copy editing; and Iris Huck, Peter Gensmantel and Maxl Huck for their caring and loving friendship and taking care of my computer. Heartfelt thanks also go to Lim Siauw Chong, Chong You Peng and Robert Armstrong for years and years of encouragement and support. Special thanks also go to Olga Marie Polunin for use of her expressive painting for the cover, Liaw Yoon Foo for the use of his family generation poem and sharing of family history, and to Patricia Foo-Paton for being part of my research and networking me to the Hakka in Hawaii. I would also like to record my gratitude to my family and relatives (too many to mention), who answered all my questions patiently and helped me gather information whenever I needed them. In Thailand, my thanks go to Vathanalaoha Kamthon, a Hakka scholar, for organizing my research visit to the Hakka Association of Thailand in Bangkok; Noppadon Chawankon and Songtham Zirisoawaphak, Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of the Thailand Hakka Study Center for showing me the Hakka Centre; Poj Kanjanaplung, Chairman of the Thailand Hakka xii acknowledgements

Association, and Huang Yaobao, author of the Hakka-Chinese and Hakka-Thai dictionaries, for information about the history of the Hakka in Thailand. In Malaysia, special thanks go to Lean Yen Loong for arranging my research trips in Pusing and Ipoh; Dato’ Cheah See Kian, Chairman of the Malaysian Hakka Heritage Centre and the Penang Khek [Hakka] Association for sharing the history of the Hakka in Penang and future plans of the Hakka Village; Phang See Kong, Curator of the Gopeng Museum, who narrated Hakka contributions to the tin and rubber industries in Gopeng; Vincent L.M. Chen, President of the Thai Pak Koong [Hakka] Temple in Penang; and Woon Nan Chong and Yong Kon Fatt from the Manjong Hakka Association for their enthusiastic and generous assistance. In the USA, I wish to thank Jennifer Chen for organizing Hakka activities in San Francisco; Lian Zhou Nan (Vietnamese Hakka), president of the Hakka Benevolent Association, San Francisco (2011), who shared the history and workings of the Association with me. Thanks also go Ken Tay, Dr. Adam Yuet Chau, Peter Tregilgas, Dr. Fabian Graham, Dr. David Prager Branner, Dr. Rodo Pfister, Dr. Georg Lehner, Prof. Judith Okley, Prof. James Leibold, Prof. Wong Sin Kiong, Prof. Chuang Ya-Chung, Prof. Cynthia J. Brokaw, Prof. Chien Mei-Ling, Scott Writer, Kew Chin Fah, Phan Toong Sean, Bill Yim, Joyce Ho, Chang Yong-Mee, Ron The, Andy Ling, Lee Soon Meng, Victor Yue, Liew Yet Peng, Warren Chin, Chong Popeng, Bill Yim, Lewin Kee, Wong Wei Chin, Tara Liau, Liew Mei Lan, Tay Chong Siew, Victor Yue, Yong Soo Len, Grant Goulden, Dr. Bong Chui Lian, Eileen Brielsmom, Bill Dingfelder, Ann Enkoji, Barbara Falcone, Cindy Fox, Ben Hartley, Thomas Heinegg, Sandor Katz, Su May Kong, Angela Lee, Rosemarie Lee Warnock, Dr. Judy Logan, Kathy Monaco, Dr. Rosy Martin, Atsuko Nonogaki, Ronni Plinsler, Prof. Burkhard Scherer, Lethii Vui, Yony Waite, Tim Woolbank, Dr. Yee Chowboi, Nelly Liau Pit Hoong, Sally Liao, Tang Ew Choo and many others who I may have missed but have contributed one way or another to this book. I also wish to record my thanks and gratitude to informants in Malaysia and from around the world who patiently answered questions based on the questionnaire and generously shared with me their family history and personal details: Zydar Choong Boon Siew, Annie and Jimmy Lou, Jong Nheu, Marcus Ng, Joelle Lai, Daphne Chong, Patricia Foo-Paton, Ardian Chin Hin, Lai Kim Yin, Choon Chai, Lai Sim, Pang Kit Har, James C., Vathanalaoha Kamthon, James C., Anutosh Foo, Rudi Dustika Teja, Hendri Irawan, Chong Chon Hin, Joe Chan, Margaret Lai, Joseph Choong, Lin Chew Yin, Sherry Zwerger, Jinny Phang, Anita Wong, Leonard Kam, Val, Geri Lee, Georgina Yap, Jackie Lovin- Yap, Peggy Goh, Stephenie Low, Xiong De Long, Chan Akau, Joseph Wong, Chong Kee Chai, Michael Yee, Sam Wu, Woon Yun Ling, Cass Lai, Andrew Leong, Raymond Chew, Dr. Chong Chon Jin, Novi Bong, Benedict Duong, Acknowledgements xiii

Luther Chong, Nancy Whitman, Chris Yong, Evelyn, Yu Tian Long, Thomas Chong King Siong, Michael Chai, Thomas Chong, Tan Sri Ani bin Arope, Dr. Oliver Lee, Kirstine Duong, Chung Han Shu, Dennis Dionisius, Richard Wijaya, Henny Laibahas, Ledi Wijaya, Ralph Yapp, Yubg Chai, Dennis Ching, William Won, Guswarno, Margaret Won, Guo Long Liao, Peggy Goh, Queenie Chee, James Zhong, Violeta Ching-Fukuda, Lenora Leu, Zhong Jun Li, Vivi, Dora, Jim Liaw, Lean Yen Loong, Swee Lian Berkey, Noppadon Chawankon, Songtham Zirisoawaphak, Poj Kanjanaplung, Dato’ Cheah See Kian, Supaya, Chong Yoon Ching, Chin Teik Chean, Lee Meow Yen, Lew Boon Seng, Lee Chung Yen, Teddy Hermawan, Chew San @ Chew Sung Leong, Lee Ching Thye, Chong Ah Kun, Lee Chun Tai, Chong Mau, Yeh Choy, Ar Ma Yin, Ngan Ma Cai, Lee Chin Tai, Chong Nam, Wong Fook Min, Chew Hon Toong, Chew Hong Woon, Dr. Bong Chui Lian, Jennifer Chen, Nan Lee Shifu, Jacques How, and my apologies to others whom I may have missed out. I am indebted to the Beruas global Hakka who generously shared family information and their views with me. Without them, this work would be incomplete. “Thank you again, Beruas global Hakka!”—Chong Ah Kiew, Chong Oi Ling, Chong Yen (1954–2009), Chong You Leong, Emmy Coble, Annie Eng Tai Corke, Ho Kok Min, Liaw Yoon Kean (1960–2012), Lee Chin Sin, Lee Yee- Fong, Lee Yee-Mean, Alice Pagnelli, Voon Jongwen, Voon Sook Koon, William Wong Nyan That, Wong Mei Siew, Soong Ah Yeok, and the newly-minted BGH, Liaw Yoon Foo, who emigrated to Australia in 2011. I would like to thank the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan for permission to reprint the case study in Appendix A and the Taiwan Hakka Affairs Council for their generous assistance. Many thanks also go to Chong Sau Lin, Yu Tian Long and Lin Zhanyi for use of the lyrics from their songs; and Liaw Yoon Foo, Cynthia Brokaw, Lean Yen Loong, College of Hakka Studies (NCTU), Valery Garrett and Grant Goulden for use of their photos. I feel honored and thankful to the editorial committee of the Chinese Overseas Series at Brill for selecting my work. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions did a great deal to improve this book. Thanks also go to the staff at Brill for nursing this book through—especially Dr. Qin Higley, Acquisitions Editor, who is always there to answer questions and give advice, Patrick Hunter, and Michael J. Mozina for their generous assistance. Last but not least, my deepest gratitude and thanks go to Thomas. “Without your love, care, patience and encouragement, this would not have been possible.” Illustrations and Photos

1 A Generation Poem of the Liao Clan in Beruas 64 2 Text of Page 1 of the glossary entitled 人家日用 Renjia riyong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs) 69 3 The clan emblem Wuwei 武威 of the Liao clan in Beruas, displayed above the front door 104 4 The Hk. ngai ʎ character at the entrance of the Hakka Museum in Meizhou 162 5 Design of the College of Hakka Studies, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan 236 6 A sign on the wall of a restaurant in Fengguang, Dongguan offering dog meat on the menu 242 7 A plaque in a Hakka earthen building in Yongding that reads 父子登科 fuzi dengke (Father and son succeeded in the imperial exam) 248 8 Hakka women’s winter apron and head wrap that are tied with patterned bands 319 9 Hakka women’s attire which include HK. theu pha (頭帕 head scarf), apron (圍裙 Hk. vui khiun) and the Hk. liong mau (凉帽 cooling hat) 320

MAP

1 Location of Beruas and Pusing on the Malaysian Peninsula 470 Glossary

BGH Beruas global Hakka Cn. Cantonese DG Dongguan Hk. Hakka Hkn. Hokkien Ph. Phonetically sounding word Tch. Teochew

All romanized Hakka words in the book follow A Chinese-English Dictionary: Hakka Dialect as Spoken in Kwangtung Province by Donald MacIver. Hakka spelling is denoted by “Hk.”. In double-syllable expressions, the words are separated in Hakka spelling and written together in Pinyin. For example, “to forget” 忘記 will be written in Hakka as “Hk. mong ki” and in Pinyin as “wangji”.

Introduction

During a visit to Beruas, a small village-town in West Malaysia in 2005, I was alarmed by the fact that more and more grandmothers were speaking to their grandchildren in bad Mandarin instead of Hakka and some young Hakka parents spoke only in Mandarin or English to their children. This led me to wonder how Beruasians of Hakka descent, living overseas in foreign cultures around the globe were adjusting to life and how they were conveying their Hakka heritage to their children. It gave me the idea to find out where they were and how they were dealing with their Hakka identity in a globalized world. This little exercise resulted in a case study on how ‘global Hakka’ from Beruas negotiated their Hakka identity in their host-countries and how their Hakka identity was being reshaped in the process. The preliminary findings from this case study were first presented at The Second Taiwan International Hakka Conference on Hakka Studies in 2008, organized by the National Chiao Tung University, and subsequently published in Kejia de xingcheng yu bianqian 客家的形成與變遷 (The Hakka: Formation and Transformation) as well as in Asian Ethnicity (both in 2010). I was surprised by the interest generated by my essay and it prompted me to change my research on the history of sex in Chinese medicine to global Hakka identity. When I started my research on the Hakka, I noticed that most works were based on particular Hakka communities in certain locations (i.e. spatially bound) and there was no work on the Hakka who originated from one locality and emigrated to different countries to form a ‘global group’ living among different cultures. The Beruas global Hakka (hereafter referred to as BGH) is a unique case study because despite their spatial separation they form a ‘homogenous group’. They share a common Hakka background, such as being brought up in the same small village-town environment of Beruas; are influenced by common socio-economic-cultural-politico factors; have families who know each other; all of them went to school first in Beruas; and they emigrated to countries with very different cultures. Past studies on Hakka identity were localized and studied mostly from the perspectives of the anthropologists and ethnologists. This work is different because it is an in-depth and systematic study from different disciplines of ‘global Hakka’ around the world as a group who are separated geographically. For global Hakka, being alone (i.e. isolated from their immediate families and Hakka influences) meant that they and their families had to adapt radically to their new environment and compromise on their Hakka identity. Together with other fieldworks and textual research, they offered me the opportunity to

‘reconsider’ Hakka identity in the global context. In order to study how Hakka identity is remade for the twenty-first century meant that the historical aspects of their identity had to be re-examined and augmented in order to put the study in the right setting. The research and exploration on the perception of being Hakka in the twenty-first century turned out not only to be an academic exercise but it also became a journey of personal discovery. The aim of Global Hakka: Hakka Identity in the Remaking is to study the constant shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity up to the first two decades of the twenty-first century in the context of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism. Given that the world has changed tremendously in the last three decades, a reassessment of Hakka history and Hakka identity is long overdue. The title of the work depicts the current situation in which cultural and ethnic groups all over the world find themselves. The three elements in the title i.e. globalization, identity and identity-remaking, sum up the cause and effect of the shaping and reshaping of not only Hakka identity but also the identity-remaking process of other cultural groups caught in the wheels of globalization. In general, defining identity in the twenty-first century is a complex and difficult affair. However, through theoretical analysis, using both historical and contemporary materials, and approaching it from anthropological, ethnological, historical, social, and cultural perspectives, it is possible to document how Hakka identity was formed, transformed and reformed in a globalized, transnationalized and deterritorialized world. In other words I have brought the study of Hakka identity into the global and transnational context. For this study, I have chosen to use Global Hakka in the title instead of the more traditional terms such as ‘Hakka migrants’, ‘overseas Hakka’ or the more fashionable ‘diasporic Hakka’, because these terms carry with them historical contexts and paradigms from a world that has gone through tremendous social, political, economic, and technological changes. The emphasis is on global and not overseas or diasporic because globalization is one of the most important factors that has driven the Hakka identity-remaking process in the last three decades. The processes of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, digital cross-pollination (DCP)1 and technological advancement created and is still creating a world that is interconnected not only economically but also physically, socially, and intellectually. In these newly-created, interconnected, transnational world communities where geographical distances are shortened by modern travel and where cultural boundaries are constantly being eroded and redrawn, the term global

1 I define DCP as exchanges that are facilitated by digital media. Introduction 3

Hakka is more in tune with worldwide vicissitudes. In this context, I use the term ‘global Hakka’ to refer to someone who has left their natal-country to reside in another country with a different culture, regardless of the number of moves thereafter. The concept of ‘global Hakka’ is commensurate with the present phase of global transformation and the age of technological revolution. Global Hakka were part of the Hakka communities around the world before migration but not all Hakka around the world are global Hakka. Therefore, the use of the term global Hakka conveys not only a sense of change, dynamism, and fluidity but also refers to an identity that is transnational, protean, elastic, on the move, and still in the process of being shaped and reshaped. This study of global Hakka is significant not only because it is different from other studies but it also sets Hakka identity in the global context. The case study based on a group of Hakka from Beruas, who originated from one location and then dispersed all around the world to form a ‘global group’, exemplifies how the subjects in question are ‘localized’ (as a group from Beruas) and also ‘delocalized’ (as global Hakka in different receiving countries). To put this case study into perspective, I made diachronic and synchronic studies of global Hakka from around the world and Hakka in Malaysia. The diachronic comparison is provided by over a hundred individual cases of ‘global Hakka’ and their families from various parts of the world and for the synchronic comparison, I interviewed residents of Beruas and Pusing—two quintessential Hakka towns in Malaysia. The Han Chinese is only one of the fifty-six ethnic groups in China. For the sake of convenience I use the term ‘Chinese’ in my work to mean pan- Chinese and I use it interchangeably with Mandarin for the Chinese language. Chinese from Mainland China will be denoted as Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders and those from Hong Kong as Hong Kong Chinese. Hakka is one of the seven major dialects of the Chinese—the others being Mandarin, Wu, Yue, Min, Xiang and Gan. In this study, I call the Hakka a ‘dialect group’ of the Chinese family, similar to the use of terms such as Cantonese, Hokkien or Hainanese for other dialect groups. Many linguists have argued that Hakka speech, based on linguistic definition, can be considered a language. Traditionally, the different Chinese speech groups in Malaysia and Singapore are called ‘dialects’. Therefore, I call the Hakka speech a ‘dialect’ and use it interchangeably with ‘language’. Having said that, I would like to add that I do not consider the Hakka a monolithic group per se because there are many ‘varieties’ of Hakka, both on the social and linguistic level. For example, socially, the Dongguan Hakka are considered ‘rough’ Hakka and the Meixian Hakka ‘cultured’ Hakka. Besides, a Dongguan Hakka and a Siyi Hakka have some 4 Introduction difficulties understanding each other. To date, nobody has been able to list the exact varieties of Hakka that are spoken in and out of China. Consequently, for this work, I use Hakka pronunciation and spelling from Donald MacIver’s A Chinese-English Dictionary: Hakka Dialect as Spoken in Kwangtung Province (1982 [1905]) and whenever there is variation in pronunciation it will be indicated. For example, if the pronunciation is in Dongguan Hakka, it will be indicated by DG. I acknowledge the importance and usefulness of past studies using terms such as ‘ethnicity’ or ‘ethnic’ but I use them with less anthropological or ethnological sense because they carry theories and historical implications that are not very useful for this study. Hence, I avoided using the term ‘ethnic’ to describe the Hakka because ethnicity studies have shifted tremendously, making their definitions problematic and inappropriate for the Hakka case. However, for such a project, it is impossible to avoid using the term ethnic entirely, so I use ‘ethnic’ simply as an adjective to describe a separate cultural group. Similarly, I use ‘migrational’ instead of ‘diasporic’ because migration is such an important part of Hakka identity and ‘diasporic’ is too burdened for the Hakka case. In general, identity formation and transformation is a complex, ongoing process influenced by historical, sociological, cultural and economic factors. Though the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity has many similarities with other migrational groups, it also has some very distinctive traits that make the shaping and reshaping of their identity different. Over the years, a few theories on how the Hakka became a cultural group have emerged but there is still no consensus on a definitive model. This study is not designed to answer questions about who the Hakka are or where they came from; nonetheless, Hakka cultural markers will be reviewed to see how they contributed to Hakka identity in the past and to ascertain their relevance today. The main objective of this work is to attempt to understand which directions the constantly shifting Hakka identity will take in the next two or three decades. Furthermore, this work offers new perspectives on Hakka identity and Hakka ontology as it unfolded in the last two decades of the twentieth and the first decade of the twenty-first centuries. Hakka identity is being transformed at such a great speed by migration, inter-culturalism, and genetic exchange that Hakka would have to rethink the concept of ‘being Hakka’ in the twenty-first century. I hope this study will initiate debates on what it means to be a Hakka in the twenty-first century from Beruas to Toronto to Paramaribo to Kingston to Sydney and back to Malaysia. There is still no consensus among scholars on the exact number of Hakka around the world but it is thought that eighty percent of the estimated forty Introduction 5 million are found on Mainland China.2 The Hakka on Mainland China are an important part of the study of Hakka history and they contribute to the research on the remaking of Hakka identity. However, this study focuses on Hakka around the globe with particular attention to those from Malaysia and as such, global Hakka from the Mainland have been excluded from my interviews. Otherwise, the sheer number would skew the research. Hakka on the Mainland and in Taiwan are mentioned wherever appropriate to strengthen some of my arguments. Studies on global Hakka from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, being special cases, will require their own full independent studies. This work is based on several surveys, telephone interviews, field work, archival materials, and contemporary writings. It yields processual information and corresponding conclusions which could be used for other studies or theories. In other words, a process is being recorded where the outcome is fluid and the only constant is the transformation and reformation of an identity. In this theoretically and empirically grounded analysis, I will provide not only views from my informants but also insider insights into the remaking of Hakka identity which can contribute to future research studies in the social sciences, anthropology, ethnology, humanities and migration studies. I have not only summarized the historiography of Hakka Studies in its most recent state but also brought it into the global context. The constant making and remaking of Hakka identity necessitated such a work and it can be seen as a continuation and augmentation of works already undertaken by other scholars on the Hakka. This analytical study with social, historical and cultural as well as anthropological and ethnological elements is, in fact, the documentation of the process of Hakka identity-remaking at a particular time in the constantly changing and shrinking internationalism in which we are embroiled. The reason I am able to undertake such a course in my research can also be attributed to globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialization and technological advancement, which allows researchers to use different tools such as the telephone (at a cheap rate), emails, cheap travel etc., to connect and communicate. It is also fuelled by easy access to diverse information both academic and general i.e. what is happening to humanity and the environment as a whole. These inter- and intra-disciplines, cross-culturalism and today’s digital cross-pollination (DCP), to which the changing world exposes us, provide another window for the study of Hakka identity.

2 The numbers keep changing and it also depends who is issuing these numbers. 6 Introduction

Given half a chance, a Hakka always makes known his Hakka identity to another Hakka and they are united in that sense because they share the same early history and possess the frequently touted ‘Hakka spirit’. The Hakka entrepreneur and philanthropist, Au Boon Haw 胡文虎 or Hu Wenhu (1882–1954) wrote in the Special Issue on the Third Anniversary of the Hong Kong Tsung Tsin Association, that the ‘Hakka spirit’ is one that embodies the “spirit of assiduity, endurance, firmness, strong-mindedness, diligence, entrepreneurship, solidarity and struggle” (cited from Zhou J.X. 2007, 90). In order to understand this so-called ‘Hakka spirit’, this work also discusses how Hakka unanimity or the proverbial Hakka clannishness is institutionalized through the huiguan (associations) and other formal and informal ties. Global Hakka, who identify themselves as such, tend to acknowledge each other as part of a global Hakka community, but in the past there were also lineage feuds among the Hakka as some studies have shown. Historically they are united against others. For example, in the Hakka-Punti War the Hakka in South China fought against the Cantonese, and did so again in the Hai San 海山—Ghee Hin 義興 War in Malaya. In California, a war also erupted between members of the Hakka association of the Yan Wo Wui Kun and the Punti Sam Yah Company. However, the problem of which variety of Hakka should represent the ‘authentic Hakka’ remains, but I believe this is a moot point because in another generation or two the Hakka dialect and what little Hakka culture that exists now will die out, or be intellectualized or ‘disneyfied’ if current trends persist. This is part of the ‘dehakkalization’ process which runs through my work. Dehakkalization is brought about by both subtle and not-so-subtle (i.e. unconscious and conscious) processes. For example, inter- cultural exchanges can be subtle and unconscious and state policies are not- so-subtle and conscious. One of the most pressing questions posed by such a fluid situation is: How do you define a Hakka in the twenty-first century? This is not easy. By focusing on migration patterns, globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism and using migration theories and cultural markers, I argue that the process of transformation and reformation of Hakka identity produces different forms of ‘Hakka identity’ that are better represented in this day and age by the concept of ‘Hakkaness’. Hakkaness is a quality that has no borders or limits and it can be claimed, disclaimed or reclaimed (see Chapter 5 for full discussion). The theoretical analysis on how this came to be is supported by the case study and global Hakka from different parts of the world as they represent many of the trends towards which global Hakka and other cultural group identities are heading. Introduction 7

In addition to documenting the making and remaking of Hakka identity or identifying Hakkaness within the globalization process, I also argue that these transformation and reformation procedures caused by migration patterns, globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism also contribute to the ‘dehakkalization’ process, in which Hakka identity is gradually eroded and marginalized. Two or three generations ago, traditional Hakka identity could still be found in China and among many of the overseas Hakka communities. In China, their isolation and conservativeness minimized their contact with other cultural groups and they were thus able to maintain their traditional Hakka identity. However, as soon as they moved to another place or other cultural groups moved in and cultural exchanges took place, the process of dehakkalization came to pass. As my study shows, dehakkalization has been happening at an astonishing speed all over the world in the last three decades. This study is tasked with documenting this process. It also has a universal ‘cautionary tale’ to tell in the sense that this is not just a Hakka problem but one that affects the identity-remaking of all cultural groups around the world as globalization marches on. As my research will show, in just three generations, the Hakka identity has been reshaped into something that is complex and hard to define, and in some cases it has been transformed to the point of being obliterated. Both sets of my grandparents were Hakka. There is no question about their Hakka identity and there was no need for negotiation, because they were descendants of Hakka who lived for generations in the remote quintessential Hakka villages not far from one another in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. They had a ‘traditional’ Hakka identity. When they migrated to Malaya (now Malaysia) to join their relatives in the tin-mining industry in Pusing, they had no doubt that they were Hakka first and foremost. However, my parents were born in Malaya in 1917 (father) and 1920 (mother) as offspring of Hakka migrants and they took up Malaysian citizenship in the 1950s. Thus, their sense of being Hakka was adulterated by inter-culturalism and political alliance but they still considered themselves to be very Hakka, albeit with less intensity compared to their parents. For the next generation, mostly born in the 1940s and 1950s, many of them educated in English and some of whom emigrated later, the dehakkalization process was significantly stronger and took place at an alarming speed. As they acquired many more identities, their Hakka identity was relegated more and more to the back of their crowded identities. The global Hakka were affected most because, after their migration, they had no context in which to express their Hakka identity. On the whole, the dehakkalization process has been taking place in the last 8 Introduction four or five decades through education and modernity, and it has been sped up further in the last two decades by globalization and technological advancement. BGH still think of themselves as Hakka but the intensity of perception of being Hakka lessened as they grew older. However, their offspring from unions with non-Hakka spouses and born away from Hakka influences have no Hakka identity to speak of. It is this phenomenon that this work focuses on and tries to document. The case study of the BGH shows that being a global Hakka in the twenty- first century is part of the migration pattern and a global phenomenon in itself. Hence, it holds intrinsic values as a model for studying the formation and transformation of identity in other communities. The case study has all the elements that display the process of Hakka identity in the remaking. It has the right mix of local and global elements to support my thesis of how Hakka identity, usually local in the past, has morphed into Hakkaness in the global arena. The expanded study of other global Hakka from around the world, whose migration is also a direct result of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization, not only added a synchronic comparison to the case study but also strengthened my point that Hakka identity is going through yet another remaking in a globalized world. This study also gives fresh new insights into concepts such as ethnicity, identity, Han, Chineseness, huaqiao (overseas Chinese) and migration models in the globalization process. I have also added migration as a Hakka cultural marker that contributed to the construction of the Hakka identity. The use of migration as a Hakka cultural marker can also help to re-conceptualize historical and future Hakka migrational theory. In order to document the remaking of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century it is obligatory to look at their historical journey which gave rise to Hakka ‘genesis’ and how the name Hakka was arrived at for the group. Hence, the re-evaluation of the so called Hakka cultural markers is also essential for this study. Genetics is also discussed to show how it contributes to Hakka identity-remaking, especially in a globalized and transnationalized world. Any way we look at it, Hakka identity will continue to be transformed and reformed for the twenty-first century and beyond. It is an identity that is still in the remaking. I would like to share a few crystallizing moments regarding my own Hakka identity at various stages of my life and while I was undertaking this research. I was born to first generation local-born Hakka parents in Malaysia; went to school in Beruas (National Type English Schools) and Ipoh (Christian schools founded by Methodist missionaries); acquired my first degree (B.Sc. in Chemistry and Economics) from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; worked and lived in Wellington, the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore before settling down in Europe. Introduction 9

When I was growing up, my innate or traditional Hakka identity based on bloodline, speaking Hakka and living the Hakka way of life in a Hakka community first in Pusing and later in Beruas, was non-negotiable. I was first and foremost a Hakka and second a Hk. tong ngin (唐人 tangren)—not Han or huaren—and my nationality was Malaysian then. This traditional Hakka identity was eroded gradually by education and cultural influences. My dehakkalization was both conscious (I chose to be westernized when I was a teenager) and unconscious (through internal and external culturalism via education and contact with different cultures at play, work and travels around the world). I started acquiring different identities to cope with the changing scenarios of life in different environments. One of these crystallizing moments was when I could not give a straight answer to the simple question posed by a non-Chinese acquaintance during a trip to America: “What are you, actually?” My reaction was, “What does she want to know?” Does she mean where was I born? What nationality do I have? Where do I call home? From who am I descended? Does she want to know about my cultural or national identity? Or, maybe she was just curious to know what I do for a living. I did not know where to start without asking her to be more specific. This might be perceived by some as an ‘identity crisis’. I can assure the reader that it is not. I see myself as having an ‘over-crowded identity’ that has to be negotiated to arrive at the answers that satisfy the asker. Globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization have complicated the global Hakka identity to an extent that there is no one right answer to the question of personal identity. The second crystallizing moment came when I answered the question of “Who are you?” with a resounding “Hakka! I am a Hakka woman.” This happened a few years ago when I was doing background research for a novel about Hakka women and realized how rich Hakka history was. I felt as if I had travelled full-circle after having subverted my Hakka identity for such a long time while studying, living and working in the West. So from that day on, when someone asks who I am, I tend to say “Hakka”, followed by my other identities, when and wherever it is appropriate. I say it without nostalgia, ontological pride or anxiety. It felt right at that point in my life to recognize this part of my personhood. This, of course, was just a trendy thing to do because I also realized that while living in the West, I had no context in which to exert my Hakka identity. My Hakka identity only comes into play when I visit with my mother and relatives in the villages where I grew up. However, it helped to set me off on my ‘ancestoring’ journey to China. I call it ‘ancestoring’ because ‘looking for my roots in China’ sounds misleading in my case. My forebears were from Mainland China and I have historical and ancestral connections with it but my roots are in Malaysia; even though 10 Introduction they are very new and shallow. This, of course, is an argument on semantics but I would like to clarify two terms that were essential to Chinese migrants in the early days. The terms, 落地生根 luodi shenggen ([where] it lands, it takes root) and 葉落歸根 yeluo guigen (falling leaves return to their roots—an allusion to the sojourners and China), tell the journey of Chinese sojourners but they meant different things to a Chinese born outside of China. My grandparents harbored the sentiments of returning to China yeluo guigen even though they had clearly put down roots in Malaya and settled down with their family. They dreamt of returning to China to live out their old age and be buried among their ancestors. These two terms have shifted in meaning for the third-generation Malaysian Chinese. It has removed China as the gravitational center. The second and third generations were born on Malaysian soil and not transplanted. Even if they migrate and put down roots somewhere else, they will never be able to ‘return’ to China because their immediate roots are now in Malaysia. Hence, these terms should be used with care when describing overseas Chinese. In my case, going to China to look for my heritage is more appro- priately described by ‘ancestoring’ because my roots are in Malaysia. The third crystallizing moment happened in 2009 on a research trip to China, when I visited the Hakka earthen buildings (土樓 tulou) in Yongding, Fujian. To get a better sense of what these magnificent buildings are all about, I stayed in one of them. This particular tulou was run as a guesthouse by the descendants of the Hakka who built it in the late nineteenth century. When I tried to communicate with them in my Dongguan Hakka, they could not understand me and neither could I understand their variety of Hakka. We had to communicate in Mandarin. Knowing the importance of tulou as a Hakka cultural marker, I had to ask myself how I related to these buildings. On one level I felt proud to be associated with these magnificent structures but when I searched deeper to try to define my Hakka identity through them I became confused. The entry in my dairy reads: “. . . it felt kind of strange and yet familiar . . . there is a sense of belongingness and yet I cannot pinpoint the connection . . . when I stand back it feels comfortable although there is still a distance . . .” I realized that these Hakka cultural relics have nothing to do with my Hakka identity. I can only acknowledge my historical and cultural pride but not personal affinity. When I was growing up in Beruas, my Hakka identity was ‘innate’ (bloodline and mother tongue) and non-negotiable, but as I grew older it was gradually marginalized and usurped by my other identities, and being Hakka was relegated to a small role in my life—especially as a global Hakka. My crowded identities rule and I am left with only elements of Hakka identity and these elements together make up my Hakkaness rather than a definitive Hakka Introduction 11 identity in the twenty-first century. This should have dragged up all kinds of ontological anxiety but, strangely, it did not bother me or many of my global Hakka informants. Being Hakka is still part of our overall personal identity but it has also become part of a selective exercise, where our Hakka identity can be rolled out for appropriate occasions or neatly packed and hidden behind all the other identities that we have acquired. Does that mean that our Hakka identity is being intellectualized or marginalized? In my case, the answer is positive on both counts. It is not an identity that plays a major role in my life anymore and my Hakka identity seldom finds a venue for expression in day- to-day living. The dehakkalization process and the directions that globalization is taking Hakka identity cannot garner any hope of revival. The best we can hope for is some form of maintenance such as strengthening the various huiguan (associations) for the new generations or bringing Hakka together through events such as the World Hakka Conference, the Toronto Hakka Conference and the Hakka Mother River Memorial, which globalize Hakka around the world and give them a sense of ‘community’. Hakka identity will also be theme-parked or touristified, but even if that happens, it will still constitute a part of Hakka identity in the remaking and the outcome reduced to Hakkaness. The worst that can happen is its gradual demise. These ‘crystallizing moments’ happened at various stages in my life and while I was conducting my research. I share these anecdotes in order to illustrate the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity, and also to illustrate how the ‘personal’ Hakka identity has been pushed through the express lanes of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization to arrive on the global stage. The communal Hakka identity has also been modified and remade. Hakka communities can be local (e.g. through huiguans) or transnational through CMC (computer mediated communication). International Hakka events, though rather formal and geared to business, also help to maintain a pan-Hakka unity. They add to the documentation of the Hakka identity- remaking process in the last thirty years. The protean, personal and communal Hakka identities are now entrenched in the global arena and have become part of the changing social sciences. This study is divided into two parts. Part I consists of five short chapters that provide the basis for the theoretical analysis of Hakka identity and looks at how it is being made and remade in the historical, cultural and contemporary context. It is based on historical and contemporary materials seen from the anthropological, ethnological and cultural perspectives, using migration theories, cultural markers, and the globalization, transnationalization and deterritorialization processes. 12 Introduction

Chapter 1 sets the stage for the story of the global Hakka identity to unfold. It shows how global, cultural, social, economic and political changes affect the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity and how Hakka identity is intertwined with globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization, which in turn give new perspectives to Hakka migrational history. Since the nature of this study is also multidisciplinary (social, historical, cultural, anthropological, ethnological and mildly autobiographical), the methodology used is varied. It consists of eight exercises and fieldworks conducted over five years and they represent different aspects of identity study. The way that this study is conducted is no doubt influenced by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, improvements in telecommunications, cheap travel, cyber- intercourse, and new technologies that connect us all. Analytical studies, such as this, with both historical and contemporary elements within such a wide time frame are inherently problematic. The problems are many because this study is eclectic and the boundaries and paradigms are wider and more elastic. Furthermore, Hakka identity is in a flux of constantly being made and remade and, as such, all the inherent problems associated with a ‘work-in-progress’ (the evolving Hakka identity) are obvious and many; and they too are dealt with in this chapter. The first part of Chapter 2 allows me to review the state of Hakka Studies up to the first decade of twenty-first century. In this chapter, I summarize the historiography of Hakka Studies in China and works on overseas Hakka. This enables me to review some of these theories and studies regarding Hakka identity and their migrational history. The body of work that I have reviewed includes those by missionaries who worked with the Hakka in the latter half of the nineteenth century. They presented priceless opportunities to reassess historical and traditional Hakka identity. They also make it possible for me to have a better understanding of how Hakka identity is being reformed and transformed in the twenty-first century when studied with contemporary materials. In the second part of this chapter, I present another source of material that is seldom used to study the making and remaking of Hakka identity. I collected and translated an anthology of twelve so-called ‘Hakka writings’ such as poems, genealogical registers, and old and modern songs and ditties. These writings allow us to have a glimpse of Hakka cultural construct and how cultural markers such as blood ancestry, gender roles, occupations, migration, acculturation, speech adaptation, clannishness, ontological anxieties, Confucian culturalism, diligence, thrift, etc. were associated with the Hakka. They also reveal how Hakka identity has been influenced by different cultural circumstances. These texts also show how the Hakka adapted to their new environment and how Introduction 13 certain aspects of Hakka identity persisted and how some have been transformed and reformed through time and place. Some of these writings are not considered to be Hakka texts per se but from the unusual expressions one can deduce that the texts should be read in Hakka. Many elements of Hakka identity are also found in them. My translation and analysis of these songs and ditties, together with a few other so-called Hakka writings, proves not only to be a good source for tracing the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity over time, but it also gives us a sense of the flow of the identity-remaking process. Chapter 3 reconsiders Hakka migrational history and examines migration as a Hakka cultural marker. It presents an analysis of Chinese migrational concepts and models, of which the Hakka are a part, and looks at new ones. The Hakka migrational trait is the driving force in Hakka history but it is seldom mentioned as a Hakka cultural marker and part of the reason for the neglect is that Chinese migration is yet to be theorized. The term ‘diaspora’ might be useful as a general term to describe population dispersal, but I do not find it representative of Chinese migration because of the historical context and ethnic excess baggage that comes with it. Chinese migration has a very different historical timeline and pattern from the European and other models. Also, ‘western’ usage of diaspora retains a hint of exile and oppression, whereas Chinese migration followed a different physical and emotional model. As such, not only is Hakka migration out of China different, but so is that of the descendants of Hakka migrants who might move to a third or fourth country to produce yet another pattern. Chinese migration is so complex now that it should be given a new treatment to bring it up to date (detailed discussion in Chapter 3). Just simply calling it ‘Hakka migration’ and using the corresponding adjective ‘migrational’ instead of diaspora and diasporic respectively, gives the Hakka case more flexibility and scope in creating a theory around it—if it is possible at all. However, I agree with Hu-DeHart that Chinese migration studies should be “comparative, historically contingent, and locally or regionally contextualized” (2005, 109). Hence, I am reluctant to use the term diaspora and diasporic in this work, if I can avoid it. Discussion on the different forms of Chinese migrational models both classical and contemporary can help us understand Hakka migration in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I also show that the study of internal migration in China, emigration and modern sojourning out of China, re-emigration of the overseas Chinese, and modern sojourning in China by people of Chinese descent from around the world can contribute to the understanding of Chinese migrational history and new migration theories. Traditional Hakka 14 Introduction migrational models, as well as new ones, created by globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization are all discussed in this chapter. Chapter 4 is designed to try to understand the different forms of global Hakka identity that have emerged by exploring concepts such as ethnicity, ethnic Han, Chineseness, huaqiao and overseas Chinese. My studies show that these terms are problematic for the case of the Hakka in this day and age because their definitions have shifted within the globalized world. By calibrating the shift in the meaning of these concepts, it helps us to position and explain Hakka identity in the Sino and global spheres. The idea of a monolithic Chineseness and Han-ness has been debunked further and the huaqiao and overseas Chinese concepts reviewed. Based on the ‘classical’ definitions of ethnicity, there is no such thing as Hakka ethnicity in the twenty-first century and ‘Hakka identity’ is also on the move and under fire. Hakkaness is more appropriate to describe that which makes a person ‘feel’ Hakka. Chapter 5 is solely devoted to the discussion of Hakka identity in the past, present and future. It depicts the Hakka identity-remaking process by looking at its ‘genesis’, adaptation, transformation and reformation. It deals with the concepts of elastic identity, theories of how Hakka identity was shaped and reshaped in the last three decades, the Hakkaness concept, and Hakka genetic debate. The constant transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity is a direct product of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization and as such, it is the subject of an ongoing debate. Chapter 6 in Part II is a re-examination of all the so-called Hakka cultural markers that gave Hakka their distinctive identity. The study of cultural markers allows us to look into the past, which in turn can provide insights into aspects of their social and cultural life. In order to reflect on the formation, transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity, it is important to dis- sect the various over-used cultural markers to determine when, why, where and how they were constructed. This chapter looks at how they contributed to the making and remaking of Hakka identity throughout their history and to ascertain whether they were true in the past and if they are still relevant today. Every book starts with an idea. Appendix A is the article that launched this book and it is reprinted in full as a case study that can be used for other studies. This case study is based on a group of Hakka, who emigrated from a small village-town called Beruas in Malaysia to different parts of the world where they live in different cultures with no context in which to exercise their Hakka identity. The study represents two generations, born between the 1950s and 1980s, which situates them in the ‘age of modern globalization’. This case study looks at the reasons why they left their hometown; how they identify themselves in their new place of residence; who they married; how their offspring Introduction 15 view their relationship to their mother tongue (not necessarily Hakka) and the Hakka traditions; how they see the future of Hakka cultural construct; and the social and cultural costs of living overseas and marrying outside their dialect and race. This case study together with global Hakka from different parts of the world, whom I interviewed, forms the base group that supports my thesis on the constant remaking of Hakka identity. Though I draw from the many excellent studies on the shifting context of identity, I am fully aware of the inherent problems in the study of such a phenomenon. The obstacles include fluidity, changes in the social, cultural and political milieus, and above all, human nature. However, there is an underlying urgency to observe what has become of the Hakka cultural construct and Hakka identity among the global Hakka. Despite some signs of interest and revival in Hakka culture, such as the concerted effort of the organizers of the World Hakka and Toronto Hakka Conferences, and the Hakka Mother River Memorial to ‘unite’ the Hakka globally, the Hakka identity is being shaped and reshaped so fast that it is in imminent danger of disappearing in a couple of generations in certain groups, such as in the case of the BGH. In other cases, traditional Hakka identity is being transformed drastically or commercialized for tourism. This study hopes to answer questions or initiate discussions relating to Hakka identity in the twenty-first century and these questions include:

Who is and what is a Hakka in the twenty-first century? Who qualifies to be a Hakka in this day and age? Why did the Hakka, in the past, have such strong ontological anxieties compared to the other dialect groups? Apart from ancestral affinity and historical pride, is there any point in claiming Hakka identity in the twenty-first century? Chapter 1 Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology and Problematics

The title of this work, Global Hakka: Hakka Identity in the Remaking consists of three important elements that sum up the cause and effect of migration and globalization on global Hakka identity. It shows how global, cultural, social, economic and political changes affect the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity, and examines how global Hakka express their Hakka identity in a transnational context in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Global Hakka: . . .

The concepts of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization have contributed greatly to migration theories.3 For this study I use globalization to mean the interconnectedness of the world in every sense. Like a spider-web that connects the world, transnationalism refers to the multiple ties and interactions that link individuals, communities, or institutions across borders.4 These modern concepts (globalization, transnationalism) contributed to the process of deterritorialization, which compresses time and space. Globalization in the twenty-first century has become a very complex model and how one views it depends on which side of the fence one is sitting. It has contributed to the mass movement of people around the globe in the last few decades. Many have extolled its virtues and touted it as the vehicle that will bring prosperity even to the remotest village. Equally, globalization has been abhorred by activists of the anti-capitalist and anti-globalization camps.5 As Berch Berberoglu notes, “a fresh new look” at the dynamics of twenty-first-century globalization

3 See Papastergiadis (2000) for how migration is connected to globalization, deterritorialization and hybridity; Harzig and Hoerder with Gabaccia (2009) for migration history; and for an introduction on why people migrate, see Koser (2007). 4 For an historical and interdisciplinary perspective of transnationalism among overseas Chinese and the Chineseness that that has emerged as a result, see the volumes of collected essays edited by Tan C.B. (2007), and Ong and Nonini (1997). 5 The negative and harmful impact of capitalist globalization is discussed in ten essays in the volume edited by Berberoglu (2010).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004300279_003 Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 17 is needed (2010, 5). Irrespective of the directions that globalization is heading in the twenty-first century it will continue to have a great impact on migration because globalization is connected with labor, capital and finance. It has and will continue to generate mass mobility of skills and manpower. People will go where the jobs are, where the financial return is higher, or where they perceive that life will be better. The Hakka are also part of this movement. This leads us to the question: Did technological advancement produce globalization or vice versa? I believe technological advancement brought economic changes which spurred modern globalization leading to the mass migration of people and goods. A good example of this shrinking and connected world is the import/ export business.6 The import/export trade in the 1970s used to be expensive and communication was time consuming. Mail took days if not weeks to arrive; telex was faster but demanded time and skill; and the telephone was only used when it was an emergency because it was expensive and connections to other countries were not always available. To do the job well entailed familiarity with the import-export laws of the countries that one was exporting to and this information was found only in national libraries or the embassies of the importing countries. Knowledge of banking laws was essential as letters of credit were required in hard copies. Quotes for products had to be confirmed in writing and sent by letter. Shipping schedules and costs had to be obtained from freight forwarders and a host of other logistics was needed to get the product from the factories to importers around the globe. Correspondence with the bank regarding the financing alone was likely to create a paper mountain and the office was filled with physical files. A secretary was needed to supervise and organize the filing clerks. Goods used to take weeks if not months to arrive at their destinations. Nowadays, it takes a fraction of the time to do international business. The advancement in telecommunications has sped up negotiation because coun- terparts in the deal are available 24/7 on their mobile phones, tablets, etc. and they can be reached wherever or whenever by phone, email or text-message. Teleconferencing makes negotiation almost personal. Information regarding the import/export laws of every country in the world is just a couple of mouse- clicks away. It is the same for any other information that is needed to finalize a deal. Once the deal has been negotiated and agreed upon, the completion of a transaction can be achieved with another few mouse-clicks. The cost and time for trading is a fraction of what it used to be. As a result of these

6 For an overview of the import and export trade and processes, see Weiss (2008) and Nelson (2000). 18 chapter 1 advancements, the import-export concept has lost many of its constraints and limitations. Perishables such as fresh vegetables and exotic fruits from around the world can be obtained under one roof in gourmet food markets anywhere in the world. Similarly, migration of capital and labor became part and parcel of the process. For me, the technological and logistical advancement of the import-export trade encapsulates the essence of globalization in the last three decades. Similarly, the term transnational is used increasingly to demonstrate different concepts that cross borders and culture. For example, recent works on transnational torture focus on the legal and political discourses on torture in India and the United States to theorize the relationship between law, violence, and state power in liberal democracies (Lokaneeta, 2011). It has even crossed into religion. For example, Kenneth Dean gave a lecture in Singapore entitled ‘Ritual Revolutions: Tracing Transnational Trust Networks from the Inscriptions of Singapore’s Chinese Temples’.7 ‘Spiritual transnationalism’ is not just an idea but is manifested in the actual transnational movement of Daoist deities. The Singapore Taoist Group informed its members on 2nd December, 2013 that the statue of Guangze Zunwang 廣澤尊王 Reverent Lord of Great Compassion, from the Wei Zhen Temple 威鎮廟 in Anxi, China will be visiting the different Hong San Temples 鳯山寺 in Singapore from 3–15 December.8 Anything that has the slightest trace of cross-border activities is now considered transnational. Global Hakka dispersal is associated with cross-border movement and as such, it has transnational elements. Migration and the phenomenon that accompanies the movement of individuals, ideas, and goods across the boundaries of nations are evermore binding people to each other and to the rest of the world. It is also fair to say that though telecommunications, technology, and convenient air travel facilitate the forging of trade, educational, and cultural links, they also presage the marginalization of certain aspect of Hakka identity, as my case study will show. Another consequence of globalization and transnationalism is deterritorialization. Deterritorialization is caused by the ‘time-space compression’ induced by new technologies in communication and travel, which strengthens or weak- ens the link between social structure and cultural practices in specific geographic places. It can enhance global ties but it also forces cultural adaptation

7 The lecture was given at the National University of Singapore on 12th August, 2011. 8 To watch the statue of Guangze Zunwang boarding a plane back to China, see https://www .youtube.com/watch?v=kOVwiJKPa8M (Retrieved on 1st December, 2014.) Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 19 or assimilation to produce hybrid cultures that affect identity.9 These processes challenge the boundaries of traditional social structure, family, local community and nation state. To these three processes, I would also like to add another phenomenon, which I call digital cross-pollination (DCP). The digital world has no doubt changed the way we relate to time, space and each other. Thus, globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialization, digital cross-pollination, migration, and the identity-formation or identity-reshaping processes are intertwined in an endless circle-dance. On the issue of identity and transnationalism, scholars have argued that many immigrants, though firmly rooted in their new country, also maintain multiple linkages to their homeland.10 In Lim Khay-Thiong and Michael Hsiao’s study of Hakka youth in Malaysia, they note that these youths “develop and maintain multiple relationships—familial, economic, social, organiza- tional, religious and political—that span borders” (2009, 51). The great number of global Hakka forums and sites discussing Hakka culture and history on the Internet not only facilitates Hakka transnationalism but it also helps them to negotiate their Hakka identity on the global stage. Similarly, using the concepts of transnational circuits, transnational communities and translocalities, Tai Wai Wing (2006) has shown that the transnational geographies of overseas Chinese vary across different destination cities. Wai’s case studies offer evidence of multiple overseas Singaporean communities who encounter transnationalism in simultaneously similar and different ways. Communication among Hakka around the world used to be difficult but improved telecommunications, cheap travel, and the Internet changed all that. Overnight Hakka global networks (HGN) sprang up on the Internet, which contributed to discussions on Hakka ontology and identity. Eriberto Lozada Jr. describes how a global process like ‘computer-mediated communication’ (CMC) shaped ideas of what it means to be Hakka in the 1990s (2009).11 CMC is the new medium that directly changes the definition of a ‘local’ community. The ‘localization of a transnational organization’ sounds like a paradox in itself, but with the help of new technologies, transnational ‘local’ communities are on the rise.

9 See Tomlinson (1999) and also Papastergiadis (2000) for how migration affects globalization, deterritorialization and hybridity. 10 For a detailed discussion on the theorizing of transmigration, see Blanc-Szanton, Schiller and Basch (1995, 38–63). 11 For comparison, see Damm (2011) for the study of ethnicities and their representation on the Internet in Taiwan. 20 chapter 1

A search for ‘Hakka Global Network’ (HGN) on the Internet on 2nd January, 2012 produced 3,980 results and a similar search for ‘Cantonese Global Network’ and ‘Hokkien Global Network’ produced not a single result. Three years later, a similar search on 3rd January, 2015 showed there are still no “Cantonese or Hokkien Global Network”, whereas HGNs are thriving.12 “Why are the Hakka and not the other speech groups so anxious to be ‘connected’ to each other?” is a question that needs to be asked. The answer is multi-faceted but mostly it can be found in their migrational history. This phenomenon (the need to be networked) is probably aimed at keeping alive the ‘Hakka spirit’ (客家精神 Kejia jingshen), which defines an aspect of Hakka identity that is not bound to any locality.13 To keep this spirit alive for whatever agenda each group might have, they need to be ‘connected’ socially. This interconnectedness among the global Hakka has generated discourses on Hakka identity, culture, heritage, etc. Undoubtedly, this has been facilitated and maintained by computer-mediated communication. Thus, globalization and transnationalism help to provide the context and parameters for the creation of the global Hakka and the maintenance or marginalization of their Hakka identity. My case study shows not only how these processes are linked but also sets the stage for a wider critical study and understanding of both Hakka migration and Hakka identity around the world in the twenty-first century. For the purpose of this work, I have divided the migration history of the global Hakka into three different phases. The first phase starts with the hometown in their ‘natal-country’, which I define as the place where global Hakka are born and spend their childhood. For example, the hometown of the Beruas global Hakka (BGH) is Beruas and their natal-country is Malaysia. I use ‘hometown’ as opposed to ‘ancestral home’ because the latter is often associated with their forebears’ home in China. The second phase, the ‘transit-country’, is where they studied, worked or lived before emigrating to a host-country. For some global Hakka, their ‘transit-country’ is also their host-country. The third and last phase is the ‘host-country’ and it is where they are/were residing when the interviews were made. There is also increasing evidence that the ‘host- country’ was converted to ‘transit-country’ when they emigrated again. Most of the Beruas global Hakka in the case study have gone through all three phases and many of the global Hakka have lived in more than one transit-country.

12 The decrease in numbers (1,150) of GHN in 2015 is probably due to improved search technology. 13 See Cartier (2002, 126–127) on how the ‘Chinese spirit’ or ‘being Chinese’ is “both a physical location (especially bounded and scaled villages, counties, and cities) and a concept of spatial social relations”. Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 21

The term ‘global Hakka’ is used to refer to someone who has left their natal- country to reside in another country, usually with a different culture. As mentioned in the Introduction, I have not used the more traditional term ‘Hakka migrants’, ‘overseas Hakka’ or the more fashionable ‘diasporic Hakka’ because these terms carry with them historical contexts and paradigms from a world that has seen tremendous change in the last fifty years. We continue to watch the world being globalized not only economically and politically but also physically, culturally, intellectually and socially. Nowadays, it is common to find families, not only spread out all over their natal-country but also around the globe. Thus, for this study, the term ‘global Hakka’ is more appropriate to this newly- created interconnected transnational world community, where geographical distances are shortened by modern travel and where cultural boundaries are constantly being eroded and recast in the globalization process. Global Hakka conveys not only a sense of change, dynamism and fluidity but also an identity that is transnational, on the move, and continues to be remade. The term global in the title shows that the Hakka migration has not only kept pace with globalization, but Hakka identity is also very much affected by the process. The connectedness and interdependence offered by globalization and transnationalism through developments in telecommunications and travel help Hakka to stay in touch and maintain their multi-stranded social relations, which link together their communities of origin and those in which they have chosen to settle. There are concerns that attention is being focused mainly on identity affected by globalization and that not enough attention is paid to local situations. Every week new books are published about the effects of globalization on the world economy, identity, environment, community, religion, etc. Academic journals are no different. For example, the May issue of Asia Pacific Perspectives: An Electronic Journal (Vol. X, No. 1, 2011) is entitled “Religion and Globalization in Asia: Prospects, Patterns, and Problems for the Coming Decade”. Fortunately, there are also increasing numbers of studies that deal with localized perceptions of Hakka identity (see Lim K.T. and Hsiao 2009). To determine how globalization and transnationalism affect Hakka identity, I will investigate how global forces, both historical and contemporary, shaped and are still reshaping Hakka identity by studying Hakka from different global communities as well as using a specific case study. For the case study, I chose a small group of Hakka, who have left the village-town of Beruas in the state of Perak on the west coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, to make their homes overseas—mostly in cultures which are very different from the Hakka environment in which they grew up; hereafter called the Beruas global Hakka or BGH. The case study also looks at the reasons why they left their hometown; how they identify themselves in their host-country; whom they married; their 22 chapter 1 offspring in relation to the Hakka language and traditions; how they see the future of ‘Hakka culture’; and the social and cultural costs of living overseas and marrying outside their race or their dialect group. I will also show how migration is a Hakka cultural marker that has acted as the driving force in the making and remaking of Hakka identity in the past and in a globalized world. Therefore, the ‘global’ element in this work is one of the most important factors that affect the transformation of the Hakka identity.

‘. . . Hakka identity . . .’

The second element in the title, ‘Hakka Identity’ constitutes the main focus of this study. The term ‘identity’ by itself is problematic. Being reflexive, symmet- ric and transitive, identity is seen in an equivalence relation.14 The ambiguity of identity is highlighted by James D. Fearon, who states that the dictionary definition of identity has not kept up with what is happening in the world. He lists fourteen definitions used by scholars of different disciplines to define identity (1999, 4–5). They are all true for the purpose that they were defined for because identity studies have diversified into so many areas (race, nation, ethnicity, community, culture, gender, language and other social criteria). At the end of his study in 1999, Fearon summarizes ‘identity’ to mean either:

(1) A social category, defined by membership rules and allegedly characteristic attributes or expected behaviors, or (2) A socially distinguishing feature that a person takes a special pride in or views as unchangeable but socially consequential (or, of course, both (1) and (2) at once) (ibid., 36).

Ten years later, in 2009, Allen Chun states,

Despite the interdisciplinary usages and broad theoretical ramifications, the concept of identity and the way in which it has reified fields and positions rooted in its diverse attributes has been conditioned by semanti- cally flawed usages and provincial disciplinary assumptions that have

14 For a clear elucidation of the notion of personal identity and the definition of citizen identity, see Van Thanh and Jørstad (2007). They explored the philosophical paradoxes of identity to illustrate the complexity of the notion of identity and introduce the digital identity concept in the globalized world. Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 23

influenced the way we understand their meanings and their presumed relevance to social relations and concrete institutional practices (2009, 4).

So where does that leave us now? Identity is essential to migrants, and migration forces us to rethink the notion of identity in the individual as well as in the group. Beverley Skeggs (2008) argues that identity as a concept by itself has many problems. She problematizes identity in everyday struggles in language, culture and education and shows that the problem with this identity is that it is anchored in the self or personhood and very much politicized. However, by qualifying ‘identity’ with ‘Hakka’ in my study, the primary boundaries and limits are defined to a certain extent. The secondary boundary of ‘global’ in the title also reduces the problem considerably. Using these boundaries and limitations, I hope to narrow down the definition of Hakka identity, whether it is claimed, ascribed or appropriated. The Hakka identity is a concept under much scrutiny and has been debated by Hakka and non-Hakka alike in the last one hundred and fifty years, starting when the missionaries arrived in South China. Before the discussion of global Hakka identity in the twenty-first century can begin, it is important to understand the historical, social, cultural and ethnological journey that the Hakka identity has undergone so far. Leong Sow-Theng summarizes Hakka historiography according to Luo Xianglin 羅香林15 as such:

Hakka were originally migrants from the Central Plain, true Han Chinese from the cradle of civilization, not hill aborigines as their neighbours repeatedly identify them, out of ignorance or malice. They were historically prominent as spokespersons of the Han Chinese patriotism; they were patriotic loyalists of the Jin in the fourth century, Song loyalists in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries against Mongol invaders and anti-Manchu patriots of modern times, as exemplified by Taiping leader Hong Xiuquan and the anti-Qing revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. The Hakka dialect is unmistakably rooted in prestigious speech of the northern Central Plain speech in Sui-Tang period. Hakka justifiably take pride in their womenfolk, renowned for their hard work and never known to bind their feet, in academic achievements of their scholars, and in the possession of all the orthodox Chinese cultural values (1997, 29).

15 Luo Xianglin is seen as the ‘Father of Hakka Studies’ and his Kejia yanjiu daolun 客家研究導論 (An Introduction to the Study of the Hakka in its Ethnic, Historical, and Cultural Aspects (sic)), published in 1933, is considered to be ‘the Bible of Hakka Studies’. 24 chapter 1

Leong considers these ethnic claims as “part scholarship and part ethnic rhetoric” (ibid.). Though Leong notes Myron Cohen’s implication that Hakka identity was formed in the nineteenth century from contacts in the Guangdong area, he personally ascribes the formation of the Hakka identity not to a point in time but to “an incubation period” (ibid. 29–36). Hakka identity obviously went through a process of transformation and reformation at different rates in different areas and in different forms. For example, in Malaysia and Singapore today, Hakka identity is maintained and promoted in a cultural way. In Taiwan, it is politicized and in French Polynesia it is ethnicized.16 Radical changes and the new construction of identity are producing the next generation of Hakka, interested in their Hakka heritage, but without the tools such as traditional cultural markers or language skill to negotiate themselves into their Hakka identity. Since many of them in this generation do not speak Hakka, the easiest and surest way to be identified as a Hakka is lost to them. Dehakkalization begins when a Hakka cannot speak the language. This failing has profound consequences not only for the individual Hakka but also for the Hakka as a group. Also, the most powerful and undeniable marker— blood ancestry—is being eroded at a dramatic speed. It is hard to find a Hakka- Hakka marriage nowadays. My case study shows that the first generation of Hakka in Beruas (the grandparents’ generation) has a hundred percent Hakka-Hakka marriages but by the third generation, among the BGH, there is not a single Hakka-Hakka union. This has irreversible consequences for Hakka identity and the results of these Hakka and non-Hakka unions are in constant flux. This proves that identity is not a state or a fixed commodity. It is a process and as Allen Chun argues, it is a “function of ongoing, changing geopolitical spaces” (2009). Hence, Hakka identity all over the world is in the process of being transformed and reformed all the time. So, how do we construct a Hakka identity in the future?

‘. . . in the remaking.’

The last and third part of the title of this study (‘. . . in the Remaking’) on how Hakka identity is remade constitutes another important focus. It has been argued that Han Chinese is a constructed identity and it defies description. Thomas Mullaney asserts that “the idea of China as a ‘unified, multinational

16 For examples of studies of the Hakka in Malaysia, see Carstens (2005); the role of being Hakka in politics in Taiwan, see Scott et al. (2004); and for the ethnicization of Hakka in French Polynesia, see Trémon (2010). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 25 country’ ([統一的多民族國家] tongyi de duo minzu guojia) is a central, load-bearing concept within a wide and heterogeneous array of discourses and practices in the contemporary People’s Republic . . .” (2011, 1). By the same token, a pure Hakka identity is a fallacy in itself. History tells us that the Hakka identity is always in the stage of ‘remaking’ or being remade. I used remaking in the title not only because Hakka identity is in a flux of constant change— being transformed and reformed again and again especially in the global context, but because it also portrays a sense of continuity—a work in progress. Since identity is made and remade in and by the contexts in which we live, and how we interact with others, the reshaping and remaking of the Hakka identity is inevitable because of their migrational history. The remaking of Hakka identity serves in helping the Hakka to renegotiate themselves into a local-global context, wherever they happened to be. When I chose the title for this research, I believed that it represented the constantly changing phenomenon of the Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. It is changing so fast that it is always in a state of ‘remaking’. It is ‘in the remaking’ in the sense that it is something that will never be ‘made’ as we see it today. In short, the process is ad infinitum and it will produce different types of Hakka identity in the process; this is better represented by ‘Hakkaness’ in the twenty-first century. In the olden days, back in remote Hakka villages in China, the Hakka identity remained relatively constant for many generations. A person is born into a Hakka family; brought up with Hakka traditions; s/he in turn marries another Hakka and the cycle repeats itself over and over again in the seclusion of their villages. I call this ‘unadulterated’ identity, set in a ‘constant’ cultural context, a ‘traditional’ identity. This traditional Hakka identity was taken for granted and no one questioned it for a few generations when they lived in isolation in the mountains or lowland villages. Even if a Hakka man took a non-Hakka wife, the agnatic tradition made sure that the Hakka identity was maintained. As my study will show, the equation is now burdened with too many factors to arrive at a straight answer. Determining Hakka identity has become a complex and challenging exercise. Since the main objective of this work is to study the phenomenon of transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity, I will also offer a glimpse into the social, cultural and historical world of the predominately Hakka community of Beruas, where the BGH grew up. Hakka identity remaking in the BGH can be contextualized in the processes of how Beruas was deterritorialized, transnationalized and globalized. From its inception and up to the late 1950s, the village-town of Beruas, inhabited predominantly by Hakka, was for the most part a self-reliant and self-sufficient place. Food and vegetables were 26 chapter 1 grown by the villagers and any excess sold at the wet market, which was opened from sunrise to sun-down. There was a Hakka family that made tofu and grew bean-sprouts; one of the BGH’s family ran one of the stalls that sold fish; pigs were slaughtered by another of the BGH’s family, yet another’s family provided the household objects that were crafted out of metal; you could order a table from the village carpenter; there was a Hakka-owned medical hall, where the proprietor made up the herbal medicinal packets if told the symptoms of your ailment; there were a few soup noodle stalls that made their own noodles and prepared their soups from secret family recipes; ice-stalls provided cool drinks and snacks; it was a sustainable community. Luxury goods and other necessities not grown or produced ‘in-village/town’ were brought in from neighboring villages or towns. Imported goods were a rarity and a luxury until the Japanese flooded Malaysia with electric fans, rice-cookers, refrigerators, and motorbikes in the 1960s. These imported goods slowly made their way to Beruas too. The wet market was the heart of the village-town and it used to be open from morning to late afternoon. Presently, it opens only in the morning and there are only half the number of stalls it used to have. A combination of factors has caused the demise of the ‘heart of the community’. The population of Beruas has decreased and lifestyle change has also contributed to it. Beruasians now prefer to shop in the supermarkets in the nearby towns of Ipoh or Sitiawan where, in addition to local produce, they can also buy imported goods, including fresh produce such as fruit and vegetables from China, frozen produce from New Zealand and Australia or luxury goods from Europe or America. This illustrates how communal life and personal lifestyles have been changed by globalization—in particular, the ease of obtaining imported foods and goods. From the 1970s, Malaysia grew and developed rapidly. Beruas, which has natural resources such as timber and rubber, was caught up in these developments. When timber ran out and the price of rubber fell, palm oil took over. These are agricultural based industries but it was the industrial development in Malaysia and Singapore that provided new opportunities outside of Beruas. It was also in the 1970s that people began to leave Beruas. Those seeking higher education went to the cities (as many of the BGH did) and later overseas. By the 1990s, nearly every family in the New Village had at least one family member who had left home to go out as migrant labor in the large towns and cities or in Singapore. There were also the more adventurous ones, who ‘jumped airplanes’—a euphemism for entering another country (usually with high wages) by plane on tourist visas and stayed on to work illegally. In the 1980s and 1990s the migration of young people to the cities and further afield to Singapore in search of work together with the building of highways and Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 27 new roads that bypassed Beruas turned it into a ghost town. It is interesting to note that the opposite happened in Pulai, a Hakka town, where the building of roads opened up the region and connected the town, ‘watering down’ Hakka identity (Carstens 2007, 54–60). Beruas’ isolation might protect Hakka identity a little longer, but other factors conspire to dilute it. Over the years, every time I visited Beruas, there seemed to be economic, social or lifestyle-changes at work—rubber trees were replaced by oil palm so the skill in rubber tapping died out slowly; young girls left to work in the factories and young men to the shipyards in Singapore; and those who had talent for scholarship, went to the cities or overseas to further their studies. These Beruas Hakka sons and daughters only return to visit Beruas during Chinese New Year and festivals. Some have taken their old parents to live with them in the cities. Many of the old wooden houses in the New Village were replaced by brick ones and two new housing estates were built on the periphery of the town. Even moral grounds have shifted. Women who became bar-girls or social escorts in the 1970s and 1980s used to be stigmatized but in the 1990s women who used their charm and beauty to earn their living were looked upon differently. Some were even called ‘filial’ because people envied the huge new modern houses they built for their parents. Many of these Beruas-Hakka-emigrants settled down where their jobs were and married out of the dialect group. Their new places of residence also determine what language they speak to their children and, more often than not, Hakka lost out. This demographic change also resulted in the reorganization of family units. It used to be quite common to have three or four generations living under one roof but the migration of young people created nuclear families, which took the children away from the influence of their grandparents and community, who had usually passed on the traditions. During the Chinese New Year and the qingming festival (cleaning of the ancestors’ graves) the population of Beruas increased five fold as most of the children and grandchildren returned to their hometown for the reunion dinner or to pay respect to their ancestors who are buried in Beruas. In the last ten years or so, during these festive seasons, every house in New Village has had two or three cars parked in front of them and the communal field in the village has resembled a huge parking lot for the cars that brought the Beruas sons and daughters home. Motorcycles and bicycles used to be the ubiquitous mode of transport in Beruas from the 1960s to the 1980s and one could count the number of private cars on one hand. Transport was provided by three privately-owned bus companies that provided long-distance services to Ipoh, Taiping and Lumut—the three major urban centers surrounding Beruas. The 28 chapter 1 bus service to Lumut has ceased and the other two run irregularly now (and I swear that the buses still in use were the same ones I took as a teenager). There were also a few private taxis that collected passengers together for their trips but they too have disappeared. To get out of Beruas now, if the family does not own a car, they would have to charter one from a car-owner who is willing to make the trip. Socializing in the New Village used to consist of Hk. la ka (visiting other families) after dinner, sitting around and talking. The first black and white TV came to the village in the mid-1960s and it affected village dynamics greatly. Every evening, the villagers would gather in the TV owner’s house to watch it. The visitors brought their own stools to the owner’s house. Those who were considered friends were given a space in front of the TV to watch with the host family, and those not privileged enough would have to stand outside and watch through the windows. However, by the late 1980s, almost every household had a color TV and some enterprising persons were renting out pirated soap operas from Hong Kong or China. Every two or three days the rental persons would deliver the next instalments on their motorbikes. The whole socialization process was transformed; people did not visit each other as often. As Sharon Carstens notes, the ‘video revolution’ has also contributed to the construction of a transnational identity (2005, 177–198). After acquisition of the ‘three biggies’ (motorbike, fridge and TV with VCR) was achieved, families upgraded with washing machines, DVD players and, from 2000 onwards, karaoke sets were all the rage. Many households own affordable Malaysian-made cars now and the older generations began to include leisure in their life. Some have developed a penchant for travelling. First they took bus tours within the country or to Singapore and later they joined tours around the ASEAN countries. In the late 1960s, there was only a handful of Hakka men in Beruas who had visited their ancestral home in China but on my last visit, one of my subjects proudly declared that he had been going to China two or three times a year in the last few years. “Taking the airplane is just like taking a bus nowadays,” he said nonchalantly. This change was brought about by no-frills cheap airlines, such as AirAsia, which offers four daily-flights to Shenzhen, China. Parents of BGH are also spending part of the year with their children abroad. The above discussion of the changes in the lives of Beruasians demonstrates the extent to which deterritorialization has happened in Beruas. The constantly changing economic development and influence of foreign culture through entertainment and communication changed the context and aspirations of the Beruas population; this in turn created a whole new context, strategies of ambition, family structure and new ways to be a Hakka— Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 29 affecting those leaving and those staying behind. Deterritorialization has not only changed lifestyle but also the mind-set of the residents.17 This was the real transition from the traditional Hakka society. Although the Hakka population in Beruas is only slightly more than fifty percent, being Hakka is an important element in Beruas identity. Hakka consciousness is still strong in Beruas and among the BGH but there is no doubt that Beruas has been deterritorialized, globalized and transnationalized. One of the questions that motivated my research, which resulted in the case study, is “How do the BGH express their Hakka identity in their adopted country?” The case study (see Appendix A), apart from demonstrating the shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity in the global arena, also raises several key issues for the current discussions of migration, emigration and immigration, which have not been addressed adequately in the Hakka context. Before addressing these issues, I would like to elucidate my methodology and the accompanying problematics in this study.

Methodology and Problematics

The methodology and problematics are particularly important as an integral part of my research, because they are influenced by globalization—the key factor for the formation of a global identity in this study. The nature of this study is also manifold—social, historical, cultural, anthropological and ethnological. Some of the methods used, such as face-to-face or telephone interviews are standard but others, such as subjecting myself (a Hakka) to ‘Hakka experiences’ for the study by staying in a Hakka tuluo earthen building, are less conventional. Advancement in technologies and communication, of course, plays an important role in how this study was conducted. The result is an eclectic and much overdue study of how Hakka identity has been shaped and reshaped through to the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Methodology In this historical, social, and cultural study, which also contains anthro pological and ethnological elements, mostly third-party works have been

17 For a detailed study of how modernization and globalization affect Hakka identity in Meinong, Taiwan from 1963 to 2008, see Cohen (2010). Another example of how a deterritorialized Hakka village in China coped with rapid penetration of transnational processes and what it means to be part of a global and modern rural village, see Lozada (2001). 30 chapter 1

consulted. However, there are more and more cross-overs from purely third- party researcher views into personal experience in academic work. For example, Ong Aiwah, who used her personal experiences and contacts to do her research, produced Flexible Citizenship (1999). Letty Chen Lingchei went back to Taiwan to find her cultural identity and after that she wrote Writing Chinese (2006). Richard Chu, a Filipino of Chinese descent, had a “jarring and crystallizing moment” (2010, 1) when he was told that he was not Filipino but Chinese. This led him to write Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity, and Culture, 1860’s–1930’s. There are also an increasing number of studies using insider narratives to draw insights into identity and community. In Yong Kee Howe’s The Hakkas of Sarawak: Sacrificial Gifts in Cold War Era Malaysia, he admitted that he wrote “through a political—and personal— engagement with history, contemporary nationalist discourse, and popular discussion on the Cold War”. He presented a work that “is pregnant with a multifaceted reflexivity in which there is an overlapping of voices and exchanging status, of subject and object” (2013, 182–183). Sandra Stahl defines personal narrative as “a prose narrative relating a personal experience; it is usually told in the first person, and its content is non- traditional” (1989, 12). One example of such works is Yi Fan Pai’s work (2008). She explored her personal and her family’s experience narratives in order to study the construct of generational identity within a Chinese emigrant family to Taiwan in 1949. Yi notes that

the identity of first generation immigrants as non-Taiwanese is almost non-negotiable in their narratives, expressed in part by their nostalgic feelings for mainland China. This contrasts with the dynamics of fluidity and stability of the identity/identities of the second and third generation Mainlanders, reflecting a lessening of social boundaries and other social shifts in Taiwan (2008, ii).

Yi added that this shows “the changing process of identity construction while relating to the social structure and cultural and political transformation in contemporary Taiwanese society (ibid.).”18 While I do not take the approach of the ‘personal experience narratives’ in this study, I will contribute some ‘insider’ views of what it means to be a global Hakka i.e. growing up, first in a

18 See also Siu Lok’s work in which he uses migration stories or narratives to study four Panamanian Chinese, who had undertaken serial migration, to understand the notion of where home “was, is, and can be . . .” (2005, 86–112). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 31 quintessentially Hakka village (Pusing, Malaysia), then moving to a predominately Hakka New Village (Beruas, Malaysia); followed by my departure from Malaysia to New Zealand for my tertiary education; then working in Wellington, the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore; and eventually settling down in Germany. These moves no doubt affect the subsequent and successive shaping and reshaping of my Hakka identity. Being a member of the BGH group also situated my research. Most of all, I hope that writing about my experience as an overseas Hakka woman, who grew up in a ‘traditional Hakka environment’, and now living in the West will contribute to a wider perspective on how Hakka identity is transformed, reformed and still adapting. The use of conventional as well as alternative methodologies show that there is a ‘new’ trend in ethnological studies—a move away from the strict confines of ‘borders’ and ‘limits’ to more inclusive methods that allows more flexibility. As early as the 1990s, Judith Okley explored the relationship between “anthropology and autobiography as participatory experience and embodied knowledge”. She said, “The practice of intensive fieldwork is unique among all other disciplines from the humanities and social sciences . . . Long term immersion through fieldwork is generally a total experience, demanding all of the anthropologist’s resources; intellectual, physical, emotional, political and intuitive. The experience involves so much of the self that it is impossible to reflect upon it fully by extracting that self” (1992, 8). She also champions ‘alternative knowledge’ as an essential part of research (2012). I am not an anthropologist but I would like to think that the fact that I am Hakka counts for ‘participatory experience and embodied knowledge’ in this work. Anthropologists and ethnologists, who were moving in this direction, include Arjun Appadurai (2001), Nancy Abelmann (2005) and Nicole Constable (2003). Appadurai questions the anthropological methodology: “Is there something for us to learn from colleagues in other national and cultural settings whose work is not characterized by a sharp line between social scientific and humanistic styles of inquiry?” (2001, 15). Nancy Abelmann sees it as an invitation to “the non-genius among us to blur those lines, to allow for ‘undisciplined’ voices.” She calls these voices ‘culture talk’ that both disrupt received ideas of locality and demand a ‘humanistic style of inquiry’ (2005, 257). This is a plea not only for ‘open systems’ but also ‘open minds’ in the study of anthropology and ethnology. Wang Gungwu is also in favor of such ‘openness’ and flexibility. For example, Wang wrote a foreword for a book in 1994, in which he states that he “focused on formal and practical documents”. Ten years later, he said, “If I have the chance to write the foreword again, I would have included an appeal for memories and expressive desires to be sought out as documents” (2004, 151). 32 chapter 1

The Hakka Traditional Series initiated by John Lagerwey is a good example of how the idea of ‘memories and expressive desires’ can be transformed into ‘formal and practical documents’. Lagerwey invited local scholars and retired officials from South China to do the research and write about the history and customs of their home villages (2005). This project has produced nineteen series that were published between 1996 and 2009. It provided a kind of primary source for the study of Hakka culture. Lagerwey admitted that none of the authors have academic training in writing such articles (ibid., 23), which can pose problems. As Allen Chun notes, the “ramifications of knowledge production and consumption” must be observed with care because “scholars working in a native intellectual setting cannot claim to be driven by the same value-free goals characteristic of ‘the ivory tower’ precisely because of the moral pressure to respond to social relevance in much the same way that Western scholars are also prone to pressures to conform to ‘political correct- ness’ ” (2001, 240). As this study shows, we can arrive at a ‘middle way’. E. San Juan Jr. called for a re-assessment of our critical tools and paradigms needed for ethnological and historical studies in the age of globalization. He states,

What is imperative is the historized so-called ethnic predicament—the salience of cultural practices, customs, tradition, religion, language, and so on . . . Unless dialectic of the social institutions and collective agencies that constitute the history of social formations within the world system of accumulation, and especially the need to transform . . . for the sake of saving lives and our environment . . . Ethnic Studies will continue to be a futile exercise (2005, 285).

Dynamics of immigration, such as inequality of wealth, power and access to the society that controls the means of production have become so complex and diversified that San Juan concluded that Ethnic Studies should be phased out eventually or subsumed into some other form (ibid., 287). Another breakaway from the strict ethnographic research of fixed boundaries is Nicole Constable (editor of Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad), a respected anthropologist, who was “unwilling to give up ethnographic research, a cornerstone of anthropology”, but instead designed her research in such a way that she can explore “gender, transnationalism, and globalization, and also raise issues of epistemology, methodology, and ethnographic writing” (2003, 1–2). Her research included conventional anthropological interviews, participant observation, and face-to-face encounters and “also a less conventional component of virtual ethnography—fieldwork from my Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 33 computer” (ibid., 3). As anthropological and ethnological studies widen their methodologies to be more flexible in order to accommodate the fast evolving environment and shifting boundaries, it has given me license to adapt and use them for my research. Being Hakka and also part of the case study confers many advantages. One of them is that Beruas being such a small community meant that the families of the BGH knew each other either casually or intimately. The Hakka being the majority in the town and the village also helped to build the proverbial ‘clannishness’ which many Hakka Studies often ascribe to the Hakka. I went to school with the older subjects and knew of the younger subjects and their families. I believe that the subjects were able to answer questions with less inhibition and because of our communal relationship, information was more forthcoming. Similarly, in Pusing, where my maternal family is based, I was able to obtain information that an ‘outsider’ would not be able to access. For example, at first the dulang-washers (Hakka women who panned for tin) were reluctant to talk to me but as soon as they knew how I was related to the different families in Pusing, they held no bars. I have immense respect for scholars who learn the language of the community they are studying as well as immersing themselves in their lifestyle. It gives them an edge. In reviewing Jürgen Rudolf’s (1998) well-researched study on the reconstruction of Baba identity in Singapore, Cynthia Chou noted that his work would have been greatly enriched if he had learnt the Baba language or lived with a few Baba families. If he had done so it would have enabled him

to pick up the finer details of the community as well as to capture the instantaneous emotions and responses of the Babas. He would also have been able to observe and participate in the often taken for granted, day- to-day living matters of the Babas . . . It must not be overlooked that identities are constructed and reconstructed not just in response to super- and supra-structural social, political and economic shifts, but also in interactions, negotiations and responses to the ordinary man and woman in the street (2000, 156–167).

I feel that being Hakka has given me an ‘inside track’ in terms of understanding Hakka cultural practices and the Hakka mindset. However, I am aware that my ‘insider’ status can also be a drawback. To minimize any bias that might influence how the data is interpreted and analyzed, I took measures to keep the objective perspective of a researcher and adopted a neutral position. For example, in order to be consistent with the interviews, I usually asked the questions in the order that they are written in the questionnaire (See Appendix A.II). 34 chapter 1

Interviews with the BGH and other global Hakka were conducted face-to-face or by telephone. Some questions are formulated in such a way, as to allow the informants to tell their stories and express their opinions. The interviews were recorded on tapes or discs. Every informant was given a number for anonymity but I also asked their permission to quote them if the need arose. All participants, except for one, gave their consent to be quoted. The way that this study is conducted was no doubt the result of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, improved telecommunications, cheap travel, cyber-intercourse, and new technologies that connect us all. Almost all of my interviews with global Hakka from around the world were conducted on the telephone and the availability of affordable air-travel has also allowed me to travel not only back and forth from Germany to Malaysia and Singapore but also to China, Thailand and the United States for part of the research. The Internet made it possible for me to find all the BGH and other informants who provided valuable data. Methodologically, I combined ethnological, anthropological and sociological techniques with historical materials to provide an eclectic picture of a complex study. In other words, I did not rely only on personal interviews and participant observation but also on historical documents; including huiguan (association) publications, newspapers, and clan genealogies; and some personal narratives. This method fits in part with what Maurice Freedman (1963) exhorted in his essay entitled “A Chinese Phase in Social Anthropology”. Freedman recommended combining anthropological, sociological, and historical materials and techniques to provide a fairly complete picture of a complex society. In other words, the method employed by Freedman relies not only on personal interviews and participant observation but also on historical documents; including association publications, local gazetteers, newspapers, government publications, and clan genealogies, which I also did to some degree. However, I believe strongly that my methodology has been greatly helped by advancements in technology and communications, and the globalization process. Ten years ago, this study would have been less eclectic and taken much, much longer to undertake. I will now present the eight exercises and fieldworks conducted for this study.

1 Interviews with the BGH for the Case Study19 As I mentioned before, this research was instigated by a visit to Beruas at the beginning of 2005, where I noticed more and more grandmothers were

19 See Appendix A for the complete case study. Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 35 attempting to speak to their grandchildren in bad Mandarin instead of good Hakka and some young Hakka parents spoke to their children only in Mandarin or English. This led me to wonder how Beruasians of Hakka descent, living overseas, were dealing with their Hakka identity in their host-countries. I started to compile a list of those who had emigrated and to prepare the questionnaire for the interviews. Apart from myself, I located seventeen other Hakka who were living in different parts of the world. It so happened that this is the total number of Hakka from Beruas who have chosen to make their homes overseas from a population of less than 1500. There were also many Hakka who went abroad for further education but returned to Malaysia after their studies. When I visited Beruas again during the Chinese New Year in 2006, I managed to interview three of them personally using the questionnaire I had designed. It consists of sixty questions.20 The rest were interviewed on the phone and all the conversations were recorded. Except for one interview conducted in 2008, the other interviews were made in the latter part of 2006 over a period of six months. After the initial interviews in 2006, I visited Malaysia and Singapore every year for six to ten weeks at a time to continue with my research. During my visit in January 2009, I also caught up with four of the BGH, who were visiting Beruas and held further interviews with them regarding their Hakka identity. A follow-up interview was conducted by email and on the telephone in 2011 to ascertain if there were any changes in their Hakka identity since the first interview in 2006. This survey consisted of only three questions. They are:

(1) Has the awareness of your Hakka identity changed? (2) Is there any change in your attitude towards Hakka culture? (3) Are there any new thoughts you might want to share on Hakka culture and identity in the twenty-first century?

The BGH is an unusual case study because of its inherent homogeneity and acquired differences as a ‘group’ and it supports my study of the making and remaking of global Hakka identity. The summary and detailed findings of the case study are presented in Appendix A. The findings from this case study are also used for a comparison of the first three generations of the Hakka in Beruas using statistics and cultural markers to show how Hakka identity has changed in just three generations (Appendix A.I).

20 The questionnaire is attached to the case study in Appendix A.II. 36 chapter 1

2 Interviews with Hakka Elders To get a better sense of Hakka history in Malaysia, I spoke to Hakka ‘elders’ in Beruas and Pusing. They narrated their personal history as well as the history of Beruas and Pusing. They also spoke of the changes they had seen and experienced and their worry for the future of Hakka traditions. Parents and relatives of the BGH, who are still living in Beruas, also shared their personal and family histories. Some of the ‘elders’ were born in Beruas, while others moved there before WWII. For example, Mr. Chong Yoon Ching, born in 1929, a fishmonger in the morning and also the owner of a grocery shop ten kilometers out of Beruas, remembered the Hakka School he attended as a boy. Before the interview, I had not known that a Hakka school existed in Beruas. The bus conductor for the Beruas-Ipoh long-distance bus service, Mr. Lew Boon Seng (b. 1928) remembers the ‘old Beruas’ and marveled at how Beruas and its people had changed in the course of his lifetime. Mr Lee Chung Yen, one of the sons of the pawnbroker in Beruas, who was also a freelance reporter, informed me that the year in which the two rows of shophouses were built (1918) is carved on a beam in their pawnshop. Madam Chin Teik Chean (b. 1928), an educator, remembered that she encouraged parents to send their daughters to school and even paid for the school fees of some of the poorer students. Many other Hakka women told stories from the early years of their lives in Beruas. The Hakka story in Beruas is yet to be written but from what I have gleaned so far, I am able to get a better perspective of the lives of the Hakka still living there and the backgrounds the BGH came from. This in turn gave me a view of a micro-model of Hakka society in Malaysia.

3 The Kindergarten Class of 2009 This survey was conducted with the pupils of the kindergarten class of 2009 at the Methodist Church in Beruas New Village. The aim of this exercise is to ascertain the Hakka linguistic skill of the newest generation of Hakka. I visited the kindergarten three times and with the help of the teacher was able to find out which children were Hakka and whether they could speak or understand Hakka. I then called the homes of those Hakka children who could not speak the dialect to ask their parents/guardians why they had not taught their children/charges to speak Hakka. For the summary and the findings of this survey, see Appendix O, and for a detailed discussion of its implications, Chapter 6 (Language). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 37

4 Interviews with Global and Malaysian Hakka For a synchronic comparison of the BGH in a global context, I randomly interviewed global Hakka (mostly from Malaysia and Singapore) and other overseas Hakka from around the world.21 I put out notices in forums (AsiaWind) and other social networks (such as the Singapore Taoist Group) inviting global Hakka to take part in my survey. I also sent out the same message to personal friends and asked them to put it on their social networks. Altogether, I was connected to more than a hundred Hakka from around the world. Our first contact was by email and then I arranged for a time to conduct my interview by telephone. A few asked to be sent questionnaires but I insisted that the interview must be conducted by phone in order to be consistent in my methodology.22 Though I was asking the informants to divulge personal details, most of them were forthcoming because they had been recommended by their friends or friends of friends but I also suspect Hakka ‘clannishness’ played a role. They wanted to help a fellow Hakka. Since I did not know these new subjects as they were not from Beruas and were brought up in a different social environment from the BGH, there was a need to establish the social background of these informants. I added three more questions to the questionnaire I used for the BGH. They are:

(1) What kind of neighborhood/environment did you grow up in? (2) What was it like growing up as a Hakka in your community? (3) What do you say when you see another Hakka?

Most of the interviews were conducted by telephone but I also conducted face- to-face interviews when I travelled to Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand and the United States. By comparing their answers with those of the BGH, a common trend emerged as to how the global Hakka were adjusting to their new

21 The countries include Malaysia (East and West), Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, United States of America (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Idaho, and Seattle), United Kingdom, Peru, Indonesia (Jakarta, Singkawan, Medan, Bandar Ache), Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, China, The Netherlands, Reunion Island and Jamaica. Global Hakka from China were excluded. 22 This is important because I wanted their answers to the questions to be spontaneous. If the subjects have time to look up the answer (e.g. Question 39. How much Hakka history do they know?), the findings will be skewed. 38 chapter 1 life and how it was affecting their Hakka identity. What is interesting is that overseas Hakka, who did not emigrate from their natal-country, also wanted to be interviewed. These are Hakka who are passionate about their Hakka identity, and they were happy to share their experiences and views of being a Hakka in the twenty-first century. There are also a few non-Hakka who wanted to comment on the Hakka e.g. Tan Sri Ani bin Arope, a Malay who grew up and worked with Hakka; Mr. Supaya, a Malaysian Indian who live in Beruas and spoke perfect Dongguan Hakka; and Mr. Robert Armstrong, who was ‘adopted’ by the Hakka community in Thailand. This survey provides a useful synchronic comparison for the BGH survey.

5 The Journey of a ‘Born-Again’ Hakka For almost two years (2010–2011), I followed the Hakka activities of a ‘born- again’ Hakka, who emigrated from Singapore to Hawaii, USA. Patricia Paton (nee Foo Boon Quee, a.k.a. Hk. Sum Moi or No. 3 Daughter) and her family represent some aspects of the transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity in Southeast Asia. Her journey is quite typical of many English-educated overseas Chinese from Malaysia and Singapore. She represents one kind of global Hakka of the twenty-first century. The details of her journey to reclaim her Hakka identity/Hakkaness are discussed in Chapter 5 (Hakkaness).

6 General Language Survey in Pusing and Beruas Since inhabitants of Beruas and Pusing speak predominately Dongguan Hakka, I wanted to capture this variety of Hakka by recording their unique expressions. I also recorded unusual expressions that I heard on the streets or in conversations in Malaysia and Singapore. In 2010, I took my mother (b. 1920) to Pusing, where she grew up, to look up her old friends and got them talking about their lives as well as what it means to be a Hakka woman then and now. They spoke about their youth, traditions and customs that they practiced, and also their participation in the tin-mining industry in the Kinta Valley. From these conversations, I was able to learn more about Hakka traditions and history in Pusing. Since the aim of this exercise was to study Hakka expressions I also audio-taped all the conversations and videoed-taped some parts of the interviews. This exercise provided not only examples of the uniqueness of the Dongguan Hakka language but also how the Malay language influenced it. For the detailed discussion on Dongguan Hakka, see Chapter 6 (Language). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 39

7 Dulang-Washers The gender role of Hakka Women is considered to be an iconic Hakka cultural marker. I was particularly interested in a group of Hakka women known as ‘dulang-washers’. They worked in the Malayan tin-mining industry. They represent the hardiness, diligence, and resourcefulness of Hakka women and they embody the Hakka-women-spirit. I was able to talk to twelve of these ex- dulang-washers in Pusing. From these conversations, one can get a sense of the old ‘Hakka world’ and the information they imparted contributed immensely to the study of Hakka gender roles. These Hakka women, an important part of Hakka history in Malaysia, have another story that needs to be written and soon because the youngest one I interviewed is in her seventies and the oldest one in her nineties.

8 Survey on the Definition of Migration, Emigration, and Immigration Since migration is such an important part of Hakka history, culture and identity, and given their new roles on the global stage, it seems time to re-examine these three words to give them new conceptualizations. When I tried to connect these three words together, I could feel their meanings had shifted. In order to detect how their meanings have changed I sent out emails to friends in various countries to ask them what these three words meant to them on the social and personal (non-anthropological) context. Those who replied were also requested to forward the questions to their social networks. As I suspected, the meanings of these three words depend on who is defining them, where they originally come from, and where they are residing at the time of the survey. For a summary of the responses, see Appendix N. The findings of this exercise help with the understanding of global Hakka migration. For the full discussion of Hakka migration past, present and in future, see Chapter 3. The above eight exercises, conducted over a period of six years, contributed greatly to this study. Together with the many excellent works done by scholars before me and archival materials that I found in the Hakka Associations in Malaysia, I am able to analyze the process on how Hakka identity has been transformed and reformed up to the first decade of the twenty-first century. I am, of course, aware of some of the problematics and limitations encountered in such an eclectic study. 40 chapter 1

Problematics The problematics for a study with such a diverse backdrop are numerous. Since the methodology of this study focuses on the historical, sociological, economic, cultural and political aspects, as well as globalization, transnationalism and the deterritorialization processes, it makes identity transformation a complex topic and the Hakka are not spared. Hakka cultural constructs like Hakka identity is in a flux of constantly being made and remade and as such, all the inherent problematics associated with such an endeavor are obvious and many. One of the major problematics encountered during my research is that the Chinese are taken to be a homogeneous group, which is far from satisfactory. The Han Chinese is only one of the fifty-six ethnological groups in China. Basically, all Chinese may share the same historical template but there are differences in their historical paths, language, customs and traditions. To study a Chinese community without mentioning the dialect make-up of the community, for example in Malaysia or South China, is not giving the study its full treatment. It is a missed opportunity that could have added another dimension to an interesting study. The majority of works in Social Studies on the Chinese do not mention the different speech groups. Mentioning the dialect of a group in Chinese migration theory would have given it an extra perspective and greater understanding of the subtle differences in the migration process and other social traits. From the dialect of a person, one can derive more information on their history, origin and social patterns. For example, if a pawnshop is being mentioned in Malaysia or Singapore in the 1960s, in all likelihood it would belong to a Hakka family and it will also indicate which variety of Hakka. Pawnbrokership in Malaysia and Singapore was dominated by Dabu Hakka (Liu and Wong 2004, 67). Another example can be seen in the case of global Hakka immigrants from Jamaica or Suriname. There will be a high probability that their families were involved in the grocery store business. Andrew Wilson in his introduction to The Chinese in the Caribbean says, “Economic growth and the emergence of new market niches in Jamaica, for example, allowed Chinese, once their indenture contracts had expired, to move quickly into small-scale retail. By the early twentieth century, [Hakka] ‘Chinaman’ had become virtually synonymous with shopkeeper” (2004, x).23 Similarly, a Chinese immigrant in New York who says that his immediate ancestors were from West Kalimantan would have a high

23 For a study of Chinese shopkeepers in Jamaica and the role it plays in identity formation, see Bouknight-Davis (2004, 73). See also Chang W.H. (2004) for a detailed study of the legacy of the Hakka shopkeepers of the West Indies in Surinam and Fat (2009a, 4). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 41 probability that they were Hakka gold miners (Heidhues 2003). Each migrant Hakka community has a different history and as such they have also developed different Hakka identities, specific to the influence of their host communities. Dialect not only gives a person a unique identity but it also imparts information about their history, social norm and economic status. Among the dialect groups, the Hakka have received the most attention for their distinctive form of Chineseness. The term Hakka to designate this group is also problematic because the Hakka are not a monolithic group per se because there are many ‘varieties’ of Hakka, both on social and linguistic levels. Like the Chinese, the Hakka are usually lumped together in most social studies and mostly seen as a ‘homogeneous’ group. This is far from the truth. After their migration, place-affinity and variations in spoken Hakka further complicate Hakka identity as a ‘homogeneous’ group. As for the varieties of Hakka spoken, there is still no consensus on the exact or estimated numbers. The difference of behavioral patterns of Hakka communities in a particular country or around the world is a sign that they respond to the contact situations and remake and transform their identities accordingly. For example, dialect-group affinity can reveal tension in the community or the social structure. In Jamaica, Panama and Suriname, dialect-group affinity still plays a role in the Chinese community (Wilson, ed., 2004). In Malaysia, all Chinese celebrate the Chinese New year on the same day but only the Hokkien celebrate Hkn. chay paek (初八 eighth day of the New Year). This is considered the real New Year of the Hokkien. Studying the Hakka within another dialect community can also cause difficulties. For example, the difficulty of translating Hakka terminology is acknowledged by Elizabeth Johnson in her study of the Hakka in the 1960s and 1970s in Hong Kong. She said, “I never heard the general Chinese term for music (yam ngohk) used for any local Hakka musical forms, and the verb ‘to sing’ (cheung) is used only for mountain songs. The verbs ‘to weep’ (haam) or ‘to call’ (giu) are used for lamenting” (2004, 31). There are some fundamental problems to her statement. Firstly, all the expressions she mentioned above sounded Cantonese and not Hakka. In Hakka, music is called just Hk. nyok (MacIver 1982 [1926], 522) or Hk. nyok yim (ibid.) and Hk. yim nyok (ibid., 1099) is generally used to mean musical notes or music in general. Even if modernity has caused the Hakka to adopt the use of Hk. yim nyok to conform to standard Chinese, the tone is still very different from Cantonese. Cheung is definitely Cantonese. The Hakka say Hk. chhong san ko (sing mountain songs). The Hakka expression Hk. hem means to call (someone or the soul Hk. hem fun) (MacIver 1982 [1926], 156). Hk. kiau is used to mean both ‘cry’, ‘weep’, or lament. The error here is not entirely Johnson’s because, in the 1960s and 1970s, 42 chapter 1 many of the Hakka in Hong Kong were mixing Cantonese into their Hakka speech. For this study, I take the Hakka to be ‘homogeneous’ in the sense that they share the same cultural traits and historical journey that gave them the appellation Hakka. For the case study and discussions I choose to focus on the Dongguan Hakka because Beruas and Pusing, where I conducted most of my fieldworks, are considered to be predominantly Hakka towns (Pusing more than Beruas) and Dongguan Hakka is the lingua franca for both places. Analytical studies, such as this, with both historical and contemporary elements in such a wide timeframe are inherently problematic because they are more eclectic and their limits and boundaries are wider and more elastic. Also, Hakka cultural construct like Hakka identity is in a constant flux of being transformed, reformed, remade and reshaped, which brings with it all the inherent problems associated with such an endeavor. Just by looking at a book, an article or a letter written in Chinese, there is no way to tell what dialect the writer belongs to unless the author specifically mentions that s/he is Hakka, Cantonese or Hokkien, or specific homophones for the dialects are used. Also, the problems associated with the study of histories that have not been fully documented, such as the Hakka’s, are many. Wang Gungwu described three categories of documentations that are available for the study of overseas Chinese and they are:

(1) The formal, as found in official archives (2) The practical, which includes everything written down by private persons or organizations such as appointment records, correspondence, meeting minutes, newspapers, etc. (3) The expressive, which can be found in migrant writings such as novels and poetry (2007, 5–6).

Since the overseas Hakka are part of the overseas Chinese, this should also apply to Hakka studies. However, as mentioned above, the problem with formal documents on Chinese migration or culture is that they seldom breakdown the dialect groups. Instead they are lumped together as a ‘homogeneous Chinese’ group. Wang Gungwu adds, “Social and cultural documents concerning the life of merchants and labourers of the nineteenth century are very hard to come by. There were colonial and other official reports about the Chinese and these are helpful. But, both native and Chinese writers and observers are rare and they tell us little that could fill out what the foreign reports have to tell” (1991, 18). It would be a help to future generations embarking on the studies of the evolving Chinese and dialect identity, if works on the Chinese would add a Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 43 small footnote to inform us of the dialect identity, if there is one. From this information future scholars would have another layer of information that would otherwise be lost. For example, when I read about a Chinese funeral, the question that comes to mind constantly is “What dialect was the deceased and in what dialect were the funeral rites conducted?” There are many differences between them—some subtle and some not so subtle. Keeping dialect culture alive gives variety and color to the idea of being ‘Chinese’. Practical documents are a bit better because Hakka individuals have kept genealogies,24 family papers, biographies, and clan records, and the various Hakka organizations, such as clan associations, benevolent societies etc. have saved some of the old records. In general, there are still very few novels, poems, essays or letters that are expressively Hakka documentations. Therefore, looking for historical and social data on the Hakka in documentations on the Chinese is a hit and miss exercise. Luckily, in the last twenty years, Hakka Studies have entered into the mainstream with the new moniker Hakkaology. Universities in Taiwan and mainland China have added Hakka Studies to their faculties. There are also inherent problems in the eight exercises that I have undertaken for this study. For example, in the survey of the BGH (1), one of the problems is that the pool of informants is rather small and this means that the findings have to be seen in a wider context. However, this is the sum total of Hakka from Beruas who emigrated overseas, but it says a lot about the Hakka given that Beruas is such a small settlement. Not including those Beruas Hakka living in Singapore in this study has it pros and cons. I have excluded them because of the similarity in their culture even though Robin Chee (2011) has shown that many Malaysian Chinese conduct themselves differently in Singapore and they have different values and identities from the Singaporeans. Including those Beruas Hakka living and working in Singapore for this study would increase the pool considerably but the similarity in cultural background would also skew the findings. Given that the Hakka are strongly agnatic, the children of Hakka women who married non-Hakka are no longer considered Hakka. As such, the Case Study includes only informants with Hakka fathers. Two other problems associated with the Case Study are the mobility and personal status of the subjects. As of 2012, four of the informants have already moved from the country where they were interviewed and both of the single men have married. Sadly, two have passed away. In the same year, Mr. Liau Yoon Foo, who shared with me the generation poem, has become the 19th Beruas global Hakka through his

24 See Luo X.L. (1933) who used it to study the migration history of the Hakka. 44 chapter 1 emigration to Australia. Evidently, mobility and their changing status contribute to the process of ‘Hakka identity in the remaking’ in a globalized world. Up to the mid-twentieth century Hakka have been having difficulty trying to maintain their sense of a pan-Hakka identity but cheap travel, improvement in communication and most of all, the Internet, changed all that. Overnight Hakka all over the world were connected by the Internet and the Hakka global network (HGN) was born. As Eriberto Lozada Jr. describes, computer- mediated communication (CMC) shaped ideas of what it means to be Hakka in the 1990s (2009).25 CMC changed the definition of a ‘local’ community. In his study of Taiwan’s ethnicities and their representation on the Internet, Jens Damm summarizes that “the Hakka have employed the new technologies in both top-down and bottom-up approaches to reshape the collective and cultural memory. This has also had a strong influence on the worldwide Hakka community and has given the Hakka a new and more modern image” (2011, 114). However, Lozada Jr. rightly cautioned that although CMC is a useful tool the results have to be used with care because local transnational community can be biased due to the upward mobility of the subjects. Also, the informants are usually English-speaking and therefore not representative of the real (as opposed to the virtual) Hakka community (2009, 8). This study on the making and remaking of Hakka identity in the twentieth century has only touched a small aspect of Hakka studies. We need more individual studies of the different varieties of Hakka dialects. Each variety of Hakka has a different history and is influenced by different social and environment factors. Hence, they too have subtle differences in their identity and how they view their Hakkaness depends on where they are. Shirley Chiu’s research (2003) has shown clearly how ‘new’ Hakka communities, such as the Jamaican and Indian Hakka who migrated to Toronto, perceived their Hakka identity.26 The Jamaican Hakka in Toronto have formed a global ‘community’ and they ‘stay together’ through their networks such as the Jamaican Overseas Chinese 牙買加華僑 Yamaijia huaqiao27 a web-based publication that keeps the Jamaican Hakka informed of what their Jamaican Hakka brothers and sisters in other countries are doing. We also need projects like the 客家傳統社會 Kejia chuantong shehui (Traditional Hakka Society Series) and 客家研究叢書

25 For a discussion on the history of Asian Studies on the Internet, see Ciolek (2003). 26 For a study of the origins, history, survival, adaption and integration of the Chinese in Jamaica, see Li A.S. (2004) and for the development of the Jamaican Chinese identity from the time they arrived until independence in 1962, see Bouknight-Davis (2004). 27 See http://www.chinesejamaican.com/ (Retrieved on 20th August, 2010). Hakka Identity Going Global: Methodology And Problematics 45

Kejia yanjiu congshu (Hakka Studies Series) from the various Hakka communities around the globe. The last two decades of the twentieth century has seen a proliferation of academic work that seeks to examine all aspects of being Hakka—its origin, migrational journeys, cultural construct, transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity, and changes in its socio-economic-politico-cultural position in China and outside of China. Hakka stereotypes have persisted and it provided a topic for scholarly interest and debate. Hakka Studies will continue for many years to come because of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism. Global Hakka identity is on the move and the meaning of being Hakka carries with it not only all the problematics that come with an evolving world but also a spurring on of Hakka awareness in different contexts. The enigma of being Hakka in the twenty-first century should keep Hakka Studies humming along. However, in another couple of generations, Hakka identity will have been shaped and reshaped to a point where one would have to ask: Is there any point in having a Hakka identity? Chapter 2 Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts

1 Hakka Research

Hakka Studies should be ‘re-reconsidered’. I say ‘re-reconsidered’ because the study of Hakka history has been ‘reconsidered’ by Manabu Nakagawa in 1975. Nakagawa summarized the historiography of Hakka Studies in the 1960s and 1970s (1967, 1973, and 1975). He credited the beginning of the study of the Hakka to Europeans who were residing in Canton in the mid-nineteenth century. The Basel Missionaries were the first Westerners to write about the Hakka. They started work in southern China among the Hakka in 1847 and the last Basel Missionaries left China in 1951.28 Their interest was sparked by the Hakka-Punti War (1855–1867). Nakagawa gave special mention to E.J. Eitel, who published “Ethnological Sketches of Hakka Chinese” in 1867 and “An Outline History of the Hakka” in 1873–74 (both in Notes and Queries on China and Japan), and Charles Piton, who published “On the Origin and History of the Hakka” in 1874 in The Chinese Review, as pioneers in this field (1975, 209 n2). In addition, Nakagawa also mentioned that in 1912, George Campbell published “Origin and Migration of the Hakkas”, which was translated into Chinese and then retranslated back to English (1975, 209 n3 and 210).29 In order to study and communicate with the Hakka, the missionaries and interested orientalists produced dictionaries in various languages—French (Rey 1901), English (MacIver 1905) and German (Lechler 1909). There was a lull in the study of the Hakka language by linguists inside and outside of China during the years preceding as well as during the early Communist years until Mantaro J. Hashimoto provided us with an excellent critical survey of the

28 For a detailed discussion of nineteenth-century missionary work of different Christian denominations in China, the contribution to the grammatical, phonological or lexical studies of the Hakka language by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society, and evaluations of the documents stored in the Basel Mission Library from the perspective of linguistics, see Chappell and Lamarre (2005) and Lamarre (2002). 29 Like Nakagawa, I have not read the original but have access to a translated Chinese version published in the Perak Hakka Associations Guild Inauguration Commemorative Special Issue (Li P.C., 195 & 330–336).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004300279_004 Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 47 study of the Hakka language (1973, 15–34). In general, not much was said about the Hakka by Westerners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century because of the turmoil in China. The lack of Hakka research materials in Chinese before the twentieth century is summarized in two pages by Zhong Wendian 鍾文典, Chief Editor of the three Hakka Studies Series 客家研究叢書 (kejia yanjiu congshu). He mentioned only two texts from the nineteenth century: Kejia benzi 客家本字 (The Root of Hakka Words) by Yang Gonghuan 楊恭桓, and Lingwai sanzhou yu 嶺外三洲語 (Speech of the Three Prefectures outside the Ridge) by the linguist Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 (1869–1936) (2005, 8–9). Other works that contributed to Hakka research includes Jiaying zhou zhi 嘉應州志 (Gazetteer of Jiaying Prefecture) by Wen Zhonghe 溫仲和 (1849–1904), who wrote about Hakka history, heritage and culture that includes accommodation, food, clothing, marriage, burial, and worship rituals. In 1905, a textbook on ethnic purity in the Guangdong Province, written by a Cantonese, proclaimed that Hakka and Hoklo are not Cantonese and therefore, not of the Chinese racial stock. This proclamation goaded Hakka scholars and reformers such as Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲 (1848–1905), Qiu Fengjia 丘逢甲 (1864–1912), Zou Lu 鄒魯 (1885–1954) and others to form the Hakka Research Society to prove that the Hakka were pure Han-Chinese, who migrated from Central China to the south. Zhou Jianxing states, “In 1906, Hu Xi, a Xining personage and one of the three major poets at Jiaying prefecture in the late Qing dynasty, wrote an article entitled ‘Research on Ethnic Groups in Guangdong Province’ . . . From 1907 to 1909, Zou Lu of Dapu wrote ‘Research on Hoklo Hakka of Han Ethnicity’ . . . In addition, we should also mention Zhong Yonghe of Meixian [who wrote] ‘History of the Origin of Hakka’ and ‘Refutation of Hakka-Not-Han-Ethnicity Opinion’, based on his own field research” (2007, 89). In 1912, Luo Aiqi’s 羅藹其 lexicon entitled Kejia fangyan 客家方言 (The Hakka Dialect) was published in twelve volumes. The most famous person to write in Hakka is Huang Zunxian (1848–1905), a Hakka born in Jiayingzhou, now Mei County in Guangdong Province. He was a scholar, poet, reformist and a diplomat, first in Tokyo, and later the USA, London and Singapore. After suffering a bout of malaria he visited Penang to recuperate. During his three-year stint as Consul General of the Straits Settlements, he succeeded in obtaining British agreement to establish vice- consulates in the more important cities on the Malayan peninsula. He wrote poems about his experiences in Malaya and Singapore in a series of hepta syllabic quatrains (Schmidt 1994, 33–34). He was impressed by the multiculturalism in which different races interacted and also about personal new discoveries such as the durian—a fruit loved by the locals and abhorred by the 48 Chapter 2 uninitiated.30 On his return to China in 1894, Huang championed the use of the Hakka dialect for writing. His famous saying: “My hand writes as I speak” (我手寫我口 wo shouxie wo kou) became the byword for ‘writing and speech becoming one’ (文言合一 wenyan heyi) (Tsu J. 2010, 33). Following that, there was a hiatus in the studies of the Hakka in China by Chinese Hakka scholars after they felt that the insult had been vindicated by ‘proving’ that they are part of the Han family. Besides, in the early twentieth century, China was threatened by wars and rebellions and the Chinese were caught up in the climate of growing Chinese nationalism, which left little room for ethnic debates. However, the so-called Wolcott Affair in 1920 stirred up Hakka activism again. The Commercial Press in Shanghai published an English textbook called Geography of the World, in which the author, Roger Wolcott wrote that the Hakka was one of the many wild tribes and backward people. There was a flourish of activity by the Hakka to establish themselves as part of the Chinese race (again). The Hakka intellectuals and students in Shanghai established the United Hakka Association (客系大同會 Ke xi datonghui) to refute the affront. As a result of these protests, the Commercial Press issued an apology, notified the schools that had purchased the books of the error and the rest of the stock was destroyed (Luo X.L. 1933, 29). However, as Flemming Christiansen notes, “It took the intervention of a scholar and ethnic politician to craft a coherent body of scientific evidence in support of the thesis that the Hakkas were Han Chinese, around which a sustained ethnic consciousness arose. The work of Luo Xianglin rendered the cause of the Hakkas respectable and convincing” (1998, 6). The most important of Luo’s works, Kejia yanjiu daolun 客家研究導論 (An Introduction to the Study of the Hakka in its Ethnic, Historical, and Cultural Aspects (sic)), was published in 1933. Some of the best analyses of Luo’s work are given by Christiansen (1998, 6–13), Leong Sow-Theng (1997, 29) and Myron Cohen (1996). Leong considers Luo’s work to be “part scholarship and part ethnic rhetoric” (1997, 29) but, despite this observation, Luo’s theory “was adopted in important works, most notably by Luo Changpei (1940), Yuan Jiahua et al. (1962), Hashimoto (1973, 3 & 436) and Lu Guoyao (1988)” (Sagart 2004, 130). I agree with Leong that Luo Xianglin’s theory of Hakka migration is problematic. Luo assumes that the Hakka continued to move en masse during each of the five waves that he postulated. It is accepted that when there was

30 Alfred Wallace quoting an earlier traveler described it as such: “To those not used to it, it seems at first to smell like rotten onions, but immediately after they have tasted it they prefer it to all other food. The natives give it honorable titles, exalt it, and make verses on it (1886, 74).” Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 49 war, famine and other natural calamities or persecution for being on the wrong side in any conflict, people were forced to move and the Hakka were part of such upheavals in China. However, in times of peace, some moved on to join clan members, who had gone ahead, to form another link in the chain migration scheme; some moved in search of new land and life after the death of the patriarch, and the family having been ‘divided’; and some stayed behind and continued to live in their ancestral home for a few more generations before moving or being assimilated. Therefore, Luo’s five-wave Hakka migration model has to be used with caution. Also, if we accept the supposition that the first wave began in 317 CE with the southward flight of the Jin, it only means that the Hakka have lived in the northern part of China prior to their ‘first wave’ migration, and it does not exclude the theory that the Hakka might have migrated from somewhere else (for example, from the Steppes or places now called Xinjiang or Gansu) to Henan before that ‘first wave’ migration. Given that there was already a ‘Chinese culture’ before the southward flight of the Jin in 317 CE and assuming that the Hakka were part of it, therefore, the ‘first wave’ Hakka migration could actually have been the third or fourth wave. There are also theories put forward which include the belief that Hakka were products of Yue 粤 (now commonly called Cantonese) women and soldiers sent by the First Emperor of China 秦始皇帝 Qinshi Huangdi (259–210 BCE) to pacify rebellions in the south. Another, is that the Hakka could also be descendants of the five hundred thousand soldiers sent to build the Lingqu Canal 靈渠運河 (started in 214 BCE), who stayed behind after the fall of the Qin Dynasty in 207 BCE and married local women (Federation of Malaysian Ka Yin [Hakka] Associations 2010b, 21). As such, it is difficult to draw a clear timeline for early Hakka migration. The more recent so-called fourth and fifth wave migrations have been documented officially by the Chinese as well as by the Hakka themselves but the first two waves offered by Luo are debatable. Despite these problems, Luo’s seminal Kejia yanjiu daolun has become the ‘bible’ for Hakka Studies and it is difficult to find a study on the Hakka that does not quote from it. Most of the writings about Hakka in the 1940s to 1980s were done by Westerners or overseas Chinese. During the early years of Communist rule, it was politically incorrect to champion the differences of the Chinese dialect groups.31 The most repressive period was from 1957–1979, when intellectuals and scholars kept a low profile. It was only in the 1980s that interest in the Hakka as an ‘ethnic group’ became part of the ethnic awakening that was

31 The ethnic minority groups (少數民族 shaoshu minzu) were a different story. See Mullaney (2009 and 2011) for ethnic classification of Modern China. 50 Chapter 2 taking place in China. Numerous independent Hakka studies centers mush- roomed and universities began to set up institutes or faculties for the sole purpose of reviving interest in the study of the Hakka. The Jiaying University, which is considered to be a Hakka university, was established in 1985 with the approval of the provincial government and the support of overseas Chinese. The Hakka Research Center, which is an integral part of the university, took in “the first group of foreign students (from the United States and Malaysia) for summer language study and an introduction to Hakka culture in 1998” (Lozada 2001, 185). The Hakka Research Society was founded at Shenzhen University in 1988 to study Hakka culture, economic positions and Hakka population profiles. Both centers have initiated local and foreign collaboration research projects. The first major project initiated by the Hakka Research Center at the Jiaying University was led by John Lagerwey and his team, who produced the Kejia chuantong shehui 客家傳統社會 (Traditional Hakka Society Series). This study series is considered to be the most innovative and exciting ethnographic study of the Hakka. Lagerwey invited local scholars and retired officials from South China to do the research and write about the history and customs of their home villages. It provided a category of primary source for the study of Hakka culture. In his introduction, Lagerwey says that “this may even be the first in the history of academic publishing . . . [in which] most of the essays have been written, not by academics themselves, but by local authors, many of them well on in years, some of them since deceased, but none of whom has had previous experience in writing such articles” (2005, 23). As of 2009, this project has produced nineteen series that were published between 1996 and 2009. The first ten series were jointly published in Hong Kong by the International Hakka Studies Association, the Overseas Archives, and the École française d’Extrême-Orient (France); and beginning with series No. 11, the Research Program on Ethnicity and Overseas Chinese Economics of Lingnan University (Lagerwey 2005, 22n1). Lagerwey then selected twenty-two essays from the first eleven series and published them in two volumes under six different themes in 2005. The selected essays are divided into different topics. The topics in Volume I include (1) Customs and Traditional Economy, (2) County Seat Temple Festivals and jiao (醮 public sacrificial performances), (3) Seasonal Festivities, and (4) Popular Daoism. Volume II includes (1) Lineage Society and Customary Culture, and (2) Lineage-Transcending Parades of the Gods. Scholars agree that this series is a milestone not only in the methods of ethnographic studies in China but it has also given Hakka Studies invaluable primary source materials that were lacking up to then. Daniel Overmyer used this series to dramatize the need to involve researchers and scholars who are part of the local communities in the Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 51 critical assessment of methods and results of ethnographic studies in China today (2002). Dong Xiaoping argues that “from a theoretical standpoint the biggest breakthrough of this series is to replace the vocabulary such as ‘states’, ‘society’, ‘power’ used by earlier anthropologists writing on China with one based on traditional Hakka society’s ample lexicon and the ways in which its words are used” (2002, 352). The notion of xiang 鄉 (a township divided into villages) used by the Hakka to construct their identity, also indicates a concept of shared culture.32 Rightly, Daniel Overmyer, Dong Xiaoping and Tam Wai-lun all concurred that Lagerwey’s Traditional Hakka Society Series made a huge contribution to ethnological studies in China. As Tam notes, these essays by local ethnographers were written to describe the most important events in their counties and villages. “The result is a collection of raw data concerning local traditions. The nature of the essays produced resembles a source book, as the main purpose of the essays in these volumes is not to argue a case but simply to record painstakingly the local traditions” (Tam W.L. 2002, 371), which would otherwise be lost when this particular generation dies off.33 My only dissatisfaction with the series, which has been acknowledged by Lagerwey himself (2002, 7) and noticed by Tam W.L. (2002, 379n14), is that though the image of Hakka women is such an important marker in the construct of Hakka identity, other than a cursory mention, they are not represented in the essays. Putting more women to do fieldwork might help but the important point here is to allow women to tell their stories. Their life history and experiences can be told to either men or women. It is also an acknowledged fact that Communism has destroyed many of these traditions in China but overseas Chinese, such as those in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc. have kept them alive. I would like to suggest that similar projects be initiated in Hakka communities outside of China. It is still possible to find communities with Hakka men and women who have preserved some of their customs and traditions. These too are vanishing fast and unless a concerted effort is made to record them, they too will take their history, knowledge and experiences with them to their graves before long. While Lagerwey’s Series were in progress, the Guangxi Normal University 廣西師範大學 established the Institute of Hakka Culture in 2004. Professor Zhong Wendian 鍾文典, a Hakka, who was then eighty years old, was

32 For a detailed study of the use of xiang-society to analyze the combined functions of population, resources and culture of the Hakka community, see Dong X.P. (2002, 352–357). 33 In the same vein, I have also attempted to record some of the Hakka customs and traditions that have been brought over to Malaysia by audio- and video-recording the experiences of Hakka men and women, who are over seventy years of age. 52 Chapter 2 appointed as the Director of the Institute34 and he oversaw the creation of three Hakka Studies Series as its Chief Editor. The three Series created include:

(1) Kejia quyu wenhua congshu 客家區域文化叢書 (Regional Hakka Culture Series) (2) Kejia wenhua zonglun congshu 客家文化綜論叢書 (Comprehensive Discussion of Hakka Culture Series), and (3) Kejia zhuming renwu congshu 客家著名人物叢書 (Famous Hakka Per- sonalities Series).

Zhong himself published two books for the Regional Hakka Culture Series i.e. Guangxi kejia 廣西客家 (Guangxi Hakka) and Fujian kejia 福建客家 (Fujian Hakka), both in 2005. Under his editorial direction, academics were invited to write about their own interests and researches. The difference between Lagerwey’s and Zhong’s projects is that Lagerwey invited local scholars and retired officials from South China to do the research and write about the history and customs of their home villages, whereas Zhong commissioned academics to write about their own interests and researches on the Hakka. The methods might be different but both produced a wealth of research materials. Under Zhong, the following books were published: Jiangxi kejia 江西客家 (Jiangxi Hakka) (Zhou et al. 2007); Xinjiapo kejia 新加坡客家 (Singaporean Hakka) (Huang X.Q. 2007); Hainan kejia 海南客家 (Hainan Hakka) (Gu X.B. 2008); Sichuan kejia 四川客家 (Sichuan Hakka) (Chen S.S. 2005); Hunan kejia 湖南客家 (Hunan Hakka) (Yang Z.Z. 2007); Xianggang kejia 香港客家, (Hong Kong Hakka) (Liu Y.Z. 2005); Aodaliya kejia 澳大利亞客家 (Australian Hakka) (Luo K.J. 2010); Hezhou kejia 賀州客家 (Hezhou Hakka) (Wei Z.J. 2010); and Bobai kejia 博白 (Bobai Hakka) (Chen S.S., ed. 2005).35 The 2nd Series of Zhong’s project, The Comprehensive Discussion on Hakka Culture Series, produced titles such as: Guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwen ji: yimin yu kejia wenhua 國際學術研討會論文集: 移民與客家文化 (Conference Paper from the International Conference on Hakka Immigration and Culture) (Chen S.S., ed. 2005); Guangxi kejia yanjiu zonglun 廣西客家研究綜論 (Research and Discussion on Jiangxi Hakka) (Wang J.Z. 2005); and Guanlan

34 For a summary of Professor Zhong’s works on the Hakka and the creation of the Hakka Studies Series, see Lan (2010). See also http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA77525033 for a list of some of the books (13) in these series (Retrieved on 24th February, 2012). 35 I was surprised that there was no Malaixiya kejia 馬來西亞客家 (Malaysian Hakka) on the list. After some investigations I found out that one on Malaysian Hakka was actually commissioned but it was never completed (as of February 2014). Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 53 suyuan hua kejia 觀瀾溯源話客家 (Tracing the Origin of the Guanlan Hakka Speech) (Liu Z.Q. 2005). In the 3rd Series, Famous Hakka Personalities Series, the biographies of Luo Ergang 羅爾綱 and Jiang Yingliang 江應樑 (Jiang X.L. 2005) were published. The above titles are those that I have been able to locate as of 2011. I have three titles from the Regional Hakka Culture Series (Hainan, Guangxi and Jiangxi) in my possession. Their contents are similarly structured—starting with Hakka history, followed by Hakka customs and traditions in the region. Hakka language is also discussed, especially in communities which have appropriated local words into the Hakka language. What is useful is that there is always a section on famous Hakka personalities in the region and their contributions to the economy and development of the area. The Communist takeover of China meant that little research on the Hakka was conducted by Western or Chinese scholars in China. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, Hong Kong and Taiwanese Hakka communities were available for study as they were still quite well preserved. Those who did fieldwork and produced studies in Hong Kong included scholars like Nicole Constable (1996 a+b & 1994), Elizabeth Lominska Johnston (2004, 1996, 1988, 1984, 1976 & 1975), Goran Aijmer (1967), Morris I. Berkowitz, Frederick P. Brandauer and John H. Reed (1969), Linda F. Sullivan (1972), Valery M. Garrett (1987), James Hayes (1968), Cornelius Osgood (1975), to name but a few. Those working in Taiwan include Wolfram Eberhard (1974) exploring Hakka folktales; Manabu Nakagawa (1975), who ‘reconsidered’ the studies of Hakka history; Myron Cohen (1976), who studied Hakka families; Arthur Wolf (1989 & 1968) and Margery Wolf (1975 & 1972), who dealt with the family and kinship system; Burton Pasternak (1972, 1973, 1979 & 1983) showed how the families function in society at large. Notable scholars on the Hakka in Taiwan include Chang Wei-An, Chuang Ying-chang and Hsu Cheng-kuang, and Chen Yun-dong (1983), just to name a few. The 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century, saw a whole new wave of work on the Hakka and they include: Myron Cohen (2010, 1996 & 1990) in Southeast China and Taiwan; Ellen Oxfeld in Calcutta, India (1993); Nicole Constable (1996 ed. & 2003) and Elizabeth Johnson (1996) in Hong Kong; Leong Sow-Theng in Lingnan in Southeast China (1997); Sharon Carstens in Malaysia (1996, 2005 & 2006); Mary Erbaugh (1996) in China; Eriberto P. Lozada Jr. (2000, 2001 & 2005) on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC); Jens Damm (2011) on Hakka ethnicity and Howard Martin on the Hakka movement in Taiwan; Lim Khay-Thiong and Michael Hsiao Hsin-Huang (2009) on transnational Hakka identity and on the formation and limitation of Hakka identity in Southeast Asia (2007); Lau Chun Fat (2000, 2005 & 2007) on the decline of the Hakka language in Hong Kong, etc. In the last two decades, we have also been presented with works related to Hakka migration in the Caribbean, such 54 Chapter 2 as the West Indies by Walton Look Lai (2005), Panama by Siu Lok C.D. (2005), Jamaica by Li Anshan (2004) and Patrick Bryan (1991), Surinam by Paul Fat Tjon Sie (2009b), in Latin America/Caribbean by Evelyn Hu-Dehart (2005), and in the Caribbean generally by Andrew Wilson (2004). Chinese migration in the Caribbean was pioneered by the Hakka. The Hakka was the predominant group in Jamaica, Mauritius, the West Indies, and French Polynesia. The volume, edited by Wilson (2004), shows how Chinese migration, integration and the formation of a new identity within Caribbean societies (Jamaica, Cuba, British Guiana, Trinidad and Panama), acted as cat- alysts for the formation of unique Caribbean cultures. Li Anshan notes that the present day Hakka community in Jamaica is descended from the “third and last significant nineteenth century influx of Chinese laborers that came directly from China in 1884 . . . of Hakka origin from Dongguan, Huiyang, and Bao’an Counties in the Guangdong Province . . . It was this group that formed the nucleus of the Chinese immigrants in Jamaica. Subsequent émigrés came mostly from these Hakka sending-communities and emigrated with the help of their clan members who had arrived in 1884” (2004, 44).36 Studies on the Hakka in Malaysia and Singapore have improved tremendously in the last ten years or so but most of the writings are in Chinese. Wong Sin Kiong (a.k.a. Huang Xianqiang) who edited the volume on Singaporean Hakka in the Regional Hakka Culture Series (2007a) and another volume on Hakka culture and community in Singapore led many of these research studies. Wong S.K. and Lai Youru also summarized Hakka research and publications on Singapore Hakka by the different institutions (2013). This paper was published in the inauguration issue of Global Hakka Studies—a journal founded by the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Wong also contributed many works on the Hakka in Malaysia, especially in Penang (2000, 2007b & 2012). Soo Khin Wah explored the field of Malaysian Hakka research, particularly on the Hepo Hakka, by focusing on two Hepo scholars who pioneered Hakka Studies in Malaysia (2006). They are Liu Park Kui (1913–1996) and Chong Kim Tong (b. 1918). Other studies on the Hakka in Singapore and Malaysia include works by Wong Wei Chin (2009), Lim Khay-Thiong and Michael Hsiao (2009), Ye Shujing (2008), Sharon Carstens (2007, 2005 & 1996), Michael Hsiao and Lim Khay Thiong (2007), Danny Wong (2005), Chin C.C. (2004c), Wang Gungwu (2003), Chong Tet Loi (2002), Yen Ching-Huang (1994 & 1981), R.D. Hill and Voo Min Shin (1990), and Laurence Siaw (1983). Judging by the frequent visits to Hakka communities in Malaysia and Singapore by scholars from Taiwan and

36 See also the volume of essays on Chinese in Latin America and the Caribbean edited by Look L.W. and Tan C.B. (2010). Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 55 mainland China in the last ten years, there seems to be a renewed interest in the Hakka as a cultural group and many collaborative projects have been initiated. Taiwan’s discourse on multiculturalism gave Hakka Studies a big boost. Jens Damm notes that multiculturalism has been adopted not only for nation building but also for the sake of gaining global legitimacy. The Hakka case was used to demonstrate to the world that Taiwan is a multicultural society. Since it is a government effort, Hakka identity became politicized in Taiwan (Damm, 2012)37 and Hakka Studies became part of the exercise towards multiculturalism. Several universities set up centers for Hakka Studies that contributed to the prolific academic research and publications on the Hakka in Taiwan. For example, the Hakka Center at the National Central University and the College of Hakka Studies at the National Chiao Tung University (2009) were set up to undertake research projects on the Hakka inside and outside of Taiwan. International conferences were convened to bring together scholars of Hakka Studies. Students from Malaysia and Singapore were given scholarships to join the universities or take part in their research projects. Outside of the international conferences, these centers also bring together scholars in Hakka Studies in smaller discussion groups and organized joint studies of the Hakka in other Asian countries. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, one good source for studying the Hakka is found in the writings of Christian missionaries who worked with the Hakka in the south of China from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The Basel Mission started work in southern China among the Hakka in 1847 and they were among the first Westerners to write about the Hakka. Their long association with the Hakka produced many studies of the Hakka dialect, which are invaluable for research on the Hakka. More recent scholarly works on the Hakka and Christianity that throw more light on Hakka society can be found in studies by Nicole Constable (1994 & 1996), Jessie and Rolland Lutz (1998), Joseph Lee Tse-Hei (2002), Jean-Paul Wiest (2001), and of course, Hilary Chapell and Christine Lamarre (2005). David Liao (1979) also presented a unique picture of why the Hakka in Taiwan were more difficult to convert.38

37 For more studies on identity and multiculturalism in Taiwan, see also Brown M. (2004 & 1996). 38 For a detailed study of Christianity in China from the eighteenth century to the present, see the edited volume by Daniel Bays (1996), which has a chapter on Christianity and Hakka identity by Nicole Constable (1966, 158–173). 56 Chapter 2

Another, less consulted source is the archives of Hakka associations outside of China. While China was closed for Hakka research, overseas Hakka were trying to keep Hakka identity and the ‘Hakka spirit’ alive. Scholars such as Nakagawa (1975) and Carstens (2005) consulted the archives of the Malaysian Hakka associations for their writings. My visits to the different Hakka associations in Ipoh resulted in finding valuable books and documents that summed up Hakka history, cultural activities and their lifestyle in Malaysia. Though many of these archival materials were destroyed during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya (1942–1945), many attempts were made to restore what was lost after the war. One example is the publication of Pili keshu gonghui jinian kaimu tekan 霹靂客屬公會紀念開幕特刊 (Perak Hakka Associations Guild Inauguration Commemorative Special Issue) in 1951. This issue attempted to summarize Hakka history and culture in China and Malaya. Thereafter, Hakka Associations in Malaysia commemorated special occasions with the publication of Special Editions. For example, Perak Kaying [Hakka] Association celebrated its seventieth and one hundred and tenth anniver- saries in 1974 and 2010 respectively with special publications. They published Pili jiaying huiguan qishi zhounian jinian xinsha luocheng kaimu tekan 霹靂嘉應會舘七十週年紀念新廈落成開幕特刊 (Perak Jiaying [Hakka] Association Seventieth Anniversary to Commemorate the Inauguration of Moving into the New Building Special Issue) (1974) and Pili jiaying huiguan yibai yishi zhounian jinian tekan 霹靂嘉應會舘一百一十週年紀念特刊 (Perak Jiaying [Hakka] Association 110th Anniversary Special Issue) (2010). The Federation of Malaysian Kaying [Hakka] Associations also put out special issues for special occasions. They published Wushi nian de licheng: Malaixiya jiashu huiguan lianhehui jinxi jinian 五十年的歷程: 馬來西亞嘉屬會舘聯合會金禧紀念 (A Fifty-Year [1951–2001] Process: Federation of Malaysian Ka Yin Associations Golden Commemoration) for its Fiftieth Anniversary in 2001 and Shoujie shijie jiaying tongxiang lianyi dahui tekan 首屆世界嘉應同鄉聯誼大會特刊 (Special Edition of the First World Ka Ying Native Friendship Convention) for the First World Ka Yin [Jiaying] Association Convention. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Penang Hakka Association and at the same time to celebrate two hundred years of Hakka presence in Penang, the Hakka Association in Penang brought out a collection of works on the Hakka that was edited by Wang Cheng-fa (1998). The archives of these huiguans or associations and clan temples, such as the Baluo gumiao 壩羅古廟 (Ipoh [Tai Pak Koong] Temple)—the first Hakka temple in Ipoh (Ho F.H., 2010)—are treasure houses waiting to be explored. There are also many scholars who wrote about overseas Chinese. The most important and eminent of them is Wang Gungwu, who is an educator, Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 57

prolific writer and expert on the study of overseas Chinese and Chinese relations with Southeast Asia. Wang has been in the forefront of this emerging field of scholarship for more than fifty years.39 Other scholars in this field (overseas Chinese) include Tan Chee-Beng (2013, 2007, 2004, 2001, 1993), Yen Ching-hwang (2008, 1995 a+b & 1985), Ian Rae and Morgen Witzel (2008), Leo Suryadinata (2007), Liu Hong and Wong Sin Kiong (2004), David Zweig and Chen Changgui (2006), Hsu Francis L.K. and Serrie Hendrick (ed.) (1998), Betty Lee Sung (1998), Elizabeth Sinn (1998), George H. Weightman (1998), and Stephen Fitzgerald (1972). Another important scholar, writing on the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia is Soo Khin Wah, whose works are published in three volumes (2004, 2009 & 2010). It is important to note that many of these works mention the role that Hakka migration contributed to the general history and, cultural and social development of the different countries that they have emigrated to. Important studies on overseas Chinese with special mention of the Hakka in the context of Chinese migration to Singapore and Malaysia include, Wang Gungwu (2003), Yen Ching-Huang (1994 & 1981), Huang Xianqiang (a.k.a. Wong Sin Kiong) (2007, 2008 & 2013) and Soo Khin Wah (2006). Overall, by omitting the discussion of dialects in Chinese communities, many scholars have missed an opportunity to add another layer of history to their works on Chinese migration. If they had dissected the Chinese population into different dialect groups, it would have given their writings more depth. Without that differentiation, it leaves the impression that historians have lumped together all the Chinese and given them a homogeneous identity, which of course is problematic in places like Malaysia and Singapore. For works on specific subjects such as Chinese literature or general history, such treatment may not affect the overall picture but for studies on social and cultural issues, there are always subtle differences in the traditions and cultural traits of the different dialect groups. For example, Liu Lichuan (2006) notes that even in the twenty-first century, there are cultural differences between the Hakka and Cantonese in Shenzhen not only in language but also in customs, beliefs, food, attire, habitats, etc. Chuang Ying-chang (1990) also gave a detailed comparison of Hokkien and Hakka ancestor worship and Emily Ahern (1973) compared Hakka death rituals in a Hokkien village—both in Taiwan. Elizabeth Johnson (1988) and Sharon Carstens (2007) also studied cultural differences between the Hakka and the locals in Hong Kong and Malaysia respectively. These differences between Hakka and Cantonese no doubt contributed to the many inter-dialect conflicts, such as the Hakka-Punti War.

39 I have listed only sixteen of Wang G.W.’s works that are relevant to my research. 58 Chapter 2

Mary Heidheus also brought out some of the shortcomings of the studies on overseas Chinese migration that have been published. She notes that most works written on the Southeast Asian history of the ethnic Chinese are urban-based communities, which discount the fact that a large portion of the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia are actually in rural areas (1996, 165). This is especially true in the Hakka case as noted by Wang Gungwu. Wang states that the Hakka were the “people most willing among all the Chinese migrant groups, to go into the rural areas—largely because most of them had mining, hillside farming and gathering backgrounds, and were accustomed to working in remote areas throughout their own history in China” (2003, 223). More importantly, Mary Heidheus elaborates on Blussé’s point that the histories of the rural Chinese communities are still to be written—especially from an ‘insider’s view’. The few useful works that focus on New Villages in Malaysia include Loh Kok Wah (1988), Sharon Carstens (2005), Judith Strauch (1981), and Laurence Siaw K.L. (1983). Another good source for studying the Hakka are expressive Hakka documents. These include biographical works, novels, poetry, essays and letters. In general, there are still very few of these expressive writings that document Hakka history in the twentieth century. The most widely-read novel that portrays Hakka in all its stereotyped characteristics is Hawaii by James Michener, published in 1959. Its portrayal of the Hakka protagonists caught the imagination of the Western readers and stereotyped them until today. Novels in Taiwan include Li Qiao’s 李喬 famous trilogy called 寒夜三部曲 Hanye sanbu qu (Wintery Night Trilogy). The first volume is called Gudeng (孤燈 Solitary) published in 1979, the second Hanye (寒夜 Cold Night) in 1980, and the third Huangcun (荒村 Deserted) in 1981. The abridged version is translated into English and entitled Wintery Night (1986). It brings Taiwan history to life by recounting the story of a Hakka family opening up mountainous areas, fighting against Taiwanese Aborigines, and later laboring under the Japanese Occupation. The other work about Hakka in Taiwan is entitled Langtaosha 浪淘沙 (Waves Washing Sand) by Dong Fangbai 東方白 published in 1991. It tells the story of three families of Minian and Hakka origin, who were forced to disperse to America, Japan and the Philippines during WWII.40 Novels set in Malaya with Hakka protagonists include . . . and the Rain my Drink (1956) by Han Suyin and Where Have All the Swordswomen Gone?—a historical novel that traces the lives of four generations of Hakka women from China to Malaysia and America (Leo, 2015).

40 For a discussion on Taiwanese literature and Hakka culture, and a list of Hakka writers, see Tu K.C. (2005). Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 59

The most reliable sources of information on Hakka culture are biographies but there are not many. Biographies set in Malaysia includes Hakka Soul by Chin Woon Ping (2008), who wrote about being a Hakka growing up in Malacca, Malaysia; Children of the Monkey God by Choo S.F. (2009), who told the story of growing up in a Hakka family in Sarawak, Borneo; and A Chinese Family in Colonial Malaya 1858 to 1960 by Chung Yoon-Ngan (2010), which detailed his family history in Pusing. These autobiographies give a very clear picture of how Hakka identity is transformed and reformed through cross-culturalism and over time. The recent cookbook, The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from Around the World by Linda Lau Anusasananan (2012), whose grandmother is Hakka, is another example of documentation of the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity through food. It is interesting to note that they are all quite recent. While individuals were picking up pen and putting their family history on paper, Hakka institutions such as the Hakka Affairs Council in Taipei has also been busy documenting successful Hakka personalities around the world. Starting in 2009, the Hakka Affairs Council has published four volumes with twenty Hakka personalities each to commemorate their successes in their host-countries around the world. The first volume, published in 2009 depicts successful Hakka in Southeast Asia (Xie 2009).41 The second and third volumes drew their subjects from North America, and Central and South America respectively. The most current volume documented successful Hakka in Europe and Africa (You 2013).42 Altogether, the above-mentioned works present priceless opportunities to reassess historical and traditional Hakka identity and they also allow me to draw insights on how Hakka identity was and is being reformed and transformed, and what it may look like in the twenty-first century. I have also selected another source of materials that are seldom used to study the shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity. They include songs, poems and ditties from the past and present and my translation and analysis of them together with a few other so-called Hakka writings, proves not only to be a good source for tracing the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity, but it also gives the reader a sense of the flow of the process through time and place.

41 Even before I knew of this publication, I had already interviewed two of the subjects: Mr. Noppadon Chawankon 古柏生 Gu Baisheng, Chairman of the Thailand Hakka Study Center and Dato’ Cheah See Kian, Chairman of the Malaysian Hakka Heritage Centre. 42 Recent searches on the Internet (May 2014) have turned up many blogs in which Hakka are putting their family history online. This should be a good source for future research on the Hakka. 60 Chapter 2

2 Identity in Hakka Texts

I have collected and translated an ‘anthology’ of so-called ‘Hakka writings’ that includes an excerpt of a genealogical register, poems, a glossary, old and modern songs, and ditties to demonstrate the shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity both temporally and spatially. These writings are not Hakka texts per se but they are meant to be read or sung in Hakka. They contain Hakka expressions or elements of Hakka identity in them (see Appendices B-M for complete texts in Chinese and phonetic Hakka, and their translations) which indicated that they were written for Hakka consumption. Except for the genealogical register (Appendix B), all the other texts are meant to be read or sung in Hakka. These texts display Hakka cultural markers and other identity elements such as genealogy, gender, separation, migration, nostalgia, acculturation, etc. The twelve texts I have selected reveal different facets of Hakka identity. From the older texts such as the genealogical register and the generation-poem (Appendix C) to the modern Hakka songs (Appendices I, J, K, L and M), they verbalize Hakka attitudes and sentiments that are closely associated with Hakka identity.

2.1 Genealogical Register Chinese genealogical registers, known as 家譜 jiapu, 祖譜 zupu or 宗譜 zongpu, are supposed to provide irrefutable evidence of one’s existence and serve to legitimatize one’s claim to lineage and heritage i.e. a person’s identity. Appendix B is an extract taken from 廖氏大宗譜 Liaoshi da zongpu (The Complete Genealogical Register of the Liao Clan) of Taiwan, which explains the genealogy of the Liao Clan 廖氏43 with the Wuwei 武威44 clan emblem (堂號 tanghao) from the eightieth to the ninety-fifth generations. The Hakka have consistently used these genealogies to substantiate their claim to be part of the Chinese family and to showcase their pedigree. How do genealogical registers help in the study of the reshaping of identity? These registers reveal identity on different levels. First and foremost, the Liao genealogical register shows the Liao clan as part of the Chinese race with

43 I translate 氏 shi as clan, 派 pai as branch or sub-lineage and 姓 xing as surname. For a short discussion on the use of 姓 xing and 氏 shi, see Freedman (1966, 25–26). As for sociological studies of how lineages are created, their functions and relations to the state, see Faure (1989), Freedman (1966 and 1965) and Pratt (1960). See also Dikötter (1997, 14–18) for a discussion on the reconfiguration of lineage discourse and the emergence of racial taxonomies. 44 According to Playfair, Wuwei existed as a district in Gansu during the Han, Jin, Northern Wei and Sui (1901, 526). Wuwei is presently a prefecture level city in Gansu. Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 61 a genealogy similar to the other ‘authentic Chinese people’, who are descended from the same ancestor—The Yellow Emperor (黄帝 Huangdi). In this register, like all genealogical registers, the primary ancestor is also the Yellow Emperor.45 Secondly, according to this genealogy, the first ancestor of the Liao clan is one of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor from the twentieth generation, named Bo Liao 伯廖. He is one of the sons of King Wen 文王 of Zhou and a brother of King Wu 武王 who became the first king of the Zhou 周 Dynasty of Ancient China (traditionally 1046–256 BCE). Bo Liao was enfeoffed with the State of Liao 飂 (later written as 廖) and from there, his descendants began to use 廖 Liao as their surname. Hence, anyone with a Liao surname can claim membership of the Liao clan. Thirdly, as the register shows, the Liao clan also branched out into different lineages, such as those with Wuwei 武威, Taiyuan 太原 and Qinghe 淸河 clan emblems. A person with the surname Liao belongs to the Liao clan but not necessarily to the same lineage. He or she can also be of the same lineage but from a different place. These differences further define a person’s identity. How reliable are these genealogies and why do the Chinese put so much effort into producing them to substantiate their identity? Robert Hymes has shown that these genealogical compilations (started mostly in the Song) were part of the localist strategies as “a medium of acquaintance and social connection, especially with local men of note and influence” (1986, 127). Maurice Freedman reckoned that it also aimed to “fulfil a pious obligation in acknowledging the root from which the clan sprang, at the same time they bask in the warmth of an intrinsic virtue demonstrated by fruitfulness. Filial piety, hunger for prestige, and scholarly appetite for writing history converge to produce the great genealogy” (1966, 28). Another reason noted by David Fauve is that the use of written documents in the government process and in many households in the Pearl River Delta and certainly also in many other parts of China in the sixteenth century, was the first step towards literacy. “It also represented an opportunity to win recognition through the official examinations or involvement in the county bureaucracy through appointment. This is why so many written genealogies of Pearl River Delta lineages begin with the household registration record of the early Ming and continue with the record of examination successes in subsequent centuries” (Fauve 2007, 7–8). Maurice Freedman cautioned that “there are good reasons for supporting the view that some of the links ‘established’ in the genealogies are fabricated. The great genealogies

45 For a detailed discussion on the Yellow Emperor as the first ancestor of the Han ‘race’, see Chow K.W. (1997, 45–49). 62 Chapter 2 are scholarly works, and the scholarship put into their compiling seems to have ensured a mixture of historical accuracy and creative imagination” (1966, 27). In her study of surnames and Han Chinese identity, Patricia Ebrey used the Aborigines of Taiwan to demonstrate how some of these genealogies originated. Once a group accepted sinicization, the next step was to construct a Chinese ancestry in the form of a surname and a genealogy by tracing the surname to remote historical periods. As such, she asserted that “Chinese genealogies were discovered, invented, fabricated, or otherwise artfully produced for those who came to be accepted socially as Chinese” (1996, 30). This problem is further highlighted by Chow Kai-wing’s discussion on how some lineages were created when those with multiple surnames (e.g. the Manchus) converted to ‘Chinese’ using only single-character surnames. He added, “Since the late Ming, it had become common for different lineages with the same surname to ‘join ancestors’ (連宗 lianzong) and establish fictive kinship ties through famous historical figures” (1997, 48). There are obvious flaws in these registers. Firstly, a well-connected clan has many benefits. Hence, these genealogical registers could be subjected to genealogical manipulation. Secondly, as seen in the Liao register they recorded only the names of important and successful members in the lineage and left out those considered less ‘illustrious’ and therefore, of no advantage to the clan. Thirdly, mistakes in copying can also cause confusion. For example, in the eightieth and eighty-second generations of this particular register, Guangjing of the eightieth generation and his grandson, Forty-first Master of the eighty- second generation, both had the same set of nine sons with the same names and they held almost identical positions, with the exception of the third and sixth sons, whose Commanderies differ. This could be a copying error because it was mentioned earlier in the text that Guangjing had three sons with Madam Zhang. Johanna Meskill pointed out their limitations in her study of using Chinese genealogies as a research source and warns that certain basic questions should be asked before using them as a research source (1970, 152). Therefore, Chinese genealogical registers should be consulted with care. Despite their shortcomings, genealogical registers are still useful not only for the study of identity today, but they can be consulted for historical and socio-economic insights. This particular genealogy (Liao’s) was written in the same linguistic style as genealogies of other dialect groups. However, the contents reveal that it is a Hakka genealogy because most of the places mentioned are situated in the so-called Hakka heartland and some of their migrations coincided with historical events in China that are believed to have spurred the southward migration of the Hakka. Another telling sign that this is a Hakka genealogy is the conferring of Ordination names (郞名 langming). The Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 63 conferring of Ordination names is considered a Hakka tradition (see Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion). Chinese identity is first and foremost defined by 姓 xing (surname), followed by their 氏 shi (clan) and in many cases by their 派 pai (branch or sub-lineage). So, if we accept Chinese genealogies at face value, they are the ultimate proof of identity, but for the reasons mentioned above, it is better to err on the side of caution.

2.2 Generation Poem The creation of a name for a person or for oneself at various stages of one’s life is the ultimate act of identity-making in China. The Chinese have invented a system in which a person’s name confers irrefutable identity not only in society but also in the family. A Chinese name is always preceded by the family surname, which is usually followed by the generation name that becomes part of the personal name of the individual. The generation name is known as 班次 banci Hk. pan tshu, 派輩 paibei Hk. phai pui or 派字 paizi Hk. phai tshu. The name gives a person their position in the family hierarchy. Endymion Wilkinson states, “In the Han it was not uncommon to identify all males of the same generation with the same character in their ming [name 名]. From the Tang, and increasingly from the Song, it became the common practice. After the Song, genealogies contained the rules (and the names) for use by later generations in a particular lineage” (2000, 100). In theory, every clan should have a generation poem that is used to form the names of the male members of its succeeding generations. So, if one has the genealogical register of a clan, one should be able to trace and reconstruct the ‘generation poem’ of the clan of a certain lineage but, in practice, it became more and more difficult when the clan migrated or branched out into different lineages. In this case, the new lineage would adopt a new generation poem. It is said that the Hakka use generation names more than the other dialect groups to create the names of their progeny because they are considered to be more conservative. Below is the generation poem of one branch of the Liao lineage, whose descendants migrated to Malaya (see translation in Appendix C). This generation poem was shown to me by Mr. Liao Yoon Foo (廖永富 Liao Yongfu Hk. Liau Yun Fu)46 whose grandfather Mr. Liaw Chon Hin 廖傳興 (Liau Chuanxing)

46 The different spellings of Chinese names in Malaysia are the result of cultural and administrative complication. Until recently, before names were pinyinized, the Chinese usually gave their children’s names to be registered in their own dialects and the person registering the names in Malaysia was usually Malay. These Malay civil servants transliterated the names given to them in whichever dialect and as such, it is quite common in the villages to have siblings with as many different surnames as there are siblings. 64 Chapter 2

Figure 1 A Generation Poem of the Liao Clan in Beruas. For translation, see Appendix C. Used with permission from Liaw Yoon Foo.

(1900–1977) (also the grandfather of one of the BGH) migrated to Malaya from the village of Luzhutian 蘆竹田 in Dongguang, Guangdong in the early twentieth century.

始祖廖姓配名均必才光仕, 元達芳朝堂詩書傳*世遠, 學*葉廣聲楊英雄能定國, 富貴德稹祥仁義禮智信, 亁坤日月長均上必下一高一底

Given that this document would determine part of the name of their descendants, one can assume that a lot of thought would have been given to its com- position. For example, one cannot help noticing that the poem does not use any characters that are considered inauspicious or have negative connotations. The characters used are chosen to form lucky-sounding or auspicious names so as to give their descendants a head-start in life. With any given name, the person should be able to find his personal identity within the clan and society at large, thus, giving him his identity. This poem provides generation names for Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 65 forty generations of this lineage. When the end of the poem has been reached, it can be repeated or a new poem can be composed. According to this generation poem, Mr. Liaw Chon Hin 廖傳興 belongs to the thirteenth generation of this Liao lineage. Mr. Liaw C.H. was accorded the generation name 傳* chuan and in accordance with the traditional way of forming names, his sons (fourteenth generation) should have the generation name 世 shi and his grandsons (fifteenth generation) 遠 yuan. But instead, his only son was named Lew Tong Sing (廖洞生 Liao Dongsheng) with 洞 dong as his middle name and his grandsons were given the generation name 永 yong. The grandson who showed me this poem was given the name Liaw Yoon Foo 廖永富 (Liao Yongfu). If the generation poem has been followed faithfully, Mr. Liaw C.H.’s son should have been named 廖世生 Liao Shisheng and his grandson 廖遠富 Liao Yuanfu—situating them in their respective generations. When I asked Mr. Liaw Yoon Foo why the family skipped two generations in the use of the generation poem, he speculated, “It could be that the family poem was only discovered or received from someone after our generation . . . However, our grandmother instructed us to use the generation name (學*) from the poem for our children; which all my brothers and I did”. Mr. Liaw Y.F. and his brothers have reverted back to the tradition of using the family generation poem to form the names of their sons who belong to the sixteenth generation. Mr. Liaw Y.F.’s three sons are named 廖學*勒 Liaw Hockeen (Liao Xuelei), 廖學*擧 Liaw Hocjee (Liao Xueju) and 廖學*凯 Liaw Hockai (Liao Xuekai). Mr. Liaw has not only revived the use of their clan’s generation name but also registered his sons’ names in Hakka transliteration instead of in Pinyin. By looking at his name, Mr. Liaw Y.F.’s eldest son, Liaw Hockeen 廖學勒 can tell that his generation name is 學* Xue Hk. Hock, and if he counts the characters in the generation poem, he will know that he belongs to the sixteenth generation of this Liao lineage. He also knows that anyone with the generation name 學 Xue Hk. Hock in the clan would be from his generation, regardless of the age difference. In the social context of a nuclear family, it might not mean much but in the olden days where different generations in large households lived under the same roof, such a name would give the person an identity of his own within the family and clan. It would also prevent confusion in large families, where the patriarch of the clan married his chief wife while young and took concubines late in his life. Very often, his grandson could be much older than his youngest son. With the generation name, each individual will know his place in the kinship system—a twenty-year old still has to address his grandfather’s two-year old son as ‘uncle’. There is an alternative way to use generation names. Families, who possess a generation poem, usually use it as the first character of the given name. For 66 Chapter 2 example, Mr. Liao Chuanxing 廖傳*興 means that his family name is 廖 Liao; generation name, 傳* Chuan; and personal name, 興 Xing. However, there are some families who named their sons using the generation name in the last character. Mr. Liao’s name would be written as Liao Xingchuan 廖興傳* and all his brothers will have the same character 傳* chuan in the last part of their names. In the Liao genealogical register (see Appendix B), in the eightieth generation, the wife of the Honorable Liao Guangjing, Madam Zhang 張氏 bore him three sons who were named Ruixuan 瑞瑄, Qiongxuan 瓊瑄 and Linxuan 琳瑄. Either way, a generation name will give the boy or man his place and identity in his clan and family. One of the reasons why the Hakka were considered more conservative is their tradition of using generation names. It is also interesting to note that the generation name for female members of the family is an arbitrary affair decided most probably by their grandmothers. Generally, girls in the same family have the same middle name or last character, but quite often new parents decide otherwise for various reasons—religious and superstitious.

2.3 Folk Ballad: 月光光 Yueguang guang Hk. Nyet kong kong (The Moon Shines) Hakka mountain songs 山歌 shange Hk. san ko used to be a very strong Hakka cultural marker. (See Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of Hakka mountain songs as a cultural marker.) However, there are also many folk ballads 歌謠 geyao Hk. ko yau that strengthen Hakka identity, especially in children. As soon as a child from a family, where Hakka is spoken, learns to speak, the first ditty that the child learns is 月光光 Yueguang guang (see translation in Appendix D). This is corroborated by Huang Zunxian in his poem entitled “I Made Offering at the Tomb of My Great-grandmother, Madame Li,” where he said,

When I could hardly lisp my very first words, She taught me to sing ‘The Moonlight Song’ (Schmidt 1993, 260).

I have selected six verses from different locations (Meixian, Dabu, Jiaying, etc.) to show variations on the same theme.47 The verses are not set but they rhyme so that they are easy to learn and remember. Hk. Nyet kong kong can be

47 To see and hear how the song is performed, see http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=x11cKmAqFpk (Retrieved 8th August, 2009). This version has seven verses and it is performed by Hong Qiuhua 洪秋華 and Chen Zhaodian 陳昭典 (in Taiwan) to the accompaniment of bamboo clappers. Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 67 considered monothematic because there appears to be only one tune on which Hakka in different localities structured their songs with different themes. There are Hakka expressions such as in Song I:

Hk. pu nyong 脯娘 puniang—a woman, Hk. li ma 鯉毑 lijie—female carp, Hk. ai tun tun 矮嘟嘟 ai dudu—very short, Hk. hiong pun pun 香馞馞 xiang bobo—smell fragrantly.

The songs not only reveal glimpses of Hakka culture but some verses can also be very specific on Hakka traits. For example, Song E shows Hakka occupations such as vegetable gardening (growing ginger, chrysanthemum, melon, etc.), cloth-making, brick production, iron-mongering, butchering, selling noodles and making sedan chairs. Elements of Hakka architecture, such as the fishpond in front of the house (in Song I and IV), are also mentioned. (See Chapter 6 for traditional Hakka occupations and architecture as cultural markers). This song contributes to Hakka identity—especially in children who learn it or hear their grandparents or parents singing it to them.

2.4 A Morality Song (善歌 Shange Hk. San ko) The Chinese too used ballads and poems for moral instruction. Appendix E shows a Hakka heptasyllabic ‘morality song’ (善歌 shange Hk. san ko), entitled 孝順父母理應當 Xiaoshun fumu li yingdang Hk. Hau sun fu mu li yin tong (The Reasons Parents Deserve Filial Obedience) written in quatrains. It is performed for the benefit of everyone to remind them of their duties to their parents. They should show their gratitude and filial piety by taking care of their aged parents, who have done so much for them. The most telling signs that this song is sung in Hakka are the use of characters such as: 唔 wu Hk. m, which means ‘not’ or ‘do not’. The particle 哩 li4 (for transliteration of names in Mandarin) Hk. li2 is used more as a conjunction in the text. The use of homophones such as 楝 lian4 Hk. lien3 [連] (to mean ‘even when’ or ‘even if’); 柄 bing (handle) Hk. piang (to mean ‘hide’); 大 (打) da Hk. ta (hit), and 廳 ting Hk. thang (to listen) also indicate that the song is sung in Hakka. Other Hakka expressions that further confirm this song is sung in the Hakka language include:

Hk. han se 還細 haixi—still small, Hk. se tsu 細子 xizi—small child/children, Hk. lam ten 攬等 landeng—holding in the arms, Hk. poi nong 背農 beinong—the back, 68 Chapter 2

Hk. kau fo 搞火 gaohuo—playing with fire, Hk. kau shui 搞水 gaoshui—playing with water, Hk. kau tau 搞刀 gaodao—playing with knives.

This song relies on rhythmic, parallel phrases to aid memorization and recitation. The moral instructions on filial piety are very clear.48 This too contributes to Hakka identity, in the sense that they aspire to Confucian ethics. Confucian culturalism49 is a club that every Chinese aspired to join and it had an important place in the formation of an identity. This song also reveals the concerns of poor Hakka parents and their hopes for their children. The Hakka so-called respect for education as a cultural marker is also emphasized: The parents were willing to eat rice gruel so that they had enough money to send their children to school.

2.5 A Hakka Glossary: 人家日用 Renjia riyong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs) According to Cynthia Brokaw, this text belongs in the education category, which “together with the Classics, form the backbone of the Sibao Township 四堡鄉 publishing industry throughout its history” (2005, 205). It is an elementary glossary (雜字 zazi) that introduced readers to basic vocabulary useful in everyday life. The Sibao glossaries “usually present groupings of vocabulary words, but not necessarily in complete sentences or coherent rhymed phrases” (Brokaw 2007, 336).50 As the title of this text implies, it introduces the student to topics that are part and parcel of Hakka culture in everyday life. The Renjia ri yong is orientated towards agriculture and it names plant and animal foods, household utensils, farming equipment, craftsmen’s tools, textiles and clothing, weights and measures, musical instruments, and also governance, etc. Since the text is intended for local consumption, it should be read in Hakka. Examples of Hakka expressions include:

48 It is interesting to note that though this song is a form of moral instruction, there is no hint of retribution. For a comparison with the 善書 shanshu (literally ‘good books’ or morality books) in the Qing, which discuss how the ledgers of merit and demerit were created by social changes (see Brokaw 1991). 49 Confucian culturalism enables a person to be accepted as a Chinese socially and their actions are governed by Confucian manners and mores. 50 For more discussion on similar texts produced in Sibao for use by the Hakka, see also Brokaw (2005, 205–217 and 2007, 318 and 338–339). Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 69

Figure 2 Text of Page 1 of the Glossary entitled人家日用 Renjia ri yong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs). For translation, see Appendix F. Used with permission from Cynthia Brokaw.

Hk. pun liao 糞橑 fenliao—manure shed (L73), Hk. kiung chu 供猪 gongzhu—to feed the pigs (L82), Hk. lip ma 笠蔴 lima—a wide, round bamboo hat (L96), Hk. chu liao 猪撩 [橑] zhuliao—pig sty (L144), Hk. lang li 伶俐 lingli—clean (L120), Hk. kai teu 雞藪 jisou—chicken coop or chicken nest (L145), Hk. tso nga 做牙 zuoya—a feast given to workmen on the 1st and 15th of every month (L187). 70 Chapter 2

Since it revolves around the agricultural life of the Hakka, there are more than the usual references to plants, animals, food, tools and utensils that are associated with the day to day life of a Hakka family. The cycle of activities in the year was determined by the seasons as well as the festivals that happen throughout the year. Not only general Chinese festivals such as Qingming, New Year, etc. are mentioned but special Hakka festivals such as 做牙 zuoya Hk. tso nga—a feast given to workmen on the 1st and 15th of every month (p435, L187) are also mentioned. I remember this festival was still observed in the tin mines around Pusing during my childhood, though not as frequently as every month and only in tin mines with generous Hakka owners. This text reveals not only aspects of Hakka identity based on their daily lifestyle, traditions and cultural values, but also the basic structure of how their society is governed from provincial to village level. There are no better texts that describe Hakka daily lives than these glossaries published in Sibao.51 Cynthia Brokaw notes that the Hakka identity of the Zou and Ma publisher- booksellers shaped the configuration of their distribution networks and the nature of their publications (2007, 7). This in turn firmly established Hakka identity in Sibao. As such, this text reveals distinctiveness in Hakka society— their language, food, traditions, customs, occupations and lifestyle, thus giving the Hakka their identity in this part of China.

2.6 Nine Hakka Mountain Songs (客家山歌 Kejia shange Hk. Hak ka san ko) Hakka migrational traditions led to sojourning and unorthodox gender roles. Hakka women had always been objectified as a Hakka cultural marker. They were seen as fierce, fearless, tough, diligent, resourceful, independent, and thrifty women who worked side by side with their men in the fields. Male sojourning required women to take care of their families and defend their households when under threat. Their unbound feet added to the Hakka women’s identity, and their place in Hakka history was seldom challenged. Appendix G consists of nine poems collected by Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲 (1848–1905) (山歌九首 Shange jiu shou Hk. San ko khiu tsiu Nine Mountain Songs) and they were written from the women’s point of view. The women sang about their lives, and the anxieties and sufferings they had to endure while their men were sojourning. Except for Songs II and VII, the other seven songs are about sorrowful partings and long separations. The women worried

51 For a list of Sibao imprints, see Brokaw (2007, Appendix G). Also available at http://www .fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/publications/pdfs/Brokaw%20Appendix%20G.pdf. (Retrieved on 30th June, 2011). Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 71 that their husbands might forget them or take on new wives (Song 1 and VIII). Hakka migrational history created many of these scenarios, where Hakka women were often left behind when their men left home to find work or seek their fortunes. Song II speaks of Hakka women’s practicality and also their sense of ‘equality’. It has often been cited that Hakka women have more equality than women from other dialect groups. They stand and work ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with their men and take their lives into their own hands. Song VII refers to the common practice of rearing child-daughters-in-law (童養媳 tong yang xi) which was a strong Hakka cultural marker. The Hakka tradition of ‘making up’ songs and their love for clever punning are also represented in Song IX. These nine songs speak clearly, not only of Hakka women’s identity, but they also reveal aspects of Hakka culture such as sojourning men that contributed to the women’s identity and gender role; traditions that resulted from poverty, such as the rearing of child-daughters-in-law; and artistic expressions such as their love for making up songs and poems.

2.7 A Malayan Hakka Ditty: 蕃人曉著褲 Fanren xiaozhe ku Hk. Fan ngin hiau chok fu (When Natives Learn to Wear Trousers) Hakka ontological anxiety has always provided fuel for Hakka studies, especially after they migrated. This pentasyllabic quatrain was composed to express this anxiety. This ditty was sung by old women in Pusing, a quintessentially Dongguan Hakka town. It went like this:

When the ‘natives’ [Malays] learn to wear trousers, The Chinese will be in big trouble, When the ‘natives’ [Malays] learn to hold an umbrella, It’s time for the Chinese to return home [to China].

This ditty confirms Huang Zunxian’s claim that the making up of songs and poems was a Hakka tradition (Chen Zheng, ed., 2005, 76) because this song was composed in Malaya (now Malaysia) as it refers specifically to the ‘natives’ learning how to wear trousers. Traditionally, the Malay men wear a sarong (a wrap-around). It also indicates that they were sojourning in Malaya—away from ‘home’. This is a cautionary ditty made up by the Hakka to describe the situation in which they found themselves in the ‘receiving country’. Having sojourned to Malaya to seek their fortune they also knew they had a limited timeframe in which to achieve that. As early Chinese migrants they hoped to make their fortune as fast as possible so that they could pack up and go back to China 72 Chapter 2 to enjoy their wealth. By the time the old women sang this ditty to the children in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it had lost its urgency and cautionary edge because many Hakka had opted for Malaysian citizenship and returning to China Hk. Tongsan was not an option for the new generation. In this case, though their Hakka identity remained, their political identity had changed and they had their Malayan (later Malaysian) citizenship papers to prove it. They had upgraded their status to become Malaysian Chinese of Hakka descent and their children became the first-generation-local-born. Apart from expressing their ontological anxiety (an old Hakka trait), this ditty is a time capsule in which their history, cultural attitudes, identity and migrational patterns are revealed.

2.8 A Malaysian Hakka Song: 亞婆買鹹菜 Yapo mai xiancai Hk. A pho mai ham tshoi (Granny Buys Salted Vegetables) Mr. Chong Sau Lin (張少林 Zhang Shao Lin, b. 1946), a second generation Malaysian Chinese, is a descendant of Meixian Hakka. He made his reputation as a singer of Hakka songs. He became famous when he debuted with a Hakka song called Hk. A pho mai ham tshoi 亞婆買鹹菜 Yapo mai xiancai (Granny Buys Salted Vegetables) in 1978 (see Appendix I). The song is set to modern music and it is local in content (i.e. Malaysian). For example, all the fruit and vegetables mentioned are cultivated in Malaysia. He names eight different types of banana that are popular in Malaysia and vegetables in Malaysia usually come from the Cameron Highlands, where the cooler climate is ideal for cultivating vegetable species such as bell peppers and cauliflowers.52 Another sign that accompanies new identity formation is the adoption of words from the local language. The inclusion of Malay words in his song shows how local words are appropriated into the Hakka language. Mr. Chong’s appropriation of the Malay word kacau Hk. ka chau (加焦 jiajiao), meaning ‘to disturb or disrupt’, shows that the Hakka language was changing under local influence. Another expression in the song is Hk. sam ma (三馬 sanma), which is appropriated from the Malay word sama to mean ‘all or together’ (Hawkins, 2001, 92 & 208 respectively). The appropriation of local words into the Hakka language is a clear sign of identity being reshaped through cross-culturalism. Unique Hakka expressions in the song include:

Hk. kiak (no Mandarin phonetic equivalent)—fast, Hk. ki 劬 qu—you, Hk. ti phoi 知背 zhibei—inside,

52 To hear Mr. Chong sings 阿婆買咸菜 Hk. A pho mai ham tshoi, go to http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=arKI5XQfMtQ&feature=related. Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 73

Hk. lau 撈 lao—and/also, Hk. sang nyit 成日 chengri—everyday, all the time, Hk. m he 唔係 wuxi—not; not necessary, Hk. lang li 零利 lingli—clean, Hk. mau 卯 mao—no or not, Hk. ko ma 過馬 guoma—to buy or sell wholesale.

From this song we can see how Hakka language and identity are transformed. For Mr. Chong as a first-generation Hakka born in Malaysia, he identifies himself with Malaysian Chinese culture. The only link with China (唐山 Tangshan Hk. Tong San) is the reference to it as a place from where things can be imported and there is no sentiment for it as a ‘homeland’ or of ancestral bond- age. Clearly, he sees himself first and foremost as a Malaysian Chinese, who is proud of his Hakka heritage but harbors no sentiments for China. Mr. Chong went on to record many more Hakka songs with a malaysianized Hakka flavor. Some are humorous and some are serious. The song, entitled Hk. Roti Tu Hi Kha (The Price of Bread Has Also Gone up), portrays life in Malaysia.53 (Roti is the Malay word for bread). Following the tradition of ‘morality songs’ Mr. Chong sings a song called Hk. Yin Kwo (因果 yinguo Cause and Effect or Karma), which his fans affectionately call the Buddha’s Song. Unlike the ‘morality song’ Hk. Hau sun fu mu li yin tong (The Reasons Parents Deserve Filial Obedience), which is sung to the accompaniment of a bamboo clapper, Mr. Chong’s song is set to modern music. However, the message of filial piety and general message of how to be a good person is the same.54 This song embodies all the elements that show the reshaping and remaking of Hakka identity.

2.9 A Feel-good Hakka Song: 我是客家人 Wo shi kejia ren Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am A Hakka Person) Among the numerous songs written and performed by Mr. Chong Sau Lin, 我是客家人Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am a Hakka Person) has the most resonance with the Hakka (see Appendix J for the lyrics). The original music was sung with lyrics in Mandarin, entitled 我是中国人 Woshi zhongguoren (I am a Chinese National), by a Hong Kong singer named Zhang Mingmin 張明敏 in the 1980s. Mr. Chong jazzed it up with new lyrics and filled it up with ‘Hakka ethos and spirit’. It became one of those feel-good songs that bolster Hakka spirit and make Hakka ‘proud’ whenever they hear it. It is full of Hakka ideals

53 To hear Mr. Chong sings Hk. Roti Tu Hi Hha (The Price of Bread Has Also Gone up), go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-zj-BXTWRY&feature=related. 54 For a performance of the song, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp6ZZrSxv-w. 74 Chapter 2 and nostalgia. It can also be seen as an attempt to revive fading Hakka traits such as diligence, independence, capacity for hard work, thrift, clannishness, etc. Hakka in the last two decades of the twentieth century see the need to highlight all the positive qualities ascribed to or embraced by their Hakka ancestors and try to reinforce Hakka identity as they imagine or think it should be.

2.10 The Hakka ‘National Anthem’: 我是客家人 Wo shi kejia ren Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am A Hakka Person) This song of the same title was written by Liu Zhiwen 劉志文 and the music composed by Xu Dongwei 徐東蔚. It is sung in both Mandarin and Hakka (see Appendix K for the lyrics). The conductor of the Singapore Nanyang Khek [Hakka] Community Guild Choir, Mr Yang Changgeng 楊長庚 rewrote it as a four-part choir piece. The song was sung in Mandarin when it was first launched for a television program in February 2004.55 Subsequently, Mr. Wang Yinglou 王映楼 sang it in Hakka.56 Compared to Mr. Chong’s take of “I am a Hakka Person”, which is upbeat and ‘gung-ho’, this version is more ‘solemn’ in the sense that there is careful ontological reflection on the origin of the Hakka. It also speaks of the hardship and sufferings of migration and how the Hakka overcome them with resolution. Like Mr. Chong, the song ‘glorifies’ Hakka characteristics such as diligence, independence, capacity for hard work, thrift, clannishness, etc. Most of all, it tries to rally and revive the fading ‘Hakka spirit’. It ends with: “Heaven might change, earth might change but feelings do not—I am Hakka, I am Hakka, I am Hakka!” This song is now seen as the Hakka anthem by both the Hakka themselves as well as others. For example, this song has been used by cultural TV programs to portray ‘Hakka culture’. CCTV took the same song and made it into a lavish production with dancers and musicians, who sang it in Hakka. However, there is nothing Hakka about it. The visual cultural content is totally TV-variety-show inspired and has nothing to do with Hakka customs or costumes. This is another kind of Hakka identity created for entertainment.57 These different versions and renditions of the song with the title 我是客家人 (I am A Hakka Person) demonstrate the changing perception of Hakka identity by the Hakka and the others. Despite the different levels of transformation that Hakka identity has gone through, the basic ontological anxiety still persists. It seems that the Hakka still need to sing about their identity.

55 For the performance of the song by the Singapore Nanyang Khek Community Guild Choir, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynVCojwfP8. 56 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?=Yn00E1WTZo4. For a rock-and-roll version with the same title see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=804keAtCqcg. 57 For CCTV’s portrayal of the song see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI2fhc1KaFw. Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 75

2.11 The Hakka Mother River Song 客家母親河 Kejia muqinhe Hk. Hak ka mu tshin ho (Hakka Mother River) This song was composed to commemorate the proclamation of the Ting River in Fujian as the Hakka Mother River 客家母親河 Kejia muqin he. The idea was conceived at the 13th World Hakka Conference in Singapore (1996), when the honorary chairman of the Conference, a Hong Kong-based tycoon from Malaysia declared that “after substantial research”, he had identified the village of Shibi 石壁 (in Linghua, Fujian) as the ‘ancestral land of the Hakka’ (Sinchew jitpoh, 1996). Subsequently, Changting 長汀, Fujian was named the ‘Hakka capital’ and a ‘global Hakka shrine’ was created along the bank of the Ting River. The Taiwanese singer-composer, Lin Zhanyi 林展逸 was commissioned to compose 客家母親河 Kejia muqin he (see Appendix L for the lyrics). It is sung in Hakka as part of the lavish productions during the Hakka Mother River Memorial in Changting along the Ting River. Every year thousands of Hakka from China and around the world gather to take part in the Hakka Mother River Memorial and this song is embraced as its ‘anthem’. The content of the song, like the other two songs above (Songs I and J) aims to glorify the so-called Hakka ethos and spirit and to arouse nostalgia. This event has serious implications for Hakka identity and has created huge problems for Hakka Studies. There is nothing wrong with the desire to establish a ‘Hakka capital’ or to acknowledge a river to commemorate an event, but to embrace the idea as actual history is bending the truth too much. Calling the Ting River the Hakka Mother River implies that the Hakka originated from this river or that the Ting River is the Hakka ‘mother’ or source. This exercise is in effect rewriting Hakka history. A quick check on the Internet has turned up claims that Changting is the ‘ancestral land’ of the Hakka. These claims are problematic for Hakka identity and Hakka Studies unless the timeline is clarified. This event represents the process in which Hakka identity can be artificially transformed and reformed and their history rewritten for future generations.

2.12 An Eclectic Hakka Song: 海邊看飛機 Haibian kan feiji Hk. Hoi pien kon fui ki (Watching Airplanes on the Beach) The last of the twelve texts in this anthology is a Hakka song composed in 2010 and sung by Mr. Yu Tian Long (b. 1970) (see Appendix M for lyrics and translation). Mr. Yu is a Malaysian Chinese, who moved from Peninsular Malaysia to the state of Sabah in East Malaysia, where Hakka is considered the lingua franca.58 This song shows the process of the shaping and reshaping of the Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. The song starts with Mr. Yu singing

58 For studies of the Hakka in Sabah, see Chong (2002), Wong T.K.D. (2005). 76 Chapter 2 about watching airplanes flying by, alone on the beach. As the song progresses, it reveals many of the elements that contribute to the reshaping of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. The theme of the song is unrequited love and separation. When the singer realizes that he might lose his girlfriend, it prompts him to declare his love for her—to beg her not to get on a plane with another man and leave him. It is self-centered and the concerns are very current. It has nothing to do with the Hakka spirit or ethos. The interesting point here is that it is sung in Hakka and all the trappings that contributed to Hakka identity-remaking in the last two decades are found in this Hakka song. For example, advances in technology such as cheap travel contributed to deterritorialism and how identity is remade. In this case, flying to England or getting on one of those no-frills cheap airlines to Shenzhen has influenced lifestyle and identity. The Internet is mentioned as a useful tool. Local places (Api 亞庇) and foods (pickled papaya and beef noodle) are praised when compared to foreign ones. Localism and transnationalism are mentioned in the same breath. Transnationalism and migration have been part of identity-remaking. Mr. Yu represents internal migration by moving from Peninsular Malaysia to the state of Sabah in East Malaysia—from a predominantly Cantonese speaking environment to one where Hakka is the lingua franca. In this song, migration, whether short or long term, is seen as normal as shown by his girlfriend who is going to hop on a plane to go to England. The possibility of intermarriage is also represented as the man she is going to fly off to England with is a foreigner. The difference here from the old migration model is that the woman is the one who is ‘migrating’ and it is the man who is singing about “parting sorrow, longings, and expectant reunions”. The most interesting issue in this whole episode is that Mr. Yu is Cantonese. He has lived in Sabah since he was three. We can say that he is ‘malaysianized’ and ‘hakkalized’ in his speech. He speaks two other dialects, English, Mandarin and Malay. All these factors are part of the shifting paradigms on identity-remaking. The vocabulary in his song shows that it is locally as well as Hakka influenced. Hakka expressions include:

Hk. phak tor 拍拖 paitou—courting, Hk. linn si 啉死 linsi—a rude term for an unsavory character; the English equivalent to a ‘prick’, Hk. sai nyet kong 曬月光 shai yueguang—lit. moon basking or go courting.

How one expresses oneself reveals a lot about their identity. English words such as ‘to book’, ‘straw’ and ‘beach’ and the Malay word ‘pulau (island)’ are Hakka Research and Identity-Making in Hakka Texts 77 incorporated into the Hakka language and used quite naturally. Even those Hakka, who are seventy and above and cannot speak English, use the word ‘book’ when they wanted to buy airline tickets. Their identity is influenced not only by the ‘local flavor’ of where they settled (Malaysia) but also by internationalism such as the absorption of English words into the Hakka language. This song encapsulates the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. The most glaring and fundamental change in Hakka identity is represented by Mr. Yu himself. Sabah is predominately Hakka and non-Hakka usually learn to speak the dialect as Mr. Yu has done. Though Mr. Yu is a Cantonese by birth, he sees no conflict singing in Hakka. When I interviewed him in 2011, he said that people automatically accept him as a Hakka because he sings and speaks in Hakka. One of his songs was entered in the Hakka Pop Music Award organized by the Guangdong Music Academy, Guangdong Pop Music Academy, and the Meizhou City TV Station.59 So, where does Hakka identity draw the line? Is Mr. Yu considered a Hakka? These questions will be dealt with in detail in the Chapters 4 and 5. The above twelve texts allow us to have a glimpse of elements of Hakka identity such as genealogy, gender roles, literacy, occupations, migration, nostalgia, acculturation, speech adaptation, pride, clannishness, ontological anxieties, Confucian culturalism, diligence, independence, capacity for hard work, and thrift. By tracing the oldest text from the Liao genealogical register to the latest, a modern Hakka pop song, they show us the temporal, spatial and cultural transformation and reformation of Hakka identity. Hakka identity, whether embraced by the Hakka themselves or ascribed by others is made and remade over and over again. In some cases certain so-called Hakka characteristics such as diligence, independence, capacity for hard work, thrift, clannishness, etc. persist in these texts and I suspect it is not only nostalgia but also admiration for these so-called Hakka ‘virtues’ that help to perpetuate these assertions rather than reality. For some, these qualities are perceived as Hakka ideals that set them apart from the other dialect groups. Hakka history has also been rewritten by the proclamation of the Ting River as the Hakka Mother River, thus reshaping Hakka identity and heritage. In the twenty-first century, where Hakka identity has become so fluid and inclusive (as represented by Mr. Yu) one has to ask: Is there such a thing as Hakka identity in the twenty- first century? Before I can answer this question, I would like to reconsider Hakka migration not only because it is such an important marker of Hakka identity but globalization has also transformed the way the Hakka migrate, emigrate, immigrate and re-emigrate—reshaping their identity in the process.

59 See http://www.cnhakka.com/home/vote.php?uid=8&do+ajax%termid=13&pid=256 (Retrieved on 10th September, 2010.) Chapter 3 Migration Models

Migration, together with globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization are locked in an inter- and intra-national economic-socio-politico-cultural dance that has and is still changing the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that Nikos Papastergiadis sees migration as “a metaphor for the complex forces which are integrated to the radical transformation of modernity. . . [and] the process of change has also altered fundamental perceptions of time and space” (2000, 2). Migration is among the most important factors that have contributed to the Hakka identity. As such, the focus on migration as part of global Hakka identity in the twenty-first century can provide insights to identity studies in general, and how identity awareness is constructed as socio- economic-politico expressions in a global context. According to Evelyn Hu-DeHart, in her essay about Chinese coolies and shopkeepers in Latin America and the Caribbean, she concludes that Chinese migration is yet to be theorized (2005, 109)—including that of the Hakka. Even though interest in the Hakka as a cultural group as part of the ethnic awakening in China in the 1980s-1990s has given it a head start, Hakka migration is still waiting to be historicized and theorized properly. The study of global Hakka identity can help to reconceptualize historical and future migration theory. It might be easier to understand Hakka history and identity by looking at how cultural groups are constructed and how the concept of identity is created, transformed and reformed through migration. From the 1830 to the 1960s emigration as departure from the native country was little studied and immigration was studied in terms of ‘assimilation’ into the institutions and culture of the receiving society. As Harzig and Hoerder note, immigration was conveniently divided into three categories: 1) free migration of the Europeans; 2) the slave migration of Africans; and 3) the coolie migration of the Chinese to America (2009, 69). From the 1970s, scholars recognized that these approaches to migrations worldwide and the assumptions they employed were limited and skewed (ibid., 1–2). The complexity of these studies can be seen in the use of the term coolie. One of the most glaring assumptions made by some migration scholars is the assumption that migration from China is represented by the coolie trade, in which Chinese men were indentured for an unfair period or were simply tricked or kidnapped. The white capitalists and workers used the term to signify cheap and despised labor of both men and women. The term ‘coolie’ carries with it various historical and emotional connotations:

For Chinese labourers, ‘coolie’ meant ‘bitter strength,’ for Tamils it indicated ‘wage for menial work’, and in Gujarati ascription it signified a member of the Kuli tribe. Making ‘coolie’ the generic term for Indian Ocean labour migrants hid the fact that the large majority of the migrants moved without indenturing themselves (Harzig and Hoerder with Gabaccia 2009, 181).

Most of the coolies in Malaya were neither indentured nor kidnapped. Many of them were free agents, like the grandparents of the BGH. They came of their own free will and their passages were paid for personally or by family and relatives. Many of those who went to Southeast Asia for commercial enterprises had family members or relatives in the places where they were going to pave the way for them. They became one link in the chain migration process. Many in Malaya came under such schemes. For example, Pusing, where my parents’ clans settled initially, was founded by successful tin-miners and workers in the tin mines from the County of Dongguan, Guangdong, China. They in turn recruited their family members and relatives from Dongguan to work in the mines. Similarly, Titi, Jelebu in the state of Negri Sembilan, Malaysia was founded by a Hakka named Siow Kon Chai from Lan Lin Village in Huizhou. He recruited his kinsmen from his village to work for him and brought whole families from Lan Lin to Titi, Jelebu (Siaw 1983, 21–27). The Hakka entrepreneur and philanthropist, Au Boon Haw or Hu Wenhu 胡文虎 (1882–1954) ran his business empire with the help of his clansmen. When people talked about Aw Boon-haw’s Hall of Everlasting Trust (which produced the Tiger Balm ointment) and the Xingbing Daily in Penang, they would say, “It’s a Hakka world kejia de shijie 客家的世界” (Cochran 2006, 130 n39) because he brought all his clansmen from Yongding, Fujian or recruited only Hakka from Guangdong to work for him. Hakka migration to Malaya in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was in part represented by the chain migration model because of the economic conditions created by the British colonial power in Malaya, which increasingly required manpower to work in the tin mines, rubber plantations, and the auxiliary economy that serviced the increased population. Migration is often regulated by the push-and-pull theory. Recent global Hakka migration is further influenced by globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism. The reasons why the BGH emigrated and how they became a global Hakka group is a good example of how push-and-pull factors have changed with time. In the 1970s and 1980s Malaysia was one of the many deve loping ‘push-countries’ that saw the flight of both skilled and unskilled human resources to the industrialized, developed ‘pull-countries’. Globalization had made the world smaller and migration easier. Migration was seen as 80 Chapter 3 a source of cheap labor. As the world economy continued to develop, governments of industrially developed ‘pull-countries’, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada and the United States opened their doors to immigration. The BGH belonged to an enviable category because they were young skilled professionals, who qualified for immigration to most pull-countries. I have divided the migrational history of the BGH into three phases. The first phase starts in their ‘natal-country’ (Malaysia), where they were born and spent part of their childhood and schooling. The second phase was spent in their respective ‘transit-countries’, where they studied, worked and lived before migrating to their ‘host-countries’. Thus, these ‘host-countries’ where they have decided to reside, constitute the third phase. At the time when the interviews were conducted in 2006, ten out of the eighteen BGH remained and continued to live in their transit-country, which they converted to host- country by becoming citizens or permanent residents. This is similar to the Wang Gungwu’s ‘migrant upgrading process’ (1998b). The other eight of the BGH have gone through all three phases and two of them had lived in more than one transit-country, when the interviews were conducted. This situation is by no means stable because as of 2013, three have already re-emigrated to a new host-country and there is a good chance that the configurations will change again in the future. What prompted the BGH to move? Malaysia’s political agenda from the 1960s to the 1980s contributed to the emigration of Malaysian Chinese. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was so successful in discriminating against the Chinese that they were forced to leave for studies or emigrate for better opportunities. However, it is important to note that the Malay-Chinese altercation started long before that. Wang Gungwu Wang sums up the Chinese-Malay World relationship as “. . . 1,500 years of trading relations followed by a century of distrust and distance” (2004, 96). He notes how this relationship has deteriorated: “External politics had increased the distance between Chinese and Malay since the end of the Second World War. That distance has now become internalized under conditions of continued distrust and discrimination. This has led to other manifestations of distance. Most notable is the cultural distance that has expanded with different attitudes towards the secularized modernity that is being offered in the new nation-states” (ibid., 95).60 The cumulative effects of the evolving political system, which resulted in a greatly changed economic, social and political environment that fuelled the emigration of Chinese and Indians, caused the formation of the BGH who are scattered all over the world. It may sound contradictory to say that a growing

60 For a detailed study of how the Chinese sees and deals with the Malay World throughout history, see Wang G.W. (2004). Migration Models 81 and successful economy like Malaysia should force Chinese students to seek education overseas and discourage well-qualified graduates from returning home, but that was and still is the scenario on the Malaysian political and social landscape. Even those who returned to well-paid jobs and those who did graduate in Malaysian institutions and landed good jobs, eventually chose to give up everything to emigrate. Seen from this paradoxical view, Malaysia presents a unique case for migration studies and the BGH case study is part of this phenomenon.61 The single most important factor that contributed to the migration of the Beruas global Hakka was the launch of the New Economic Policy (NEP)62 in the 1970s. The NEP was conceived after the racial riots of May 13 1969, when the Chinese clashed with the Malays. Though there was no incident in Beruas, more than half of the BGH can still remember the events of May 13. Beruas, being surrounded by Malay kampongs (villages) found itself in a very precari- ous situation and as Chinese they feared for their lives. The official breakdown of casualties revealed that the Chinese “were bigger losers than others, and the lesson was no doubt not lost on the Chinese community” (Strauch 1981, 34). Many Chinese emigrated after May 13, mostly to Australia and New Zealand as they felt that they could no longer call Malaysia a safe home. The basic objectives and goals of the NEP was set out in the Second Malaysian Plan and presented in Parliament under the leadership of Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, on July 11 1971. The Second Malaysian Plan, 1971–1975 aimed to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty, by raising income levels and increasing employment opportunities for all Malaysians, irrespective of race and to accelerate the process of restructuring Malaysian society to correct imbalance, so as to reduce and eventually eliminate the identification of race with economic function. These lofty ideals conceived to achieve ‘national unity’ were to be commended at that time but the implementation of the Policy created racial division and resentment instead, and situations arose in which the Chinese were discriminated against. The NEP “formulated a new system of quotas and Malay special rights. These were to ensure that Malays gained privileged access to education, to better paying jobs, to the professions, and to management positions; they were also to secure a stake in the economy through investments in more profitable commercial and industrial

61 To understand the ‘Chinese dilemma,’ see Ye L.S. (2003). Malaysia is also an interesting case for the study of nation-building. Cheah B.K. has edited a volume that challenges ethnicity in nation-building in Malaysia (2004). 62 For an in-depth analysis and discussions on the background, targets, success and failure of the NEP, see Sundaram (2005, 182–193 and 205–6), Means (1991, 23–27), and Milne and Mauzy (1999, 50–55). 82 Chapter 3 enterprises” (Means 1991, 24). Instead, the NEP created a climate of blatant racism in which the Chinese were discriminated against in all aspects of their lives—education, culture, political liberty, job and business prospects; and subtle exclusion from the civil service and armed forces (Sundaram 2005, 205f). The one policy introduced by the NEP that contributed heavily to the creation of the BGH was the quota system in higher education. A large number of Chinese students were not given places at national institutions of higher education although they had the results required to qualify them for entry (Means 1991, 24 and Carstens 2005, 158). Thus, Malaysian Chinese students left in huge numbers for Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and Taiwan (the Chinese educated). Many of the Beruas global Hakka in this survey were among those students who left Malaysia for higher education. Some of them did not return after their education, but many did return only to emigrate later because they saw no prospects for themselves or their children in their natal-country, where being Chinese was increasingly a cause for discrimination and being made second-class citizens. Thus, the NEP, conceived with the well-intentioned aim ‘to eradicate poverty’ and ‘restructure society to eliminate the identification of race with economic function’, instead became one of the strongest push-factors for the BGH. Another important factor that contributed to the emigration of the Beruas Hakka in the 1980s and 1990s was the gradual Islamization of Malaysia from the late 1970s onwards.63 The resurgence of Islam was a reaction of the young educated Malays who, after the May 13 riots, questioned their own faith, Malay poverty, Malay language and education, and corruption—and hoped that the teaching of Islam might help to solve some of these problems (Barraclough 1983, 961). This resurgence was championed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (commonly known as PAS),64 which led the government to announce the Islamization Policy in 1982. Zainah Anwar notes that “a government that since independence had separated religious and political authority now sought to co-opt its critics by appealing to a certain vision of Islam for legitimacy” (2001, 242). Before the 1982 General Election the different races lived in a manageable multiracial environment. However, in the early 1980s the PAS leadership was taken over by a group of ulama (Muslim scholars), who changed their agenda

63 For discussion and analysis of the resurgence of Islam in Malaysia, see Barraclough (1983); Muzaffer (1987); Nagata (1984); Nair (1997); Deliar (1984); and Peletz (2002). 64 See Deliar (1984) on the history and rise of PAS. From its inception PAS has supported the idea of an Islamic state and the “Kelantan Crisis” in the 1970s. For an analysis of the “Kelantan Crisis”, see Means (1991, 61–64) and Milne and Mauzy (1999, 82–83); and Nair (1997, 33–38). Migration Models 83 of Malay nationalism to the pursuit of an Islamic state in Malaysia. This new rallying cry put fear into the other races, in particular the Chinese, as they are seen as the cause of all the problems of the Malays. As seen in my survey, those who emigrated in the 1980s and 1990s included many who had returned after their overseas studies and saw the road that Malaysian politics was taking. Edmund Gomez notes that Malaysian society has evolved with the rise of a new generation that has adopted different perspectives on key issues, such as democracy, human rights, gender equality and national identity, but the two main Malay political parties (UMNO and PAS) that have dominated the Malaysian political landscape have not reviewed their position on these issues for the last fifty years (2007, 19). The Beruas global Hakka are part of this more educated, better travelled and better informed generation of Malaysians who have the knowledge, foresight and ability to decide their own and their children’s futures. The NEP resulted in the “undisputed Malay political dominance and con- comitant Chinese emasculation” (Koon 1988, 254). For the non-Malays the NEP represented an open and blatant form of racial discrimination perpetrated and sanctioned by the government. It also bred a major problem of corruption, which got so bad in the 1980s that it prompted a Supreme Court judge to comment that the success of the NEP “may be judged as having been too successful insofar as it implanted the desire to make money, without also inculcating the balancing virtues of honesty and social responsibility” (Milze and Mauzy 1999, 71 & 172). Officially, the NEP ended in 1997 but it was replaced with the New Economic Model (NEM), which still discriminates against the other races. The failure of the NEP has been accepted by the government. Both the NEP and NEM have been called phony affirmative actions (Lee J. 2011) and yet the Malaysian government did not have the will or power to abolish it. The price that Malaysia paid for its racist policies is the loss of mostly skilled and qualified Chinese and Indians to other countries (Malott 2011 and Schellekens 2011). Malaysian emigration (estimated by the latest World Bank report to be more than 1 million) is an interesting case study in itself because it is connected to race, ethnicity, politics and social mobility. According to the World Bank, about a third of Malaysian emigration is through brain drain and one out of ten Malaysians with a tertiary degree emigrated in 2000 to an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) country—this is twice the world average and if we include Singapore, it would make it two out of ten.65

65 Fifty-seven per cent of immigrants went to Singapore and most of the remainder are in Australia, Brunei, United Kingdom and United States. Ethnic Chinese account for almost 84 Chapter 3

The failure of the NEP has led to some changes in political thinking on the economic, social and ethno-religious realignments to express the new outlook of the Malaysian government. There have been attempts to increase the Chinese university quota and to set up favorable conditions for a genuine Chinese-Malay partnership in business, thus replacing the infamous ‘Ali-Baba’66 partnership of the 1960s and 1970s. State-initiated programs have also resulted in, among other things, “an unexpected reflowering of pluralism” in the form of the new opposition coalition known as the “Alternative Front” or Barisan Alternatif (Shamsul, 2001, 205). The government has also been more inclusive of the other ethnic groups and more sensitive to ethnic culture and language. But is that enough to stop the brain drain? A recent report in the New York Times by John Malott (2011), former U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia (1995–1998) sums up the situation:

Almost 500,000 Malaysians left the country between 2007 and 2009, more than doubling the number of Malaysian professionals who live overseas. It appears that most were skilled ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians, tired of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country and denied the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, whether in education, business, or government. Many of these emigrants, as well as the many Malaysian students who study overseas and never return (again, most of whom are ethnic Chinese and Indian), have the business, engineering, and scientific skills that Malaysia needs for its future.

Based on these reports, it is a bit too little and too late. The brain drain continues and the Hakka are part of this exodus. All the above factors combined to give the ‘push’ that created the BGH. In short, the BGH group came about in response to the social, political, environmental and economic changes in Malaysia. Under a meritorious system, the majority of the BGH, if they had returned to Malaysia after their education

90 percent of the Malaysian immigrants in Singapore and they are similarly over represented in the countries of the OECD (Schellekens 2011). 66 An ‘Ali-Baba’ business is a Malay-Chinese partnership. ‘Ali’ being a common Malay name refers to the Malay component and the ‘Baba’ refers to the Chinese participation. This mutually beneficial arrangement meant that the racially discriminatory policy of NEP would allow the Malay to obtain all the necessary privileges accorded to him to start a business and the Chinese businessman would manage the enterprise. This makes the Chinese the de facto owner and the Malay a sleeping partner. This situation is gradually being replaced by a more balanced partnership. See Embong (2001, 66) and Chin Y.W. (2004). See also Milne and Mauzy (1999, 53 & 73); and Means (1991, 313). Migration Models 85 or stayed after they returned, would have found well-paid jobs with their foreign degrees and diplomas. However, they knew that under the discriminatory system favored by the Malaysian government, their prospects for promotion would be hampered and worse still, the future of their children would be jeopardized. Rather than being treated as second-class citizens in their own country, they chose the emigration route. In this case, we can say that the transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity of the BGH is one of the by-products of Malaysian racial politics.

1 Migration as a Hakka Cultural Marker

Migration should be considered a Hakka cultural marker. It is the driving force that shaped and reshaped Hakka identity. Dirk Hoerder considers internal Hakka migration in China up to the 1500s to be one of “large scale and long- distance migrations”, comparable to the Mongol expansion or Manchu penetration of China (2002, 23). Do Hakka have a specific characteristics constel- lation that predisposed them to migration? It was not only historical events in China that caused the Hakka to move. Wang Gungwu notes that Hakka’s readi- ness to move is “characteristic of the Hakka migration pattern” (2003, 223).67 Wang went on to explain that compared to all the other dialect groups, the Hakka’s adventurous and pioneering spirit is one feature that propels them to move. He added that the Hakka “were accustomed to working in remote areas throughout their own history in China” (ibid., 220–222) and hence, they simply migrated when the need arose. This may be true but it can also be said that the Hakka being the ‘late-comers’ were almost always forced into the less fertile, hilly, marginal lands that are quickly exhausted, which in turn created the necessity to search for new land. It is a self-perpetuating cycle that turned migration into a Hakka cultural marker. There is no doubt that Hakka migration constituted part of Chinese migrational history. However, it seems that they have been singled out again and again as the group that migrates most often. Hakka ‘long-term’ migration has even been used to support environmental determination theories of the Chinese. For example, Ellsworth Huntington argues that during their constant migrational process “they have apparently suffered natural selection in such a way that the weaker or more conservative elements have been left behind,

67 For the five-wave Hakka migration theory, see Luo Xianglin (1933, 43–63). These migration waves also coincided with Chinese migration history that has been supported by genetic studies as shown by Bo Wen et al. (2004, 302–305). 86 Chapter 3 while only the most able and energetic have finally settled in the new home” (1925, 194). The Hakka are supposed to have become “the most pure Chinese” by inheriting the ‘progressive’ qualities from their ancestors who had survived harsh natural selection during their long migrational process (Huntington 1925, 169). Chen Zhihong notes that many scholars in China adopted Huntington’s idea and “extended the migration tale to the Han. In this fashion, the tale of Hakka migration transformed into one of Han migration, and the ‘progressive- ness’ of the Hakka became a means of redeeming assessments of a Han race” (2012, 87). It is accepted that Hakka migration is part of the wave-migration of the Chinese population at large but these ‘wave-like’ migration patterns must also be balanced with the fact that Hakka also settled down permanently for many generations at the later stages of their migration to develop powerful lineages who became wealthy landlords. For example, Stephen Averill notes that major Hakka migration into southern Jiangxi and western Fujian “ended by the late eighteenth century (earlier in many places), leaving them entirely or almost entirely populated by Hakkas” (2006, 14). These areas later became known as part of the Hakka ‘heartland’. As such, Averill argues that any oppression suffered by Hakka peasants in the Hakka heartland “was almost certainly inflicted by other Hakka, whether landlords or lineages, not by bendi (earlier settlers)” (ibid., 14). Taking this and the above-mentioned factors into consideration, it is not difficult to see why Hakka migration continued. As these new settlements grew, the cycle of overpopulation and the need for more land starts another wave of migration (not necessarily coinciding with Chinese history). These situations also created a sojourning tradition for Hakka men. This willingness to move and their adaptability to terrain as well as spiritual concepts, such as religion,68 no doubt define Hakka identity more than that of any other Chinese dialect groups. This is corroborated by the Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, (Ember, Ember, and Skoggard, ed. 2005), which has one chapter of eleven pages on “Chinese Diaspora” (Mckeown, 2005, 65–76). A separate chapter, also eleven pages, contributed by Eriberto Lozada Jr. is dedicated to the “Hakka Diaspora” alone (2005, 92–103). There is no special mention of Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew or other dialect migrations. It is not difficult to see why Hakka collective migrational experience has become such an important factor for Hakka identity.

68 Hakka are quick to adapt even in religion. For example, Hong Xiuquan, founder of the Taiping Revolution selected certain Christian ideas to develop his Taiping ideology (Lee T. H. 2002, 55). The Christian missionaries also found Hakka to be more open to new ideas (see Chapter 6 for detailed discussion). Migration Models 87

Mention the word Hakka and most people think ‘nomads’, ‘Jews of the East’, ‘gypsies’ or ‘itinerants’, who wander around with no province to call their own. Migration has no doubt contributed to their distinctive cultural construct but on the other hand, as this study will show, Hakka migration also diminished and marginalized Hakka identity and consciousness in the twenty- first century. How did the migration process work for the Hakka? Once settled, temporarily or permanently, they started the chain migration pattern i.e. the systematic migration of new members to areas where village, clan or family members have already settled and established themselves earlier. The concept of chain migration is also known as serial migration. It is defined by MacDonald and MacDonald “as that movement in which prospective migrants learn of opportunities, are provided with transportation and have initial accommodation and employment arranged by means of primary social relationships with previous migrants” (1964, 82). The other dialect groups used it as well but the Hakka has honed it into an art form. I have already mentioned how Pusing became a Donguan Hakka town; how Mr. Siow Kon Chai moved his entire village from Lan Lin to Titi, Jelebu; and the entrepreneur and philanthropist, Au Boon Haw, who recruited only his clansmen from Yongding or Hakka from Guangdong, to demonstrate how these chain migrations work. Furthermore, Hakka in Tahiti and Sabah are mainly from the Xinan or Bao’an counties in Huizhou prefecture. Similarly, Hakka from “Dongguan, Huiyang, and Bao’an Counties in the Guangdong Province. . . formed the nucleus of the Chinese immigrants in Jamaica. Subsequent émigrés came mostly from these Hakka sending- communities and emigrated with the help of their clan members who had arrived in 1884” (Li A.S. 2004, 44). This was still happening up to the 1990s in Suriname. As Paul Fat Tjon Sie notes, “The Chinese in Suriname were ethno- linguistically homogeneous; virtually anyone with a Chinese background could trace his or her roots back to Kejia-speakers from the Fuidung’on [惠東安 Huidong’an]—a region on the Hong Kong periphery, particularly Dongguan” (2009b, 153). Many Hakka from Fujian went to Burma. In Malaysia, Hakka in the Kinta Valley came mainly from Jiaying Prefecture or Meixian and in Kuala Lumpur they are mainly from Huizhou. Dongguan Hakka went to the Kinta Valley and later congregated in Pusing and many from Pusing later moved to Beruas. Migration to Malaya was spurred by tin-mining. The importance of tin- mining has always been glossed over in the discussion of Chinese migration to Malaya from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s.69 Improvement in

69 See Nasution and Lubis (2005) for the history of tin mining in the Kinta Valley of Malaysia. 88 Chapter 3 tin-mining technology created a labor shortage and this shortage was filled by importing labor from Guangdong province, many of whom were Hakka.70 Similarly, the chain migration process was practiced in the Caribbean. Kathleen López (2004) notes that in the early twentieth century “one brings another” from the family, clan or village to form the Chinese migrant communities in Cuba. The chain migration effect, though not as intense as a century ago, when the demand for manpower was one of the big pull factors, is still practiced in a lesser form among the global Hakka. For examples, two families of the BGH group have more than two siblings in the same country and one has taken their parents as well. Some of the global Hakka I spoke to have also sponsored or intend to sponsor family members to join them in their host-countries. As compared to earlier migration which was created by shortage of labor, this new system was put in place by receiving countries after the 1960s to facilitate assimilation and immigration control. Christian missions also played quite an important role in moving the Hakka out of China to Southeast Asia and other Christian countries. In 1905 the Basel Mission listed “a Hakka Christian community of 339 souls (223 communi- cants among them) in North Borneo” that they had helped to send over (Liao 1972, 27). David Liao also notes that at the urgent request of Hakka Christians who had migrated to Singapore, the Basel Mission helped send one thousand six hundred Hakka there just before the war (ibid.). Christian Hakka were going from Southern China to Hawaii, Demerara [British Guiana and now Guyana] and California (Char T.Y. 1975, 215 & 329n20). The acculturation of the Chinese in California, which included Hakka, was helped greatly by the Christian missions (Barth G. 1964, 159). The Hakka were also invited by the Sultan of West Borneo to work in the goldfields because of their knowledge of mining, their ability to organize capital and labor, and their reputation for being able to endure hard work (Yuan B.L. 2000, 276). Their unique position in West Borneo led to the creation of the kongsi, which has been considered a special Hakka feature and touted by some as the first democracy in Asia.71 To the question of why the Hakka move so much, Leong Sow-Theng building on William Skinner’s theory of regional systems said that the answer lies in Hakka’s peripherality in relation to the macroeconomic regions.72 In Skinner’s

70 For a detailed discussion on this phase of Hakka migration, see Loh (1988, 7–52). 71 For studies on the kongsi in West Borneo, see Heidhues (1993), Wong T.P. (1994), Yuan B.L. (2000), Ward B.E. (1954), and Chew D. (2004 [1990]) (more discussion in Chapter 6). 72 See also Skinner (1985) and Leong S.T. (1997) for studies on the origins and evolution of macroregions and Hakka communities. See also Cartier (2002), who examines the Migration Models 89 words, it meant the Hakka had no drainage basin to call their own for any kind of agriculture or economic development. Leong asserted that it is because of this unique situation that “the Hakka developed traditions of mobility and sojourning and of unorthodox male and female roles” (1997, 63). This may be historically true in China but there are also signs that new environments have produced different responses. After the Hakka upgraded their status from sojourners to settlers, they stayed put despite difficult conditions. Pulai and Pusing are good examples, which show that notwithstanding the hard life the Hakka did not move. What is the impetus for the Hakka to migrate? From the above responses, we can infer that migration is both circumstantial and characteristic. Unlike the Hokkien and Cantonese who were involved with trade or other occupations that kept them in a fixed location, the Hakka were traditionally involved in occupations that required them to move constantly. For example, mining is a short-term occupation; when a mine’s operative time span is reached and it is subsequently closed and abandoned, they have to find another one to work somewhere else or another occupation altogether. Did their traditional occupations predispose them to migrate or was it vice versa? The real answer will never be determined but history has shown that migration has become a cultural marker of the Hakka. Furthermore, in the early days, I do not think the Hakka or any other dialect groups would just up and move—leaving their family and home to go into the unknown—bearing in mind that a journey that takes three hours now (from Kuala Lumpur to Shenzhen) used to take three weeks. Besides, the ethics of Confucianism kept the Chinese close to their home. Economic deterioration, persecution or natural calamities forced people to move from China in the mid nineteenth century but it seems that the Hakka started earlier and were more willing than the other dialect groups— turning circumstantial happenstance into a Hakka cultural marker.

2 Migration, Emigration, and Immigration

Migration has become a marker of Hakka identity. It defines their collective historic narrative but it is also one of the forces that will eventually marginalize and dilute their Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. How Hakka identity is shaped and reshaped and at the same time diminished by migration

macroregional paradigm in China to demonstrate the importance of overcoming some epistemological problems such as the disciplinary origins of the theoretical material that the idea of the macroregion is based on geography. 90 Chapter 3 is two sides of the same coin i.e. the outcome of the process can be identity- formation or identity-loss—a paradox that requires attention. To understand migration, it used to be enough just to understand the push and pull factors but as recent studies have shown, these old paradigms are insufficient today. The classical push and pull models, which used to be the seen as the starting point of all migrations is now being called into question. It needs to be deconstructed and reassessed as a cliché of uprooted migrants and of newcomers culturally in limbo. The factors affecting these moves have become far more complicated and subtle in the last thirty years. Also, the assumption that people will live their lives in one place, according to one set of national and cultural norms, in countries with impermeable national borders, no longer holds. Rather, in the twenty-first century, more and more people will belong to two or more societies or communities at the same time. This is what many researchers refer to as transnational migration and these members are known as “transmigrants”.73 Many global Hakka in this study are transmigrants. Transmigrants are immigrants who are still very much connected to their homeland. Though they are assimilated into their host-country, they are at the same time “engaged elsewhere in the sense that they maintain connections, and influence local and national events in the countries from which they emigrated” (Schiller, Basch and Blanc 1995, 48). This is especially true for some of the BGH who had only taken up permanent residency in their host-countries, while retaining their Malaysian citizenship or they allowed one partner to take up citizenship of the host-country while the other half kept their Malaysian citizenship. They have a foot in each country—traversing between the two countries physically, socially, and politically. To put global Hakka identity in the context of migration history, it is important to reconsider the term ‘diaspora’ for the Hakka case. The use of the term diaspora has gone through tremendous changes. Diaspora (with a capital “D”) was originally used exclusively to describe the Jewish tribes wandering after their Babylonian exile (Ehrlich, 2008) but it is now used for all kinds of population dispersal. The recent publication of the two-volume Encyclopaedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World (Ember, Ember, and Skoggard, ed., 2005) speaks for itself. William Safran tries to construct a model for defining ‘diaspora’ by listing six criteria to define ‘expatriate minority communities’:

73 For a detailed study on theorizing transnational migration, in which immigrants move to become transmigrants, see Blanc-Szanton, Schiller and Basch (1995). Migration Models 91

(1) They, or their ancestors, have been dispersed from a specific original ‘center’ to two or more ‘peripheral’ or foreign, regions; (2) They retain a collective memory, vision, or myth about their original homeland. . . .; (3) They believe that they are not—perhaps cannot be—fully accepted by their host society and therefore feel partly alienated and insulated from it, (4) They regard their ancestral homeland as their true, ideal home and as the place to which they or their descendants would eventually return. . . .; (5) They believe that they should, collectively, be committed to the maintenance or restoration of their original homeland and to its safety and prosperity; (6) They continue to relate, personally or vicariously, to that homeland in one way or another and their ethno-communal consciousness and solidarity are importantly defined by the existence of such a relationship (1991, 83–84).

The Hakka as a group in today’s globalized world satisfy only two of the six criteria. Hakka all over the world feel quite comfortable in their chosen host- countries and if they “feel alienated and insulated” (3), they do so as ‘Chinese’ and not as Hakka. They harbor no ambition that “they or their descendants would eventually return” (4). They have no commitment “to the maintenance or restoration of their original homeland or to its safety and prosperity” (5). They may “continue to relate, personally or vicariously, to that homeland” (6), but it is out of social and familial commitments rather than ethno- communal consciousness or solidarity. Hence, Safran’s model does not apply to the Hakka. Added to the problem is that the term ‘diaspora’ in this day and age is commonly used to refer to a permanently displaced and relocated indigenous collective (quite often by force exerted by others) and it is also frequently associated with refugees (both political and economic). The problem is also confirmed by Rogers Brubaker, who argued in his essay “The ‘Diaspora’ Diaspora” that these criteria were already inadequate in 2005 because the concept has expanded and widened too much. Diaspora is now studied closely with other concepts such as: diaspora at war (Koh 2013); diaspora and transnationalism (Bauböck and Faist 2010); diasporic space (Feng 2008), global cities and diasporic networks (Sassen 2005), diasporic citizenship (Siu 2005), diasporas and displacements (Hu-Dehart 2005 and Abelmann 2005), art in diaspora (Harris 2005), diasporic literature (Tsu J. 2010 and Tam 2005), diaspora and globalization (Nonini 2005), diaspora and cyberspace (Lozada 2000 and Ciolek 2003), diaspora, politics, and cyber age (Ong 2005), 92 Chapter 3 territorial diaspora (Ma H.E. 1998), diaspora and modern society (Safran 1991) etc. The widening use of the term can be seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Headlines such as “Katrina Scatters a Grim Diaspora” (Walden 2005) and “The Economic Impact of the ‘Katarina Diaspora’” (Kennedy 2010) demonstrate how the concept has changed. It has also moved into the medical and scientific realm when Dr. Kamran Khan created Bio.Diaspora in 2008, which literally means the ‘scattering of life’.74 Diaspora has become all-inclusive and open-ended so that it is now used with any kind of dispersal (population or otherwise) regardless of the context—rendering it too diluted in meaning and burdened at the same time by its fluidity. It is a much touted and convenient word and as Brubaker (2005) cautioned, it should be used with care. I am in agreement with Wang Gungwu’s strong objection to the use of ‘diaspora’ to describe Chinese migration (Wang 2004 and Malvezin 2004). He objected to the term because it implies ‘a single Chinese Diaspora’ (which is clearly problematic), and how the term was subsequently politicized to use against the overseas Chinese by China as well as by their host-countries. Wang states, “The fact is that the Chinese, wherever they go, are easily influenced by their environment. They adapt to new circumstances and thus become very different from other groups of Chinese living elsewhere. I don’t see much cohesion” (Malvezin 2005, 49). Diaspora is also sometimes used interchangeably with sojourning, which adds to the confusion. Given Wang’s scholarship on overseas Chinese and his personal and political experiences, the use of diaspora for Chinese migration is a valid concern.75 The concept of “Chinese diaspora” should be reviewed and reconsidered. My objection to the use of the term diaspora for Chinese migration is based on the fact that its definition and concepts have become too open-ended and outdated. Thus, it is inappropriate for use in Hakka migration studies and that is also why I use Global Hakka in the title for this book rather than Diasporic Hakka. The BGH and many of the global Hakka in my study are individuals, who relocated to their new homes by choice based on their own ability and skills as potentially useful and productive citizens for the receiving countries. Also,

74 Bio.Diaspora was set up to study “how infectious diseases are increasingly able to disperse worldwide through the movements of international travelers. As a major conduit for the spread of infectious diseases, Bio.Diaspora is dedicated to understanding the global airline transportation network and leveraging knowledge of this complex ‘living’ system to better prepare for and respond to global infectious disease threats”. See http://www .biodiaspora.com/ (Retrieved 13th November, 2011). 75 See Benton and Hong (2004) who edited the volume that depicts Wang Gungwu’s life and work. Migration Models 93 in the age of globalization, many global employees move from country to country for the duration of their employment in a particular job. Therefore, using ‘diaspora’ or ‘diasporic’ to describe these transmigrants is out of place. Diaspora also carries with it a sense of displacement, which the global Hakka of the twenty-first century seldom experience. They feel they are global citizens or transmigrants, who are still very much connected to their natal- countries. Bearing this problem in mind, I prefer to use population dispersal or just simply migration for the Hakka case. The most commonly used expressions in the English language to denote the physical process of population dispersal are these three terms: migration, emigration, and immigration. However, population dispersal has become so multifarious that paradigms of long accepted and functional terms such as these are also shifting. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1983, 1432) states that “to migrate” means to move from one country or region and settle in another or “to change location periodically, especially by moving seasonally from one region to another”, giving the act of migration a more ‘forced’ and less settled feeling. The stress here is the “change [of] location periodically” and “moving seasonally”. Nature governs the fact that animals migrate seasonally back and forth or move to another patch when their habitat is threatened. There is no choice—stay and they perish. Most people, on the other hand, have choices and they choose to emigrate to another place because of their jobs or to better their families’ futures. These are the lucky ones. Those who have no choice such as refugees, or seasonal workers who are forced to move to earn a living, or those who are illegal, are more likely to be described as migrants.76 The “United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families” refers to a migrant worker as “a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national” (United Nations 1990). However, migration can be both local (e.g. urban migration), and transnational. “To emigrate” is “to leave a place of abode (as a country) for life or residence elsewhere” (ibid., 741). There is a purpose and finality to the exercise. However, we can see that, the meaning is also shifting as shown by many of the global Hakka. They did not stay in their receiving countries ‘for life’. Many re-emigrated from their receiving-countries either to a second country or back to their natal- country. The process of emigration is always concluded by immigration, which Webster’s Dictionary describes as “to enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native for the purpose of permanent residence” (ibid., 1130).

76 I will not go into ‘refuge migration’ because it is an area that demands in depth treatment by specialists and it is seldom associated with Hakka migration. 94 Chapter 3

Once the cycle of the physical process of moving was completed with immigration paperwork, the process used to stop there but in the last thirty years, we are also seeing many of these new immigrants re-emigrating or their offspring starting a new cycle of emigration that includes them. As such, we get the feeling that the difference is that immigrants are usually legal and they are in their host-countries by choice, whereas migrants have less legality, rights and have less official sanction to their status. Also, the migrants’ stay in their host-country may be seasonal. Hence, they may not be permanent residents (yet). By taking note of these subtle differences, I try to apply the three different terms for this study as I have envisaged them. I use migration to mean the general movement of people leaving one location for another with whatever purpose. Once the purpose is determined, for example, the planned move to another country through the proper governmental channels to live and reside, then it is obvious that they plan to ‘emigrate’. When the move is successful, immigration has taken place. In this sense, BGH’s grandparents are better described as migrants whereas, BGH are seen as immigrants in their receiving countries. These descriptions conform to the ‘classical’ notion of population dispersal but they are also shifting with new migration methods and forming new patterns. In order to understand what the three terms mean today in terms of social history and personal experience, I conducted a random survey with twenty- seven persons from twelve countries,77 aged between twenty and over seventy, on what migration, emigration and immigration meant to them. A summary of the replies by the respondents appears in Appendix N. Clearly, the description of what these three terms mean to individuals depends on who is defining it—the immigrants themselves; people who are conscious of their immigrant roots; and the ‘locals’, who have been there for generations, despite having immigrant roots. Some use the three words interchangeably and others are very specific about certain situations—urban migration of people, seasonal migration of animals, and in computer lingo, such as changing systems and ‘migrating’ of information from the one system to the new one. The term emigration evokes memories, desires and strong emotions in those who have emigrated from their last home, often with sadness. Non-immigrants see the term immigration very differently from those who have immigrated to their host-countries. For the non-immigrants or locals, immigration is associated

77 The countries are Australia (2), Canada (1), Germany (1), Italy (1), Japan (1), Kenya (1), Malaysia (5), Singapore (1), South Africa (1), United Kingdom (5), United States (7) and Vietnam (1). Migration Models 95 with ‘others muscling into’ their space and is usually viewed with negative connotations. For the immigrants or descendants of immigrants, immigration represents hope and a new life. One respondent rightly pointed out that although it is the same person who does the emigration and immigration, the two actions evoke different feeling. Emigration is about leaving one’s homeland for whatever reasons and it stirs up sad feelings because it means leaving things familiar and dear to the heart: family, friends, relatives, colors, and smells. Immigration, on the other hand signifies hope, new beginning, a better future. The same respondent describes the sad experience of having to leave her country and the initial happiness and joy of arriving in her new country of residence. However, many of these initial positive feelings turned negative when reality hit home as they were confronted by prejudice and discrimination. The emotions associated with migration, emigration and immigration might still be the same today but the conceptualization in terms of identity varies vastly. This only shows the complexities and shifting meaning of these concepts. I am aware that this survey is rather basic but for the purpose of this study, it is adequate. An in-depth survey would mean breaking down the personal background of each individual e.g. country, race, age group, gender, immigration status, etc. Also, a bigger sample might reflect a more meaningful sociological study. But the aim of this survey is to demonstrate that the meaning of these three words has changed with time and they entail different meanings and emotions for different groups of people. As it is, it has given us plenty of clues to the constantly changing meanings of these terms. Therefore, they have to be used with more care. Obviously, this is an area that requires more in-depth study by migration specialists. The Chinese translate migration as 移居 yiju, 遷移 qianyi, and 移栖 yiqi; emigration as 移居 yiju, 移民 yimin, 僑民 qiaomin, and 僑居 qiaoju; and immigration as 移居國外 yiju guowai. Immigration and immigrant are both called 移民 yimin. Wang Gungwu has shown clearly that the Chinese migrant concept has been evolving (especially during the twentieth century) and these changes have given new meanings to migration theories (1998b, 15–33). “The Chinese did not have an equivalent of the concept of migrant before the introduction of industrialization into China . . . [and] all mobility away from home, or away from the country, was temporary; therefore, the concept of qiao 僑, or sojourning, was the beginning of the idea of huaqiao 華僑” (ibid., 16). Bearing this in mind, historically, all Chinese sojourning forebears were at first migrants, who had no intention of settling down. Many made their fortune and returned to China and some of them upgraded to become immigrants after 96 Chapter 3 they decided to stay by founding new families or bringing over those still in China i.e. their status changed from being migrants to immigrants.78 For example, most Hakka went to West Borneo to work in the goldfields with the idea of making a fortune and then going back to China (Yuan B.L. 2000, 267). However, many decided to stay to build a new Chinese society and they ‘upgraded’ themselves from migrants to immigrants. Gunther Barth also noted that sojourners to the United States rejected the American standards at first and clung to their culture to give meaning to their ordeal, but with the help of Christian missions, they acculturated themselves and moved from being sojourners to immigrants at the end of the nineteenth century (1964, 157–213). The process of upgrading migrants by the various receiving countries changed the status of the migrants (i.e. from temporary to permanent). For example in Malaya (now Malaysia) the colonial government offered Malayan citizenship to migrants, who wanted to stay (Purcel 1965, 515–349). All the grandparents of BGH accepted the offer to upgrade their status to become Malayan. The difference is that the BGH were born citizens of Malaysia (not upgraded) and they emigrated officially and legally to their host-countries around the world. Migration no doubt defines Hakka identity but it is important to note that the reasons for migration between the BGH’s grandparents’ generation from China and those of the BGH from Malaysia are very different. The grand parents were tied to sojourning and their motives for migration were purely economic—to earn as much money as possible so that they could retire back to China whereas the global Hakka’s migration is more complex. In other words, the BGH’s migrational grandparents were sojourners (huaqiao) from China, whereas the BGH became ‘Chinese descent-immigrants’ (huayi) from Malaysia. Changes in the world economy and globalization will no doubt produce new patterns of migration. One of the patterns that has emerged from the present situation is called ‘brain circulation’ where people with skills go where their jobs take them (DeVoretz and Zweig 2008). They become citizens of the world and I call them a ‘permanent temp-workforce’. This is made possible by communications technology and modern transportation. In a working paper for the Council on Foreign Relations, Michael Spence and Sandile Hlatshwayo note that economic growth in the United States of America does not necessarily produce increased job opportunities. The general trend is that companies are “doing more with fewer people” by moving their employees around the globe—circulating their brains. This increased productivity is attributed to new technologies that improve efficiency, and globalization, where jobs traditionally based in the USA or other industrialized countries

78 For a detailed discussion on the upgrading of the status of overseas Chinese, see Wang G.W. (1998b). Migration Models 97 have moved to other parts of the world with lower wages. Therefore, jobs are being delivered to countries such as China where their citizens most commonly think of emigrating. For example, China is entering a ‘middle-income transition’, where opportunities are to be had ‘at home’ in comparison to an insecure bet on a new future elsewhere (Spence and Hlatshwayo 2011). Some studies show that, as opportunities open up immigrants are also re-emigrating back to places they have left. For example, as China continues to be stronger in the economic and military sectors and with the overall improvement in the economies of Southeast Asia, mainland Chinese and overseas Chinese view emigration to the West less and less as a step to economic improvement; especially when jobs are getting scarcer and scarcer in the developed world as growth and employment are set to diverge.

3 Internal versus Transnational Migration

It is interesting to note that while migration of overseas Chinese has been studied and documented in many other parts of the world, internal migration in China has not received as much interest until recently. Since the opening up of China in the 1980s, there has been a marked increase in interprovin- cial migration from relatively poor central and western provinces to the rapidly growing eastern region, such as Shenzhen and other Special Economic Zones (SEZ). This rural to urban-industrial migration in China has started to attract the attention of migration scholars, who are helped by improved technologies. The history of migration in China has also been helped by the latest technological methods. One such method is the use of genetic material. In general, the spread of culture and language in human populations is explained by two alternative models: the demic diffusion model, which involves mass movement of people; and the cultural diffusion model, which refers to the cultural impact between populations and involves limited genetic exchange between them (Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, and Piazza, 1994). By systematically analyzing Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA, Bo Wen et al. have shown variation in the Han populations and that the pattern of the southward expansion of Chinese culture is consistent with the demic diffusion model. It also shows that males played a larger role than females in this expansion. The expansion process was gender-biased and dominated by males, as shown by a greater contribution to the Y-chromosome than the mtDNA from northern Chinese to southern Chinese. Historical records have also supported the continuous southward movements of Chinese people due to warfare and famine in the north, as illustrated by the three waves of large-scale migration in China. The 98 Chapter 3 first wave occurred during the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 265–316); the second migration, more extensive than the first, took place during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907); and the third wave occurred during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127–1279) (Bo et al., 2004). Aside from these three waves, other smaller southward migrations have occurred throughout the past two millennia. The genetic observation is, thus, in line with the historical accounts. The massive movement of the northern immigrants led to a change in genetic makeup in southern China, and resulted in the demographic expansion of the Chinese as well as their culture. Except for these massive population movements, gene flow between northern Chinese, southern Chinese and southern natives also contributed to the admixture which shaped the present genetic profile. This observation is consistent with the cross-over from proto-Hakka to Hakka if we accept what Leong Sow-Theng called an ‘incubation period’ following these waves. Nevertheless, the study of internal and transnational migration is problematic because it is very imbalanced. While most studies of migration have been centered on the international or cross border types, the field of internal migration has only just begun. A Thai walking across the border into Malaysia would be considered an act of international migration, while a Chinese from Sichuan going to Shenzhen (thousands of kilometers) to work in the factories is still considered internal migration. Leslie Chang’s excellent study on factory girls from all over China who flocked to the New Economic Zone of Shenzhen, reveals the social impact caused by these internal migrations. She gave a vivid picture of migration history never seen before in the history of mankind, where contact with family and friends were defined by a mobile-phone (2008). Other works that study ethnicity and internal migration in China include work by Leong Sow-Theng (1997) on the Hakka, and Emily Honig (1993) on the Subei 蘇北 people from northern Jiangsu, who migrated to Shanghai. Honig uses it as a case study to examine how local origins and not race, religion, or nationality define ethnic identities in China. Internal migration of the Beruas Hakka in Malaysia has also produced profound changes to their Hakka identity. There is the similar pattern of marginalization of the Hakka language and culture. The children of those Hakka who moved from Beruas to the cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, etc. speak to their parents in Mandarin, English, or the dominant dialect of the city. For example, children of Hakka families who moved to Penang speak better Hokkien than Hakka. Some of them, if they have spent some time in Beruas, can still communicate with their grandparents but those born outside of Beruas are gradually losing their Hakka identity. Internal migration and identity-remaking is a subject waiting for more in-depth research. Migration Models 99

4 Chinese Migration Models

The classical theory of migration usually speaks of a system approach that deals with a three-stage migration process i.e. (1) the culture of origin, (2) the actual move, and (3) the process of insertion/acculturation into the receiving society (Harzig and Hoerder with Gabaccia, 2009, 87–114). Global Hakka migration includes all these three stages, and more. This study adds two more processes in the Hakka narratives to the three above-mentioned i.e. (4) the Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi (Chinese Descent or Re-migrant) as postulated by Wang Gungwu (1991, 3–4); and (5) ‘return immigration’ as shown by my study. My interviews with global Hakka shows a new trend in which some global Hakka who, having emigrated from Malaysia in the 1980’s, have recently immigrated back for various reasons. I call this ‘return immigration’, bearing in mind that they are not ‘sojourners’ like their grandparents or great- grandparents. Return immigration is another process produced by globalization and economic opportunities. Apart from the traditional migration patterns of the Hakka that have been discussed by Luo Xianglin and Wang Gungwu’s Chinese migration models, my research also shows that globalization in the last three decades has produced new models of migration. Regardless of which migration model the Hakka find themselves in, not only has their citizenship status changed but their Hakka identity has gone through another remaking.

5 Traditional Hakka Migration Models

5.1 The Wave Model The most often quoted pattern of Hakka migration is the five-wave theory from Luo Xianglin’s Kejia yanjiu daolun 客家研究導論 (An Introduction to the Study of the Hakka in its Ethnic, Historical, and Cultural Aspects (sic)), which was published in 1933. According to Luo, the first wave started in the Jin (317–873) from the Central Plain; the second in the Tang (874–1276); the third in the Song (1276–1682); the fourth in the Qing (1682–1867); and the last wave, which started from around 1867 was still happening at the time of his writing (1933, 43–63). Luo is not the first to put forward the wave theory for Hakka migration. In 1975 Manabu Nakagawa (1975) summarized studies on the history of Hakka migration using the wave theory before Luo’s as follows:

(1) Huntington-Campbell: three-wave theory, starting in the Jin in the fourth century, Tang and Sung. 100 Chapter 3

(2) Ho Yin: also with three waves starting from Jin, Five Dynasty and Sung (3) Fan Yi: three waves but starting from the Qin, Five Dynasty and Sung (4) Dyer Ball and E.J. Eitel: five-wave theory starting with the first from the Qin from Shandong; second in the Jin; third during the Tang; fourth the Song; and fifth in the later Ming.

As mentioned above, Leong S.T. critiques Luo’s work as part scholarship and part ethnic rhetoric (1997, 28–36) based on small samples from Hakka genealogies, which “pose serious problems for elite bias and reliability” (ibid., 29). Leong argues that the periods for these divisions are too great to give meaning to a migration theory (ibid., 31–36). For example, based on Leong’s data, when there was a macro-regional economic depression in southern China from 1300 to 1500, it would have prevented major Hakka out-migration from the mountain regions of southwest Fujian and northern and eastern Guangdong.79 My problem with these wave theories relating to Hakka migration is that they assume that the Hakka only move en masse during these ‘waves’. The Hakka, like the others, moved when there was war, famine and other natural calamities and in times of peace they also moved to join those who had gone ahead of them or to start new lineages. In the last century, Hakka migration out of China followed the chain migration process, which depends on outside stimuli and not necessarily events in China. Besides, these theories entertain no possibility that the Hakka might have migrated from somewhere else (for example, from the Steppes) to Henan before that ‘first-wave’ migration in 317 CE with the southward flight of the Jin. The wave-theory of Hakka migration has to be re-examined by migration specialists. Though DNA testing for migration studies in China has shown that the movements coincide with historical events, these wave theories are too general to apply to Hakka migration and, as such, should be used with caution. At this point in Hakka studies, it is not so important to establish when and where the Hakka migration originated as I do not think there will ever be a definitive answer because migration is not a ‘single-point in time’ exercise and the history of China is long. Calamities happen all the time in different areas and people move when required so migration is not governed by time or seasons. With all this moving about, maybe the questions to ask are: How did the Hakka managed to retain their relative ‘homogeneity’ as a cultural group and when did they become a cultural, then an ethnic group, which again turned into the cultural group we know today?

79 For discussion of how Hakka migration impacted nature, culture, conservation and the environment in the south of China, see Coqqins (2002, 29–50.) Migration Models 101

Whether it is the three- or five-wave theories, they all have some grains of truth in the sense that these waves are linked in part to historical events that caused population movement. The Hakka are also part of these movements so it does not help to add speculation on top of speculation. The different events cited by Luo Xianglin would have contributed to the push-factor of the different migration waves and provided meaningful insights into Hakka migration but I agree with Leong S.T. that the time frames are too long to draw any definitive answer for Hakka migration.

5.2 The Sojourning Model Wang Gungwu has divided Chinese migration patterns from the 1800 onwards to the 1950s into four main patterns. The Hakka are also part of these patterns which include:

(1) The Trader Pattern huashang (Chinese Trader). (2) The Coolie Pattern huagong (Chinese Coolie). (3) The Sojourner Pattern huaqiao (Chinese Sojourner). (4) The Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi (Chinese Descent or Re-migrant) (1991, 3–21).

Migration Patterns 1, 2 and 3 refer to Chinese migration as “the departure from Chinese soil for the purpose of living and working abroad” with the likelihood of settlement, whether or not these Chinese intended to do so from the start (Wang G.W. 1991, 3–4). All the ancestors of the BGH came from China to the Malay Peninsula80 under the huashang (trader), huagong (coolie) or huaqiao (sojourner) patterns and the BGH emigration from Malaysia corresponded to Wang Gungwu’s fourth migration pattern of ‘The Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi (Chinese Descent or Re-migrant)’. Wang also tracked migrant cycles through ‘memories and desire’ to arrive at these cycles (2007, 14–17) of Chinese migration. Where Chinese migration is concerned, the mid-1950s to the late 1960s became a turning point for most overseas Chinese. The Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, the abortive coup in Indonesia and the disappointment at the failure of the Bandung Conference,81 together with the

80 We cannot speak of Hakka migration to Malaya without looking at the bigger picture of the migration of the overseas Chinese. For an overview of the history and the study of overseas Chinese, see Wang G.W. (1991), Hsu and Serrie (eds.) (1998), Rae and Witzel (2008), Sinn (ed.) (1998), Tan, Colin, and Zimmermann (eds.) (2007). 81 See Wright (2009 [1956]) for an overview of the Bandung Conference. Wright chronicled the conference held on 18–25 April, 1955 that was attended by leaders of 29 African and 102 Chapter 3 friendlier immigration policies of the USA, Canada and Australia precipitated this development. The volume on Wang Gungwu’s life and work, edited by Gregor Benton and Hong Liu (2004) gives us a sense of the process of overseas Chinese migration and its changing status, which is still evolving. The Hakka migration also follows these patterns.

5.3 The Gansu Theory—An Alternative Model Migration specialists studying the origin of Chinese civilization all agree that the Chinese, starting with the Shang dynasty occupied an area that is known as Zhongyuan (中原 Central Plain)—the triangular area bounded roughly by present day Xian, Beijing and Nanjing.82 Zhongyuan proper covers modern-day Henan, the southern part of Hebei, the southern part of Shanxi, and the western part of Shandong province. If we accept Luo Xianglin’s five-wave theory of Hakka migration, it means that the first wave started in the Jin Dynasty. It also means that the Hakka were already living in the Central Plain prior to their migration. It is therefore not surprising that most writings on the Hakka mention that they came from Henan and some mention that they are from “Shandong and to a slight extent Shanxi and Anhui” (Ball 1926, 281). Thus, they came from the north and northeast to the south like all the others who claim Chinese ancestry and this would make the Hakka northerners before migrating south. I would like to propose another theory for Hakka migration, namely the Gansu Theory. I came to this speculation by tracing the clan emblems (tanghao 堂號) of the Liao 廖 clan. The clan emblem is the insignia (usually made up of two Chinese characters) that denotes a clan’s origin. The same surname clan can have different clan emblems. Clan emblems were used more commonly in the past, in order for people to trace their roots. It can represent an important event in their clan history, or it can be the birthplace of famous ancestors (Liu Y. P. 2008). For example, the clan emblem for the Liao clan includes 汝南 runan (‘you’ south), 鉅鹿 julu (great deer), 武威 [郡號] (Wuwei—a Commandery emblem), 清武 Qingwu, 崇遠 (chongyuan esteemed future), 垂裕 (chuiyu laden with abundance), and 承祐 (chengyu carrying blessing).83 The Wuwei clan emblem in the above-mentioned Liao genealogical register appeared in the eightieth generation in the time of the Honorable Guangjing,

Asian nations to consider how they could help one another in achieving social and economic well-being for their large and impoverished populations. China’s participation, represented by Chou En-lai, is analyzed by Chen Jian (2009). 82 For discussions on the origin of Chinese civilization, see Chang C.K. (1983), Gernet (1983), and Ebrey (1996). 83 See http://home.dar.com.tw/wendu-7.html (Retrieved on 22nd May, 2011.) Migration Models 103 third son of the Honorable Lanzhi 蘭芝公 who was enfeoffed with the Wuwei Commandery. The Honorable Guangjing inherited the Wuwei clan emblem and his descendants continued to use the Wuwei clan emblem (Liao De, ed., 1979: 6. 說 1). All the Hakka households in Beruas with the surname Liao 廖 has the Wuwei clan emblem, written in huge characters on red paper or embroidered on red cloth and framed so that it sits right above the front door of the house. It is interesting to note that the Liao lineage in Taiwan and that in Beruas share the same Wuwei clan emblem. All the Liao households in Beruas can trace their ancestors back to the village of Luzhutian 蘆竹田 in Dongguang, Guangdong. Tombstones of members of the Liao clan in the Beruas cemetery show their ancestral place as Luzhutian because it is etched clearly on them. However, I have not heard any family in Beruas claim kinship to anyone in Taiwan. In theory, if we accept that clan emblems give identity to a clan, it means that the Taiwan and Beruas lineages are descendants from the Honorable Guangjing. Present day Wuwei is located in the east of the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, which historically is the only route from central China to western China and the rest of Central Asia.84 The geographical dictionary compiled by G. Playfair has three historical listings for Wuwei. They are as follows:

(1) A county (縣 xian) forming the prefecture city of Liangzhou, Gansu; Lat. 37° 59’, Long. 102° 48’; in the Han, Qin, Northern Wei and Sui, it was called Wuwei Commandery (武威郡 wuweijun).85 (2) (Obsolete) in Han as county, north of Zhen-fan 鎭番 (Qin fan) county, Gansu. (3) i. Zhen-fan is a county in Liangzhou fu, Gansu; Lat. 38° 35’, Long. 103° 08’; Eastern Han, it was called Wuwei; ii. Yungchang 永昌 is a county in Liangzhou fu, Gansu; Lat. 38° 20’, Long. 102° 10’; in the Han, it was situated in Wuwei Commandery (1910, 526 No. 7099).

84 For information on the present day city of Wuwei, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Wuwei, Gansu and http://www.gansu.gov.cn/en/City.asp?CityId=12 (Retrieved on 17th October, 2011). 85 A jun or Commandery is a territorial division and it varied under different dynasties from almost a province to a prefecture. As a general rule it may be taken to correspond pretty nearly to the prefecture of the present day. The word jun is still used in literary language as a synonym for fu 府 (Playfair 1910, viii). I translate jun as Commandery for this study. 104 Chapter 3

Figure 3 The clan emblem Wuwei 武威 of the Liao clan in Beruas, displayed above the front door. Taken by author, 2009.

Wuwei existed as the place name of a County/Prefecture/Commandery in the Han, right up to the Sui. It was said that that during “the time of the Han Emperor Wu, Wuwei was the name of a Commandery in Gansu province Wuwei County” 漢武帝時郡名, 即甘肅省武威縣地. If we accept the clan emblem as an indication of where the ancestors of the Chinese might have originated, it is conceivable that the Liao ancestors originated from Wuwei in Gansu, which is outside of the Zhongyuan triangle and a route that starts from the northwest of China, where the ‘Barbarians’ flourished. This brings a whole new perspective on the migration and cultural history of the Hakka. This theory is not just pure speculation. It is partially supported by DNA studies. By studying Chinese non-recombinant Y-chromosome (NRY) phylogeny and haplogroup distribution, Deng Wei and his team hypothesized that some Chinese might have also migrated down from the Gansu corridor (2004, 345, Fig. 4). Is there any connection between the Hakka and the ‘Barbarians’? If we accept that the proto-Hakka also took part in the southward migration, there is room for such a view, especially after the Great Wall was completed between Migration Models 105

(220–206 BCE).86 Could it be that the Hakka ‘predisposition’ to migrate is a vestige of nomadic tradition? The only way to prove or refute the assumption that the Hakka may be remotely related to the northern tribes is to take DNA samples from archaeological remains and compare it to present day Hakka samples.87 One method is the use of mitochondrial haplogroup analysis. Each mitochondrial haplogroup is defined by a set of characteristic mutations on the mitochondrial genome, and can be traced along a person's maternal line to a specific prehistoric woman. Bryan Sykes (2001) analyzed ancient DNA and he was able to genetically link modern humans to prehistoric ancestors to study human evolution. He also used developments of mitochondrial genetics to trace back human migrations. There have been many studies using mitochondrial DNA of the Chinese population as well as the Hakka (see Chapter 5 for Hakka genetic debate) but no one has used it to determine whether there is a historical connection between the Hakka and the northern tribes. I would like to stress that using DNA material to prove or disprove Hakka connection to northern tribes does not give the Hakka their identity. At best it can show us the ‘historical lineage’ and place of origin but it does not give them their identity because identity is as much a social and cultural construct as it is genetic. The Gansu theory of Chinese migration obviously requires a lot more research and study. In short, by nature of evolution and migration, Hakka like the rest of the dialect groups have migrated south and any place north of the Hakka heartland could be the starting point of their migration. They could be from the north of Henan, Henan itself, north-east of Shandong or northeast of Gansu. It is possible that these are all correct scenarios for Hakka migration but what needs to be refined is the temporal issue, simply because Chinese history is long.

86 Kiang is the first to point out that the Hakka might be related to the Xiongnu (Kiang 1991, 9). His argument that the Hakka are related to the Ainu, Korean or Japanese has no basis and his analysis of the Hakka language being Altaic contradicts recent researches. 87 For archaeology on the Xiongnu, see Bemmann (ed.) (2009), Miller et al. (2008), and Jones and Joseph (2008). There are enough archaeological DNA materials of the northern tribes that could be used for such a study. 106 Chapter 3

6 The New Chinese Migration Model

Moving away from the traditional migrational destinations of Southeast Asia, new patterns have also emerged in the last few decades. Huang Jing notes that migration of Hakka from Meizhou, China (a Hakka stronghold) after WWII took on two different trends. He found that “compared with the emigration pattern before 1945, the post-1989 trend exhibits new characteristics.” Firstly, most of the new Hakka emigrants settled in the United States, Canada and Australia rather than the traditional destination countries of Southeast Asia. Secondly, unlike the past, more female Hakka than male Hakka can be found among the emigrants, as “international marriages become common” (Huang J. 1998, 475). Wang Gungwu’s first three migration patterns of the Chinese still have a place in the studies of the history of Chinese migration and his 4th pattern (Descent or Re-migrant) is still taking place in the twenty-first century. After the 1950s and 1960s, following Wang’s pattern, there are also new patterns of Chinese migration that have emerged as responses to globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization. The Hakka also contributed to the new patterns that have emerged.

6.1 Re-emigration of Wang’s 4th pattern (Descent or Re-Migrant) After a few years, some of the re-migrants of Wang Gungwu’s 4th pattern decided to move again. These included global Hakka who re-emigrated to a second host-country where they had to redefine their Hakka identity (again). For example, one of the BGH first emigrated to New Zealand in 1987 and in 2006 she re-emigrated with her husband to Australia to join her other two siblings. In a globalized and deterritorialized world where modern communications and technological advancement facilitates such moves, it is a trend that will continue. There is nothing to stop this BGH from re-emigrating again from Australia to another country if a good job offer comes along.

6.2 Destination Africa It is interesting to note that in the last two decades, the old favorite destinations, such as Southeast Asia, the Americas and Europe have given way to a new star—Africa. China’s rapid rise to economic power in Africa has resulted in the use of state-linked Multinational Corporations (MNC) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) to encourage investment in African countries. The Chinese government is also generating publicity to encourage migration to Africa by highlighting the opportunities available in Africa for Chinese businesses. With provincial and local officials taking the lead, local State-owned Migration Models 107

Enterprises (SOE), small businesses and even laborers are seeing opportunities and going to Africa. These trends have brought hundreds of thousands of Chinese to work and some to settle in African countries in the last two decades (Alden 2007, 85). According to Park Yoon Jung, “Modern China-Africa migrations have their roots in Chinese international policy under former Chairman Mao Zedong in the late 1950s. During this period, China’s Africa policy was purely political; it fostered anti-colonial and post-colonial solidarity with newly independent African countries, most of which now recognize the People’s Republic of China” (2009, 2). The modern-day migration is not unlike past Chinese migration, in which “independent migrants travel to Africa via informal social networks of friends, family, fellow villagers/townspeople, and other interpersonal connections (ibid., 6) . . . [These] modern-sojourners want to make a profit in Africa and return, successful, to their home villages and towns . . . Often young men who have spent a few years in Africa will go to China to find wives. Many young people send their Africa-born children back to China to be raised by grandparents or other family members so that they can attend Chinese schools and learn to ‘be Chinese’ ” (ibid., 9). There is no difference from the Chinese sojourners of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in other parts of the world. However, as before, more and more Chinese, who have set up businesses, formed friendships or have romantic links with the locals, are putting down roots and calling Africa home. With so many Chinese arriving and some staying, it will no doubt affect the social fabric as well as the economic and political processes. Chris Alden (2007) and Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong (2008) analyzed China’s increasing economic role in Africa and how this new phenomenon has impacted the African continent—socially, economically and politically. It has also prompted African states to start putting new immigration policies in place. These new immigration policies are needed because of the lack of follow-through by Chinese authorities to keep tabs on their workers. On top of that, China is giving aid to Africa in the form of infrastructure, communications development and mining ventures, and this is linked to migration because China usually sends its own people over to oversee these projects. Chinese migration to Africa is part and parcel of the package that goes with Chinese aid.88 This led to a further influx of thousands of Chinese nationals in other sectors (to support the ‘aid-workers’), who hoped for a share of the new cake. It is interesting to note that this flow of migration is one-way. The headline in a report by the The

88 For a list of all the aid projects that the Chinese are involved in Africa, see Alden (2007, 102–103). 108 Chapter 3

Christian Science Monitor says it all: “China welcomes growing African trade, but not the Africans who facilitate it” (Law, 2010). It will be interesting to see how this Chinese-African relationship develops in the next decade given that it is happening so fast and on such a large scale. A recent encounter with a Somali man in a train station in Munich further tweaked my interest on Chinese aid to Africa because the man seemed very happy to get into a conversation. He has lived for more than ten years in Germany and was married to a German woman for a time but because of “cultural differences” (he said) they are divorced and he is now married to a Somali woman. He is building his house in Somalia and visits every year “for business”. What was interesting in the conversation was that he kept saying how wonderful the Chinese government is and what great things they are doing for Somalia. After a while, it dawned on me that he thought I was a Chinese national and that he was praising the Chinese government for my benefit or trying to show camaraderie. I told him politely that I am not from China and that I am an overseas Chinese living in Germany. Thus, I have very little to do with present day China. That did not prevent him from rhapsodizing on how the Chinese government was helping his country and why Western aid was bad for Somalia. Eventually, I asked him what the deal was with China. What natural resources did China exchange for their aid? Is there a transfer of skills and technology? What will happen to their local and indigenous industries if they are importing everything from China? What is the difference between their former colonization and this present dependence on China? I am sure he thought I was from the CIA. He did not say goodbye when his train came. Kingsley Moghalu’s recent book entitled Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s ‘Last Frontier’ Can Prosper and Matter (2014) sums up the hope of economists and capitalists alike. The race to ‘pioneer’ Africa is on and globalization, transnationalization, and deterritorialization will no doubt speed up the process. International focus on Africa as an emerging economy and China’s increasing presence on the African continent has finally woken up the Americans. To catch up, President Barack Obama initiated the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in August 2014 to develop ties with Africa. More than forty African heads of state gathered in Washington for the meeting. US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed that America has “much greater ability to be able to train workers, to provide workers with ongoing skills and a longer-term employment capacity, which is very different from what other countries and other companies do”—an obvious swipe at China.89

89 A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview conducted on 5th August, 2014. See http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28668796 (Accessed on 6th August, 2014.) Migration Models 109

Observers asserted that Chinese investment in Africa is not favorable to Africa because they use Chinese labor and there is no technology transfer. The sheer number of Chinese in Africa will definitely produce a different kind of Chineseness adapted to suit the African social landscape. It would be an interesting exercise to track Chinese immigrants in Africa and see how their Chinese identity changes and compare them with older migration patterns and models. The genetic, cultural and economic exchanges have and will further produce interesting and dramatic social scenarios. Hakka success in Africa has in part been documented by the Taiwanese Hakka Affairs Council. In its 4th volume, which documents successful Hakka in Europe and Africa, it listed seven Hakka who had settled in Africa and how they had contributed to the African economy (ed. You 2013). The Hakka identity of these Hakka has no doubt gone through or is going through another remaking.

6.3 The Reverse Huayi (Chinese-Descent) Sojourners Chinese migration has taken another direction. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, China was treated like the ‘poor and sick nation of Asia’ that used to be the ‘sending-country’ of migrant populations. These migrants were seen and despised as poor coolies, indentured laborers or petty traders, who were called huaqiao—Chinese sojourners, who hoped to make their fortune during their stint away from China. Now we have a reverse situation in the twenty-first century, in which overseas Chinese are ‘sojourning’ in China and I call this modern sojourning process ‘reverse-huayi sojourning’. These ‘reverse- huayi sojourners’ or overseas sojourners are in China for a short stint to ‘make their fortune’ so that they can return to their natal-country with their wealth, hence ‘reverse’ in relation to their forebears. Compared to the sojourners out of China of their forefathers’ generations, this group is made up of global players mostly in big business, employees of multinationals or adventurous entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in China. As China offers more and more economic opportunities, Chinese descendants born outside of China find sojourning in China an interesting option. A recent study of first-generation American-born Chinese, who are now adopting China as their work place, was conducted by Li Jinzhao at the Center for Diaspora Studies at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.90 According to this report, 1.2 million American Chinese are said to be working in China. It reported that these American Chinese have to deal with their racial identity as Asian American in America and they also face discrimination on Mainland

90 To see the documentary on this research, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Llkj5 8ujY&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3BEO3Ggxg&feature=re lated (Retrieved on 21st January, 2012). 110 Chapter 3

China, where they now have to deal with their cultural identity. They are faced with questions such as: How authentic am I as a Chinese? Apparently, identity for these Asian Americans is divided into two issues:

(1) They have a national identity as Asian American, in which their passport identifies them. Their politics and lifestyle, ways of thinking and mode of expression also separates them from the mainland Chinese. (2) They also have a cultural identity, where they share ancestral identity, social norms and language with their mainland Chinese cousins.

Very often, many of these qualities clash with one another. One example of discrimination that the American Chinese face is that when Mainlanders want to learn English, they prefer to have a Caucasian to teach them instead of one who looks like them, even though if they put them behind a screen they are unable to tell any difference from a Caucasian in the way they talk. Many of these modern sojourners to China regret not having paid more attention in the Mandarin classes that their parents sent them to when they were children. In China, they have to negotiate and navigate their identities in a way that is acceptable to the Mainlanders and themselves. Regardless of the treatment they receive from the Mainlanders, these American Chinese said China is where they want to be for the time being. Beruas contributed one such huayi sojourner to China. At the time of the interview, this BGH worked for a multinational and has been based in Shanghai for many years. His plan was to retire (after making his fortune) to Malaysia, where he was “going to buy a condominium in Penang; commute to Kuala Lumpur; and visit Beruas in between.” As my interviews with global Hakka from Malaysia show, there are a large number of Malaysians temporarily working and residing in China. Many of them belong to the Malaysian Association in the People’s Republic of China (MAPROC), based in Shanghai. The president of the association is a Hakka named Lai Kin Yin. He and his wife have homes in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur and they commute between the two cities. During an interview, Mr. Lai said that the Malaysians in Shanghai gather together to celebrate Chinese New Year and Malaysia Independence Day. They also meet casually to network and discuss business at ‘makam-encounters’ (meeting for food) and Hakka food was included.91 They are now generally known as

91 Interview conducted 11th September, 2010. See also http://www.maproc.org/maproc/ presidentspeech.htm for objectives and other activities of the Association. Apart from that, there are also many chapters of the Malaysian Chambers of Commerce (MAYCHAM) in China. Migration Models 111

Malaysian expatriates. These reverse-huayi sojourners have no intention of living in China permanently. It can also be said that these reverse migrations have created another form of transnationalism. Both mainland and overseas Chinese are cultivating qiaoxiang ties, or links with the ancestral home. Recent researches have revealed many case studies of the way in which overseas Chinese entrepreneurs brought their business ventures into South China after the implementation of the open- door policy in the late 1970s (Douw, 1999, 22–44).92 In 2007, The Federation of Hopo (Hepo) [Hakka] Association Malaysia organized the First World Hepo Community Convention in Kuala Lumpur entitled “Promoting Trade, Tourism and Cultural Exchanges Through Networking”. Its objectives were to open up new opportunities for businesses through networking in trade, tourism and cultural exchanges, where Hepo businessmen and entrepreneurs could take advantage of the economic improvement to strengthen and deepen existing links—including qioaxiang ties.93 Similarly, the Federated Malaysian Jiaying [Hakka] Association held the First World Ka Yin [Jiaying] Convention in Kuala Lumpur in 2010.94 A recent study on how Singaporeans are rebuilding their ancestral villages shows that Singaporeans are cultivating these qiaoxiang ties to maintain links to their heritage, which entails movement of people, trade, tourism and skills between Singapore and China (Kuah-Pearce, 2011). In view of the new trend of population dispersal, the word sojourner, which originally meant Chinese leaving China, now has to be redefined with regard to the new migration patterns that are emerging.

6.4 Re-Immigration to Natal-Country Another pattern that is a direct response to the changing economic situation generated by globalization and deterritorialism is the ‘re-immigration’ of the ‘huayi re-migrant’ back to their natal-country. This is the model whereby, immigrants who have lived for two or three decades in their host-countries decide to immigrate back to their natal-countries. These ‘re-immigrants’ who moved back to their natal-country are the same people in Wang Gungwu’s re-migrant pattern. For example, one Hakka family who emigrated to Canada from Malaysia in the 1980s has recently moved back to Malaysia because the father was offered a better job in Kuala Lumpur. The award-winning Hakka

92 For another discussion on how Chinese identity is being used as a tool for establishing ties between China and the overseas Chinese trade and finance, see Ong A.H. (1999: 7). See also http://www.1malaysia.com.my/zh/speeches/1st-world-hopo-community-convention/. 93 See http://www.1malaysia.com.my/zh/speeches/1st-world-hopo-community-convention/. 94 For a report of the proceedings, see Federation of Malaysian Ka Yin Associations (2010 c). 112 Chapter 3 photographer, Mr. Jim Liaw, decided to return (re-immigrate to Malaysia) from Ireland because he wanted his son “to grow up in a Chinese environment and to speak the Hakka language”.95 Stories of Chinese nationals who emigrated to the West and have also returned to China to take up new opportunities can be found in many business reports. For example, a restaurant owner in Rome was overheard talking of “going back to China” to open an Italian restaurant. Mainland Chinese students completing their studies have also opted to return to China.96 There are also those who are ‘semi-re-immigrating’ back to Malaysia. One BGH, who is based in the United States has bought land in Beruas and intends to live part of the year there. They moved to the United States initially because of the economic opportunities and the discriminatory politics in Malaysia. Now that they have made their fortune, they intend to return to their natal- country for part of the year to enjoy their wealth. Unlike their forefathers, with the improvement of travel and telecommunications, the huayi sojourners are able to keep one foot in their host-country and the other in their natal-country.

6.5 Students as Quasi-Migrants Another type of migration that is getting more common, especially among the Malaysians, is that of the quasi-student migrant. Student migrants are variously regarded as guests, strangers or interlopers. They are rarely perceived as future citizens in their everyday encounters with host nationals. Ravinder Sidhu quotes Lasanowski (2009, 32) as saying that “visa schemes and immigration procedures are playing an increasingly important role in the overseas student decision-making process, which offers the two-step immigration in countries such as Australia and New Zealand . . . policies that make it easier for graduates of their universities to obtain permanent residency” (2011, 9). This has been happening with Malaysian students who went overseas for their education from the 1960s to 1980s. For many Chinese students from Malaysia in foreign universities, the choice to remain in the country after graduation was fuelled by the NEP (New Economic Policy) which discriminated against them obtaining jobs and having a meritorious career.97 Many of those who graduated from the universities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA opted to stay instead of returning home. They were granted permanent

95 Personal interview conducted in 2010. 96 For a report of such moves, See http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/03/ content_10054558.htm (26th August, 2012). 97 For comments on how racist policies in Malaysia are preventing Chinese and Indians students from returning home after they finish their studies, see Mallot (2011). Migration Models 113 residence as soon as they found a job and later upgraded to become citizens.98 In some cases, children, as soon as they were old enough to leave home, were sent overseas for education with the intention that they stay on. These children are also known as ‘parachute kids’ (Ong A.W., 1999, 127). Parents of Chinese and Indian overseas students from Malaysia will tell you unabashedly that they want their children to remain where they are after their graduation. Once they obtain their residency, these parents either join them or spend part of the year with them. This model is especially popular with the Malaysian Chinese because of the racist and political environment and many Hakka students are also part of this trend, which of course affects their and their children’s Hakka identity.

6.6 Astronauts and Airplane Jumpers A family might apply for permanent residence in a chosen country (for Malaysians and Singaporeans it is usually Australia or New Zealand because of their proximity). After their application has been successful, the family will move their domicile there but the father may choose to stay on working in their natal-country or continue doing business there. The wife and children will settle down to earn their right to residence while the father shuttles between his new residence and his work in his old home-country. In Hong Kong, these fathers were known as ‘astronauts’ because they spent so much time in the air (Ong A.W., 1999: 127). It is interesting to compare this method to that of the ‘paper families’ of America.99 The father brought over his ‘paper family’ after he had obtained his residency whereas in the modern method, the father moves his wife and children over to the host-country first to start the process of fulfilling the usual requirement of two years continuous stay, while he continues to work at his job in the old country. I have yet to read a study on a type of quasi-migration, similar to sojourning, called ‘jumping off airplane’ (tiao feiji 跳飛機). This was a common kind of temporary migration in the mid-1980s and 1990s. Young able-bodied men and women from Malaysia were ‘jumping off planes’ in the UK, the USA and Japan. Most already had friends or relatives over there (cf. chain migration) while others paid huge fees to agents to get them over and find them jobs. They left their families behind or in some cases, when couples jumped together to

98 For studies of student migration trends, trajectories and rights, see Sidhu and Huang (2011) and Zweig and Chen (2006) on China’s brain drain to the United States. 99 See Lau (2007) on how the Chinese overcame the US Chinese exclusion laws enforced from 1882 to 1943, by creating paper families so that they can bring over friends, relatives or total strangers from China. 114 Chapter 3 take their chances they left their children with their parents or relatives. They became part of the floating illegal migrants, working in sweat-shops or doing the ‘dirty jobs’ in restaurants and other places. The principle is similar to the early huagong (coolies) sojourners. They intended to earn as much money as they could in the few years they planned to stay. Most of them returned after they thought they had saved enough for them to start a business, build a house or buy some land when they returned to Malaysia. I met a few of these airplane-jumpers, who spoke with pain of the hard and bitter time they had endured. A Hakka woman, who landed in Japan, told me that she ate instant noodles most of the time in order to save money. She remembered that the cold was unbearable in the factory where she worked. After her return, she started a small business and was also able to send her children to university. Another male Hakka informant said that he ‘jumped’ in the UK and ended up working in the kitchen of a restaurant in London. All he remembered of the four years he spent in London was working in the kitchen day in and day out. The only free day he had every week he said he spent sleeping. What is interesting to note is that these so-called ‘jumpers’ are not from poor families. They would have done moderately well if they had remained in Malaysia but they did it because it was also considered to be an adventure of ‘life and spirit’. The Hakka have a saying for such an adventure: DG Hk. chut hi phau yit phau—meaning to take a chance at getting rich and if you do not make it, at least you will be wiser. Both men and women did it. Some jumped alone and others as a couple. Or one partner preceded the other. They are the real modern-day sojourners. Another jumper that I know was able to upgrade his status through his many connections. Eventually, he got his PR and opened his own restaurant. Then he moved his whole family over. Jumping-plane has ceased now as immigration tightens. To get into America to work illegally was almost impossible especially after the 9/11 terrorist attack. There has hardly been any writing about this group of temporary migrants because they were illegal and it would be hard to get them to talk. So, we may have missed the opportunity to study these migrants in situ but their history is still waiting to be written. Being safely home or naturalized in their country of choice, they might open up to tell us their stories. I am not sure how prevalent this phenomenon was among the other dialect groups but all the cases that I have encountered are from the two predominately Hakka towns of Beruas and Pusing. It was the same chain migration pattern that they followed: after the first ones had ‘settled’ down to their jobs, they brought their friends and relatives over to join them. Instead of indenture, these modern sojourners used either their own savings or were helped Migration Models 115 by family members with the airfares. What makes it easier is that hopping on a plane on a tourist visa is an easy affair. They went to visit friends or ‘relatives’ and just disappeared from the immigration radar for two or three years. By this time, they had earned and saved enough English pounds, American dollars or Japanese yen that converted to huge sums in Malaysia. The move away from the classical migration/immigration models to new and still developing forms indicates that patterns of migration and immigration have changed tremendously and are still changing. Hakka migration, an important element of Hakka identity, is yet to be historicized and theorized properly. Migration, as a Hakka cultural marker, contributes to the formation and reformation of identity and as such, it has serious consequences for Hakka identity, regardless of whether it is transnational or internal. All these new migration models are no doubt fuelled by globalization, deterritorialism and transnationalism, and there is no sign that it will stop here. Newer and more creative modes of migration will emerge as long as people have the urge to migrate for whatever reason. In this day and age, regardless of which migration model, the Hakka are part of it. It is this constant moving that contributed to the shaping and reshaping of the Hakka identity. Thus, migration must be seen as a Hakka cultural marker because it has persisted and contributed to the shaping and remaking of their Hakka identity today. What is Hakka identity and why and how is it being transformed and reformed all the time? To answer these questions, it might be helpful to look at how Hakka identity relates or does not relate to concepts such as ethnicity, Han, Chineseness and overseas Chinese. Chapter 4 Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese

1 The Problem with Hakka Ethnicity

Judging by the frequency with which ethnicity is used in the globalized context nowadays, one would think that it has always been in our vocabulary. In the introduction to Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan state that ethnicity is a recent term (1975, 1). This is true but it is not quite correct to say that it was first used by David Riesman in 1953. William Warner and Paul Lunt first used the term in 1942 when they said, “For the purpose we shall look upon ethnicity as one of the several characteristics which modify the social system and are modified by it . . . Ethnicity may be evaluated almost entirely upon a biological basis or upon purely social characteristics” (1942, 73). What is surprising is that the term only made its first appearance in the Supplement of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972. Since then ethnicity has become a much studied topic. In his study of geopolitics and identity, Allen Chun concluded that recent literature has raised salient questions about the relevance of ethnicity in identity studies. Despite its frequent appearances, there is a clear emphasis for the need to problematize its underlying processes. He adds that the “continued misuse of ethnicity points to perhaps an even wider gap in our understanding of these processes themselves and their underlying frameworks of power” (2009, 19). The term ethnicity is definitely a problem for Hakka studies in the twenty-first century. In the same volume, edited by Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, Orlando Patterson defines ethnicity as “that condition wherein certain members of a society, in a given social context, chose to emphasize as their most meaningful basis of primary, extra-familial identity certain assumed cultural, national, or somatic traits” (1975, 308). Five years later, in 1980 Patterson notes the confusion that the term has created and he sees the need to further clarify what ethnicity means and what it does not mean or cannot mean. He says, “I want to clarify the relationship, if any, between language and ethnicity, from the viewpoint of a sociologist who views language as a component of culture and not of a linguist or sociolinguist whose primary focus is language itself; and I want to consider how it is that bidialectism or bilingualism can be either a creative process or an impediment, the circumstances under which

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004300279_006 Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 117 one or the other is likely, the way in which ethnicity relates to the outcome” (1980, 62).100 Patterson’s ethnicity has three aspects and they are:

(1) A belief dimension—the element of consciousness or primary focus; (2) A group dimension—the group with which one identifies on the basis of this criterion; and (3) An ideological component—a commitment to the idea of ethnicity itself (1980, 62).

He also emphasized that “shared culture does not necessarily produce an ethnic group . . . [and] the culture group is not an ethnic group” (ibid., 63). Hakka in the twentieth century is a case in point. If we use Patterson’s definition of ethnicity, Hakka in the twenty-first century only satisfy two of the three criteria i.e. the Hakka believe they have distinctive social characteristics that set them apart from the other Chinese dialect groups and they are a group based on cultural markers. However, Hakka in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries do not have “an ideological component—a commitment to the idea of ethnicity itself.” In this day and age, I do not think the Hakka want to think of themselves as an ‘ethnic group’ because they do not want to be separated from the ‘Chinese family’. The Chinese label is something that overseas Chinese still hold dear. However, it should not be mistaken for the ‘Mainland Chinese brand’, which is not the same as being an overseas Chinese (more discussion below). Being Chinese has currency and cultural capital in the twenty-first century but whether being Hakka is essential or not, is another question. Marcus Bank listed a collection of definitions and descriptions of the term ‘ethnicity’ (1996, 4–5). Many of these ‘classical’ definitions are difficult to apply to the Hakka case. By ‘classical’ I mean those definitions or descriptions given mostly by anthropologists in their writings from the 1940s to mid-eighties. Another problem is that these definitions are based on studies of non-Chinese societies. Some of these definitions might have been appropriate in describing Chinese ethnicity at some point in history but they are not specific enough. By the 1980s the term ethnicity is not so much a term ‘on the move’ as Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan describe it, but it is also a term ‘under fire’ (1975, 1). Forward to the last decade of the twentieth and first decade of the

100 For further discussion on biculturality in modern China and in Chinese studies, see also Huang P. (2000). 118 Chapter 4 twenty-first centuries, the problem with Chinese ethnicity is still unresolved as demonstrated by debates and discussions on identity and ethnicity; notably in two edited volumes: Ungrounded Empires edited by Ong Aihwa and Donald Nonini (1997) and Empire at the Margins, edited by Pamela Crossley, Helen Siu, and Donald Sutton (2006). The Hakka, though not discussed directly, were featured in the discussion of the She by Chan Wing-hoi (1997). So, where do the Hakka stand in the ethnicity debates? Nicole Constable found the general propositions and patterns regarding ethnicity by John and Jean Comaroff to be the most useful in describing Hakka ‘ethnicity’. Constable summarizes the views of the Comaroffs as such:

(1) Ethnicity is the product of historical processes but it is not primordial; (2) Ethnicity is not a unitary ‘thing’ but “it describes a set of relations and a mode of consciousness”; (3) Ethnicity originates in systems of political and economic inequality; and (4) Ethnicity “tends to take on the ‘natural’ appearance of an autonomous force, a ‘principle’ capable of determining the course of social life” (1996, 6).

Ellen Oxfeld in her study of the Hakka in Calcutta adds that “ethnic identity is not simply a matter of how a group chooses to define itself, but also a question of the identity that others ascribe to it . . . [Also,] the manner in which others view an ethnic group may play into the group’s self-perceptions in a variety of ways. Group members might incorporate, reject, invert, or ignore the images others have of them” (1996, 150). The proto-Hakka calling themselves kejia (Hakka) is a good example of them rejecting the derogatory implication of the term and ignoring the negative images that go with it. Patterson’s and the aforesaid definitions of ethnicity are problematic for Chinese dialect groups. Leong Sow-Theng, using Patterson’s definitions to differentiate Chinese culture and ethnic groups, notes that although “Cantonese, Hoklos and Hakkas are cultural groups, they may be ethnic groups only some of the time” (1997, 20). Culture groups, conscious or unconscious, share common culture or tradition and they become ethnic only when they are in competition with another culturally different group. Their shared markers are consciously chosen to promote solidarity and mobility, with a view to enhancing the group’s share of social resources or simply minimizing threats to their survival (Patterson 1975, 305). This was true on many occasions in the past when Hakka united against other dialect groups but what is seldom mentioned is that the Hakka have also fought among themselves. In his fine analysis of the origins of Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 119 the Chinese communist revolution in the countryside, Stephen Averill notes that any oppression suffered by Hakka peasants in the Hakka heartland “was almost certainly inflicted by other Hakka, whether landlords or lineages, not by bendi (earlier settlers)” (2006, 14). Yang Su, in his study on collective killings in rural China during the Cultural Revolution notes that the Hakka dominant villages suffered more killings in comparison to mixed villages (2011, 70). It also happens in the modern economic world. A Thai informant complained that Thai Hakka lose out to the Teochew in business because unlike the Teochew, they are not united enough. As we can see, the above definitions of ethnicity are based on Western social, historical, and cultural perspectives. The first in-depth work that tack- les the problems of ethnicity in the Chinese cultural context is a volume edited by Chen Chung-min, Chuang Ying-chang and Huang Shu-min. It deals predominately with ethnicity in Taiwan from Chinese social, historical, and cultural perspectives. They made a strong presentation of ‘semantic confusion’ and ‘methodological problems’ in the study of Chinese ethnicity (1994, 4–14). Chen, Chuang and Huang argue that Chinese ethnicity is constructed based on three major criteria: (1) patrilineality, (2) locality, and (3) language. They explained that patrilineality means that ethnicity is agnatic i.e. inherited from the father, regardless of where the person is born. The legal term is jus sanguini (of blood). Hakka are strongly agnatic. Locality means that the sense of continuity and sameness through time and space, which is at the heart of any group identity that stems from a connection through ancestral cult, and with the place where a person’s ancestors used to live and were buried rather than from his or her own birthplace. Chen, Chuang, and Huang asserted that together with language, these principles became powerful distinctive features for group-making, group division and boundary maintenance in Chinese society (1994, 14–16). The description of ethnicity in the Chinese socio-cultural context as suggested by Chen, Chuang and Huang using patrilineality, locality and language is one step closer but it is still problematic for global Hakka in the twenty- first century. Pratrilineality, though strong in the Hakka tradition, is on the wane and the most serious malefactor is mixed-marriages. Hakka lineages are being diluted beyond repair. Furthermore, as my study shows, the Hakka language is in great danger of disappearing with the global Hakka. Most overseas Hakka have no context to exercise this aspect of their identity and the younger generations of global Hakka have lost their Hakka language heritage. Hakka, especially those born outside of China, have little or no connection with their ancestral place. Thus, even with a ‘Chinese’ model, we cannot speak of ‘Hakka ethnicity’ under these criteria. 120 Chapter 4

Cultural groups can exist alone e.g. as Chinese having a common cultural template like ancestor worship, Confucian ethics, and celebrating Chinese New Year and various other festivals. Ethnicity requires conflicts or competition for its maintenance. In the past, the Hakka-Punti War provided fuel for the strengthening and maintenance of Hakka ethnicity in China. This animosity was transported to Malaya (now Malaysia) and as far as California, where a war also erupted between members of the Hakka and the Punti Sam Yah Company. This conflict arose over mining claims, trading posts and gambling houses in 1856 (Barth 1969, 93–95). Similarly, in Taiwan conflicts and wars broke out between the Hakka and the Aborigines or with the Hoklo, who had settled earlier (Pasternak 1972, 138–140 and Lamley 1981). In Malaya, the Hakka-Punti War was manifested as the Hai San-Ghee Hin War. This war between the Hai San and the Ghee Hin was precipitated when tin was found in Perak. The Hai San Society was a secret society formed by the Cantonese in South China and brought over to Malaya. Between 1845 and 1860, the Hakka gained control of the society in Malaya and the Cantonese joined the Ghee Hin Society to take on the Hakka. They fought each other for control over possession of tin mines in the Larut district. The conflicts ended with the signing of the Chinese Engagement in 1871.101 As the social fabric and the economic environment of the Malayan Chinese changed, so did the relations of the different dialect groups. Politically, they were brought under the Chinese umbrella and they form an ethnic group in relation to the Malays and Indians who are competing with them for resources. So, can the Hakka be called an ethnic group in twenty-first century? In today’s Hakka communities, it is difficult to find ‘Hakka ethnicity’ as defined by terms used mostly by anthropologists writing from the 1940s to the mid- eighties as well as by Chen, Chuang and Huang using the Chinese model. Some of these definitions may have been appropriate in describing ‘Hakka ethnicity’ at some point in the history of Hakka migration when the Hakka were in conflict with the locals. However, by the 1980s the term ‘ethnicity’ was not so much an outdated term and ‘on the move’ but it was under question as well. If there was a Hakka ethnicity as described by these scholars in the later part of the nineteenth century, it had ceased to exist in the mid-twentieth century. Another reason why the term ‘Hakka ethnicity’ is problematic in this day and age is that recent studies of ethnicity are often associated with race and

101 These secrets societies continued to operate in one form or another until The Secret Societies Ordinance of 1889 outlawed them. For more discussion of the Hai San and Ghee Hin Societies’ activities in Malaya and Singapore, see Comber (1959) and Booth (1990, 65–70). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 121 nationalism102 and as such, it is difficult to apply to studies of the Hakka in the twenty-first century for the following reasons:

(1) The Hakka is not a separate race per se in the usual sense because they are clearly part of the Chinese race; (2) Aspirations of nationalism as used in anthropological, political or economic studies cannot be applied to the Hakka because there is no conscious effort to build a ‘nation’ or aspiration for autonomous rule; (3) Presently, Hakka migration covers the whole globe and as such, their loyalty and patriotism is spread all over the world and they owe no allegiance to any one nation; and (4) Except in Taiwan, they are not big enough as a special group to further any political ambition in their host-countries.

At this point, it is important to mention Taiwan as a special case for the study of ethnicity and national identity because the Hakka, being about fifteen percent of the population, have a significant role in these debates. The discussion of ethnicity and national identity in Taiwan started soon after martial law (1949–1987) was lifted. These discussions were often linked to democracy, state policies, and the need to establish Taiwanese nationalism vis a vis Mainland Chinese nationalism. Zhang Maogui was one of the earliest to study ethnic relationships and national identification in Taiwan (1993). Alan Wachman’s (1994) and Christopher Hughes (1997) works contributed to the discussions of Taiwan’s national identity, democratization process, and its status in the global arena.103 The volume, edited by Chen Chung-min, Chuang Ying-chang and Huang Shu-min, entitled Ethnicity in Taiwan Social, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives shows the diversity of these discussions. Subsequently, scholars who have expanded the study of Taiwanese ethnicity include Wang Fuchang (2003), Mellisa Brown (2004), etc. Despite these excellent works Evan Dawley points out some of the deficiencies in the scholarship of Taiwanese ethnicity and national identity. He said, “Future answers to the question of Taiwanese identity must examine more closely its historical origins, the way it has functioned and been defined at various moments in time, its past transformations, and its interactions with other identities, without taking the present political

102 For studies of race and ethnicity, see Smith (1987), Eriksen (1993), and Jenkins (1997). 103 See also Tu Wei-ming (1996) for the study of cultural identity and the politics of recognition in contemporary Taiwan. See also Hao (2004) for discussion on the politics of ethnicity. 122 Chapter 4 conundrum as the starting point” (2009, 452). The Hakka were swept along as part of these discussions. Taiwan is the only country in the world that has managed to have a Hakka- political agenda.104 The Hakka is one of the four ethnic groups i.e. the Hoklo (福佬 fulao), the Hakka (客家 kejia), the Mainlanders (外省人 waishengren) and the Aborigines (原住民 yuanzhumin), who are involved in Taiwan’s official discourse on multiculturalism (Damm 2011). In the 2004 Taiwanese Presidential Election, politicians brought ethnicity to the debate and tried to influence Hakka votes (Scott S. et al. 2004). However, the Hakka in Taiwan are not interested in creating a ‘Hakka nation’. They are more concerned with preserving their heritage and cultural image. Tanguy Le Pesant shows that Taiwanese born in the 1980s have a different perception of their ethnicity and cultural identity. He notes that in this new generation, the majority consider having an ethnic identity important, “but its meaning and salience have changed, leading to the necessity to redefine, a process that could be undertaken using the concept of ‘symbolic ethnicity’ ” (2011, 133). This ‘symbolic ethnicity’ is being transformed rather than erased and the changing meaning of ethnicity cannot be denied. In modern Malaysia, there is no need for ‘Chinese dialect ethnicity’. Hakka in Malaysia see themselves as a cultural group under the Chinese rubric. To use the term ‘Hakka ethnicity’ would imply too much difference and separate- ness from the other Malaysian Chinese. The Hakka are not competing with the other dialect groups in Malaysia for jobs and resources, in fact, they join together with the other dialect groups under the Chinese label to compete with the ethnic Malays and Indians. Hakka in Malaysia have no commitment to ‘ethnicity’ as such and they are not interested in any ‘ethnic Hakka’ political agenda. They would like to see the ‘Hakka brand’ propagated as a unique part of being Chinese and that Hakka culture is preserved and promoted in whatever form it evolves into in the next few decades. Hakka in Taiwan might have a political agenda but Hakka around the globe do not harbor nationalistic or political goals. Hence, given how Hakka identity has shifted, whether we use ethnological or societal, or western or eastern scholarly definitions of ethnicity, there is no such thing as Hakka ethnicity. The term ‘Hakka ethnicity’ has no place in Hakka studies in the twenty-first century and Hakka identity must be redefined in the global framework of transnational relations. Even as a cultural group, the Hakka are overshadowed by the Han and Chineseness nomenclatures. So,

104 See Martin (1996, 176–195) on the rise of the Hakka movement in Taiwan and their role in politics. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 123 before we look at what ‘Hakka identity’ is and was, and how it is been formed and transformed right into the twenty-first century, it seems appropriate to discuss the fundamentals of what being Han means and which Chineseness is considered ‘authentic’.

2 Who are the Ethnic Han?

China has fifty-six official ethnic groups; the Han being the majority and the other fifty-five making up the minority groups (少數民族 shaoshu minzu) (Mullaney 2009, 1 and Höllmann 2001). It is accepted that the Hakka is part of the Han Chinese group (漢族 hanzu) but before we can look at who the Hakka are, we need, first and foremost to establish who the ethnic Han are and how the Hakka fit into the Han-circle. Dru Gladney explains that the “notion of a Han person (漢人 hanren) dates back centuries and refers to descendants of the Han dynasty that flourished at about the time of the Roman Empire. But the concept of Han nationality (漢民族 hanminzu) is an entirely modern phenomenon that arose with the shift from the Chinese empire to the modern state” (1995, 2).105 In his earlier work, Gladney believes that the term ‘Han minzu’ does not mean native Chinese but is derived from the Japanese term minzoku for ‘people’ or ‘nation’. He added that it is a modern concept used by Sun Yat-sen as “a symbolic metaphorical opposition to the Manchu” to unite the different groups and communities to engender support for his nationalist movement (1996, 82–83). There has not been any concerted challenge to who the ethnic Han are until recently. The first attempt to put the autonym Han into perspective was represented by ethnographic studies of the term in a meeting entitled “Critical Han Studies Conference and Workshop,” held in Stanford in 2008. This conference brought together more than fifty scholars from eight countries in an attempt to find out what Han represents and to conceptualize a new interdisciplinary field of study, which was provisionally entitled ‘Critical Han Studies’ (Mullaney 2012, 3). It is interesting to note that Scott Writer presented a paper on Hakka identity entitled “A Reluctant Minority: Articulating the Hakka Collective in Republican China and Post-War Taiwan”, which examines representations of Hakka collective identity in Republican China and post-war Taiwan and their relationship to the overarching paradigms of history, nation and culture.

105 See also Mullaney (2011) on how the Chinese came to terms with the notion of China as a nation. 124 Chapter 4

The problematics of the Han concept were represented by the diverse themes presented at the conference. Mark Elliott argues convincingly that the term Han as an ethnonym emerged only in the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) and arrived at its modern meaning only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He states that the name “Han was a Hu proposi- tion . . . [and] the ethnic unity of the Chinese as seen in the adoption of Han to describe themselves is really more the product of repeated efforts to create and foster political unity than it is the source of that unity” (2012, 174). James Leibold, Patterson Giersch and other scholars have shown that the term Han is a mutable commodity that shifts with time and space. Leibold states that the term Han is “a dynamic and chameleon-like category . . . in a constant state of modification, with its boundaries and membership altering from one historical context to another . . . at the same time, the perception of who was Han or who could become Han was built on a set of inherited cultural practices and institutions, which while flexibly interpreted, were limited by social reality” (2012, 212). Eleven of the papers presented at the conference were subsequently published in a volume, entitled Critical Han Studies, edited by Thomas Mullaney, James Leibold, et al. This volume signifies a new approach to the question of the Han Chinese.106 According to Endymion Wilkinson, outsiders usually called the Chinese by the name of the ruling dynasty, that is, the people of the Han Dynasty were called ‘Hanren’ 漢人 and those in the Song ‘Songren’ 宋人, etc. The meaning of Han also changes with time. For example, during the Northern Dynasties (420–589), Han was usually used in a pejorative sense for the people of the Southern Dynasties as in terms such as hanjia (漢家 Han household), han’er (漢兒, Han child), hanzi (漢子 son of Han), zeihan (賊漢 thieving Han), gou- han (狗漢 Han dog), and so forth (2000, 751). Chen Shu notes that by the end of the Tang, hanren or han’er had lost their pejorative sense and hanzi was no longer used to describe the Han people (1986). As James Leibold notes, reformers like Liang Qichao (1873–1929) and others have expressed frustration over the level of confusion and ambiguity surrounding the autonym Han for the Chinese people and they “suggested that perhaps Huazu, a term that had never been associated with a single dynasty, was ‘the real name of our race,’ while the prominent Qing diplomat and intellectual Huang Zunxian [a Hakka who lived from 1848–1905] preferred the appellation Huaxia when speaking about China’s core ethnic and cultural element”

106 See http://www.hanstudies.org/Han_Schedule_Final.pdf (Retrieved on 8th June 2011). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 125

(2012, 215). It is accepted by most scholars that Han originated in the Han Dynasty and it is not to be confused by its use as a political or national identifier or ethnonym. Hence, Xu Jieshun’s comparison of the spread of ‘Han nationality’ to the snowball effect is problematic to say the least. Building on Fei Xiaotong’s snowball theory, Xu claims that Han nationality: “From a single dot to a line, and from a line to an entire area, [the Han minzu] rolled like a snowball fusing many other minzu as it coagulated and formed; like a snowball, it grew larger and larger and more dense and compact, producing the world’s most populous minzu” (cited from Leibold 2012, 211). I disagree with this argument and the idea that the process is couched in ‘harmonious differences’ (和而不同 he’er butong) (Xu 2012, 114). By calling it a ‘snowball effect’ composed of ‘harmonious differences’ implies that there was no resistance and variation in the process. This idea is similar to the belief that the Central Plain was the cradle of Chinese civilization which spread like an ink-spot. Such assumptions are problematic and they have been challenged by recent archaeological finds. Archaeologists have discovered several Neolithic centres dotted around present-day China. K.C. Chang stressed that the ‘insular model’ “in which the Three Dynasties are seen in sequential order as an island of civilization encircled by barbarous cultures—is inadequate. Instead, contemporary Sandai archaeology points to a parallel and interrelated development model for the origins of Chinese civilization, one that sees a number of civilized states throughout a large area of northern and central China and that views their formation as parallel, interrelated, and interactive” (1983, 512). Thomas Höllmann’s archaeological study of the Chu capital, Ying, south of the Yangtze, shows that the Chu civilization was at its peak in the eighth century BCE in the late-Zhou (1986). Hence, the development of the Chinese civilization and Han concept in history has to be reassessed. The history of how Han was used in Chinese history is clearly illustrated by authors in Critical Han Studies. For example, Kevin Carrico (2012) used the case of the Cantonese to illustrate the divide between the Northerners and the Southerners. Even as recently as the last thirty or forty years, the conflict of being Han persisted for the Cantonese. The problematics of the ‘snowball effect and harmonious differences” notion are further demonstrated by the volume entitled Empire at the Margins which focuses on nine case studies “on the relationship of those who considered themselves Han with those who share varying proportions of cultural identification with them or who outright distinguish themselves from the Han” (Crossley, Siu, and Sutton 2006, 7). To date, the discussions and debates show the confusion and ambiguity of the 126 Chapter 4 autonym Han for the Chinese people and the discussions and debates continue largely unresolved. These debates on the term Han for the Chinese people are mostly centered on Mainland China. The views of how the overseas Chinese relate to the term Han is still to be studied but it is obviously a different story. It is acceptable that the Han label has historical and uniting currency in China but the Han- sentiments did not make it across the water to Southeast Asia. Very few Chinese in Malaysia or Singapore refer to themselves as Han. As a second-generation- local-born or a third-generation Malaysian Chinese, I knew I was Chinese vis- à-vis the Malay or Indian but I never knew that I was a Han. I have learnt about the Han dynasty in history classes but the term Han used for Chinese people was not in my vocabulary until very much later in my life. We learnt from our grandparents that we are first and foremost Hakka and then Hk. tong ngin (tangren 唐人)—people from the Tang (Dynasty), as most Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore call themselves. Dru Gladney makes the same observation that “most of these southern groups traditionally regarded themselves not as Han but as Tang people, descendants of the great Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.) and its southern bases” (1995, 6). It is therefore, not surprising that Chinatowns all over the world are known as tangrenjie 唐人街 and not hanrenjie 漢人街.107 So, how do the Hakka relate to the Han autonym? As mentioned earlier, it was not so long ago that the Hakka were considered not to be of the Chinese racial stock. Despite the famous treatise written by Wen Zhonghe 溫仲和 (fl. 1894–1901), a Hakka Hanlin academician, in the 1898 edition of Jiaying Prefectural Gazetteer (Jiaying zhouzhi) that ‘proved’ that Hakka were Han Chinese, there were still ‘doubts’ in Chinese circles. In 1905, following the insult by the Cantonese which proclaimed that the Hakka were non-Han (Ching 1996, 56–59 and Christiansen 1998, 5), Hakka scholars and reformers united to form the Society for the Investigation of the Origin of the Hakka People to protest the insult. After the outcry, the offending phrase was removed and the Hakka were accepted as part of the Chinese Han majority (Zhou 2007, 89–90). The idea that the Hakka were not part of the Han Chinese family persisted despite Chinese ‘official’ acceptance. This time, it was perpetrated by a foreigner in an English textbook called Geography of the World, in which Roger Wolcott wrote that the Hakka were one of the many wild tribes and backward people. The Hakka responded by organizing the United Hakka Association to deal with the slur. Eventually, the book was taken out of circulation and

107 For a comprehensive study of the changing nature and social functions of Chinatowns in different countries around the world, see Wong B.P. and Tan C.B. (2013). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 127 the unsold stock destroyed. As late as 1945, the Encyclopaedia Britannica still carried the entry that the Hakka were of “doubtful” origin and they “may be related to the Burmese and Siamese.” Even in 1966, Howard Levy in his book on footbinding, still considered the Hakka to be non-Chinese living in China (1966, 53). However, the Hakka were not included as one of the fifty-five officially designated national minorities of China in the Ethnic Classification Project108 as “dialect ethnic classification is not the same as minority ethnic classification because the former deals with Han Chinese while the latter speaks of the non-Han Chinese” (Mullaney 2011, 35, 37, 130 & 144). It is interesting to note that the Hakka, according to Nicole Constable, used Christianity as “a means of empowerment, and of resistance, but unlike the Aborigines and the Miao, Christianity was not constructed by Hakka Christians in opposition to Han identity or culture. For them Christianity could be used and renegotiated in their continued claims to legitimate Han identity . . . the Hakka church also provided an important context in which Hakka Christians could express and claim the distinctiveness of Hakka identity and in so doing, continue to exert their Han identity” (1996, 159). A quick check on the Internet forums revealed many chauvinistic claims that the Hakka are ‘pure’ Han descendants. Leong Sow-Theng threw some cold water on these claims to Han ethnic descent purity when he summed up the debate as such: “Two millennia of Han Chinese colonization and assimilation of the older natives had produced a complex cultural landscape . . . Contributing significantly to this complexity was the adoption of Han names by the non-Han. None of the Han Chinese groups can claim the possession of a purely Han ancestry no matter what their ethnic rhetoric” (1985, 290). Tan Chee Beng adds that in actual fact, “there are no pure Chinese whether biologically or culturally. Even within a national society, the ‘pure Chinese’ are ‘pure’ (純 chun) only in the sense of being less accultured [sic]” (2004, 116). For example, Tan uses the Peranakan in Malaysia as an example: “[T]he non-Baba Hokkien Chinese considered themselves purer than the Baba whom they consider like Malays. But when they speak Hokkien (Minanhua) to the Taiwanese, the latter might find it a bit fan (not so Chinese, influenced by non-Chinese)” (ibid., 116). Similarly, Emma Teng, in her study of Chineseness in ‘mixed-race’ reminded us of the limitation of the use of Han as a category for describing

108 It is interesting to note that in one of the exercises of the Ethnic Classification Project (the 1953–1954 Yunnan Province Census), kejia was considered as one of the minzu entries and what is curious is that it has a population count of only two Hakka (Mullaney 2011, 35, 37, 130 and 144). For ethnic classification of the non-Han minority groups in contemporary China as a nation, see Mullaney (ibid.). 128 Chapter 4

Chineseness—“especially in transracial and transnational contexts beyond (and within) the geographic and political boundaries of the PRC” (2012, 72). She concluded that Han equals Chinese but Chinese does not equal Han. When we accept her interpretations, we can also argue that Hakka does not equal Han either. So, if the term Han is problematic as an ethnic label, how then, does a Hakka describe that quality of being Chinese, whether claimed, ascribed, appropriated or genetically acquired, in the twenty-first century? Chineseness?

3 Chineseness

The idea of being Chinese has become rather complicated and confusing from the last two decades of the twentieth century to the present. The various debates and discussions of the changing meaning of being Chinese have spawned two illuminating volumes on the subject. The first is Wang Gungwu’s volume of fifteen collected essays entitled The Chineseness of China: Selected Essays, which explores the perception of Chineseness in China, both in the past and in the present (1991b). The other important work that reflects on how Chineseness is perceived is entitled The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today, edited by Tu Wei-ming (1994). This volume, with contributions by leading scholars of Chinese society, explores the emergence of a cultural space that both encompasses and transcends the ethnic, territorial, linguistic, and religious boundaries that normally define Chineseness. Tu notes that even twenty years ago, the meaning of being Chinese was undergoing major transformations (1994, 10). The debates continued and generated other discussions that gave rise to another volume of collected essays entitled “Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan”, edited by Melissa Brown (1996), in which Ren Hai’s essay “Taiwan and the Impossibility of the Chinese” encapsulates the problem. This shift in the concept of being Chinese has been marching forward with astonishing speed and it is no doubt propelled by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, and the economic rise of China, which produced sinicizing forces that I call the ‘silent global Chinese colonization’. The gradual ‘silent global Chinese colonization’ in the last three decades is reflected in economies and households around the world. It is hard to find a country that does not have economic relations with China. A home without things ‘made in China’ is one that is self-sustaining or out of the influence of market forces. Perception of the Chinese as a social and economic force was gradually and sublimely introduced to the world at large via consumerism and cultural experiences. Words such as yin and yang, fengshui and qi, used to be Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 129 written in italics, are already part of the English nomenclature. Herein lies the problem. The non-Chinese world at large presently assumes that there is only one kind of Chineseness—that of Mainland China. The overseas Chinese have a very different notion of ‘being Chinese’ from that of the Mainland Chinese. David Wu, in his study of the construction of Chinese and non-Chinese identities states that for centuries “the meaning of being Chinese seemed simple and definite: a sense of belonging to a great civilization and performing properly according to the intellectual elite’s norm of conduct. This is what Wang Gungwu referred to as the Chinese ‘historical identity’ ” (1994, 165). The problematics of how being Chinese in this day and age have escalated is demonstrated by Wu in a case study of the ethnic minority Bai group 白族 Baizu, which reveals how official policies can influence the perception and interpretation of Chineseness in Bai culture so that they can justify a new identity (ibid., 166–171). Wu goes on to exemplify how Chineseness can be construed in the case of three brothers of Chinese descent in Papua New Guinea, who entered into mixed-marriages. The eldest was sent back to China to be educated and he married a Chinese wife. On their return to Papua New Guinea he and his family were considered ‘Hong Kong Chinese’. The second stayed behind and married a mixed-race woman. He looked no different from the Melanesians on the island but he was treated as an overseas Chinese when he visited China. The youngest, whose features show that he has Chinese ancestry, was considered a bun tong or ‘half-caste’ in Papua New Guinea (ibid., 174–175). Chineseness has always been in the center of the identity-debate in offspring of a Chinese man and a non-Chinese. An example is Han Suyin, whose Chineseness has always been a subject of debate. She is a good case study for the discussion on Chineseness in Eurasians because Han is half-Chinese (actually half-Hakka) as her mother is a Belgian. So genetically speaking, she is a mixed-race or Eurasian. However, throughout her five-volume autobiography, subtitled China, Autobiography, History (published 1965–85), she defines herself as Chinese because her father is Chinese and it is legally and culturally correct to do so. In Emma Teng’s excellent study of whether ‘mixed race’ decenters Han from Chineseness, she states that Han’s claim to Chineseness is based on “both the principles of jus sanguinis and jus soli, a matter of both ancestral and territorial origin” (2012, 63) i.e. on paternal descent, blood, and affective territorial ties (ibid., 68). Other products of Chinese and non-Chinese union include the Peranakan (union between a Chinese man and a local non-Chinese woman) in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Interestingly, a Peranakan does not question their Chineseness. It is understood by the community and themselves that first 130 Chapter 4 and foremost, they have Chinese ancestry, which gives them their Peranakan culture. Their Chineseness is taken for granted.109 However, the Chinese Mestizos in the Philippines (union between a Chinese man and a local-born woman) are not considered Chinese, but Filipinos. Richard Chu, in his meticulous study of the Chinese and first-generation Chinese Mestizos of Manila concluded that “their ‘cultural’ identities can be better understood as lying within a shifting and problematic continuum, so despite the fact they might have identified more and more with the equally Hispanicized and Catholicized Indios, they did not necessarily abandon their ‘Chinese-ness’ ” (Chu 2010, 276). Live Yu-Sion states that the Sinoi110 on Reunion, where the Hakka are the Chinese majority, underwent “a process of veritable deculturalization from the 1960s to the 1980s, [and] they are now attempting to recover their roots. In that earlier period, the Chinese language and culture were so devalued that the younger generations were ashamed of being Chinese” (2003, 7). As a result of efforts to reclaim their Chinese origin and cultural identities, they have ended up with “a Chinese culture [that] has no connection with reality, and is nothing but an empty fantasy” (ibid., 10). In Malaysia, local women (Malay, Siamese or Tamair) in Pulai (Carsten 2005, 110–111) or Dayak women in Borneo (Heidhues 2003, 39) had to learn the Hakka language and customs after their marriage to Hakka men. Hakka Chineseness was upheld. These four examples of Chinese hybrids are good examples of how different types of Chineseness are produced and evaluated. To emphasize the escalating ambiguities of being Chinese, Allen Chun entitled his 1996 paper provocatively “Fuck Chineseness”. The same sentiments are clearly expressed in the novel entitled It’s Crazy to Stay Chinese in Minnesota. It is a fictional account of a seventeen-year-old second generation Chinese American girl in Minnesota, where she has to tread a balance between her Chineseness and her emerging Americanness (Telemaque 2000). Chun goes on to add that there is much to “suggest that the very idea of China is an unambiguous or unquestionable entity. But what is so unambiguous about China that makes it an unquestioned object of gazing? What is the nature of Chineseness, and who are the Chinese? Finally, who is really speaking here?” (1996, 111).

109 Peranakans or Babas are men, mostly Hokkien, who married local women. The hybrid Peranakan culture embraces both cultural traits. For history of the Peranakan, see Tan C.B. (1988 and 1993); and for how the Peranakan identity has changed, see Rudolf (1988). 110 Live (2003, 11, n11) defines ‘Sinoi’ as those Chinese who have largely lost both their Chinese language and culture. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 131

Chineseness, like ethnicity is marching on, under scrutiny, and in the process of being redefined (again). In her studies of how Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong and on mainland China define their Chineseness through writing, Letty Chen shows that Chinese in these three places have different ideas of what being Chinese means i.e. they have different types of Chineseness. She posed the question of whose Chineseness is more authentic—Mainland, Hong Kong or Taiwan Chineseness (2006). Her work challenges the current discussion of hybridity in cultural identity and nationalism by comparing the writings of contemporary writers from these three regions.111 She has excluded the Southeast Asian Chinese from her studies, perhaps, partly based on Ong Aiwah’s statement that: “Claiming Chineseness is only for those who see themselves as situated in the cultural center, like people in China and Taiwan. To those living in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Malaysia, the matter is less serious” (ibid., 5). Through the works of various contemporary writers of the three places, Chen showed vividly how Chinese on the Mainland and in Taiwan and Hong Kong express their Chineseness through their writings, and in the process reshape their Chinese cultural identity. Her observations support Allen Chun’s statement that “cultural narratives differ in different Chinese political contexts is a testament to the possibility of different interpretations and political uses of Chineseness” (1996, 116). She concluded that the “global age is forcing us to dismantle our old identity and reassemble a new one, making us weary of our cultural identity” (2006, 175). The result is an open and flexible kind of Chineseness that will continue to evolve and adapt in the future. Expressing the notion of being Hakka in the future will no doubt follow the same route, as this study will show. Due to their history and politics, the Taiwanese are the most vocal in expressing the dissimilarity of their Chineseness to that of Mainland China (Yi 2008). In a recent BBC World Service broadcast entitled “Embracing the Dragon”,112 the Taiwanese man interviewed insisted that Taiwanese are very different from the Chinese on Mainland China. He said, “We are Chinese but we are very different . . . I see myself as a Taiwanese . . . We have a different culture [from the Mainland Chinese].” Ren Hai, in his study entitled “Taiwan and the Impossibility of the Chinese” concluded that:

111 For detailed discussions on language and identity pertaining to the Chinese language in modern Chinese literature, see the collection of critical essays edited by Jing Tsu and David Wang (2010). 112 The BBC program was broadcast on 21st June, 2011. 132 Chapter 4

The more the Taiwanese engage in their contest with the Other (China) in their various discourses, the more they insist on representing the marks of essential differences to keep the Other (China) out of their national life. Placing the notion of ‘Taiwanese’ at the center of a discourse of (national) identity is an attempt to free Taiwan nationalism from its ties to a universalistic path of ‘Chinesization’. It is such positioning that intervenes in the exercise of representing ‘the Chinese’ as the only source of identity, in particular, ‘national’ identity, for Taiwan. Thus, Taiwan presents itself as a moment of ambiguity—the in-between in which all culturally determinate significations are called into question by the unresolved and unresolvable ‘hybridity’ of ‘the Chinese’ (1996, 94–95).

The latest divergence on the kind of Chineseness that China and Taiwan aspire to is played out in the establishment of the Taiwan Academy (台灣書院 taiwan shuyuan)113 in response to the Confucius Institute (孔子學院 kongzi xueyuan) that is making its presence felt around the world. As of January, 2011, there are 320 Confucius Institutes in ninety-six countries with over 230,000 registered students and China’s aim is to open one thousand Confucius Institutes by 2020 (Siow 2011). The first three Taiwan Academies were opened in October, 2011 in the United States in Houston, Los Angeles and New York. Taiwan hopes to utilize their Academies to promote “Chinese culture with Taiwanese characteristics”, which includes learning Chinese with traditional characters and introducing Taiwanese artistic enterprises (Tsai J. 2011). While Mainland China and Taiwan are trying to exert their kind of Chineseness globally, other types of Chineseness are being played out on the world stage—both stereotyped and distinctive. An example of stereotyped Chineseness is the recent book by Amy Chua on raising her children using the strict ‘Chinese’ model. Following the publication of her book (2011a), she wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal smugly entitled: “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” (2011b). The question that went through many Chinese mothers’ minds is “Which Chinese is she talking about?” Her claims sparked debates in the West, China, and Chinese communities around the world. Some Chinese mothers in China disagree with her that her methods are Chinese but there are also many Chinese mothers in Southeast Asia who find her method appealing. Amy Chua is a naturalized American Chinese from Mainland China and therefore, culturally different from Chinese women from China or Southeast Asia. As Letty Chen argues, “the Chineseness of the Chinese American is partially constructed by and within themselves, grounded in their imagined

113 http://taiwanacademy.tw/en/index.jsp (Retrieved on 23rd January, 2011). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 133 community, and partially conditioned by stereotypes created by the American imagination” (2006, 115).114 This shows not only that there is no such thing as ‘authentic’ Chineseness but also that Chineseness can be constructed and reconstructed by a new generation. To add another layer to the argument, I would like to explore the authentic- ity of Southeast Asian Chineseness in comparison to the three discussed by Letty Chen. Chinese in Southeast Asia grew up with cultural hybridity. Wang Gungwu points out that for most merchants and entrepreneurs, being Chinese in Southeast Asia had nothing to do with becoming closer to China. He said, “It was a private and domestic matter only manifested when needed to strengthen a business contact or to follow an approved public convention” (1991b, 131). The Chineseness of the overseas Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore is very different from the Chineseness of Mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, not to mention that of the West Indies, the Caribbean and the Americas. For a start, in Malaysia and Singapore, the older generation (born in the early twentieth century) see themselves as tangren 唐人, descendants from Tangshan 唐山 (Tang Mountains) and they lived in communities that allowed them to express such sentiments. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Mainland Chineseness was perceived as Communist; Hong Kong Cantonese; and Taiwan Nationalist. There were even hushed complaints by the older generation in Malaysia in the 1970s that their relatives in Communist China had become ‘unauthentic’ Chinese because they thought that Communism had destroyed the ‘Chinese soul’ of their relatives. They lamented, “They do not worship their ancestors anymore and Chinese customs and traditions have been mostly done away with.” Myron Cohen, in his essay on what being Chinese means in post-imperial China concluded that in the future “being Chinese is far more problematic, for now it is as much a quest as it is a condition” (1991, 133).115 Except for a historical connection,

114 For the history of how Chinese immigrants to the United States transformed themselves into Chinese Americans in the period 1911–1927, see Chen S.H. (2002). For the Chinese experience in America as a whole, see Tsai S.S.H. (1986) and for the changing identity of the Mainland Chinese in the United States, see Wang L.L.C. (1991), who suggested five major identities among them. They are (1) sojourner mentality ( yeluo guigen 葉落歸根, (2) total assimilation (zhancao chugen 斬草除根), (3) accommodation (luodi shenggen 落地生根), (4) ethnic pride and consciousness (xungen wenzu 尋根問祖) and (5) the uprooted (shigen qunzu 失根群族). All five types of identities are based on metaphors that refer to the root (根 gen) or underlying Chineseness. 115 For the Chineseness of Mao Zedong, see Wang G.W. (1991b, 261–282). For a discussion of how Chinese writers renegotiate and reconfigure Chinese identity post-Maoism, see Chen L.C.L. (2006, 29–37). 134 Chapter 4

Chinese around the world feel that they have more dissimilarities than similarities. Siu Lok C.D., in his study of Panamanian Hakka identity, describes how the “ideas of belonging to a ‘Chinese’ community are not universally defined, but locally determined and historically contingent” (2005, 156–158). In Malaysia, Chinese grow up in the midst of Malay, Indian and Eurasian cultures. First and foremost, a Chinese born in Malaysia is a Malaysian Chinese and not a Chinese Malaysian. As a result, their Chineseness is very different from those of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or the USA and the UK. Cross-cultural exchange with the indigenous and other local groups has also produced many different brands of unique Southeast Asian Chineseness. In the 1970s, these differences (real and perceived) were demonstrated by the different student unions in foreign universities. Though the majority of these foreign students were Chinese, they were divided by nations and localities. There was no affinity, pride or communal feeling among these overseas Chinese students. For example, at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where I obtained my first degree, Malaysian students joined the Canterbury Malaysian Student Association (CMSA) and the Singaporeans and Hongkongers had their own student associations. As a rule, these overseas Chinese students did not socialize with one another, especially not with the New Zealand-born Chinese (also known as NZBC) as they were perceived to be more ‘Kiwi’ than Chinese.116 Malaysian Chinese students studying in Canada reported that Hong Kong Chinese students used to call them “malai chai” (Malay boys) to mean that they were unauthentic Chinese. The Malaysians and Singaporeans in turn called them “Hongkee” i.e. inauthentic Chinese. It is clear that the various overseas Chinese groups around the world have no common focal point except a distant historical origin, which does not mean much in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. During my childhood, American Chineseness was represented by Hollywood Chinese characters such as Dr. Fu Manchu, meek laundry-shop owners, or greasy-looking waiters with greasier pigtails in dingy Chinese restaurants, who served chopsuey (雜碎 zasui or ‘assorted pieces’)—an American invention. These characters have been consigned to the ‘bins of film history’ and replaced in part by modern concepts that depict a Chineseness dreamt up by adver- tising and travel agencies for Western consumption. So, which Chineseness is considered to be authentic and how do we grade it? Before I answer this question, it would be interesting to find out what Chineseness looks like in the ivory tower of academia and how it can affect academic research. Let us start with the research process. The way in

116 See Sedgwick (1998) for the history of the Chinese in New Zealand. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 135 which Chinese names are given in English works can affect the choice of research materials. Pinyinized names with the given name unseparated (e.g. Xu Jieshun) of English works in a bibliography indicates that there is a high chance that the authors are from Mainland China. The way the surname is spelt also gives us some clues to the origin of the author. A hyphenated given name (e.g. Chuang Ying-chang) usually indicates Taiwanese or overseas origin. Names that are spelt out in three or more separate words, dialect-sounding or include a Christian name belong most probably to those from Southeast Asia or overseas Chinese in other parts of the world. The outlooks and perspectives of Chinese scholars of different origins will obviously differ. If I am doing research on Taiwanese ethnicity, the name of the Chinese author will indicate, to some extent, whether the author is influenced by an ‘insider’ Taiwanese view or an outsider’s perception. There is an added complication for authors writing in Chinese and English. For example, Wong Sin Kiong, who writes about the Hakka in English and Chinese, is listed as Huang Xianqiang in his Chinese works. These subtle differences will diminish as Chinese names are pinyinized as is the trend in Malaysia and Singapore. Meanwhile, the question here is: How do Chinese academics from different parts of the world view the Chineseness of their global Chinese colleagues? From the Mainland Chinese perspective, Mandarin is often synonymous with Chinese culture. All academics engaged in Chinese Studies are expected to read, write and speak Mandarin. How would an important Lunyu 論語 (Analects of Confucius) scholar of Chinese descent from the United Kingdom who speaks only Cantonese or another dialect, attending a conference on the Lunyu on Mainland China be perceived by other scholars? By all accounts he is a Chinese scholar and in this case the ability to speak Mandarin is not a pre-requisite to being Chinese. He would communicate with scholars from the West in English. But how would he converse with his Mainland Chinese colleagues if they did not speak English? He would be excluded from the linguistic discourse of scholars who do not speak English. How does a Taiwanese scholar relate to scholars from the Mainland or a Mainlander to a Hong Kong scholar? These are questions that could ignite fiery debates. The Chineseness of Chinese academics is more apparent in the English- speaking academic world—seen especially in international English-speaking conferences or in East-West collaborations. Correspondence is almost always in English or in Chinese if one party cannot understand English. Chineseness in academia is complex to say the least. Another point is that Chinese scholars from outside of Mainland China and Taiwan prefer to address each other by their first name, whereas the Mainland and Taiwanese scholars who are not ‘westernized’ tend to be more formal and this sometimes creates friction 136 Chapter 4 because some scholars perceive it as a lack of respect when someone addresses them by their first name. Chineseness in the ivory tower is obviously fragmented like the Chineseness of the rest of the world. There was a time not so long ago when being Chinese was an abstraction of the unity of different local or cultural groups against another ethnic group such as the Manchus etc. However, the Chinese government sees their form of Chineseness as the standard. This is far from the truth as demonstrated by the different types of Chineseness around the world and in academia. The Chineseness of academics should also be part of the debate on being Chinese because it does have an impact on their works. The gaps between the different Chineseness around the world are getting wider and wider. This is also supported by James E. Coughlan’s study of the changing characteristics of Chinese migrants to Australia during the 1980s and early 1990s. He wrote that “despite the common bond of Chinese ancestry, and possibly speaking the same Chinese dialect, there appears to be relatively little social interaction between ethnic Chinese born in different countries” (1998, 339). As mentioned earlier, the Peranakan of the Straits Settlements retained their Chinese religion and some traditions such as ancestor worship, spoke creolized Malay, adopted many aspects of the local customs, and created a Peranakan cuisine with heavy Malay influence. They identify themselves as Chinese but they never call themselves “Peranakan Chinese” because their Chineseness was never in question despite the heavy Malay influence in their language, food, customs and the attire of their women. Similarly, due to the local influences, the Mestizos in Manila (Chu 2010) have a very distinctive Chineseness when compared to the mixed race in Thailand (Skinner 1996) or those in Jamaica (Bryan 1991 and Bohr 2004). It is interesting to note that unlike the Hokkien, the Hakka who married local women retained their Chinese heritage almost wholesale. As Mary Heidhues notes, “native women and their offspring were integrated into the transplanted Hakka society of West Kalimantan, Bangka, or Kelantan, wearing Chinese clothes and speaking Hakka (1996, 177). Non-Chinese women (especially Dayak) who married Chinese men seem to have been rapidly assimilated into the culture of their husbands. Significantly, non-Hakka wives of Hakka men living in other regions also readily accepted and sustained the culture” (ibid., 38). Similarly, in Pulai, Malaysia, when Hakka men married Siamese or Temiar women, they learned “to speak Hakka and observed the Chinese customs of their husband . . . The children of such unions were raised according to the traditions of their [Hakka] fathers” (Carstens 2005, 110–111). Myron Cohen also reported that in Southern China, non-Hakka women who married into Hakka villages had to learn the Hakka language and customs and traditions Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 137 were maintained over many generations despite these intermarriages (1996, 66). As Sharon Carstens notes, “Hakka retained more Chineseness in their identity, even when they adapted in some minor ways to local customs” (2005, 91). William Skinner gave many examples of the “process of creolization of the Chinese in Southeast Asia” (1966) and he attributes Hakka willingness to maintain their culture and traditions to the conservative nature of the Hakka— making them less likely to compromise on their Chineseness and they see themselves as guardians of Chinese traditions. It used to be easier to define Chineseness i.e. overseas Chinese as opposed to a Communist or Mainland Chinese. In the 1960s and 1970s when young overseas Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese were abroad, they took great pains to explain to Westerners that they were overseas Chinese and not to be confused with the Mainland Chinese or Hong Kong Chinese. They did not want to be identified as Communist Chinese or Mainland Chinese, whom they considered to be their ‘country cousins’.117 With China’s economic rise on the global stage, the table has turned slightly. Nowadays, overseas Chinese do not mind being mistaken for Mainland Chinese if they see advantages in it. The change is demonstrated by the Tibetan cause. It used to be quite easy for Tibet supporters to rally support for the Dalai Lama from among the overseas Chinese. The situation changed when China became stronger and louder, and started an offensive against the Dalai Lama. At the start of the twenty-first century, a Tibet supporter admitted that it was getting more difficult to champion the Tibetan cause because most of her overseas Chinese friends have “moved over to the Chinese side”. The reason given is that they did not want to ruin their chances of working or doing business in China and so they stopped supporting the Tibetan cause (or at least not openly). The emergence of Chinese-pride is a world phenomenon. Being perceived as a Mainland Chinese nowadays can command some degree of respect on the economic stage. However, this Chinese-pride in Mainlanders has also been perceived as arrogance or ‘ugli- ness’ in some quarters. It is interesting to note the shifting perception of being Chinese in relation to China among Chinese nationals. In a recent interview by the British Broadcasting Corporation with the renowned artist Ai Weiwei, he was asked if he was proud to be Chinese today and whether he was proud

117 This sentiment was reinforced by Bo Yang (1992), who spoke of the ‘ugly Chinaman’ in lectures and interviews around the world in the 1980s. Though it is often assumed that the ‘ugly Chinaman’ comes from Mainland China but Bo Yang is quite clear that the ‘ugly Chinaman’ syndrome is not exclusive to Mainland China or Taiwan. There was also the danger of being mistaken for a Communist, which has serious consequences in non- Communist countries. 138 Chapter 4 of China. He replied, “I’m proud [to be Chinese] . . . but I am not proud to see how China as a nation performs today on the world level. I don’t think Chinese culture and its people contribute to the world civilization today”.118 Another problem that compromises Chineseness in Malaysia and Singapore is that many Chinese went to English-language schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Wang Gungwu correctly notes that those students attending colonial/English school “received some diluted or even distorted western cultural values which did not discourage them from asserting their Chinese identity. But for them, their understanding of Chinese values was indirect and often attenuated and highly selective, and they were often despised by those educated in Chinese schools for their lack of Chinese language skill” (1991, 275). As an insult, the Chinese-educated students called those who were English-educated ‘bananas’ (i.e. yellow outside and white inside). I was one of them. However, it was only a matter of opinion which category was ‘better’ or had more advantages. Those who went to English-language schools usually looked down on those from Chinese schools because of their lack of English language skills and knowledge of Western culture. To be able to read and speak English was perceived as better educated, more modern and progressive, and it was also a ticket for upward social mobility in fast-developing Malaysia then. These so-called ‘bananas’ lived a traditional Chinese life with their families—observing all the traditions and customs. They spoke dialects at home and communicated in the different dialects with their Chinese friends or in Malay with their Malay and Indian friends. When they were proficient in English, they used it in all their conversations if they knew that their coun- terparts understood it. Their handicap was that they could not read, write or speak Mandarin. Their English-language education shaped their interests and as such, their teenage years were influenced by Western culture. These western- influenced teenagers loved rock and roll and the girls wore mini-skirts while the boys showed off their Levi jeans. The girls read Shakespeare and Jane Austen in school and Barbara Cartland in private. Of course, we all read Han Suyin’s A Many-Splendored Thing (1952), which influenced our teenage lives. Many even gave themselves Christian names. Though these newly adopted names were not legally binding, they were accepted socially and many used them for their entire life. There was no contradiction in being Chinese but Western in outlook. In fact, it was perceived as modern and progressive. As Philip Huang notes, these “individuals in their everyday lives, unlike nations with their ideological constructions, are pretty secure about their ‘Chineseness’: What is

118 A BBC interview on the program called HARDtalk broadcast on 17th March, 2014. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ht/all. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 139

‘Chinese’ is simply what the Chinese people have seen fit to incorporate into their lives” (2000, 22). Not only is Chineseness different in different countries or in the same community, but Chineseness within a family can also vary. In the early 1960s, many families in Beruas decided to send a few of their children to the English- language school. (The average family size in Beruas was about eight then). This resulted in some families with children who were educated either in Chinese or in English only. There was an obvious divide between these children in the same family. The Chinese-educated children were perceived to be more conservative and ‘Chinese’ (code word for obedient) while those educated in English were seen to be brasher and louder, therefore less ‘Chinese’.119 This, of course, affected familial relationships. At home, they could communicate in their own dialects but when they were separated physically, it was difficult for the English-educated to communicate with their families in the pre-Internet days without an intermediary because they could not write or read Chinese. How Chinese were they in these situations? Where was their Chineseness on the Chineseness scale? The above is the result of social reform within society and the family, but politics and state policy can also produce different kinds of Chineseness. Politics in Malaysia forced Chinese from different dialect groups to rally under the Chinese political umbrella of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). This, no doubt, created profiles of different Chineseness within the Chinese communities in Malaysia. Interestingly, politics in China too helped to create different brands of overseas Chineseness in Malaysia, Singapore and other non-communist countries. These different types of overseas Chineseness, in which communist ideology had no place, produced different mindsets that conflicted with those of Communist China.120 Even though twenty-first century Chineseness on the Mainland has come closer to capitalistic Chineseness, the gap remains. In the 1980s, state policies in Singapore set out to build a Singaporean identity by encouraging Singaporeans to speak Mandarin instead of their dialects. Singapore introduced the ‘Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC)’ for the Chinese

119 It was common for grandmothers in Beruas to scold their English-schooled grandchildren with this phrase: Hk. thuk yin vun shu ke, mau yung! 讀英文書的, 沒用 du yingwenshu de meiyong (Those who study in English schools are useless!) 120 For detailed studies on Communism in Malaysia and Singapore, see Kroef (1967), Cheah Boon Kheng (1983) and Ong W.C. (2014). 140 Chapter 4 in the early 1980s.121 The success of the SMC is reflected in a 2000 survey to determine the profile of the Singapore Chinese dialect groups based on census data. The Social Statistics Section of the Singapore Department of Statistics found that “the use of Chinese dialects as the predominant home language is no longer a distinguishing feature of the Chinese dialect groups.” The results show that the number of dialect-speaking Chinese residents declined by 28 percent between 1990 and 2000 and the use of Mandarin at home increased by 78 per cent.122 Today, Mandarin is seen as the ‘mother tongue’123 in most Singaporean Chinese homes. Andrea Tan (2004) is right to present the problematics of prescribing Mandarin as a ‘mother tongue’ to the different dialect groups in Singapore. Wang Gungwu calls Singapore’s replacement of Chinese dialects with Mandarin as mother tongue a ‘creative destruction’ in “keeping up with the shifting demands of a modernity that is global and ever changing” (2001, 71). However, there seems to be a reversal of attitude towards dialects as seen in the speeches made by candidates in the 2010 General Election campaign. Many of the young candidates resorted to dialects in their campaigns. One candidate says that speaking Teochew is a good point of entry, especially with the elderly. Another used Hokkien to good effect in between his speeches in Mandarin and English. Yet another took the crowd by surprise when she spoke in her native Hainanese dialect first, before switching into English. Even an ‘old warhorse’ of a candidate (aged sixty) spoke in Cantonese. This unusual reversal of placing importance on dialects after such a successful campaign was picked up by the

121 For the history, development, and the social outcome of the “Speak Mandarin Campaign”, see Bokhorst-Heng (1999 a+b) and Pendley (1983). 122 Edmond Lee’s survey (2000) does not show the breakdown of the decrease among the different dialect groups. 123 I used the definition of ‘mother tongue’ set out by Statistics Canada: Canada’s national statistical agency, which states that “mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the person at the time the data was collected. If the person no longer understands the first language learned, the mother tongue is the second language learned. For a person who learned two languages at the same time in early childhood, the mother tongue is the language this person spoke most often at home before starting school. The person has two mother tongues only if the two languages were used equally often and are still understood by the person. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, the mother tongue is the language spoken most often to this child at home. The child has two mother tongues only if both languages are spoken equally often so that the child learns both languages at the same time”. See http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ concepts/definitions/language-langue01-eng.htm (Retrieved 21st July, 2012). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 141 newspapers (Leong W.K. 2010). There was no mention of Hakka being used in this report. This interest in Chinese dialects started a debate on whether free-to-air dialect programs should be reintroduced in Singapore.124 However, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew 李光耀 (1923–2015), who was Prime Minister, when the SMC was introduced, promptly put a stop to it. In his book One Man’s View of the World (2013) he expressed very clearly his opposition in reviving dialects in Singapore. He pointed out that he had, as Prime Minister,

paid a heavy price getting the dialect programmes suppressed and encouraging people to speak Mandarin. So why backtrack? I had antago- nized an entire generation of Chinese, who found their favourite dialect programmes cut off . . . Why should I allow Cantonese or Hokkien to infect the next generation? If you bring it back, you will find portions of the older generation beginning to speak in dialects to their children and grandchildren. It will creep back, slowly but surely . . . For sentimental reasons and practical reasons of trade and business with China, we need Chinese as a second language. But we certainly do not need the dialects. To undo now what we had spent so much time, energy and political capital achieving—the removal of dialects from the mass media—would be very foolish (2013, 297–298).

Mr. Lee might have won this round but Singaporeans interested in their dialect heritage are finding new ways to exert themselves. For example, Mr. Koh Kuan Eng, a Hokkien, published (under Kuan Eng) a series of illustrated booklets with fifty words each in the various dialects (Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka and Hainanese) in 2013. The popularity of these booklets has spawned another book on commonly used idioms and slang in Hokkien with Teochew and Cantonese adaptations wherever applicabe (2014), and charts on body parts in the various dialects. Mr. Koh said, “The children find them very helpful to learn about their dialect heritage and adults, who have lost their dialect roots, are also taking an interest in them.” Hospital personnel find the charts on body parts useful and foreign domestic helps, specially employed to look after the elderly who do not speak English, are using them for communication. Only time can tell whether these efforts can help Singaporeans reclaim their dialect heritage.

124 See https://www.reach.gov.sg/TalkAbuzz/YourFeedbackOurResponse/tabid/108/tid/122/ type/thread/mode/2/Default.aspx?ssFormAction=%5B%5BssBlogThread_REPORT %5D%5D. 142 Chapter 4

All these social engineering projects introduced by the Singaporean government have produced a rather complex notion of Chineseness in Singapore among the Chinese. A recent post by Victor Mair demonstrates the continuing complexity of Chineseness in the twenty-first century. Mair narrates that he astounded a taxi driver in Singapore when he read out the Chinese sign on the dashboard that listed about ten categories of ‘fake’ (假 jia) individuals that he did not like to have in his taxi. They include fake gentlemen (假上等人 jia shangdengren) and fake high class people (假高級人 jia gaojiren). But the most severe scorn of all was reserved for the last category on the list: the dreaded fake foreigners (假洋人 jia yangren). When asked to explain, the taxi driver replied in Mandarin that, “A fake foreigner . . . is a Chinese who comes into my taxi and speaks English to me. A fake foreigner is also a Chinese who speaks English to their children. Such people are beneath contempt.” When Mair suggested that he add another category to his list—the true foreigner (真洋人 zhen yangren), he exclaimed, “Nope! You’re a fake Chinese (假華人 jia huaren )!” After they arrived at Mair’s destination the taxi-driver wished him “A good day” in English.125 One thing that the villagers in Beruas know for sure is that they are not zhongguo ren—Chinese nationals or Chinese from Mainland China. Chinese in Malaysia were Hk. tong ngin (tangren people of the Tang) and were never hanren Han people. When tangren became ‘out-dated’ in the 1980s, they became huaren Chinese people. Three or four decades ago, Hakka spoke Hk. tong va or hak va in Beruas. When the other party cannot speak Hakka they then switch to another dialect that both can understand or to a non-Chinese language such as Malay or a mixture of both i.e. code-switching.126 Presently, the correct thing for a Chinese in Malaysia to say is that they are Malaysian Chinese or malaixiya huaren and speak, apart from their dialect, the Chinese language 華語 huayu for inter-communication and not the Han language 漢語 hanyu, the (Taiwanese) national language 國語 guoyu or the (Mainland) Chinese language 中文 zhongwen. These terms are only important when discussing Chinese ancestry and to show where one stands in the Chineseness

125 For the complete anecdote go to http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3470#more- 3470 (Posted on 3rd October, 2011 and retrieved on 12th October, 2011). 126 In linguistic parlance, switching from one language to another in a conversation is known as code-switching. Kow (2003, 59) summarizes the definition of code-switching as “the use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation inclusive of dialect changes and style changes. These changes can occur at any point in the sentence and they may occur within sentences or between sentences”. Code-switching is not only practised in daily life but it is also used in the courtrooms; see David’s (2003) study on code-switching in Malaysian courtrooms. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 143

circle, otherwise, Chinese language in the identity of English-educated overseas Chinese is just a small piece in the puzzle. Some overseas Chinese might have Chinese ancestry but no Chineseness. Take the children of some of the BGH, even though they are married to a Chinese, they speak English at home to their children, whom the Singapore taxi-driver refers to as fake foreigners. Their children grow up to speak and act like typical Australian or American Chinese kids. Where is the Chineseness in them? These are kids with both Chinese parents, so what about those from mixed-race marriages? The children of such unions are still further removed from their Chineseness. Recent incidents in Hong Kong and Singapore have also shown that Chineseness had fragmented further. The ‘Mainlander eating dry noodle in the Hong Kong MRT’ incident127 in January 2012 started a verbal war between Hongkongers and Mainlanders. It culminated in name-calling of the worst kind. Professor Kong Qingdong of Peking University called the Hongkongers bastards and dogs, and in response, the Hongkongers took up a full page newspaper advertisement in which they called the Mainlanders locusts.128 Some bloggers called it the ‘clash of civilizations’ and the vitriol they unleashed on each other shows clearly that Hong Kong Chineseness is very different from Mainland Chineseness. Another incident in Singapore (May 2012), involving a Chinese national solidified the belief that Mainland Chineseness is not the same as overseas Chineseness. This particular Mainland Chinese, driving well above the speed limit on a Singaporean downtown street in a $1.4 million Ferrari, ran a red light and struck a taxi, killing its two occupants and himself. The woman in the passenger seat was not his wife either. This incident set off a furious deluge against Mainland-Chinese immigrants and started a national debate on the surge of new immigrants from China to Singapore. Before this episode, there was already tension the year before between Singaporeans and immigrants from the Mainland (August 2011), which resulted in the ‘Cook Curry Day’ campaign. It stemmed from a complaint by a recently immigrated Chinese family from the Mainland, who objected to the smell of their Indian neighbor’s curry cooking. Singaporeans were offended by such audacity to challenge their carefully crafted multicultural society—not to mention their food culture. These new immigrants from China were blamed for everything, from pushing

127 For the altercation that was captured on video, see http://www.chinahush.com/2012/01/ 21/mainland-visitors-eating-on-hong-kong-train-causes-huge-fight/ (Retrieved on 10th April, 2012). 128 See http://hu1st.blogspot.de/2012/02/spilled-noodle-war-in-chinas-subway.html#!/2012/02/ spilled-noodle-war-in-chinas-subway.html. and the BBC report at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/world-asia-china-16828134 (Retrieved on 10th March, 2012). 144 Chapter 4 up the price of real estate to stealing good jobs or worse, hard-working husbands. “Mainlanders may look like us, but they aren’t like us,” said Mr. Alvin Tan (Jacobs, 2012). These anti-Mainlander sentiments are not lost on the Mainlanders either. Mr Yang, a Chinese national who became a Singaporean citizen has this to say, “I’ve voted in four elections now, and it is great to live in a country where you can trust people and trust the government . . . [but] I still don’t feel Singaporean . . . The truth is, when I retire, I’ll probably move back to China” (ibid.). Similarly, in Malaysia, China is admired but Mainlanders are looked upon as different from the Malaysian Chinese and usually in a negative light. To call this intolerance and hatred prejudice is taking it too lightly. The Oxford Dictionaries defines the act of racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”. If we replace the word race with Chinese group in the definition, what do we have? Given the heavy fragmentation of Chineseness, perhaps we need a new term to describe the “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism” among the different Chinese groups—chinesism or sinocism? Yes, Chineseness is different all over the word and it is a concept that is definitely racing along. The emerging dominance of China on the world stage might crowd and marginalize the Chineseness of overseas Chinese by its sheer numbers but the different forms of Chineseness will prevail (even in China) as long as people migrate; there is intermarriage and inter-cultural exchange. Modern Chineseness is shaped and reshaped not only by social, economic and political forces but also genetic forces through mixed-marriages. Chineseness has become open and fluid and it is the individual who decides which type of Chineseness they want to adopt. Physically one may not be able to escape from being Chinese but psychologically one can choose which type of Chineseness to embrace or not to embrace. Claiming and disclaiming Chineseness does not depend on the political, social or historical environment. Chineseness is in the heart of the beholder and there are as many variations as social milieus will create. The oft quoted phrase, “You are Chinese or you are not” is antiquated on the world stage, to say the least. I would not go so far as to say “fuck Chineseness” as Allen Chun has entitled one of his papers (1996), but I say, “There are Chinese and there are Chinese.”

4 Overseas Chinese: Huaqiao 華僑 and Huaren 華人?

Who are the Huaqiao? Huaqiao came to be used towards the end of the nineteenth century to broadly define Chinese residents of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, who had left to live abroad (Wang G.W. [2000] Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 145

2004, 196). Being huaqiao of the leaving generation had its political, legal and ideological obligations to China. Huaqiao included not only those known as huashang (traders) and huagong (laborers), “but also teachers, journalists and other professionals who went out to promote greater awareness of Chinese culture and national needs” (Wang G.W. 1991a, 6).129 Huaqiao owed their allegiance to the Qing throne, which also meant that the Qing Empire could intervene in the law of the receiving countries of the huaqiao to prevent disloy- alty and rebellion. The upside for the Huaqiao was that they could seek protection in Chinese embassies and consulates when they were abroad. Later, they were also cultivated by the Chinese government because of their wealth and knowledge of trade and technologies.130 Thus, the term is set in a historical context and it is Sino-centric i.e. the departing country is always Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan and it is mostly nayang-localized. I say the Huaqiao are nanyang-localized because Nanyang (roughly Southeast Asia) was the largest receiving area of the sojourning Chinese population. Its proximity to China enhanced and facilitated the close relations.131 Nonetheless, huaqiao is a term that lays claim to the Chineseness of the Chinese in the different receiving countries they had emigrated to. Ideologically, the term also entails nationalism. They were considered to be part of the greater Chinese nation, wherever they were, and their first loyalty was to China. Wang Gungwu states,

This Huaqiao pattern, including all migrants whether traders or coolies or educated professionals, developed only after 1900 but it reached its high motional levels very quickly after 1911. Although it was influenced by the numbers and wealth of the overseas Chinese, the chief feature that distinguished it from the two patterns of migration above was that it focused on quality, especially the quality of Chineseness among the Chinese abroad. Thus, this pattern has at its center a deep commitment to education in the Chinese language and a willingness to help and encourage all overseas Chinese to do battle with the local authorities, whether colonial or nationalist, on behalf of that education. It was a

129 For a discussion on the origins of huaqiao, see Wang G.W. (1992, 1–10) and a study of Southeast Asian huaqiao in Chinese history-writing, see Wang G.W. (1981, 1–14). For more discussions of the term huaqiao, see also Wang G.W. (1998b, 15–33; 1996a, 1–14; and 1992, 1–10), Douw (1999, 22–44) and Suryadinata (2007, 1–7). 130 For a study of Beijing’s changing policies towards the overseas Chinese from 1949–1970, see Fitzgerald (1972). 131 See Rea and Witzel (2008, 12–26) for a discussion on the history on huaqiao-nanyang relations. 146 Chapter 4

pattern that was dominant until the 1950s and some aspects of it have survived till this day (1991, 8).

Yen Ching-hwang sums up this overseas Chinese nationalism as “a historical phenomenon arising at the beginning of the previous century and developed during the period between the two world wars and it declined and disappeared into oblivion due to the drastic political change in China, and due to the process of integration of the overseas Chinese communities into the host societies” (2008, 359). In the pre-communist era, the term huaqiao was used by the Mainland Chinese with disdain to roughly mean ‘prodigal’. It is also fair to say that huaqiao at that time harbored the wish to return to China after they had made their fortunes to live happily ever after—tending the graves of their ancestors and waiting for their turn to be buried with their ancestors and be venerated as ancestors after their death. Therefore, the early Huaqiao were all sojourners, who were expected to return home to China. The term huaqiao became problematic when some of them did not go back and upgraded their status to become settlers or new citizens of the receiving countries. These temporal issues, together with the switch in nationality (legal) and loyalty change (emotional) complicate the definition of huaqiao—especially in English. Wang Gungwu calls the Huaqiao ‘Chinese sojourners’ “because the word ch’iao [qiao], (a journey, a temporary stay) especially in combination with chu [qu] has been one of the synonyms for ‘temporary residence’, with related associations to ‘quest’ and ‘travel’ ” (1981, 2). In this context, huaqiao translated as ‘Chinese sojourners’ is China-centric and historical, and therefore, problematic for today. Calling sojourners out of China in the twenty-first century ‘new migrants’ (新移民 xinyimin) may alleviate the problem somewhat but emigrants of Chinese descent out of other parts of the world can also be technically called Chinese sojourners, albeit of different nationalities. Historically, all Huaqiao were Chinese sojourners from China but in this day and age, Chinese sojourners are not Huaqiao or from China. Therefore, the use of the English term, ‘Chinese sojourners’ can be confusing. The term huaqiao was commonly translated as Overseas Chinese (with a capital ‘O’) and made popular in the 1960s. The added problem and confusion is that Overseas Chinese was later translated back to Chinese as 海外華人 haiwai huaren. Furthermore, Malaysians use the word overseas with a different sensibility. It has a cross-border connotation referring to another country, usually far away. You go overseas to the United Kingdom or Japan for business or studies but visiting Thailand or Singapore is seldom associated with going overseas. In this sense, distance is part of the definition of overseas in the Malaysian context. Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 147

The term Overseas Chinese (with a capital ‘O’) is problematic because as Wang Gungwu argues, it is too narrow. It implies that the Overseas Chinese is a single group that is culturally homogenous and spatially congregated in one location. Wang suggested that Chinese outside of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan be called Chinese overseas (with a lower case ‘o’) “to get away from huaqiao, [which] is always translated as overseas Chinese . . .” (2004 [2000], 170). He stresses that Chinese adapt to new circumstances and thus become very different from other groups of Chinese living elsewhere (Malvezin 2004, 49) and hence, he prefers ‘Chinese overseas’ to show that they are not homogeneous and are located all over the world but he does not exclude the use of ‘overseas Chinese’ totally. It is a good alternative but personally, as a member of this group, I prefer to use overseas Chinese (with a lower case ‘o’ as an adjective). When I was growing up, the term huaqiao was not in my vocabulary. I was a Hakka and a Hk. tong ngin (tangren 唐人)—people from the Tang (Dynasty) and to the Malays and Indians, we were ‘orang China’ (people from China). After I became fluent in English, I called myself a Malaysian Chinese and when the need arose to place ourselves in the Chinese circle, I would identify myself vaguely as an ‘Overseas Chinese’ (with a capital ‘O’ as was the norm then) in order to differentiate myself from the Mainland Chinese. The first time that I was called a Huaqiao was on my first trip to China with my mother in 1994. Our tour guide, a woman in her mid-twenties, just assumed that we were Huaqiao—returning Chinese. My mother, in her seventies then, proudly presented herself as one but I remembered objecting to being called so. I always introduced us as Malaysian Chinese—malaisiya huaren. In refus- ing to use the term huaqiao, I have set up a boundary between the Mainland Chinese and myself. On the other hand, by attempting to speak Mandarin, I have negotiated membership for myself into the Mainland society. This shows that regardless of what one calls oneself or what others call you, it is still possible to negotiate identity in different situations or construct an elastic identity as a third-generation overseas Chinese. Our last stop was a visit to our ancestral village and an aunt in Dongguan, Guangdong. The family, relatives and neighbors treated our visit as if it was a long overdue home-coming (歸鄉 guixiang returning to the ancestral home). Fourteen years later in 2008, during a field trip, I visited the same aunt, who kept on saying that I should “come home more often”—I did not have the heart to tell her that China has never been my home. Except for the fact that China is where my forebears came from, it is just another foreign country to me. We were brought up thinking that, though our ancestors came from China, Communist China had nothing to do with us nationally or emotionally. In fact, we were discouraged from speaking of our connection with 148 Chapter 4

China.132 As such, I never felt the connection nor do I feel any affinity with present day China. When my mother (born in Malaya in 1920) admitted to being a Huaqiao in China (technically, she is not one), she was probably, in Wang Gungwu’s words, “mixing memories with desires” (2007, 8–17) i.e. mixing memories of her parents, who started off as Huaqiao, and input- ting their memories to her desire to be the kind of Chinese she imagined herself to be. As such, huaqiao sentiment is also defined by generational division. The leaving generation embraced the term huaqiao both psychologically and politically. The first generation that was locally-born based their huaqiao sentiments on their parents’ memories. They built up an image of the Huaqiao they ought to be but at the same time for those who had taken up new citizenship, their political alignment had shifted. With the second locally-born generation, such as the BGH, the shift in huaqiao sentiment had faded further. For this generation the term huaqiao (Chinese sojourner) carries no emotional or legal associations because they have no emotional investment or personal experience of the term. For example, the BGH were born in Malaysia and most of them went to English-medium schools, which shielded them from many events in China that might have had an impact on their perception of being Chinese. Their youth was influenced by Western culture and had little affinity to Chinese cultural matters. China is where their grandparents emigrated from and they carry no emotional attachment to it. They see themselves as overseas Chinese of Hakka descent. After I began my research and realized the different implications which the terms Overseas Chinese (with a capital ‘O’), overseas Chinese (with a lower case ‘o’) and Chinese overseas have on ones identity, I re-examined their meanings in association with my personhood. As concepts ‘Overseas Chinese’ and huaqiao can be retired. I tried out ‘Chinese overseas’ and ‘overseas Chinese’ to see which one feels better. I am emotionally more attached to ‘overseas Chinese’ but, I am also aware that being an ‘overseas Chinese’ does not change who I am. I have never assumed that ‘Overseas Chinese’ was a single entity. The term ‘overseas’ (whether with capital ‘O’ or lower case ‘o’) has always meant ‘variety’ to me. I am not any Chinese living overseas but an overseas Chinese born in Malaysia. I think the fact that I was born in Malaysia makes the ‘overseas’ more personal. Therefore, in this study, I will use ‘overseas Chinese’ as a general term for Chinese who reside outside of China. To differentiate ‘overseas Chinese’

132 This estrangement was reinforced by Malaysia’s anti-Communist stand. For a history of the Malaysian Communist Party and their struggle, see Chin C.C. and Karl Hack (eds.) (2004) and Chin Peng (2003). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 149 of different countries or locations, a national or place identifier will be added, e.g. American Chinese or Sydney Chinese. Huaqiao as a designation suggests at some point in time, the person will return to their ancestral home (guixiang) for good but from the mid-twentieth century onwards, the term overseas Chinese has different meanings for different people—both psychologically and spatially. Most overseas Chinese had become nationals of the countries where they were residing and the notion of ‘returning’ to China was remote. To the offspring of the Chinese sojourners, who were born in their parents’ receiving countries the term huaqiao was more a concept than an actuality. They are the ‘authentic overseas Chinese’ and not the historical sojourning huaqiao. So, huaqiao is historical and associated with sojourning of their ancestors and has no context for those born in the receiving countries of their immediate ancestors. By the third generation, there is no denying that they are Chinese but spatially and psychologically they have become foreign nationals of Chinese descent i.e. overseas Chinese. Apart from the historical and ancestral connections, they do not identify themselves with Mainland China. As my research indicates, Chinese from Malaysia invariably identify themselves as ‘Malaysian Chinese’. Being huaqiao has no role in their lives. As overseas Chinese their national loyalty lies with their country of domicile. In this context, huaqiao translated as Overseas Chinese (with a capital ‘O’) has historical value and overseas Chinese (with a lowercase ‘o’) can be used for all those who came after. In the last sixty years receiving countries upgraded the status of Chinese migrants in many different ways. Huaqiao have also been upgraded to huaren around the globe. As Wang Gungwu states, this migrant upgrading process was implemented in a variety of ways which resulted in different experiences for the migrants (1998, 15–33). In Malaysia, the upgrading was more subtle and positive:

Malaysia has gone further in its upgrading of the former migrants of Chinese and Indian descent who formed about 40 percent of its population. A strong set of aristocratic institutions, bolstered by the heritage of modern law and administration, has allowed more time for the former migrants to adjust to their roles as direct participants in the nation- building process. Some of them have thus found a place in the government and military. In addition, their success in the economic spheres has been less of a threat because of the continued foreign investment, strong international trading links and the rapid rise of the indigenous middle class. There is greater confidence in the loyalty of the former migrants of Chinese descent and relations with Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People’s 150 Chapter 4

Republic are more relaxed than before. While there may be virtually no more huaqiao, it is likely that the term huaren, or ethnic Chinese, would be acceptable there for much longer than elsewhere” (ibid., 26).

This may be true but the age of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization has given rise for the need to designate the different groups of Chinese all over the world. In the last fifteen to twenty years, scholars have been debating where and how to differentiate the various terms referring to the Chinese outside of China. Leo Suryadinata summarizes the terms used to refer to Chinese living outside of Mainland China as such:

(1) Overseas (with a capital ‘O’) Chinese refers to Chinese people outside of Mainland China without referring to their citizenship. However, it is too closely associated with huaqiao i.e. Chinese citizens (nationals) who temporarily live overseas and “they are not yet home”. (2) Chinese overseas (with a lowercase ‘o’) as suggested by Wang Gungwu may “dispel the political/citizenship notion . . . but it still reflects a “China- centric concept”. (3) Huaren refers to “those Chinese outside China who are not China’s citizens” and its English equivalent is “ethnic Chinese”. This term was created by Malaysians and Singaporeans with the aim of distinguishing themselves from the Mainland Chinese. (4) Huayi 華裔 is used to indicate “people of Chinese descent, which is seldom used in Mainland Chinese literature unless referring to the Chinese outside China who have been indigenized or are of mixed descent” (2007, 1–3).

Suryadinata chooses to call those not-China-born Chinese huaren (ethnic Chinese). Huaren might have been coined by Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore to label themselves but if it is translated to ‘ethnic Chinese’ then I see a problem with the translation. Unlike Suryadinata, I do not think Mainland Chinese citizens can be excluded from being called ‘ethnic Chinese’. For example, Chinese nationals and Malaysian or Australian Chinese can all refer to themselves as ‘ethnic Chinese’ in New York City. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the term huaqiao huaren 華僑華人 was used by Mainland Chinese to refer to Chinese outside of China, which does not mean that they exclude themselves from the huaren label. One solution is to add citizenship labels to these terms e.g. zhongguo huaren (Chinese from China) or malaisiya huaren (Malaysian Chinese). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 151

In Beruas, men from China are usually referred to as Hk. zong kok lau (中國老) and women as Hk. zong kok mooi/poh (中國妹/婆). My grandparents, who immigrated to Malaya, always refer to themselves as Hk. tong ngin (tangren 唐人) but my parents’ generation uses both tangren and huaqiao to refer to themselves. Later in their lives I heard them referring to their children and grandchildren as huaren. The BGH, being third generation Malaysian Chinese, did not have to go through the huaqiao to huaren transition. They were born tangren or huaren in Malaysia and they refer to themselves as simply Malaysian Chinese. For the third generation, being huaqiao has no place in their lives. They have become huaren by proxy and to be exact—Malaysian Chinese or malaisiya huaren. Presently, a Chinese born in Malaysia is a Malaysian Chinese or an x- generation local-born. A ‘modern sojourner’ from China living in Malaysia under whatever immigration scheme is first and foremost a ‘Chinese national’ and not a huaqiao. Even if this person upgrades to become a Malaysian citizen, socially they do not have the same status as a local-born Malaysian Chinese. Their status would have to be qualified with an identifier—a China-born Malaysian Chinese. In the case of the BGH, they cannot expect official protection and intervention from their natal-country if they have taken up citizenship of the country they have emigrated to because Malaysia does not recognize dual citizenship. Those who took only permanent residency can fall back on the Malaysian law if they need to. Some couples did not want to burn their bridges so only one partner took up citizenship in the receiving country while the other kept his/ her Malaysian citizenship, in case they decide to return or retire to Malaysia. It also meant that the one holding the Malaysian passport can buy property as a Malaysian. One of them said, when she retires, she wants to live half of the year in her receiving country and the other half in Malaysia. In the 1950s and 1960s, Huaqiao in Southeast Asia began to upgrade their migrant status, which rendered the term huaqiao irrelevant in their personal identity. Wang Gungwu gives Thailand as an example where assimilation is so successful that Chinese descendancy is no longer a handicap, “even in politics and military . . . By and large there are no huaqiao left. The former migrants and their descendants have been integrated into society to such an extent that it would be argued that, for most of them, even the term huaren, or ethnic Chinese, is now inappropriate . . . For totally different reasons, there are virtually no huaqiao in Singapore . . . they are now all Singaporeans, and some would say that there is no need even for a term like huaren” (1998, 24–25). This may be true for Singapore because more than 75 percent of the population is 152 Chapter 4

Chinese but in Malaysia, being a minority and because of the racially discriminatory policies, the Chinese could not escape the Chinese part of their identity. It is interesting to note that the rise of China has forced overseas Chinese to re-assess the Chineseness in their identity again. There is pride in being associated with the rising world power and not the ‘sick nation of Asia’ anymore. This has given rise to a new trend in which Chinese parents in Malaysia are sending their children to Chinese schools instead of the Malay or English schools because they foresee that the careers of their children will have a lot more to do with China. Singapore has placed Mandarin almost on a par with English. Speaking in Mandarin used to beget the ‘Ah Beng’133 label but young Singaporeans switch from English to Mandarin without any second thoughts nowadays. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the huaqiao concept in Southeast Asia has only historical value as new patterns of migration unfold. To sum up, Huaqiao is the historical ‘Chinese sojourner’ and an ‘upgraded Huaqiao’ and their descendants are todays ‘overseas Chinese’. ‘Overseas Chinese’ (with a capital ‘O’) is a ‘transit-name’. A sojourner in the age of globalization can be anyone who leaves their home or country for a short stint for work or experience. The translation of huaqiao as Overseas Chinese has only historical value in reviewing the history of overseas Chinese from the end of the nineteenth century. By the third generation, the huaqiao ideology was dead due to the process of migrant upgrading. The term huaqiao has clearly reached the end of its shelf-life for these settled overseas Chinese but there are also fresh Chinese sojourners coming out of China and other countries. Will the term huaqiao be resuscitated at some point in the near future? As Wang Gungwu argues, it looks unlikely because new terms such as xinyimin 新移民 or new migrant are now preferred (2004, 227). New emigrants from China have new destinations, such as Africa and other parts of the world. Simply put, historically, all huaqiao were Chinese sojourners but in the twenty-first century ‘Chinese sojourners’ are not huaqiao. Therefore, the English term ‘Chinese sojourner’ has to be used with care. This chapter demonstrates the complex and fluid nature of concepts such as ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and overseas Chinese in the twenty-first century.

133 ‘Ah Beng’ is a stereotyped pejorative term used to denote a Chinese-educated young working class male. See Chua B.H. (2003, 10–12) for a discussion on the emergence of this term and its female counterpart, Ah Lian. He says, “They represent, for the English-speaking middle-class, caricatures of youth who are working class or otherwise failures in the competitive education system and market economy. Beng and Lian stand as the ‘Other’ of the self-appointed sophisticated English-speaking cosmopolitans” (ibid., 10). Ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, and Overseas Chinese 153

These concepts overshadow the Hakka identity. Given all the complexities discussed above, the term ‘Hakka ethnicity’ has no place in Hakka studies in the twenty-first century. Hakka identity must be redefined in the global framework of transnational relations. Han as an ethnonym has to be reviewed because Han are Chinese but the Chinese are not necessarily Han. Therefore, by extrap- olation, we can also argue that Hakka is not necessarily Han. Chineseness is just as problematic as ethnicity and Han. There are more dissimilarities than similarities among Chinese around the world. Chineseness has become a commodity that one can claim or disclaim depending on one’s political, social or historical environment. Huaqiao ideology has been killed off by the process of migrant upgrading but the concept of sojourning has taken on new meanings as shown by Mainland Chinese going to Africa and American Chinese going to Mainland China. Despite having a small role in these concepts, Hakka identity too is made and remade with every shift in these concepts. Chapter 5 Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future

1 Elastic Identity

In her study of the cultural logics of transnationality in the late 1990s, Ong Aiwah (1999) shows that there is no problem for the Chinese in having flexible citizenship. People with flexible citizenship are usually those who move comfortably in and out of different cultures. Globalization has no doubt facilitated flexible citizenship but what about identity? Is it possible to have a borderless multiple-identity? In this day and age, the answer is affirmative. People take on more and more identities as they encounter different situations in their lives. I refer to people who embrace borderless multiple-identity as ‘borderless citizens’, ‘citizens of the world’, ‘global citizens’ or ‘heart citizens’ i.e. they go where the heart desires or where their work takes them. Theoretically, a person can have identity infinitus. To negotiate the different scenarios that life throws at them the global Hakka have adopted a process called identity- elasticization. They ‘expand’ (amplify) or ‘contract’ (marginalize) their Hakka identity as they see fit for the occasion. Flexible citizenship involves national bureaucracy whereas elastic identity requires only an open mind. For example, how should an ex-third-generation Malaysian Chinese of Hakka descent with a US passport, married to an Englishman, living in Paris introduce herself? That would depend to whom she is introducing herself, for what purpose, and in which setting. As a statistic, where there is no face to face contact, she is just an American citizen living in Paris. When there is eye contact, her Asian features require her to clarify her identity further—Asian American living in Paris. If they get to know each other well enough, she might offer her other identities—ex-Malaysian Chinese or overseas Chinese, mother tongue—Hakka and married to an Englishman. Her identity has become not only flexible but also elastic. It can be a simple one-element answer or expanded to envelop bigger concepts—expanding and contracting to suit the occasion. Some may construe this as ‘an identity crisis’ but this is a phenomenon that Malaysian and Singaporean global Hakka feel comfortable with.134

134 To compare the experience of an ‘identity crisis’ of a third generation Chinese immigrant from Taiwan studying in the United States, see Yi (2008). See also Brown (2004) for those living in Taiwan. This is a rather complex issue that invites further debate. For a detailed

As my study indicates, Malaysian global Hakka move seamlessly from one nation to the next and adjust their identity as they move. They may be international citizens on the move but when they meet another Malaysian Chinese, they automatically revert back to a malaysianized English in their speech and very often in their mindsets too. Malaysian Chinese code-switch back and forth, from one dialect to the other or to English or Malay without even being aware of it.135 As Sharon Carstens notes, “Malaysian Chinese identities are always provisional and constantly modified in the different contexts of daily life” (2005, 6). There is no conflict for the BGH either because they are very practical about the role their Hakka identity plays in their lives. In other words, they can have as many identities as they choose and elasticize their Hakka identity within their personhood as they see fit, without any conflict. This is no doubt one of the outcomes of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism. The nationality and personal identity of a person may change as they move from place to place but being a Hakka is still a part of their multiple personal identity. To illustrate further how identity can shift and elasticize I would like to examine Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s personal identity, which is inherited as well as ascribed. Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, late Prime Minister of Singapore wrote in his autobiography that his family history in Singapore began with his paternal great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon, a Hakka from Dabu, Guangdong, who arrived in Singapore in 1824 (1999, 26). Mr. Lee said, “At home I spoke English to my parents and Baba Malay—a sort of pidgin Malay adulterated with Chinese words—to my grandparents, and Malay with a smattering of Hokkien to my friends, the fisherman’s children. Mandarin was alien to me . . .” (ibid., 35). His grandmother, Ko Liem Nio, was a ‘Baba-Malay’ (Peranakan) and so was his mother, Chua Jim Neo. Following the Chinese agnatic tradition, Mr. Lee is a Hakka. I have not come across any documents, where he calls himself a Baba or Peranakan. However, the Peranakan community has always included Mr. Lee in their community and called him a Baba—minus the Hakka. For example, Bonny Tan wrote: “After world War II . . . the Baba struggled to keep their political standing in the midst of rising nationalism . . . many Babas such as Tan Chen Lock, Tan Siew Sin, Lee Kuan Yew . . .” (2009, 136). There was no mention of his Hakka ancestry—stripping him of his Hakka identity and implying that he was Peranakan only. The implication here is serious because most studies on the

study of identity and the psycho-sociological process, and the impact of emigration on personal identity of the Indians who moved to America, see Akhtar (1999). 135 For studies of ‘code-switching’ in pre-school pupils, see Kow (2003) and in courtrooms in Malaysia, David (2003). 156 Chapter 5

Peranakan in Singapore state that they are mostly Hokkien men who married local wives.136 Very few works mention that there are also Hakka, Teochew, Cantonese and Hainanese Babas (Rudolf 1998, 107). Those people who do not know of his Hakka ancestry will assume that being called a Peranakan means that he is probably of Hokkien descent. Mr. Lee’s case shows that identity change is not just about self-identification but also about others embracing them into their community and calling them their own. Just for argument’s sake, if a Hakka laborer who said that his mother and grandmother are Nyonyas and he spoke ‘Baba-Malay’ to his grandparents; would the Peranakan allow him to join their community and embrace him as one of their own? I doubt it. As such, identity can be claimed or assigned and as Lee’s case shows, it is not only elastic but also selective. It is interesting to note that apart from books that list famous Hakka, there is little mention of Mr. Lee Hsien Loong’s 李顯龍, son of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, and the present Prime Minister of Singapore, Hakka ancestry. Even Hakka chauvinists have not taken the liberty to add this piece of information in Wikipedia.137 Is interest in his Hakka heritage waning or is it because Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is Singaporean? The answers are affirmative on both counts. Obviously, Singaporeans did not find his Hakka ancestry important in the current political and cultural situation and Singaporean Hakka, though proud of the association, are happy to go with the political agenda of Singapore. Singapore is also a special case because of the government’s aim to build a nation based on the Singaporean identity and hence dialect is not emphasized. This is a good example of the Hakka identity being eroded through intermarriage and political agenda, and rendering it elastic in the process. By adopting the process of identity-elasticization, the Hakka are able to negotiate themselves into the different communities—both local and transnational, Hakka and non-Hakka. A global Hakka can belong to his local Hakka Association and also be a member of a global Hakka network by emphasizing his or her Hakka identity. A woman, who is half- Hakka, wanting to impress her future Hakka parents-in-law, may learn to speak Hakka (if she does not know it already) or talk about Hakka history and traditions with them. In the case of a Hakka man trying to court a Cantonese woman, whose parents do not see Hakka in a good light, he may not want to mention his Hakka ancestry (regardless of how diluted it is). Thus, the Hakka negotiate themselves into different situations by elasticizing their Hakka identity. Elastic identity is not exclusive

136 For detailed studies of the Peranakans and to answer the question of “Who is a Baba?” see Clammer (1979, 8–12); Rudolph (1998); Tan B. (2009, 135–137); and Tan C.B. (1993). 137 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hsien_Loong. (Retrieved on 8th August, 2012). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 157 to the Hakka but the Hakka seem to have more need for it because of their social history and the complexities of being Hakka in the twenty-first century.

2 Kejia 客家 Genesis

Overseas Chinese negotiate through their multiple identities without any difficulties. So, what is the essence of identity? As my research shows, identity is not just what you think of yourself but obviously in a wider context, it can also be ascribed. But in today’s context, except for governments which still need to pigeonhole the population138 most people are quite comfortable with an elastic identity. Still, the question of who the Hakka are persists and the debates will continue for a while. However, one way of trying to solve this riddle might be to corroborate historical elements with genetic studies. But before we do that, it is important to reassess Hakka history and identity in twenty-first century light. As I mentioned earlier, defining Hakka identity is a multi-faceted exercise and the old rules are getting less and less applicable. We need a new set of ontological and epistemological guidelines to determine Hakka identity. One factor that can help us understand the concept of Hakka identity is to examine the origin of the Hakka. Most Hakka claim historical origins in the north and various studies based on genealogies and local histories seem to support this claim.139 But how did the ‘kejia’ (客家 guest household) label become associated with this social group? Studies regarding the appellation ‘kejia’ have been few and confusing. The theories put forward to show how the Chinese term kejia and its Western transliteration ‘Hakka’ came to be coined are inconclusive and unconvinc- ing. First and foremost, kejia means ‘guest household’ as opposed to the ‘native residents’ (主户 zhuhu). Kejia does not mean ‘strangers,’ ‘sojourners’

138 This is an extreme case of pigeonholing: The 2010 Malaysian application form for university entrance which has sub-race divisions is an interesting study of ethno-taxonomy. The Malays have been subdivided into six categories: Bugis, Boyan, Banjar, Jawa, Jawi Pekan and Minangkabau. The Indians are sub-divided into eight categories: Malayali, Punjabi, Sikh, Tamil, Telegu, Malabari, Indian Muslim and Orissa. The Chinese race is sub-divided into 12 categories: Cantonese, Foochow, Hainansee, Henghua, Hokchia, Hokchiu, Hokkien, Khek (Hakka), Kwongsai, Teochew, Kongfoo and Hylam. The Orang Asli (Peninsula) are sub-divided into eight categories: Jakun, Negrito, Sakai, Semai, Semalai, Temiar, Senoi and Penan. The Sarawak population has the largest number of sub-divided groups (57) while Sabah’s population is sub-divided into 36 categories. 139 See Constable (2006, 14), who listed studies by Eitel (1873–4), Hsieh (1929), Luo Xianglin (1933), Picton (1873–4), and Cohen (2006, 40–41). 158 Chapter 5

(Char 1969, 19) or gypsies. Secondly, as Nicole Constable cautioned, one should not confuse the emergence of Hakka history and Hakka identity. She adds, “Hakka history, which begins centuries ago, in time immemorial, paradoxically predates the existence of the name Hakka, of Hakka ethnicity, and the existence of the Hakka as a social group distinct from other Chinese” (1996, 9). The Cantonese have been erroneously credited for ascribing the kejia label to the proto-kejia and the Western transliteration Hakka. Given the animosity between the proto-kejia and the Cantonese, I do not think they would have accepted a term describing them from the Cantonese. I concur with Leong Sow-Theng that contrary to all other studies, the kejia label is not ascribed. The proto-kejia embraced the term and called themselves Hk. hak ka ngin (客家人 Hakka people). Why they called themselves kejia is a question still being debated by Hakka and non-Hakka alike. The most logical explanation has something to do with their migrational history; being newcomers, every time they moved to a new location, and registered as kejia must have contributed to it. At some point in their history, the proto-kejia decided to adopt kejia to identify themselves. We will never know exactly why or when but the Cantonese are not responsible for it. There are also many speculations as to how the Western transliteration ‘Hakka’ was arrived at. The Basel Mission has frequently been credited for ‘introducing’ the Hakka to the West in the mid-nineteenth century but Catholic missionaries were already converting Hakka to Catholicism in the late seventeenth century (Entenmann 1996, 10). The Basel Mission started work in southern China among the Hakka in 1847 and through their writings of the various Chinese events involving the Hakka, especially the Taiping Revolution, they brought the Hakka to the attention of the Western world (Lamarre 2002). Kejia rendered in Cantonese is Cn. haak3 gaa1 and the kejia people pronounce it as Hk. hak1 ka1. Judging from the two pronunciations of kejia, it is quite clear that the Westerners created the appellation Hakka based on the Hakka pronunciation and not the Cantonese. This is to be expected because the missionaries were working mostly with the Hakka in South China. Over the years, there have been many new theories on how the present-day Hakka cultural group emerged, but the jury is still out as to which is the representative one. As I have stressed in the Introduction, this study is not meant to answer the question of who the Hakka are or where they came from but to study how the Hakka identity has been shaped and reshaped in the last two centuries and what it will look like in the future. Let us examine these theories which are still under debate to see if they hold any water. It has been suggested that kejia as a label for the cultural group, as we know it today, was formed Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 159 when Hakka migrated and interacted with the minority, non-Han groups in the mountains of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi. Leong Sow-Theng defines Hakka origins by bringing together the three elements of ethnicity, migration and macro systems, with which he developed a model (1997, 26). Using this model, Leong convincingly shows the beginning of the crystallization of Hakka identity on the southeast coast of China in the sixteenth century. He speaks of an ‘incubation period’ that was preceded by a long migrational history. Leong believed that the kejia label emerged in the Lingnan region i.e. the southern macroregions that consist mainly of the Provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi with bits of Tonkin (now Vietnam), Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi before being transmitted to the Mei and Ting basins (1997, 22 & 63). Jerry Norman argues that the absence of the footbinding custom in Hakka women is an indication of a non-Han ancestry (1989 [1986] and 1988b). He supported his claim further by using linguistic elements and suggested that the Hakka are sinicized She, who are considered to be non-Han. Also suggest- ing that the Hakka and She are connected is Chan Wing-hoi in his study of ethnic labels in a mountainous so-called She region. He argued that “the bulk of the She were none other than migrants from Tingzhou and Ganzhou who later become known as Hakka” (2006, 278). These theories have divided scholars and probably upset many Hakka, who consider themselves descendants of the Chinese. I believe that there may be some elements of historical truth in these theories but they are too simplistic in explanation because of the overlap of the history of the proto-Hakka, and the suggested timeframe for the formation or ‘incubation period’ of the Hakka as a cultural group is too big to be meaningful. Other complications include temporal issues such as the time that the others called the proto-kejia kejia may not necessarily be the same point in time when the proto-kejia referred to themselves as kejia. What we have to take into consideration is that there are four temporal stages to the genesis of the Hakka label as we use it today. Firstly, there was a period when they were the proto-kejia. The second and third phases are when they began to call themselves kejia or when others called them so. The fourth stage is the time when the missionaries first used the term Hakka as a label for the kejia in the mid-nineteenth century. Leong Sow-Theng pointed out that the term kehu (客户 guest household) was first used in the Tang census to designate non-residents, which might have included the proto-Hakka but it is a general term and not specifically referring to the Hakka social group. The first time that kejia was used to denote a cultural group is found in the Yong’an County Gazetteer (永安縣志 Yong’an 160 Chapter 5 xianzhi) in 1687, which reported that the county has many fine people whose ancestors arrived from the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian and the prefectures of Chaozhou and Huizhou in Guangdong four generations ago, and they are called kejia (客家 guest people) (1997, 65–66). Leong also cited the Jieyang Gazetteer of 1779 that reported in 1644 and 1646 that kezei (客賊 guest bandits) sporadically slaughtered and committed other crimes against the natives because they hated their different speech (ibid., 64). This could be a reference to an actual Hakka bandit group or to an outside group, who came to rob and steal and not necessarily the kejia. In 1925, during feuds between the locals and the Hakka, they were commonly referred to as kefei 客匪 (Hakka robbers) (ibid. 80). Liu Li-chuan (2001), in her studies of written materials from Sichuan, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and Southeast Asia, states that kejia first appeared during the reign of Kang Xi (1662–1722) and Qian Long (1711–1799) when the fourth waves of the Hakka migration took place. She claims that kejia was a form of address used by the natives to address the proto-Hakka and that it was after the Hakka-Punti War (1855–1867) that they embraced the appellation for themselves. This is obviously very late in the Hakka historical timeline. The migrational history of the Hakka also created some overlap in the timeline over the use of the kejia appellation. The jury is still out on the debate of how and when kejia came into being. Dongguan, where my ancestors came from, was first settled in the 1860s. According to Leong the Hakka were classified in the gazetteer with the Aborigines and they were also known as Min-Chao luiren (Fujian and Chaozhou itinerant) (1997, 65). In the 1689 edition of the Dongguanxian zhi 東莞縣志 (Gazetteer of Dongguan County), the natives referred to them as Hk. ngai lou (涯佬 ailiao), and in the 1720 as Hk. liu ngai 流涯 (Ngai itinerants). Leo Moser notes that the Hakka were called (1) Ngai (derived from ‘I’ or ‘me’); (2) Xinren (new people); and (3) Lairen (people who came from somewhere i.e. not local) (1985, 235). They were also known as keji 客籍 (guest in the population register) (Erbaugh 1977, 206). It is accepted that identity is not only constructed by what we think of ourselves but also what others think of us. In that vein, I would like to explore the Hakka word/sound Hk. ngai ʎ. By all accounts Hk. ngai is an important word in the Hakka psyche and language. It is the Hakka first person and translates as ‘I’ or ‘me’. It is not used by any other dialect groups or found in any Chinese dictionaries other than in vernacular lexicons referring to the Hakka.140 In some

140 Both the Zhongwen da chidian (1993) and Hanyu da cidian (1993) have no listing for ngai ʎ. See Xu and Miyata (1999, 4915–6) for listing of the ngai ʎ character. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 161 parts of Vietnam, Hakka still refer to themselves as Ngai people and not Hakka. Moser calls them ‘Tonkin Gulf Hakka’ and they are found mainly in the Quang Ninh Province of Vietnam (1985, 253). He notes that in 1977, many of the Ngai in Vietnam, claiming persecution, began moving back to China. Apparently, by mid-June of 1977, sixty percent of the Ngai in Quang Ninh Province had departed for China. A recent post in a Chinese History Forum by someone who claimed to be an American-born Chinese (ABC) of Vietnamese descent said, “They [parents] speak to me in Cantonese, but a few weeks ago I found out that both sides of my family originally spoke a dialect of Hakka Chinese which they call ‘Ngai’. The only thing I know is that it is spoken by the Chinese rural farm workers in Vietnam.”141 Leong S.T. notes that the natives of Dongguan and the Cantonese still called the Hakka Ngai well into the nineteenth century (1997, 65–66). No other words can get any closer to the Hakka psyche and because of that it also provides opportunities for attack and a source for ridicule. To insult the Hakka, the natives replace the human radical (亻) of the ngai character with the one of the dog 犭, rendering it as ʎ ai). This is supposed to show that the Hakka were only half human. The foreign-sounding Hakka language also provided ample opportunities for the others to make fun of them. The Hakka term Hk. mak kai, which means ‘what’ was also used to humiliate the Hakka by the other dialect groups. Up to until very recently, the Hokkien or Hainanese in Beruas still used it to tease the Hakka. They would interrupt a Hakka in mid-sentence by saying, “Hk. Mak kai, mak kai?” in a derogatory tone—to mean “do not speak to me in Hakka” even though they understood it perfectly. When the natives or Cantonese use ngai, it was a phonetic application and it could be written with the water radical (涯) if it was for a neutral reference to the Hakka or they could use the dog radical if they meant to insult. Both forms were used in the Dongguan Gazetteer, some of which must have been written by non-Hakka, who were not particularly friendly. When the Hakka wrote about themselves in the Hakka dialect, they employed the human radical ʎ. Even today, this character is seldom found in dictionaries except in vernacular lexicons. As with the term Hk. hak ka, which they ascribed to themselves, the Hakka also embraced Hk. ngai as their own despite the negative connotations inferred by the natives and Cantonese.142 The Hakka Museum in

141 Posted on 24th April, 2010. See http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/ 33729-hakka-in-vietnam/ (Retrieved on 12th December, 2010). 142 There is another ngai character with the hand radical 捱 (to endure hardship) that is quintessential in the Hakka vocabulary. See full discussion of the term in Chapter 6. 162 Chapter 5

Figure 4 The Hk. ngai ʎ character at the entrance of the Hakka Museum in Meizhou. Used with permission from Lean Yen Loong.

Meizhou, which was opened in 2008, has a huge character of Hk. ngai ʎ at the entrance to greet visitors. Hakka were also called lairen (來人 people who came) by the Zhuang minority 壯族. Leong Sow-Theng quotes the Xunzhou fuzhi 潯州府志 (Gazetteer of Xunzhou Prefecture) 1874 as reporting:

The Lai people (來人 lairen) are found in all four counties of Xunzhou prefecture, being especially numerous in Gui xian. They migrated here from Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi, for which reason they are called Lai. Because they habitually utter the sound ngai, they are called Ngai. Their customs are no different from those of other residents. However, the men and women are all engaged in farming, not shrinking from hardship, and are consequently able to double the yield from the land, compared to others. All the wealthy landowners prefer them as tenants. Although they dwell in solitary huts within the fields, without neighbours, their sentiment of ethnic solidarity ([族黨之一] zudang zhiyi) is Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 163

very strong. In an emergency, a hundred will respond to a call, arriving with spears and spades on their shoulders, fearless of death (1997, 67).

The formation and transformation of Hakka identity is also complicated by the shifting perception of the identity vis à vis the location and duration of stay. According to Leong, the ‘Hakka’ of the Gan basin never identify themselves as Hakka (ibid., 63). They call themselves bendi (本地 local). David Branner, in his research on the Hakka language, also notes that the “people of Wann’an [Wan’an] are called Hakka by Longyan people, but are generally not considered Hakka by the Hakkas of Shanqharng [Shanghang] 上杭 and neighbouring counties” (2000, 44). In Kwan Mun Hua in the New Territories, Nicole Constable notes that the Hakka called themselves bendi (usually rendered Punti) instead of Hakka (1997, 99). As early as in 1905, MacIver wrote in the introduction to his dictionary that a missionary friend of his, the Rev. M.C. Mackenzie, who was also working with the Hakka, wrote this to him: “In Kiangsi [Jiangxi] the word Hakka is not used to designate people. The word Pun-thi [Punti] is used, and Thu-va 土話 [tuhua] is used to designate the speech of the natives in contradistinction to Kwan-va [Hk. kwon va 官話 guanhua] the speech of the immigrant class.” If this is true, then the Hakka who had immigrated earlier were already called Punti (natives) and speaking the Punti dialect—in this case, Hakka. As seen above, the term bendi 本地 translated as ‘indigenous’ has become problematic. Bendi has been used by many scholars to designate the Cantonese vis à vis the Hakka as in the Hakka-Punti War. Early Hakka settlers in Malaysia and Hong Kong, after settling down for a suitable length of time referred to themselves as Bendi also. In Pusing, Malaysia, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, my maternal grandmother refers to herself as a Punti of Pusing. When someone arrived in the village, she would ask, “Hk. He m he pun thi ngin?” (Is s/he a local person?). By this this question, she made it clear that she considered herself Hk. pun thi (local inhabitant of the village) and the visitor would be an ‘outsider’. As such, bendi or Punti translated as indigenous is too limiting. All indigenous people are bendi but not all bendi are indigenous. I would prefer to translate bendi as ‘local’ for the Hakka case. Therefore, with time Punti or bendi became problematic as a label for a particular dialect or social group. It has a temporal issues and any group who had settled in a particular place long enough can make the claim. It is interesting to compare the use of benturen 本土人 as mentioned by Elizabeth Johnson. She said that the Hakka villagers of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories referred 164 Chapter 5 to themselves as benturen instead of bendiren, which is used for early settlers of the New Territories who spoke Cantonese (1997, 80). Being bendi or bentu in Hong Kong has important status as indigenous settlers of the New Territories before the British lease of 1898. At this point, the debate on whether Hakka appellation or identity is self- ascribed or ascribed by others is just academic. The long incubation period of Hakka genesis contributed to the problem of trying to date it. We can accept that Hakka identity has been transformed and reformed into whatever form served their purposes all through Hakka history. Based on anthropological, ethnological and cultural studies alone, there is very little chance that we will ever arrive at a consensus about who the Hakka are or where they came from but genetic studies might bring us closer.

3 The Hakka Genetic Debate

Interest in the genetic make-up of the Chinese in the 1980s led to numerous studies both in and outside of China. Regardless of whether they are studies on genetic markers such as HLA, immunoglobulins, blood groups, glucose- 6-phosphate dehydrogenase or microsatellites, they all show very clearly that the northern and southern Chinese are genetically different.143 Recent studies have shown that the peoples of North China are more closely related genetically to their northern neighbors outside present-day China than they are to the peoples of south China. The peoples of south China are, in turn, more closely related to their southern neighbors in Southeast Asia than they are to the northern Chinese (Wilkinson 2000, 709). A study on Chinese surnames and genetic differences between north and south China also separated the southern Chinese from the northern Chinese (Du R.F. et al. 1992, 29). Further studies by Du Roufu and Yuan Yida using aggre- gative analysis performed on the relative isonymy of the seven dialect zones (the North, Jiangxi, Hunan, Wu, Hakka, Fujian and Guangdong) shows that the Hakka zone aggregates with the North, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Wu zones, while the Guangdong and Fujian dialect zones aggregate to compose a separate branch (1995, 182–183). The seminal work on the history and geography of the human gene by Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza states that the Hakka who migrated to Taiwan came from central and southern China in the nineteenth

143 See Lin M. (2001), et al. for list of these studies, which include studies by Shaw C.K., et al. (1999), Tokunaga K. (1996), Chen R.B. (1986), Matsumoto H. (1988), and Chen R.B. (1992), just to name a few. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 165 century (1994, 235). Many studies on the Hakka indicated that the Hakka, like the other dialect groups has become a ‘southern group’ after having settled in the Hakka heartland for a suitable length of time but the Hakka have always professed that their ancestors were from the north. The debates continue in Hakka forums and chat rooms. The confidence of those who championed Hakka’s northern origin was shaken when more and more linguist-scholars supported the theory that the Hakka language has southern origin rather than northern.144 But this does not mean that the Hakka are from the south because language is one of the most mutable markers of any cultural group. The belief that Hakka have northern origin took a real tumble when some genetic studies began to show that Hakka were southerners. Then good news came from a study in 2002 that was specifically designed to determine the origin of Hakka, using Y-SNP haplotype distribution. The study shows that “Hakka is clustered strongly with the Han in Northern China . . . Admixture analysis revealed the relative genetic contribution to be 80.2% (Han), 13% (She) and 6.8% (Kam) in Hakka . . . We therefore concluded that genetically the majority of the Hakka gene pool came from Northern Han with She contributing the most among all non-Han groups” Li H. et al. (2002). As for the Hakka language, they concluded that it may have its origin in the languages spoken by Southern Aborigines. In 2004, Bo Wen and his colleagues provided evidence supporting the demic diffusion hypothesis for the expansion of Chinese culture. Firstly, they show that “almost all Han populations bear a high resemblance in Y-chromosome haplogroup distribution, and the result of principal component analysis indicated that almost all Han populations form a tight cluster in their Y-chromosome. Second[ly], the estimated contribution of northern Han to southern Han is substantial in both paternal and maternal lineages and a geographic cline exists for mtDNA.” They also note that the expansion process southward was dominated by males, as is shown by a greater contribution to the Y-chromosome than the mtDNA from northern Chinese to southern Chinese. Genetically, it shows that Bo Wen et al.’s first three waves of migration also coincided with Luo’s first three waves of Hakka migration. However, it is important to note that the first three waves of Chinese movement down south are not exclusively Hakka. It is a general population shift. Bo Wen et al.’s results were confirmed by a study of three different dialect populations (Chaoshan, Cantonese and Hakka) in Guangdong Province. The study concluded that both the Cantonese and Hakka populations show more gene flow from the southern natives in the maternal lineage, implying that the south-migrating males

144 For a detailed study of the Hakka language, see Chapter 6 (Hakka Language). 166 Chapter 5 married local women (Li X.Y. 2010). Their genetic observation is thus in line with the historical accounts, which shows that “there were continuous southward movements of Han people due to warfare and famine in the north, as illustrated by three waves of large-scale migrations. . . . Aside from these three waves, other smaller southward migrations also occurred during almost all periods in the past two millennia” (Bo Wen et al. 2004, 304). Similarly, using non-recombinant Y-chromosome (NRY) phylogeny in their study of evolution and migration of the Chinese population, Wei Deng et al. show that both population structure processes and historical events indicated vast migrations and extensive ethnical admixture, which played important roles in shaping the Chinese population (2004, 343–345). They also added that the evolution of the Chinese population and their subsequent migration is in accordance with the historical records after agricultural expansion (ibid., 346–347). In 2007, a headline on the front page of the Taipei Times shocked both Hakka and Hoklo alike. It read: “Most Hoklo [and] Hakka Have Aboriginal Genes, Study Finds”. According to Mari Lin, director of the DNA study of non- aboriginal ethnic Taiwanese, eighty-five percent of Hoklo and Hakka people have aboriginal ancestry (Hu C.H., 2007). Two years later, in 2009, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) published the first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese that reveals a one-dimensional ‘north-south’ population structure and a close correlation between geography and the genetic structure of the Chinese. This north-south population structure is consistent with the historical migration pattern of the Chinese population. With this genetic map, the GIS scientists were able to show that “the northern inhabitants of China were genetically distinguishable from those in the south, a finding that seems very consistent with the Han Chinese’s historical migration pattern” (Chen J.M. 2009). After the publication of their findings, in an interview with the national paper of Singapore, Liu Jianjun, who led the human genetics group, said that while a majority of the Han Chinese in Singapore are from the Cantonese and Teochew dialect groups, “a third group—the Hakkas— also have ‘residual DNAs’ that showed they could be from north China” (Tan J. 2009). The champions of north-origin were delighted by this ‘scientific proof’ and they offer it as concrete evidence that “the Hakka people did indeed originate from northern China.” This news was announced in forums and blogs on the Internet and they felt vindicated. A year later, came another confusing report in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, which published a study on mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) of 170 Hakka from Meizhou. It reveals that Hakka show closer affinity with southern Chinese than with Northern Chinese Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 167 populations (Wang W.Z. 2010). While the geneticists continued to argue, the linguists joined in the debates. Many linguists believe that the Hakka language has been influenced to the point where southern elements predominate now. This is to be expected over the long period of cultural exchange, as with many languages. As Bo Wen et al. summarized, “The massive movement of the northern immigrants led to a change in genetic makeup in southern China, and resulted in the demographic expansion of Han people as well as their culture. Except for these massive population movements, gene flow between northern Han, southern Han and southern natives also contributed to the admixture which shaped the genetic profile of the extant populations” (2004). To sum up the arguments, present Hakka are now genetically admixed with traces of northern origin and their language dominated by southern elements. This development can also be seen in their music. Alan Thrasher states that musically, the Hakka are associated with the eight beats 八板 baban which is the northern form (i.e., from Henan and Shandong), while the six beats 六板 liuban is the southern form (‘southern’ in this context meaning central-eastern China). Thrasher’s studies show that baban is the prevailing form mostly among the Chaozhou and Hakka (2008, 123). Assuming that the Hakka have preserved their musical traditions (the baban) from the place of its origin and brought it south, this will infer that the Hakka had settled in Henan and Shandong at some point in their migrational history. In describing Hakka music, Thrasher maintained that Hakka music has preserved many basic elements of the old ideology. “These include notions of performing a ‘refined music’, deliberate choice of tensionless modes, emphasis upon the older layer of musical instruments (e.g. zheng, pipa and xiao), and conscious association with literally and socially-harmonious ideals (manifest in titles and aesthetics), cooperative interactions, and decorous performance demeanor. Musicians say that this style of music represents the ideology of the Confucian scholar” (2008, xii). If we accept the view that Hakka do have northern origins (say Henan), the next question is “Where were they before that?” The next area of study should be to find out if there is any link between the Hakka and the “Barbarians”, prin- cipally the Xiongnu. One of the ways to find out is to take Xiongnu archaeological DNA samples, of which there are many judging by the finds of archaeological digs in Mongolia145 and compare them to Hakka from the Hakka heartland (older female Hakka from remote villages) where the families have settled over

145 See Conference papers on Xiongnu from archaeological excavations in Mongolia (Bemmann, ed., 2009); Miller, et al. (2008); and Jones and Joseph (2008). 168 Chapter 5 a long period of time and have less chance of ‘contamination’ in the gene pool, using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing. I wish to stress that DNA studies will not be able to ‘prove’ who the Hakka are. At best, it can only show biological connections or the route of their migration. In the end it is the cultural construct that gives them their identity and not the DNA because as soon as the Hakka find themselves in a new cultural context, their cultural identity is altered somewhat. Hakka cultural and genetic history has reached a state in the twenty-first century, which makes Hakka identity problematic. It is the cultural experiences, both innate (e.g. ancestry) and acquired, that are passed on to the next generation and from there they form their own cultural and personal identities.

4 Hakka Identity

The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy describes Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling’s (1775–1854) identity philosophy as: “The absolute identity is the unconditional identity of the subject and the object, Idea and Being, Ideal and Real both at once, immediately posited and not discreetly. As immediate knowledge of the absolute, this system of identity is distinguished from what Schelling calls ‘common sense understanding’.”146 The Webster’s Dictionary sums it up as “a monistic philosophical theory that rejects any ultimate bifur- cation into spirit and nature or subject and object and finds fundamental unity in the Absolute.” It also lists one of the definitions for identity as “the condition of being the same with something described, claimed, or asserted or of pos- sessing a character claimed,” (1993, 1123), which gives the sense that identity arises from shared experience and perceived belongingness. Hakka identity fits into some of the definitions but also tangents off from others. So, what does Hakka identity look like in the twenty-first century? Hakka identity in the early twentieth century took a real beating when attempts were made to exclude them from the Chinese family. Just to reiterate, in 1905, a textbook, written by a Cantonese on ethnic purity in the Guangdong Province states that the Hakka were “not of the Han racial stock”. Fifteen years later, the Hakka was called one of the “many wild tribes and backward people . . .” in the Wolcott Affair in 1920. Again, the Hakka rallied and they were ‘accepted back’ into the Chinese family. These incidents created not only ontological anxiety for the Hakka but they also made Hakka identity problematic for others. The problem persisted, especially when the Hakka moved to

146 See http://www.iep.utm.edu/schellin/#SH2b (Retrieved on 7th October, 2011). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 169 another part of the world with a different culture, where the Hakka identity went through another remaking. For a long time, Hakka identity was frozen in stereotypes—like a period movie—with the typical disdain from the non-Hakka and chauvinism by the Hakka themselves. Images of poor, contentious, pioneering, and fearless stereotypes persisted. James Davidson (1872–1933), American Consul for Taiwan from 1897 to 1906, wrote that in China, “they were considered as out- casts . . . and although industrious, they were driven from place to place and, like the Jews, possessed no land they could call their own. To other classes of mainland Chinese, with their exaggerated views of ancestral worship, the Hakkas were but little better than barbarians and were considered fit subjects for persecution” (1903, 8). Ellsworth Huntington (1876–1947), a Geography professor at Yale with an interest in Asia, observed that the Hakka were still seen by the Cantonese as a “barbarous, degraded set of people, little better than bandits, who take no care of their women and who are a danger to everyone else . . . [but] in Singapore, Siam, Formosa, and the Dutch Indies the Hakka coolies are considered competent . . . The Hakka merchants come down likewise. The fact is that the Hakkas are an uncommonly able people who little by little are moving out of their mountain home and displacing the coastal people . . . That is why they are feared and reviled” (1924, 167). Huntington also heard first hand from missionaries who had lived among the Hakka: A Mr. Spiker told him that the Hakka are “the cream of the Chinese people.” The missionaries backed up their opinions with examples such as: “Hakkas are almost the only real Chinese who take daily baths and have never practiced foot-binding. Their women not only are unusually pretty, but are held in unusual respect” (ibid., 168). It appears that the Hakka was and is still a work in progress. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Hakka were lauded by Western writers for not inflicting the ‘evil custom’ of foot-binding on their women. However, missionaries working in China perceived the Hakka as oppressed, living in wretched poverty and a people ready for salvation. In Malaya, the colonial powers seldom distinguished them from the other dialects except when they went to court. From the 1930s and 1940s, there was hardly anything written about them, except for novels like Ah Sin: A Factual Novel of the Hakka Chinese by Sherman Nagel, a missionary. The most widely- read novel that portrays Hakka protagonists in all their stereotyped characteristics is Hawaii by James Michener, published in 1959. Its portrayal of the Hakka caught the imagination of the Western readers. For a long time thereafter, many Westerners claimed that they knew who the Hakka were because they had read Hawaii. (This was in the pre-Internet days). No doubt, this is 170 Chapter 5 another kind of Hakka identity that is imagined, idealized and stereotyped by the West—by the others. Historically, all these observations have some grains of truth in them. It just depends on who the observers are and the roles they played in the Chinese community. As such, some of these traits might have been correct at some point in time but what is interesting is that many of these images have persisted to this day. Thus, ‘being Hakka’ was and is still very complex. Identity is essentialized for Chinese migrants—more so for the Hakka because migration is such an important part of their history. As Nicole Constable notes, “Hakka identity cannot be adequately understood through an essentialist approach, but must be viewed as having been constructed through the telling and retelling of history” (1994, 76). Thus, it forces the Hakka to rethink their identity, whether it is claimed, ascribed or appropriated, as an individual or as a social group, everywhere and every time they migrate. Ethnological studies are reassessing the concept of ‘identity’ and these studies contribute to our understanding of the transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity. While ethnological studies may offer us a bigger ontological picture and provide us with historical and contemporary perspectives of a society at large, identity studies, outside of the anthropological and ethnographical confines, seems to imply a wider understanding of identity as a personal concept. Furthermore, according to Letty Chen (2006, 19) and Orlando Patterson (1980, 62), identity is culture-based and therefore to some extent it is innate, whereas ethnicity is constructed. Hakka identity is based on ancestry and shared history, which means that it is innate. It is also constructed at the same time because of place affinity, timing, and their social and cultural interactions with others. Melissa Brown, in her book, provocatively entitled “Is Taiwan Chinese?” notes that anthropological definition of identity is steeped in theories, borders, limits, and other constraints. She claims that,

identity is based on social experience, not cultural ideas or ancestry; cultural meanings and social power constitute two distinct, though inter- acting, systems that affect human behavior and societies differently; demographic forces such as migration affect human behavior and societies in yet another way; and human cognition—both cognitive structure and decision-making process—mediate the influences of culture, power and demographic conditions (2004, xi).

Brown has also shown in her case studies that “identities must be negotiated; they are not simply a matter of choice, because identity formation in Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 171 individuals and groups derives from their interaction with the social and cultural context in which they live” (ibid., 13). The fluid and dynamic definition of identity means that its relevance needs to be reassessed for the twenty-first century. Identity like ethnicity has become ambiguous, open and inclusive in today’s globalized social structure. Hakka identity has been evolving differently all over the world depending on the country they adopted to settle and the time they landed.147 Hakka identity in China differs from that experienced in Malaysia, Australia or Jamaica. Offspring of Hakka immigrants in Jamaica reshaped their Hakka identity to function better in the Jamaican environment. This unique Jamaican Hakka identity was again re-reshaped when they immigrated to Canada and the USA in the 1970s and 1980s.148 Similarly, Hakka in Calcutta developed a distinct indianized Hakka identity to suit the Indian socioscape and after their re-emigration to Canada, they had to adapt and re-invent their Hakka identity (again) (Oxfeld 1998, 1993). Hakka in Taiwan, though sharing many of the same cultural markers such as ancestry, migration, language, food, mountain songs, gender roles, traits that include diligence, frugality etc., have also developed a special Taiwanese Hakka identity because over “the centuries, the people of Taiwan have also lived through a tortuous search for their collective identity. They have been enmeshed in a century-long struggle with state-sponsored cultural programmes, from ‘desinicization’ at the early stage of colonial rule to ‘japanization’ at the subsequent stage, and to ‘re-sinicization’ under the KTM rule” (Chu Y.H. 2001, 129). Thus, Hakka identity in Taiwan is influenced directly by this century-long process of identity-searching and in conjunction with that process they have developed their own special brand of Taiwanese Hakka identity. Taiwanese Hakka identity is different from those in Southeast Asia because of the diverse cultural, political and economic environments. In the 1990s, it digressed further during the discourses on ‘Multicultural Taiwan’. When the idea of a ‘multicultural Taiwan’ gained acceptance, the dialogues on multiculturalism based on ‘The Four Ethnic Groups’ strongly influenced the ways in which the Hakka defined their identity in Taiwan. Wang Li-rong notes that

147 For discussions on the Hakka identity in various part of the globe, see the seminal volume edited by Constable (2006). See also Carstens (2005) in Malaysia; Oxfeld (1993, 1996, 1998, and 2005) in India; Constable (1996) for Christianity and Hakka identity; Cohen (2010, 1993 and 1990), Hsiao and Lim (2007) and Christiansen (1998) in Taiwan; Lim and Hsiao (2009), and Lazoda (2009) on Hakka identity in cyberspace; Fat (2009a) in Surinam; etc. 148 For a detailed study of how Caribbean and Indian Hakka reshaped their Hakka identity in Toronto, see Chiu S.S. (2003). 172 Chapter 5 the “process of transition from ‘Chinese Nobles’ to ‘Taiwanese Hakkas’ presents some valuable insights into how ethnic Hakkas choose and reconstitute their identity in Taiwan” (2005, 2). There is no question that Hakka identity is different and shifting in Hakka communities around the world and in every generation. After the Hakka migrated to Malaya, they tried to hold on to their Hakka identity, but this traditional identity was challenged by forces such as the nationalism of the Malays and their concern that they should be identified as Chinese rather just being Hakka—especially after the Chinese sojourners became citizens of Malaya. In order to partake in national politics and to champion their rights in a new nation they came together under the ‘Chinese’ umbrella vis-à-vis the Malays and Indians.149 Malaysian politics is based on race and dialects play no role. Beruas like all the other New Villages “have no leverage within the pon- derous bureaucracy and must submit passively to the structure it imposes” (Strauch 1981, 19). As a result, politically, the Beruas Hakka, as a group had a limited role in Malaysian politics. All dialect groups were lumped together as Chinese as opposed to Malays or Indians and they exerted their political influence as such.150 However, the new villages as a whole played an important role in the history of the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association).151 The formation of the MCA in February 1949 dispelled the myth that Chinese were apolitical or supporters of the communist movement. The MCA “linked up Chinese concerns with mainstream Malaysian nationalist developments; forged a political alliance with the premier Malay party, the UMNO; brought Chinese influence to bear upon the Independence Constitution; and obtained citizenship rights which ensured the Chinese community a legitimate political role in independent Malaya” (Koon 1988, 251). After the Chinese associations network, the New Villages provided the second major source of membership for the MCA. By the mid-1970s, the MCA had lost grass-root support because of infighting and political malaise. Generally, the rural Chinese felt they were not represented enough, especially in education and the freedom to do business.

149 For the social and ideological origins of the Malaysian Chinese Associations, see Heng (1983). 150 For a detailed analysis of the Chinese in Malaysian politics and the history of the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) up to the 1980s, see Koon (1988). For a summary of the politics of the Chinese in Malaysia after independence, see Lee K.H. (2008). 151 For an in-depth study of the administration, leadership and political structure of a typical new village, see Strauch (1981). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 173

Over the years, the MCA realized that the New Villages had been neglected and the villagers had been shifting their loyalties to the opposition. By the 1980s, the Chinese of Malaysia had achieved true indigenization of their politics but they were also, as Chinese, increasingly becoming marginalized in every aspect of life (Koon 1988, 277). The older BGH felt the political turmoil around them and the younger ones internalized their experience and disdain for the ineffectual Chinese politics. This contributed to their decision to emigrate and those already overseas not to return. Democracy was also an issue but it was their children’s future that caused them to emigrate.152 Beruas has traditionally supported the opposition. During my last visit to Beruas in 2013 just before the 13th General Election, the ruling UMNO was handing out cash gifts to the villagers but it did not help them to win their hearts or votes. Economically, being Hakka in Beruas had no special advantages either. Through to the 1980s, the Beruas Hakka were subsistence farmers, small market gardeners, rubber-tappers, owners of small businesses such as vegetable, pork or fish stalls in the wet market and small sundry shops or stalls selling snacks of fruit and iced drinks. Hakka women earned extra money by selling home-made cakes and buns as breakfast fare or set up stalls selling noodles and other home-made food. The few better-off Hakka owned the pawnshop, the medical hall, small sundry retail stalls and the tinsmith shop, which are seen as traditional Hakka occupations. The three coffee-shops were owned by Hainanese and the two richest and biggest sundry shops were owned by Hokkien and Cantonese families. The saw-mill, situated between the Town and New Village, was owned by a Cantonese family; the rubber dealerships belonged to the Hainanese and Teochew. These professions in Beruas follow dialect-occupational-typing. The wet-market has stalls for vegetables and fish and they were run mostly by the Hakka. Beruas economic life shows that the Hakka were more involved in agricultural and small enterprises rather than businesses that required large capital investment and these social and occupational profiles strengthen Hakka identity in Beruas. In her study, Wong Wei Chin points out how being Hakka in Southeast Asia is perceived in the classification process of the Chinese in British Malaya (2009) and Michael Hsiao and Lim Khay Thiong have demonstrated how structural limitations imposed by historical, social and political factors affect the Hakka identity in Southeast Asia (2007). Another study by Chang Hanbi and Chang Weian (2005) on Hakka identity and social visibility, conducted on overseas Hakka students at the National Central University in Taipei, shows that

152 For a more detailed and analytical discussion on the crisis within the MCA Party that caused the demise of the Perak Task Force, see Strauch (1981, 147–159). 174 Chapter 5 the Hakka identity of the young adult generation in the first decade of the twenty-first century though not totally unidentifiable, is un-manifested. This study confirms that the degree of dehakkalization increases with each generation and the process is strongest among the global Hakka—as demonstrated by my case study. Hakka identity has been reshaped and remade by the social, political and economic status of the country they are born in or have migrated to and each generation remakes their Hakka identity to suit their environment and lifestyle. Since Hakka language is such an important element of Hakka identity, it is important to look at how the shifting concept of identity affects language and vice versa. In trying to locate identity in language, Mary Buchlotz and Kira Hall define identity as “the social positioning of self and the other”. What Buchlotz and Hall offer is a general socio-cultural linguistic perspective on identity i.e. “the broad interdisciplinary field concerned with the intersection of language, culture and society” (2009, 18). Carmen Llamas and Dominic Watt see identity as “the constructed product of inter-subjective interaction [that] provides a framework structured around the principles of emergence, positionality, index- icality, relationality and partialness” (2010, 3). Therein lies the problem. Not only are the definitions varied and open but many of the earlier studies on the Hakka assumed that the Hakka language is ‘homogeneous’ and Hakka identity monolithic. Identity studies have diversified into areas such as race, nation, ethnicity, community, culture, gender, language and other social criteria. As Allen Chun pointed out, identity is not a state but a process and a “function of ongoing, changing geopolitical spaces” (2009). This was further elaborated by Stevan Harrell, who states that identity transformation has always been complex because “intermarriages, migration and changes in habits and customs from one generation to the next have led individuals, families and sometimes a whole community to change their identity from something else” (1996, 7). Nothing is truer for Hakka identity. Here are some examples of families who were something else before becoming Hakka and others who were Hakka but became members of another dialect group. A sixth generation Hainanese informant claims that her family was Hakka from Jiangxi before they migrated to Hainan. She said that her family’s Hainanese genealogical records started only from the time they arrived in Hainan in the 1850s. Another record of her clan, kept in China, shows that her first Hainanese ancestor was actually the youngest brother of a Hakka who moved from Sichuan to Jiangxi. Her family members in Hainan still travel to Jiangxi for the Hakka clan meetings. She calls herself Hainanese but she is also proud that her ancestors are Hakka. She said there is no conflict for her as it is all part of her family history. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 175

Other cases of Hakka changing sides could also be found in Taiwan. In his comprehensive study of the rites of secondary burial, performed in South Taiwan, Timothy Tsu suspects that his Min speaking informants who performed these rites were of Hakka descent because secondary burial is a Hakka custom. He said, “Although the present villagers claim Southern Fujian (Hokkien) ancestry, their claim is difficult to validate historically” (1998, 3). Similarly, Hsu Jiaming showed that a group of Hakka allowed themselves to be ‘hoklorized’ so that they could band together with Zhangzhou Hokkien immigrants in a ritual sphere in opposition to neighboring Quanzhou Hokkien immigrants (1973). The above cases show that Hakka identity can be denied, selective and elastic for personal or group agendas. In narrating his family history, F.S. Choo wrote about the experiences of four generations of his traditional Hakka family in Sarawak, Borneo, covering the period 1850–1965. He starts the story with his great-grandfather, who migrated from China in the early 1850’s to work in the gold mines of West Borneo. It charts the family’s travails and road to fortune in the present-day state of Sarawak. He does not say what his ancestors were except that they came from the north and kept moving southwards. During the Ming, they moved from Fujian to Guangdong into “the poorer and less developed areas populated by people of the Hakka dialect . . . became assimilated into the Hakka way of life . . . after . . . a few generations, they not only became Hakka themselves, [but] they had their own Hakka clan with their own clan villages and hamlets” (2009, 102–103). The second example of how one can ‘become’ a Hakka was gleaned from a public chat on the Internet. A Hakka from India posted in a forum that his family has been Hakka for two hundred years. Someone asked, “How can one’s family become something else?” and the reply was that two hundred years ago, his family was Fujianese but “some guy married a Hakka person and they had kids; they grew up and then they married a Hakka person and then they had kids and the cycle goes on, till 200 years later I’m here [as a Hakka].”153 This shows that Hakka identity is not only unfixed, but it can be appropriated. The above examples of ‘Hakka identity appropriation’ are natural progressions in the processes of gradual cultural assimilation and integration. However, the modern ‘Hakka identity appropriation’ is demonstrated by the Malaysian Cantonese singer Mr. Yu Tian Long (b. 1970), who sings in Hakka and is embraced by the Hakka as one of their own. Based on Letty Chen’s argument that the quest for one’s cultural identity is in every way a search for self-identity (2006, 3), and given that identity,

153 A chat started on 24 March 2006 http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?show topic=69118 (Retrieved on 22nd May, 2009). 176 Chapter 5 both personal and collective, is formed in the material reality in which we live (McIntosh 2005a, 271), is self-identity enough to claim Hakka identity? Is a Hakka a Hakka because the person thinks they are or is a person a Hakka because another person or a public authority calls them so? Assuming the report that Naomi Campbell (Frankel 2002) has one eighth Hakka ancestry is true, will she be allowed to call herself a Hakka or will the Hakka accept her claim? Is a person from another dialect group or a Westerner adopted by a Hakka family, i.e. speaking the Hakka language, practicing Hakka traditions and customs considered a Hakka? Mr. Ray Chew Keng Yong (1954–2011) from Beruas had always proudly considered himself a Hakka before he found out that he was adopted from a Fuchow family. He said that it did not change his feelings as a Hakka even after he was told of his origins. A Caucasian American, ‘adopted’ by a Hakka family, who attended the International Hakka Conference in Longyan, Fujian in 2000, proudly declared himself to be a Hakka. The last two scenarios show that one does not have to have blood ancestry to assume Hakka identity. Nowadays, a person’s identity has many levels. Being Hakka is part of a Chinese identity. Hakka identity used to be non-negotiable. The Hakka identity of a person in the mid-nineteenth century with two Hakka parents, living in a Hakka village in the Hakka heartland, speaking the dialect, and participating in the same Hakka customs and traditions passed down for generations—like the great, great, great grandfathers of the BGH in their ancestral village—cannot be challenged. They have a traditional Hakka identity but this cannot be said of the overseas Hakka. Hakka identity becomes problematic once it moves out of its traditional confines. As the examples above have shown, identity is a difficult thing to define and quantify. History identified the Hakka as different from the other dialect groups by using distinct cultural markers such as: language, gender roles, architecture, attires, and traits, such as diligence, frugality, clannishness, fearlessness, pioneering spirit, predisposition to migrate, and artistic expression. As Hakka identity all over the world was and is still being transformed and reformed in the ongoing, changing geopolitical spaces, keeping Hakka cultural identity in the twenty-first century is an uphill battle because there are so many different identities that a person can adopt. Take for example one of the BGH who immigrated to Australia. Before the migration, the person was a Malaysian Chinese of Hakka descent—being Malaysian was the primary identity, Chinese secondary and Hakka tertiary. After arriving in Australia and receiving his citizenship, he is an (1) Australian first, (2) Malaysian-born second, (3) Chinese third, (4) and of Hakka descent fourth. If he becomes a Christian he can identify himself as (1) Australian, (2) Chinese, (3) Malaysian-born, (4) Christian, Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 177

(5) of Hakka descent. The primary identity before emigration has become third after immigration and the Hakka identity keeps get pushed further back or the person might choose to elasticize or employ flexibility in proclaiming his Hakka identity. As such, identity can be taken as a changing commodity and it appears that, in general, as a person takes on more current identities their Hakka identity is being marginalized further. Another factor that contributed to the general erosion of the Hakka identity is social mobility. The upward social mobility of the Hakka is one of the biggest contributors to the marginalization of Hakka identity that goes as far back as the nineteenth century. Han Suyin, an Eurasian of Hakka descent, reports that after her family in Sichuan moved up the feudal hierarchy of China to become landed gentry, they “began to wear silk and read literature; soon their sons were competing in the provincial examinations. No longer did they marry large- footed hardworking women from the ancestral district of Meihsien [Meixian]; their brides were small, pale, had bound feet, and seldom left the house . . . By the end of the nineteenth century only traces of the original Hakka dialect lingered among the older members of the family, my father’s generation no longer spoke it” (1956, 29). A more recent example in which Hakka identity is marginalized by social mobility is revealed by Walton Look Lai in his study of the images and identity of the Chinese in West Indian history. He concluded that “increasingly, local-born Chinese [a high proportion being Hakka] professionals are finding themselves thrust into positions of major decision-making in the region . . . [it] signals a new departure in societal attitudes, a transition from relative mar- ginality and peripheral status to one of growing centrality and significance to nation-building effort . . . it is clear that the century-long passage from foreign sugar worker to peripheral minority petite bourgeoisie to prized multicultural citizen represent a new stage of self-identification in the transition from sojourner to settler in these young and still growing societies of the Caribbean region” (2005, 75). Another interesting development in Hakka identity is between overseas local-born Hakka and the newly arrived Hakka immigrants in Suriname. Hakka identity in Suriname has a premium because being ‘Chinese’ and ‘Hakka’ are often used as near synonyms (Fat 2009a, 50). Chineseness has been appropriated by the Hakka by way of history and their economic power in Suriname. Paul Fat Tjon Sie notes that up to the 1990s, almost all Chinese in Suriname were Hakka and they could trace their ancestry back to the Hakka from the Huidong’an 惠東安 region on the Hong Kong periphery near Dongguan. In the past, with few Huidong’an women immigrants, the Chinese men married local women and their local-born offspring were called Hk. lai ap (泥鴨 / 178 Chapter 5

坭鴨, lit. ‘mud duck’).154 Since the 1990s, there has been tension between the Surinamese Hakka and the new Chinese immigrants (NCI) or new immigrants (新移民 xinyimin)—a term coined by PRC authorities to refer to the renewed emigration following economic reforms in China (Wang G.W. 2004). The new immigrants see Suriname as the ‘stopover- or transit-country’ before they re- emigrate to the next country of their choice. The Hk. lai ap/ tong ap versus the new Chinese immigrants altercations arose because the settled Surinamese Hakka present themselves as the elite, hardworking settlers and see the new immigrants (both Hakka and non-Hakka) as poor foreigners out to take advantage of them. Nonetheless, Hakka identity in the ‘superiority guise’ and their role as care-takers of the Chineseness of Suriname has been challenged by these new immigrants. As in Suriname, this altercation between local-born settled Hakka and new immigrants is being repeated in Panama because of the dramatic demographic shift caused by this influx of new Chinese immigrants. Most of the recent immigrants came from the Hakka dialect group and hence there is a cultural reconstruction of the Panamanian ‘Hakka identity’. In 2005, Hakka were said to make up about fifty percent of the total Chinese population. Settled and acculturated (and usually also having moved up the social ladder) Panamanian Chinese accused the new Hakka immigrants of ruining their hard-earned reputation as honest, hardworking, respectable and law-abiding citizens. They felt that their reputation had been tainted by these new immigrants and feared being associated with the mafias, criminals, etc. They lamented that “. . . people don’t trust the Chinese as much anymore”. The dynamics between the settled Hakka population and the new immigrants has changed and so has Hakka identity—self-ascribed or ascribed by others. Siu Lok C.D.’s assertion that the “ideas of belonging to a ‘Chinese’ community are not universally defined, but locally determined and historically contingent” (2005, 156–158) describes the Panamanian Hakka case precisely. Malaysians and Singaporeans speak English in a way that can be easily recognized by each other. When a BGH meets other Malaysians or Singaporeans, they will first enquire where their hometown is, followed by what dialect they belong to. As for encounters with other nationalities, they introduce

154 According to Paul Fat Tjon Sie, “Lai ap is the name of a type of duck, the offspring of a male fan’ap (lit. ‘foreign duck,’ a large land duck that was introduced from Southeast Asia) and a female tong’ap (‘Chinese duck’, a local pond duck). As a metaphor for ‘human hybrids,’ lai’ap is like ‘mulatto,’ which is derived from Spanish/Portuguese mulatto (from mulo, meaning ‘baby mule’)” (2009a, 53), Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 179 themselves first as Malaysian Chinese, to differentiate themselves from the Mainland Chinese or other overseas Chinese. Dialect identification only comes into play if they meet other overseas Chinese from Malaysia or Singapore. Bar one, the BGH never mentioned their Hakka identity to their Caucasian friends unless they specifically ask about it. Hakka identity for the Beruas global Hakka is a secondary issue in their host-countries. Global Hakka in the older age group expressed sentiments for their Hakka identity but at the same time they are resigned to the fact that their offspring will have little to do with being Hakka. In general, the younger generation of Hakka feels that being a Hakka is a personal choice and it is quite irrelevant to a successful future. Despite cultural markers and cross-cultural marking, Hakka identity is still a problem. Even as recently as 2000, the confusion of who the Hakka are continued. Yuan Bingling argues that the Hakka are not the majority in West Borneo because she considered only Hakka from Meixian and Dabu as bona fide Hakka and rejected those from Fengshun 豐順, Hepo 河婆, Haifeng 海豐, and Lufeng 陸豐 as Hakka. She asserted that those Hakka from Fengshun, Hepo, Haifeng and Lufeng, known as Hk. phan san hak (半山客 banshanke half- or mid-mountain Hakka) are only half Hakka i.e. ‘half Hakka, half Hoklo’ (2000, 30). Mary Heidhues points out Yuan’s erroneous assumption that all people of Lufeng, Haifeng, Fengshun and Hepo are Hoklos (Teochiu). She further adds that “It is [S.H.] Schaank who distinguishes them [Hakkas from the Hoklos], by drawing on what people around Monterado, Lara, and Lumar called themselves; they were Hakkas from Teochiu area” (2003, 36, n67). Leo Moser considers Hakka in Lufeng and Haifeng to be ‘true Hakka’ from the third-wave migration (1985, 252). I agree with Mary Heidhues assessment that Yuan’s interpretation of banshanke to mean ‘half-Hakka’ is erroneous. My understanding is that banshanke refers to a Hakka, who lives half-way up the mountains. Hakka occupied the mountainous areas when they arrived in the south of China. For easier identification, they situated their villages in relation to the mountains around them i.e. half-way up the mountain or over the mountains (過山客 guoshanke). It might happen that these locations are also in the Hoklo areas but it does not mean that they are not Hakka. Another example in which Hakka used mountains to situate their dwelling places is the naming of the location where the Hakka first settled in Penang in the mid-eighteen century. They called it 浮羅山背 fuluo shanbei which means ‘at the back of the mountains of the pulau’ (or Balik Pulau in Malay). Fuluo Hk. feu lo is probably the transliteration of the Malay word pulau (island). The location of Balik Pulau is actually behind the Penang Hills in relation to George Town, the capital of the state of 180 Chapter 5

Penang. Besides, if the term (半山客 banshanke) is supposed to denote ‘half- Hakka’ they should be called banke 半客 half-Hakka. The ban in banshanke clearly refers to the position on the mountains and not Hakka. It is possible that the mistake was compounded by the fact that Hakka in these areas speak different varieties of Hakka, but nonetheless, they are Hakka. The couple of Hepo Hakka in Malaysia whom I asked for comments were adamant that they are ‘authentic Hakka’. This case shows that Hakka identity erosion is not only naturally circumstantial but can be ‘forced’ upon or taken away from them by scholars as well. The confusion persists into the twenty-first century but the response is different. In 2005, the Xinhua155 reported that an ethnological museum featur- ing the culture of the Hakka people was being constructed in Hezhou City in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as part of the ethnic Nationalities Museum of Guangxi. Though the Hakka museum is treated as one of the ethnic nationalities museums, there was no protest or outcry from the Hakka in China. What does it indicate? Is it the beginning of the erosion of Hakka pride or just changing attitude? The answer is obviously affirmative on both counts. Hakka might still be proud to be Hakka on a personal level but they are too busy or uninterested to get into ethnic discussions or debates for the group Hakka identity. Changing attitudes and current trends can contribute greatly to the erosion of dialect identity. For example, current trends in registering newborn’s names in Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia are also contributing to the diminishing of dialect identity. A person’s name is the most important identity element of any individual but how it is romanized can also reveal dialect identity. The Chinese are most meticulous in selecting names for their children and they have a well-established tradition to fall back on.156 It used to be the grandparents in consultation with the Chinese almanac who selected the names for a newborn. If the family has a generation poem, the middle character of a baby boy’s name will be his generation name. His surname and his given name will designate not only his position in the family and community but also his sense of self and identity. Before the 1980s, in Malaysia and Singapore, not only was it possible to tell the dialect of a person by looking at how the person’s name was romanized

155 http://www.gxmn.org/en/eco-museum-of-hakka-in-hezhou-city/2011-03-22-08-03-00 .html (Retrieved on 25th May, 2010). 156 See Jones R. (1999) for the traditions surrounding the use of Chinese surnames and personal names and Louie (2008) for how traditional Chinese American names have evolved. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 181 or how they were called out publicly, but it was also possible to glean a certain amount of cultural information from the name itself. If a Chinese had a Western/Christian name in addition to their Chinese name on their birth certificate (e.g. Joseph Chong Min Fook), there was a high probability that the person was from a Christian family or he had Anglophile parents who are westernized and ‘progressive’.157 For example, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew said that his grandfather’s admiration for the British made him add ‘Harry’ to his name (1999, 36). However, starting in the mid-1960s, teenagers influenced by Western culture started to adopt Christian names as well. Those who adopted Christian names were almost all from the English-medium schools and considered to be ‘influenced by western culture’. These Christian names were more of a social trend and not legally binding, and they could be changed for a new one according to fancy. However, many continued to use their Western/Christian names socially or in business for the rest of their lives. In Malaysia and Singapore, a Chinese newborn, as a rule, is given a three- character Chinese name by the grandparents or parents, which is transliterated phonetically into a romanized form and registered with the authorities. From these romanized names, one can often tell which dialect a person belongs to because, during the pre-independence and early post-independence days, names were usually registered in their dialect pronunciations. For example, a Chinese woman with the name 陳玉梅 Chen Yumei would be called differently, depending on her dialect. If she was Cantonese, she would be called Chan Yok Mui; Hokkien, Tan Geok Beoy; and if she was Hakka, she would most probably be registered as Chin Nyuk Moi. Similarly, some common names when shouted out in the marketplace or on the street can reveal the dialect of the person. Someone called Ah Min 啊明 is Hakka, Ah Meng 啊明 is Cantonese and Ah Beng 啊明 has a hundred percent certainty of being Hokkien or Hockchew. However, this distinctive dialect marker is slowly being eroded as new parents choose to englishlize and pinyinize their children’s names. By doing so, a very important aspect of dialect heritage is lost. Not only are the parents contributing to this new trend, but government and hospital policies are also marginalizing dialect identities. The survey below shows a Hakka family of five siblings in Beruas, who were born from 1978 to 1988, and how the Hakka element in their names has deteriorated.

157 For a study on the englishlization of personal names among the Singaporean Chinese, see Tan, P.K.W. (2001). 182 Chapter 5

Name on birth Year of Sex Race on birth Hospital born certificate birth certificate

Liau Pek Yoon 1978 F Chinese General Hospital, Ipoh 廖碧雲 Liau Pit Hoong 1980 F Chinese (Khek)158 PCM Hospital, Ipoh 廖碧虹 Liau Ken Soo 1982 M Chinese (Khek) PCM Hospital, Ipoh 廖健樹 Liau Kent Fatt 1984 M Chinese (Khek) PCM Hospital, Ipoh 廖健發 Liau Wan Jun 1988 F Chinese Hospital Daerah, Lumut 廖婉君

The dialect of the first child, born in 1978 in a government hospital, was already omitted in her birth certificate. However, the dialect of the next three children born in private hospitals was registered as Khek (Hakka). The dialect of the last child, born in a government hospital, is again not registered. This shows that in 1978 government policy did not require the dialect of newborns to be registered anymore. Private hospitals still kept the tradition. All the names of the siblings were given to them by their grandparents. The first four children’s names were registered in the Hakka dialect transliteration but the fifth child’s name was registered in Pinyin, which shows that she has already lost her dialect identity. If one understands the different dialects spoken in Malaysia and Singapore and by looking at the first four names, one can probably guess that they are Hakka. How Chinese names are spelt in Malaysia is a hit and miss exercise. The Malaysian civil service is made up of more than 95 percent Malays and unless the parents write down beforehand how they want their children’s name to be registered, the Malay civil servants usually transliterate names as phonetically pronounced to them in the different dialects. Much of the time it is totally off the mark. Children of one family born to parents without formal education could end up with each child having a differently spelt surname. For example, the surname 廖 (Liao in Pinyin), when phonetically pronounced in

158 Khek is the name given to the Hakka by the British in Malaya. It means ‘guest’ as in ‘guest people’ (keren) Hkn. khek lang in the Hokkien dialect. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 183

Hakka for the civil servant, could end with any of one of these spellings: Liau, Liauw, Liaw, Liao, Leow or Liow. The parents’ choice to register their children’s name in Pinyin rather than in romanized dialects is another sign that dialect identity is diminishing in Malaysia and Singapore.159 Chinese names that are pinyinized have become generic. It is not possible to tell a mainland Chinese from an overseas Chinese anymore just by looking at how their names are spelt. The standardization of personal names means that the Chinese have lost a very important part of their dialect heritage. This trend will no doubt affect how a person reflects on his or her identity. Hakka identity posturing is more cultural than ethnic or political. They may claim to be unique and different from the other dialect groups but like Chinese all over the world they also emphasize that they are Chinese. Overseas Chinese will put their nationalities (Malaysian/Singaporean/Jamaican/American etc.) first in their identity followed by their Chinese descent. As my study shows, dialect identity plays a very small role in the global arena. In this context, there is a ‘nationalistic’ approach to one’s identity but unlike the Taiwanese Hakka, there is no political connotation. Hakka identity has a kind of historical and ancestral pride with no political overtones. Myron Cohen’s (2010) belief that there is no major threat to the survival of Hakka identity may be a tad too optimistic. He based his optimism on Hakka- Mandarin bilingualism and Hakka activism within localism on Mainland China and in Taiwan. Hakka identity might survive a bit longer in the Hakka heartland and Taiwan but it is already proving to be an uphill journey in Hakka communities around the world—from Malaysia to Jamaica to Toronto. Nonetheless, attempts are made to keep Hakka culture alive. Hakka festivals are common occurrences in Taiwan. Hong Kong held its first Hakka Cultural Festival with exhibitions, a culture forum and traditional art performances in 2010 from 2–5 December.160 In Malaysia and Singapore, Hakka food festivals are the most common Hakka cultural event. It may sound encouraging but in reality they are mostly nostalgic gatherings for the old folks and a foodie experience for the young. In Taiwan where Hakka identity is used as a tool to champion Taiwanese multiculturalism, Hakka culture might be maintained for a while longer but I am not sure Hakka communities elsewhere will fare so well.

159 For a study on the standardization of personal names among the Singaporean Chinese, see Tan, P.K.W. (2006). 160 http://ultradevin.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/hk-to-host-first-hakka-festival/. 184 Chapter 5

Hakka identity maintenance in Beruas, a predominantly Hakka community, is proving to be a losing battle. For example, the youngest son of our Hakka neighbor in Beruas New Village married a Hockchew and they have three children aged from four to ten (in 2010). The grandmother speaks to her grandchildren in Hakka while the parents speak to them in Mandarin. The children understand Hakka but speak only Mandarin to their parents and their grandmother. They also speak Malay to their Indonesian maid and learn Mandarin, English and Malay in school. Hakka has to compete with all the other languages. It is unlikely that these children will contribute anything to the maintenance or survival of the Hakka language. Malaysian Chinese children are usually bilingual at home or trilingual (Mandarin, Malay and English) for some but dialect has been relegated to the bottom. Parents and grandparents are usually the agents of transmission of cultural traits and practices. As long as the parents and grandparents do not teach them to speak it, the Hakka language will die out in these families. My survey of the kindergarten in the village supports this prognosis: The sixteen Hakka children (age five and six) understand Hakka but only six (37.5%) of them can speak it (see Appendix O). The same scenario is being repeated in Pusing, a quintessentially Dongguan Hakka town. Children prefer to speak Mandarin instead of Hakka. This is the general trend that is happening not only to families in Beruas and Pusing but also in other Hakka communities. Local Hakka populations in mainland China and Taiwan may preserve their language a little longer because of Hakka activism such as building museums and holding Hakka festivals, etc. to remind the Hakka of their heritage but it will not stop the erosion and eventual demise of the Hakka language as part of a living culture in the overseas Hakka. This is the same trend that the other dialect groups are experiencing. The question is not “Will it?” but “When?” the Hakka language will be phased out in Hakka families in Malaysia. When the Hakka language is not spoken anymore, what kind of Hakka identity is that? As one informant from Kota Kinabalu (capital of the state of Sabah, where Hakka dominate) emphasized, “Language holds the culture together and without the Hakka dialect there will be no Hakka culture.” So, can a Hakka who cannot speak the Hakka language be called a Hakka? Many Hakka are aware of this pressing question yet they feel powerless to halt this downward slide. For example, none of the BGH speaks Hakka to their children and they are resigned to the fact that Hakka language will not survive another generation in their family, thus eroding their Hakka identity further. However, there are signs that Hakka around the world, as a social group, are fighting back through globalization—the very concept that erodes and marginalizes their Hakka identity. Globalization of the Hakka to keep the Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 185

‘Hakka spirit’ alive is represented by three major international Hakka events: (1) the World Hakka Conference, (2) the Toronto Hakka Conference, and (3) the Hakka Mother River Memorial. The World Hakka Conference was founded by the Hong Kong Tsung Tsin Association in 1971.161 The Hakka Associations outside of mainland China were the driving forces behind the World Hakka Conferences until 1994 when China hosted it for the first time in Meizhou, Guangdong. These gatherings were attended by many thousands of Hakka from all over the world, who are repre- sentatives of their Hakka organizations. It has been held in different countries by eager and expectant host-countries, which see the cultural and economic potential in such an event.162 The bidding to host the World Hakka Conference is likened to that of a major sports event, for which countries put in their bids. It was originally planned to take place every two years but in the last eleven years (2002–2013) ten Conferences have taken place. The 2014 Conference has been awarded to Kaifeng (China) and 2015 to Hsinchu (Taiwan). The first Conference in 1971 was attended by 250 Hakka in Hong Kong and by 2013, the 26th Conference (9–11 September), hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta, was attended by over 6000 delegates, which is by far the highest number since its inception. Zhou Jianxin, in his ‘anthropological’ study of the World Hakka Conference, sums up the spirit of the gatherings as such:

The World Hakka Conference has evolved from simply a grand reunion and association (reporting sessions among various villages) into the cultural (large-scale entertainment and performance, art and literature, cuisine), academic (International Conference on Hakka Studies), economic (business and trade talks), and political (United Front work) spheres. It is not only an important carrier for the Hakka to maintain bonds of friendship with other villages and enhance multinational and multiregional interaction, but also a platform and arena for pluralistic ethnic group identification and cultural production in the new era (2007, 83).

The World Hakka Conferences, used as a vehicle to globalize the Hakka, have been very successful on many levels. These meetings were used not only to keep the Hakka spirit alive but also helped the Hakka to strategize their cultural and economic resources. During the Conferences, elaborate host-country and local

161 There are few scholarly studies on this event but Zhou J.X.’s (2007) excellent anthropological study provides valuable information for Hakka Studies. 162 For an overview of the Conference on dates, locations and scale (number of representa- tives, Hakka groups and number of countries) see (ibid., 91–92, Table 1). 186 Chapter 5

Hakka cultural shows were on display and new economic ties renewed or initiated. As Liu Hong notes, “the Hakka Conference is not only being capitalized upon by the Hakka, but is also being strategically utilized by local governments (be it a Hakka-populated province and municipality or not) and even the state regime. This is the creative invention of a traditional cultural resource, showing that tradition is continuing to function under the pretext of ‘[being] modern’ and is even being strengthened and revitalized in many respects” (2007, 97). However, video clips of these Hakka World Conferences show that the participants are usually from the older generation. The other caveat noticed by Liu Hong is that “This growing globalization of Chinese associations has been largely unknown to the English-speaking world and has not yet received any systematic scholarly scrutiny. As with all the other attempts to globalize the Hakka associations, it has mainly been aimed at Chinese-speaking individuals. It is also supported by the older members of the community” (1998, 583). My reading of the situation is that the younger generations are not as nostalgic or sentimental about these old ties and global Hakka are mostly English- educated. Hence, they are automatically excluded or they show no interest in these gatherings. However, this language gap is filled in by the Toronto Hakka Conference. It started when Mr. Noel Ho Tom, President of the Tsung Tsin Association of Ontario, Canada was having serious concerns about the generational and cultural gap amongst the young people with regard to their Hakka background. Many members of the Tsung Tsin Association of Canada were first to third generation Canadian Hakka who spoke only English.163 It was the idea of Professor Emeritus Keith Lowe to hold a conference to educate the Hakka on their history and culture. A partnership was formed with York University to host the conference. The First Toronto Hakka Conference took place in 2000 with Senator Vivienne Poy (a Hakka) as the patron. The success and interest generated a second conference in 2004, in which the Hakka Achievement Awards for outstanding achievements in the fields of Science and Business were created. In addition, Hakka youth were given leadership training and the Hakka Youth Project was launched. The success of the 2000 and 2004 inspired a third conference held in 2008. Younger members were included “in the Organizing Committee and a festival element was added to the conference . . . York University remains a partner, but the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto was chosen as a more accessible venue. The Hakka Achievement Awards continued, with Arts

163 For a detailed study of the formation of Hakka identity of the Hakka from the Caribbean and India in Toronto, see Chiu S.S. (2003). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 187 being added as a category . . . another set of awards . . . for distinguished community service [was also added]”.164 The Toronto Hakka Conference went some way to addressing the problem for the younger Hakka by providing an English-language platform for Hakka in North America and global Hakka. Though it is not always possible for young people to travel to Toronto for the conference, it helps the English-speaking young Hakka to connect globally via social media and other modern communication media. Canadian Hakka are at the forefront in terms of keeping the torch of the Hakka spirit burning and passing it onto the younger generation. By focusing on the younger generation, it will have a better chance of keeping the Hakka brand (historical and transformed) alive and providing elements of Hakka identity for the new generations of English-speaking Hakka descendants to shape their Hakka identity. Given the Canadian backdrop, this will no doubt generate different kinds of Hakka identities in the Canadian Hakka, as well as in Hakka around the world through their connectedness. This phenomenon is waiting to be studied. The third world event that brings Hakka together is the Hakka Mother River Memorial. During the 13th Hakka World Conference in Singapore (1996), the honorary chairman of the Conference, a Hong Kong-based tycoon from Malaysia declared that he had identified the village of Shibi 石壁 (in Linghua, Fujian) as the ‘ancestral land of the Hakka’ 客家祖地 kejia zudi “after substantial research” (Sinchew jitpoh, 1996). Subsequently, Changting 長汀 in Fujian was named the ‘Hakka capital’ and a ‘global Hakka shrine’ was created along the bank of the Ting River. The Ting River was proclaimed the Hakka Mother River (客家母親河 Kejia muqinhe). The Taiwanese singer-composer, Mr. Lin Zhanyi 林展逸 was commissioned to compose the ‘anthem’ Mother River ( 母親河 Muqinhe) to commemorate the occasion (see Appendix L for text and translation). Every year, thousands of Hakka from around the world make the pilgrimage to Changting to celebrate the annual public sacrifices and worship, which involves offering flowers 敬獻花籃 jingxian hualan, the lighting of huge joss-sticks 點燃長香 dianran changxiang, performing rites of bow- ing 行鞠躬禮 xing jugong li, and reciting sacrificial texts 誦念祭文 songnian jiwen. The ‘Hakka Mother River Memorial’ event is an obvious attempt to arouse nostalgia and to glorify so-called Hakka ethos. This event is not only based on formal ties (Hakka associations), geared to business, and propelled by sentiment but it is also an attempt to ‘unite Hakka within the four seas

164 For the history of the Toronto Hakka Conference, see http://www.torontohakkaconfer ence.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=108 (Retrieved on 6th July, 2013). 188 Chapter 5 as one family’ (as the last line in the song advocates). This event can also be seen as part of the general globalization of overseas Chinese voluntary associations.165 The ‘Hakka Mother River Memorial’ has grown bigger and become more elaborate with each celebration. This creative endeavor has become a tourist attraction—Hakka identity touristified? The World Hakka and Toronto Hakka Conferences, favored by globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization, will no doubt continue to expand and their efforts will increase in momentum but the Hakka they attract are from a certain sector of society i.e. more educated and economically better off in order to attend. Not everybody is financially able to travel to Toronto or the other world cities where the World Hakka Conference chooses to hold its conferences. In that respect the Hakka Mother River Memorial has more resonance with the majority of the Hakka—especially the Hakka in China, since eighty percent of the estimated forty millions Hakka in the world are said to be found on Mainland China and most of the rest are in Asia— especially Southeast Asia. The idea of going on a Hakka pilgrimage to pay respects and honor their ancestors in the ‘Hakka ancestral land’ is far more appealing than the other two gatherings. These new pilgrims can participate in the modern-day jiao 醮 (public sacrificial performances) and enjoy the variety- entertainments put on by the local government. Many of them also combine the event with a visit to their ancestral village. This is a win-win combination because ‘Hakka culture’ is revived or rehashed and the local economy receives a big boost. The only question to ask is: Where is this going? The World Hakka and Toronto Hakka Conferences obviously serve their purposes in globalizing and uniting Hakka from around the world, which in turn highlights the problem of being Hakka in the twenty-first century. However, the Hakka Mother River Memorial has serious implications for Hakka history and identity. Calling Shibi the ‘ancestral land of the Hakka’, naming Changting 長汀 in Fujian as the ‘Hakka capital’, and proclaiming the Ting River the Hakka Mother River, imply that the Hakka ‘originated’ from this river or that the Ting River is the Hakka ‘mother’ or ‘source’ of Hakka genesis. This is, in effect, rewriting Hakka history. A quick check on the Internet has turned up claims that Changting is the ‘ancestral land’ where the Hakka originated. These claims are hugely problematic for Hakka Studies unless the timeline is clarified. There is nothing wrong with establishing a modern ‘Hakka capital’ for whatever agenda the creator might have in mind or to acknowledge a river to commemorate historical events, but to create an event to manipulate history is pushing it too

165 For an excellent study of the globalization of overseas Chinese voluntary associations and its implications, see Liu H. (1998). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 189 far. Despites their shortcomings, these three events represent the globalization of the Hakka and they give us an inkling of the different directions that Hakka identity is taking. Paradoxically, though the concept of globalization contributes to the erosion and marginalization of the Hakka identity of the global Hakka, it is also helping to keep the ‘Hakka spirit’ alive. The events and examples that I have chosen to discuss above show that the Hakka identity of the social group and personal Hakka identity are being reshaped in different directions. Globalization of the Hakka, as the three Hakka world events have shown, will provide a global platform for Hakka to steer their Hakka identity as a group, as well as allowing individual Hakka to reshape their personal Hakka identity accordingly. However, individual global Hakka and overseas Hakka communities such as Beruas and Pusing are also aware that they are fighting a losing battle to maintain their Hakka identity. At best, they and their progeny will be able to hold on to identity elements that contribute to being Hakka for one more generation, if the status quo is maintained. The resulting product can hardly be called an ‘identity’ and in my opinion, the best description for this feeling of being Hakka, in whatever quality or quantity, is Hakkaness.

5 Hakkaness

There is no doubt that migration, marriage across dialect and race, and cultural exchanges affect Hakka identity-remaking. These events can transform the Hakka identity of a generation, a community or individuals. By transplanting Hakka identity to Malaya, it has also encountered the same problems of everyday struggles in language, culture and education which problematize identity. Inter-cultural contact, the need to communicate with the locals (by appropriating words in both directions), and the way their children were educated has shaped and reshaped Hakka identity. ‘Foreign’ elements, together with the globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism processes will continue to influence Hakka identity for the next one or two generations and these influences will further dilute Hakka identity. Hakka awareness may serve to create a social context for Hakka identity but the reverse is also true. A person who discovers that they have Hakka ancestors or someone who finds themselves in a Hakka context might search for their Hakka identity. However, it is also important to note that different ‘brands’ of Hakka identity are established in different environments. As we have seen, Malaysian Hakka identity is different from that of the Taiwanese. Not only is Hakka identity different geographically but different generations also express 190 Chapter 5 their Hakka identity in their own way. Thus, Hakka around the world might be conscious of being Hakka but how they choose to express this consciousness is another matter. In some Hakka communities they deliberately suppress their Hakka identity for whatever reasons. For example, many Hakka in Hong Kong choose not to speak Hakka or acknowledge that they are Hakka anymore.166 Similarly, parents or grandparents in Beruas, who choose not to speak to their children or grandchildren in Hakka, are not only suppressing their Hakka identity but they are also contributing to its demise. These choices have profound consequences for the Hakka identity of the group and the individual. Cultural markers, the cornerstone of traditional Hakka identity, have been rendered irrelevant in the twenty-first century by the process of dehakkalization, which is fueled by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, technological advancement and migration. Traditional dehakkalization took effect every time the Hakka migrated from their isolated villages to a new location where they had contact with others. This gradual process has been going on for as long as Hakka history has existed. It was mostly cultural in the early stages but once the Hakka were transplanted the adulteration of their identity became progressively stronger through assimilation and intermarriage. Dehakkalization in the twenty-first century is no doubt hastened by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, migration and digital cross-pollination. It is interesting to note that the dehakkalization of the Mainland Hakka, which was also mostly cultural in the beginning, became political in modern China. This is demonstrated by Hakka’s role in the Communist Revolution, which is seldom acknowledged. Mary Erbaugh notes that in 1984, “seventeen of the twenty-five Politburo members were Long Marchers, four of them Hakka, as were four of the nine members of the Military Affairs Commission” making it five and fifteen times their respective probability rates (1992, 964). There was an overwhelming and disproportionate number of Hakka involved in the Communist Revolution. By the early 1990s, there was still a strong Hakka presence in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and at the top levels of Chinese government. Prominent Hakka in the Communist movement include Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平 (1904–1997), Zhu De 朱德 (1886–1972), Hu Yaobang 胡耀邦 (1915–1989), Chen Yi 陳儀 (1908–1993), Guo Moruo 郭沫若

166 In 1994, I visited relatives in Hong Kong, who spoke Hakka to us and people of their age, but then spoke Cantonese with their children. See also Constable (1996: 80–97), who shows that it was happening in every Hakka community in Hong Kong. See Lau C.F. (2000 and 2005) on how the Hakka language has declined in Hong Kong. He went as far as to say that the Hakka language has been ‘murdered’ by Cantonese (2005). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 191

(1892–1978), Song Qingling 宋慶齡 (1893–1981), Ye Jianying 葉劍英 (1897– 1986), Zhang Guotao 張國燾 (1897–1979), Wang Zhen 王震 (1908–1993), just to mention a few. Despite strong Hakka presence, Ye Jianying 葉劍英 is the only Communist leader identified as Hakka in a dictionary of revolutionary figures consisting of forty-one volumes of biographies on Party heroes (Erbaugh 1992, 939). Fast-forwarded to the twenty-first century, the process of dehakkalization has reached the point of no return. In a traditional Hakka family with three or four generations living under the same roof, it was always the grandparents or great-grandparents who saw to it that Hakka culture—customs, traditions and language, was passed on to the younger generations. Hakka grandparents who cannot speak Mandarin or English to their grandchildren find that they have no way of imparting their heritage to them. The children of global Hakka are the ones who miss out most because they not only live away from their grandparents but they are unable to communicate with them during their infrequent visits. This was borne out not only with the offspring of the BGH but with every global Hakka person whom I have interviewed. The BGH cannot communicate with their grandchildren in Hakka and living outside of Hakka influences accelerates the dehakkalization of the newest generation. As a result, the Hakka ‘generational gap’ has become wider and wider and it will no doubt contribute to the deterioration of Hakka identity in the twenty- first century. Globalization, cultural adaptation, government policies, upward social mobility and personal choices have hastened the dehakkalization process in the last three decades. Modern dehakkalization has become not only much swifter but it is biological as well. The biological contributing factor to dehakkalization happens when a Hakka marries a non-Hakka—especially someone of another race. Dehakkalization feeds the Hakka identity-remaking process in a negative direction. As Hakka identity becomes marginalized, it will mutate and morph into a quality that cannot be described as an identity in a condi- tional paradigm. So, how do we address this quality of Hakka elements in a person’s crowded identity? Hakka identity will be remade to a point where it cannot be construed as such and it is more appropriate to refer to it as Hakkaness rather than an identity. The concept of Hakkaness then becomes part of a larger personal identity—a part of self- or personhood. I have established that terms such as ‘Hakka ethnicity’ and ‘Hakka identity’ are problematic in this day and age. The most appropriate expression to describe that which contributes to the feeling of being Hakka in the twenty- first century is Hakkaness. It is a quality that results from cultural assimilation, genetic exchange, and personal lifestyles and choices. Hakkaness is constructed 192 Chapter 5 by individual Hakka as part of a mutable quality that the individual perceives as part of their personal identity. Hakkaness sets no limits or boundaries. It is a quality that one can claim or disclaim, can possess to varying degrees, and can display or hide. In short, it is an open concept that can be embraced, transformed and reformed in any way that one finds relevant in the personal and global sphere. This is not to say that it is an easy concept. As we will see, like Chineseness, there is Hakkaness and there is Hakkaness. The construct of Hakkaness varies from location to location, group to group and individual to individual. So, what determines Hakkaness and how do we measure Hakkaness? What are the criteria that we can use now that blood ancestry, language and the other cultural markers are less and less relevant? As Letty Chen reminds us, whenever the word identity is uttered, it is always the cultural identity that we speak of (2006, 19). She emphasizes that the difference between ethnicity and identity is that the former is constructed and the latter innate. I agree with the first part of the statement but I think the second part needs augmentation for the Hakka case. ‘Traditional’ Hakka identity is innate in the sense that it is sustained in a ‘constant’ cultural milieu i.e. a Hakka person growing up in an isolated village without influences from other cultures will certainly continue to possess that ‘innate’ quality. However, once there is contact with other cultures through emigration or immigration, the transformation of the Hakka identity starts and different forms of identity emerge. As with other cultural groups, Hakka identity too is deconstructed and reconstructed under different cultural influences. In the twenty-first century, processes such as globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism not only accelerate the deconstruction and reconstruction of Hakka identity but they also produce mutated forms that are better expressed as Hakkaness. Though Han Suyin is not a full-Hakka, her family is nonetheless a good example of Hakka identity on the move and in the remaking. The gradual and systematic marginalization of her family’s Hakka identity and her Hakkaness can be seen in her five-volume autobiography. In Volume 1, The Crippled Tree, first published in 1965, she told us about her family history and Hakka roots with pride. Volume 2 and 3 mentioned the Hakka in passing, while Volume 4 has more to do with the Hakka because part of her narration is set in Malaysia and Singapore. In the last volume, Phoenix Harvest, published in 1985, the Hakka were mentioned only once when she said, “We talked of poetry, Hakka proverbs and Sichuan metaphors” (1985, 30). She does not ‘champion or defend’ the Hakka cause, which is understandable, given her desire to be seen as Chinese despite her Eurasian status. As such, she does not claim ‘Hakka identity’. Being Hakka is part of her family and personal history and the closest she can get to the Hakka circle is to claim Hakkaness and express it in whatever way she sees Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 193 fit. This too is all part of the process of the shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity. As a more recent example of how Hakka identity and Hakkaness are perceived, I would like to share my own experience. I was brought up as a third- generation Malaysian Chinese Hakka, who studied, worked and lived in the Antipodes and Asia; and currently living in Europe. When I was growing up in Pusing and Beruas, my Hakka identity was ‘innate’ (bloodline and mother tongue) and non-negotiable. In my teenage and young adult years, I consciously and unconsciously suppressed my Hakka identity as I became increasingly westernized. Over time my Hakka identity was marginalized and usurped by my other identities and relegated to a small role in my life. My crowded identities rule and I am left with only elements of Hakka identity and these elements together make up my Hakkaness rather than a definitive Hakka identity. However, at the onset of the twenty-first century, I find myself trying to reclaim my Hakka identity after subverting it for almost two decades. As my Hakka awareness began to return (through my research), my Hakka identity was pushed to the forefront again although it is expressed differently. From simply being a non-negotiable Hakka in my childhood, I became a Malaysian Chinese of Hakka descent. Presently I am a global Hakka, born in Malaysia with a European nationality. In my current situation, I can hardly claim to have a ‘functioning’ Hakka identity because I have no context in which to exercise it, but I can declare that I have Hakkaness (lots of it) in my personhood. As I mentioned in my introduction, this development was clearly revealed to me on a research trip to China in 2007, when I visited the Hakka tulou earthen buildings in Yongding, Fujian. The trip raised many issues regarding my Hakka identity. Staying in one of these earthen buildings became one of the crystalizing moments regarding my Hakka identity. This particular earthen building was run as a guesthouse by the descendants of the Hakka who built it in the late nineteenth century. On my first meeting with the family, I felt instant ‘clannishness’ (Hk. chhi ka ngin) but when I tried to communicate with them with my Dongguan Hakka, I realized that we could not understand each other. Knowing the importance of tulou as a Hakka cultural marker, I had to ask myself how I was relating to these buildings. On one level I felt proud to be associated with them but I could not relate to them personally. I could not pinpoint the connection and I realized that these Hakka cultural relics did not contribute to my personal Hakka identity or my present Hakkaness. I can claim historical and cultural pride but not personal affinity. Calling it Hakkaness is not without its problems. A Hakka chauvinist may claim that they have a high level of Hakkaness while someone with one Hakka parent who grew up in a Western culture might think they have little 194 Chapter 5

Hakkaness. This should not be the case. Hakkaness sets no limits or boundaries. It is a quality that one can claim or disclaim, that one can possess in varying degrees, display or hide. In short it is an open concept that can be embraced or ascribed. Hakka identity in the global Hakka has been remade into Hakkaness in the twenty-first century. Hakkaness has become a component of a personal identity. Like the different Hakka identities that various communities have shaped and reshaped around the globe, different forms of Hakkaness have been and are still being created. For example, one form of Hakkaness is demonstrated by the journey of a ‘born-again’ Hakka woman, who tried to reclaim her Hakka identity but in the end it is only Hakkaness that she can speak of. Patricia Paton (nee Foo Boon Quee; a.k.a. Hk. Sum Moi or No. 3 Daughter), a typical ‘banana’, was born in the Year of the Dragon (1952) in Singapore. Pat, as we call her, was born to Hakka-Hakka parents. Her father is Dabu Hakka and her mother Meixian Hakka. She has five brothers and five sisters and they were the only Hakka family living in a Hokkien neighborhood. As there were so many children in the family, an old lady next door, who was Hokkien, was asked to help look after them. Pat said, “Since our grandmother was not very happy with so many girls, she ignored us and we were basically brought up by the Hokkien woman, whom we treated like our grandmother.” Her father, who was educated in Chinese and English, spoke to his children in English and Hokkien. Pat’s mother spoke to them in Hokkien as well, since they could not understand her Meixian Hakka. They went to English-medium schools and had friends of different races and dialects and they spoke to each other either in English or Hokkien. Hence, none of the children learned to speak Hakka. Pat can understand some Hakka, especially the scolding words that her grandmother used to scold the girls but Hokkien became her ‘mother tongue’. Pat’s grandfather came from Dabu and he was a traditional Chinese doctor, who owned a Chinese medical hall (occupational affinity). Pat remembered people going to see her grandfather for treatment and some would remark, “Hakka are very smart and frugal . . . he checks your pulse, weighs some herbs and charges you!” She also remembers another remark used to identify them as Hakka in a derogatory sense: Hk. Hak ka ngin, hak si ngin (Hakka people frighten people to death)—a play of words.167 Pat trained in fashion design and became a personal designer for private clients in Singapore. She married Eddie, an American from Michigan of Dutch, German, Scottish, and Irish

167 Hk. hak 嚇 xia also means frighten (MacIver 1905, 140). This is the only other word pronounced as Hk. hak in the Hakka language. It is tempting to read something into the connection but it is not for this study. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 195 descent in 1981. They have no children. In 1997, they moved to Hawaii and have been living there since. At the time I started ‘tracking’ Pat in early 2010, two of her sisters lived in America and the youngest, Linn (a.k.a. Luk Moi or No. 6 Daughter), in Australia. The rest of her siblings are still in Singapore. None of them married a Hakka and none of her nieces or nephews speaks Hakka. Pat joined the Tsung Tsin Association168 in Honolulu in 2009 because she heard that they were offering Hakka lessons. She joined these classes with a few third- and fourth-generation Hawaiian Hakka169 who like her, wanted to reclaim some of their Hakka heritage. She remembered that her father belonged to the Char Yong Hakka Association in Singapore but not much about getting involved in any of its activities. Pat is now an active member of the Tsung Tsin Association. Apart from the lessons, they meet every three months for “Hakka food and to exchange Hakka news”. In one of her reports she said excitedly, “I have been asked to help organize this year’s Moon Cake Festival in a restaurant with Hakka activities . . . Everyone has to tell moon stories . . . we will have Hakka food . . . when Linn was here last Chinese New Year, we had Hakka food for the New Year banquet.” On 2nd November, 2011, Patricia reported this incident: “[I] want to share a meeting I had with an elderly Hakka lady in a supermarket this morning. Whilst browsing through some blouses with Shanti [an ex-Singaporean-Indian woman, who was visiting from Australia], an elderly lady asked where we were from and what language we were speaking. We were speaking in Hokkien, of course. When I asked her if she was from Hawaii, she said she is Chinese of Hakka descent. I got very excited and wanted to tell her that I’m Hakka too. We both said at the same time Hk. “Hak ka ngin, chi ka ngin!” [Hakka people, we belong to the same people!]. It was so beautiful and amazing!!! She’s so, so cute; she was born in Tahiti, married to a Hawaiian singer and she said that though she still speaks French, she will speak Hakka till she dies.” Both Pat and the Tahitian Hakka were expressing their Hakkaness. Pat’s sisters have taken their father to China and visited relatives in Dabu and other family members have followed. The family is excited to reconnect

168 For a short history on the formation of the Tsung Tsin Association and the other chapters, see http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/8324/Tsung%20 tsin%20association.pdf?sequence=1 and for the history and activities of the Tsung Tsin Association, Honolulu, see https://sites.google.com/site/tsungtsinhi/Tsung-Tsin- Association-Honolulu/tsung-tsin-history, in Ontario, Canada see http://www.tsungtsin ontario.ca/ and in Vancouver, see http://www.hakkabc.com/. 169 It is interesting to note that Hakka in Hawaii called themselves ‘Hawaiian Hakka’ and not ‘American Hakka’—clearly signifying place affinity. 196 Chapter 5 with their Hakka heritage. Pat is now a champion of anything that has to do with Hakka culture. Her interest has also spilled over to other members of her clan. During an interview with one of her second-cousins, a self-confessed ‘banana’, with Hakka-Hakka parents, living in Singapore and speaking no Hakka, she informed me that she is “reading up about the Hakka” because she finds their ethos inspiring and the strong innate qualities of their women very useful for growing her business. The Foo family, in trying to reclaim their Hakka heritage, will no doubt produce a totally different type of Hakkaness from someone in Canada. The Canadian form of Hakkaness is demonstrated by Jamaican Hakka, who emigrated to Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. This Hakkaness is aptly expressed by members of the Jamaican music group called Chinatown. The group is made up of three third-generation Jamaican Hakka (Mike Lee a.k.a. Emperor, Andy Lee a.k.a. Hop Sing and Steve Lee a.k.a. Genghis Khan), who emigrated to Canada and live in Toronto. They sing Reggae but also proudly highlight their Hakka origin. In a video that promotes their unique musical style, Mr. Mike Lee said that his ancestors are from China and added, “All our roots go back far beyond Jamaica. They go back to Mainland China. There are different communities [and] ours is Hakka. Hakka were the original advisors to the emperor of China until the new leaders came in and they were sent into exile.”170 Mr. Charles Sinclair, their producer said in the video that the Chinatown sound is a world sound created from their having been together growing up as Jamaican Hakka and now living in Canada. What Chinatown members are claiming cannot be called Hakka identity but it is appropriate to say that they are claiming Hakkaness in their personal identity. Jamaican Hakka, who emigrated to Canada according to Wang Gungwu’s huayi descent or re-migrant pattern, may belong to the different Hakka Associations but they also try to maintain their brand of ‘Jamaican Hakkaness’. One of the ways that they maintain their transnational links is through the web-based publication, Hakka Chinese Jamaican (牙買加華僑 Yamaijia huaqiao).171 It is interesting to note that they embrace the term huaqiao (華僑 Chinese sojourner), while its use in Southeast Asia is discontinued. When I asked why they choose to use huaqiao, I was told that as third-generation Jamaican Hakka, they are not familiar with the term, but that it seems right. Personally, the most significant and representative event in my research on the making and remaking of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century is the

170 For the interview with Chinatown and their music, see http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vg0VqCZKRVk. (Retrieved 25th February, 2012). 171 See http://www.chinesejamaican.com/ (Retrieved on 20th August, 2010). Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 197 recent founding of the Manjong Hakka Association 曼絨客家公會. It encapsulates what was, is and will be the remaking of Hakka identity. Manjong is the new name for the former district called Dingdings and Seri Manjong is the district capital that also serves Beruas. The Manjong Hakka Association was started by a group of Hakka friends. When I met the Chairman of the Association, Mr. Yong Kon Fatt and a Beruas representative, Mr. Woon Nan Chong, I was told that they and their friends felt that since every other major dialect clan have an association in the district, the Hakka ought to have one too. “So, I decided to organize one . . . I used a lot of my own resources and worked like a direct salesman to get the Hakka to join us. We started in 2008 and in 2009 the Association was registered. By the end of 2010 we have over 200 members . . . We raised all the money ourselves . . . We have just bought our own building and it is being renovated right now. It will have the latest karaoke equipment so that people can get together” said Mr. Yong with pride.172 In the meeting, I brought to their notice that Hakka identity is in a crisis and asked how they were going to maintain the enthusiasm of being Hakka since they are both married to non-Hakka and most of their children cannot speak Hakka. They seem surprised when I pointed out that genetically their children are only half Hakka. For them there was no question about their offspring being Hakka because their ancestors were Hakka. They are strong believers of agnatic traditions. Mr. Woon said, “It’s a modern world now and we are all champalang (mixed up)173 but we are still Hakka.” The founding of the Manjong Hakka Association is bittersweet news because less than ten families from Beruas have joined. I asked a Hakka man why his family had not joined the Association and his answer was “What is the point in this day and age?” During the Chinese New Year of 2011, the Association organized a get-together dinner for its members and they handed out Hk. hong pau (money in red envelops) to old-folks and children. This association represents the changing identity of the Hakka. It is a brand new kind of ‘being Hakka’ and it can morph into whatever form of Hakkaness they choose. Nowadays, Hakka culture and being Hakka are seen as ‘exotic’ by some. There are also signs that it is ‘cool’ to claim or reclaim Hakka ancestry, which confers uniqueness. On her web-page, renowned artist Ms. Olga Maria Polunin

172 The interview was conducted in Ayer Tawar, Malaysia on 28th January, 2011 in Hakka and Mandarin. 173 In Malay campur means to mix; put different things together so that they are no longer distinct (Hawkins 2001, 34). Most of us understand what champalang means even though it is an invented word not found in any dictionary. This is a case of inventing new words by close association to another language group. 198 Chapter 5 introduced herself as a Singaporean painter of Russian-English (father) and Hakka (mother) descent, living in Belgium.174 She says she does not speak or understand Hakka. To the question of why she highlights her Hakka ancestry in this day and age, she replied that she is “inspired by Hakka values such as their diligence, hardiness, adventurous spirit, community support, lack of pre- tentiousness (what you see is what you get), the simple quality in their tastes (basic food and simple clothing), and strong women, who are doers.” Many of Ms. Polunin’s works capture the inner strength and beauty of women. Though she speaks no Hakka at home, she has heard Hakka spoken by her mother and her aunts. About a year after our initial interview, she informed me that she realized she can actually understand some Hakka conversation if she really concentrates. The most recent case of Hakkaness in the making is portrayed by the documentary film entitled “Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China” and the book by Paula Williams Madison, Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem (2015)—telling the same story. The documentary film charts the journey of how three African American siblings from Harlem discover their Hakka heritage while searching for clues about their long-lost maternal grandfather, Samuel Lowe, and the book tells the story of one woman’s search for self- identity as part of that journey. Their search reunited them with hundreds of Hakka relatives they never know existed. The reunion has not only brought joy but also opened all sorts of opportunities for both sides—including business partnerships. Traditionally, according to Hakka agnatic tradition, Ms. Madison and her siblings have little claim on their Hakka ancestry but in the twenty- first century, being Hakka is an all-inclusive quality. In acknowledging their Hakka roots and embracing Hakka heritage, Ms. Madison and her siblings and their families can claim Hakkaness in their personal identities. Obviously, the forms of global Hakkaness expressed by Ms. Madison and her siblings, Ms. Polunin, members of Chinatown, Pat and her family, and progeny of members of the Manjong Hakka Association are very different—whether they are real, re-constructed or imagined. Hakkaness in the twenty-first century still has cultural capital. So, under what circumstances does Hakkaness become important? In what way can history be important to the creation of Hakkaness? What is the relationship between Hakkaness and culture? Some of the answers to these questions can be found in this exercise. In a study commissioned by the Centre for Tourism Planning and Research at the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou on how to attract international tourists to Ganzhou, Werner Breitung (2004) points out that “the only feature, which is both attractive and unique, is the area’s

174 See http://www.biotechnics.org/2olgamariepolunin.html. Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 199

Hakka heritage, especially the rural architecture.” He argued that the uniqueness of Hakka heritage in Ganzhou has the potential to attract international non-Chinese tourists seeking cultural experiences and overseas Hakka, who are “looking for their cultural roots”. Hakka culture is ripe for monetizing.175 If his recommendations of turning Ganzhou into a cultural product by restoring Hakka architecture and the preservation of ‘Hakka culture’, it will have a two- fold effect. The Hakka will no doubt feel new pride in their culture and it will give them the incentive to preserve what is still there. By turning their town into a cultural tourist destination, they will also improve their economic situation. The other benefit is that it might help descendants of overseas Hakka visiting Ganzhou to develop or strengthen their lapsed Hakka identity or find their Hakkaness. So, there is still currency in being Hakka. What is left of Hakka culture might help to preserve or strengthen Hakkaness but what kind of Hakkaness will it portray? The Ganzhou recommendations are no doubt thought out for a commercial project and hence, Hakkaness will be commercialized. The danger in commercializing something cultural is that the chances of it being ‘disneyfied’ are high. Even if that happens, it will still become part of the reformation and transformation process of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. The good news is that global Hakkaness is also reconnecting and generating a new kind of twenty-first century Hakka unanimity through frequent international gatherings and communication using the latest technology. Given that “identity, both personal and collective, is formed in the material reality in which we live” (McIntosh 2005a: 271), we can define Hakkaness as an all-inclusive approach to Hakka identity. Thus, the criteria for Hakkaness could include qualities such as the wish to be identified as being a Hakka through personal and collective history, family kinship, ancestral village of the ancestors, native hometown or natal-country; affinity with Hakka food, customs, tradition and other cultural activities, or through membership of Hakka associations or forums (both local and international). In short, any individual, who wants to claim Hakkaness as part of their personal identity, should be able to do so regardless of the percentage of blood ancestry or whether or not that person can speak the language. An identity must have a context in which to apply the criteria that make up an identity. Being global and taken out of the context or even leaving the Hakka villages starts the dehakkalization process. The case study on the BGH attests to the steadily increasing and systematic marginalization of Hakka identity

175 In Taiwan, Pei-Pu is one of several traditional villages that have been promoted actively for cultural tourism. Serious exercises were conducted to maximize its attractiveness as a cultural destination for both Hakka and non-Hakka visitors (Hou, Lin, and Morais, 2005). 200 Chapter 5 as we move from observing the older subjects to observing the younger ones. Those born in the 1950s are proud of their Hakka heritage and take an interest in all things Hakka. For example, they know where their ancestors came from, whereas those born in the 1960s and 1970s knew very little about their family or Hakka history. This erosion of Hakka identity occurred not only in the group as a whole but also within the same family. The eldest (born in 1950) of three BGH siblings in one of the families is very proud to be a Hakka and he knows a fair amount of Hakka history but the youngest in the family (born in 1961) knows next to nothing about their Hakka heritage or ancestral village. One could argue that his male status in an agnatic tradition and his seniority in the family helped him to acquire more ‘Hakka knowledge and consciousness’ but the older female subjects are just as conscious of being Hakka. Marriage of older BGH men in the group to non-Hakka did not diminish their Hakka-pride and similarly for the women, where two of them are married to Caucasians. As such, age is the determining factor rather than gender in the dehakkalization process. The speed of dehakkalization is proportional to age in both sexes. The older BGH expressed sentiments for their diminishing Hakka identity but at the same time they are resigned to the fact that their offspring will not and cannot have a Hakka identity similar to theirs. If their progeny choose to identify with their Hakka heritage, they can only claim Hakkaness and not Hakka identity. What is the damage to global Hakka identity? As the case study has shown, the process of transformation and reformation of Hakka identity in the cultural-socio-politico-economic context has not so much ‘damaged’ their Hakka identity, but it has certainly altered it to a point of no return. Their progeny’s Hakka identity is further eroded and marginalized not only by processes such as globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization but also by personal choices (not speaking to their children in Hakka) and genetic admixture (marrying someone of a different dialect or race). The outcome is the creation of different forms of ‘Hakka identity’ that are better represented by the concept of ‘Hakkaness’ in this day and age. Hakkaness is a global phenomenon at its core and the most damaging factor to the global Hakka is not only globalization and migration but also the fact that Hakka are marrying across dialects and races. Hakkaness is the outcome of both biological and cultural influences. The remaking of Hakka identity is part of Hakka history and as such, it is historical to some extent. Hakkaness, on the other hand represents the present and the future. Put another way, Hakka identity is based on memory or collective history while Hakkaness is free to be constructed and adapted to fit into the future. There was continuity in Hakka identity, which was upheld by traditions and customs whereas Hakka Identity Past, Present, and Future 201 global Hakkaness has no continuity. It takes root wherever and whenever it sees fit and it is global in nature. Traditional Hakka identity was maintained by collective memories and some cultural markers but this cannot be said of Hakkaness. Hakkaness involves embracing random elements of Hakka identity and it depends on an individual’s personal choice and lifestyle. Hakkaness is part of a whole. It helps shape selfhood in the global arena. Hakkaness can be used as a cultural yardstick to describe a part of oneself that contributes to the assertion of personhood within a crowded identity. Unlike Hakka identity, Hakkaness is not shaped by definitive cultural markers but affected by lifestyle, contact cultures, politics and personal choices. In the twenty-first century, the process of shaping and reshaping Hakka identity has resulted in different kinds of global Hakkaness. It is a personal decision and not dependent on any group or association and reflects self- and personhood. Hakka cultural constructs will continue to evolve and activities such as cultural tourism will generate different forms of Hakkaness for different localities. Hakkaness that is commercialized or disneyfied will also be part of the remaking of the Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. I wish to emphasize that Hakka identity depends on the past but Hakkaness is about the future and most of all it is a fluid concept accessible to anyone with Hakka affinity. A concept like that of Hakkaness can also be applied to other cultural groups around the globe going through cultural and genetic adulteration. This concept can serve as a model for evaluating the diminishing traditional identity of a person in the twenty-first century. It can also be used for discussion on identity-remaking by incorporating vestigial genetic and cultural materials to form part of a personal identity. Based on the criteria I have set out to define Hakkaness, every individual should be able to recognize identity elements in themselves that contribute to the XYZ-ness in their chosen personal identity and this XYZ-ness will be part of their heritage and personhood. In the near future an American with one-eighth of Indian, Mexican, Korean, Tibetan, Chinese or Hakka ancestry might use the same criteria to claim Indianness, Mexicanness, Koreanness, Tibetanness, Chineseness or Hakkaness respectively. To sum up: It is clear that there is no such thing as a monolithic Chineseness and the same goes for Hakkaness. In this context, Hakka identity being remade serves to create a social context for Hakka identity and the Hakkaness of the global Hakka to unfold. The constant remaking is in line with global demands. Words such as ethnicity, identity, culture, immigration, Han and Chineseness have all been shifting and broadening in meaning in the twenty-first century, due mainly to globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism and digital cross-pollination. New terms are required and paradigms, limits and boundaries 202 Chapter 5 have to be reassessed in our fast-changing environment. Delimitation and deboundarization of ethnological methodology will give social and historical studies more scope. Hence, if these mostly anthropological definitions of identity cannot be used to define modern Hakka identity, this brings us to the question of whether the various over-used cultural markers such as language, food, gender roles, behavior etc. are applicable or valid for defining the Hakka both as individuals and a social group in the past, present and future. Chapter 6 Hakka Cultural Markers

Cultural markers are seen as events or aspects of society that illustrate or reveal cultural or societal norms, and shifts in these norms. Hakka share a common cultural template with the other dialect groups but, because of their unusual historical narratives, they have also acquired some distinctive cultural characteristics that have set them apart. It is these distinctive characteristics that make them an interesting and intriguing subject for research. In order to understand the remaking of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century, it is important to look at the cultural markers that identified people as Hakka in the first place, and to find out how they have shifted and if these markers are still useful. The eminent geneticist L.C. Dunn (1893–1974) states that “all humans are strongly influenced by cultural inheritance . . ., which is transmitted outside of the body such as language, custom, education, and so on” (Webster’s Dictionary 1993, 552). Robert Boyd and Peter Richerson demonstrated that a cultural system of inheritance arose in the hominid lineage and this process shaped the way that culture is transmitted, hence, the reasons that culture is adaptive. They add that “culture is neither autonomous nor free to vary independently of genetic fitness, nor is it simply a prisoner of genetic constraints . . .; like genes, culture should be viewed as a system of inheritance. People acquire beliefs, attitudes, and values from others by social learning, and then transmit them to others. Human behavior results from the interaction of genetically and culturally inherited information” (1987, 65). As such, an individual or social group develops certain traits in response to their environment and genetic exchange; and the group embraces the developed ethos and characteristics (mostly positive) as their own or that are ascribed to them by others (usually negative). The Hakka have a long migrational history and there is no doubt that their genetic and cultural characteristics have been influenced by those with whom they have come into contact. This has enabled them to develop some distinctive cultural features that give them their Hakka identity. Given that migration is such an important part of Hakka history and their cultural construct, it is not hard to detect the shifts and culturally transmitted adaptations to local conditions in their characteristics over time. If the mostly anthropological and ethnological definitions, such as ethnicity, are inappropriate for defining Hakka identity in the twenty-first century, it brings us to the question of whether the various overused cultural markers such as language, food, gender roles, behavior, attire, architecture, religious belief, customs, etc. are suitable

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004300279_008 204 Chapter 6 to define the Hakka in the past and whether they are applicable or valid to describe them as a cultural group in today’s globalized world. This chapter is not intended to reaffirm Hakka cultural characteristics or to dispel stereotyped Hakka images. It is important to reiterate them in order to understand when, why, where and how these markers were constructed in order to study the formation, transformation and reformation of the Hakka identity throughout their history. The formation or demise of cultural construct at any point in time reveals the history and contact group of that particular era. I will discuss each of the characteristics, either claimed by the Hakka themselves or ascribed by others in order to ascertain:

(1) How relevant they were in traditional Hakka identity; (2) How Hakka identity has changed in relation to these markers; and (3) Whether they are still relevant in the twenty-first century.

This exercise will allow us to find out if these so-called cultural markers are still helpful in describing Hakka identity or Hakkaness in an individual or a group in the age of globalization, deterritorialism, transnationalism and digital cross- pollination. If not, then what other criteria can we use and should new ‘markers’ be created for the new cultural construct? Much has been said about the Hakka as a distinct cultural group—some of it true and some only half true. I would like to go through these markers systematically to see how they emerged or disappeared in the course of Hakka history and identity-remaking. This will also help to ascertain how these markers reinforced Hakka identity; how they have evolved over time; and whether they played any role in reshaping Hakka identity today. Regardless of the answers, the question of whether there is still a need to have cultural markers to give the Hakka their identity in the twenty- first century is the first step to answering the question of “How will you define a Hakka in the future?” Below, is a summary of cultural characteristics I have culled from past and recent writings that are used to objectify Hakka distinctiveness. Many of them persisted throughout Hakka history and the one mystery that has plagued every Hakka Studies scholar is how they have managed to keep their cultural identity through all these migrations. Leong Sow-Theng attributed it to the “recent development of the Hakka language” and their clannishness, which meant that they seldom marry outside the dialect (1997, 31–35). R.A.D. Forrest declared that their isolation and historical enmity kept them apart socially (1973 [1948]). Their conservativeness was noticed by Chris Coqqins, who said “. . . the Hakka preserve records and traditions [more than the other dialect groups]” (2002, 46). The reason given by David Liao as the most important factor that contributed to the slow growth of the Church among the Hakka is Hakka Cultural Markers 205 conservatism (1972, 23). Alan Trasher observed that the conservativeness of the Hakka is reflected in their music (2008: ix and 122–123). Conservatism might have helped to maintain some of these markers at various stages for Hakka identification in Chinese history but most are now irrelevant and the few reliable ones are getting less and less useful in the twenty-first century, especially for Hakka communities around the world. The comparison of BGH and their parents in the case study (Appendix A.I) using some of the cultural markers shows that general markers such as occupation, language, and religion etc. differ greatly between the two generations. The only common traits shared between these two generations are historical origin, blood ancestry, and language. Cultural markers are still useful for the BGH in defining their traditional Hakka identity but they become irrelevant for their offspring, whose Hakka heritage has been so adulterated culturally and genetically that the best they can claim is only Hakkaness. Hakkaness requires only elements of Hakka identity and not necessarily absolute cultural markers for definition. This work shows that most of the traditional cultural markers cannot be used to identify Hakka in the twenty-first century simply because the world has changed. In that case, are there new ways to distinguish the Hakka from the other dialect groups? Maybe the more fundamental question is to ask whether there is any need to be a Hakka or be known or be seen as a Hakka in this day and age. The complexity of being Hakka grows with every generation. One may be Hakka by ancestry but if they possess no other distinguishable cultural markers, are they still Hakka? Many of my informants argued that if you have Hakka ancestors, then being Hakka is non-negotiable according to agnatic tradition. But there are also some who insisted that if you do not speak Hakka, there is no point in calling yourself a Hakka. Terry Eagleton has convincingly argued that culture and identity are inherently linked and that there is conflict between culture as a commodity and culture as identity in the global arena. He sees a three-way interaction, in which “culture as spirituality is eroded by cultures as the commodity, to give birth to culture as identity” (2000, 72). The Hakka identity has been subjected to these processes. Therefore, it is important to work through these so-called Hakka cultural markers in order to see how the Hakka identity was defined by these markers and to ascertain if they have a place in the transformation and reformation of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century.

1 Migration

Based on Hakka migrational history as discussed in Chapter 3, migration should have been considered a Hakka cultural marker in Hakka Studies. Migration 206 Chapter 6 was the driving force that shaped and reshaped the Hakka identity. This willingness to move no doubt defines Hakka identity more than for any other Chinese dialect groups. If the socializing and foreign cultural forces where they moved to are dominant, Hakka identity was compromised and it became more adulterated. Back in the isolated villages in the Hakka heartland, the Hakka were able to maintain their traditional Hakka identity for generations but as soon as they migrated to places where there were cultural exchanges with the others, their Hakka identity went through some reshaping. With each move, the Hakka identity gets altered a little. In the twenty-first century, migration has become a global exercise and the global Hakka are part of this population movement. They have no monopoly on it but this is one of the most erosive factors for Hakka identity because migration destinations not only decide what language their offspring will adopt but very often, they acculturate to the local culture as well. In the case of the BGH, except for one family (out of the twelve), where the children were born in Beruas, offspring of all the other families use English as their ‘mother tongue’. Being away from Hakka influences such as their grandparents and relatives means that the BGH’s offspring have no way to experience their Hakka heritage. Therefore, migration as a cultural marker for the Hakka has serious consequences for Hakka identity—in the past, the present and the future. However, it is difficult to ascertain if the Hakka and their descendants around the world, in this day and age, still have that ‘innate culturalistic’ urge to migrate as their forebears in China did, because modern migration statistics are not only hard to come by and when they are available they are usually not broken down into dialect groups. If Beruas and Pusing, predominately Hakka towns are anything to go by, Hakka like the rest of the Chinese will move inter- nally or overseas if they think that the move will better their family’s fortunes and lives. The exodus of young people from Beruas and Pusing continues simply because the opportunities are in the larger cities or overseas. Hence, in the twenty-first century, though migration is still one of the most important factors that shapes and reshapes identity, it cannot be seen as an exclusive Hakka cultural marker.

2 Blood Ancestry

Both Leong Sow-Theng (1985, 290) and Tan Chee Beng (2004, 116) have shown us that regardless of their persistent rhetoric, there is no such thing as a ‘pure Chinese’ whether biologically or culturally. Taking this into consideration Hakka Cultural Markers 207 and given the fact that the Hakka migrate so much, discussing Hakka ‘pure’ blood ancestry is just a futile exercise. However, we can still discuss blood ancestry from the social and cultural aspect to give us insight into Hakka identity-remaking, especially nowadays when marriages across dialects are the norm and across cultures and race are on the rise. Even today, Chinese culture is still fiercely agnatic.176 We cannot get away from it despite the progress in gender equality. A good example is the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant, which states that to qualify as a participant, one “must be of Chinese ancestry, meaning your father must be of Chinese descent.”177 Some believe that Hakka are more agnatic than the other dialect groups because of their conservativeness. It is certainly true in Beruas where boys are more valued than girls. More resources are invested in the boys for their education and women do not inherit from their fathers or husband’s family. Agnatic tradition in Beruas promotes discrimination against the female. So, when we speak of blood ancestry, women are often excluded from the debate. However, there are also signs that the rules are changing. During a recent visit to Beruas, I heard an old Hakka patriarch says, “All my children, male or female, will have an equal share of my fortune.” Still, the question persists: Is a Hakka a Hakka because of the percentage of blood ancestry or is a person a Hakka because another person or a public authority calls them so? This dilemma was highlighted by Mr. Ray Chew (Hakka name: Choo Keng Yong 1954–2011), who was a Fuchow adopted by a Hakka family. When Mr. Chew found out that he was adopted and did not have Hakka blood ancestry, he said that it did not diminish his Hakka identity. He was considered very much a ‘Hakka son’ in Beruas before and after his acknowledgement of his Fuchow roots. What about the American Caucasian, ‘adopted’ by a Hakka family, who declared proudly that he is a Hakka at the 16th World Hakka Congress in Longyan, Fujian in 2000?178 As I see it, there is no ground to disallow them into the universal Hakka family. These two cases show that one does not have to have blood ancestry to be a Hakka. For those who argued the contrary, it brings us to the question of “What degree of blood ancestry would qualify?” The criterion regarding blood ancestry for entering the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Pageant is very precise but let us examine other models; for example

176 For Chinese agnatic tradition, see Freedman (1965 & 1966), Cohen (1969), Strauch (1981) and Faure (2007 & 1989). 177 See http://www.chineseparade.com/pdf/2014_miss_chinatown_application_form.pdf. 178 See http://www.asiawind.com/hakka/ (Retrieved on 30th June, 2008). 208 Chapter 6 that of the New Zealand Maori179 and Australian Aboriginal experiences.180 A prerequisite for playing in the New Zealand Maori Ruby League team is that the player must be of at least one sixteenth Maori descent.181 On the other hand, the University of Newcastle, Australia (Policy: 000749): Aboriginal and/ or Torres Straits Islander—Establishing Status within the University Policy Provision states that “persons seeking to gain access to benefits designed especially for Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander persons will be required to provide evidence to demonstrate that they meet the following criteria for establishing Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status:

(1) They are of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent; (2) They identify as an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person; and (3) They are accepted as such by the community in which they live or have lived.182

The New Zealand Maori Ruby League is quite specific about the degree of blood ancestry, whereas the University of Newcastle is more inclusive. Hakka history and experience may be quite different from those of the Maori and the Australian Aboriginals but the above cases have demonstrated that the establishment of blood ancestry is important and the methods used can be quite different. Similarly, there may come a time in the future when a self-professed Hakka might have to prove that they are Hakka. For example, a World Hakka Foundation with scholarships to give away or an International Hakka Bank with special loans might stipulate that only Hakka can apply. For argument’s sake, if Naomi Campbell, whose paternal grandmother is said to be Hakka (making her ¼ Hakka),183 decides to apply, would she qualify? Following the

179 For a discussion of the history of the Maori experience see Walker (2009). See also McHugh (1998) for a discussion of the Treaty of Waitangi in the new millennium. 180 See Chesterman and Galligan (1997) for the history of the Australian Aboriginal civil rights movement. See also McHugh (1998) for aboriginal identity and relations in Australasia. 181 See http//www.reference.com/browse/wiki/New_Zealand_M%C4%81ori_rugby_league_ team (Retrieved on 22nd August, 2009). However, a report by BBC Sport said that Christian Cullen became a member of the Maori rugby team despite having, according to his father, about 1/64 Maori ancestry (5th June, 2003). See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/ hi/rugby_union/international/2965212.stm) (Retrieved on 16th June, 2009). 182 See http://www.newcastle.edu.au/policy/000749.html (Retrieved on 23rd August, 2009). 183 See Frankel (2002) and http://darkbohemiia.blogspot.com/2009/04/naomi-campbell- living-legend.html (Retrieved on 27th September, 2009). Hakka Cultural Markers 209 agnatic tradition, she is not considered a Hakka but what if she self-identifies as one—claiming to have Hakkaness? These institutions stipulating that “only Hakka need apply” would have to list the precise criteria for the definition of a Hakka. I foresee that future debates on Hakka identity will have to focus on these issues and the resolution of these debates is not going to be straightforward because it is increasingly difficult to find Hakka-Hakka marriages. This unfortunate but inevitable scenario is supported by my case study. The first generation Malaysian Hakka enjoyed a 100 percent Hakka-Hakka marriages while in the second generation it had dropped to 81 percent and by the third generation, the BGH have eroded that to zero. Intermarriage is the most damaging factor that contributes to the erosion of Hakka identity because it is not only cultural but genetic as well, and it is irreversible. In the 1950s and early 1960s, all marriages in Beruas were ‘match-made’, in the sense that parents had to approve of the match before courtship could begin. The Hakka mothers in Beruas made it a point to inform their marriage- able sons that they would accept only Hakka daughters-in-law. There was a saying that Cantonese girls were too talkative and did not listen to their mothers-in-law; Hockchew girls knew only how to look pretty; and Hokkien girls, considered the worst of the three, were deemed to be lazy and spoilt by their parents; and they ran home after every little tiff. Hokkien mothers in Beruas and the surrounding towns/villages considered Hakka girls to be Hok. chor- lor (unrefined) and therefore, undesirable daughters-in-law. The line is drawn quite clearly. Hence, in Beruas social context, inter-dialect marriages seldom took place in the BGH parents’ generation let alone across the races. It is the same in most Hakka communities in Southeast Asia. The most common marital custom among Chinese immigrants was to have a marriage arranged by one’s parents based on compatible social and economic status, time of birth, birthplace, physical appearance, dialect and region. Cross-dialect marriages are rare among Chinese immigrants. For example, Teochew did not normally marry Hakka and the latter did not marry Hainanese (Bao 2003, 141–142). Marrying out of the dialect group was scandalous enough but to marry someone from another race was very, very rare. However, when the older BGH reached mar- riageable age in the late 1970s and early 1980s, parents had little say in their choice of a spouse. Similarly, as Elizabeth Johnson notes, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, marriages in Hakka villages in Hong Kong were no longer arranged, old networks no longer functioned, and wives came from disparate origins (1996, 92). In two decades, cross-culturalism and social mobility changed marriage criteria for the new generation. At best the parents could voice their 210 Chapter 6 objections or preferences but they never openly objected when it came to the union. Some Hakka parents were resigned to the fact that they could never communicate with their non-Chinese foreign sons- or daughters-in-law. The common lament “Hk. yit tzak kai, yit tzak ap” (a chicken and a duck [how to communicate?])” could be heard among Beruas Hakka women with foreign sons- or daughters-in-law. Marrying outside of race and dialect threatens to erode Hakka identity not only among the BGH or in Hakka all over the world but the same threat is happening in all Chinese societies, including in China. A good example is the rise of Shenzhen. In 1979, when Shenzhen became a Free Economic Zone, it had only 270,000 inhabitants and most of them were either Hakka or Cantonese. Twenty-five years later Shenzhen’s population had reached twelve million and the newcomers were almost 100 percent non-Hakka (Liu L.L. 2006). During my first visit to my ancestral village in 1994, I noticed that almost all my cousins who were born in the 1950s and 1960s were married to Hakka. On my second visit in 2009, less than half of their children had Hakka spouses. With such a highly disproportionate ratio of Hakka and non-Hakka in the community, the chances that a Hakka will marry another Hakka are very slim. It is interesting to note the sentiment of marrying within dialect was still alive in the last decade of the twentieth century and in the twenty-first century in some overseas Hakka communities. Ellen Oxfeld’s study of marriage exchanges in the Calcutta transnational Hakka Community shows that Calcutta Hakka men were still looking towards Meixian, China for Hakka wives in the 1990s (2005, 17–18). My global survey also reveals two cases in which the sentiments of looking for a Hakka partner still exist. The first case was introduced to me as “a Hakka, who is deliberately looking for a Hakka wife”. When I caught up with this global Hakka, he told me that he has indeed married a Hakka from his own community. He thinks he is very lucky because they can speak Hakka to their children and he intends to uphold all the Hakka traditions that he knows. A Hakka woman in her early thirties from Singapore tells me that she is still looking for a Hakka man to marry. These are encouraging signs but there are not enough of them to make any meaningful change to the trend. The Beruas case study shows that by the third generation, the BGH had all married non-Hakka. Within three generations, the pattern has changed from a 100 percent Hakka-Hakka marriage to naught. As of 2012, none of the children of the BGH married a Hakka. Intermarriage is one of the most serious reasons why the Hakka identity is being threatened and in this day and age no reversal can be expected. To the question of why they call themselves Hakka, all the self-identified Hakka gave the reason that they have Hakka ancestors. Blood Hakka Cultural Markers 211 ancestry is the most important criteria for people who identify themselves as Hakka. However, at what blood quantum will the limit be set for defining a Hakka? Only the Hakka can decide.

3 The Hakka Language

The ability or inability to speak the Hakka language as a marker is one of the most polarizing factors in the debate on Hakka identity. Hakka is spoken in fewer and fewer Hakka households. For the new generation in Hakka communities, the Hakka language is gradually being replaced as a mother tongue and its use abruptly terminated in global Hakka. As my surveys show, English has become the mother tongue of the offspring of most of the global Hakka, who are born in their parents receiving countries. Can you call yourself or another Hakka a Hakka if you or they cannot speak or understand the language? This is the question that haunts all Hakka because my surveys indicate that the Hakka language or dialect will not survive more than two generations if the status quo remains. The future of the Hakka language warrants wider attention because even today there is still no consensus on what to call Hakka speech. According to many linguists, Hakka is a language. Tan Chee Beng prefers to call the different Chinese speech groups in Malaysia ‘Chinese languages’ (1998, 29). Others call it vernacular or the more fashionable topolect. Victor Mair said, “Cantonese, Amoy, Hakka, Hunanese, Hiananese, Taiwanese, Dungan, etc. are distinctive languages within the Chinese or Sinitic group” (1991, 13). He also put up a strong argument that fangyan 方言 is incorrectly translated as ‘dialect’ in the English language (ibid., 4). In that case, Hakka should not be called a ‘dialect’ and his suggestion is topolect. Even if we accept ‘topolect’ to mean the same form of speech within a ‘large’ area, it is still problematic for the Hakka case because of their migrational history and the large varieties of Hakka being spoken in China and around the world. Traditionally in Malaysia and Singapore, where a large part of my research was conducted, Hakka speech is labeled as a ‘dialect’, which is commensurate with general practices. Until there is a consensus on how ‘Chinese language’ is divided, for this study, I call Hakka speech a ‘dialect’ like Cantonese, Hokkien or Hainanese and use it interchangeably with ‘language’, where it fits better. Another point is that there are many varieties of Hakka. Since there is no consensus on which variety is considered to be the ‘mother’ or ‘indigenous’ Hakka language, therefore, there is no such thing as a Hakka ‘sub-dialect’ and as such, every variety can be a Hakka dialect or language by right. 212 Chapter 6

John Joseph notes in Language and Identities that languages are the most important tool for humans to communicate ideas and memories, to express emotions and values, and to exchange knowledge (2010, 9). It serves not only as the primary medium of cultural expressions and indicates a tangible cultural heritage but it is also essential to the cultural identity of individuals and groups. Maintaining one’s mother tongue is crucial for preserving cultural and personal identity. If a person does not speak or understand the language of the cultural group that they belong to, they are already one step removed from the group identity. Ethnographically speaking, this may be true but the paradigm for belonging to a group is also shifting together with identity transformation and reformation in the twenty-first century—as in the Hakka case. The debate on how language and identity are linked is getting more and more attention because globalization and migration very often now decide what language people speak at home and in the work place. The latest publication on languages and identities, edited by Carmen Llamas and Dominic Watt reveals the extent of the debate (2010).184 Language not only solidifies the identity of a person or community but it can also empower a group’s will to assert their ‘indigenousness’. Language could reinforce the narration of a group’s or an individual’s story and history. Without the original language of the script to go with the ‘play’ of a particular culture, it becomes just an adaptation by a third party. As we know, watching a dubbed movie is never the same as seeing the movie in its original language. Language can give a group or person an identity and its rejection (e.g. Hong Kong Hakka speaking Cantonese) indicates the marginalization of that identity. Today, language and blood ancestry are the only two remaining cultural markers that identify a Hakka unequivocally, but not for long. According to the report by UNESCO, half of the 6,700 languages spoken today are in danger of disappearing before the century ends. Christopher Moseley, an Australian linguist who edited the third edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages, adds that two hundred languages have become extinct in the last three generations alone, and another 199 languages have fewer than ten speakers left.185 A recent report in the Singapore Straits Times, entitled “Chinese Dialects Vanishing in

184 This volume consists of twenty essays by sociolinguists, anthropologists, sociophoneti- cists, linguistic students, healthcare specialists dealing with speech impairments, among others. It gives useful insights into the different aspects of the effects of languages on identities and vice versa. 185 See UNESCO’s flagship activity in safeguarding endangered language in the Atlas of the World Language in Danger at http://www.unesco.rg/culture/en/endangeredlanguages (Retrieved on 12th May, 2011). Hakka Cultural Markers 213

China: Mandarin Threatening Even Native Tongues as Major as Cantonese”, sounded the alarm for the seriousness of the threat for Chinese dialects (Peh 2010). It is not only the obscure mother tongues that are slowly vanishing but major dialects such as Cantonese, and the Beijing and Shanghai dialects are gradually been drowned out by Mandarin. So, is the Hakka dialect an endangered language and will it figure amongst the dead languages186 in the next two generations? The Hakka dialect might not be as endangered as some of the less spoken languages but moribundity started more than a century ago not just in China but also in Hakka communities around the world, where Hakka was once spoken in every Hakka household. As mentioned before, Han Suyin’s family is a good example. She laments that her family had assimilated in great part to the local culture and intermarried with the local inhabitants, and by the end of the nineteenth century only traces of the original Hakka dialect lingered among the older members of her family. Her father’s generation no longer spoke it (1972, 28–29). In the mid-twentieth century most of the young Hakka in Hawaii, Jamaica, Thailand, Indonesia, and lately in Singapore and other fast developing societies are unable to speak Hakka. Gail Bouknight-Davis notes that Hakka used to be the lingua franca among Jamaican Chinese: “Few Jamaican-Chinese speak any of the Chinese dialects, and the ones who do usually speak Hakka rather than the Cantonese spoken by the Hong-Kong-born Chinese migrants of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries” (2004, 71). Hawaii and Jamaica are examples of natural progression where the mother tongue has been replaced by gradual socialization and education. Thailand and Indonesia’s situations were created by political strife. Singapore, however, is a case where replacing the dialects with Mandarin was a state policy. The ‘Speak Mandarin Campaign’ successfully replaced dialects with Mandarin as the ‘mother tongue’. My case study on the BGH also shows that the Hakka dialect will die out in the next generation if the status quo remains.187 Lau Chun-fat (2000) also came to the same conclusion that the remaining Hakka speakers in Hong Kong are heavily influenced by Cantonese

186 See Crystal on the death of languages. He declares, “A language dies when nobody speaks it anymore” and he gave many examples of languages that have died recently: Kasabe of Cameroon in 1995 and Ubuh of West Caucasus in 1992 (2000, 1–2). See also Nettle and Romaine (2000), and Harrison (2007) for detailed discussions on the death of the world’s languages. 187 See detailed findings of the case study in Appendix A (Language) and Appendix O on survey of Beruas Kindergarten Hakka linguistic skill. 214 Chapter 6 in their speech and he predicted that the Hakka language would vanish in two generations Migration influences not only identity but also the evolution of literature through speech and writing. Drawing on the literary sources from many countries Jing Tsu shows how migration influences the writings of Chinese intellectuals and how the power of language changed the terms of cultural dominance. For example, she cites the Taiwanese writer Zhong Zhaozheng, who is half-Hakka and half-Haklo and schooled in Japanese, having to undergo a mental translation process when he writes dialogue (2010, 11). This shows that a native or mother tongue is an unstable commodity. In the 1960s and 1970s, Malaysia and Singapore went through an englishlization188 process, in which English was seen as the language to launch an education and the future. Englishlization produced many overseas Chinese whose thinking is influenced by the West and who write in English although their mother tongues are still the various dialects (the proverbial ‘banana’). Of particular interest is the Singapore case, which had a very successful englishlization process in the 1960s and 1970s. It was so successful that English became the ‘mother tongue’ of children who have English-educated or economically successful parents. However, in the 1980s, when Singapore realized the increasing importance of China as an economic partner, it launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC), in which Singaporeans were encouraged to speak Mandarin instead of their ‘mother tongue’ at home so as to do away with dialects and encourage the English-speaking to learn Mandarin. The SMC was so successful that between 1990 and 2000, the use of Mandarin in Singaporean homes increased by 88 percent (Lee E. 2000). Englishlization and the SMC have produced a Singaporean identity. However, of late, there has been interest in reviving free-to-air dialect TV and radio programs in Singapore189 but the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, on whose watch the SMC was implemented, opposed it (2013, 297–298). One of the earliest people to write in Hakka was Huang Zunxian (1848–1905), a Hakka born in Meixian in Guangdong Province. He was a scholar, poet and a diplomat, who took an active role in the Qing reformist movement. Huang

188 I choose to use ‘englishlization’ instead of the more conventional ‘anglicization’ because anglicization leans too much to the side of the British. American culture played just as important a role in influencing English-speaking teenagers’ identity in Asia in the 1960s. 189 For an example of a Q&A session between Singaporeans and their government on bringing back the free-to-air dialect programs, see https://www.reach.gov.sg/TalkAbuzz/ YourFeedbackOurResponse/tabid/108/tid/122/type/thread/mode/2/Default.aspx?ssForm Action=%5B%5BssBlogThread_REPORT%5D%5D. Hakka Cultural Markers 215 championed the use of the Hakka dialect for writing. His famous addage: “My hand writes as I speak” (我手寫我口 wo shouxie wo kou) became the byword for ‘writing and speech becoming one’ (文言合一 wenyan heyi).190 For the record, Huang was also a founding member of the Hakka Research Society, which was established in 1905 to ‘prove’ that the Hakka were descendants of Chinese and that they migrated from Central China. The use of Hakka in intellectual exercises was also enhanced by the mono poly of the book trade in South China by the Hakka. In her study of the book trade in the Qing and Republican periods in Sibao, Cynthia Brokaw notes that there are also books published in the Hakka language. They include “a category of specialized imprints, either text produced by local residents largely for local consumption, such as the poetry collections of obscure local authors . . . [Among them] Zhao Yulin [趙玉麟 a scholar] . . . Sibao’s two elementary textbooks in the local Hakka subdialect, Renjia ri yong [人家日用 Everyone, Everyday] and Yinian shiyong zazi wen [一年使用雜字文 Glossary For A Year’s Activities] or Lingnan yishi [嶺南逸史 Unofficial History of Lingnan]” (2007, 557–558). However, few Hakka intellectuals wrote in the vernacular because there was no need to. A Hakka can read Chinese characters in Hakka and he can write with Hakka in his head and produce Chinese characters from his brush. As children, our father sometimes read the Chinese newspaper to us in Hakka. Of course some terms are pronounced differently from how they were used in daily conversation. For example, 我們 women (we) Hk. ngo mun was pronounced Hk. nga theu in daily conversation. The difference in pronunciation was not a problem because it was understood both ways. This is to be expected as Jerry Schmidt gathers from Huang Zunxian’s poetry that the educated Hakka and Hakka commoner spoke differently. In his poem entitled “I Grieve for Port Arthur” Huang narrates the military disaster of the successful Japanese assault on Port Arthur. Schmidt points out the unusual rhyme scheme in the poem whereby the “rhyme scheme serves as the foundation to Huang’s description of Port Arthur’s seemingly impregnable fortification, the static quality of which is also emphasized by the final m (in Huang’s Hakka dialect pronunciation) of each rhyme, a soft ‘restful’ consonant in contrast to the commoner finals of Chinese syllables (vowels or n, ng, p, t k, in his dialect)” (1994, 164). In the 1960s and 1970s, news was also broadcast in this ‘educated Hakka’ on the radio in Malaysia at certain times of the day.

190 For information on Huang’s life and his poetry, see Schmidt (1994) and for a discussion of how Huang attempts to influence literature by using the Hakka vernacular, see Tsu J. (2010, 35, 146 and 164). See also Zhang T.Q. (1991, 95–98). For a study of Huang and his poetry, see Zhang T.Q. (1991) and for his complete works, see Chen Z. (ed.) (2005). 216 Chapter 6

Scholars have always been curious as to how the Hakka have been able to preserve their language for so long. Leong Sow-Theng attributed it to the recent development of the Hakka language and the Hakka clannishness (1997, 31–35) and R.A.D. Forrest attributed it to their isolation and historical enmity which kept them apart socially. In Malaysia, Hakka is spoken more often in small isolated communities in rural areas or Hakka towns such as Beruas and Pusing, rather than in big cities. As my fieldwork indicated, most Hakka in Penang speak Hokkien and those in Ipoh speak Cantonese. Before we can look at how or whether the Hakka dialect should be preserved, it is prudent to ask “What actually is the Hakka dialect? When and where was it formed? Is it a northern or southern language?” Christine Lamarre quotes Marshall Broomhall in The Bible in China (1907, 393–395) that the “Hakka dialect was not known by Europeans previous to 1845, and the Revs. T. Hamberg and R. Lechler of the Basel Mission were the first missionaries to study it thoroughly” (2002, 73–74). Their long association with the Hakka produced many studies of the Hakka language.191 The historiography on the studies on the Hakka dialect up to 1967 has been summarized by Paul Yang (1967, 305–322), and it includes Johann Heinrich (1913), B. Kalrgren (1915–26), Wang Li (1928), Luo Xianglin (1933), Søren Egerod (1956 & 1959), Henry Henne (1964a+b), etc. However, the most useful critical survey on the historiography of the Hakka language was presented by Mantaro Hashimoto. He divided his survey into three major classes:

(1) Etymological studies on Hakka words by Chinese scholars of pre-modern period; (2) Practical manuals and dictionaries compiled by European missionaries (a series of manuals and dictionaries for practical purposes was also made for Indonesian and Taiwan Hakka under the Dutch and Japanese occupation of these islands); and (3) Descriptive and comparative studies by modern linguists (1973, 15–34).

Other studies of the Hakka dialect from the 1970s until the present include Hwang Xuezhen (1988 & 1989), Robert S. Ramsey (1989), Mantaro Hashimoto (1992), Mary S. Erbaugh (1995), Hsu Hui-chuan (1995), Michael Opper

191 For a detailed discussion of nineteenth-century missionary work of different Christian denominations in China and the contribution to the grammatical, phonological or lexical studies of the Hakka language by Basel Evangelical Missionary Society’s, and evaluations of the documents stored in the Basel Mission Library from the perspective of linguistics, see Chappell and Lamarre (2005) and Lamarre (2002). Hakka Cultural Markers 217

(2009–2000), Laurant Sagart (1998 & 2004), David Branner (2000), Lau Chun- fat (2000 & 2002), Ungsitipoonporn Siripen (2009), Lee Wai-Sum and Eric Zee (2009), just to name a few. The central question of linguists studying the Hakka language is: Does the Hakka language have a northern or southern origin? In 1903 Dryer J. Ball wrote that the Hakka dialect “is more akin to Mandarin, being a halfway house between Cantonese and Mandarin”. He quoted from an unknown source: “The Hakka dialect is the remnant of a phase of transition through which the common Chinese language passed in developing itself from Cantonese to Mandarin” (1926 [1903], 280). These statements have of course been challenged by both linguists and Hakka chauvinists alike. The question of whether Hakka by linguistic definition can be considered a language has been challenged (Sagart 1988, 148) and it is still unresolved. As mentioned above, although Hakka might have all the features of a language, for this study I identify it as a ‘dialect’ of the Chinese family and use the term interchangeably with language. The job of determining the origin of the Hakka dialect has become ‘the battle of the linguists’ and the jury is still out over the time and place of its formation. Generally, the proponents are split into two opposite camps— opting for either northern or southern origins. Those who believe that Hakka has a northern origin include Bernhard Karlgren, Luo Xianglin and Mantaro Hashimoto. However, more and more scholars are insisting that Hakka has a southern root. Linguists in the southern camp, who are usually younger, insist that the Hakka dialect was formed in the south. Jerry Norman states that the kejia language is “a full-fledged Southern dialect and is no more closely related to Mandarin than Cantonese” (1988, 227). There are views that Hakka dialect evolved in the south in the period of the Song dynasty (Sagart 1988, 148 & You 1992, 103). Mantaro Hashimoto (1992), Laurant Sagart (1988) and Hilary Chappell (2004, 15) all concur that the relative uniformity of the Hakka sound system of the different varieties of Hakka dialects is attributed to its recent development. Robert Ramsey notes,

. . . no matter what the ethnic origin of the Hakka, the group is linguistically Southern Chinese. The Hakka dialects are historically allied to the other southern dialects around them. They have unmistakably Northern features, but they are actually not much more like Mandarin than Cantonese is. The Hakka dialects were formed in the South— almost surely in northern Guangdong—and the present widespread distribution of their speakers is the result of large-scale migrations that took place out of Meixian during the Qing dynasty . . . Hakka has more Northern words than Yue and Min dialects do, but overall, its vocabulary 218 Chapter 6

is characteristically southern. Its syntactic structure, too, is generally of the Southern type (1989, 111–115).

However, it is important to note that peculiarities in pronunciation suggest that the historical development of the Hakka tone system was unusual and possibly distinctive. Therefore, such a conclusion is premature. Many Hakka expressions have the same pronunciation as in Classical Chinese. For example, to describe anything that is beautiful the Dongguan Hakka say Hk. liang (良 liang) and not Hk. mui 美 mei. Black is Hk. vu (烏 wu) and not Hk. het 黑 hei. When they drink water, they say Hk. yim sui 飲水 and not 喝水 hesui. In Hakka, hao 好, said in the fourth tone (Hk. hao4) is used to describe fondness or lust and often associated with sex and sexuality.192 DG Hk. hao3 (in the third tone) refers to a woman who is considered licentious. There are also many Hakka words and expressions that have no Mandarin equivalent, e.g. fast (快 kuai) in Hakka is Hk. kiak and clean (亁淨 ganjing) is Hk. lang li transliterated from 零利 lingli. (See below for more discussion). David Branner has shown that linguistic diversity has been accepted as the normal course of things from the pre-Han onwards (2000, 2–9). He quotes the modern scholar Xing Gongwan 邢公畹 (1982, 1–2), that a standard language in Chinese existed before the Qin and Han as well as after “because it was one of the things that guaranteed that Chinese would not split up into many languages” (ibid., 7–8). From the different sources mentioned by Branner, there is no doubt that different forms of local speech (方言 fangyan) also existed side by side in early China and that each one varies geographically and temporally (ibid., 2–9). But that is not to say that the Hakka dialect as we know it today existed then. For argument’s sake, even if Hakka fangyan existed as one of the many local form of speech, there is no way it could stay the same in such a long transition because language is one of the most mutable human traits. Linguistic definition of the Hakka dialect is very complex. Branner classified Hakka dialect as indistinguishable in a rigorous way from some of the other southern and central dialect groups, apart from Min. Branner concluded that “there does not seem to be a unique feature that can describe all of Hakka as a single linguistic group” (2000, 61–84). The Norman-Hwang model revealed that the development of the Hakka dialect followed a wave-like movement from north to south (Ramsey 1989, 111). This is not surprising when we accept the various wave theories of Hakka migration. Hilary Chappell and Alain Peyraube’s study on Chinese localizers suggests that Hakka dialect has the same general principles of semantic change during the Pre-Medieval Chinese (2008, 32).

192 For a discussion on the use of hao 好 for sex and sexuality, see Leo (2011, 67–70). Hakka Cultural Markers 219

Mantaro Hashimoto concluded that “Hakka and the Shansi [dialects spoken in northern China] constitute the southern and northern portions respectively of the same dialect wave or waves which spread toward the peripheral regions of China, with the Central Plain as the center of all these waves” (1992, 12). The debate on whether certain varieties of Hakka are actually Hakka is still going on. For example, Yuan Bingling considers Hakka from Fengshun, Hepo, Haifeng and Lufeng as half Hakka (2000, 30), while Leo Moser asserted that Hakka in Lufeng and Haifeng are ‘true Hakka’ (1985, 252). In her question to Jerry Norman’s criteria of whether a particular type of Hakka is Hakka or not, Laurant Sagart concludes that “most accounts of the geographical extent of the Hakka dialect rely implicitly on Hakka self-awareness, rather than on some linguistic feature”. Sagart also adds that there is no empirical evidence to show that all the different varieties of Hakka described so far have a common feature that characterizes them in Mantaro Hashimoto’s expression of being “unique and unambiguous” (1998, 297). In Lau Chun-fat’s studies of the relationship between ‘Hakka identity’ and the ‘Hakka dialects’, he points out how nonsensi- cal “it was to use non-linguistic factors for the definition of dialects” (2002). The above-mentioned works show different aspects of the Hakka dialect but we have to bear in mind that most of the research was done in mainland China or Taiwan. Though it throws some light on how the Hakka dialect evolved in different settings, it is too early to say definitively that Hakka has its origin in the north or south. Proto-Hakka migrated to the south but it has not yet been established how far north the point of departure was. The ethnogenesis of the Hakka as a group and the formation of the language did not necessarily happen at the same time or place. Taking into consideration that the incubation period of the Hakka is long and their migrational history is still longer, and that language adapts both culturally and linguistically in different environments, means more studies are needed to learn more about its linguistic development. As such, it appears to be a fruitless exercise to try to pinpoint whether it is a northern or southern dialect. It might be more interesting to study how the Hakka dialect has evolved not only in China but also in overseas communities that still have Hakka speakers. There are still small pockets of Hakka speakers outside China who might be able to share with us how they speak their Hakka after it’s transplantation to a foreign soil. The development of the Hakka dialect of the overseas Hakka has been a more complicated process than those on Mainland China or Taiwan because on the Mainland or in Taiwan they only have to contend with other dialects whereas those Hakka in new nation states have to deal not only with other dialects but also with the indigenous language of the country they have settled in. This is further complicated by the intermarriages of Hakka men 220 Chapter 6 and local women. Their children’s language is compromised by such marriages. William Skinner noticed that Hakka on Bangka Island, Indonesia developed a creolized Hakka dialect with many Malay ‘loanwords’ (1963, 30, 104). An interesting case to study is the linguistic transformation and adaptation of the Dongguan Hakka spoken in Pusing and Beruas. In Malaysia, the Hakka dialect went through a process of readjustment because of the close proximity to other dialects as well as the national language, Malay. I am not a linguist but I would like to discuss Dongguan Hakka from my experience as a ‘native-speaker’. I would also like to show how the Dongguan Hakka in Malaysia have developed a unique way of expressing themselves and also to look at some of the words they have appropriated from what is called pasar (market or bazaar) Malay.193 Word appropriation arises when there is a contact situation in which people speak typologically different languages. In this process, words that have been traded and appropriated194 have found their way into the different languages as ‘loanwords’. I agree with Einar Haugen that ‘borrowing’ is not a satisfactory definition of the integration of words from one language into another. Even when he categorically uses it to define “a process and not a state”, I find ‘borrowing’ still implies that it should be ‘returned’ at some point, whereas we know that once a word has been appropriated or annexed into another language, it stays there. If ‘borrowing’ does not quite make the cut, appropriating and annexing could. These two terms represent a dynamic process of integration. Therefore, I choose to use the terms annexed- or appropriated-word. The Hakka dialect, like identity, is also an evolving entity—reforming and transforming according to circumstances. Dialects under different environmental conditions create their own expressions. When something is very black in color, the Cantonese say Cn. hak mag mang whereas the Hakka say Hk. wu tau tau. As Lillian Ho explains, many “Hakka words imitate the actual sound of what they describe. For example, she said, rustle is ‘si-ri so-so si-ri so-so’ and noisy is ‘bi-ri bong bong’” (1993, 75). Ho does not say which variety

193 The Malay language in all its regional and sociolinguistic variety belongs to the Malayic, a Western Malayo-Polynesian linguistic subgroup (Adelaar 2005, 202). It is presently used as a first or native language in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore (Adelaar 1992, 1 and Adelaar and Prentice 1996, 673). Bahasa Malaysia has evolved to become the standard Malay which is the official language of Malaysia. However, for inter-ethnic communication the different races have adapted and developed it into what is called Pasar (Market) or Bazaar Malay. For the history, grammar and contact of Bazaar Malay, see Daw (2005) and for a detailed study of ‘loanwords’ between the Chinese and Malay languages in Malaysia, see Chow (2010). 194 For a detailed analysis of linguistic borrowing and the debate on why he uses the term ‘borrowing’ over terms, such as loanwords, loanblends, loanshifts, see Haugen (1972, 79–109). Hakka Cultural Markers 221 of Hakka she belongs to. In Dongguan Hakka, noisy is DG. Hk. pi li pang pang. For example, when children woke up in the morning and became noisy, they would get a scolding: Hk. “Yit tsao hhong tsin, pi li pang pang, tso mak kai?” (一早起身, 啤哩嗙嗙, 做甚麽 First thing in the morning, why are you making so much noise?) Like the other dialects who had social intercourse with the Malays, the Hakka too have appropriated many of their words and vice versa. In her study on word-appropriation between the Chinese Language and Malay Language in Malaysia, Chow Chai Khim (2010) shows that lexical borrowings are bi- directional and by comparing the amount of appropriated-words in these two languages, she concludes that this bi-directional lexical borrowing between the Malay and Chinese languages, i.e. the appropriated-word traffic, tends to be disproportionate—there are more Chinese appropriated words in Malay. Michael Opper has also shown that the Hakka dialects spoken in Taiwan demonstrate a textbook example of language evolution due to cross-dialectal contact (2009–2010). Chinese dialects often have different sets of appropriated words but Endymion Wilkinson draws attention to the fact that Hakka is especially rich in Malay and Malay-Dutch appropriated-words (2000, 37–44). Paul Yang, on the other hand observes that local influences on the Hakka dialect “consists more in cultural vocabulary borrowing than in phonological changes.” Yang cites many examples in Malaya, where the Hakka appropriated many Malay words (1967, 322–323). On a research trip in January 2011, I interviewed Hakka women who used to work as dulang-washers in the tin mines in Pusing. I also recorded conversations at random. In addition, whenever I hear Hakka being spoken on my travels in Malaysia and Singapore, I would take notes of unusual words and phrases. On another trip I took my mother with me to visit her old friends in Pusing (home of Dongguan Hakka in Malaysia) so that they could speak like they used to—using expressions and nuances that are slowly being forgotten. An out-off town Hakka, who listens to Hakka being spoken in Pusing, will probably not understand much of the conversation when they go really ‘vernacular’. Similarly, a Hakka woman narrated that when she visited the United States, the Hakka people she met could not understand some of her expressions. From the recorded conversations in Beruas and Pusing and random notes that I have made, I have chosen a few expressions to demonstrate that some of these terms are uniquely Dongguan Hakka. Many of these appropriated words are from the Malay language or just created under certain circumstances.195

195 Anne-Christine Trémon notes that Hakka in French Polynesia away from Papeete spoke a sort of pidgin, mixing Tahitian, French and Hakka (2010.1, 1047). 222 Chapter 6

Here are a few examples of how the Malay language has influenced the Hakka dialect phonologically. When a child is clever, the Dongguan Hakka can use Hk. liak, lian tai or pan lai. The last expression is the corrupt form of the Malay word pandai (meaning clever; quick at learning and understanding things; showing skill; and brainy) (Hawkins 2001, 162). The term Hk. chung min (聰明 congming) is seldom used. They can also make Malay words sound Hakka. For example, when something is easy or comfortable, they say Hk. sin sin nang nang, which is appropriated and transformed from the Malay word senang (easy). Malay words have not only been appropriated for daily use but they have also entered into the religious sanctuary. One example is the verb ‘help’, which in Hakka is Hk. pong (幫 bang) but just as often Hk. tor long, which has been appropriated from the Malay word tolong (to help), is used. When old Hakka women wanted to seek help or blessings from the gods and spirits, they would intone Hk. “Tian ah kung tor long” (May the Lord God render assistance). I would like to offer a personal example: I spent my early childhood at my maternal grandmother’s home in Pusing and saw my mother only occasionally. Our neighbors were two Malay families and their children were my playmates. The Malay children called their mother using the Malay word mak, which is short for emak to mean mother. Whenever my mother came to visit, I called her Ah Mak instead of Ah Meh, Ah Mi (姆 mu) or Ah Ma, which other Hakka children used. Until today, I still call my mother Ah Mak, while my other siblings call her Ah Ma. This has only come to my notice recently, while research- ing this section of my study. Obviously, without realizing it, I have appropriated a Malay word. Here is a short list of appropriated Malay words that I had in my vocabulary when I was growing up:

DG Hakka usage Malay word English meaning ta han tahan to stop pa sak pasar market a kak agak to guess cham pok campur to mix nga lor gadoh to argue or tang hutang to owe ma ta mata-mata police chu kai cukai custom duty su kak suka to like Hakka Cultural Markers 223

DG Hakka usage Malay word English meaning kap pha la kepala foreman (lit. head) pan lai pandai clever sama semua all sin lang senang easy

The Chinese in Malaysia appropriated words from the Malay language and each dialect transliterated them to their own tones. Hong Kong shopkeepers used to be able to identify Malaysian tourists just by listening to how they asked for the price of an article. In Malaysia, money (錢 qian) is called looi in Cantonese and luui in Hakka, which is appropriated from the Malay word duit. In an attempt to foil the shopkeepers in Hong Kong into thinking that they were locals so that they could get a better price, the Malaysian tourists would ask for the price in Cantonese: “Gei to luui? (lit. How much money?) But the Cantonese in Hong Kong pronounce money (錢 qian) as Cn. ts’in and the Hakka Hk. tshien so a local would ask in Cantonese, Cn. “Gei to ts’in?” or in Hakka Hk. “Ki to tshien?”. These subtle differences used to make a lot of difference to the end-price that Malaysian tourists paid. This problem has somewhat disappeared because nowadays most shopkeepers in Hong Kong speak English or Mandarin with a Hong Kong accent. Besides, an informant told me that the Hong Kong shopkeepers have to learn Mandarin now (grudgingly) because the bulk of the tourists to Hong Kong now come from the Mainland. Still shopkeepers in Hong Kong can tell if the tourists are Malaysian or Singaporean because of the way they speak Mandarin. A quick glance in MacIver’s dictionary indicates how expressive and pictur- esque the Hakka language is. MacIver based his pronunciation on Sin On 新安 Hakka, which is very close to the Dongguan Hakka. Examples of the uniqueness of some terms and expression as I have heard them spoken in DG Hakka in Beruas and Pusing include the following: When it is pitch dark outside, they say DG Hk. am mo si sor; to dream is Hk. pot mung; and to forget is Hk. tiam pong. Anything small and weak Hk. ngan zai zai, what is small and withered is Hk. ngan tok tok, when it gets very cold it is Hk. lang wai wai, and someone trembling from the cold is said to be Hk. kit kit chun. Food that is soft in consistency is said to be Hk. lem put put and those that are hard is Hk. ngang kek kek. A fussy person is said to be Hk. pa pi. When one is too tired to move, the person is Hk. tapp lai—tired like clinging mud i.e. cannot be resuscitated. A frog is called a Hk. kham su and a spider is a Hk. la kia. A beautiful and vibrant woman 224 Chapter 6 is a Hk. fo si (private property or 4-C for short in modern-speak) and a man trying to court her is going to Hk. sok you (soak up oil). A straw is called a Hk. sui tshao 水草 shuicao and Hk. lai sui 泥水 nishui (mud and water) is an occupation where cement, earth and water are constantly mixed i.e. building works. Hakka expressions for scolding, cursing and swearing are most colorful and in some cases really vulgar. Someone stupid is a Hk. tai choy teu (big vegetable head) and if he has been taken for a ride, he is said to have been Hk. tok choy teu (his vegetable head is being chopped—this scolding is gender specific and usually used on gullible men). The many scolding expressions also show their intolerance for fools. When someone is not clued in to things they are referred to as Hk. pan sang suk (half raw-[half] ripe) or Hk. mau ah kai (have no idea—Hk. ah kai being the Malay appropriated-word from akal to mean “ability to be aware of things and to think and reason) (Hawkins 2001, 3) or Hk. sang fan su (raw sweet potato). If someone has gone Hk. chung fan su (grown sweet potato) it means that the person is dead—buried in the ground like sweet potatoes. To swear at or curse someone, the term Hk. pot ngia tai lang (lit. [you have] develop a big chill) is commonly used.196 Someone acting carelessly will be asked if they are Hk. kon teu toi (hurrying to be the first to be reincarnated). Daughters are referred to as Hk. set pun for (damaged goods)—implying that it is a losing business because after bringing her up, she will eventually be married off to another family. For vile scolding, the term used is Hk. tiau 屌 diao penis or to have carnal intercourse and it is equivalent to today’s ‘fuck’. Another term for penis is Hk. lin, which is used as a common swearword. If a man is Hk. lau lin tenn, he is acting like a prick; Hk. lin si means arrogant; and a stupid man is a Hk. tai lin ngong (big mad penis). Female anatomy is not spared either. The most common term used is Hk. hai which is equivalent to ‘cunt’ in the English vocabulary. I will leave it to the imagination of the readers as to how it is used. With education and and improved civil-mindedness these swearing terms are seldom heard nowadays. The proverbs and sayings are the most vivid and direct. Hk. Ngit hiak ya hiak, si futt ta la chak means “to gallivant hither and thither until the buttocks are crisscrossed” (it is not as poetic in translation but the picture is clear). A blunt

196 It would be interesting to find out if this phrase was created in China or in Malaya. In Malaysia, it is usually used to tell someone off for talking nonsense or doing something wrong. It could have something to do with the ‘big chill’ one suffers from when one is infected by malaria, which can cause delirium and hence, lead to talking nonsense. Malaria was a serious health issue in Malaya (Hodgkin 1956). This speculation requires more study. Hakka Cultural Markers 225 knife is written off as Hk. pin si tu m li (not fit for wiping the arse). Someone who cannot do anything right will be told Hk. chor gui tu m liang (even as a ghost the person is inefficacious i.e. a ghost is said to have advantages over humans in the prediction of events). The above shows that Hakka have a way with words and their tradition of composing songs and prose was also on display in Malaya not only in the many mountain/folk songs Hk. san kor contests but also in any situations they encountered. I remember a ditty that my grandmother used to sing to us. It goes like this:

Fan ngin hiaw chaok foo Tong ngin see ku ku Fan ngin hiaw kia cha Tong ngin hao fui ka

When the natives [Malays] learn to wear trousers, The Chinese are in big trouble, When the natives [Malays] learn to use an umbrella, It is time for the Chinese to return home [to China].

Traditionally, the Malays wear a sarong—a piece of cloth wrapped below the waist and tightened at the waist. Immigrant Hakka men and women wore trousers. The umbrella is said to be a Chinese invention from the first century CE which they brought with them to Malaya. Hence, this ditty alludes to the fact that when the Malays learn the ways of trade and commerce of the Chinese, it is time for the sojourners to return to China. It is safe to say that this ditty was composed in Malaya because of the specific references to Malay attire. It was common for my grandmother’s generation to speak with proverbs and apho- risms, and invent ditties but this is the only ditty that has stuck in my mind. From observing the diversity, it is clear that more field work on individual varieties of Hakka should be done before they are lost forever. Also, the nature of tonal distribution should be studied not only in China but also in other overseas Hakka communities. Apart from such linguistic studies conducted on the Hakka dialect in mainland China (Norman 1988; Hwang Xuezheng 1988; Li Rulong and Zhang Shuangqing 1992; and Branner 2000) and in Taiwan (Zhong Rongfu 2004 and Luo Huiyun 1973), there are still many Hakka communities around the globe waiting to be explored. One problem that contributes to the difficulty of studying Hakka is that even today there is no consensus concerning which variety of Hakka represents the ‘mother’ or ‘indigenous’ Hakka dialect. A comparison of Hwang Xuezhen, and Li Rulong and Zhang Shuangqing’s 226 Chapter 6 work showed up many differences, which means more work has to be done, for example, a comparison of the Dabu Hakka spoken in China and that in Malaysia. Further linguistic studies could also be conducted in order to ascertain the distance of diffraction from, for example, Dongguan Hakka in Malaysia and that spoken in Suriname. This brings us to the main question of whether there was a proto-Hakka dialect before it splintered into these different geographical varieties (Dabu, Meixian, and Dongguan). If we assume there was one, then under what criteria was it created? Linguists are not going to have an easy task given the number of varieties of Hakka dialects that we have now. In Beruas as in Pusing, although there are a few varieties of Hakka, the lingua franca is the Dongguan variety. For example, the two Malay families living next to my maternal grandparents in Pusing spoke perfect Dongguan Hakka. There are also a few Indians in Beruas who speak perfect Dongguan Hakka. It would be interesting to compare Dongguan Hakka spoken in Beruas to that in Panama. Praise should be given to all the linguists who have worked on the Hakka dialect197 but I cannot help wondering whether there is an easier way to dis- seminate Hakka phonetics for people who just want to learn to speak it with no academic ambition. Perhaps Hakka phonetics should be simplified to make learning easier. Pinyinization would help, especially for young people who know Mandarin. What is urgently needed is an up-to-date Hakka—English/ French/ German/ Vietnamese/ Thai/ Indonesian/ Malay/ etc. dictionary and vice versa with Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin. This should be a multi- language cross-referenced dictionary that is available on the Internet for free. It is interesting to note at the time of my interview with Huang Yaobao in January, 2011 in his Bangkok home, he was preparing a Thai-Hakka dictionary for the ‘younger generations’. He said that after he finished his Hakka- Mandarin dictionary in 2005, he realized that it was of little use to the young Thais who could not read Chinese. He also started writing course books in Thai on how to speak Hakka. If such a dictionary project were to get underway, the next hurdle would be to decide which variety of Hakka to use.198 There is still no consensus as to

197 See the phonetic study by Lee and Zee (2009) of Hakka men and women aged between eighteen and twenty twenty-two, who had lived all their life in Meixian. See also Lau C.F. (2000), who has documented how the Hakka language is evolving and slowly vanishing in Hong Kong. For a detailed study of the Bangkok Hakka phonology, see Siripen (2008). 198 For a detailed study on distinguishing Hakka from non-Hakka, see Sagart (1998); see also Lau Chun-fat (2002) for the criteria for Chinese dialect classification and the problem Hakka Cultural Markers 227 how many varieties of Hakka there are. The problem of trying to classify the different varieties of Hakka is compounded by the fact that it is “difficult to use linguistic data collected by others for ones studies” (Branner 2000, 18–22). Meixian Hakka has always been considered to be the most representative of all the varieties of Hakka dialects, which I would neither dispute nor agree with. If the Hakka have to choose one variety to represent the ‘standard’ Hakka, then there should be a consensus to adopt the one that is most suitable or representative. This is obviously a job for the linguists. Like Christine Lamarre, I also hope scholars versed in Hakka phonetics and nineteenth-century manuscripts will be able to document how the different types of Hakka were spoken. I also hope that they would be contrasted with how they are spoken today (twenty- first century) and see how they have changed, especially after the language has been transported overseas to a different culture like that of Malaysia. I have touched briefly on how certain local words and terms were incorporated in the Hakka dialect by the Dongguan Hakka but I am not a linguist and therefore I leave it to the experts to do it justice. The shift in language is also affected by the change in communication methods. R.A.D. Forrest noted that although by 1948, “Mandarin [guanhua] has largely replaced the original local dialects all over China north of the Yangtze River, the provinces of the South and Southeast, from Kiangsu [Jiangsu] to Kwangtung [Guangdong], have maintained intact their local forms of Chinese, sometimes called the ‘dialects’ par excellence”. This situation was maintained by the fact that each dialect group lived in different villages in the same area. Their isolation and historical enmity kept them apart socially. Moving forward to the mid-twentieth century in the village-town of Beruas, we find a totally new model of communication among the different dialect groups and with the local Malays. Most of the BGH spoke at least two other dialects, plus Malay and English. Their parents’ generation spoke at least one or two other dialects—usually Hokkien and Cantonese. When dialects fail, a Hakka and a Hainanese will resort to Malay to communicate with each other. Except in the classrooms of the Chinese school, Mandarin was very rarely heard in Beruas among the Chinese. The BGH generation spoke Hakka at home, other dialects or English with their Chinese friends or English and pasar Malay with their Malay and Indian friends. The new generation speaks mostly Mandarin with family and friends and English or Malay with the other races. This change was brought about by changes in the education system in Malaysia in the 1980s

of the position of the Hakka dialect in Chinese dialect grouping; and for aspects of the morpho-phonology and classification of Taiwan Hakka Dialects, see Opper (2009–2000). 228 Chapter 6 when English was abolished as a medium of instruction in the schools. In this milieu of change, the Hakka language was further eroded in day to day living. Will there ever be a revival of dialects or languages as in ‘locally spoken’ languages? All the signs among overseas Chinese show that dialects are being replaced mostly by English or Mandarin (e.g. Singapore and Malaysia) or the language of their host-countries, such as Thai in Thailand and Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia. As a result of the Chinese government’s tolerance to Mandarin/ dialect bilingualism in the 1990s, people “from all over Greater China show an increasing public pride in local culture” (Erbaugh 1995, 85). The Wu-speakers of Shanghai were encouraged to learn Cantonese if they wanted to do business with Hong Kong or Macau. So much so, that the Ministry of Culture offered video courses in Cantonese. The government showed its recognition of Cantonese as an official language for the first time by using it to broadcast the opening of the 14th Party Congress in 1992 (ibid., 89). The 12th Hakka World Congress was held in China for the first time in 1994 in Meixian, Guangdong. The Jiaying University in the Hakka capital Meixian in Eastern Guangdong is offering Hakka cultural and language courses. The Hakka Museum opened in Meixian in 2008 and Hakka Studies (客家學 kejia xue) or ‘Hakkaology’ is offered in Universities in South China and Taiwan. More than sixty Hakka Study Centers have sprung up all over China (ibid., 90). At first glance, all these activities might sound encouraging but there seems to be a reversal in policy lately and dialects are losing ground to Mandarin. For example, in Taiwan, where Hakka make up thirteen percent of the population, it is a losing battle despite Hakka activism and political engagement. The Mandarin Movement was started in 1946 and in May 1956, the Taiwan Provincial Education decreed that communications in all middle schools should be in Mandarin. The use of mother tongues or ‘heritage languages’, including Hakka, in classrooms, was considered “low, shameful, un-Chinese and unpatriotic” (Hsieh M.H., 2012, 7–8). However, rising awareness of heritage languages in the 1980s and Hakka activism produced slogans such as ‘Return to me my Hakka language’ led to the implementation of the Heritage Language Program in elementary schools that gave the Hakka the chance to revive the Hakka language in the youngest generation. Nancy Hornberger and Kendall King, in their studies of language revitalization in the Andes, concluded that well-implemented programs might “. . . serve to revitalize the threatened language . . . [but] . . . it would be foolish not to recognize that there are also indications which tempered enthusiasm and are cause for skepticism. Foremost amongst the negatives, we must acknowledge that there is a limit to the amount of linguistic impact that the school can have” (1996, 439). Implementation of the Heritage Language Hakka Cultural Markers 229

Program in elementary schools in Taiwan provided an opportunity for students to have a better understanding of Hakka history, culture and values. This is available for both Hakka and non-Hakka elementary pupils but it has had little success as an attempt to revive the Hakka language due to paren- tal apathy, lack of support from the school system, and general disinterest (Hsieh 2012, 193–211). Lenore Grenoble and Lindsay Whaley listed eight models for language revitalization.199 Apart from Taiwan which adopted some of the models, no other Hakka communities are taking the threat of the Hakka language disappearing seriously or treating it as a priority. The way that China is moving forward, Mandarin is set to replace the vernacular as a tool of communication. The older generations in Hakka communities still use Hakka but the younger Hakka around the world use other languages to communicate. As my case study shows, out of the twelve BGH families, only children from two families can speak Hakka. Three of the BGH have become grandparents. Two of their children married Caucasians and one married a Chinese of another dialect group. It can be expected that none of the BGH’s grandchildren will ever be able to speak or understand Hakka unless a conscious effort is made to teach them. All the BGH felt that the Hakka language was irrelevant for the development and success of their offspring. If they want their children or grandchildren to learn any Chinese they said it would be Mandarin and not Hakka. Sharon Carstens notes that the Hakka parents in Pulai expressed the same sentiments (2005, 216–7). Given the circumstances of the BGH, the inevitable demise of the Hakka language among their children is to be expected but a survey of the Hakka language skill of the children in the Beruas Methodist (New Village) Kindergarten also shows that it is moving in the same direction, albeit at a slower rate. The summary of the survey of the Hakka language skills of the kindergarten students can be found in Appendix O and the findings offer no cause for optimism. The kindergarten children were born in 2005 and 2006. Out of the thirty-two children, twenty-nine are Chinese, two Indian and one is Malay. From the

199 They are (1) total-immersion programs; (2) partial-immersion programs; (3) local language as a second, ‘foreign’ language; (4) community-based programs; (5) master-appren- tice program; (6) language reclamation models; and (7) documentation as revitalization (2006, 50–100). Universities with Hakka faculties are offering courses in Hakka but these courses are not sufficient to ‘reverse’ the damages already done to the Hakka language. 230 Chapter 6 twenty-nine Chinese children, sixteen (55 percent) have Hakka fathers.200 The sixteen Hakka children come from twelve families. Of the twelve families only four (33 percent) are from Hakka-Hakka marriages. There are three from Hakka-Hokkien, two from Hakka-Hockchew, one from Hakka-Indian, one from Hakka-Thai, and one from Hakka-Indonesian marriages. Hakka men in Beruas are not only marrying across dialects lines but also across race and national divides. This of course affects the language that their children speak. The findings commenting on the Hakka language skills of the Hakka children are to be expected. It shows that all the sixteen Hakka children (i.e. 100 percent) can understand Hakka but only six (or 37.5 percent) of them can speak it fluently. Out of the six children from four Hakka-Hakka marriages, three (i.e. 50 percent) can speak Hakka. The other three can only understand Hakka but cannot speak it. Mandarin is spoken in these Hakka homes. Ten children from the eight marriages with Hakka fathers and non-Hakka mothers, four (or 40 percent) can speak Hakka. The other six children can understand Hakka but cannot speak it. Their non-Hakka mothers speak to them either in their own dialects or in Mandarin. The Indian mother speaks to her two children in English and Mandarin. The old paradigm that non-Hakka wives learn the customs and language of their Hakka husband is clearly not being maintained.201 I telephoned the homes of some of those Hakka children who do not speak the dialect to ask their parents/guardians why they had not taught their children/charges to speak Hakka. From our conversations, it emerged that they follow the general trend of Chinese families in Malaysia to speak to their children/grandchildren/charges in Mandarin instead of their dialects as the mother tongue. Sharon Carstens found the same trend in Pulai, where Hakka mothers were speaking to their children in Mandarin instead of Hakka (2005, 217–218). The general consensus is that the ability to speak Mandarin will give their children a head-start in life. At the end of the survey I have to ask why grandmothers are speaking to their grandchildren in bad Mandarin instead of good Hakka. Is this progress? Will awareness of the importance of keeping the Hakka language alive change the declining trend? I doubt it. In both cases—the BGH and New Village

200 Hakka are agnatic in their tradition and as such, the two subjects with Hakka mothers (marked ‘xHakka’) married to non-Hakka fathers have been excluded from the statistics. 201 The child of the Hakka women who married a Hokkien cannot speak or understand Hakka but the child of the one who married a Cantonese, can understand and speak Hakka. There is also a child from Cantonese parents who understands and speaks Hakka (marked xCUASH). It was common for non-Hakka children from the generation before to learn to speak Hakka because it was the lingua franca in Beruas. Hakka Cultural Markers 231

Kindergarten—they show that marrying across dialects and racial lines has serious consequences on the survival of the Hakka language. In Taiwan, the Hakka can put pressure on the government to include the promotion and preservation of Hakka culture. As a result of Hakka activism and state policies, Hakka is now heard on TV and radio and Hakka is taught in schools. Promotion and support of any dialect will not happen in Southeast Asia due to different priorities. For example, the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore was created to eradicate dialects and replace them with Mandarin. It is so successful that in another generation, dialects will be completely purged from Singaporean Chinese homes. Though there is no state policy to discourage speaking dialect at home, the same trend is voluntarily embraced in Chinese homes in Malaysia. In the past, the Hakka language was one of the two most important cultural markers to identify a Hakka. Marrying across dialects and races is one of the biggest contributing factors for the waning of the Hakka language. The erosion of the Hakka identity is not only cultural but also genetic when they marry other races as more than 25 percent of the BGH have done. One hundred percent of BGH’s grandparents and parents spoke Hakka but only 94 percent of the BGH can speak it. This is still a respectable rate among global Hakka. However, after marriage only three (16 percent) of the BGH spoke Hakka very occasionally to their spouses. The majority (81 percent) of BGH communicate with their spouses in English with a bit of Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien thrown in. The other 19 percent spoke Italian, German or Mandarin. In contrast to their parents, where 81 percent spoke Hakka, only children from two out of the twelve families of the BGH (or 16 percent) can speak Hakka. Two families have children, who can understand a small amount but cannot speak it. The rest can neither speak nor understand Hakka. Their main language of communication is English. Three of the BGH have become grandparents. Two of their children married Caucasians and one married a Chinese of another dialect group. It can be expected that none of their grandchildren will ever be able to speak or understand Hakka unless a conscious effort is taken to teach them. The Hakka language will die out in the descendants of the BGH if the status quo is maintained. As historians debate where and when the Hakka dialect was formed and linguists and Hakka themselves argue how to go forward, the dialect takes another step towards extinction. This phenomenon is not exclusive to the Hakka but it also affects the other dialects. The inviolable and immovable Mandarin Chinese language is set to replace all the dialects in Singapore and Malaysia. Together with the increasing speed of globalization that contributes to intermarriage, we can accept that the Hakka language will die out gradually in the next two or three generations. Thus, the important question to ask is: Can the 232 Chapter 6

Hakka dialect still be used as a cultural marker to ascertain Hakka identity in the twenty-first century? If it is used as a marker to determine Hakka identity, it would exclude many young people. For example, there are many Hakka offspring, such as those in Toronto, who clearly identify themselves as Hakka but cannot speak or understand the Hakka language. Similarly, all the children of the BGH in my case study born outside Malaysia will not qualify as Hakka because they cannot speak Hakka. As such, Hakka language cannot be used as a cultural marker in the twenty-first century if the idea of being Hakka is to live on.

4 Architecture

Hakka architecture comes under the general Chinese architecture genre but there are also many features that are distinctively Hakka. Self-sufficiency defines Hakka identity because it represents an independent community, akin to a small state that can function in isolation. The Hakka cultivated self- sufficiency as an art to increase their chances of survival and it is also a quality that could be transplanted when they moved. Hakka survival depended on this self-sufficiency, whether it was on the scale demonstrated in China or transported overseas in its stripped down form. Mention Hakka architecture, and the so-called earthen building (土樓 tulou) comes to mind without fail. Tulou are huge structures built of stamped earth and they can be circular, square or rectangular. The best-known tulou are circular in shape and they have appeared in tourist brochures, postcards and even on stamps.202 Seen from satellite photos, some of them are so huge that at one point in time they were mistaken for nuclear missile silos by the US military. For centuries these tulou housed clans of the same surname. The setup mirrored a small village, which was self-sufficient and often self-administered. These structures were ignored in the West until the 1990s when Western reporters and architects realized their uniqueness and featured them in their works (Hertzberger 2000, 126–130 and Knapp 2000, 259–84). As a result of this awareness, some of these tulou in Yongding were designated as world cultural relics by UNESCO in 2008.203

202 For more information on Hakka architectural achievements see, Lozada (2005, 96–7); Huang H.M. (1982); and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_Tulou (Retrieved on 13th May, 2011). 203 See http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1113 (Retrieved on 13th May, 2011). Hakka Cultural Markers 233

Forty-six Fujian tulou sites were inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in 2008 “as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization; and, in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment, an outstanding example of human settlement”.204 These magnificent structures are the ultimate expression of clan-living in Chinese culture. It embraces the notion of a perfect household of four or five generations under the same roof: Hk. si thoi tung tong. They were designed to house and protect clans of up to eight hundred people. These structures generated not only interest in Hakka culture but also spawned many Hakka research projects and resulted in many publications by both academics and non-academics. Some of the titles include books by Daniel Sranislawski (2012), Shan Deqi (2011) and Peter Kumhera (2010). The term tulou first appeared in a 1573 Zhangzhou record of the Ming dynasty, which states that many families who had migrated earlier to the area joined together to build these walled strongholds to protect themselves from bandits.205 Most of the existing tulou today were built in the Qian Long (1739– 1796) era (Sullivan 1972, 139–142). Since the Hakka were usually latecomers to these areas and were treated as intruders, they too adopted the idea of building these structures to protect themselves from the Punti (early settlers who had become ‘local’) and other enemies. The Hakka did not invent the tulou but with time it came to be seen as a Hakka cultural marker. According to Huang Hanmin, a tulou specialist, there are a few myths that needed correcting. Firstly, Huang estimated that there are only about 3000 tulou left as opposed to the oft touted ‘over 20,000’ figure, and only about 1100 are round in shape. Secondly, not all tulou were built by the Hakka. Huang states, “Historically the Hakka people and Minnan people didn’t live peacefully side by side and so safety became a paramount issue” (Huang 2009 [1982]).206 He added that those built by the Minnan are older and there are probably more of them. However, the Hakka came to be associated with these

204 See UNESCO World Heritage Center, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1113 (Retrieved on 25th May, 2011). 205 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_Tulou (Retrieved on 13th May, 2011). 206 See also Wong E. (2011), a reporter, who visited these tulou in Fujian Province. He notes that older Hakka still living in them or near them may still embrace these earthen structures to define their identity but the young people are moving into new apartments with modern amenities and only old people are left there. However, the tourist departments are cashing in on clan sentiments and tourist dollars. Mr. Huang lamented that what they have preserved is just the structure but not the lifestyle as the people have all moved out. He admonished that “they have taken the life out of these structures and just preserving a relic.” 234 Chapter 6 tulou—probably more and more were built and occupied by them in the late Qing. All the tulou that I have visited in Yongding County were occupied by Hakka. It is, therefore, not difficult to see why they have become a specific and important Hakka cultural marker, which is seldom challenged. In the light of these disclosures, should tulou be considered a Hakka cultural marker even though the Minnan built and lived in them as well? It appears that the Hakka tulou are artifacts generated by necessity when the Hakka came south and not necessarily a concept that they brought with them. For argument’s sake, even if we accept tulou as a ‘full’ Hakka cultural marker, we have to ask why it is that they are only found in south China and nowhere else. If the Hakka moved from the north, and the tulou architecture was part of their culture, we should be able to see some of them along their migrational route at every stage of their settlement, which usually lasted a few generations. I can only speculate that once the Hakka reached the south, they copied the natives or locals and built them for their own safety. Thus, tulou was not an original Hakka tradition (assuming they are from the north) but a cultural shift propelled by necessity. This cultural marker is recent and appropriated. Though tulou might not be an ‘authentic’ Hakka marker, it is appropriate to point out distinctive Hakka architectural styles as a marker. Poon Pui-ting identified seven types of Hakka houses found in Hong Kong and Guangdong (2007, 4). They are:

(1) Hall-and-Row House (堂橫屋 tanghengwu)207 (2) Encircling House (圍壠屋 weilongwu) (3) Enclosed Hamlet (圍村 (weicun) (4) Lock-Shaped House (鎖頭屋 suotouwu) (5) Pole-Shaped House (槓屋 gangwu) (6) Tower House (角樓 jiaolou) (7) Castle-Like House (圍堡式客家屋 weibaoshi kejiawu)

To decode the form and space of Hakka houses, Poon examines the major characteristics of Hakka houses by analyzing the construction principles and rationales which have contributed to the structural design of their houses. Three features stand out. They are:

207 My ancestral home in Dongguan, as far as I can make out, belongs to Hall-and-Row House design. All that is left of the original construction is one row of six small units of living space. According to Hakka tradition, it featured a fishpond in front of the house, which was already choked with weeds and overgrowth when I first visited in 1994. The clan had divided the property and built new modern individual houses for the different families. Hakka Cultural Markers 235

(1) Seclusion—they are enclosed by row houses, high walls and/or watch- towers, which offer a certain degree of social cohesion and protection in time of danger; (2) Self-sufficiency—to include dwelling units; an ancestral hall; auxiliary blocks accommodating storerooms for produce and farming implements, poultry pens and latrines; a well; a drying area in front of the main door (Hk. wo tong); and a pond,208 which confers favorable fengshui, provides food (fish and aquatic plants) for the household, and water for the vegetable gardens around the house; and (3) Flexibility in expansion—extra rows or circles of houses can be added as the clan expands without disturbing the general design and fengshui of the original construction.

Culturally speaking they are also constructed based on (1) Confucian philosophy of axiality, symmetry, balance and hierarchy, heaven and earth, and lineage; (2) cosmology and fengshui; (3) climate adaptation; and (4) resource availability (Poon 2007, 36–51). Hakka architecture is therefore the result of Hakka ability to adapt and maximize resources and these distinctive structures also display Hakka agnatic social structure, Confucian conservatism, self- sufficiency, clannishness, and war-like strategy in defense of self and property. It is safe to say that historical and cultural factors shaped and accounted for the emergence of these diverse Hakka architectural styles. Hakka architecture has served the journey of Hakka history and identity. It may have certain features that were distinctively Hakka but it has no role as a marker in the twenty-first century. However, there seems to be a cultural revival of Hakka architectural concepts especially through the round tulou. In Taiwan, the Taipei County Hakka Museum in Sanxia has incorporated features of the round tulou in its design and the College of Hakka Studies, National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan is housed in a building built to resemble a round house. The most ambitious attempt at reviving and maintaining Hakka cultural identity is happening on Penang Island in Malaysia. In 2009, the Deputy President of the Federation of Hakka Associations Dato’ Dr. Cheah See Kian showed me a memorandum entitled “Penang was the Cradle of Malaysian Hakka: Case Study of the Hakka Village in Balik Pulau” that was submitted to the Chief Minister of Penang. The proposal has planned for a building in the style of a round tulou that would house the Balik Pulau Hakka Cultural

208 In the quintessential Hakka folk song 月光光 Yueguang guang Hk. Nyet kong kong (The Moon Shines), the pond in front of the house is used to rear carp (see Appendix D). 236 Chapter 6

Figure 5 Design of the College of Hakka Studies, National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Used with permission from the College of Hakka Studies, NCTU.

Museum to highlight Hakka settlement on Penang Island.209 They have requested the Penang government to allocate an area of about 2000 square meter for the project. In May 2014 it was reported in the local newspaper that the project has expanded in scope and size—costing more than MR 20 million on eight hectares.210 The paper reported that the ‘Hakka Village’ will become a “new tourist attraction-cum-ecological site to match the multifarious elements and social needs of Balik Pulau”. It will include a modern hotel built according to the architectural style of the tulou. The round Balik Pulau Hakka Cultural Museum with art gallaries, performing spaces, meeting rooms, and souvenir and book shops will remain part of the design. Visitors will also be able to visit a durian orchard, and nutmeg, clove and rubber plantations. A bicycle track and man- made lake for recreational purposes as well as a hawker center serving Penang specialities and a restaurant offering Hakka dishes and delicacies will help bring in the locals. A resource center for Hakka Studies will be established in collaboration with a university from Taiwan. This new enterprise aims to

209 For history of the first Hakka village in Balik Pulau, Penang, see Cheah (2009). 210 See http://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2014/05/12/plan-to-build-rm20mil-hakka- village-going-smoothy/. Hakka Cultural Markers 237 develop and promote Hakka cultural heritage in Penang as well as offering a total Hakka cultural experience for both Hakka and non-Hakka. The project is expected to commence in 2015 and expected to last five years. Similar to other projects that incorporate the round tulou as part of their design, this exercise is also conceived to show and honor Hakka history and culture but it cannot be construed as the revival of Hakka cultural markers in any way in this day and age.

5 Food

Food Anthropology has become an important branch of Anthropology for the analysis of food in culture. Eating is not only determined by taste or nutritional value but also by cultural, religious, historic, economic or social status, and environmental factors. The University of Indiana Ph.D. course in Anthropology of Food has this to say on its website:

Food represents an integral part of human livelihoods, biology, identity, and culture. The practical dimensions and ramifications of food production, consumption and sharing, and the symbolic and ideological meanings attached to food, have relevance across all of anthropology’s sub-disciplines—sociocultural anthropology, bioanthropology, archaeology and linguistics. As a theme it integrates aspects of all the four traditional subfields of anthropology.211

Food is a very big part of the Chinese psyche and it is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Leon and Rebeca Grinberg said that food “sym- bolizes the earliest structural link with the mother or mother’s breast. Thus, the migrant may vehemently reject the new country’s local dishes and nos- talgically seek out the food of his country” (1989, 79).212 This may be true for other migrants but the Chinese have another dimension in their relation with food. One of the most common Chinese greetings is to ask the other person, “Have you eaten fully? Hk. Shit pau mang?213 (吃飽了没有 chi bao le meiyou)”.

211 See http://www.indiana.edu/~anthro/grad/foodStudies/index.shtml (Retrieved 30th June, 2011). 212 See also Akhtar (1999, 18–23) for migrants and food. 213 The closest Mandarin translation of Hk. mang (not yet) is the phrase 还没有 haimeiyou. Hk. mang can also be used interchangeably with Hk. m tshien (not yet) MacIver (1926 [1905], 453. 238 Chapter 6

It is not just a casual inquiry of “Have you had your meal?” The word fully (bao 飽) has to be emphasized. This greeting has been crafted out of one of the biggest sorrows of China—famine. In the past, floods and other natural calamities have decimated the population and caused untold misery in Chinese history. Therefore, to wish a person well in old China was synonymous with hoping that the other person would have enough to eat. For Hakka pioneers, where migration is so much part of their history, a constant worry was to have enough food to last until they found the next place to settle down or the next crop to be harvested. Food had to be rationed carefully. Hence, having enough food to eat and enough rations for the next migrational journey were very high up on the list of Hakka aspirations. For example, there is a vivid description in Li Qiao’s novel on Hakka pioneering in Taiwan, where the Hakka women were constantly looking for food to feed the family (2001, 251–255). Compared to the food of other dialect groups, Hakka food might be less well-known but it is certainly not as ‘simple’, ‘straightforward’, ‘simple in taste’, and ‘without expensive ingredients’, as some might think.214 Sidney Cheung in his study of the consumption of food in post-war Hong Kong Society, with particular reference to Hakka restaurants, quoted journalists as saying that “Hakka cuisine lacks high-class or expensive ingredients, and it is widely accepted as a shortcoming in competing with other kinds of cuisine” (2001, 93). It is a fact that everyday food in Hakka homes was simple and practical to cook because Hakka women were often busy with other work. Besides, Hakka are frugal in their living but during festivals or family celebrations, the Hakka food on offer does not lack “high-class or expensive ingredients”. In a Hakka Glossary published in 1888, entitled人家日用 Renjia riyong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs), food such as sea-cucumber, abalone, all kinds of fish and shell- fish, deer sinew, shark’s fin, bird’s nest and ‘dragon’s intestines’215 (considered to be ‘high-class’ food) are some of the food ingredients mentioned for ‘daily use’ in Hakka homes.216 The Hakka food of my childhood was divided into two categories: home- cooking and festival or celebration food. Home-cooking was usually a simple affair of rice eaten with fresh vegetables, stir-fried with garlic or onion, or fla- vored with a few slices of meat or a few shrimps, small fishes or fermented beans, or tofu dishes of all varieties. Thrift dominated their taste at home. Festive cooking for important events such a Chinese New Year and other major

214 See Anderson and Anderson (1977, 354), Anderson E.N. (1988, 170), Simoons (1991), and Cheung (2001, 88) for study of Hakka food. 215 Dragon’s intestines 龍膓 longchang Hk. lung chhong refers to all very expensive and hard- to-come-by food ingredients. 216 See Appendix F for translation of the full text. Hakka Cultural Markers 239 festivals or wedding banquets and birthday celebrations were totally different from the simple daily fare. The best and most expensive ingredients were used to produce solid, sumptuous, tasty and meaty dishes. A maternal uncle of mine belonged to a group of part-time chefs, who went around the villages to cook banquets for wedding or birthday celebrations. On these occasions, pork, chicken, duck, fish and prawns are the five must-have ‘meat and seafood’ dishes. A typical wedding banquet of my childhood consisted of the following dishes eaten with white rice: Hk. kheu nyuk (steamed pork and yam), Hk. tsa nyuk (deep-fried pork with a sweet garlic sauce), Hk. thai ha (king prawns either steamed or lightly fried), Hk. hau shi mun chu nyuk (dried oyster and stewed pork), Hk. kiong ma ap (stewed ginger duck), Hk. theu fu mun chuk sun (stewed fried tofu with bamboo shoot in a dark sauce), Hk. phak cham kai (plain broiled chicken eaten with soy sauce), Hk. tsin ng (steamed fish with ginger, scallion and light soy sauce), vegetables with dried scallop or abalone, and followed by Hk. ng chi (shark’s fin [soup]). As taste and lifestyle change, so have the wedding banquet menus. Nowadays, it is difficult to eat all the above food in one sitting. The Hakka way of looking at food is no doubt linked to their identity. It is possible that because the Hakka were poorer than the other dialect groups, they treated food differently. Poverty has contributed to the oft-quoted remark that Hakka are frugal or stingy in their eating habits, which is often a code- word for eating inexpensive and ‘inferior’ food. On the other hand, thrift has allowed the Hakka to be creative, which can be seen in traditional home cooking. The Andersons drew attention to the fact that the Hakka waste nothing. Every part of the animal is used resourcefully to create delicious dishes (1977, 356). Being poor means they have to be frugal and that tested their culinary skill by using ingredients such as innards of animals, trotters, tail, ears or the least favorite cuts of meat, which are considered rejects by others. Even when they can afford meat, they will buy the stringy or fatty part of pork instead of the lean cut. A quick look into a Hakka cookbook that features traditional Hakka dishes give us clues to their thrifty nature. They can turn the cheapest cut of meat or the visceral organs of animals that non-Hakka will not eat into the most delicious meals. Out of the twenty-one meat recipes in the cookbook published by the Federation of Hakka Women Association of Malaysia (2007), five dishes are made with pig’s trotters, eight with pork belly, one with pig intestine, five with chicken, one with duck, and one with mutton. More than 50 percent (fourteen out of twenty-five) of the dishes are made from ‘less expensive’ ingredients. It is interesting to note that the eating habits of the Hakka have also produced health profiles. A recent study of Hakka people of Meixian in Guangdong province shows that these eating practices and nutritional patterns may be 240 Chapter 6 beneficial factors for preventing atherosclerosis and hypertension. The findings of the epidemiological and nutritional research team suggest the following points were the major reasons for these positive results:

(1) The Hakka people maintain traditional eating habits and maintain active awareness of their health; (2) The major foods of the Hakka are rice, fish, vegetables and fruit, which may contain factors against the adverse effect of salt; (3) The wide use of soybeans, which have beneficial factors in preventing hypertension; (4) The extensive consumption of visceral organs, which are a rich source of trace elements that are good for preventing atherosclerosis; and (5) The Hakka people regularly eat fruits rich in dietary fibers (Liu X.Q. and Li Y.H. 2000).

The survey concluded that the Hakka way of eating not only prevents adverse effects from eating too much salt, but the food also contains large amounts of potassium that play a role in preventing hypertension. One of the reasons that Hakka suffer less atherosclerosis is credited to their extensive consumption of visceral organs (p417, L32–34). Visceral organs are a rich source of trace elements that are good for preventing atherosclerosis. As such, how the Hakka cook and what they eat also reveals clues about their identity and vice versa. Frugality or poverty meant no part of the harvest was thrown away. Excess or over-production was preserved (usually with salt or by drying) for later use. Pusing is famous for Hakka Hk. kok kui (steamed cakes in small vessels).217 In the 1950s and 1960s, Hakka women would bring their steamed cakes and pastry to the market every morning and set up shop. Each woman had her specialties. The main ingredient was often rice flour filled with different fillings, both sweet and savory. The range and color of these creations were dazzling. They were eaten for breakfast or as a snack in the afternoon. This tradition has not changed but instead of selling them in the morning, these women now set up store every afternoon on the trunk road in town. Not only locals but people from the surrounding areas come in their cars to buy them. A relative of mine used to have such a stall. It was hard work and none of her children wanted to take it over. The traditional Hakka steamed cakes are threatened by improved standards of living and changes in lifestyle. Sidney Cheung mentioned that the Hakka he interviewed in Hong Kong said that tofu is their favorite food, whereas my interviews with BGH and other

217 Oxfeld (1996, 92) also mentioned that these steam cakes were used for festivals in Calcutta. Hakka Cultural Markers 241 global Hakka unanimously mention Hk. kheu nyuk as the dish they miss most. It is a dish consisting of thick slices of pork belly sandwiched with fried yam slices with a sauce made of garlic, five spice powder, fermented tofu, hoisin sauce, light and dark soy sauce and steamed for a couple of hours until the pork is so soft that it melts in the mouth. Hk. moi choy mun chu nyuk (pork belly stewed in dried mustard green in a dark soy sauce with a pinch of sugar) is another favorite Hakka dish that most global Hakka miss. In Malaysia and Singapore, Hakka food is associated with Hk. niong theu fu (釀豆腐 niang doufu)—a piece of firm tofu halved, perforated in the middle and stuffed with ground fish mixed with minced pork paste. Vegetables such as bitter gourd, brinjal or lady’s fingers can also be stuffed. Hakka stuffed tofu has been commercialized and the dish is quite commonly found in outdoor eating establishments in Southeast Asia. However, the commercial varieties of stuffed bean-curd taste very different from the Hakka original.218 Every woman in Beruas has her secret recipe. My mother makes them with mack- erel, prawns, pork, onion and garlic, and the real secret is a small piece of salted tuna she adds to it; it is served with a fermented soy bean sauce. A special favorite among the Dabu Hakka is Hk. saun pan tsu (abacus seeds)—a dish made of yam and flour, in which the dough is molded into little balls and flat- tened slightly to resemble the ‘seeds’ on an abacus (cf. gnocchi, which is made from potato and flour). Pig trotters in vinegar or stewed in different ways, pork stewed with dried oysters, etc. are only eaten in Hakka restaurants nowadays because very few Hakka cook them at home. Hakka have always been accused of being ‘dog-eaters’ (Tan C.B. 2001, 155). “Hakka dog-eaters” is a statement commonly cast as a slur by other dialect groups. For example, there is a post in Asiawind Hakka Forum in 2002, which makes interesting reading. A woman narrated that when her mother, a Hokkien, decided to marry a Hakka man, her father apparently asked with disdain, “Is that the Hakka boy?” and he added “Hakka eat dogs.”219 Chris Coqqins notes that dog-meat is still eaten in some places in China: “Dogs are favored food among the Hakka, and puppies sold in the periodic markets are mostly for consumption, dog-meat being held as particularly nourishing and medicinal” (2002, 226). On a trip in 2009 to Dongguan, Guangdong I noticed that dog meat was offered as a house specialty in a restaurant. In fact other cultural groups have always stereotyped the Chinese as dog- eaters. The saying that the Chinese eat everything under the sun means it

218 For a discussion on food and ethnicity in Malaysia, see Tan C.B. (2001). 219 It was posted on 25th September, 2002. See http://www.asiawind.com/forums/read .php?f=1&i=2383&t=2330 (Retrieved on 5th July, 2009). 242 Chapter 6

Figure 6 A sign on the wall of a restaurant in Fengguang, Dongguan offering dog meat on the menu. Taken by author, 2009. includes dogs and given the frequency of famine in China, it can be assumed that Chinese will eat dog if there is nothing else to eat and this practice is not just confined to the Hakka. Also, dog meat is considered to have medicinal properties (Li S.Z. 2003, 3892–4) and the Hakka have refined the method of cooking dog meat to a culinary art. In Beruas, when someone was sickly, dog meat was ‘prescribed’ to boost their health. A particular person in the village, who specialized in preparing such a ‘tonic’, would be approached. He would select a dog; club it on the head; dunk it in boiling water (to make scraping off the fur easier); and then burn the skin with a torch (the dog is never skinned). After it has been opened up and cleaned, it is chopped into small pieces with the skin intact. It is then fried with all sorts of herbs and spices in a huge wok. The cooked meat is then portioned and placed into small bowls and steamed in the wok for about eight to ten hours. The bowls of meat were then distributed Hakka Cultural Markers 243 to anyone who needed a boost for their health but very often it is just an excuse to have some delicacy.220 Sidney Cheung’s study shows that “Hakka cuisine and restaurants enable us to understand changing lifestyles in Hong Kong in the past decades, and shows how dietary habits and daily foodways are interwoven with socio-economic development in a cultural context” (2001, 93). The culture of ethnic food at any point of time reflects the adaptation it has made along its historical journey. Looking from the perspective of Hakka food, it too has adapted to local and global experiences. In 2011, I visited the Hakka Restaurant (客家山莊) in San Francisco to interview the chef and owner Mr. Li Shichuan 李師傳. The restaurant is his third Hakka restaurant in San Francisco. On the menu are traditional Hakka dishes as well as other popular Chinese dishes. We ordered tofu, pork belly with preserved vegetables, and salt-baked chicken (typical Hakka dishes). Li admitted that he has adapted some of the dishes to suit palettes of both the American and American Chinese in the United States. Thus, Hakka food too will eventually succumb to internationalization or become a specialist cuisine where you have to pay a huge amount of money to eat ‘authentic’ Hakka food. The changes are not confined to restaurant food only. In Germany, I make Hk. kheu nyuk (steamed pork belly sandwiched between yam slices in a special sauce) with potatoes instead of yam because fresh yam is hard to find. The state of Hakka food in the twenty-first century is summed up by Linda Lau Anusasananan in the introduction of her cookbook:

As I traveled, I realized that the Hakka cuisine was far more diverse than its common perception. True, many of the descriptions applied to the roots of this cuisine, but through migration, creative chefs, changing life styles, and regional influences, the definition of the cuisine had greatly expanded. Hakka food had dark soulful dishes such as kiu ngiuk moi choi (pork belly steamed with preserved mustard greens) but it also had dishes that emphasized the natural essence of the ingredients with uncomplicated fresh presentations. The cuisine is much like its people. It has traveled the world and adapted to new environments, local ingredients, and prevailing tastes to become a varied cuisine. Yet it still maintains its roots.221

Changing lifestyle affects the way we eat. Not only is Hakka food no longer cooked in Hakka homes because mothers have joined the workforce, but the

220 I witnessed a few of these culinary adventures in Pusing and Beruas when I was young. 221 See http://thehakkacookbook.com/ and Anusasananan (2012). 244 Chapter 6 younger generations, influenced by cross-cultural food habits, prefer fast- food—be it Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, wantan noodle or the ubiquitous nasi lemak (Malay coconut rice with fried anchovies in a curry sauce) at hawker centers. Eating authentic Hakka food has become a cultural experience for both Hakka and non-Hakka. Hakka food cannot be used as a general cultural marker in the twenty-first century because it is not maintained by the Hakka at home. However, Hakka restaurants can still contribute to Hakka identity.

6 Education

Respect for education was an important Chinese trait because success in the imperial examinations provided opportunities for wealth, power and social advancement. This respect for written words was so great that even the “lowly Chinese who has not been schooled to read or write the seemingly-intricate characters will gather all scraps of paper and deposit them in baskets or boxes that schoolmasters and scholars place before their houses, each receptacle bearing a red paper label upon which is inscribed . . . [with] ‘Respect all written paper and treat it with care’” (Scott J.L. 2007, 20–21). The practice of ‘cherishing written characters’ (惜字紙 xizi zhi) has a long history. Adam Chau (2012) gave an interesting account of its revival as documented in the many late imperial morality books (善書 shanshu). The act of cherishing written characters often appeared in these books as an item in ledgers of merits and demerits (功過格 gongguoge).222 David Faure notes that for many households in the Pearl River Delta, and certainly also in many other parts of China, the use of written documents in the government process and the household in the sixteenth century was the first step towards literacy. It also represented an opportunity to win recognition through official examinations or involvement in the county bureaucracy through appointment. He believes that many written genealogies of Pearl River Delta lineages began with this increase in scholarship. The household registration records of the early Ming continued with the record of examination successes in subsequent centuries (2007, 7–8). This aspiration is therefore, harbored by Chinese of every dialect group but more so by the Hakka because of the adverse situation they have found themselves in when they have migrated to a new place. Hakka history shows that they were inevitably

222 For a full discussion on how social changes and moral order in late Imperial China gave rise to these ledgers of merit and demerits, see Brokaw (1991). Hakka Cultural Markers 245 always the poor, new group who settled in mountainous or poor-yielding land. The Hokkien, Cantonese and other local groups would have established themselves firmly and have become the top-dogs in the struggle for resources. The only way for the Hakka, as underdogs, to break out of that circle of poverty and underclass status was through education. As such education is seen as a prime vehicle that would uplift not only the family, but the clan and village to giddy heights of prestige. Therefore, the Hakka lavished considerable resources on education. There are also signs that the Hakka try harder and invest more in education. As Adam Chau notes, though the practice of ‘cherishing written characters’ has almost died out in all Chinese communities, it was still practiced in a few Hakka communities in Meinong County, Taiwan (2012, 132–133). In the early days and up to the 1960s, children in Beruas were taught never to deface books, sit on them or simply throw them out in the trash. Old books (even used exercise books) have to be burned with solemn respect.223 Working hard alone is not enough to move them up the social ladder. Education was and still is the best tool for social advancement. Stories abound of families sacrificing all they had in order to give at least one son an education. It was not uncommon for villages to consolidate their resources to send one member to the imperial examination. The Hakka did it too. The pressure on these candidates was huge because failure was unthinkable but success would bring prestige and honor for family, clan and village. The other reason, other than trying to escape from poverty through education, could be due to traditional family occupations or trade. The Hokkien and Cantonese were often involved in trade and commerce and many tended to train their children to learn the family trade. They started to work in the family business young and were expected to take over the business from their fathers. In that sense they did not have to depend on the imperial examinations to change their fate. This perception is corroborated by a Thai Hakka informant, who said, “Unlike the Hakka, they [the Teochew] are trained from an early age to do business”. Since not many Hakka were in commerce or had the connections to do so, they relied on education to move them up socially. It was reported by the Gazetteer of Yong’an in 1687 (Leong S.T. 1997, 64) that recitation of the classics was heard from house to house. The fact that these recitations were coming from the Hakka homes of the rich and poor alike shows the premium given to academic success by the Hakka. Their studious- ness had obviously produced results. Rudolf Lecher from the Basel Mission,

223 It is not surprising to find a collection of Chinese taboos and superstitions published recently entitled Do Not Sit On This Book (Cheong 2005). 246 Chapter 6 who worked with the Hakka in the mid-nineteenth century in south China said, “The Hakkas in the prefecture of Kai-ying chow [Jiaying County, later called Meixian that became the cultural and spiritual center of the Hakka] are renowned for their learning, and there are so many siu-tsai [秀才 xiucai licentiate]224 that there is not room enough for them to make use of their talents and literary acquirements, so that many have to stoop to menial work to get a livelihood.”225 The importance of literary education was impressed upon Hakka children from an early age. As soon as a Hakka child in a family, where Hakka was spoken, learned to speak, the first ditty that the child learnt was 月光光 Yueguang guang Hk. Nyet Kong Kong (The Moon Shines) in every possible variation (Appendix D). Then they graduated to proverbs and more complicated poems, and also learn how to compose their own or learn to interject their conversation with the phrases they had memorized. Huang Zunxian’s great-grandmother, who was brought up in a scholar-official family, taught him to sing Hakka folk songs and to chant poems from the widely read classical anthology 千家詩 Qianjiashi (Poems of the Thousand Masters) soon after he could talk (Schmidt 1994, 6). This was the course that children from well-to-do families took, whereas children from poor families were turned into useful labor. But still the boys from poor families would be given a rudimentary classical education and if they showed potential in scholarship, considerable resources would be made available to further that capability—even if the parents had to sell their land or eat rice gruel. Leong Sow-Theng noted that according “to one computation, over a two- hundred-year period from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, this economically deprived [Hakka] county outperformed Panyu and, to some extent, Nanhai, two of the metropolitan counties . . . Late in the eighteenth century, in a series of examinations for the juren [舉人 Recommendee]226 degree in Guangzhou, four Hakka candidates from Jiaying and one from Dabu, contiguous to it, performed the conscious-raising feat of successively carrying off first prize, to the discomfort of their Cantonese rivals” (1997, 76). Steven

224 See Hucker (1985, 248–249) for the definition of title xiucai in the different dynasties. 225 Lecher, “The Hakka Chinese” in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. IX, No. 5 1878 358–359 cited from Shih C.C.V. 1967, 308). See also Tiedeman (2009, 126) for information on the Basel Mission in China. 226 Juren in the Qing is a Provincial Graduate—the official designation granted a passer of a Provincial Examination that entitles him to proceed further in the civil service recruitment examination sequence. Juren literally means a person ‘offered up’ in the sense that he was also available for immediate appointment (Hucker 1985, 197, no. 1682). Hakka Cultural Markers 247

Miles’ study on mobility and identity in nineteenth-century Guangzhou, based on the 學海堂 Xuehaitang (Sea of Learning Academy), showed that Jiaying Hakka “maintained a presence at the Xuehai Academy in absolute dispro- portion to their lack of geographical proximity” (2006, 38). Despite this geographical disadvantage, “the works of eighteen Jiaying scholars are included in the 學海堂集 Xuehaitang ji, and they account for 23 percent of the poems included in the collection,” which is significantly higher than the other contingent of scholars outside the Pearl River delta prefectures of Guangzhou and Zhaoqing (ibid., 107 & n64). There were also consistently a higher number of successful Hakka candidates in the triennial provincial examinations. The reason for such success can be partly attributed to their respect for scholarship and their hunger for upward social mobility. It is, therefore, not surprising to find the Hakka dominating the book industry in south China. Cynthia Brokaw investigated the production and distribution of editions of Chinese classics printed inexpensively in Sibao Township in a remote section of western Fujian Province. Two Hakka lineages, the Zou 鄒 and Ma 馬, based in the isolated Sibao basin in Fujian prospered by producing woodblock books throughout the eighteenth century. Instead of plying the established trading routes and looking for potential markets, the Hakka publishers operated by dispatching lineage males as sojourning sales teams or set up bookstores in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and eventually in Guangxi and Yunnan (Brokaw 2007, 85). This Hakka enterprise peaked in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and survived into the early twentieth century. The Sibao book industry was praised “not only for the benefits it brought to the literati of the empire but also for the economic support . . .” (ibid., 2). The availability of cheap books no doubt contributed to the rise of Hakka scholarship.227 Another example that shows Hakka scholarship prowess can be found in the Republican Alliance (同盟會 Tong Meng Hui). Edward Rhoads credited the large number of Hakka from Guangdong among the Alliance members during the founding of the Tongmenghui to “their reputed concern for education” (1975, 103) i.e. many of them went to Japan to further their studies and joined the Alliance while they were there. After the Republican Government was established in 1912, “Qiu Fenjia, a Hakka, became the education minister of the Guangdong military government and concurrently Guangdong’s representative to the Shanghai conference for the establishment of a central

227 The book trade spawned related industries such as lumber, papermaking, woodblock making and printing. The wood blocks are usually executed by women (Brokaw 2007, 14–17). According to Lagerwey, in 1927, there were 3165 ‘paper troughs’ in operation, and 21,057 people were involved in paper-making (2005, 27). 248 Chapter 6 government” (Ching 1996, 58). Hakka concern for education is seen again and again in history. In Malaysia, after the people’s committee of the People’s Communist Government of Titi in the state of Negri Sembilan, consisting mostly of Hakka farmers, tin miners, or rubber tappers, was elected their first priority was education (Cheah B.K. 2003, 187). John Lagerwey draws attention to Yongding, where the tobacco barons not only built most of the important tulou (e.g. the village of Sheqian in Fushi township alone had ninety) but they also “invested their wealth in education”. Yongding had eighty-two academies in 1906 (2005, 28). Ellsworth Huntington, writing in 1924, noted that in the Jiaying Prefecture, “about eighty per cent of the men can read or write—a greater percentage than any other part of China” (1924, 168). Even now, Meixian apparently has the most middle schools when compared to all the other counties. Hakka emphasis on education is etched on the walls, pillars, doors and in the ancestral halls of the tulou.228 On a visit to the Yongding in 2008, I saw an inscription above the entrance of a tulou that commemorates the achievement

Figure 7 A plaque in a Hakka earthen building in Yongding that reads 父子登科 fuzi dengke (Father and son succeeded in the imperial exam). Taken by author, 2009.

228 For a collection of couplets on pillars of Yongding tulou, see Xie X.J. (1995). Hakka Cultural Markers 249 of father and son who had succeeded at the Imperial Examination. The plaque reads 父子登科 fuzi dengke (father and son success [in the imperial exam]). This is a display of the family’s scholarship and to remind future generations to continue the tradition. This aspiration and tradition was no doubt carried across the water to Southeast Asia, where again the Hakka found themselves to be poor among the Chinese and again education seemed like the ticket to a better life for the next generation. Almost two hundred years ago, in 1822, the founders of the Ying He Guan 應和館 (the first Hakka association in Singapore) wanted to express these sentiments on education. Carved above the entrance of the oldest surviving Hakka clan association, a 189-year old building, are four characters: qian he wan sun 千禾萬孫 ([Be blessed with] thousand [bushels of] grain and a hundred thousand descendants) (Kang, 2007). It is an ancient expression of a hope that the storehouse will be filled with grains and there will be prolific descendants. Added to that is a carving on the door frame, which looks like a fish with a dragon’s head, to show them how to achieve success in scholarship. The carving is linked to the saying: “The carp jumps through the dragon gate” to signify making it through the notoriously difficult Chinese imperial examinations. It shows the value they placed on education and it is also to remind future descendants to succeed by studying hard. These and other interpretations reveal a strong belief by the clan’s founders that education is the key to upward mobility. It seems that the founders of the Ying Fo Fui Kun were determined to leave messages to their Hakka descendants on the value of education. Wherever the Hakka settled, the first thing they did was to set up a school. They also arranged for children who had to work in the day time to attend night classes. It is important to note that these schools were attended mostly by Hakka sons. Some girls attended night classes taught by old scholars from China but, in general, only male members of the family were encouraged to get an education. They were initially taught in the Hakka vernacular and later switched to Mandarin. Mr. Chong Yoon Ching, born in 1929, remembers the Hakka School that he attended in Beruas, which was organized by the Hakka. In the late 1930s Madam Than Song (1914–1967), a well-to-do and formidable Hakka woman, donated a piece of land for the building of the first school in Beruas—木歪培青小學 Muwai Pei Ching [Peiqing] Primary School, which was opened in 1940. The school has provided Chinese primary education for the children of Beruas up to the present day. Similarly, in Pusing, two rich Hakka tin-miners built a primary school named Yi Zhi Primary School 益智小學 and Hakka was used as the medium of instruction before it was switched to Mandarin (Chung 2010, 32). The tradition of providing education continues to this day albeit in a different form. The Hakka Association in Jakarta established the Budi Agung School 250 Chapter 6 in 2001, “which offers instruction from kindergarten to high-school levels for students who come from the lower middle class . . . the school employs local teachers who teach Mandarin for up to eight hours a week. The subsidies from the Hakka Association also help to lower the school fees for the 1,000 students, who are currently enrolled at the school” (Dawis 2008, 84). This exercise will no doubt help to maintain Chineseness in the Indonesian Chinese community. Wang Gungwu (1991, 273–284) notes that three types of formal schooling corresponding to the following three types of overseas Chinese communities were offered:

(1) The small communities in Chinatowns of countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia; (2) Merchant communities who live among the indigenous people of Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia; and (3) The communities who are predominantly Chinese such as in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

The Hakka Schools in Beruas and Pusing belonged to the second type of schooling. In the early twentieth century, in almost all places where the Chinese settled, they ran their own schools where Chinese was taught and most of the schools were modeled on schools in China, often using text books prepared and approved by the nationalist government of China.229 Changes and development in the school system in Malaya and (later) Malaysia also helped to change the attitude to education; especially the education of girls. Similarly, Hakka of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries continued to follow this centuries-old tradition. The first generation in their new place of residence will do everything to educate their offspring either in academic studies or a trade. Hill R.D. and Voo Min Shin (1990) explain that for occupational mobility to occur from generation to generation, education, both in the vernacular and in English, is paramount for the Hakka. It is not surprising that poor Hakka having recognized education as an avenue for social

229 Malaysia was different from, for example Thailand or the Philippines, where Chinese had to go to the national schools teaching in indigenous languages. In Malaysia, parents could choose to send their children to the national primary school in English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil. As for the lower secondary schools, there were government English or Malay or private Chinese schools. Those from the Tamil, Chinese and Malay primary schools wishing to go to an English secondary school had to do a year of preparatory class called the Remove Class. For controversies and problems with regard to language policy and language education in Malaysia, see Mukherjee and David (2011). Hakka Cultural Markers 251 mobility turned to the Christian Missionaries to further their goals (Lutz and Lutz 1988, 235–236 & 251–252). Danny Wong (2005) argued that the reason that the Hakka in Sabah are more receptive to English education is because many of them came through the immigration schemes sponsored by Western Christian missionary societies, making them more responsive to English education. Beruas was settled differently but their respect for education is no different. It was quite common for Hakka parents in Beruas to take on three jobs or sell off a piece of their land to finance their sons’ education in the mid- twentieth century. It was no secret that the Hakka used all their resources to educate sons only. Daughters were not encouraged to study hard. A favorite phrase of old women in Beruas, who had grand-daughters in school, was Hk. Mooi tsai tkuk an to shu, tso mak kai? Why would a girl want to have so much education? [What use would she have for it?]. It was very rare to send girls for further education after they finished Primary School, unless there was such a tradition in the family. This attitude improved slightly in the 1950s, after the arrival of a Hakka school teacher, Madam Chin Teik Chean (b. 1928), at the Pei Ching Chinese Primary School. She encouraged parents to send their children (including girls) to school. She even paid for the school fees of some of the poorer students. In the 1960s and 1970s the Hakka still believed that educating a daughter was tantamount to educating someone else’s daughter-in-law and therefore, a waste of resources. Those girls who were good in school could not be ignored by their parents. Through their sheer persistence, they broke through this tradition—as many of the BGH have done. Scholarship is revered by the Chinese, and Hakka has no monopoly on it. Education cannot be seen as an exclusive Hakka cultural marker. History and circumstances forced the Hakka to look at education as the conduit to move them up the social and economic ladders. Once they had set up their schools, they knew that it is only a matter of time before it would pay dividends in the form of bright young educated students, who would make their family and community proud. Hill R.D. and Voo Min Shin (1990) presented a very good example of how education served as occupational and spatial mobility in an agricultural Hakka community in Kudat, Sabah. My case study has also shown that education is the vehicle for occupational and spatial mobility. Only four (18 percent) out of the twenty-two parents of the BGH have formal education. They are mainly farmers, shopkeepers or wage laborers. Those who do businesses in Town can typically converse in one or two other dialects or communicate in Malay with the other races. Compared to their parents, all (100 percent) BGH not only have a formal education but they are also highly educated and they have become middle-class professionals (see Appendix A.III). Between them they have one PhD, four Masters, one 252 Chapter 6

MBA and thirteen Bachelor’s degrees. Children of the BGH are either university or college graduates, still studying in universities, or preparing to go to one. Respect for education by the Hakka was a constructed marker under needy circumstances and it contributed to traditional Hakka identity. In the twenty first century, education is just as important to the Hakka as a vehicle for upward social mobility. However, it is an aspiration shared by all Chinese and therefore, cannot be seen as an exclusive Hakka trait.

7 Trade and Occupation

Stevan Harrell (1985) asked a question that early immigrants took for granted: “Why do the Chinese work so hard?” Good work ethic and diligence is part of Chinese culture. Many early scholars put Chinese industriousness down to either socialization or economic rationality.230 Chinese are willing to work hard and invest their resources (both human and financial) if they know that the reward is familial improvements and security for future generations. Harrell concludes that the “Chinese have been socialized, after all, not just to work hard, but to work hard for the long-term benefit of the family. When they see this goal as attainable, they will work towards it in an economically ratio- nal way” (1985, 224). The Hakka are no different but because of their historical background they are probably more so. It can be said that Hakka history has predisposed them to certain occupations. For example, it is possible to guess part of the identity of people who have undergone Descent Re-emigration by looking at their family occupation in the country before emigration. Family occupations can reveal identity and vice versa. If a Hakka immigrant in New York says they are from Suriname or Jamaica, there is a high probability that their families were involved in operating grocery stores because Hakka Chinese became synonymous with shopkeepers in the post-indentureship period all over the Caribbean (Fat 2009, 4). To commemorate the 150th year of the Chinese in Jamaica, Ray Chen (2005) entitled his book “Shopkeepers”. Winston Chang (2004) provided us with a detailed study of the legacy of the Hakka shopkeepers of the West Indies. Similarly, Andrew Wilson in his introduction to The Chinese in the Caribbean notes: “Economic growth and the emergence of new market niches in Jamaica,

230 Early Western writers who made the same observation right up to the 1960s and 1970s include Arthur Smith (1894, 27), Chester Holcombe (1895, 93) and R.F. Johnston (1910, 164), Margery Wolf (1968, 37), Norma Diamond (1969, 43) and Barbara Ward (1972, 384– 385); cited from Harrell (1985). Hakka Cultural Markers 253 for example, allowed Chinese, once their indenture contracts had expired, to move quickly into small-scale retail. By the early twentieth century, ‘Chinaman’ had become virtually synonymous with shopkeeper” (Wilson, 2004: x). A good source for Hakka occupations in nineteenth century China is found in missionary writings because they tend to give the occupations of their members before conversion—especially those occupations that were deemed ‘un-Christian’. For example, geomancy is associated with fortune-telling, exor- cism, communication with spirits and ancestors, and death and burial rituals, which the missionaries frowned upon.231 Jessie and Rolland Lutz said, “Before conversion to Protestantism, Jiang Jiaoren, Lai Xinglian, and Li Zhenggao had all practiced geomancy” (1998, 152). Another convert, the eldest of the Zeng brothers, Zeng Faisi had geomancy as his profession before he embraced the Christian faith (ibid., 117). It was also noted that Jiang Qimin was said to be “practicing geomancy and to have reverted to heathenism and taken a second wife. . .” (ibid., 30n4). Geomancy seems to be a common occupation with the Hakka. I agree with Dong Xiao-ping that John Lagerwey’s explanation that Hakka are partial to choosing geomancy as an occupation because “geomancy [involves] making the best of limited resources” (2002, 358). Not only does the profession have its roots in Chinese cultural and philosophical thought, it also suits the early Hakka lifestyle. Being migrants meant their services were always required in the new place—be it in the case of building a new house or choosing a good burial place for their ancestors. It is also a profession that is not affected by mobility or the need for financial capital. It is not surprising that teaching is also a common profession given their emphasis on education. As mentioned earlier, Rudolf Lecher, from the Basel Mission reported that the Hakka in the prefecture of Jiaying County are renowned for their learning, and they produced so many licentiate that there were not enough jobs for them and they had to resort to menial work to earn a livelihood. Other occupations of the Hakka are revealed by casual remarks by the Christian communities. Jiang Jiaoren said, “I have an uncle in Hong Kong who had for many years pursued a business there . . . he proposed that I become his [business] partner . . .” (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 14). Theodor Hamberg reported, “On 11th January 1852, Jiang’s relatives, both of them farmers from Lilang were baptized . . .” (ibid., 18). He continued, “When the brethren visited Buji on their way home and discussed my intention to go to the interior, a merchant named

231 For a full discussion on the training, practices and theory of geomancy relating to spirits, souls, death and burial rituals, see Lutz and Lutz (1998, 152–175). See also Needham (1956, Pt. II, 359–363) for a description of the principles of geomancy and Bennet (1978 & 1968). 254 Chapter 6

Ling declared he was ready to rent me a house for an economical price [land- lord . . . (ibid., 19); Ling Zhenggao . . . because the apostle wrote that Christians must abstain from eating blood, he eats no blood even though he slaughters a pig [butcher] every morning . . .” (ibid., 22); Lechler reveals that Li Zhenggao as well as Li Zhenggao pursued traditional medicine . . . (ibid., 152); His father, Zhang Shanglin, was a Wuhua farmer, who supplemented his income with trade and heavy labor. Among other things he also purchased women to sell as wives . . . (ibid., 32); [a]fter only two years there, he [Zhang] became a seaman on the West River transporting charcoal to Hong Kong and then, following a shipwreck in which he lost his boat, he and a friend decided to try their luck as petty merchants in the Hong Kong area. While his wife . . . contributed to the family income by mending clothes, the two opened a shop selling sugar, opium and other consumer goods [shopkeepers] . . . (ibid., 33). On several occasions Gützlaff itinerated with Zhang among stone masons,232 boat families, farmers and even opium smokers . . . (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 34); A basket maker . . . found it difficult to abandon worship of local deities” (ibid., 39). These are just some of the occupations of the Hakka in South China in the mid-nineteenth century. Another occupation that is often ascribed to the Hakka is that of the itinerant weaver. Rev. Rudolf Lechler, from the Basel Mission who worked among the Hakka from about 1850 onwards, also mentions that in the Xin’an district, “there are journeymen weavers who go round in the villages with their primi- tive looms to do the weaving for the families”.233 It is also interesting to note that these Hakka did not restrict their visits only to Cantonese villages in this region, but that their services were also utilized in Hakka ones. James Hayes was informed by old villagers in Kowloon and the Southern District of the New Territories that itinerant Hakka persons, mostly men it seems, came yearly to villages sometime after the second rice harvest (October–November) to weave locally-grown hemp thread into cloth. The finished product was then dyed and used by local people to make clothes, or sold to others for a like purpose (Hayes 1968). As late as the early 1960s, Han Suyin reported that the potters of Anfuchen and the weavers of the ramie cloth along the water courses in Sichuan spoke Hakka (1965, 22). It is interesting to note that these travelling weavers are men (Garrett 1987, 71). Hakka women also weave, but at home. The impression one gets from information on the Hakka by both Western as well as Chinese writers is that Hakka are late-comers, an underclass,

232 There is a whole Hakka village of stone cutters in Ngau Tau Kok, East Kowloon (Hayes 1994, 47). 233 This report appears in an article, “The Hakka Chinese” in The Chinese Recorder in October 1878, quoted from Hayes (1968, 162). Hakka Cultural Markers 255 struggling poor farmers eking out a living in mountainous and hostile environments. This is true for many communities that migrated to new frontiers and became pioneers—opening up land and enduring all kinds of hardship in the process. Those in the last wave who left China for a better life went to work in the Kalimantan gold mines, the cane fields of Hawaii and the Caribbean, the tin mines in Malaya, and railway construction in the USA. These are the stories that we hear again and again. They should be told and honored but what we seldom read about are those Hakka who had remained and settled in the core Hakka area in China and how they were involved in the economy. This has been corrected somewhat by John Lagerwey (2005), who edited the Hakka Traditional Society on traditional Hakka society in the core area at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the section on customs and traditional economy Lagerwey summarizes the traditional economy of the Hakka in South China, which includes lumber, paper, salt, cloth, leather, rice, pharmaceuticals and food products. There is considerable evidence that the tobacco industry was very much dominated by the Hakka.234 He also added,

The Jiangxi guild included sellers of cloth from Taihe and of herbal medicines from Zhuangshu, as well as carpenters and lacquerers from Fengcheng and masons from Nankang . . . [2005, 30] . . . Chaozhao [Hakka] merchants came to Shanghang to buy its paper for export . . . There were 100 rice shops . . . [and the Hakka] accounted for 60 percent of the rice trade . . . The pharmaceutical business, as in all western Fijian, was in the hands of [Hakka] merchants from Jiangxi, who had no fewer than thirty shops in Shanghang. The lumber business, by contrast was run by [Hakka] people from Wubei (northern Wuping) . . . Every detail of the payment was fixed: how much rice, pork, wine, and doufu [tofu] they would get on leaving, en route, and upon arrival (ibid., 27).

The mentions of these occupations are often in association with gods and deities in town and villages that are honored and celebrated in festivals and jiao 醮 (public sacrificial performances) in their honor. In Leong Sow-Theng’s opinion, Hakka migration has given rise to the development of certain industries and typical Hakka occupations. William Skinner summarizes Hakka ingenuity and exploitation of upland resources:

234 For an historical study of the tobacco business in Yongding, see Hu D.X. (2005). See also Han (1965, 291), whose family ran a tobacco business for one hundred and twenty years in Sichuan. 256 Chapter 6

What appeared as hilly ‘wasteland’ of little value to downstream paddy farmers could, in Hakka hands, be made to yield a bounty. The Hakka had become expert prospectors and miners, and a major motivation for the earliest Ming migrations was to locate and exploit mineral deposits in other upland areas. By the sixteenth century, iron, tin, lead, zinc, and gold were all being mined and smelted by Hakka out-migrants, who have also opened quarries for limestone and building stone. Quarrying and smelting fostered related artisan specialists and Hakkas became noted expert stone cutters, blacksmiths, and tinsmiths. Mountain forests along the regional divides were also made to yield, and by the seventeenth century lumbering, charcoal burning, papermaking, and mushrooming were all well developed as Hakka specialties (1997, 6–7).

The lumber and paper industry gave rise to the book trade that the Hakka dominated in South China. According to Lagerwey, in 1927, there were 3165 ‘paper troughs’ in operation, and 21,057 people were involved in paper-making (2005, 27). As mentioned earlier, Cynthia Brokaw has shown that the production and distribution of editions of Chinese classics printed inexpensively in Sibao Township in a remote section of western Fujian province peaked in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and survived into the early twentieth century. The success of the Hakka book trade depended on the paper industry and their products (printed books) which were distributed by lineage males as sojourning salesmen or by setting up bookstores, first in the Sibao Basin and later a great part of China (2007, 85). This book trade in China operated by the Hakka in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries had not received much attention by Western scholars until Cynthia Brokaw’s excellent work. In Wayne Bert’s discussion of high overseas Chinese investment in China, he does not attribute it to a well-defined community, much less to purposeful behavior. He draws attention to the difference in their business and business practices and how “often different groups are identified with specific types of businesses, for example, the Hokkien-speakers of southern Fujian are associated with coffee shops, the Taipu [Dabu] Hakka with pawnshops” (2003, 125). There is some truth in this but there are also variations in the occupations of the different dialect groups in Malaya and Singapore in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Early Chinese migrants to the Straits Settlements (Malaya and Singapore) were either part of the coolie system or voluntary migrants. As laborers, either indentured or voluntary, they worked in the mines and plantations. Voluntary immigrants had more choices. According to Mak Lau Fong, they were divided into three major occupational classes; namely, domestic, commercial, and agricultural (1993, 9). As huiguan (associations) Hakka Cultural Markers 257 determined the social divides of the early immigrants, it is not surprising that certain occupational trends along dialect lines have emerged. Mak Lau Fong’s observation of occupation-dialect group relation in Singapore from 1848–1948 shows that businesses related to commerce, international trading, finance, and manufacturing were closely associated with the Hokkien, whereas the Hakka and Cantonese were mainly engaged in traditional occupations such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and herbal medicine. The Hainanese were mostly attracted to service-oriented occupations and the Teochew were more inclined towards primary production occupations such as planting, poultry rearing, and fishing. While there were Cantonese boat- builders, Hokchia seaman, Hokkien longshore men, and Teochew fisherman, the Hakka were not involved with work in or near the sea (ibid., 12–14). Mak summarizes that the Hakka in Singapore were traditionally involved with the following occupations: footwear dealers (also the Teochew), cabi- net and wooden box makers (also the Cantonese), woodcutters and sawyers (also the Cantonese), goldsmiths (also the Cantonese), tailors and shoemak- ers (also the Cantonese), domestic servants (also the Hainanese), bakers (also Hainanese), blacksmiths (Hakka only), dentists (Hakka only), leather goods dealers (Hakka only), pawnbrokers (Hakka only), Chinese medicine shop operators (Hakka only) (ibid., 12–14, Table 1). Hakka were mostly represented in occupations that required learning a craft and they were not represented in more complicated trade or merchandising such as banking, shipping or import and export. Mak’s observation of the occupation/trade tendency of the early Chinese migrants of various dialect groups in Singapore from 1848 to 1948 can also be applied to British Malaya. Additional data from British Malaya from 1921 and 1931 confirms the trend (ibid., 15, Table 2). In Malaysia, many Hakka are found in small rural towns and villages around former tin-mining areas, where most of their forebears used to work. As tin was linked to the world economy, the livelihood of many of the mine-workers were therefore, determined by the price of tin in the world. When the tin mining industry in Malaysia collapsed,235 many of the workers were forced to look for alternative means of making a living. The result was that many of these former mine-workers ‘squatted’ the land around the tin mines and began farming. Hence, many of these Hakka became rural farmers. Hakka planters specialized in cultivating cloves, nutmeg, and later rubber in confined areas such as Balik Pulau in Penang and Bukit Mertajam in Province Wellesley. Cheah See Kian has shown that Balik Pulau was settled by the Hakka in mid-nineteenth century and they cultivated durian, nutmeg and rubber trees.

235 For the collapse of the tin mining industry, see Loh (1988, 57–59). 258 Chapter 6

Mak Lau Fong concluded that his findings “strongly suggest that the concept of occupational affinity needs to be redefined to include the element of location. Earlier observations on the affinity between dialect groups and occupations are void of this element, that is, occupational affinity has been inap- propriately taken as a generalized concept which applies to any occupation being practiced by a particular dialect group anywhere” (1993, 20). I concur. Hakka migrants too have had to adjust their occupational affinity after migration. For example, it is said that pawnbrokering and the medical hall trades are the sole domain of the Hakka. In Singapore pawnbrokering was dominated by the Hakka, but to be more precise, it was Hakka from Dabu. Liu Hong and Wong Sin-Kiong observe that “[i]n 1929, 22 out of 25 pawnshops were in their [Dabu Hakka] hands; the number increased to 35 out of 39 in the mid-1960s.” Liu and Wong draw attention to how business was conducted along intra-subdialect lines. For example, the Dabu Hakka tended to recruit employees from the same district and do business with their compatriots even though it meant that they had to pay higher interest rates offered by the bank (2004, 67). Hakka dominance in the pawnbrokering business has its roots in China. In one of his poems, Huang Zunxian’s laments, “Formerly, the storerooms in our family pawn shops glittered with piles of other people’s clothes. . .” (Schmidt 1994, 11). The shift in occupational affinity that is affected by location, as postulated by Mak Lau Fong, is demonstrated in Thailand. In the first half of the twentieth century, the pawnbrokers were 100 percent Teochew; 90 percent of the tailors were Hakka; and 92 percent of the medical halls were run by the Teochew (Skinner 958, 315). William Skinner notes that traditional occupation specialization in Thailand has been in the process of breaking down since the turn of the twentieth century. “The major change has resulted from the steady advance of the Teochew into occupations traditionally the specialization of other speech-groups. This trend, of course, is the natural consequence of the changing patterns of immigration” (ibid., 316). One industry that has remained rather constant is the shoe and leather industries. In Thailand, 98 percent of the leather-workshops were dominated by the Hakka. My informant, Mr. Vathanalaoha Kamthon (Chinese name: Liu Guo Tang), a third-generation Thai Hakka, who is a proprietor of a tannery in Thailand and Mr. Robert Armstrong,236 an Australian (based in Singapore then), who supplied the chemicals to the tanneries, confirmed that from the 1960s to the 1980s the leather tanneries in Southeast Asia were dominated by

236 Mr. Robert Armstrong was considered an honorary Hakka by the Thai Hakka. He speaks Hakka and apart from doing business with them, he spent a considerable amount of time among them because he was fascinated by their stories and history. Hakka Cultural Markers 259 the Hakka. Similarly, the tanning industry in Calcutta, India is also dominated by the Hakka (Oxfeld, 1996). Currently, the tanning industry in Thailand is still dominated by the Hakka but it is now run by their offspring with MBAs and they have modernized the industry. This is an area that is waiting to be studied. Everywhere one looks in the Hakka community education was and is still the prime factor that has contributed to occupational mobility in the last two generations. R.D. Hill and Voo Min Shin conducted a case study using genealogies to trace the occupational mobility of a small, agricultural Hakka community in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia. They show how the descendants of an entirely agricultural community in Sabah (formerly called British North Borneo) became occupationally diversified. “Hakkas of Kudat origin, probably in part because of the emphasis on education, especially in English for both men and women, now have an occupational profile strongly weighted towards services and the professions. Occupational mobility has been accompanied by substantial change in predominant place of residence” (1990, 194). The occupation of the ‘first generation’ of men was without exception farming. R.D. Hill and Voo Min Shin wrote:

Education was supported to a limited degree by the government but clearly the settlers themselves accorded it high priority, for girls as for boys . . . By the second generation the overall pattern of predominant lifetime occupation has begun to change . . . The third generation comprises mainly those born in the 1910s to the 1930s . . . Within this group there is clear occupational differentiation . . . By the time the fourth generation came to be employed, beginning in the 1950s, farming was the occupation of only 10 percent of those working, a truly massive shift from the three- fifths of the second or almost the whole of the first generation. Of equal significance is the large decline in the proportion of women described as housewives in the fourth generation compared with the preceding one: from two-fifths to just one eighth (ibid., 199–206).

The Hakka in Beruas followed the same process as in Kudut in their occupational shift. Parents of the BGH generation were predominately farmers, small traders and wage-earners. Many of the traditional occupations were also seen in Beruas. Although the dialect-occupation-line was starting to blur in Beruas, at the beginning of the 1950s, some of the trends remain. The pawnshop, the tinsmith shop and the medical hall were owned by Hakka. The Lee family who ran the pawnshop is from Dabu. The three coffee shops were owned by Hainanese; the two big sundry shops by the Cantonese and Hokkien. There was also some overlap such as the goldsmith shop (gold smithing is a Hakka 260 Chapter 6 occupation) was owned by a Cantonese. Like Chinese immigrants everywhere, as soon as these small business owners, laborers or vegetable gardeners in Beruas had saved enough money, they bought land—usually for the cultivation of rubber trees. (Of late, they have switched to palm oil.) When their small rubber holdings started to yield, the proceeds were reinvested in more land, or diversified into other business or invested in their children’s education. It is no exaggeration to say that many of the Beruas university graduates were educated by earnings from rubber trees. The occupational shift started with the third generation (the BGH), when they become more educated than their parents. Many became professionals and joined the middle-class. Occupational mobility is always accompanied by a spatial shift for those from the small towns and villages, because the opportunities are always somewhere else. This is no difference in Beruas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Beruas became a sleepy town inhabited by children and old folks. Entire families left for the cities, while some parents left their young children behind when they took up jobs in urban centers. There was also the group who went overseas for further education. Many returned to Malaysia after their education but they worked in the capital or other cities. As for the BGH, after they left the country, they did not return. Technological advancement also contributed to the occupational shift. Many of the traditional trades were made redundant by progress in technology and upward mobility, for example, the invention of plastic made the tinsmith and the carpenter redundant. Even the stable and lucrative occupation of pawnbrokering came under attack, when banking and the credit systems were developed. The Lee family finally gave up their pawnbrokering operations in Beruas in 2011 because there was no one to take over the business. Their children have become professionals. Out of Mr Lee Meow Yen (1924–2015) and Madam Chin Teik Chean’s (b. 1928) five children, three of them are living in Australia, one in Singapore and another in Kuala Lumpur.237 Mr. Lee’s younger brother, Mr. Lee Chung Yen, who has shares in the business and lives in Ipoh, told me the same story—his children too have all become professionals and he was going to retire. As seen in Appendix A.III.11, none of the global Hakka continued the occupation of their parents as most of them have become professionals, while others chose other types of work. Their parents were subsistence farmers, small market gardeners, rubber-tappers, owners of small businesses such as vegetable,

237 On 26–27th January, 2011, all twenty-six members of Mr. Lee and Madam Chin re-united for the last time in Beruas after the pawnshop was sold. We all gathered to reminisce on the history of Beruas at the local wantan noodle stall near the market place. Hakka Cultural Markers 261 pork or fish stalls in the wet market; small sundry shops or stalls selling snacks of fruit and iced drinks in town. Occupations of the global Hakka from Beruas include financial analyst, engineer (3), computer system analyst, banker, financial controller, nurse, air stewardess, chemist, business consultant, restaurant owner, administration and finance Manager, vice-president of an international conglomerate, accounts manager and accountant, and an academic. The two not in white-collar jobs are successfully self-employed (restaurant owner and a private house-keeper). In just one generation, this group of Hakka has vaulted themselves out of the rural setting of Beruas onto the global stage of finance, engineering, business and academia, and hence, into different lifestyles that affects their personal Hakka identity. Occupational affinity has ceased to be a Hakka cultural marker and occupational shift is often bolstered by education and upward social mobility, which usually takes place in the third generation. Most Chinese migrant families all over the world follow the same pattern.

8 Religious Beliefs

The Hakka in Malaysia share a common framework of religious belief with the other dialect groups but there are also many variations to the same gods, deities or spirits. Many of these traditions were brought from across the oceans by the immigrants but some were also created in Malaya. A glance at C.S. Wong’s (1967) and Keith Stevens’ (1997) documentations of the pantheon of gods, deities and spirits that the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore worship will indicate how complex the topic is. This distinctive system of worship has been variously labeled. Some called it ‘folk religion’ and others, like Alan Elliott called what the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia believe shenism—derived from 拜神 bai shen (worshipping the gods or deities) (1955, 29), which I think is too much of a simplification, at least in the Hakka case. Tan Chee Beng calls what the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia believe and practice ‘Chinese religion’ (1983, 219) but I prefer to use ‘religious beliefs’ because ‘religion’ implies a monolithic set of beliefs (such as Buddhism, Christianity or Islam), whereas the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore have developed a unique blend of faiths and practices which include ‘folk beliefs’.238 The stress is on beliefs. For example the Hakka, apart from their belief of the accepted Chinese gods and deities, also believe in all sorts of supernatural and paranormal things/entities, which they have augmented into their system of worship. There are no sets rules on what to believe in the sense that a person

238 For a general view of Chinese religion in Malaysia, see Tan C.B. (1983). 262 Chapter 6 can set up a temporary spot to make offerings to whatever ‘spirits’ that he/she might want to thank or appease. Most of the time, the spot reverts back to its original state but often, it evolves into a ‘holy’ shrine. In comparison to studies on the history of Hakka migration, identity, language, gender activities, and cultural shifts, Hakka traditional religious beliefs have not receive much attention. Religious beliefs and spiritual undertakings are the cornerstones of people’s identity and they have also helped to shape Hakka history and identity. This lack of attention to the Hakka system of religious beliefs has been improved tremendously by the Traditional Hakka Society Series that was initiated by John Lagerwey.239 The series presented essays written by local Hakka officials and intellectuals, who recalled religious traditions found in temple festivals, seasonal festivities, public and household worship, and current practices in the south of China. They recalled gods and deities in towns and villages and how they celebrated festivals and jiao 醮 (public sacrificial performances) in their honor; thus, expressing “local pride and contributed to the creation of a sense of local identity” (2005, 25). Lagerwey also commented that the Hakka belong to the Lüshan and Meishan Daoist traditions, which has been “completely ignored by standard histories of Taoism” (ibid.). In Lagerwey’s series Chen Weixu (2005) gave us a comprehensive list of the main temple festivals held every year in Jiangle County in western Fujian and Zhong Desheng (2005) covers temple festivals and public sacrificial performances in the Wuping County in southwestern Fujian. Together with Zhang Quanqing, who described the major festivals and jiao in the former Wuhua County in northeastern Guangdong, they provided a very important source for Hakka religious beliefs. Some of the deities and gods mentioned in these studies included Guandi 關帝, Guanyin 觀音 (more popularly known as Goddess of Mercy), Great Lord Yang 大陽公, Mazu 媽祖, Lady East Gate 東門夫人, Zhenjun 真君, Westgate Immortal 西門仙師, Lord of the Earth 土地公, the Three Ladies Goddesses 林陳李三奶夫人, the Five Grains Immortals 五榖仙, Lord of Mercury 水星君, Duke Wang Lin 王靈公, Lord of Lakes and Mountains 湖山爺, just to name a few. The Malaysian Hakka worshipped some of these South China deities or variations of them but some of them did not make it across the waters. Another work that throws some light on the religious practices of the Hakka is Chan Wing-hoi’s study of ordination names in Hakka genealogies. His studies in Hakka villages in Hong Kong impart to us an important religious ritual

239 As of 2003, nineteen volumes have been published (Dean 2003, 45). Lagerwey’s introduction to these different volumes summarizes the great variation in religious practices in different Hakka areas. Hakka Cultural Markers 263 that has been on the decline. This is the tradition of conferring ordination names (郎名 langming, 法名 faming, or 度名 duming) on ancestors as a form of ancestor veneration usually conducted by Daoist priests (1995 & 1966). This tradition can be found in Hakka clan genealogies.240 From Chan’s descriptions of the rituals and ordination process, it shows that the Hakka were not only partial to Daoism but also elements of shamanism involving magic and sorcery. In Malaysia, Sharon Carstens has done substantial work on traditional Hakka religious beliefs and spiritual life in Pulai, a Hakka village in Kelantan. In her book, Castens describes how the Guanyin241 festival was celebrated and how rituals in daily practices were conducted (2005, 114–126). In another work, she focused “on the pantheon of deities and spirits worshipped and propiti- ated; the system of local beliefs in the power and efficacy of these deities; and the manner in which individuals and families have reproduced and altered these spiritual beliefs over time” (2007). The religious undertakings among the Hakka in Hong Kong were studied by Morris Berkowitz, Frederick Brandauer and John H. Reed (1969) and those in Taiwan have been recorded by Myron Cohen (1969, 170). Read together, these works and those on Chinese religion in Malaysia give us some idea of the system of beliefs as practiced by the Hakka. However, as we know people adapt or change their faith for various reasons and the Hakka were no different. Christianity has played an important role in Hakka history and identity. There has been a resurgence of interest in Hakka and Christianity in the last twenty years.242 Christianity contributed to the founding of the Taiping Revolution (1850–1864) and the most famous Hakka Christian in history is Hong Xiuqian 洪秀全 (1816–1864). It was interest in the role that Christianity played in this revolution that got the missionaries interested in the Hakka. Catholic priests and members of the Basel Missionary were the first Westerners to learn the Hakka dialect. After the failure of this pseudo-Christian uprising, the Christian missions found many followers in south China and missions were set up in different countries such as Hong Kong, West Borneo and Singapore.

240 See Appendix B: Extract from the 廖氏大宗譜 Liaoshi da zongpu (The Complete Gene- alogical Register of the Liao Clan) for the use of Ordination name in 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 86th (b), 86th (c), 87th (a), 87th (b), 88th (a), 88th (b), 89th (a), 89th (b), and 90th (b) Generations. 241 See Werner (1932, 227 & 227) and Sakai (1993, 13) for discussion of how Guanyin came to be worshipped by the Chinese. 242 See Chappell and Lamarre (2005), Lee Tse-Hei (2002), Lamarre (2002), Lozada (2001), Lutz and Lutz (1998), Constable (1994 & 1996), Cohen (1993), Liao (1972), Berkowizt, Brandauer and Reed (1969), etc. 264 Chapter 6

Thus, Christian missionary work in South China is very much intertwined with Hakka identity and migration. Not only did they bring religious changes in the Hakka society but they also helped to move Hakka population to other parts of the world. For example, Rudolf Lechler from the Basel Mission recruited ten families, comprising ninety-six persons, who “arrived at Kudut [in present day Sabah, Malaysia] in April 1883, followed by twenty-seven families which settled at Lausanba (老山芭) in 1886, and thirteen families at Sinsanba (新山芭) in the same district in 1889” (Hill and Voo 1990, 196). It is interesting to note that the first Christian church in Balik Pulau on Penang Island, constructed in 1854, used Hakka in their services (Cheah S.K. 2009). Are Hakka predisposed to Christianity? Missionaries working in China noted that “the Hakka, particularly those in the rural interior, were more accessible to foreigners and more open to unconventional teachings than most Chinese” (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 8n8). In the Straits Settlements, J.D. Vaughan notes that “the Roman Catholic Missionaries were exceeding successful in converting the Chinese, especially the Kehs [Hakka] to Christianity. A great many chapels were built in the country districts of all the settlements and the Hong Kahs, as the Chinese Christians are called became a powerful body” (1974 [1879], 33). Jean-Paul Wiest, in attempting to answer the intriguing question as to why the Hakka population as a whole—contrary to the Hakka in Taiwan243—is more responsive to Christianity than the Cantonese and Hoklo, gave three reasons:

(1) Hakka are sociologically and religiously more open to embrace new ideas, including religious convictions, than the Punti; (2) The Hakka were looked down upon and they responded to their humani- tarian outlook, which attracted the poor and oppressed; and (3) The Hakka language is more homogeneous in comparison to Cantonese and Hoklo (2001, 96–97).

This may be true but there are also some other basic reasons. Poverty, famine and war following the Taiping Revolution certainly help to push the Hakka towards Christianity for protection and sustenance. Many poor Hakka who lived wretched lives jumped at the chance, when promised a better life on earth and in the afterlife. The missionaries offered concrete assistance with

243 The title of David Liau’s book, The Unresponsive: Resistant or Neglected? Refers to the question of why the conversion rate of Hakka to Christianity in Taiwan is so slow. The ministers to whom he sent his questionnaire replied that the main reason is that they are conservative (1972, 23). However, Liao concluded that it is the church that has been neglectful of Hakka needs (ibid., 136). Hakka Cultural Markers 265 cash, food and clothing during war and famine, and land for cultivation in time of peace. Jessie and Rolland Lutz pointed out that Jiang Jiaoren, a convert, admitted in his autobiography that he first allowed himself to be converted in order to cash in on the financial benefits (1998, 14). Jiang also confessed that most of the members, who joined the Hanhui Chinese Union, were there for the money and/or employment. The Mission Étrangères de Paris (MEP) gave poor Hakka families, who were either new converts or Catholics from other nearby MEP Hakka areas, land or rented to them at a very low price (Lozada 2001, 5). The offer of support for education for their children was also a strong incentive to convert. The missionaries built some of the best schools for boys and girls in their field of operations (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 25–30), including in Malaysia. I attended the Methodist Girls School and then the Anglo Chinese [Methodist] Boys School in Ipoh. In the 1950s and 1960s the Catholic Church in Beruas tried to attract new converts by giving away food (mostly condensed milk and milk powder) and clothes, and promised scholarships to their children, but the success rate was very low among the Hakka because of ‘clan policing’. A recent visit to Beruas reveals that the Methodist Church in New Village was trying to woo children to Sunday school with Kentucky Fried Chicken and pizzas from Pizza Hut. However, not all attendees or converts were inspired by salvation. Even back in China in the mid-nineteenth century the missionaries noticed this fallacy. Rev. Theodor Hamberg was convinced that “most of the members of the Hanhui were charlatans who accepted pay without carrying out their assignment” (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 34). These ‘economic’ Christians were referred to as ‘rice Christians’—the appellation made famous by Mark Twain (1835–1910) who remarked: “You see how curiously theological it is. The ‘rice Christian’ of the Orient goes through the very same steps, when he is after rice and the missionary is after HIM; he goes for the rice, and remains to worship” (2010 [1906], 226). As to the question of whether Hakka identity is affected by their conversion to Christianity, Nicole Constable showed that in the village of Shung Him Tong in the New Territories of Hong Kong, Christianity allowed the Hakka Christian “to reassert, reinterpret, and to some extent reinforce their Hakka identity” (1996, 158). As early as in the 1870s, the Hakka Christians made use of their influence to form ‘partnerships’ with independent Hakka churches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sarawak, Hawaii, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc. to create a support system. Thus, Christianity became a part of Hakka history. It is also from studies by Christian missionaries that we are able to glean some aspect of the Hakka religious tradition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the biographies of early Hakka Christians, we are 266 Chapter 6 able to view some of the Hakka religious practices before their conversion. For example, it was noted that Hakka were “absolutely unwilling to part with the veneration of the ancestors” (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 17); festivals were held in honor of the spirits, deities and gods where meat were sacrificed among other things; and the Goddess Guanyin was worshiped to obtain sons (ibid., 37). In another instance, Rev. Rudolf Lechler reported in 1877 that a young man had converted to Christianity and when his wife went to a sorceress/medium to make inquiries about something, the woman would not entertain her request saying, “Your husband is a Christian, why do you come to me? I can have nothing to do with you, for there is enmity between you and me” (Lutz and Lutz 1998, 25). This shows that shamanism and spirit-mediumship244 or trancing played an important role in the religious and spiritual life of the Hakka villagers. The consultation of spirit mediums was a way of life in Beruas up to the 1980s. Old people in Beruas usually attribute illnesses to mischievous spirits that have to be appeased. The village medium is usually consulted and special offerings were made to propitiate them. They were not only sought after to cure diseases but also for protection as well for luck to do business and to play the lottery. Spirit mediums are known as Hk. thung shin who goes into trance (Hk. lok thung or Hk. shong thung) to take on the persona/spirit of the deity they serve. When the mediums were successful in going into a trance, they would dispatch advice and information to the seekers. After the last medium left Beruas, people sought out mediums in other places—especially just before the Chingming (cleaning of the graves) festival in order to ask their beloved departed if they were in need of anything in the netherworld. If the trancing was successful, the medium would ‘assume’ the persona of the deceased. In the case of there being a request, for example, when the deceased said that the house was in need of repair, a magnificent colorful paper-house would be burnt at the grave during the visit to the cemetery. When there was no special request, chests filled with gold and silver ingots (made of paper) and paper clothing would be burnt so that their dead relatives’ coffer would always be full and they would look good in new attire. Not only was Hakka identity being transformed by religion but religious belief was also evolving spatially and temporally in and outside of China. Many of these beliefs and traditions were transported across to Malaya during the colonial period.245 Robert Winzeler notes correctly that what the Chinese

244 For an interesting study on Hakka séances, see Miska (1990). See also DeBernardi (2006) and Chan M. (2006). 245 For a detailed study of Chinese beliefs and religious practices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, see Cheu (1993) and in South-east China, Dean (2003). Hakka Cultural Markers 267 brought with them to Malaya were their village or folk religious beliefs, practices, and institutions rather than elite Chinese philosophical traditions (2008, 259). As a result, the Chinese ‘folk beliefs’ that have developed in Malaysia are often mixed with locally derived traditions that include ancestor worship at home and in the graveyard, spirit-mediumship, temple worship, and public sacrifices. Those distinctive religious traditions that the Hakka might have brought over from China were mostly integrated into the mainstream Chinese religion in Malaya but they also incorporated local beliefs into their practices. In Malaysia, the Datuk Gong 拿督公 or the Datuk Keramat—a Sino-Malay spirit cult figure has been invited to join the pantheon of gods and deities in the Chinese home.246 Hakka believe that when they are in a new place they should be on the side of the benevolent and helpful spirits and gods of that locality, regardless of race and religion, for protection and good luck. Given that migration is such an important part of their history, it is not surprising that the Hakka harbor such sentiments. Datuk Gong is one of such deities that the Hakka have adopted in Malaya and made one of their own. Every Hakka home in Beruas has a Hk. La Tuk Gung shrine in the compound of their houses. The distinguishing feature of a Datok Gong is the songkok—a tight-fitting Malay headgear that resembles the fez. During festivals and religious events, he is offered the same food and drink offerings as the ancestors and other gods and deities, but minus the pork because of his Malay origin. Therefore, it is also not surprising to find statues of Indian gods side by side with Chinese deities in Chinese temples in Malaysia and Singapore. This is a good example of socialization and localization of Chinese religious practices in new cultural settings. Another good example of socialization and localization of religious practices in new ethnic settings is the Chinese in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country. Some of them acquire new gods and deities e.g. by invest- ing “the Virgin Mary with attributes of the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin). Saint James or Santiago has become the city god of the Manila Chinese. El Santo Niño de Cebu is treated by the Manila Chinese as the traditional god of fortune . . . Our Lady of Grace Church in Kalookan City provides candles for the Filipinos and joss sticks for the Chinese [for their worship]. Filipinos kneel before some statues, while Chinese ceremonially bow before others”

246 For detailed descriptions of the history and development of the practice Datuk Gong, see Choo Wendy (n.d.), who studied how the Datok Gong came to be worshipped by the Chinese in Malacca; Cheu Hock Tong in Penang (1992), and in Malaysia (1994); and Sakai (1993, 12–13) on the worship of Datok Gong in Malaysia. 268 Chapter 6

(Weightman 1998, 81–82). Janet Lee Scott in her study of paper offerings to gods, ghosts and ancestors noticed that included in the offerings such as paper mansions/villas, there would be an effigy of a suitably attired Sikh watchman in uniform, turban and a signature mustache to complete the image. Many of the establishments and rich families in Hong Kong would have such a watchman in real life during the colonial days (2007, 116–118). Many Hakka communities dedicate their temples to Guandi, which has its cultural roots and beliefs in China and is considered a ‘transplanted deity’ but the deity Hk. Thai Pak Kung 大伯公 dabogung is believed to have originated in Malaya and initiated by the Hakka. There are various translations of his name into English and one of them is “The Great Grand Uncle” by Keith Stevens. I translate it as “The Honorable Eldest Paternal Uncle”. I added ‘paternal’ because not only the lineage and agnatic tradition are implicated here but also the hierarchy. The Eldest Paternal Uncle (i.e. the male first born or oldest brother of the father) is head of the family and he always protects and takes care of the family—in this case, the Hakka family. Stevens considered him to be the god of the ‘pioneering heroes’ of the original Chinese settlers and the local protective deity of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. His research shows that this belief started

[first] within the Hakka community [and] spreading to the Cantonese and Fukienese over the years. Legends suggest that a Hakka immigrant to Malaya named Chang Li [Zhang Li] 張理, a secret society leader, died and was buried in Penang. The story now describes how Chang, deified after his death some time during the late 18th century, had had two sworn brothers Ch’iu Chao-chin 丘兆進 [Qiu Zhaojin], a blacksmith, and Ma Fu-ch’un 馬褔春 [Ma Fuchun], a charcoal burner,247 were worshiped together by early pioneering settlers in Penang as a trio, collectively called Ta-po Kung [Hk. Thai Pak Kung] but with one image representing all three. Later, the single image led to Ta-po Kung being regarded as a single entity. The original site of the cult is said to be at Tanjong Tokong in Penang near where all three are believed to be buried (2013, private notes).

Hakka may create new deities or adopt local ones in their new place of residence, such as the Datok Gong in Malaysia, but the one deity that the Hakka worship consistently is Guandi 關帝, also known as Guan Yu 關羽, Guan Gong 關公 and Wudi 武帝 (God of War or Literature). Guandi can be con-

247 Both blacksmithing and charcoal-burning are traditional Hakka occupations. Hakka Cultural Markers 269 sidered the ‘patron deity’ of the Hakka. Every Hakka home in Beruas has Guandi on their altar as the main deity they worship. Prasenjit Duara shows how Guandi (162–220 CE), a historical figure, was ‘superscribed’ or deified as a god. He received his imperial title di 帝 only in 1615 (1988, 778). His biography appears in the Sanguozhi 三國志 (Records of the Three Kingdom), written by Chen Shou 陳壽. According to Chen Shou, Guan Yu was born in Xiezhou, Shanxi and he was known under various names. Duara writes that about sixty years after Guandi’s death, Chen Shou recorded “Guan Yu’s friendship and devotion to Liu Bei of the royal house of the Later Han. Together with the butcher Zhang Fei, the three friends took the famous ‘Oath in the Peach Orchard’ binding them to protect one another until death. Still later Guan Yu became a general and a governor of a province. Even though he was tempted by the enemy of his lord, Cao Cao, with a marquisate, Guan Yu remained faith- ful to his oath. In 220 AD he was captured by the enemy and put to death” (ibid., 780). Many Hakka communities around the globe have a Guandi Temple. The first place that my informants in Bangkok took me to visit was the Guandi Temple in Bangkok Chinatown. Why did the Hakka choose Guandi as their primary deity? Could it be that they needed a ‘warrior god’ to protect them on their journeys or a ‘god of literature’ to support their children’s education? This is a puzzle for specialists interested in Hakka religious beliefs. It is interesting to note that though Hakka identity on Reunion has been creolized (Live 2003), the descendants of Hakka migrants are trying to reclaim their Hakka heritage by building a Guandi Temple cum Cultural Centre.248 Keith Stevens mentioned that deities such as Ji Xiang Ge 吉祥哥 (1997, 118) and Che Gong 車公 (ibid., 157) are worshipped primarily by Hakka but they do not play any role in the community life of Beruas and Pusing. I have heard elders in the village mention deities such as He Xiang Gu 何仙姑, Sun Wu Kong 孫悟空 and Tan Gong 譚公 but I have not seen likeness of them in any homes in Beruas. The first Chinese temple in Beruas was a Guanyin Temple, built at the end of town at the instigation of the grandmother of two of the BGH in the 1930s. The Hakka families contributed not only to the cost of its construction but also the labor to clear the land and erect it. The temple still stands but not many families worship in it anymore after the temple guardian, a Cantonese woman, who also served as a spiritual leader passed away. One of my informants, son of the woman who initiated the building of the Guanyin

248 For progress of construction of the Guandi Temple cum Cultural Centre see https://www .facebook.com/pages/Centre-Culturel-Guan-Di-du-sud-Ile-de-la-R%C3%A9union/ 224748590899365. 270 Chapter 6

Temple, Mr. Chong Yoon Ching (b. 1929) narrated that the temple used to celebrate Guanyin’s birthday (觀音誕 guanyin dan) on the nineteenth day of the second lunar month. Sharon Carstens attended one such celebration in Pulai and she gave an excellent description of the preparation and celebration itself (2005, 114–121). After the old Guanyin Temple fell into disuse, a new temple was built behind the market place in the early 1980s and most Berusians go to the new temple now. Most of the Hakka families in Beruas practice a mixture of Daoism, shamanism, animism, and ancestor worship with a bit of Buddhism thrown in. A typical Hakka family house in Beruas has a main family altar in the living room facing the front door. The ancestors are represented by a framed calligraphy of the family surname name written in black ink on red paper and usually placed on the right hand side of the altar. The main god of the Hakka in Beruas is Guangong or Guandi, followed by Guanyin. Guangong is considered a primary god because, as explained to me by an informant, he is more authentic when compared to Guanyin, who has links with Buddhism. Guanyin is also more of a ‘woman and children’ deity as she is usually prayed to in regard to begetting sons, safe childbirth and the healing of childhood illnesses. In Beruas when a son is born and his ‘eight characters’ (八字 bazi)249 are in conflict with his parents’ he is ‘given away’ or gan-ed to Guanyin in a symbolic gesture of changing his relationship with his parents. Similarly, parents with sickly or troublesome children or those not considered to be intelligent in school would go to the Guanyin temple to ask her to change their behavior or fate. Hence, likenesses of Guangong and Guanyin (in the form of a picture or a porcelain figurine) are placed side by side with the ancestor ‘frame’ on the family alter. Some families may have other ‘lesser’ deities to join Guangong and Guanyin. Below the family altar is the Earth God (土地公 tudigong)250 and in the kitchen, above the stoves is the Lord of the Kitchen (竈君 zaojun).251 An incense burner, three small cups for tea or wine, and candle holders on both sides are placed in front of each of these deities. Lord of Heaven (天公 tian- gong) is installed in a shrine of his own in front of the house near the main entrance with the same offerings of tea, incense and candles. The Datuk Gong shrine is usually on the left-hand side of the house in the surrounding

249 The ‘eight characters’ are four pairs of characters indicating the year, month, day and time of birth of a person. 250 This deity was brought across the South China Sea to Malaya. For a discussion on the Earth God, see Sakai 1993, 6–9. 251 See Tan Chee-beng (1983) for a very good overview of Chinese religion as practiced in Malaysia. Hakka Cultural Markers 271

compound. Food offerings are made to these gods and deities by family members during festivals or when favors are requested. On special occasions when formal rites and rituals have to be performed, out-of-town professional priests are engaged to undertake them. These priests are called Hk. lam mor lau and they are not to be confused with Daoist priests. One of my informants comes from such a family and he told me that there is no one in his family to take over this profession in the twenty-first century. Apart from the occasional visit to the temple for special requests/petitions Chinese families in Beruas are kept busy by the annual cycles of religiously and culturally significant dates and festivals such as the Lunar New Year, Winter and Summer Solstices, Grave-sweeping Festival, Dumpling Festival in memory of Chu Yuan, Hungry Ghost Festival, Moon Festival etc. Pious families usually burn incense morning and evening but most people are too busy nowadays so not many do it. However, every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month (DG. Hk. chor yit ship ng)252 are considered auspicious days and people will make an effort to offer at least three incense sticks to the ancestors, gods and deities. Some will also add two candlesticks. Hakka religious beliefs are not just confined to the worship of ancestors, gods and deities but ‘philosophical beliefs’ are also implemented to improve life. When children are sick, grandmothers and mothers usually dipped into their bag of traditional belief for help. One such Hakka tradition, performed in the village to cure sick or listless children is called Hk. hem tung ngian (calling ‘same age’ or calling the soul [to come back]). It was believed that when a child sleeps at night or takes a nap, their soul goes wandering. When it is time to wake up, the soul must find its way back to the body. It is believed that a child gets sick because the soul has lost its way while on its way back to the body. One thing that mothers always teach their children is never to wake anyone up with loud noises or frighten children in bright daylight because the soul might jump out of the body and disperse itself. When a child was deemed to have had ‘his soul frightened out of his body’ the grandmothers went into action. They performed the Hk. hem tung ngian ritual. The grandmother would usually take an article of clothing belonging to the child, joss-sticks and joss-paper to the nearest street junction, where she would perform the ritual. A road or street junction was selected for the ritual because it was believed that more often than not, the soul was confused and lost its bearing at a junction. After lighting incense sticks and burning joss-paper, she would chant and call to the ‘soul’ to enter the child’s clothing. When she was satisfied that the soul had entered the

252 See Renjia riyong in Appendix F, L180, which states that on the first and fifteenth days of every month, prayers were offered to the ancestors. 272 Chapter 6 clothing she would take it back to the house. The child would put on the clothing so that body and soul were reunited. Maxine Miska reports the same ritual in Taiwan where it is called Hk. hem fun (calling the soul) (1990, 67). In this Hakka séance, the dead person’s clothes were also used to lure the soul home (ibid., 112). Donald MacIver listed the term called Hk. kiau fun as “to call the spirit—as of a dying child” (1982 [1926], 276). Jan De Groot recorded a tradition called ‘calling back the soul’ among inhabitants in South China (1982 [1894], Vol. 1, 243–254). This tradition was seldom performed in Hakka communities in Malaysia after the 1960s. As the Traditional Hakka Society Series has indicated, although the Hakka share a more or less common religious template with the other dialect groups, they also have some distinctive religious beliefs. However, even before they left China, many of their beliefs and practices had been assimilated into general Chinese traditions. After they went to Malaya, they were further merged into a pan-Chinese tradition. As such, except for those who are Christian, all the BGH grew up in families that worship a mixture gods, goddesses, deities, spirits, immortals and ancestors; practice acts of appeasing the ghosts, bad spirits and malicious souls; and the celebrating religious events in private and public. At the time of the interviews, three siblings in the BGH survey have converted to Christianity, one admitted to attending church but most said that they no longer practice any religion, even though some of them say their religion is Buddhism. The homes of Beruas Hakka still retain their family alters for worship of the ancestors, Guandi and Guanyin. However, none of the BGH has installed a family altar for their ancestors or beliefs in their overseas homes. Similarly, there is no family altar in my aunt’s new home in Dongguan, Guangdong. This is also part of the evolution of the Hakka identity. Hakka religious beliefs have no role in the reshaping of Hakka identity of the individual in the twenty-first century but certain iconic figure such as Guandi can still be used to rally Hakka awareness if not clannishness—as the Sinoi on Reunion has done by building a Guandi Temple.

9 Hakka Unanimity

It is natural for culturally and linguistically similar groups and individuals to aggregate when they moved to a new country. Chinatowns, Little Italies and Jewish Quarters are the results of such aggregation. Strength in numbers counts for safety and power for the weaker groups. Once the early sojourners left China, without the support and security of the family and clan, they felt Hakka Cultural Markers 273 the need to band together in their receiving countries. The Hakka had to stick together not only because they were the minority in Malaya and Singapore but also because it is part of their cultural construct that gave rise to the proverbial Hakka clannishness. One way to study Hakka clannishness is to understand the concept of huiguan Hk. fui kwon 會館 (associations, guilds or clubs) that they set up, wherever they migrated to. According to Yen Ching-hwang, dialect associations “appeared to be initiated by the Hakka immigrants and they set the example for the other Chinese immigrants to follow. Although the Hokkien preceded the Hakka immigrants to settle in Malacca, they did not seem to have established any social organizations which can be classified as dialect-based” (2008, 384–385).253 It is these early Hakka huiguan that provided the security for these new Hakka immigrants. The sheer numbers of Hakka clan associations in Malaysia and Singapore also shows that overall the Hakka seem to band together more than the other dialect groups in the new countries. In China, most clan associations were organized to perpetuate descent lines and to maintain close kinship ties to support clan unity, whereas Hakka associations in Southeast Asia expanded their range by forming associations based not only on lineage and kinship but also along geographical ties, linguistic varieties, occupation, or function to better cater for their needs as sojourners and later as citizens of their new country of residence. These organizations served to unite the Hakka and illustrate their clannishness. Hence, Hakka unanimity was supported and maintained by the huiguan that they founded. The Hakka’s ability to organize themselves is the byproduct of Hakka clannishness. One of the spin-offs is the use of the kongsi 公司 gongsi Hk. kung su system that was applied in the goldmines in Borneo. The origin of the kongsi principle can be traced back to the thirteenth-century share systems in the Yunnan copper mines and the Fujian sea-merchant organizations of the late Ming and early Qing (Wang T.P. 1994, 5–6). The Hakka had probably seen how the system worked in Yunnan and Fujian, and they applied these principles for their own use not only in their work environment but also expanded it to govern the populace at large and thus, turned it into a political system. The Hakka used the kongsi type of governance to establish the Lanfong Kongsi, which is also known as the Lanfong Republic (蘭芳共和國 lanfang gongheguo) (1777–1884)

253 See also Yen (1995, 101–131) for early Hakka huiguan in Singapore; and for a detailed study of early Chinese clan organizations in Singapore and Malaya from 1819–1911, see ibid. (1981). 274 Chapter 6 in what is now called the district of Mandor in West Borneo.254 After the death of Kapitan Lioe A-Sien in 1884, the Dutch replaced it with direct Dutch administration. Given these developments, it is not difficult to see why the Hakka were the first to establish the social associations, guilds, and clubs in Malaya. The establishment of the kongsi in Borneo in the eighteenth century has often been cited by scholars as a Hakka ideology arising from their political and revolutionary mindset.255 As Wang Tai Peng notes, it is almost impossible to give a precise definition and translation of the term kongsi. The most comprehensive and lucid explanation is given by T.J. Bezemer, who states that

Kongsi is a Chinese word which indicates a firm partnership or society in a very broad sense. The word has been commonly used in the archipelago over centuries and has become current in both Dutch and various languages. Literally, it means government by a general public or administration of public affairs. The word kongsi is derived from the dialect of the Hokkien people who have established themselves throughout Java and commercial ports of the outer islands. In the Hakka dialect, it reads as kung-sze. In Riouw [Riau] and Java, administrators of a firm are cus- tomarily addressed and referred to as kongsi. Chinese officials also use this title.256

As Wang T.P. stressed, “the kongsi is neither democracy nor republicanism. History should give the kongsi a place which is rightfully its own” (ibid., 104). It is also interesting to note that in the tin-mining industry in the Kinta Valley, there was a remnant of the kongsi system being used. It was very common for the dulang-washers (women who panned for tin ore) to be involved in a scheme called Hk. kap fun (椄分 consolidating shares). A few enterprising persons would bring together a group of these women and they worked together as a team to collect the tin ore. The profits were then shared under a pre- arranged agreement. Mak Lau Fong points out that that the identity of the “Chinese in nineteenth century Malaya was based on dialect group identification” i.e. based on factors

254 For a detailed study of the Lanfong republic, see Wang T.P. (1995, 98); Heidhues (2003); and Yuan B.L. (2000). 255 For a detailed discussion on the origins of the kongsi, see Wang T.P. (1994); and other works on the politics, history, formation, etc., see Ward (1954); Heidhues (2003); Yuan B.L. (2000); and for its use in commercial activities in Netherlands India, see Vleming (1992). 256 Cited from Wang T.P. (1995, 1), who cited from the Beknopte Encyclopaediё van Nederland- sche Oost-Indiё (1921, 254). See also Gustave Schlegel’s (1840–1903) Thian Ti Hwui (Heaven- Earth League, 1866) on how the kongsi was related to the triads in the beginning. Hakka Cultural Markers 275 such as dialect spoken and place of origin at the same time (1985, 15 & 179). For the newly arrived, it was natural to turn to these social institutions for mutual support, protection and collective cultural needs. These organizations not only offered mutual help to the newly-arrived but also acted as a surrogate family for these usually single men or men who had left their family back in China. Most of these men continued their membership even after they had settled down permanently with new families they started or families who had arrived to join them. Many of my informants have fond memories of receiving scholarships and rewards in kind from these associations for their education when they were young and later for their academic pursuits. Even today, the various Hakka huiguan around the world, still give out scholarships to members’ offspring. For example, one of my informants, Ms Zhong Jun Li was awarded a college scholarship by the Tsung Tsin Association of Hawai’i in 2010.257 Similarly in Malaysia and Singapore many clan associations still offer scholarships to children of their members. Native place identity played an important role for the sojourners. Carolyn Cartier states that one of the reasons that Chinese migrants were so bonded to their ancestral home was because in “the Chinese cultural imagination, difang ([地方] place) is of course a significant trans-historical force of geographical orientation and individual and group identity formation” (2002, 126). This is reinforced by the place-huiguan that they have established all over the world. Emily Honig (1992) in her study of the Subei people, who moved to Shanghai, shows how important native place is in the construction of identity even in this day and age. Helen Siu and David Faure, in their introduction to a volume on the territorial bond of South China, argue that “native place identities have been used by merchants, laboring sojourners, and aspiring scholars to strategize and organize in order to capture scarce societal resources” (1995, 11). This is especially true of the Chinese immigrants in Malaysia and Singapore. Not only did the different dialect groups have their own dialect group organizations but the different varieties of Hakka groups also set up their own associations.258 The majority of the associations belong to the Jiaying (also known as Meixian), Dabu, Hepo, and Chaozhao variety of Hakka. The Hakka who went to Malaya and Singapore had more need to set up such mutual-help and ‘surrogate-family’ organizations because they were usually poorer and in

257 See https://sites.google.com/site/tsungtsinhi/scholarship-2 for the award ceremony and Ms Zhong’s letter of appreciation. 258 For a detailed discussion on early Chinese clan organizations in Malay and Singapore from 1819–1911, see Yen (1995, 33–71); on the social organization and early Hokkien clan organizations, see ibid. (72–100); and on Hakka dialect organizations in Malaysia and Singapore, see ibid. (101–131). 276 Chapter 6 smaller numbers. It has been accepted by scholars that the first Chinese dialect organization in Singapore and Malaysia was founded by Jiaying Hakka on Penang Island in 1801 (Yen 1995, 104–105). There are different types of associations set up by different dialect groups. A good example is to look at the kinds and number of huiguan in the small town in Malaysia called Muar in Selangor in the 1970s. It is predominantly a Chinese town with Fujianese as the largest group, followed by the Teochew, and the Hakka were the third largest. The community organization of the Chinese in Muar was divided into six different types. They are:

(1) Place and dialect group associations (地方性及方言群社團 difangxing ji fangyan qun shetuan), (2) Surname or clan associations (宗親會或地區性宗親會 zongqinhui huo diquxing zongqinhui), (3) Business associations (職業公會 zhiye gonghui), (4) Clubs and recreational associations (俱樂部及娛樂文化社團 julebu ji yule wenhua shetuan) (5) Religious and benevolent associations (宗教及慈善團體 zongjiao ji cis- han tuanti), and (6) Community-wide associations (全社區性社團 quan shequxing shetuan) (Li Y.Y. 1970, 82–132).

Similarly, the Hakka associations are divided into these categories. These different types of Hakka associations in Malaysia based on geographical ties, variety of Hakka spoken, as well as professions or occupation type helped to connect the Hakka better in their new country of residence. For example, a textile merchant in Ipoh with the surname Lee can belong to the Hakka Textile Association, his clan association (Lee Association), and his place association (Dabu or Ka Yin/Kaying Hakka Association). The Lee family with the pawnshop in Beruas went up to Penang every Chinese New Year (usually the third or fourth Day) to meet up with their relatives at the annual meeting of the Penang Lee Sih Chong Soo (槟城李氏宗祠 bincheng lishi zongci) or Penang Lee Association, which is a single surname association. The Lee family also belongs to the Dabu Hakka associations, which are based on dialect and place. Sometimes, they also attend regional Association meetings in Singapore. They can also join any other Hakka Benevolent Associations if they choose to do so.259

259 For excellent examples of intra- and inter-dialects linkages of Hakka groups in Singapore and Malaysia, see Liu and Wong (2004, 59–63). Hakka Cultural Markers 277

It is also interesting to note that before these associations were established, places of worship such as Chinese temples provided some of the services of the early huiguans. For example, the Ipoh Tai Pak Koong Temple, which is part of the Kaying [Jiaying] Association was founded by a prominent tin-miner named Leong Fi 梁輝 (Liang Hui) a.k.a. Liang Bi Ru 梁碧如, a Hakka from Meixian, in 1872. The temple offered free “medical consultations and medicines to local residents suffering from illnesses. The services were well supported and received by the locals” (Ho F.S., 2005). There are also Hakka Benevolent Associations that cater to all Hakka regardless of native-place, surname or occupation. I visited the Hakka Benevolent Association right in the middle of San Francisco Chinatown in 2011. The Chairman Mr. Lian Zhou Nan 連洲南, a Dabu Hakka from Vietnam informed me that the Association has more than five hundred members and they are made up of a mixture of different varieties of Hakka. The main function of the Association is to act as a clubhouse mostly for workers, who play mahjong or read the newspapers before or after their shifts in the nearby restaurants. Every year scholarships are given out to the children of its members. Financial support for the Association comes from membership fees, the various wealthy members and also from Taiwanese sources.260 The main events are the Chinese New Year Celebration and the election of association officers every two years. Beruas too has a Benevolent Association—the Beruas Overseas Chinese Benevolent Society (木威261 華僑慈善社 Muwei huaqiao cishanshe), founded in the early 1940s. It serviced all the different dialects in its early days but now it is more a mahjong club for the old folks to pass their time. After the sojourners became citizens of Malaya, they also had the right to partake in national politics. But instead of banding together using the old format of huiguan, they came under the ‘Chinese’ umbrella vis à vis the Malay and Indians.262 In the 1970s and 1980s, the roles of clan organizations diminished significantly compared to the early days when new settlers needed them to support them as a surrogate family and to uphold their traditions and culture. After the new citizens brought their families from China or started families in Malaysia and Singapore, clan associations lost their primary functions and became redundant. When the new generation lost interest in the traditional activities of their clans, these associations ended up as antiquated places fre- quented mostly by old men, who wanted a place to while away their time.

260 It was hinted that the Association is Nationalist rather than Communist inclined. 261 Beruas is mostly known as 木歪 Muwai but here 木威 Muwei is used instead. 262 For the social and ideological origins of the Malaysian Chinese Associations (MCA), and how clan association idea evolved into a political party, see Heng (1983 and 1988). 278 Chapter 6

Many of the clan associations fell into disuse and some of these places became dilapidated. By the 1980s, clan associations realized that they had to adapt and reinvent themselves in order to survive. More new young clan leaders were elected and they looked at ways to upgrade their image by widening their activities and making themselves relevant again to attract younger members.263 For example, the Youth Group of the Char Yong (Dabu) [Hakka] Association in Singapore in conjunction with the local association in China organizes periodic youth exchange programs. It seems that regime change, as has happened in Indonesia, also helped to revive clan associations. Leo Suryadinata writes, “The post-Soeharto era has also witnessed the rise of the Chinese clan associations. Almost every major clan such as the Hokkien, Hockchia, Hakka and Cantonese associations have been revived, and some clans, for instance, the Hakka, have three rival associations competing to represent the dialect group” (2008, 4). Singapore clan associations are having a new lease of life despite the changing social environment and skeptical attitude that favor their demise. Well organized and properly managed clan associations will not simply die because they have inherited valuable land on which the clan built their schools, temples, resting places for ancestral tablets and shrines, and clan houses. These locations are now considered to be prime real estates. Some clans have sold some of their land for a lot of money and others have redeveloped the buildings so that there are extra spaces to rent out commercially to provide them with a regular income (Toh 2011). The rise of China has also given clan associations new status. Chinese government officials, at least at the local level, are looking for clan connections with the overseas Chinese. For the overseas Chinese there is the feel good exercise of 歸鄉尋根 guixiang xungen (returning to the ancestral village to look for one’s roots) movements and these journeys are often facilitated by the clan associations between the countries.264 Some of the ideas on how to revamp these fledging clan associations include encouraging clans to organize themselves around interest cell groups such as Hokkien doctors, or Teochew golfers, or Cantonese poets, or Hakka artistes (as they have done in Taiwan). While Singapore clan associations were revamping their objectives and raison d’etre, Hakka in Malaysia have also been gearing up their activities.

263 See Cheng (1990) on the changing roles of clan associations in Singapore. 264 For some of these adventures, see the activities of the ‘American Chinese Family History’ group, which organizes trips for Chinese Americans to meet up with their clan members or visit ancestral villages. Hakka Cultural Markers 279

Heng Pek Koon’s study on the Chinese business elite in Malaysia reveals that the “clan and dialect networks central to the Malaysian Chinese cultural heritage are often the nuclei from which other social, professional, and economic activities grow” (1992, 121). For example, Hakka associations operating on such ties are Ka Yin Holdings Bhd. with MR 10 million paid-up capital, Fui Lian Holdings with over MR 411 million capital paid in by members of the Fui Chew Association, Taipu [Dabu] Holdings Bhd. of the Taipu [Dabu] (Char Yong) Association, and the Holian Holdings Bhd. of the Hepo Association (ibid., 121–122). In view of all these activities, the Hakka Associations saw the need to consolidate their resources. In December 2009, the Negri Sembilan Hakka Association brought together all the Hakka clans associations in the state to form a single body to give it more focus.265 Same place associations also further their own goals. The First World Ka Yin [Jiaying] Association Convention was held in 2010 (Liu H. 1998, 601). A year before that, the First World Hopo [Hepo] Community Convention was organized by the Hopo (Hepo 河婆) [Hakka] Association in 2009 and the keynote speaker was no other than the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mr. Najib Razak.266 This shows not only the changing role of the huiguan but it also shows the scale of their reorganization and the level of support that they can marshal. Collaborations of overseas Hakka and Mainland China are not only centered round creating business ties or promoting joint ventures. It included help in building infrastructure, which requires large amounts of capital that cannot be raised by the local qiaoxiang governments alone. “During the 12th International Hakka Reunion held in Meizhou in 1994, Hakka from outside the PRC poured 70 million yuan (US$8.1 million) into public and charitable projects” (Liu Hong 1998, 601). Cooperation was not only conducted on the economic level. There are also signs that more and more academic collaborations are taking place. Advances in technology, globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism have no doubt contributed to helping the Chinese overseas organizations get better organized and connected (Chiu, 2005). The huiguan seem to have reinvented themselves so as to maintain Hakka unity. Hakka world events also help to uphold Hakka unanimity. As Zhou Jian-xin notes, “The World Hakka Conference has evolved from simply being a grand reunion and association to extensive exchange and cooperation by people in cultural, academic,

265 See http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/12/14/the-signs-fore-tell-that-malaysia-will-be-left- behind-during-the-rising-of-asia/ (Retrieved on 3rd March, 2010). 266 See http://www.1malaysia.com.my/zh/speeches/1st-world-hopo-community-convention/ (Retrieved on 10th May, 2010). 280 Chapter 6 economic and political spheres” (2007, 84). The Toronto Hakka Conference brings together the younger and English-speaking generations to discuss the future of being Hakka. The song “Hakka Mother River”, composed for the Hakka Mother River Memorial, ends with the rallying cry that “within the four seas, we are a close family” seems to be the ultimate modern rally for Hakka clannishness. The three world Hakka events represent the globalization of the Hakka to uphold and maintain Hakka unanimity. This is a modern display of clannishness and celebration of being Hakka, and it has none of the former ontological anxieties. Hakka clannishness has always been a subject of fascination for many scholars. The Gazetteer of Xunzhou reported in 1874 that though the Hakka live in solitary huts in the fields of their landlords without neighbors yet their clannishness was displayed in any emergency. The Gazetteer read, “At a blast of the conch shell, hundreds will respond to the call, arriving with spears and spades on their shoulders, fearless of death” (Leong S.T. 1997, 67). It is natural to want to belong to a group that look out for each other’s interests and confer protection. Hakka clannishness is a constructed ethos that helps the Hakka to be seen as a united group as this is important for any ethnic group living amidst others. Thus, Hakka clan-belongingness most probably started off as a casual cultural quality but out of necessity in their new homes, this trait was strengthened and given full play in the social context which they found themselves. However, this assumption is further strengthened by the study of the evolution of Chinese surnames and surname frequency in different dialect zones. Du Roufu and Yuan Yida show how the Hakka aggregated. They note that though “the Hakka dialect zone has a larger population than the Jiangxi dialect zone, but its surnames are fewer than the latter” (1995, 178). This was interpreted as Hakka being more ‘clannish’ than other dialect groups in their social migration. This clannishness was very much in display when they migrated to new places. For example, the business organization of entrepreneur and philanthropist Aw Boon Haw 胡文虎 (1882–1954) in Southeast Asia was often used to exemplify Hakka clannishness. He ran his business empire based on family ties and native-place connections. Aw was responsible for giving the world Tiger Balm (a cure-all ointment). He was born in Burma to a Hakka herbalist, whose ancestral home was in Yongding County, Fujian Province. A reporter who worked in his newspaper offices in Singapore and Penang during the 1930s describes:

In his employment policies, Aw Boon-haw preferred to recruit people from his native place of Yongding or people who spoke Hakka dialect. The headquarters and branch stores of the Hall of Everlasting Trust [which Hakka Cultural Markers 281

produce Tiger Balm] and the “Star” newspapers hired quite a number of Hakkas . . . from Fujian Province. In 1938, when I was in Singapore, [all the mangers and staff members] of the Xingzhou Daily were natives of Yongding County. Most of the employees in the medicine plant and newspaper were Hakka, so Hakka was used as the spoken language in both businesses. In 1939, when I was moved to Penang, I found that staff members in the Hall of Everlasting Trust branch office from the top manager down to the lowest clerk were all Hakkas from Yongding . . . So when people in Penang talked about Aw Boon-haw’s Hall of Everlasting Trust and Xingbing Daily, they would say, ‘It’s a Hakka world [客家的世界 kejia de shijie ] (Cochran 2006, 130 n39).

This model of bringing over kinsmen from China to work in one’s business happened a lot with the Hakka. In another recorded example, Laurence Siaw describes the migration of another Hakka clan—the Siow clan, to Titi, Jelebu in the states of Negri Sembilan, Malaysia. The founder of the Siow clan in Titi, Jelebu was a man named Siow Kon Chai, who was born in Lan Lin Village in Hui Zhou. As soon as he had set up his business, he recruited his kinsmen from his village to work for him. He brought whole families from Lan Lin to Jelebu. As a result of Siow’s program of family migration, Lan Lin village was virtually transplanted to the Titi area (Siaw 1983, 21–27). The arrival of these families changed the social structure of a once ‘cowboy town’ made up of mostly single sojourners. Not only were girls from these families available for marriage but women were also brought over from Lan Lin village as wives for the bachelors in Jelebu. Hence, Hakka became the lingua franca and the Huizhou Hakka way of life was adopted. Similarly, the small town of Pusing was founded in the same manner. The discovery of tin in the Kinta Valley267 brought many Dongguan Hakka to the area and Pusing was established as a tin-mining town when the tin-miners brought their relatives to work in the mines. The arrival of my family and relatives from Dongguan is part of this clan migration and because they were dominant among the different varieties of Hakka dialects, Dongguan Hakka became the lingua franca in Pusing. Although great changes have taken place around Pusing and the influences that tend to dilute and erode the Hakka identity are everywhere, it is still very much a Hakka town. My mother’s clan, the 鄒 Zou, still gathers annually on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (the Double Nine Festival, see p430 L137) in Pusing to worship their ancestors. There is no

267 See Nasution and Lubis (2005), Lubis and Nasution (2003), Loh (1988), and Wong L.K. (1965) for the history of tin mining in Malaysia. 282 Chapter 6 question about clannishness in traditional Hakka identity. The next step is to look at how they ‘institutionalize’ this trait. Migration of whole clans or villages out of China to a new country may not be exclusive to the Hakka but there are some Hakka expressions that helped to institutionalize Hakka unanimity. The expression Hk. chhi ka ngin268 自家人 zijiaren epitomizes this so-called clannishness of the Hakka. The term represents a claim to body and soul. When a Hakka says it to another Hakka, it is an expression that allows them to claim kinship. It translates roughly to: We are of the same universal Hakka family or you are one of us. When a Hakka meets another Hakka or hears Hakka being spoken, they invariably introduce themselves to the person by saying Hk. “chhi ka ngin”. The opposite party is obliged to reply the same. A conversation usually ensues. Many of my informants say they still use the phrase and likewise, I find myself using the phrase in Paris or New York when I see that the situation is appropriate. You can almost hear the joy when Hakka greet each other in Internet chat rooms with this phrase. It may sound quaint in this day and age but the older Hakka tell another story. Even though Hakka identity plays only a very small role in business today, it still has its uses socially. As to the question of whether it will change their way of doing business if they know that they are dealing with another Hakka, most of my global Hakka informants from different parts of the world admit that it would not alter the negotiations. However, if the bond of Hk. chhi ka ngin has been established, they said that the negotiation process would speed up considerably because the ice has been broken and there is innate Hk. chhi ka ngin camaraderie as both sides gain a certain amount of trust. Many related stories show how being Hakka and using this phrase have currency when travelling around the world. A businessman told the story of his visit to a Chinese restaurant in Mauritius: When he heard the manager/owner of the restaurant speaking Hakka to his workers, he went up to him and said, “Hk. chhi ka ngin”. He was welcomed like a long lost brother. He got a free dish, though not a free meal. (Hakka are generous, but not that generous). Similarly, when I was in a Chinese restaurant in Darjeeling with a group of friends in the 1980s, I heard the woman behind the counter speaking Hakka. I introduced myself as Hk. chhi ka ngin and she greeted me like family. Another informant,

268 MacIver pronounces 自 zi as Hk. tshu and hence, Hk. tshu ka ngin (1982 [1905], 1014) but the pronunciation of Hk. tshu has morphed into Hk. chhi in Beruas and Pusing and the phrase became Hk. chhi ka ngin. A search in the Internet shows that Hk. chhi ka ngin is used instead of Hk. tshu ka ngin. For consistency, I will follow the popular usage of Hk. chhi ka ngin. Hakka Cultural Markers 283 a Malaysian global Hakka working in Shanghai, said that when he took his car into a workshop to have the tires changed and heard the boss talking to his mechanic in Hakka he went to introduce himself as Hk. chhi ka ngin, which got him a twenty percent discount on the tires. As mentioned before, the recent encounter in a supermarket in Hawaii of our born-again Hakka from Singapore and an elderly Hakka lady from Tahiti shows that the greeting Hk. chhi ka ngin is etched in the Hakka cultural genes and it is astonishing that it can still bring the Hakka together in this day and age.269 The phrase Hk. chhi ka ngin epitomizes Hakka clannishness. Most of the older Hakka subjects I interviewed, who grew up speaking the Hakka language identify with the phrase and also use it with Hakka people. The younger subjects have heard of the phrase but use it only sometimes. However, on the Internet, they are “shouting” it in every Hakka chat-room. The other dialect group I have heard using this phrase occasionally is the Teochew, who say Tch. “ka ki nang” in the same sense as the Hakka use Hk. chhi ka ngin. Another distinctive expression that institutionalizes Hakka clannishness is the term Hk. chu lai (no Mandarin transliteration). It denotes a ‘relative’ with the same surname on whom one can depend. Hakka being fiercely agnatic will therefore, only consider anyone a Hk. chu lai if they share the same surname, regardless of whether they are remotely related or not. A first cousin from the mother’s side with a different surname is not considered a Hk. chu lai whereas someone totally unrelated with the same surname is embraced as one. This is, of course, a stronger bond compared to Hk. chhi ka ngin, which you say to anyone who is a Hakka. In the olden days, the acknowledgement of Hk. chu lai kinship entailed responsibility in terms of psychological support and material assistance. This no doubt has contributed to Hakka clannishness. When one of my informants found out that he has the same surname as me in Chinese (spelt differently in English) we were really happy to acknowledge our connections. “We are Hk. chu lai!” we both exclaimed at the same time. Yet another term that is often heard in the villages such as Pusing and Beruas that bolsters clannishness is the term Hk. nyin tshin (人情 renqing), which translates to community spirit, good feelings or kindness.270 Dong Xiaoping sees it as “a form of human ties with which to resist poverty” and notes that the Minxi Hakka used this emotional tie to strengthen cooperation and community (2002, 364). This is true but I disagree with Dong’s view that

269 See Chapter 5 for Patricia Foo’s Hakka journey. 270 There is a Hakka proverb that says: Hk. nyin tshin hau yim shui thiam (人情好飲水甜 when there is community spirit, drinking water [tastes] sweet (MacIver 1982 [1905], 557). 284 Chapter 6 the equal division of resources and a lifestyle of frugality created by these feelings are ‘romantic illusions’ (ibid.). The Hakka speak of Hk. nyin tshin not only as human feelings but also in terms of a system of mutual support. Hk. tso nyin tshin 做人情 zuo renqing means to offer support either in the form of manpower or finance on occasions, such as weddings, funerals, or simply to repay kindness. For example, in Beruas when there is a wedding or funeral, people will turn up to help put up tents and organize to get the event off the ground. Most households would also contribute financially in the form of a Hk. fung pau (紅包 red envelop with money) for happy events such as weddings, birthday celebrations or the one-month celebration of newborns or Hk. pak kim ( 白金 white gold) for a funeral, according to one’s ability. It is a tradition that is practiced even today in villages all over Malaysia and not just ‘romantic illusions’. The older generation always taught the younger ones that they should always put aside some money to Hk. tso ngin tshin in case one’s support is called upon suddenly. It is a social obligation taken very seriously in Beruas. In the West, “it is the thought that counts” but for the Hakka, it is the community feeling or mitgefuehl that must be expressed through contributions of labor or cash. Though the custom of Hk. tso ngin tshin is also practiced by other dialect groups, it weighs heavier on the minds of the Hakka because of their history. There is no doubt that the Hakka concepts of Hk. chhi ka ngin, Hk. chu lai and Hk. nyin tshin contributed to the manifestation of clannishness in the Hakka. Mary Heidhues discounted Hakka clannishness by reason that “the Hakka took She women as wives, integrating them into Hakka life, and used the She, slash-and-burn farmers, to assist, for example, in clearing mountain forest for planting.” These interactions, she suggests, shows that the Hakka “were not so clannish, since they proved capable of cooperating with and learning from the minority groups with whom they come into contact” (2003, 39). This argument does not give full consideration to Hakka clannishness as a carefully constructed institution. “Cooperating with and learning from the minority groups” is more of a survival tactic and has less to do with clannishness. Also, marrying She women and integrating them into Hakka life was for the survival of the clan. When Hakka women were in short supply, they married local women but the Hakka are less likely to compromise on their Chineseness when compared to the Hokkien who produce the hybrid culture of Peranakan. The Hakka-Punti War in China, the Hai San-Ghee Hin conflict in Malaysia, and other inter-dialect conflicts or strifes have provided fuel for the strengthening and maintenance of Hakka clannishness. This clannishness is called forth first and foremost for survival in times when their livelihood or personal safety was threatened. It is interesting to note that only when they are pitched against another non-Hakka group that they are united as a Hakka entity to Hakka Cultural Markers 285 fight the aggressor. However, just the sheer numbers of different varieties of Hakka huiguan also indicate that they are not clannish all the time—as in less threatening scenarios. In time of peace, each Hakka variety goes about looking after its members as the activities of each individual clan association shows. It is fair to say that Hakka who seek to belong to the comfort and security of these clan associations, which serve to preserve this demand have mutually perpetuated this notion of clannishness all over the world. A Teochew businessman in his forties informed me that they are extra careful when doing business with the Hakka because of their clannishness and boldness. However, this perceived and manifested clannishness did not translate to economic power for the Hakka. They did not really become dominant as a group because they “lack the big picture in Southeast Asia”—as a Thai Hakka informant confided. This prominent Hakka businessman in Bangkok lamented that the Hakka did not have unity as compared to the Teochew. He said, “They [Teochew] help each other in business and are very united in their goals. Hakka are selfish among themselves and become clannish only when the group as a whole is threatened by another ethnic group.” Inter-dialect conflicts may help unite Hakka but within the Hakka community, this clannishness is frac- tured by place and clan loyalties as shown by the different Hakka associations listed by place or clan. Hakka no doubt possess a large degree of clannishness as their history necessitated it. However, this is not to say that the Cantonese have less of it or the Hakka-Punti clan wars would not have taken place. Hakka becomes clannish for survival—band together or run the danger of being run over by the others. However, among themselves this clannishness starts fragmenting into lineage or place loyalty. In Yang Su’s study of collective killings in rural China during the Cultural Revolution, he notes that the Hakka dominant villages suffered more killing in comparison to mixed-villages. He concluded that victims and perpetrators typically were from different lineage groups because the lineage division was the most salient social cleavage and a village was often composed of multiple lineages. Hakka stood out as a group that fiercely practiced the lineage tradition. Where clan affiliations were strong, there was also more chance of cross-lineage conflicts. He found that the counties resided in by Hakka experienced more killings than other counties during the Cultural Revolution (2011, 70). Also, Stephen Averill notes that any persecution or aggression suffered by Hakka peasants in the Hakka heartland was almost certainly inflicted by other Hakka, whether landlords or lineages, and not by the indigenous (2006, 14). In this case, Hakka clannishness is a concept that can be exercised selectively either against others or their own members. 286 Chapter 6

The Hakka have been considered a cultural enigma and one of the most frequently asked questions is how they have been able to preserve their culture and language for so long? One of the reasons is attributed to their clannishness, which enables them to stay together as a group. They frowned upon intermarriages or social cross-over with the non-Hakka groups. Poverty also meant that they were less likely to be accepted by other dialect groups and so social isolation helped to nourish this clannishness. Though the roles of clan organizations have diminished compared to their heyday, when they were needed by new settlers to support them as surrogate family and to uphold culture for them, the associations in general are reinventing themselves by regrouping under different rubrics. Hakka use of certain expressions such as Hk. chhi ka ngin and Hk. chu lai indicates that Hakka possessed a historical clannishness. Also the sheer number of Hakka associations, clubs and guilds gives weight to clannishness as a Hakka cultural marker. Clannishness among global Hakka around the world in the twenty-first century plays only a small role. For example, the BGH acknowledged the connection as Beruas Hakka (place affinity) but not much else. Hakka clannishness has served its function in Hakka history and traditional identity, and it has evolved into a form of weak ‘cultural glue’ for Hakka- belongingness in the twenty-first century. For example, the three Hakka world events: the World Hakka Conference, the Toronto Hakka Conference, and the Hakka Mother River Memorial offer a new kind of clannishness. A search in the Internet shows that netizens are really happy to meet other Hakka in chat rooms and Hakka forums, and the greetings of “Hello! Hk. chhi ka ngin!” (in various modes of Hakka spellings) resounded all over the world. This is a modern display of clannishness and it has none of the former ontological anxieties. Hakka clannishness has a place in Hakka history and it has served its purpose in defining Hakka identity. Twenty-first century Hakka connectedness is better denoted as Hakka unanimity which is global and transnational.

10 Fighting and Pioneering Spirit

Fighting Spirit: Being able to fight and defend oneself and the clan is part and parcel of Hakka history. The Hakka learnt martial art and fighting skills for self-defense as well as for the protection of their family and property. Leong Sow-Theng notes that “no matter how destitute, Hakka combined the high culture of scholarship with farming and martial arts” (1997, 78). Sharon Carstens points out that fifty years ago (in the 1950s), “in Hakka areas, those who studied martial arts stood at seventy percent. Whether one’s occupation was farming, Hakka Cultural Markers 287 wage labor or business it was all the same, the youthful students would practice boxing during their vacations, serving as a kind of extra-curricular activity— both as a form of exercise and as defense against foreign aggression” (2005, 98). Yang Su, a Hakka from the Mainland, remembers that up to his father’s generation, “all males in the community trained in the martial arts for the purpose of fighting rival clans” (2011, 86). I remember that an old master in Beruas New Village taught martial arts to the young men and women in the evening in the courtyard in front of his house in the early 1960s. This was discontinued after he left the village and the classes were not revived because the changing social environment did not require such skills and also young people preferred other forms of leisure such as sports and games. There are as many different schools of martial arts as there are famous Hakka martial art masters. They come under the rubric of Hk. hak ka khen (客家拳 kejia quan or Hakka Fist), which originated from the various Hakka communities. Most information on Chinese martial arts glosses over Hakka martial arts and assumes that the different varieties of Hakka styles were created in Southern China. This could not be entirely true simply because the Hakka were fighting long before they arrived in Southern China. Though the Hakka style of fighting is considered to be an important style in the martial arts world, there is still no in-depth study of the world of the Hakka martial art. It is not often mentioned that many Hakka women practiced martial arts. The most obvious reason was that their unbound feet allowed them to hop, jump and run. Besides, when the men were sojourning, the Hakka women took over the defense of their home and clan. The Women’s Regiment in the Taiping Revolution had many female soldiers with martial arts skills. For example, Hong Xiuquan’s (of Taiping Revolution fame) younger sister, Xuanjiao ran the entire women’s operation. She was chosen not just because of her brother’s position but for her genuine capabilities as a leader. On her way to Guangxi, she “displayed her martial prowess to collect money and use it for travelling expenses. From her youth, Xuanjiao had practiced martial arts . . . Many Hakka women studied the martial arts” (Chin S.S. 2001, 134). Hakka fighting spirit could be seen as a product of circumstances. When they arrived in a new place, they were seen as a threat by the native inhabitants or other settlers who had arrived before them. These cannot have been easy situations and on many occasions they turned inevitably into conflicts that had to be resolved by force and violence. As such, it is construed that Hakka are more contentious and aggressive than the other dialect groups even though it always take two sides to generate a conflict. A look at the different conflicts and agencies of governance that the Hakka were involved in might throw more light on this aspect of their character. 288 Chapter 6

The Taiping Revolution (1850–1864): This conflict, by all accounts was a revolution but most writers still insist on calling it a rebellion. It was started by the Hakka, Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864). This is the single most important factor that has contributed to the Hakka being seen by others and by themselves as pos- sessing a ‘revolutionary streak’ that predisposed them to all kinds of strife. This uprising is also often seen as the precursor of Communism and in that sense it contributes to the image that Hakka are more egalitarian, revolutionary, fond of justice, etc. The Taiping Revolution provided material for the Hakka cultural construct when very little was known of them. It was the overwhelming presence of the Hakka in this movement that aroused Western interest in them as an ‘ethnic group’. Reams have been written about the Taiping Revolution and there is no need to expand on it further. Vincent Shih (1967) gave an elucidating account of the ideology of the Taiping Revolution; Teng Ssu-Yü provided the historiography of the Taiping Revolution (1962) and the role of the Western powers in defeating the Revolution (1971); Thomas Reilly (2004) and Chin Shunshin (2001), just to name a few, offer more up-to-date detailed discussion on the Taiping Revolution. The Taiping Revolution was a revolution waiting to happen and the Hakka put their stamp on it but it is not a Hakka revolution per se. It is much more complicated and the factors that contributed to it were many. Hong was able to tap into the general dissent and dissatisfaction of the population in a badly governed China. Still, because of its importance in Chinese history and Hakka involvement, it contributed to the construction of the Hakka identity.

The Hakka-Punti War (1854–1867): This conflict is also known as the Indigenous- Hakka Confrontation (土客械鬥 tuke xiedou) and it refers to the conflict between the Hakka and earlier settlers (mostly Cantonese) in Guangdong. The conflict was precipitated by Hakka migration, in which the Hakka population increased dramatically and the Punti felt threatened. The confrontations were especially fierce in and around the Pearl River Delta. There are no reliable figures on the victims but it was estimated that more than a million Hakka died with many more fleeing for their lives. This conflict also became one of the big push-factors for Hakka migration in the later part of the nineteenth century. Many Hakka left to escape the war when it was happening and still more left to escape the persecution after the war. The animosity generated was transported to Malaya and other places that they migrated to. It manifested into the Hai San-Ghee Hin War in Malaya and these conflicts became known as the Larut Wars. Hakka Cultural Markers 289

It is interesting to note that the Taiping Revolution (1850–1864) had started before the Hakka-Punti War. Did the Taiping Revolution incite the Hakka to fight the early settlers? The relation between the Taiping Revolution and the Hakka-Punti War is yet to be studied properly. One thing we are sure of is that these two conflicts aroused the interest of Westerners to investigate who the Hakka were. Regardless of how these conflicts were evaluated, Hakka participation led them to be seen as contentious and combative by their opponents, but heroic, courageous and fearless by the Hakka themselves. The Hakka fighting spirit existed because of circumstances in their history and it has served its purpose; now it is just a sentiment long put to rest.

The Republican Revolution: The Republican Revolution perpetrated by Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) also showcased a disproportionate involvement on the part of the Hakka. Hakka respect for education had produced many generations of educated Hakka men. Many of their progeny went to Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as students. It was many of these young Hakka students who helped Sun Yat-sen to form the Tongmenghui 中國同盟會—also known as the Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, and League of Chinese Alliance.271 Edward Rhoads notes that the different secret societies and underground resistance groups were rather splintered until Sun Yat-sen brought them together under the Tongmenghui in Tokyo, on 20 August 1905 to consolidate their power (1975, 100). Leong Sow-Theng attributes the receptiveness to new ideas as a means to social advancement as predisposing many Hakka to join Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary movement (1985, 287–288). Edward Rhoads’ research into the membership of the Revolutionary Alliance shows that close “to half of the membership, 48 out of 111, came from the Pearl River delta in Central Kwangtung [Guangdong]. This is to be expected since the delta is the most populous area in the province. What is unexpected, however, is that an even larger number, 50, came from the Mei River valley in the interior of East Kwangtung [Guangdong], a much smaller and far less populous area inhabited primarily by Hakkas” (1975, 102). Rhoads attributes Hakka predominance among the Alliance members from Guangdong to their latent tradition of anti-Manchu sentiment. This means that the biggest group of Sun Yat-sen’s supporters in Japan was Hakka. Support in China by Hakka was just as strong as seen in new

271 For the history of the Republican Revolution, see Fairbank, ed. (1983) and Fairbank and Feuerwerker, eds. (1986). 290 Chapter 6

publications championing Sun’s cause. The Zhonghua xinbao 中華新報 (Chinese New Journal) of Swatow was started in the summer of 1908 by a group of Hakka businessmen headed by Xie Yiqiao 謝逸橋 (1873–1926), a young Hakka from a wealthy family with overseas connections. It was edited by Ye Chucong 葉楚聰—both members of the Revolutionary Alliance, whose members were mainly from the Hakka gentry class (ibid., 128–129). The Chinese New Journal was also the mouthpiece for the Hakka of East Guangdong and it was known for its support of modern education and criticism of official abuses and corruption (ibid., 182). Hakka joining Sun Yat-sen’s revolution is part of Hakka ethnic self-awareness and a predisposition to social changes that attuned the Hakka mentally to the opportunities presented by the military profession. Given Hakka’s reputation for valuing education, the introduction of modern education spurred their eagerness for change. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the Republican Revolution helped the Hakka to succeed in achieving a degree of political and military influence out of proportion to their numbers. For example, when the Republican government was established in 1912, “Qiu Fenjia, a Hakka, became the education minister of the Guangdong military government and concurrently Guangdong’s representative to the Shanghai conference for the establishment of a central government” (Ching 1996, 58). Another is Zou Lu, who held a prominent position in the Republican government.

The Communist Revolution: When Mao started to gather his forces for the revolution, he focused his attention on the Hakka heartland. Leo Moser wrote that when “the Communist Jiangxi soviet was under Nationalist siege, the Zhu [De]272—Mao forces, as they were called, began their Long March by keeping to the mountainous lands of marginal agricultural value inhabited largely by Hakka. It is conjectured that the Red Army was drawn primarily from the Hakka community at the time” (1985, 47). Mao was also helped greatly by the Hakka and the Hakka language. As Mary Erbaugh notes, “The use of the Hakka dialect as a common language helps explain how highly mobile outside activists managed to organize the overwhelmingly illiterate, linguistically splintered south . . . [and it] offered partial protection for sending messages to distant allies . . . Hakka market women were also utilized as very effective cou- riers” (1997, 216–217). Mao’s early success in the Jinggang Mountains between Hunan and Jiangxi was helped by the fact that six of the nine most important soviets were in predominately Hakka areas and by the ‘fighting spirit’ of the mostly Hakka

272 Marshal Zhu De, founder of the Red Army, was a Hakka from Sichuan. Hakka Cultural Markers 291

Hai-Lu-Feng Red Army.273 Due to the fact that so many Hakka were involved in the Communist Revolution, many Hakka became part of the Chinese Government. Thus there was an overwhelmingly disproportionate number of Hakka involved in the Communist Revolution, as well as in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and at the top levels of the Chinese government in the early 1990s. As mentioned by Mary Erbaugh, in 1984, “seventeen of the twenty-five Politburo members were Long Marchers, four of them Hakka, as were four of the nine members of the Military Affairs Commission” making it five and fifteen times their respective chance rates (1992, 964). Is it a simple coincidence that the Hakka played such an important role? Or, was it their fighting and adventurous spirit that fuelled the idea of a Hakka ‘revolutionary spirit’ or vice versa?

Malayan Communist Party (MCP): Many Hakka continued their adventures in Malaya in the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) also known as the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), which was founded in 1930. They fought alongside the British as part of the guerrilla war against the Japanese. After WWII ended, they returned from the jungle and took up arms against British colonial rule. The war against the British was called the Malayan Emergency though by all accounts it was a war. They finally laid down their arms in 1989.274 According to C.C. Chin, many of the top leaders of the MCP were Hakka. Out of the eight brigades of the MCP, the Hakka were the majority in the First, Second, Fifth and Sixth brigades and even in the Third and Fourth, they were more than fifty percent. Thus, it was not surprising that Hakka became the lingua franca of the MCP (2004b, 8). Chin Peng 陳平 has been the Party Secretary General of MCP since 1947 (Chin C.C. 2004a, 43). It is interesting to note that Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua (王文華 Wang Wenhua)275 is a Hockchew (福州 Fuzhou)

273 See Erbaugh (1992) for Hakka’s role during and after the Communist Revolution. 274 Much has been written on the MCP’s role in the war against the Japanese in WWII and also their fight against the British, which was quaintly called the ‘Emergency’. For the background that led to the Emergency, see Hack and Chin (2004, 3–37); and for the impact of the MCP on the rural Chinese and its rank and file in the party, see Ramakrishna (2001, 26–30). For a detailed account of the origins, course and outcome of the Malayan Emergency, which pitted the Malayan Government against the Malayan Communist Party, its rural-based guerrilla army, and their supporters, see Stubbs (2004). 275 As a matter of interest, Chin Peng was born in Sitiawan, a small town 35 kilometres south of Beruas. One of his younger brothers Ong Boon Kui was my Primary school Headmaster and another younger brother Ong Boon Chuan taught me as well. It was an open secret that the brothers were related to Chin Peng but no one ever dared mention it simply 292 Chapter 6 but his name Chin Peng is a transliteration from the Hakka dialect.276 Given that Hakka was the lingua franca of most of the troops of the MCP, it is not difficult to see how Chin Peng was used instead of Chan Ping—a Cantonese transliteration that was used for a short period. When he was in China it was said that Marshal Ye Jian Ying asked him in Hakka if he was Hakka (Chin C.C. 2004a, 339). One of the methods the British and later continued by the Malaysian government used to ‘to curb the red tide’ from rising was the creation of ‘new villages’. This involved resettling more than half a million Chinese in specially designed resettlement areas that were regulated by dusk-to-dawn curfews and guarded day and night by local policemen or home guards. Beruas New Village was one of the more than four hundred new villages created under this scheme. My family was relocated from the jungle fringe to Beruas New Village, which is about a kilometer from Beruas Town. (See Appendix A for the history and creation of the new villages). When the new village scheme ended on the Malaysian Peninsula, the scheme was continued in Sarawak. Yong Kee Howe, in his book entitled The Hakkas of Sarawak: Sacrificial Gifts in Cold War Era Malaysia (2013) describes how the Hakka in Sarawak were targeted as communists or communist sympathizers in the 1960s and 1970s. They were singled out for punishment. Yong asserts that the punishments were unjustified and he sees them as “sacrificial gifts” (2013, 45). Again and again, the Hakka were singled out as more partial to the Communist endeavors. After the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) emerged from the jungle when WWII was over, they took control of some seventy percent of the country’s smaller towns (Cheah B.K. 2003, xiii). The war with the British led to many Hakka villages being targeted for punishment. The notori- ous case of Semenyih New Village in the Kajang District of Selangor, where the British used dehumanizing routines on them, is an example (Ramakrishna 2002, 172). These and other incidents during the Emergency, involving many Hakka, were told vividly by Noel Barber (1971) and Han Suyin (1956) in their books. Another indication of the high proportion of Hakka involvement is indicated by how they were used as propaganda after some of the Communists had surrendered. Kumar Ramakrishna said, “Rural Chinese could listen to SEPs (Surrendered Enemy Personnel) talking or being interviewed in Hakka with translations into Cantonese, discussing how they had been duped into

because any association with anything deemed communist could land one in jail. Chin Peng was secretly admired by the villagers as a hero. 276 For a brief biography of Chin Peng, see Chin C.C. (2004a). Hakka Cultural Markers 293

joining the MCP, life in the jungle and why they surrendered” (2002, 112–113). This implies that many of those who surrendered were Hakka. Why were there so many Hakka involved in the MCP? The Hakka in Malaya live mostly in the rural areas and worked in tin mines, rubber plantations, and small farms. Being involved in physical labor made them hardy and therefore suitable for hard-living in the Malayan tropical jungles. Beruas which is surrounded by jungle had its share of supporters. Recruitment was made easy by its isolation and the surroundings were ideal for Communist guerrilla operations. Poverty plays a large part as well. The proximity of Beruas to Chin Peng’s birth place, Sitiawan might have helped too. C.C. Chin attributes it to “Hakka’s sense of justice to eliminate the powerful and support the weak; active resistance to the Japanese; and their fighting spirit, allowed them, in their humiliat- ing circumstances, to have the courage to join the Fifth Army” (2004, 9). There might be some grains of truth in this assessment but it was a combination of circumstances that made recruiting the Hakka easy for the MCP. Pusing was a small mining town with a ninety percent Hakka population and coincidently it also had many supporters of the MCP. The older generation referred to them as Hk. san tang lau (山頂老 shandinglao)—those who have gone up the mountains. Even if the men and women did not physically join the Communists in the jungle, they supported the cause by providing food or information. Sometimes, they did not do it of their own free will. Anyone caught supplying food to the Communists was severely dealt with by the authorities. There were always whispers of Communist activities in the villages. If someone, who was supposed to have gone ‘out-station’ to work and had not been seen for a while in the village, it could be assumed that they had ‘gone up the mountains’. There was constant fear on both sides. If the government suspected someone of being involved with the Communists, they could put them in jail indefinitely under the ISA (Internal Security Act). If the Communists had grounds to believe that a person was their enemy or refused to co-operate, they could be summarily executed. Children in the villages were taught never to utter the word Communism in or out of the house because it could land their family members in a very difficult situation. It is under these conditions that this generation of overseas Chinese was estranged from Communist China and caused some to view China with hostility. A high proportion of Hakka were involved with the above five enterprises. Does that mean Hakka have a ‘revolutionary’ streak or are they predisposed to strife? Hakka clannishness and their martial prowess are two of the many important reasons that they survived for so long as a cultural group. These traits are human responses to threatening situations but they have also caused the Hakka to be branded as contentious. When a person is threatened, the 294 Chapter 6 natural response of ‘fight-or-flight’ kicks in (Weiten 2011, 79). In the Hakka’s case, when they fought back, it was construed as aggressive and combative behavior. The other reaction is to flee and that led to migration. In both responses there is an aggressor involved. Hakka history put them in positions where they had to respond by either ‘fighting back’ or ‘moving away’. Yes, Hakka have a tradition that generates ‘fighting spirit’ which might predispose them to strife but that is not to say that they champion revolutions. Being ‘revolutionary’ is a byproduct of the Hakka fighting spirit. In any case, these responses created the reputed Hakka clannishness which they needed to fight or forced them to migrate when they saw that they were no match for their aggressors. Migration turned many of them into pioneers. The Hakka ‘fighting-spirit’ might manifest itself in different situations but it has no place as a cultural marker in the twenty-first century.

Pioneering Spirit: The pioneering spirit of the Hakka has been eulogized and lauded both in fiction (Hawaii and Wintry Nights) and non-fiction such as writings by Christian missionaries. Mary Heidhues said, “Outside of China, Hakka frequently settled in farming or mining areas, and less often in cities, which earned them the title of ‘pioneers’” (2003, 37). Wang Gungwu adds that “where mining in remote terrains were concerned and where the migrants needed to be adventurous and act as pioneers entering undeveloped areas, the Hakka had an edge over everybody else” (2003, 222). Fighting and pioneering require courage and a degree of fearlessness to strike out. As one of my non-Hakka informants said, “Hakka are not afraid to go to places where other dialects fear to go, such as Mauritius, Christmas Island, Polynesia, Jamaica, etc.” Another, a prominent Malay businessman who has lived and worked among the Hakka in Malaysia marveled, “The Hakka go where angels fear to tread”. This might be an exaggeration but there is also some germ of truth simply because after leaving their ancestral home, they had to settle somewhere and fear has no place in the equation. It is quite common for grandmothers in Beruas to give their timid grandchildren a dressing-down if they show lack of courage. They would say, Hk. “Thien e pha, thi e pha, ngi kong mak kai” (fear not heaven; fear not earth; so what are you scared of [in this world]). Hakka children in Beruas have to con- quer their fear—be it darkness, snakes or demons or else they will be shamed for the lack of courage. Expressions of fear usually earn them a scolding as Hk. mau yung (没用 useless). A boastful assertion sometimes heard among Hakka chauvinists is that the Hakka won the Hakka-Punti War because the Cantonese were so fearful of dying that they hired mercenaries to fight in their place whereas the Hakka fought their own wars. Hakka Cultural Markers 295

Therefore, it is perplexing to read Yen Ching-Hwang’s proclamation that the Hakka being a minority of the ethnic Chinese “possess minority psychology which is characterized by a sense of insecurity and fear” (1995a, 110). I wish to point out that firstly, the Hakka might be a minority among the Chinese in Singapore and West Malaysia but they are the majority in West Borneo as indicated by the 1930 Census (Heidhues 2003, 31) and they are still the majority in Sabah, not to mention in Suriname and Jamaica. In Malaysia and Thailand, they are the second largest group with 19.9 percent277 and 16 percent (Skinner 1958, 20) respectively. In Singapore the Hakka maybe fourth but they are still ahead of the Hainanese, Foochow, Henghua, Shanghainese, and Hochchia (Lee E.F. 2000). Even in China, in terms of popularity of the dialect spoken, Hakka ranks fifth (after Mandarin, Wu, Yeh and Xiang) with almost forty-five million out of a population of 1.2 billion (Blum 2005). Hence, this perceived minority psychology that is linked to ‘insecurity and fear’ has to be reassessed. Secondly, Hakka clannishness and fearlessness are two important elements that have driven their history. If they were without confidence and insecure as minority, they would not have embraced the appellation Hakka for themselves as the term Hakka carries negative connotations. They would have found other ways to exert their identity instead of calling themselves Hakka despite the burden. The Hakka should have quietly melted away or got assimilated as soon as possible when confronted by the natives if they were fearful, but instead they became ‘contentious’ and ‘combative’, and ‘struck back’—generally ‘fearless of death’ (as reported in the Gazetteer of Xunzhou in 1874) in their dealings with the natives. Hakka endeavors in Chinese history (The Taiping Revolution, The Long March, etc.) and their pioneering adventures in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and places where other dialect groups were less willing to go, have shown that fear was not part of their character. We can argue that poverty gave rise to the Hakka pioneering spirit. It pushed them to seek out and act on any possibility that promised a better future—be it spiritually, ideologically or materially. For the Hakka, the Taiping Revolution offered spiritual as well as ideological changes; Communism seemed like the continuation of the Taiping Revolution in terms of ideology; and Christianity promised financial and spiritual gains offered by the Christian missionaries in life on earth and in heaven. Many in the latter category admitted to being ‘rice Christians’ (Constable 1994, 80–81). However, this too enhanced Hakka

277 The Malaysian Department of Statistics lists the Chinese population as such: 37.66% Hokkien, 20.36% Hakka, 19.9% Cantonese, and 9.26% Teochew (Ember, Ember, and Skoggard 2001, 6). 296 Chapter 6

reputation for adventure and daring to try out new things. Rudolf Lechler attributed Hakka adventurous spirit to try out Christianity to their being less bigoted compared to the natives (Liao C.E.D. 1972, 98). The Hakka pioneers in Malaysia were the same, be it in the tin-mining industry in Selangor and Perak or gold-mining in West Borneo and Kelantan. As discussed above under “Hakka Unanimity”, one of the by-products of their clannishness and pioneering spirit is the creation of the kongsi in Borneo. The fact that the Hakka were able to apply this principle in the gold mines of Borneo further garnered them their reputation of having a pioneering spirit. Therefore, it is fair to say that the Hakka fighting spirit supported their involvement in revolutionary enterprises, and their fearlessness and adventurous streak helped in their pioneering. These traits are born out of necessity and they have their places in Hakka history and traditional identity but “Hakka are now softened by the good life”—mused a senior Hakka informant. Hakka fighting and pioneering spirits cannot be seen as Hakka cultural markers in this day and age.

11 Poverty

Poverty is seen as a Hakka marker that runs through academic studies as well as popular literature, where Hakka protagonists are paraded to illustrate wretched lives and sufferings in China. Most studies of the Hakka in the past start with the premises that Hakka are poor, uncouth, contentious etc. . . . and the positives are few. The Hakka have always been represented by images of poor farmers living and working on marginal land, scraping by in their isolated mountainous hamlets. These stereotyped images persisted and are so etched in the minds of both Hakka and non-Hakka that there is little room for other scenarios. There is no argument that the Hakka were poorer than the natives whenever they arrived in a new place simply because they had either escaped from calamities and had left everything behind or they were on the migrational track to somewhere—traveling light. To have arrived late means that all the good territories had been taken and they were left with poor-yielding land, usually in the mountainous areas. They had to eke out a living and when the land was exhausted, they moved again and this cycle of poverty repeated itself. Yes, the Hakka were mostly poor migrants in the beginning. This is corroborated by local and foreign sources. However, this is not the whole picture. Poverty, of course, is relative. As Leo Moser argues, although “other Chinese often look on the Hakka as simple farm folk, they do so with a touch of Hakka Cultural Markers 297

admiration, for simplicity is an ancient Chinese virtue” (1985, 248). Calling poverty a virtue, I think, is romanticizing it a tad too much. During the height of the inter-dialect conflicts, the Cantonese hated the Hakka and the Hokkien were no friendlier to them either. This is historical and the feuds were repeated in the tin mines of Malaya. But all that changed gradually when they settled down in China and overseas. We have seen again and again that in general the Chinese do not stay poor for very long and it is also said that they do not stay rich forever either. Poverty also created many of the other Hakka cultural markers. One of the reasons why they were able to preserve the Hakka language is because being poor meant they were less accepted by other dialect groups and the social isolation contributed to the preservation of their language and culture. To be seen as poor and shunned by the natives meant that they had to unite together in order to fight these prejudices and that gave rise to their clannishness. Being poor meant they had nothing to lose if they picked up what they could carry and moved; making migration part of the Hakka cultural construct. In Imperial China, the easiest way out of poverty was through education. The Hakka used it as a vehicle to try to break out of the poverty cycle and therefore, placed great emphasis on education. Being poor meant they had to be frugal in their living and thrifty in their economies. The above reactions to poverty became important Hakka cultural markers. It is also poverty that made the Hakka adventurous in life and spirit, and it gave the missionaries their strategy to convert the Hakka. Poverty produced sojourners out of Hakka men, who set out to make their fortune-creating gender roles. The rich and cultured did not need a foreign religion as they were comfortable in their circumstances and needed nothing from the missionary but the poor Hakka provided them with the opportunity to dish out salvation for their wretched souls. This is not an attempt to glorify or make a virtue out of poverty. Being poor in China was and is still indescribably wretched. This is just to show that poverty is part of Hakka history and that the Hakka are what they are today because of it and despite it. Most of all, what I want to show is that there is also room to balance and review this die-hard image. Judging from John Lagerwey’s series on traditional Hakka society, there are many Hakka who were involved in big business. The sumptuous homes and big Hakka houses in Guangdong and Fujian demonstrate that Hakka poverty in the Hakka heartland is relative. Hakka wealth was invested for the good of the family and clan. Leong Sow-Theng noticed that Hakka students in Japan in the early twentieth century were higher in numbers and they were mostly from well-to-do or wealthy families. Proportionately, they are higher but despite that, they are always perceived as ‘poor’. I quote this not to dispel earlier 298 Chapter 6 observations and assumptions that the Hakka were poor but in the hope that it will open up debates and challenge these stereotype Hakka images. There is a proverb which says that by the fourth generation the wealth is either squandered or rendered to an insignificant amount, simply by the inheritance law as the clan gets larger. These big rich clans divide and branch out on their own and some make it rich but most do not. The Hakka are no different. Poverty was part of Hakka history. However, like all Chinese they did not allow themselves to be poor for long and as history has also shown, the rich did not remain rich forever either. For example, the following happened to Huang Zunxian’s family. In his great-grandfather time, “Hakka perseverance and frugality had greatly multiplied the family’s wealth” and by his father’s generation, they became a wealthy scholar-official family (Schmidt 1994, 5). However, that wealth did not last as Huang lamented, “Formerly, the storerooms in our family pawnshops glittered with piles of other people’s clothes . . .” (ibid., 11). One way of tackling this stereotype image, perhaps, is to ask, “Who are the rich Hakka in the Hakka heartland and where are the rich overseas Hakka?” There are plenty of materials to take on this research. Beruas Hakka were mostly poor when they first settled in Beruas. The first thing that Hakka do after they have accumulated some money is to buy land. The notion that the Hakka are ‘land hungry’ as depicted in James Michener’s novel Hawaii (1959) is not far from the truth. Forty years later, all the BGH families own some land or properties, and a few families own rubber and palm oil plantations. The difference between China and Beruas is in the retaining of this hard-earned wealth. In China, agriculture was the main industry and the Hakka had to work the land for their livelihood from generation to generation. The first generation of settlers in Beruas were also poor farmers. Their offspring helped them work the land and grow their wealth. The third generation Hakka in Beruas does not depend on the land to survive because they have either become professionals or have learned a trade that does not depend on the land for a living so that the family wealth grows or stays more or less intact until fragmented by inheritance. It is said that the Hakka are always at the bottom of the social scale. Positions of power change hands due to circumstances and they are also governed by numbers. The Hakka, not being the majority in Malaysia and Singapore, had a harder time gaining positions of power over other dialect groups but it is not to say that they were not represented at all. It may have been true in the beginning but figures have shown that they were no less proportionately represented. For example, in the Chinese community of Thailand in the 1930s, the Hakka are proportionally represented (Skinner 1958, 20 & 36). Hakka Cultural Markers 299

Percentage of population Percentage of leadership representation

62% Teochew 60% 16% Hakka 16% 9% Hainanese 11% 7% Cantonese 7% 4% Hokkien 4% 1% Taiwanese 1% 1% Mandarin 1%

Before the 1930s, the Hakka and Hainanese in Thailand were the lowest on the social scale but their standing rose steadily from the 1930s. “The general trend, then, was in the direction of a levelling off in prestige differentials among the speech groups” (ibid., 255). It is interesting to note that despite constituting only at 3 percent of Mainland China and 13 percent of Taiwan populations and always considered to be poorer than the Cantonese and Min, there is a dispro- portionately high percentage of political and military leaders of Hakka descent in the two areas (Erbauch 1992, 89). One of the reasons that this stereotyped image of the Hakka being poor has persisted could be that, in general, Hakka do not like to display their wealth. Hakka consider the display of personal or family wealth vulgar and it could also Hk. yang ngan (影眼 attracting the eyes [of the undesirables]). This could create envy and invite trouble—thieves who want to steal or neighbors and clan members who want to borrow money. Not only does wealth or being perceived as wealthy entail responsibility to family and clan but they fear attracting unwanted attention. Also, it has been noticed that Hakka work even if they are rich and it could be that this is perceived as being poor. The non-Hakka ask: Why would they work so hard if they are not poor, or why are they so frugal if they are not poor? In Chinese history, the welfare and wealth of Chinese families were often subject to many factors that were beyond their control. Some groups or clans gained favor in court at some point but, just as fast, they could lose that favor or China’s calamities of war, famine and other natural disasters could wipe out a family’s wealth overnight. The Hakka too suffer from such fate. Hakka have no monopoly on poverty. Therefore, the historical stereotyped view that Hakka are ‘most often poor’ has to be reviewed. Poverty plays no role in defining the Hakka in the twenty-first century. Similarly, to say that Hakka are descended 300 Chapter 6 from noble families has to be seen as a ‘nobility myth’ but there is no dialect group that is as thrifty as the Hakka.

12 Thrift and Frugalness

There is a thin line between poverty and thrift. Hakka thrift and frugal living habits irritate members of other dialects and it is perceived as poverty at best or down-right stinginess at worst. For example, one of the reasons cited by David Liao as to why the Hakka church in Taiwan was financially weak is that Hakka are ‘poor and stingy’ (1972, 23). The Hakka see thrift as a virtue (德 de) that ought to be practiced as part of the ethos of being a superior person. The inscription on the tombstone of Han Suyin’s great-grandfather, the Hakka Zhou Taohung (d. 1912), reads: “Remember your humble beginnings, remember the hardship of your ancestors; be filial and thrifty, be frugal and upright” (Han 1965, 46). And on the memorial stone of her grandmother it states: “Historians regard virtuous women not necessarily for their excellent or outstanding conduct, but for the observance of virtue, for being able to overcome adversity, and keep a life of exemplary behavior by diligence and frugality . . . Lady Hung . . . Although in relatively well-to-do conditions at the end of her life, kept up her thrift and industry . . .” (ibid., 52). Similarly, as mentioned above, Huang Zunxian’s family wealth was built on Hakka thrift and perseverance (Schmidt 1994, 5). Huang specifically referred to his great-grandmothers thrift in a poem that he composed as an offering at her tomb in praise of her life:

Mother and Father would sometimes whisper softly in my ears: “Please ask your great-grandmother to eat more food.” Then she would eat the finely minced carp from a golden platter, Just for the sake of pleasing her baby.278

According to Jerry Schmidt, the above passage alluded to Huang’s great-grandmother, Madam Li’s frugality as “she would not consider eating ‘luxury’ food of this sort unless urged to do so by her great-grandson” (1994, 261n2). Again and again frugalness is stressed by rich and poor Hakka alike and the ability to work hard is seen as a badge of honor. Is thrift exclusive to Hakka? Judging from the findings

278 For a complete translation of “I Made Offering at the Tomb of My Great-grandmother, Madame Li,” see Schmidt (1994, 259–265). Hakka Cultural Markers 301 of Betty Sung, thrift is a Chinese migrant trait (1998, 182–183). However, the Hakka seems to flaunt it. In Beruas, there used to be a joke that you can always tell a refrigerator belonging to a Hakka family because one can always find leftovers in containers of various sizes. These leftovers are eventually eaten or reincarnated into other dishes. There is a special dish that the Hakka cooked with the leftovers after every festival or celebration. It is called Hk. choy kiok (leftover dish). All the leftovers are thrown into a big pot and stewed with pickled mustard greens, assam (Garcinaia atroviridis) slices and a couple of big red chillies. Hakka never throw food away. It is a Hakka house rule in Beruas that you may not be frugal or thrifty in your ways but you never waste. Wastefulness is considered a sin and the Hakka believe that the gods frown on such behavior. More often than not the women in Beruas would gossip about the squandering nature of the other dialect groups. Ellen Oxfeld writes that Hakka in Calcutta consider the Cantonese overindulgent and her Hakka landlady told her that when the “Cantonese make money, they get lots of servants, eat with ivory chopsticks, and use tablecloths . . . but the Hakka keep working hard” (1996, 162). Not eating or buying the best food and spending less on possessions or leisure was perceived as ‘poor or stingy’ by the non-Hakka. The Hakka term for ‘squander’ is Hk. sai. When someone is called a Hk. sai ka tsai, (a son who squanders the family wealth), it implies that the family wealth will end with him—a curse reserved only for serious offensive behavior. One of the recurring Hakka traits recounted to Nicole Constable by her informants is thrift (1996, 112–115). Similarly, many of my informants mention thrift and frugalness as a Hakka marker referring mostly to their grandparents who were not only thrifty in their ways but also frugal in their living. For example, in the Hakka Forum, one member who is a fourth generation Malaysian Hakka remembered riding in his grandfather’s old Mercedes, in which his grandfather “would switch off the engine [at the top of the slope] and let the car ride through the momentum in neutral gear. I only understood later in life he was saving gasoline . . .”279 The Hakka see frugalness and thrift as virtues, which contribute to their identity. It is interesting to note that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew described his governance of Singapore as ‘frugal’. Being frugal in life is also part of Mr. Lee’s character. His daughter, Ms Lee Wei Ling said, “Frugality is a virtue that my parents inculcated in me” (2012). Many migrants also claim to be frugal in life but the Hakka seems to embrace and cultivate this trait.

279 See http://www.stefenchow.com/blog/?p=22 (Retrieved on 22nd May 2011). 302 Chapter 6

Poor Hakka have to be frugal no doubt but rich Hakka’s thrift and frugal lifestyle gave the non-Hakka reasons to assume that they were poor. Either way, Hakka cannot escape from the image of being ‘poor’ but as history has shown, like all the other Chinese who are determined to make it, they do not stay poor for long. In their history, the Hakka kept moving—across mountains and oceans, and many eventually succeeded in their quests. The large houses in the Hakka heartland are proof that some of them managed to make it rich. Similarly, the Hakka mining tycoons in Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur; the many successful businessmen in Indonesia and Thailand, Taiwan etc. are good examples of those who became wealthy. One must dig deep in order to find them because the Hakka identity of many of these successful families has been eroded or marginalized either by socialization or through conscious choice as they moved up the social ladder. Success is one of the factors that caused the Hakka to lose not only their thrifty and frugal nature, but it also plays havoc with their Hakka identity. Once the Hakka move up the social ladder, they change their ways. They want to be part of the elite and so they copy the lifestyle of the others, which can mean obliterating their past and behaving like the nouveau riche. Rich Hakka who moved to the city “took several wives or lived ostentatious lives . . . Most Hakka, however, viewed such people as having been corrupted . . . [and] the individuals in question would be described as having abandoned Hakka tradition” (Moser 1985, 248). As mentioned before, one such family is Han Suyin’s. Han’s family was Hakka who migrated to Sichuan in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The family did so well that they became part of the elite class but by her father’s generation, they did not speak Hakka anymore and they ‘marry dainty girls’ with bound feet (Han 1965, 29). The Hakka, like most migrants were poor and they left China to seek their fortunes or to join relatives or clan members who were on the way to making it, but there are also Hakka who have made their fortunes both in China and overseas. However, in general, even if they are rich, Hakka continue to work and make little effort to change or upgrade their way of living—not flaunting their riches. This ‘having to work’ is also perceived by others as ‘must be poor’ status. The one thing the Hakka, like the other dialects, always do is to invest their wealth is building houses. The houses built by the Hakka in Fujian and Guangdong and in their overseas enclaves such as in Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur show that they were not all poor peasants all the time. Thrift and frugalness still play an important role for the older two generations, who remembered their grandparents’ or parents’ early lean days but most young Hakka cannot make the connection with this historical marker. Hakka Cultural Markers 303

13 Diligence

It was reported in the Gazetteer of Xunzhou in 1874 that landowners preferred to have the Hakka as tenants because both men and women were engaged in farming and they did not shrink from hardship. Consequently they were able to double the yield from the land, compared to others (cited from Leong S.T. 1997, 67). Similarly, the British North Borneo Company especially requested the Basel Mission to recruit Hakka from the south, instead of Northerners, to form a stable agricultural population to develop an undeveloped and thinly populated territory (Hill and Voo 1990, 196; and Burges 1970, 77). Likewise, the Sultan of Broneo invited the Hakka to work in the goldmines. Huang Zunxian (1848–1905), who is from a well-to-do scholar-official Hakka family, in one of his poems called Seeing of Younger Sister wrote: “We Hakka people seem to work by instinct and nobody labors harder than the females of our family” (Schmidt 1994, 174 and 220). Hakka capacity for hard work is not only a recorded fact but it is also ingrained in their speech and psyche. As discussed in Chapter 5, the term Hk. ngai ʎ is used by Hakka to mean “I”—the first person, the ego and the essence of being Hakka. Hk. ngai is also a term the Cantonese used as a slur against the Hakka (MacIver 1982 [1905], 513). Another term that describes Hakka ability to endure hardship is also pronounced Hk. ngai 捱 (ai to suffer, endure or to pull through hard times). The Hakka ngai embodies the history of every Hakka pioneer and migrant. It is the quintessence of that part of the Hakka nature that exemplifies survival and resilience. Roughly translated, Hk. ngai is similar to 吃苦 chiku (eating bitterness or to endure crippling hardship). To get a sense of the Hakka ngai, multiply chiku a hundred times and one gets the idea of the heaviness of its implication. Enduring this hardship has a grinding effect that would eventually claim their lives if they have not made it in time. It has an urgency because there is a time limit in which the body and spirit is strong enough to ngai-ed. This ngai is often associated with death—Hk. “ngai si loi” (work until death comes). When the time is up and if one keeps on ngai-ing, the body and spirit will give way and life will grind to a halt. It is a word that the stout of heart embrace with bravado, the faint-hearted swoon, and the lazy run off when they hear that they have to ngai. Though it has lost most of its heaviness and urgency, the first question asked of a Hakka teenager leaving home to take up a job or to study in the city is Hk. “ngai tet m tet?” Can you take on the hardship? All able bodied persons are expected to have the capacity to ngai in Beruas—especially the women. People who give up are scorned. A common complaint by the older 304 Chapter 6 generation of the younger generation in Beruas now is that they have gone ‘soft’ (Hk. e ngai tet) from the good life because there is no need to ngai as they did in the pioneering days. Hakka are industrious but it must be acknowledged that they do not have a monopoly on diligence either. Stevan Harrell (1985) found out why the Chinese work so hard in Taiwan. They share an ‘entrepreneurial ethic’ in which they work diligently, save all their money after sending some home, and when they have saved enough, look for opportunities to strike out on their own (ibid., x). This means that the field is open for future tycoons and in Malaya it did not escape the notice of J.C. Pasqual who wrote in 1895 that he would “always look upon a Sinkhek (newcomer) as a Towkay Labur (financier), Towkay Bantu (advancer), or a Capitan China in embryo and respect him accordingly” (cited from Carstens 2005, 24). Sharon Carstens named the Hakka Yap Ah Loy, founder of modern Kuala Lumpur, as one of these new arrivals or immigrants (ibid.), who grew from nothing to one of the richest and most powerful men of his time.280 As soon as these new arrivals had some spare cash, they put it to use and once they struck it rich they diversified further—working the hard- earned capital and themselves. The Hakka in Beruas followed the same pattern. Successful Hakka continued to work their investments and they kept working themselves. The word retirement did not exist in their vocabulary. But as far as ‘ultimate diligence’ is concerned, some of the Beruas Hakka admitted that the Hockchew in the next town (Ayer Tawar) work harder than them. Again, like poverty and thrift, diligence too has a place in Hakka historical identity, but it is redundant in the twenty-first century.

14 Conservativeness

The Hakka are always seen as more conservative than the other dialect groups. Why? To answer this question, we have to look at how the Hakka have managed to keep their cultural identity despite countless migrations and inter- culturalism. Their ability to maintain their cultural identity has always been credited to their conservativeness. As mentioned before, Leong Sow-Theng believed that their isolation and clannishness helped them to sustain their conservativeness (1997, 31–35) and R.A.D. Forrest shared Leong’s argument, but from the other side. He declared that Hakka conservatism kept them isolated and historical enmity kept them apart socially from the other, thus, preserving their cultural identity (1973 [1948]).

280 For a detailed study of Yap Ah Loy in 19th century Malaya, see Carstens (2005, 10–56). Hakka Cultural Markers 305

The Hakka are also branded as ‘conservative’ by some because of their use of ordination and generation names in their genealogies. David Liao found that the most serious obstacle to the growth of the Church among the Hakka is conservatism (1972, 23). Even today in some parts of China, the Hakka are still perceived to be more conservative than the other dialect groups because it is believed that “the Hakka preserve records and traditions [more than the other dialect groups]” (Coqqins 2002, 46). Alan Trasher observes that the conservativeness of the Hakka is reflected in their music because they maintain the 68-beat model in the silk-bamboo (sizhu 絲竹) music.281 Sharon Carsten writes that Hakka marrying non-Hakka (Siamese or Tamair) in Pulai, Malaysia tend to keep their customs and traditions and she attributed it to conservatism (2005, 110–111). Similarly, Dayak women in Borneo also had to learn the Hakka language and customs after their marriage to Hakka men (Heidhues 2003, 39). Despite inter-cultural influences, this conservativeness persisted because it was maintained in their social practices and their strong Hakka identity prevented them from being assimilated by the dominant group. However, over time this traditional ‘conservativeness’ has been eroded by their migrational practices, inter-cultural associations, globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism. In this day and age, Hakka have no excuse to be conservative or insular in their outlook.

15 Hakka Women and Gender Roles

Up until recently, the ‘Hakka woman’ trademark as fierce, fearless, tough, quick to defend, diligent, resourceful, independent, direct, loud, thrifty, quarrelsome, not dainty, not elegant, not so beautiful etc. was still popular in many parts of Southeast Asia. Is this image of Hakka women a myth or fact? In 1768, the Gazetteer of Jiaying Prefecture reported:

Hakka men in the country are very lazy, so the women grind, plant, weave, gather fuel, care for the livestock, irrigate the fields, make clothes, and do all of the cooking. There are no women under heaven who work like these women . . . Both young and old women tie up their hair and wear short pants. In the fields they do every kind of work, and in the mountains they serve as porters . . . worked in the fields alongside men; they

281 The sizhu or silk-bamboo music generally refers to a category of chamber music performed by small ensembles in homes, music clubs or teahouses. It is the instrumental ensemble tradition of the people of South China (Trasher 2008, 122–123). 306 Chapter 6

were involved in what was obviously productive labor; [and] they could, if called upon to do so, substitute for men (cited from Wolf and Chuang 1994, 427).

This may sound like a stereotypical image but there is also truth in it simply because the Hakka women did not bind their feet and that enabled them to work in the fields alongside their men and also granted them a mobility that non-Hakka women with bound feet lacked. Huang Zunxian (1848–1905), was full of admiration for the diligence of the women in his family and he set his praises for them in his poetry. One of his earlier poems entitled Seeing of Younger Sister was written to praise the women in his family on the occasion of his younger sister going off to marry a man in the Zhang clan.

. . . The fact that our womenfolk labor so hard Provides even more proof of the purity of our customs. At cock’s crow, they rise and draw water from the well; When the sun goes down, they are carting firewood home. Only on festive occasions do they wear rouge and powder; Their normal adornment is a simple skirt. We are from the Huang clan, and your groom is a Zhang, And luckily our families have never suffered any want. Yet all the way back to our grandmother’s generation, Our women have engaged in every kind of toil We Hakka people seem to work by instinct, And nobody labors harder than the females of our family . . . (Schmidt 1994, 174 & 220).

The best summary on Hakka women that I have come across is written by one of the most prolific and renowned twentieth-century writers, Han Suyin (1917–2012). In narrating the history of her family in Sichuan, she said,

Hakka women do not bind their feet, nor their breasts, do not hire wet- nurses for their children and they do not become prostitutes . . . The reason for the Hakka women’s freedom from such [foot and chest] corsetry was their function. The women worked in the fields, at building houses, at porterage, while the men, cutlass or spear in hand, watched for enemies or went out fighting . . . And since the Guest People moved frequently, hired themselves out to labor or to war, they could not afford to have women [who are] unable to work and to walk. Tall, big-boned, Hakka Cultural Markers 307

not renowned for good looks, in manner direct, in later life quarrelsome and garrulous, the Hakka women went chest- and breast-free, and consequently tongue-free. What necessity had dictated was continued and cherished as a proud tradition, and the unglamorous Hakka maid was praised for her thrift, hard work, clean life, and lively retort. She raised sons on her own milk, despised artifices to beauty, and when necessary fought like a man. She was not in demand by connoisseurs in the cities, who relished the fragility of two-inch golden lotus feet, and other dives to please, and of this also the Hakkas are proud (1965, 26–27).

It feels as if Han is talking about my two grandmothers and all the Hakka women of their generation in Beruas and Pusing, Malaysia. It is true that poor women of other dialects work hard as well282 but Hakka women’s propensity for hard work, thrift, resourcefulness, and fearlessness contributed to them being seen as a Hakka cultural marker. These qualities are also acknowledged by the other dialects groups (Shih Y.C.V. 1967, 310–311). The Hokkien claim that “Hakka women are more capable than their husbands. They can do everything. They don’t care whether they have a husband or not” (Wolf A.P. 1995, 53). It is fair to say that these distinctive Hakka female traits developed in response to Hakka male itinerancy and sojourning. Their authority at home and active participation of labor outside the house was out of necessity when the men were off looking for work or new adventures. It has been shown time and again that despite having a lower status than the Hakka men, Hakka women have considerably more influence, power and social freedom compared to women of other dialect groups. The historical reason is that Hakka women’s feet were not bound and thus made them valuable member of farming families where labor was crucial to their survival during planting and harvesting seasons. Having normal feet also meant that they were able to travel unaided, which contributed to Hakka migrational history. Since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Hakka men left their home villages to seek their fortune, leaving behind their wives, children and old folks. These ‘grass widows’ had to resume the roles left open by the absent men. A detailed study of the life of a Hakka woman wage laborer in Kwan Mun Hua, a Hakka village in Tsuen Wan District, New Territories by Elizabeth Johnston reveals the lives that most typical village women led in the first half of the twentieth century. The study has all the elements that define their

282 Cantonese women of the silk-producing areas of the Canton Delta we just as industrious and they made financial contributions to their families too (Stockard 1989, 175). 308 Chapter 6 existence and of the role they play in Hakka communities—sojourning husbands, gender roles that objectified them, social etiquettes, attires, family structures, marriage traditions, songs, education, and also the changes that were occurring through the generations (1984, 76–91). The informant, Great- Aunt Yeung, widowed at twenty-five by a sojourning husband, summed up her working life as such: “There was no time to stop working. There was no time to be sick; there was only time to die” (ibid., 82). Up to the 1950s, most of the housework and child-care in the New Territories in Hong Kong was managed by elderly women, whereas the younger women did most, if not all, of the agricultural work, and in addition often did heavy carrying work for wages. Many of the men were away for extended periods of time, working either in the urban areas of Hong Kong or abroad; some had local businesses, and others did not work at all. As a result, in many families, women had primary responsibility for subsistence agriculture, bearing an extremely heavy burden of work. Elizabeth Johnston recorded a day in the life in the 1950s of a young Hakka mother, who had eight children, as such:

I got up at 5:00 and fed the baby; then I made a fire and boiled water and put rice porridge on to cook; then at 6:00 I went to carry water, making four trips to the well; then I went to the fields to water the vegetables. I cut the vegetables and took them to market; I used the money to buy food and returned home at 8:30; we had breakfast of rice porridge; then I went to the Texaco oil company to carry kerosene; at 12:30 I came home for lunch; I worked again from 1:00 to 5:00 carrying kerosene; when I got home I cleaned the pig pen; then I went to work again in the fields; in winter I returned home at 7:00, in summer at 8:00; after dinner I bathed the children; then I carried several loads of firewood; then I prepared food for the pigs; I fed the baby and went to sleep at 11:00 (1976, 84).

The story of migrant Hakka women up to the beginning of the twentieth century is more or less the same everywhere. Alexandra Lee recorded the pivotal role that Hakka women played in the establishment of the Chinese community in Jamaica. Her essay, based on the interviews with over a dozen first generation children of immigrant Hakka women, depicts vividly the lives of these pioneering Hakka women. The diligence and suffering of first generation migrant Hakka women in the late nineteen and early twentieth centuries defined their tough existences: “In a Hakka woman’s life, you have time to die, but no time to get sick [refrain].” Lee credits the success of the Jamaican Hakka Chinese to the resourcefulness, tenacity, diligence, patience, and the ability to endure hard work of their womenfolk—generally they sacrificed themselves Hakka Cultural Markers 309 so that “their children stood a chance to have the kind of life that they themselves would never be able to claim” (2004, 80). Another study by Ye Shu-jing in Singapore also shows Hakka women’s willingness to bear hardships. Their frugal habits in household management enabled them to establish a foothold in Singaporean society. For these hardworking Hakka women, their living and working environment and family structures changed to a certain degree after they immigrated to Singapore. However, the Hakka identity of these early Hakka women immigrants was maintained and strengthened, but it gradually diminished in the subsequent generations until such sense of identity was completely lost in present younger Hakka generations in Singapore (2008). Hakka women’s toughness is represented by their ability to Hk. ngai 捱— take on grinding drudgery. Because of this inclination as well as the expec- tation of the Hakka to be able to Hk. ngai, it has become an unwritten rule in the Hakka psyche. Every woman over seventy years of age I interviewed about their past in Beruas and Pusing punctuates their conversation with Hk. ‘ngai’, DG. Hk. “chi liong” (pitiful) or Hk. “tso tao si” (work until you die). Up to the 1960s, every Hakka woman in Beruas worked, whether in the family enterprise or were self-employed by selling snacks like home-made cakes or noodles. Unless it is an act of god or she is on her deathbed, a Hakka woman worked. Villagers of the other dialect groups in Beruas deemed it acceptable if their sons insisted on marrying a Hakka girl, because they could see that she would be an asset to their family but they would be vehemently opposed to their daughters marrying a Hakka man as they believed that her Hakka in-laws would ‘work her to death’. Every piece of writing on Hakka history and migration acknowledges Hakka women’s contributions to Hakka history and how they constitute an important source of labor, for example, Hakka women’s labor in the tanning industry in Calcutta (Oxfeld 1996, 172). Similarly, a Thai informant, who is the owner of a tannery stressed that they were crucial to the industry. In Malaysia Hakka women were an important part of the tin- and gold-mining industries. Sharon Carstens reveals the important roles that Hakka women played in their community in the small gold-mining town of Pulai (2005, 101–126). The role that Hakka women played in the tin-mining industry in Malaysia has been somewhat glossed over by most works on the Hakka in Malaysia. Victor Purcell described how the work of dulang-washing was performed mostly by Hakka women (1948, 238).283

283 For a short study of dulang-washers in the Kinta Valley, see Lubis and Khoo Nasution (2003, 86–87). 310 Chapter 6

The art of dulang-washing was labor intensive, performed by groups of very skillful Hakka women called dulang-washers. The technique of dulang-washing is similar to that of panning for gold, which is based on the principle that tin and gold, both being heavier, will not be washed away when the wash-dirt is swirled in a certain way in a shallow pan. They did this work either as members of work-gangs in tin mines or as ‘freelance’ self-employed washers. In the former scheme, an enterprising man or woman would contract the tailings from the tin mines and gathered together a ‘gang’ of Hakka dulang-washers to extract whatever tin ore that was still left in the tailings after the first extrac- tion on the water sluices in the mining process. In this method, the earnings were usually split 60–40 in the dulang-washer’s favor. In the later model, the ‘freelance’ self-employed dulang-washers, who had been issued a yearly permit by the authority, could dulang or pan for tin on any government land that had not been leased out. A dulang-washer has four basic tools: 1) the dulang—a shallow wooden dish without any joinery about two feet in diameter, gently sloping towards the middle; 2) a short-handled hoe for hoeing; 3) a half-coconut shell for scrapping; and 4) her metal pail (this was before the invasion of plastic). Using her short- handled hoe or half-coconut shell, the dulang-washer hoed or scraped the wash-dirt into her dulang and with her feet firmly planted in the alluvial soil in the water, she performed her art. To separate the tin ore from the dirt, the washer tilted the dulang and then twirled and swirled it in a gentle clockwise motion just slightly above the water surface. By tilting it this way and that, only soil and dirt were washed away while the tin remained at the bottom of the shallow dulang. When the payload was deemed pure or concentrated enough (usually still with a bit of Hk. mang gangue in it), the content was tipped into the pail.284 The process was repeated over and over again. The dulang-washers did this wet, backbreaking work from sunrise to sunset, because in both schemes, their income depended on how much tin ore they could extract. These rugged, indefatigable women usually woke up at five in the morning and if the mine was not far from their homes, they had to make their way there on their bicycles or got picked up by a lorry that delivered them to their work site. Apart from her tools (dulang, pail and hoe), you could always recognize a dulang-washer by her attire, which consisted of a long-sleeved, waisted-samfu made of coarse heavy material. To protect themselves from the relentless tropical sun in the open mines, they wore the Hk. liong mao (cooling hat), which

284 I was taught how to dulang and at some point possessed a dulang-license that was issued by the authority. Hakka Cultural Markers 311 was gradually replaced by the HK. lit ma—a cone-shaped hat with a foot-wide brim, made of bamboo, over a yard-wide cotton head-scarf. Unmarried, fashion-conscious young women, trying to preserve their fair skin, redesigned the Hk. theu pha (head scarf) by stiffening the yard-square scarf with gallons of home-made corn starch and folding it into a triangle with layers of old newspaper sandwiched in between. The ends of the longest side of the folded triangle were then brought together to overlap each other, to make the smallest opening possible and still enable the wearer to see out of it. The hollow created would envelope her whole head like a medieval helmet, and thus keeping the sunlight from coming in contact with her face and neck. The vainer fair maidens had ingeniously added another adaptation to this uniform by devising a flap at the end of each sleeve which protected their hands while they worked in the sun. This mode of uniform came to be adopted by all the young Hakka women who had to work in the sun, such as on building sites or on farms. The profession of dulang-washing came to an end with the collapse of the tin mining industry in the 1960s. The older women switched to other employment such as rubber-tapping and the young women moved to urban areas to take up new opportunities in factories or service industries. In Malaysia, two notable areas of employment that Hakka women came to be associated with in the 1960s and 1970s were the shoe industry and the barber-girl salon. These areas are waiting to be studied. The importance of Hakka women’s labor persisted because they contributed part of their earnings to the family. However, they also learned to use the remainder of their personal earnings to empower themselves—giving themselves physical and financial independence. In a study in Taiwan, Arthur Wolf and Chuang Ying-chuang tried to link fertility and labor but they fail to find a difference between the fertility of Hakka and Hokkien women. They concluded that even though Hakka women did every kind of work, they did not control the products of their labor and so did not control their fertility. This, they said, concurred with Safilios-Rothschild’s view that it “does not suffice for women to be involved in productive activities if they are only involved as laborers. Their fertility is only affected when women control what they earn or what they produce” (1994, 433). This is corroborated by my case study, which shows that mothers of the BGH have an average of 6.3 children while the BGH have only 2.0. The decline in one generation can be attributed to education and the general world trend.285 The study also concurs with Sharon Carstens’ findings in Pulai that women who earned wages started

285 In the case of Singapore, government policies such as the “Boy or Girl, Two is Enough” campaign aimed at population control, which started in 1966 has been shown to be very 312 Chapter 6 to take control of the economic situations in their home and together with education, women had more control over the number of children they decided to have (2005, 122). It is also interesting to note that out of the twelve couples in the case study, four couples (25 percent) chose not to have children. This would have been unheard of in their parents’ generation, unless they were clinically infertile, in which case, they would buy a couple of children, especially a boy to carry on the family name. It was also common practice for families with many children to give one of their newborn to their childless relatives. However, these four couples adamantly chose not to have any children—natural, bought or presented. The choice of a smaller family or not to have any children at all is both a social and global trend that is fuelled by education and women’s independence. Nonetheless, it shows the increasing control Hakka women have over their body and ‘fertility’ and the big steps they have taken to assert their choice. Hakka women’s toughness is represented not only by their ability to take on grinding drudgery, but they are also expected to be able to Hk. nyun (忍 ren to endure)—whether it is enduring ill-treatment from their mother-in- law or beatings from their husband. Margery Wolf has shown that the suicide rate in the Hakka population in Taiwan for some periods in the first half of the twentieth century is half the rate of their Hokkien neighbors. She attributed the lower suicide rate of the Hakka women to the ‘stereotyped image’ of Hakka women as ‘strong, domineering and of independent mind’. One other reason she cites is the dowry system in which the “Hokkien bride comes to marriage with a dowry as large and expensive as her peasant father can provide; the Hakka bride arrives with both dowry and a sizeable amount of money that will remain under her control” (1975, 133–134). This may confer some independence and make life less harsh as a new daughter-in-law but the other less acknowledged factor is that Hakka women are not only brought up to have the ability to Hk. ngai but also to Hk. nyun. A Hakka woman usually blamed fate for her hardship and usually try to endure it as best as she could. It is said that a Hakka woman who cannot take on grinding drudgery or endure hardship fails in every sense as a Hakka woman. Characteristics of Hakka women such as fierceness, fearlessness, loudness, toughness, independence, industriousness, resourcefulness, and possession of a great capacity to Hk. ngai and Hk, nyun may sound stereotyped but all my informants (Malaysian and global), when they talk about their grandmothers or mothers, who lived in the first half of the twentieth century, remember them as such.

successful. For a detailed study of Singapore’s population policies and programs, see Saw (2005b). Hakka Cultural Markers 313

In Beruas there are a few of these unsung women with the Hakka woman warrior spirit. Madam Than Song (1914–1967), who adopted Mr. Raymond Chew from a Teochew family, was the first woman to drive a car (a Mercedes, no less) in Beruas. She also donated the land for the first school built in Beruas. After her husband’s death, she ran their timber business like any man would. She smoked and she cursed just as loud as the men. She was a formidable woman. There was also Madam Chen Keow Moi (1902–1996) who even after the family has accumulated considerable wealth, still went to her various plantations to do the weeding until her late eighties. One of her grandsons remembered that every school holiday, she would make her grandchildren go with her to do the work. Another is Madam Chew Mooi (b.1920), who started work at the tender age of eight (as she proudly declared) as a dulang-washer and was in control of the family business until her mid-eighties. She used to be the keeper of Hakka customs and traditions in Beruas. The villagers used to say, “Without Madam Chew, red [celebratory events such as such as births, ear-piercing, match- making and weddings] or white [funerals] affairs cannot come to pass.” It is no exaggeration to say that the roofs of the Hakka households in Beruas were held up in most part by these and other exemplary women. However, their capabilities and diligence were not translated into community leadership or financial clout. The main reason, I deduce, is that these women lacked a formal education, which handicapped them. Sharon Carstens notes that in the Qing, about seventy percent of Hakka males were literate but most females were illiterate, as this was the custom of the time (2005, 98). Another reason is that up to recently, most Hakka women did not inherit from their own families or their husband’s.286 Since Hakka women are such an important part of the Hakka identity, why is it that no Hakka woman is singled out in Hakka history? They passed their lives in obscurity and there is little record of their contribution, work and thinking. This too is within the scheme of Chinese history writing, where women’s contribution is seldom acknowledged. In a recent publication of “living charismatic and talented Hakka” in five Southeast Asian places (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand), who have contributed to Hakka culture, only one woman is listed among the twenty persons. She is Ms. Li Xiuxian 李秀賢 from Indonesia (Xie M.R. 2009, 42–49). Is this progress? All those listed are in their sixties and seventies but I am sure if they look at the next generation, they will find many more charismatic and talented Hakka women. However, locating them might be a problem because these younger

286 For a study of why Hakka women in Hong Kong do not inherit, see Chan E. (1997) and Stern (2005). 314 Chapter 6 women do not find their Hakka identity as important in this day and age and therefore do not mention it in their curriculum. As acknowledged, women from poor families of other dialects all over China worked and probably just as hard. Those with bound feet worked within the home and non-Hakka women (ethnic minorities) with natural feet worked like Hakka women both inside and outside their homes. However, the difference is that Hakka women from well-to-do families continued to work to contribute productive labor. As Huang Zunxian said, “[Though] our families have never suffered any want, yet all the way back to our grandmother’s generation our women have engaged in every kind of toil” (Schmidt 1994, 174). Similarly, in Beruas and in Pusing, women from comparatively well-off families are also required to work either in the family enterprise or for others. In Pusing, it was in the tin-mining industry, where my mother’s clan was involved. All the women took part in it. Many of the Beruas Hakka family became relatively well-off (owning land and small businesses) in one generation but most of the women continued to work—usually helping out or running the family businesses which were usually related to farming or the rubber and later the palm oil industries. Sharon Carstens confirms that Malaysian Hakka women in Malaysia worked outside the home either in the tin-mining industry or rubber- tapping (2005, 122). In Malaysia, up to the 1960s, Hakka women’s image persisted because it was maintained. There is no doubt that the images described by Han Suyin, Huang Zunxian, and many other observers (both Western and Chinese) are true pictures of the Hakka women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Subsequently, historians might have objectified Hakka women for their own agendas but in Beruas and Pusing, Hakka women’s participation in labor inside and outside the home is a fact. In my opinion, the two most important elements that contributed to the shift in Hakka women’s image are education and new economies. Though the overseas Hakka were renowned for setting up their Chinese schools, the percentage of girls attending these schools was minuscule. It has always been ‘sung’ in Beruas by the older generation that women do not need formal education. They believed that educating a girl is tantamount to educating someone else’s daughter-in-law i.e. a waste of resources. The other thing to note is that a poor Hokkien family would never send their young daughters to work in the relentless tropical sun of Malaysia, if they could help it. They usually end up working as home-helps or shop assistants. It is the Hakka girls and women that took on any kind of labor such as farmhands, on construction sites or as plantation workers, and other labor-intensive jobs. However, after Malaysia’s independence in 1957, more educational opportunities were open to girls and that totally changed the Hakka woman’s image and Hakka society. Hakka Cultural Markers 315

In the late 1950s and from the 1960s onwards more and more girls were sent to the new national schools set up by the Malaysian government. Girls with nine to eleven years of education in Chinese or English or bilingual found open- ings in different kinds of white-collar jobs such as clerks, secretaries, teachers, nurses, and a few of them went on to local or foreign universities. Those with less education went to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to work in the factories. The shoe industry in and around Ipoh was operated mostly by Hakka and many out-of-work dulang-washers took up jobs in these small ‘factories’—many of which were home-operated. Others became barber-girls in hair salons which catered to men only. Hakka women joined the workforce like women from the other dialects. The diligence of Hakka women in Malaysia has a basis at least up to the mid-twentieth century. With education and financial independence, from the 1960s onwards Hakka women started to build their own image and identity. The idea of the hard-working ‘Hakka-woman’ has not survived into the twenty-first century. There is no need for it because Hakka women are on the move and they are marching to their own music, unburdened by their historical image and regardless of their Hakkaness.

Footbinding: There is no work on the Hakka that does not mention the fact that Hakka women did not bind their feet. These unbound feet, unflatteringly referred to as ‘duck-foot or lotus-boat’ (Levy 1966, 31), have become one of the most iconic markers of Hakka identity.287 Footbinding also symbolized all that was wrong with Chinese society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Certainly, unbound feet conferred greater mobility to Hakka women but calling it “a virtue born of necessity” (Moser 1985, 248) is idealizing the situation. Unbound feet meant that these women were expected to work in the fields, walk to the market-towns, go up the hills to chop firewood, and perform other strenuous jobs that women with bound feet were spared. The Hakka are prag- matic people. Their practicality has not gone unnoticed by those looking for coolie labor. The British North Borneo Company had especially requested the Basel Mission to recruit Hakka from the south, instead of Northerners, to pioneer areas that were undeveloped (Hill and Voo 1990, 196 and Burges 1970, 77). One of the reasons given was because Hakka women did not have bound feet and could be used as field labor. In the “Introduction” to the First Edition of his Hakka dictionary, MacIver (1982 [1905]) states: “They differ from their fellow Chinese mainly in the fact that among them the women do not bind the feet. This, however, is strictly true

287 For the history and erotic implication of footbinding, see Levy (1966) and Wang P. (2000); and for an up-to-date history on footbinding, see Ko (2007). 316 Chapter 6 only of the Kwangtung Hakkas.” Does this imply that Hakka women outside of Guangdong may or may not have their feet bound? In a study on sexual attraction and childhood association in Taiwan, in which Arthur Wolf showed the proportion of married women with bound feet, by ethnic group and year of birth, there was one Hakka woman with bound feet in the 1881–1885 cohorts (1995, 53, Table 3.6). Therefore, it is also conceivable that rich Hakka bound the feet of their daughters in order to aspire to be ‘rich and upper-class’. Recent investigation by Myron Cohen indicates that “among very wealthy [Hakka] families in some of the larger cities or towns in Guangdong and Fujian, footbinding was practiced, but this was with respect to a miniscule proportion of the Hakka population” (2010, 1023). It is interesting to note that Jerry Norman suggests that on the basis of linguistic evidence, he believes that the Hakka are sinicized She. The She are considered to be non-Han but Hakka are more or less ‘accepted’ as part of the Chinese group. If we accept Norman’s theory, this means that the absence of footbinding may be a more general historical marker of non-Chinese ancestry (1989 [1986] and 1988b) and not just of the Hakka. Whatever the arguments are, the fact is that Hakka women generally did not bind their feet. Given that footbinding came into vogue in the tenth century, perhaps it is more interesting to ask whether Hakka women were seen as useful labor and therefore their feet were not bound or that their feet were not bound so that they could became useful labor. Or, their feet were not bound because of their migrational history that required mobility. The Taiping Revolution advocated the eradication of footbinding (Shih Y.C.V. 1967, 228) and the many anti-footbinding societies contributed to its demise. Footbinding was officially abolished in 1902. As Ono Kazuko said, “The ‘big-footed barbarian woman’ had thrown open the curtain on the modern history of Chinese women” (1989, 22). By the time the Communists came into power, most bound feet were freed and no little girls were forced to bind their feet. Dorothy Ko notes that the production of ‘lotus shoes’ for the ‘three- inch golden lotus’ was halted in November, 1999 (2007, 9). Hakka women’s natural feet are no longer the iconic cultural marker that was used so successfully to objectify and identify Hakka women. Unlike the earthen buildings, which can be translated into cultural capitals, their unbound feet have become just footnotes in Hakka history.

Clothing and Accessories: Though the basic attire of the Hakka women was simple and practical, they exerted their identity through the use of accessories. “Clothing has always reflected the social and historical senses of a given time. The history of clothing can therefore provide insights into the development of Hakka Cultural Markers 317 a civilization” (Hua 2011, 1).288 This may be true theoretically, but the problem with these works is that they present only the magnificent clothing cultures of the elite and there is not much said about the ordinary people. Probably, like all cultures, we can assume that commoners wore only the simplest of clothing made of the least expensive materials. Their clothes would also have had to be practical in style as they went about their labor. For example, Hakka women wore mostly a trouser suit so that they could work freely. As Huang Zunxian said, women in his well-to-do family wore a simple skirt (Schmidt 1994, 202) and as for the poor they may have put on a skirt during festive days if they owned one. Though poor women’s attire of most dialect groups may be similar, there are still subtle cultural differences, especially in the way they acces- sorized their simple attires as the Hakka did. We can assume that Hakka men dressed like the non-Hakka men in the fashion of the times. Poor Hakka women who had to work in the fields wore a loose top over wide men’s trousers for ease of movement. The materials used were rough and tough so as to withstand the wear and tear they were subjected to. In Goran Aijmer’s study of three small Hakka villages in the Northern Territories, he reveals that “women apart from their assistance in farming tasks, used to devote spare time to weaving as a subsidiary occupation . . . This was particularly so in the slack season during winter, from Chinese New Year up to the third month. The appearance of factory-made textiles on the market made this handicraft industry come to an end” (1976, 48). Elizabeth Johnston notes that “until recently, when more colorful, western-influenced clothing became popular, Hakka women of all ages wore simple suits of dark colored or black glazed or unglazed cotton or glazed silk or homespun hemp” (1976, 82). Up to the 1970s, all the grandmothers in Beruas and Pusing dressed in such black, grey or blue cotton suits of a loose long-sleeve top with a Mandarin collar and cloth buttons, and wide loose trousers that were held together with a cloth string. The younger generations in the 1950s and 1960s also wore samfu suits but made from materials with colorful designs and the top, with capped- sleeves, was waisted to fit them perfectly. The trousers were narrower and had an elastic waistband. Before the 1950s many non-Hakka women of the older generation were attired similarly but what made the Hakka women’s attire distinctive were the accessories that they wore with them. They included patterned bands Hk. fa tai (花带 huadai), the square kerchief, an apron, special jewelry, and a special sun hat called the Hk. liong mau (凉帽 liangmao). These special pattern bands

288 For a summary of Chinese clothing culture throughout the history of China, see Hua (2011, 11–52) and Yang S.R. (2004, 3–8). 318 Chapter 6 measured anything from 30 cm (for holding the kerchief) to 70–140 cm (for tying the sun hat under the chin or apron behind the back). They were also used to tie back “the mosquito nets on the marriage bed, and were also tied around the foot-washing basin which is an important dowry item as a fertility symbol. One was used as the bride’s trouser string, and one was even given as a gift to the little boy whose job was to kick open the sedan chair door upon the bride’s arrival” (ibid., 83). They are intricately woven in a series of extremely fine, discrete and intricate patterns—each approximately 2–7 cm in width.289 Johnston mentioned a triangular kerchief but I remember old women in Pusing wore a rectangular one with two of these patterned bands that were pulled behind the ears and tied underneath her chignon, which was held together with a slightly curved silver hairpin. Only Hakka women wore these kerchiefs and they were worn both indoors and outdoors—especially when they went to the market. The black Hk. phau theu 抱頭 baotou (head wrap), mentioned by Valery Garrett, is a simple folded cloth rectangle with approximately one third of the length turned back to the right side along a seam, and held in place with a patterned band was also worn at home or in the evening. It is made of plain or dobby weave cotton, or black gummed silk (Garrett 1987, 50). Another variation is noted by Dyer Ball at the turn of the twentieth century. He notes that the “Hakka women also often bind a cloth around the head, looking something like an old-fashion bonnet” (1926, 198). This is called Hk. theu pha (頭帕 toupa head scarf). More often than not, my maternal grandmother wore one when she left the house. It is a one yard square cloth, usually monotone. It is folded diagonally in the middle and the two long corners are brought together under the chin and tied loosely with a double knot. Valery Garrett notes that the pattern band was also used to fasten the small apron Hk. vui khiun (圍裙 weiqun) across the back. “To attach the band, buttons are sewed to the ends of the bands near the tassels, and these are but- toned through loops in the apron. The bib of the apron is commonly fastened around the neck with a silver chain on which old Hong Kong silver five cent pieces serve as buttons. These aprons are worn by Hakka women both on special occasions and for everyday use” (1976, 83). Ferdinand Herrmann notes

289 For the technique to weave these patterned bands, see Johnston (1976, 84–86). Johnston quotes anthropologist Fei Xiao-tong, who said that these weaving techniques are also known in Tibet. She added, “As the backstrap loom does not appear to have been part of the inventory of Han Chinese material culture, this leads one to speculate that the Hakka may have learned the technique through contact with pre-Han people in the hill areas of Kwangtung where they settled. This is, at least, one possible explanation for their use of this technique” (ibid., 89–90). Hakka Cultural Markers 319

Figure 8 Hakka women’s winter apron and head wrap that are tied with patterned bands. Tai Po, Hong Kong, 1979. Used with permission from Valery Garrett. that small bells and little mirrors were tied to the aprons that are found in the brides’ trousseau to ward off evil. A small pouch completes the decoration of the apron (1937, 32). The most distinctive feature of a Hakka woman’s accessories is her Hk. liong mau (凉帽 cooling hat). This is a circular disc of 40–45 cm in diameter, woven out of rattan with a hole in the middle to fit the crown of the head. The wide brim is fitted with a black cloth fringe of about 10 cm wide that hangs around the rim of the hat like a curtain. They are commonly worn by Hakka women while working in the sun and the black fringe not only kept out the sun but also acted as a cooling device when there was a gentle breeze. The patterned bands are also used to hold the Hk. liong mau in place or for decoration (Garrett 1987, 50). Old women in Beruas and Pusing used to wear these sun hats in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1990s these hats could still be bought in certain 320 Chapter 6

Figure 9 Hakka women’s attire which include HK. theu pha (頭帕 head scarf ), apron (圍裙 Hk. vui khiun) and the Hk. liong mau (凉帽 cooling hat). Used with permission from Grant Goulden. parts of Hong Kong as souviners. There is another circular sun hat called the Hk. lip ma 笠蔴—a meter in diameter with a raised cone in the center, where the crown of the head fits neatly. It is made of bamboo strips and leaves. The Hakka glossary Renjia riyong mentioned it as an item that is ‘needed daily’ (Appendix E, L96). Though Hakka women’s attire is simple and practical they exert their identity by using accessories that they made or were made by the women in the village. In Malaysia, the patterned bands, Hk. theu pha (head scarf) and Hk. liong mau were still used by my grandmothers and her friends. Therefore, the way Hakka women dressed reflected their identity vis à vis the other dialects and it also spoke of their role in their communities. This tradition was further reinforced when the dulang-washers in Malaya created their own unique style to exert their identity. Hakka traditional clothing has been replaced by cheap factory-made clothes and the accessories are now collected as curios or antiques. Hakka attire as a cultural marker will be remembered only as a historical concept. However, despite it being phased out, it still has some cultural mileage. In the 1990s, in order to attract more tourists, the Hong Kong Tourist Promotion Board used the image of a Hakka woman wearing a dark blue suit and the Hk. liong mau on their posters to show cultural diversity in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, new ways Hakka Cultural Markers 321 have been found to express Hakkaness in clothing and accessories. However, the way Hakka women dress in the twenty-first century is dictated by the fashion world.

Child-Daughters-in-Law: Female infanticide was a common solution in poor families in China.290 Chinese migrants continued the custom after they migrated to their new homes. Lilian Ho, a Hakka, narrates that her great- grandparents smothered four baby girls to death when the family’s vanilla crops failed and they grew desperately poor in Tahiti (1993, 78). In general, if baby girls from poor families somehow escaped such a fate, there were good chances that a husband would be found for them. In old Chinese customs, marriage was something seldom denied to a woman because the patrilineal tradition and the cult of ancestor worship meant that male progeny were required to carry on the family name and to tend to their ancestors’ graves. As such, even slave girls or servants were eventually married off to produce sons.291 The lucky ones would be given in marriage to healthy men and the unlucky ones ‘sold’ off as concubines, or to poor, decrepit old men for the sole purpose to produce sons. However, Hakka women were seldom sold off to the pleasure houses, or as slaves because of their unbound feet, which made them a valuable source of labor. Besides, men went to the pleasure houses to be excited by grotesque ‘golden lilies’, which Hakka women could not provide. To circumvent the tradition of having to get rid of unwanted baby girls, poor Hakka families offered them as ‘child-daughters-in-law’ Hk. sim khiu tsai. The high cost of procuring wives forces many poor Hakka families with sons to turn to this tradition which was quite common in the nineteenth century. The practice is called Hk. tshi sim khiu tsai 娶童養媳 qu tong yang xi (taking in a child-daughter-in-law), which was the ideal solution for poor Hakka families. James Hayes cited a report by E.J. Eital (1879, 54) that early betrothals and early marriages are common among Hakka, who have “the custom of sending the betrothed, as soon as she is able to walk, say, when three or four years old, to the family of her future husband, where she remains until her marriage” (1994, 45). In her study of Taiwan, Margery Wolf found that “. . . 70 percent of the Ongs’ neighbors in Peihotien had chosen to raise wives for their sons” (1972, 18). She also notes that often “a woman’s newborn daughter would be

290 For the history of female infanticide since 1650, see Mungello (2008). 291 If a woman for some reason was not married out of her natal family and she has no family to turn to in her old age, she will most probably end up in an all women mutual benefit society called a Hk. tsai tong (vegetarian hall), where her funeral will be taken care of by the association. For the study of such institutions in Singapore, see Topley (1954, 51–67). 322 Chapter 6 given away (by her mother-in-law’s arrangement) and another girl would be adopted-in to drink her milk” (ibid., 172). To demonstrate the complexities of this tradition, she entitled that section of her study as “Girls Who Marry Their Brothers” (ibid., 171–214). In the same vein, Arthur Wolf describes this Hakka tradition succinctly by entitling his article “Adopt a Daughter-In-Law, Marry a Sister: A Chinese Solution to the Problem of Incest Taboo” (1968, 864–874). It appears that the Cantonese also practiced another form of this tradition in which they called them CN. sam pol chai (Hayes 1994) or ‘delayed transfer marriage’ in which, after the marriage, the bride returns to live with her family. Janice Stockard’s study of marriage patterns and economic strategies in the ‘Canton Delta’ gives a good description of this type of marriage (1989). It is important not to confuse it with Cn. mui tsai—which literally means ‘little [servant] girl’ and they are usually treated like slaves or very low-paid servants, bought or brought into the house when they were still little girls and trained to be servants. This was first noted in 1841 by Dr. Charles Eitel in trying to explain why Cn. mui tsai and child-daughter-in-law are different. Arthur Wolf and Chuang Ying-chuang show that minor marriages were also practiced by the Hokkien in Taiwan (1994) but child-daughter-in-law tradition was practiced solely by the Hakka. A Hakka poem/folk song collected by Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲 (1848–1905) illustrates vividly a child-daughter-in-law’s experience.

The Child-daughter-in-law (童養媳)

I married my husband thirteen years ago, Today, as I comb my hair, I reminisce, Remembering the first time we drank from the same breasts, And sleeping together in my mother-in-law’s bosom (Chen Zheng 2005, 77).292

This form of obtaining a daughter-in-law was considered to be the least favored kind of marriage. It is stripped of ceremony compared to the events of a major marriage, which was conducted with a matchmaker, bride price, dowry, comparison of horoscopes, exchange of gifts, and finally the act of crossing over the threshold of the groom’s house.293 It is for this reason that the couple of old women in Beruas, who were child-daughters-in-law, never admitted to it. This

292 See also Appendix G: Song VII. 293 For Hakka marriage customs and traditions, see Cohen (1976, 148–191) and Johnson (1996, 78–79). Hakka Cultural Markers 323 information was imparted to me by other informants. It is not quite shameful but it is not broadcast around either because it implies a lower status compared to a bride who arrives at her husband’s home in a bridal sedan, led by the matchmaker, and accompanied by loud music and the sound of firecrackers. Margery Wolf, in her study of women and the family in rural Taiwan, calls them ‘adopted’ daughters, which is incorrect (1972, 172). Similarly, Burton Pasternak wrote that “it was common in Haishan for girls to be ‘adopted’ in anti cipation of later marriage and to be raised with their future husband” (1983, 1). There were few reasons for a poor Hakka family to adopt (收養 shouyang) a daughter and if a well-to-do family did adopt one, for whatever reason, this ‘adopted daughter’ was treated like one’s own daughter. She took the family surname. When it was time, she would be married off to another family as if she was their own daughter and she lived with the family of her new husband from then on. Child-daughters-in-law do not change their surname and they stay for the rest of their lives in the family. They are treated like daughters- in-law from the moment they enter the family as a child, which is usually unfavorably. At some point, when she is old enough, the marriage would be consummated. She then becomes a bona fide daughter-in-law and her status will be elevated corresponding to her husband’s status in the family but the stigma of being a child-daughter-in-law never really disappears. In the Taiwanese novel Wintry Nights, the Pengs had purchased Dengmei for a piece of silver and ten catties of brown sugar to be the future wife of one of their sons (Li Q. 2001, 48). This tradition of selling and buying baby girls to become future wives for their young sons was still practiced in poor Hakka families in Malaya before the Second World War. Chung Yoon-Ngan describes how, in 1919 his grandmother sold her youngest daughter to someone in the same village and used the money to buy a baby girl from a neighboring village to rear as a wife for her first son. Then again in 1923, she sold her female seventh child and bought another baby girl to raise as a bride for her second son (2010, 40 & 56). An informant said that it is also quite common at the turn of the twentieth century in Malaya for Hakka friends to make alliances before the babies were born. If the babies turn out to be the of the same sex, the children embark on a sworn-brother or sworn-sister relationship called Hk. ket kim lan (uniting golden orchids). When the babies are of the opposite sex, they will eventually get married and the families are said to have Hk. ket tsin ka (uniting in-laws). Under this scheme, whether these little girls move to their future husband’s home or remain at home until the marriage depends on the arrangement made by the parents or grandparents. Bringing in child-daughters-in-law to raise for their sons was such a common practice in South China among the Hakka that 324 Chapter 6 local pragmatists in Yongding advocated a reform called “Do not adopt a baby bride for your son” after the Communist takeover (Erbaugh 1997, 218). There are also cases of poor childless couples who adopt a girl because they cannot afford to procure a boy from relatives or on the free market. In that case, they rear the girl as their adopted daughter for the purpose of an uxorilocal marriage. In Beruas or Pusing, this form of marriage, whether by an adopted daughter or one’s own biological daughter, is called Hk. chau long nyip sha (招郎入舍 zhaolang rushe inviting a master or husband to enter the home).294 Margery and Arthur Wolf call such unions ‘lead in a son’ (1972, 172 and 1974, 148–153 respectively). It is under very unusual circumstances that a Hakka man will agree to such a marriage. I was told that it happened more often in the other dialect groups than the Hakka. Interestingly, M. Wolf notes that some wealthy families also take in infants “to raise as wives for their sons because they felt that incorporating a female from outside the family unit was less dis- ruptive if it was accomplished when she was still a baby and could be raised to be a dutiful (and thoroughly browbeaten) daughter-in-law” (ibid., 18). This may be so but generally the taking of a child-daughters-in-law is due to poverty. In the West, adoption is the legal process by which a person becomes a law- ful member of a family different from their birth family. Once the proceess is finalized, the adoptive parents gain the same rights and responsibilities as parents whose children are born to them. Subsequently, an adopted child gains the same rights as birth children in regard to inheritance, child support, and other legal matters. At the time the adoption is finalized, the adopted child’s name is legally changed, and the court orders the issue of a new, amended birth certificate. There is no difference from the Chinese in terms of the legality of adoption and it is called 收養 shouyang. The adopted son is a 養子 yangzi and the daughter is a 養女 yangnu. Therefore, it is important not to confuse ‘adoption’ (收養 shouyang) with ‘taking child-daughter-in-law’ (娶童養媳 qu tong yang xi). There is a third kind of parent-child bond called 乾 gan, which literary means dry or read as qian. This custom is similar to taking a god-child or becoming a godparent to someone. This gan-bonding is practiced by all dialect groups by matching a child or adult with an older relative or family friend, who becomes the gan-mother 乾媽 or gan-father 乾爹 to the gan-son 乾兒子 or gan-daughter 乾女兒. In most cases, an auspicious day is selected during

294 There is also another term called Hk. chau nyin nyip vuk/mun (招人入屋/門 zhaoren ruwu/men which means “to invite a husband, as is done in the case of a widow, with whom her family does not wish to part. The invited husband takes the surname of the clan into which he enters” (MacIver 1982 [1905], 14). Hakka Cultural Markers 325 which a ceremony takes place, involving the gan-child/adult paying their respects to their new gan-father/mother in the presence of relatives or friends. In the case of an important person, the bond is celebrated with a big banquet (Waters 1993). The bonding can take place when the child is born or when the person is well into adulthood. This cannot be considered an adoption either though many writers have been confused by the practice. The child/adult does not change their name and they remain with their birth parents—only visiting during festivals or special occasions to pay their respects to their gan-mother, -father or -parents. This is similar to god-parenting in the West. The reasons for the gan-bonding are varied. In the ceremony that Dan Waters attended, the couple was considered ‘childless’ (even when the wife had a daughter from a previous marriage). In this case, when the couple dies, there will be a ‘son’ to do the last rites and to take care of their graves thereafter. My mother has three sons and three daughters of her own but also one gan-daughter and four gan-sons. They came looking for her to be their gan-mother and all of them were adults when the ceremonies took place. One of them came to her because a fortune-teller told his mother that her son would have a better future if he was gan-ed. The explanation is complicated as it has to do with ‘eight characters’, fengshui etc. Another came to her because a medium told him to take a gan-mother to ward off ill-fortune. It has to do with Hakka folk religious beliefs and it appears that there were some clashes between the young man’s Chinese horoscope and the prevailing universal energies. The third thought his luck would improve if he had the ‘spirit-support’ of the strong personality of a gan-mother. The other two were suggested by their parents to have them gan-ed to my mother (perceived to be a respected person in the community). One of them is her nephew (my paternal first cousin), another is a distant cousin and the other three are unrelated to our family. They accord her all the respect that is due to her as a gan-mother. Most studies on Chinese family relationships look at the obvious but there are still less obvious relations such as the gan-bonding and the sworn-brotherhood or -sisterhood with fascinating historical roots waiting to be explored. Though early betrothal is practiced by all dialect groups, it is only the Hakka, who practice taking in child-daughter-in-law. These little girls are brought into the household of their future husband and raised together with the rest of the children in the family. Some are sent away while still babies and hence, the poi- gnancy conveyed by Huang Zunxian’s poem. Poverty pre-empted the Hakka to practice such a custom but it was banished into the bin of history by the 1950s. Hakka women’s gender roles, their unbound feet, clothing and accessories, and being married off as child-daughters-in-law disappeared as cultural markers in the mid-twentieth century. But many of the Hakka women’s images with 326 Chapter 6 characteristics such as diligence, hardiness, fearlessness etc. persisted, at least in Malaysia until the 1960s and 1970s, because it was maintained in rural Hakka communities in the older generation. However, with education and independence Hakka women started to create their own roles in their communities and in society at large. Hakka women have a role in the remaking of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century but they cannot be seen as a cultural marker.

16 Artistic Expression

Hakka are so dogged by labels such as: poor, contentious, uncouth, loud, etc. that they are seldom associated with anything artistic and yet if we look deep enough, they do have an artistic tradition. It is fair to say that their migrational history contributed to some of these artistic traditions. Hakka identity and culture are expressed in their songs, dances, music, poems and literary writings. These artistic expressions are also shared by the other dialect groups but the Hakka have their own distinctive styles.

Hakka Literature The Hakka scholar and poet Huang Zunxian was one of the earliest persons to write in Hakka. He advocated the use of the Hakka dialect for writing and his famous saying: “My hand writes as I speak” meant that he also wrote in the Hakka dialect. The book trade in Sibao also published poetry collections, elementary school books and glossaries meant to be read in the Hakka language. Despite the many works written to be read in Hakka in south China, there are no Hakka writings per se because the Hakka did not develop a script of their own. They used Mandarin to express themselves or transliterate Hakka phonetics into Mandarin. It has been claimed (by Hakka, of course) that Tang poetry reads better in Hakka than in Mandarin. It would be interesting to compare Tang poetry and Hakka songs/poetry/ditties to ascertain if there is any truth to the claim. There is still a lot to be done on the Hakka language before it is too late. Recently, the Taiwanese started a discourse on Taiwanese Literature and Hakka culture. According to Tu Kuo-ch’ing “. . . in literature, most writers of masterpiece novels are Hakka . . . (2005, xvii) [and as] for the ‘great river fiction’ based on the history of Taiwan, it is [also] monopolized by Hakka writers . . . (ibid., xxii).” However, the obvious question is: Is there such a thing as Hakka literature? At the present moment, there is no precise definition for Hakka literature. To overcome the problem of selecting works for publication in the special issue dedicated to Hakka writings, the editors “could only resort to the Hakka Cultural Markers 327 authors who have been generally recognized as Hakka writers” (ibid., xxiv). In this day and age, there is no need to write in Hakka and Hakka literature can be anything—texts written by Hakka or Hakka subjects written by Hakka and non-Hakka.

Music and Stories: Hakka in isolated hamlets in mountainous areas were com- pelled to invent ways to communicate, express their feelings and entertain themselves. They created songs to entertain each other during the festivals and holidays. The young used these songs and ditties in courtship to express love and yearning. Women sang of their pains, sorrow and disappointment, of separations from sojourning husbands or lovers, and their hope of reunion. Living in rural and mountainous areas meant that their communication had to be loud and imaginative. The Hakka mountain songs Hk. hak ka san kor (客家山歌 kejia shange) as a genre was born of such necessity and isolation. However, the Hakka have no monopoly on the ‘mountain songs’ genre as it is also used to refer to many other types of folksongs. Folksongs such as those called 信天游 xintianyou of Shannxi, 花兒 hua’er of Xibei, and the 山歌 shange of Zhejiang, Xichuan and Yunnan are considered to be mountain songs by Chinese scholars (Yuan 2000, 20–28). It is not easy to give shange a clear definition. Antoinet Schimmelpenninck’s excellent work on shange traditions in Southern Jiangsu explains the difficulties in defining the term. The translation of musical terminology into English added to the confusion. Chinese musicologists have divided Chinese folksongs into three widely accepted groups: 山歌 shange, 小調 xiaodiao and 號子haozi. She added that there is still no consensus among Chinese scholars on what they denote (1997, 17). However, it is generally accepted that haozi are laborers’ chants or working songs; xiaodiao are ditties or popular melodies; and shange are considered ‘mountain songs’ i.e. folksongs originally sung in mountainous areas. Schimmelpenninck summarized the definitions of shange from Chinese musicologists Jiang Mingdun, Song Daneng and Chinese dictionaries (Zhongguo yinyue cidian Dictionary of Chinese Music and Xiandai hanyu cidian Modern Chinese Dictionary) as “improvised songs in free rhythm, sung loudly during work outdoors. Shange are more explicitly associated with peasant life than the other two genres” (ibid., 18). She added that Chinese shange or folksongs usually have a structure of “seven characters per line and two or four lines per stanza” (ibid., 20). Hakka shange might have many of these elements but given that Hakka migrants lived mostly in mountainous areas, it is not hard to see why they call their folksongs shange or mountain songs. Hakka shange may have originated in the mountains but as soon as they migrated out of the 328 Chapter 6 mountains, they continued to sing these shange and more often than not, they created new ones using the same musical format of such organization and performing style. A point in case are the new songs and ditties that were created in Malaysia and other parts of the world. This debate is for the musicologists. For this study, I use shange in the ‘traditional’ understanding of the Hakka i.e. songs and ditties that the Hakka sing. Marcel Granet argued that quatrains originated from the festivals of mar- riageable young people: the girls teased the boys with quatrains, the boys responded with their own (1932, 4, 119 & 140). Based on Granet’s argument, E.N. Anderson thinks that Hakka ‘mountain songs’ have their origins in the quatrains. Quatrains have four stress lines; the first two lines describing some biological phenomenon (usually botanical); and the second two parallel it with some powerful emotional concern of the poet, usually romantic and frequently erotic. He added that Granet believed that this “custom—quatrains and all—persists in contemporary South China and Southeast Asia. It survives among the remote and conservative Hakka people . . .” (1988, 28–29). Wolfram Eberhard, in his study of Hakka folktales shares the same view that these exchanges occurred during the spring festivals of Old China (1972, 71–75). Jerry Schmidt quotes Fan Dangshi (1854–1904), who praised Huang Zunxian’s two poems (“My Little Daughter” and “Impromptu”): “Heptasyllabic regulated verse is the hardest to rhyme in a natural way . . . I can savor these two quatrains again and again without becoming tired of them” (1994, 88). Hung Chang-tai considers Hakka folksongs expressive, ingenuous and sincere and it prompted Dong Zuobin to call Hakka folksongs a ‘genuine literature’ (真實文學 zhenshi wenxue) (1985, 61). These songs are often cited in Hakka Studies as reflecting relative gender parity and less segregation between the genders, which is unusual in the Confucian context. The themes of these songs includes down-to-earth daily occurrences; work songs, such as the tea-picking songs, which would fit into the xiaodiao category; love songs among young courting couples (Kwock 1988); songs of farewell and separations; or about life in general, such as those written by Huang Zunxian—take for example the poem/song on being a child-daughter-in-law. The lyrics can also be made up to contain puzzles, as a game or of a more competitive nature. The challenger will answer the puzzle in the form of a song or ditty of similar melody. One interesting feature to note in some of these Hakka poems and ditties is the use of puns. The play on words allows them to highlight the themes in rhymes. For example in Song IX of Appendix G, the subject is parting and farewell but concerns of daily life, customs and nature are rhymed into the song. There are two puns in each of the first three lines: 香櫞 xiangyuan grapefruit rhymes with 香緣 xiangyuan Hk. hiong yen fragrant destiny; 蓮 lian lotus with Hakka Cultural Markers 329

戀 lian Hk. lien emotions; 檳榔 binglang betel nut with Hk. pin long (賓郎) to give to my husband; 圓 yuan as in 團圓 tuanyuan Hk. thon yen (reunion); 芙蓉 furong with 夫榮 furong Hk. fu yung; and 棗子 zaozi with 早子 zaozi Hk. tsau tsu. Paraphrased, the woman sings of the wish for a ‘fragrant destiny’ with her husband with love and attachment. She would like to present her husband with a reunion. Her husband will be glorious and she will bear him children soon. In bidding her husband farewell with such cleverly couched rhymes, she hoped to obtain his tender feelings. These nine songs collected by Huang Zunxian (Appendix G) with subjects such as parting sorrow, longings and expectant reunions also give us a glimpse of Hakka daily life, customs, and the tradition of sojourning, which contribute to Hakka identity. In the olden days, young men and young women working in the mountains communicated and entertained each other through these dialogue-songs by singing to each other across the mountains. Since they have to sing across mountains and valleys, the melody of Hakka mountain songs tends to have a higher pitch in order for it to travel. These song duels consisted of a simple melody of usually four lines of expandable verses sung by individuals supported by group participation, with the two sides alternating lines. Victory was declared when one side failed to respond with improvised lines to the challenge of the other. Some of the Hakka mountain songs are learned while others were sung in a kind of spontaneous repartee between two groups of men and women. As the Hakka moved south and their professions diversified, songs on different topics were composed and sung by farmers, herders, woodcutters, water or boat-people and folk in the city as well. The form of the wedding and funeral songs was learned, but the content varied according to the feelings which the individual singer wished to express (Johnson 1984, 135–141). Hakka mountain songs were performed during festivals, special gatherings, or simply after a hard day’s work for amusement. One of my informants from Pusing reminisced about the good old days: “We would gather together to confront young men when there was a Hk. lau nyet (celebrations or festivals). We made it very difficult for them to reply to us . . . our team always won because we were better than the men . . . the older people really frowned at our antics but we didn’t care . . . we just enjoyed sparing with the men . . .” (2011). Another informant remembered a tradition called Hk. phui tsi moi (陪姊妹 peizimei keeping the bride-to-be company). Before a woman got married, it was the custom for some of her friends to keep her company for a month at her home. It entailed helping the bride to prepare for her wedding and also sleeping-over at the bride-to-be’s house. Most still continued to go to work during the daytime until a few days before the wedding. When the bachelors in the village knew of such an event taking place, they usually gathered 330 Chapter 6 in the evening outside the bride-to-be’s house to provoke the women into singing duels. Ono Kazuko concluded that the “large number of Hakka songs of passion suggests that relations between Hakka men and women who worked in the hills were extremely natural and open. Having attained an equal standing with men through participation in labor, Hakka women were not constrained by traditional Confucian norms and could express their love boldly” (1989, 4). This sounds like a logical conclusion but in reality it is not so simple. Hakka homes were ruled by conservative patriarchs and willful, dominant mothers and grandmothers who had a tight control over their children. Besides, Confucian culturalism is an important part of Hakka identity, which meant that propriety was expected of Hakka women at all times. Singing Hakka mountain songs was still very popular in Pusing in the 1930s and 1940s and these singing competitions were a very important part of my mother’s youth. Like everything that is Hakka, the Hakka shange tradition has been waning (not quite dead) but there are also signs that it is evolving. Cheung Kwok-hung has shown “how modernization, in terms of gradual changes in norms, values and attitude pertaining to city life, has influenced the ‘folk’ music tradition in the present-day Tai Po and conversely, how musical change and continuity as it occurs in the existing Hakka shange tradition facilitates our understanding of the process of urbanization” (2004, ix). It is encouraging to note that Hong Kong held its first Hakka Pop Music Extravaganza in Sai Kung in 2013, where traditional Hk. san ko and pop music sung in Hakka were presented by singers from Hakka communities from around Asia.295 A quick search on YouTube shows that there are Hakka out there trying to preserve the mountain songs and then there are artists like Mr. Chong Sau Lin who sings in Hakka using modern tunes about life in Malaysia.296 There are also Indonesian Hakka, who sing in a mix of Hakka and Bahasa Indonesia.297 Another interesting development is shown in the case of Mr. Yu Tian Loong, a Cantonese in Sabah, Malaysia, whose Hakka song, entitled Hk. hoi pian kon fui

295 See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8_1qhxMRE for the complete programme. (Retrieved on 29th June, 2014.) 296 For example, he sang the song titled Hk. ngai he hak ka ngin (I am a Hakka), which expresses Hakka ethos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDOjgOHptV8&feature=rel ated. He is the champion of the Hakka spirit. There are also comedy sketches sang in Hakka. (Retrived on 14th November, 2009). 297 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTMIQG1oSRo&feature=PlayList&p=8848D15DA0E0 4DEF&index=0&playnext=1 (Retrieved on 29th October, 2007 but it has been removed when I tried to access it on 27th November, 2011). Hakka Cultural Markers 331 ki (海邊看飛機 Watching Airplanes on the Beach), was entered in the Hakka Pop Music Award organized by the Guangdong Music Academy, Guangdong Pop Music Academy, and the Meizhou City TV Station.298 To my question of why he chooses to sing in Hakka, he replied,

I find the Hakka language so cute . . . Hakka language is slowly forgotten by young people . . . they don’t speak Hakka or use Hakka anymore [in Sabah] . . . I tell them that I am not Hakka only when I [get] to know them better . . . I am afraid that they might think I am lying to them . . . usually they treat me as Hk. chhi ka ngin . . . my listeners are from three to sixty years old . . . the words like Hk. for si (abb. 4-C), Hk. pak tor and Hk. linn si? In Malaysia they know [what they mean] but not outside of Malaysia . . . I gave an interview on Taiwan radio and they asked what these words meant . . . on air it was very difficult to explain and I said they are ‘bad words’ [swear words] that are used commonly in Malaysia . . . they accepted [my explanation] and they think it is very funny. . .299

Apart from the mountain songs that are distinctively Hakka, they are also renowned for ‘bamboo clapper songs’ (竹板歌 zhubange). Wilt Idema notes, “These are composed in the ubiquitous seven-syllable line, organized into five- line stanzas, with the final line of one stanza being repeated as the first line of the next” (2010, 394). According to Idema, the remarkable feature of these bamboo clapper songs is that the repertoire is derived from materials taken from the late Ming anthology of vernacular stories called Spectacles of New and Old (今古奇觀 jingu qiguan). This anonymous anthology appeared in 1640. More than twenty of the forty stories in this collection were adapted into bamboo-clapper songs (Lévy A. 2000, 128). Hakka ballads in Taiwan are called ‘historical-narrative’ (傳仔 Chuanzai). Though the topics narrated are shared by all dialects yet different dialects groups have a different emphasis. For example, the story of Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台), which is very popular in both China and Taiwan, has variations that depended on the dialect that it is performed in. The basic story is about a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to sit the imperial exam. She falls in love with her roommate but because she has been betrothed to another, Sanbo dies of a broken heart. On her wedding day, Yingtai insists on stopping at Sanbo’s grave to pay him respect. When her sedan

298 http://www.cnhakka.com/home/vote.php?uid=8&do=ajax&termid=13&pid=256 (Retrieved on 10th September, 2010.) 299 Telephone interview conducted on 30th September, 2010. 332 Chapter 6 chair stops in front of his grave, she kills herself by bashing her head against his tombstone. At that moment, lighting and thunder appear and an abnor- mally strong wind arises from nowhere—overturning the bridal sedan chair and scattering the terrified wedding entourage. At a thunderclap, Sanbo’s tomb opens up and swallows Yingtai. When all is quiet again, two butterflies emerge from the tomb—floating gently and playfully towards the sky. Hence, they are also known as the butterfly lovers. Idema informs us that the Minanese version is very different from the Hakka version (2010, 408–412). Alan Thrasher has the same opinion as Gan Tao, who states that liuban (six beats) is the southern form (‘southern’ in this context meaning central- eastern China), while baban (eight beats) is the northern form (i.e., Henan and Shandong). Thrasher’s studies show that baban is the prevailing form among the Chaozhou and Hakka. Assuming that the Hakka have preserved their music (the baban) from the place of its origin and brought it south, this would infer that the Hakka had settled in Henan and Shandong at some point of their migrational history (2008, 123). In describing Hakka music, Thrasher maintained that Hakka music has preserved many basic elements of the old ideology. He said, “These include notions of performing a ‘refined music’, deliberate choice of tensionless modes, emphasis upon the older layer of musical instruments (e.g., zheng, pipa and xiao), and conscious association with literally and socially-harmonious ideals (manifest in titles and aesthetics), cooperative interactions, and decorous performance demeanor. Musicians say that this style of music represents the ideology of the Confucian scholar” (2008, xii). Wolfram Eberhard and other Hakka scholars note that the Hakka love telling stories. According to Eberhard most tales are intended to entertain rather than to educate, stressing the comic elements, and that storytellers probably become more didactic when telling stories to their children or grandchildren. I remembered that story-telling Hk. kong ku tsai 講故子 jiangguzi was the only entertainment available to children in the evening before television was imported into Malaysia. Eberhard concludes that his survey of stories is of special value in informing us of the values that the Chinese Hakka community professes to believe in— values that they think everyone should stress when telling stories to their children (1974, 194). The Hakka tradition and love of making up songs has been attested by Huang Zunxian (Chen Z. 2005, 76). Huang also states in his poem entitled “I Made Offering at the Tomb of My Great-grandmother, Madame Li,” that before he could hardly speak his first word, he was taught to sing Hk. Nyet kong kong (Schmidt 1993, 260). This tradition was continued in Hakka homes in Pusing and Beruas by grandmothers, but the chances of the next generation of Hakka children being taught this quintessential Hakka folk ballad is remote. Hakka Cultural Markers 333

The attempts to maintain Hk. san ko as part of Hakka culture can be seen in the increasing numbers of Hakka festivals and singing contests organized by Hakka communities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Not only has urbanization and globalization changed the contexts in which Hakka singing takes place but it has also evolved in style and content. One example of how Hakka singing has been influenced by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism and digital cross-pollination is the parody of the song Gangnam Style by “Hakka legend [Yu] Tian Long” (as appeared on the credits of the video). Gangnam Style, sung and performed by South Korean musician Psy and released in 2012, captured the world’s imagination. It became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views. As of May 2014 the video has been viewed over two billion times.300 The Hakka version is called Sabah Hakka Style. It is local in flavour (Sabahan), Hakka in spirit (use of the Hakka language), transnational in style, and global in appeal.301 The traditional style of singing Hakka shange is too foreign to the younger generation but they are incorporating Hakka elements in folk and popular songs. This will no doubt contribute to Hakka identity-remaking. Dances: Lion dancing is performed by Hakka and non-Hakka groups alike. However, the Hakka are also credited for two other dances that are seldom seen outside of Hakka communities. The Hakka are often associated with dances of the Hk. chhi 廌 zhi-unicorn and the fabulous beast Hk. phi hiu 貔貅 pixiu. The zhi-unicorn is usually erroneously translated as the Hk. khi lin 麒麟 qilin (a mythical unicorn). Jeannie Thomas Parker has shown convincingly that the so-called and widely accepted ‘mythical Chinese unicorn’ is not the same as the mythical unicorn qilin, but a one-horned female goat‑like beast called the zhi 廌.302 There have been some speculations as to why the Hakka prefer the zhi- unicorn dance to the lion or dragon dance but they remain speculations. Madeline Slovenz (1987), who studied how the zhi dance was performed, notes that it is easier to dramatize the lion than the zhi-unicorn because the lion has

300 See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0. 301 See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt_IA5RADps (Retrieved on 30th June, 2013). It is interesting to note that there is another parody of Gangnam Style called Orang Sabah Style (People of Sabah Style) by another group, also sung in Hakka. See https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=xUNb4yBz9Ck. 302 Making judicious use of all available evidence, historical, epigraphical, archaeological, art historical and scientific, Parker explains how the myth of the unicorn began in China and then gradually spread into other parts of Asia and Europe. She also examines the real animals upon which the myth was based and shows that zhi-unicorn is the ultimate symbol of justice under the law in ancient China (2013). 334 Chapter 6 movable parts such as the mouth, ears and eyelids, whereas the zhi-unicorn- head is an entire unit, which makes it much more difficult to maneuver. The zhi-unicorn head is smaller but heavier than that of the lion and hence, it has a limited range of action and expression. The head is carried diagonally by the dancer, whose extended arms represent the neck. Movements are characterized by fast, powerful strokes of the head with outbursts of energy. In order to keep the dance lively and exciting, the zhi-unicorn dancers must always keep moving, which requires great strength and stamina. According to Solvenz, proper preparations to ‘initiate’ the zhi-unicorn have to be conducted before dance can be performed. Despite these challenges, the Hakka is the only dialect group to perform it. It is possible that since the Hakka are often trained in martial art, they can dramatize it better. There have been recent revivals of the Hakka zhi-unicorn dance by martial art associations from Malaysia to Hawaii. In 2010, the Tsung Tsin [Hakka] Association of Hawai’i invited the Yeung Dak Physical Culture Dragon and Lion Dance Association to perform the zhi-unicorn dance at a celebratory banquet in Honolulu.303 I remember, in my childhood, seeing more zhi-unicorn dance than the lion dance in Pusing. The pixiu dance is another performance art that is seen as a Hakka cultural marker. The pixiu is said to “have a voracious appetite for only gold and silver, and has always been regarded as an auspicious creature that possesses the mystical power of drawing wealth from all directions . . . a traditional pixiu is made of clay, nine feet long with simple colors and ferocious appearance, and a pixiu dance typically lasts about an hour.”304 The Penang Youth Cultural Group of the Penang Hakka Association set up the first ever pixiu dance group in Malaysia and performed it for the first time in 2011. They are also planning to incorporate more Hakka music in it.305

Hoisting Big Flags: One of my informants considered the ‘hoisting big flag’ performance Hk. kia tai ki to be a Hakka specialty. The Gopeng Museum near Ipoh, Perak, which opened in 2009, was set up to tell the 150-year history of Gopeng as a tin-mining and rubber producing town. The Hakka were very much involved in these industries. As a result there was a large Hakka community at the turn of the twentieth century until the 1950s. Mr. Phang See Kong, the Hakka curator of the museum, confirms that the Hakka were famous for

303 See http://sites.google.com/site/tsungtsinhi/Tsung-Tsin-Association-Honolulu/unicorn (Retrieved on 25th March, 2011). 304 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixiu. 305 For a full report, see http://www.mysinchew.com/node/53305 (Retrieved 17th August, 2011). Hakka Cultural Markers 335 carrying and hoisting big flags during deity processions such as the celebration of Guanyin’s birthday in Gopeng. The performers balanced giant flags that ranged from ten to twenty meters high and could weigh up to thirty kilograms or more. These performances were accompanied by big drums, gongs and cymbals throughout the procession. The performances of these flag-bearers required skill, strength and stamina, and they were often associated with martial arts organizations. Given that the Hakka have a tradition in martial arts, it is not surprising that they developed such performing arts. It has been recorded that the other dialect groups also performed this art in the early twentieth century. Today, this art form has been incorporated into the annual Chinese New Year procession chingay 妝藝大遊行 in Penang and Singapore.306 It may have originated from the Hakka but it is now considered a Chinese tradition rather than just Hakka. Festive and religious celebrations in early Chinese migrant communities are fascinating areas that need more research. There is yet to be a definitive book on Hakka artistic expressions or their performing arts (opera, puppetry, theatre and music). However, Hakka mountain songs were without doubt an important Hakka cultural marker in the past. There have been attempts to revitalize them but it could never be the same. It has its time and place because most of these songs were situationally created. What we have now are modern songs sung in Hakka. Messrs. Chong Sau Lin and Yu Tian Long and their songs, show the evolving Hakka artistic situation in Malaysia. Taiwan has a lively Hakka music scene and Hakka songs and programs are aired on Hakka radio and TV stations. The nostalgia for Hakka mountain songs will no doubt generate new kinds of expressions and contribute to Hakkaness in the twenty-first century.

17 Death Rituals

James Watson in his study of Chinese identity and funeral rites notes that there are “interesting regional variations, but in general, all Chinese—from the poor- est farmer to the emperor himself—perform the same sequence of ritual acts at funerals” (Watson J. 1993, 87). However, ethnographic studies more often than not single out the Hakka as having some unusual funeral practices. One of them is secondary burial, which is practiced in the south and abhorred in the north. It is not surprising that the Hakka have developed funeral dirges that

306 See http://chingay.gov.my/ (Retrieved 23rd November, 2011). 336 Chapter 6 are sung like Hakka mountain songs. They also share some special funeral rites for women with some of the other dialect groups.

Secondary Burial: In 1689, the Gazetteer of Dongguan County recorded natives condemning the Hakka for “stealthily burying ancestral bones in another’s grave to gain geomantic benefits” (cited from Leong S.T. 1997, 65n91). This is a Hakka tradition, whereby the coffined body is buried for five to ten years after which time, the grave is opened; the bones cleaned; and placed in a specific order in a funerary vase called a Hk. kim kong (golden urn). Timothy Tsu (2002) gave a step-by-step account of the secondary burial rite as performed in a South Taiwanese village and the interpretations of the symbolism associated with the ritual in the context of the Chinese mortuary system. Wolfram Eberhard quotes H. Stübel from Die Li-Stämme der Insel Hainan (The Li Clan of Hainan Island) (1937, 258) that the Hakka on Hainan island practiced this custom also (1968, 106). Similarly, Luo Xianglin states that this custom is widely practiced by the Hakka in Guangdong (1933, 65). Howard Martin summarizes the procedure as such:

Upon death, the deceased is buried in a painted wooden coffin in a public cemetery or on a plot of private land . . . The corpse is exhumed by a ritual specialist after four to seven years have lapsed. The skeleton is arranged in a burial urn in a fetal position, sitting upright. The urn is transported to a protected site to await reburial. If a permanent tomb has been prepared, the urn is placed within at a time selected by a ritual specialist ( fa-shih or tao-shih). If a tomb has not been constructed or consecrated, an urn may sit above ground, protected from the elements, for several years (1991, 87).

Jessie and Rolland Lutz offer some explanation on why this custom is peculiar to the Hakka: “For a migratory people like the Hakka, secondary burial was functional, since the emigrant people could take the jar with the bones with him or could have it transferred when the family settled elsewhere” (1998, 156). This may be true because it is practical but Timothy Tsu’s explanation of the need for secondary burial is also tenable. Tsu states three goals related to this custom and these are purification of the remains, revival of the purified bones, and definition of the geomantic property of the grave. He concluded that “while primary burial merely expunges the polluting corpse from the community, secondary burial directly manipulates the corpse to completely eliminate it as a source of danger to the living” (2002, 1). Hakka Cultural Markers 337

As Mary Erbaugh notes, “Only Hakka simply dig up the ancestors’ bones and carry them in jars to each new settlement” (1996, 207). This also partially explains why geomancy is such a common occupation among the Hakka. In their migrational history there is always a need to build new houses, situate sites for ancestors’ exhumed bones or opening new graves for new ancestors. Since geomancy plays very important roles in these activities, it is not surprising that the Hakka gravitate towards such an occupation. Secondary burial as part of the veneration of ancestors and geomancy among the Hakka were points of contention for the Christian missionaries. For example, Jiang Jiaoren, despite being a baptized Christian still adhered to the tradition though he did it without attention to a special time and place before the ground was opened and when the bones were picked up according to geomancy. He described his experience in the secondary burial: “We also buried the bones of my father and his brother, which according to the superstitious custom of the Chinese, must be exhumed in order to be preserved in earthen vessels, after which they are reburied” (Lutz and Luzt 1998, 17). Though secondary burial is mostly seen as a Hakka custom, there are also cases in which other dialects practiced it as well. For example, Emily Ahern (1973, 204) and James Watson (1993, 208) have shown that the Hoklo and the Cantonese are also associated with the custom. If we accept the Lutzs’ argument that such a tradition serves their migratory history, then there is a high probability that the Hakka brought it to the south and in the inter-cultural exchange processes, it was adopted by some of the non-Hakka groups because as Timothy Tsu argues, secondary burial undertaken in late twentieth century is generally to improve failing familial circumstances by introducing new positive influences (2002, 16). This custom was narrated to Han Suyin in 1962 by a member of a Hakka family, who settled in Meixian, Guangdong. The great-grandfather’s bones were exhumed, cleaned without water, placed in the ‘golden urn’ which was then tied to the eldest son’s back for the move (Han 1965, 25). It was certainly still practiced by the Hakka in Malaysia and in Taiwan up to the 1970s. Migration to Malaysia is different because the move did not involve uprooting the family. The young men who sojourned to different parts of the globe left their family and their ancestors’ bones behind as they planned to return to China after making their fortune. However, many of these dreams were never fulfilled and the tradition of secondary burial was continued in Malaysia as a new cycle in the migration i.e. the first ancestor who died on the foreign soil was exhumed and reburied (not necessarily moved) after seven or eight years. In Pusing, this tradition is called DG Hk. chap kim (picking up gold) and it was commonly 338 Chapter 6 undertaken in the late 1950s. Family members, after ‘picking up the gold’ and putting them into a ‘golden urn’, then placed it in the ancestral clan grave or the community hall in the cemetery specially built for the purpose. Nowadays, this ceremony is seldom performed in Malaysia except in rural areas, when a family feels that they need to realign the good influences to improve the well- being of the family.

Mourning Dirge: The act of lamenting sorrow at a funeral is known as Hk. kiau oi. It is part of the funeral rites with a long history in China and it is not just a Hakka tradition. Ethnographic studies show that the Cantonese practiced it too but in a different context. The Cantonese call it Cn. haam laahn mehng weeping for a broken fate. Hakka funeral laments are closely associated with Hakka mountain songs and have a place in the Hakka cultural construct. Elizabeth Johnson notes that these laments are addressed to the deceased, as many lines end with a call to the dead person (1988, 138–141). However, the contents are varied depending on the motive of the mourner. Funerals were community affairs and Hk. kiau oi was still a common custom in Pusing up to the late 1960s. Whenever funeral rites were about to take place the relatives and the villagers would gather; some to help with the arrange- ments under the custom of Hk. tso ngin tsin generating community feeling and others as onlookers. After the corpse has been washed with water brought back from a river (or any water source if there is no river nearby) in the Hk. mai sui (buying water) ceremony, these laments, performed solely by women, would commence. Anyone related to the deceased could take part in the lamenting. My mother, born in 1920, was the eldest daughter-in-law and she did my grandmother, who passed away in 1970, the honor of performing one of these sessions, where she extolled my grandmother’s virtues and the sacrifices she has made for the family, and ‘sang her good-byes’. I did not see the other three daughters-in-law performing it. They were much younger than my mother and probably had not learnt the art or considered it an outdated tradition. Apart from showing grief, these occasions could also be used to air dirty linen, settle scores, apportion blame, or make accusations. These dirges are used to recount the lives of the deceased or to inform the deceased how their passing had put the ‘crier’ in a dire situation because the deceased’s absence meant they would not have his or her protection anymore—hinting to the living that they should not ill-treat them. Given all the different scenarios that could happen, such events were often attended with anticipation by the villagers, especially funerals of men who died with several surviving wives. I remember one woman was dragged away from the coffin when she was deemed to be “revealing too many family secrets”. There were also genuine expressions of Hakka Cultural Markers 339 grief and these performances usually had the audience crying as well. It was an important part of village life because the women’s performance would be ‘graded’ by the villagers like a test. It was not unusual to hear villagers praising a woman’s lament as filial and others as ‘entertaining’ (as in a good gossip). Yet there are others who see it as a duty to cry for the deceased so that they can have a proper send-off. The ‘born-again Hakka’ Ms Patricia Foo-Paton wrote, “I was eleven years old when Ah Da [grandfather] passed away at age fifty-nine [in 1963] and Ah Po [grandmother] grieved; lamenting with Hakka folk songs on their relations and hardships of leaving their motherland . . . I remembered the neighbors all helped out in Ah Da’s grand goodbye! Sewing and dying our clothes to ‘mourning’ black. Ah Da was laid out for seven days waiting for his relatives—Ah Kui Kong [granduncle from grandmother’s side], Ah Kui Mei [grandaunt also from grandmother’s side], etc. from Malaysia to pay their respects . . .” In the 1950s and 1960s, it was not unusual for the rich in Malaysia to conduct four- or five-day funeral rites for the deceased—including the Hakka. It is of course a difficult endeavor because of the tropical climate. The corpse has to be kept cool and prevented from smelling. I have witnessed 4711 eu de cologne being doused over the body in the coffin to keep it smelling fresh. Teams of funeral rites specialists Hk. lam mor lau would be engaged to perform the rites. I am still waiting to read a well-researched account of Hakka funeral undertakings in Malaysia and Singapore. I was told by one of my informant, who came from a family of such specialists, that there are special texts pertaining to the procedures. The one night-stand follows a certain format but for those that last more than one night, they became very elaborate affairs with different teams of these ritual specialists taking their turns. My attempt to interview one of these Hk. lam mor lau was denied. It is also interesting to note that most reports on Chinese funeral customs name white as the color of mourning. The Hakka mourning color of the immediate family members is always black. All the direct lineage family wore black with different accessories to denote their relationship with the deceased. Sons, daughters-in-law and daughters wore black clothes and hoods made of sackcloth. Sons-in-law wore white with a bit of red across their shoulders; grandchildren from sons and grandchildren from daughters had different accessories to distinguish their relationship to the deceased; and gan-sons and gan-daughters had their uniforms too. The mourning clothes and accessories are a very complex subject and it is an area waiting to be studied. All funerary rites are now simplified in Malaysia. The informant, who comes from a family of Hakka ritual priests, said that although he is interested in the tradition (i.e. the craft and knowledge) he 340 Chapter 6 cannot see himself going into the profession. He is studying Communication in a college in Kuala Lumpur. A recent funeral I saw in Beruas had recorded music blaring out of loudspeakers instead of a live band. Also, most people are opting for cremation instead of being buried, which is usually accompanied by a whole series of rites before and after the interment of the coffin in the cemetary and at home. Most funerals are now package deals, where the pro- vider sees to all the details of providing the coffin and hiring the ritual priests; plus setting up tents in front of the deceased’s home and preparing food for the family, relatives, neighbors and friends. This has destroyed the Hakka community spirit to some extent because the villagers are not expected to help set things up. Neighbors and relatives only come to pay their respects and to make their financial contributions. In the city the sanitization of funerals is heavier in the sense that the deceased are moved from their homes to a commercial funeral parlor and funeral rites are included in the one-stop all-in service.

Crossing The Blood Basin: Rev. Justus Doolittle referred to a funereal ritual called ‘bloody pond’ for married women: “The Chinese believe that in the infernal regions there is a pond of blood, into which deceased married women generally, or as some say, women who died in childbirth, or within one or four months after confinement, are plunged on their way into that world . . . The object of the Bloody-Pond ceremony is to save the spirit of a deceased mother from the punishment of the Bloody Pond” (1866, 196–197). Maxine Miska, who studies Hakka funeral rites in Taiwan, states that the ritual called ‘crossing the blood basin’ Hk. ko het pun (過血盆 guoxuepen) is a special rite performed at the funeral of a Hakka woman. It “focuses on a sub- stance at once deeply infused with personhood and profoundly taboo. The ritual expiates bodily transgressions after death” (1993, 57). This is a funeral rite performed for a woman who has borne children. It is believed that the soul of a woman who has given birth is imprisoned in a pool of blood and she has to be freed in order to make her journey to the underworld. According to Miska, this is the blood that flowed from the body of the women “into the earth after childbirth. This blood is considered polluting to the earth, and the woman will suffer in the pool unless she is helped by her descendants” (ibid., 90). It is believed that in birth the excorporation of blood gives life and in breaking the blood basin, the incorporation of blood by her children gives death, that it allows the soul to move on to a successive existence. Miska describes this ritual which she witnessed in Taiwan:

The ritual . . . involves setting up a small stool in the courtyard, under which sand is piled. Painted duck eggs and colored pennants are arranged in the sand. A bowl filled with wine is placed in the center of the sand pile Hakka Cultural Markers 341

beneath the stool. This stool with its flags and sand represent a fortress guarded by demons of the underworld. Imprisoned within the fortress is the soul of the dead woman, wallowing in a pool of blood, represented by the bowl of wine. In order to secure her release, her descendants drink the bowl of wine, symbolically drinking the blood in the pool of hell. Once done her soul is released from this torture and her passage through the underworld to rebirth is expedited (1993, 90).

It was definitely still performed up to the late 1960s and early 1970s in Pusing and Beruas. I witnessed a few of these rituals as a child but I cannot recall all the details. It was difficult to get the old Hakka women to talk about funeral rites because they believed that it is bad luck to talk about anything that has to do with death as it might bring them to an untimely demise or bring bad luck to their family members. Elizabeth Johnson has also been told in Hong Kong that “anything associated with a funeral is normally considered unlucky and even dangerous out of context” (2004, 29). Those old women I consulted in Beruas, who were willing to talk, started to chant Hk. “Tai kit li si! Tai kit li si!”—a chant that is supposed to ward off bad influences—before they answered my questions. They would not go into details and the talk was very general. They tended to gloss over many things. To my specific question regarding the ‘crossing the blood basin’ ritual, they answered that they were not sure if it was performed for all women who had given birth or for women who died in childbirth. Though Hakka death rites have a limited role in the twenty-first century, it is a subject that could provide more insights into their cultural history. However, it is being adapted and ‘modernized’ at such a speed that the time for studying it in detail is limited.

18 Ritual for Boys Only

Hakka have a strong sense of Confucian culturalism and their strong agnatic tradition demands that they take great measures to make sure that the male progeny survive to continue the family line. They also have ways to announce their good fortune at producing male descendants and have designed extraor- dinary ways to protect these precious commodities from harm, not only from human but especially malevolent elements or spirits.

Lamp Lighting: The ‘lighting of lamp’ ceremony Hk. hoi tenn 開燈 kaideng is a tradition that the Hakka used to announce to the world that there were male descendants in the family and the lineage would be continued. Due to the high 342 Chapter 6 infant mortality rate in the olden days, they made sure that the male offspring turned into little boys before they performed the ceremony. In Beruas, the auspicious day for such a ceremony was usually on the 15th Day of the lunar month. Oil lamps were used before they had electricity. These oil lamps were gradually replaced by red electric light bulbs. On the appointed auspicious day, leek was tied to the lamp with red silk string because leeks symbolize prolific progeny. It involved a simple ceremony, where the lamps were installed in the guest hall or sitting room. The boys made offerings to the ancestors for their existence and the grandparents were congratulated on their good fortune. The elder members of the family and clan members were then invited to partake in a feast after the lamps had been lit. Thereafter, the lamps were lit every 1st and 15th day of the lunar month. One of my informants, an elderly woman, narrated that having a ‘lighting lamp’ ceremony in one’s household is a source of pride and hope, i.e. informing the world that “in this house, male descendants have been produced”. Households that have no lamps to light on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month are to be pitied. She added, “In the olden days, back in the ancestral village, households that have ‘lit lamps’ would receive meat [for their fecundity] during festivals and celebrations from the clan organization. Women, whose houses had no male descendants, cried their eyes out, just watching others receiving meat because they knew the deeper implications.” It was still practiced until recently. Mr. Lean Yen Loong, a Hakka from Pusing informed me that in the 1980s his two sons had the ceremony performed for them when they were young boys. Similarly, the ceremony was performed for two of my nephews when they were ten and eleven years of age. This seems to be a variation from that performed in Hong Kong but the concept of celebrating the begetting of male descendants is the same. Elizabeth Johnson, in her study of patterned bands in a Hakka village in Hong Kong City, notes that “when a son had been born, a very long red patterned band was hung over the lantern which was raised in the ancestral hall at the [Cn.] hoi tang ceremony, symbolizing the birth of a son into the lineage” (1976, 83).

Protecting Little Boys from Evil Influences: Safeguarding male progeny was a priority in Hakka homes. The boys received the best care and were given the choicest food. To protect them from malicious forces that were beyond their control, the Hakka devised ingenious ways to outwit them. It was considered unwise to name a child before the full-month Hk. man nyet ceremony. If the baby boy survived to be named, his grandparents and parents would try to protect him from mischievous spirits that might be jealous of the child and cause him illnesses. Apart from his personal name, he was usually also given a nick- Hakka Cultural Markers 343 name that was supposed to confuse the bad spirits. Since malevolent spirits were believed to be interested in humans only, animal names, such as Little Dog (Hk. keu tsai) were chosen to mislead them. Little Dog would become Big Dog (Hk. thai keu) if a little brother was born soon after and he was named Little Dog (as happened to our neighbor). Amulets were procured from different temples to protect the male babies but if a child was sick too often, parents might take extreme measures. They would make the baby boy look like a baby girl to trick the malevolent spirits, who were supposed to be interested in little boys only. This custom was described by Huang Zunxian in a poem dedicated to his great-grandmother, Madam Li. After a younger brother and sister were born in quick succession and fearing that his mother’s milk would not be sufficient for all three children, Huang was taken away by his great-grandmother, who brought him up (Schmidt 1994, 5). He wrote a poem in honor of Madam Li and the poem shows how male descendants were treasured and protected from bad spirits or malevolent influences:

[My great-grandmother] Plucked me from Mother’s breast and carried me away, From that moment on I never left her side, And she cuddled me hundred times each day, With her own hand she cuts damask and silk, To tailor an outfit for her little great-grandson, She mixed crystal sugar with snow-white flour, And baked sweet tarts for her baby to eat, When my hair was disheveled, she combed it straight, When my feet got dirty, she heated bath water, She bought rouge and makeup at the market place, And then powdered my face until it become fragrant, She coaxed my hair up into a topknot, And then decked me with earrings that glowed like the moon, She dressed me in a red skirt and a crimson blouse, So I looked like a baby girl in every respect! (ibid., 260)

From the last six lines of the above verse, we can see how Huang’s great-grandmother was trying to protect him from evil spirits by dressing him up as a little girl. In the 1970s, a Hakka classmate told me that, to protect her younger brother from malevolent influences, her mother wanted to pierce her sickly brother’s ears so that he would look like a little girl with gold earrings but her father put a stop to that. Another option is to gan the boy to a deity, i.e. asking a 344 Chapter 6 deity (usually Guanyin or Goddess of Mercy) to be the ‘god-parent’ to the child. Parents tried to avoid this because the obligations are heavy and they did not want to burden the child. It is rare to hear of girls in Beruas, who were gan-ed to deities. These traditions of protecting boys were still practiced by the Hakka communities in Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the important role that Hakka women played in the cultural construct of the Hakka, girls were considered so unworthy that not even malevolent spirits were interested in them. Hakka girls in the twenty-first century do not have to contend with such discrimination.

19 Ordination Names

Another distinctive Hakka tradition is the use of ordination names Hk. long miang 郎名 langming or Hk. fap miang 法名 faming or Hk. 度命 in Hakka genealogies. Chan Wing-hoi states that the bestowing of ordination names was a religious practice popular among the Hakka from as early as the tenth century. They appear in the early section of Hakka genealogies but not in later generations after the seventeenth century. “The use of langming in Hakka genealogies invites comparison to the Yao and She traditions involving the ordination of males as an initiation into adulthood” (1995, 66). By the time Hakka settled in Malaya, this tradition had long gone into disuse. However, the use of generation names was continued in Malaysia.

20 Generation Names

One of the reasons that Hakka are said to be more conservative than the non- Hakka is because they used generation names Hk. pan tshu 班次 banci, Hk. phai pui 派輩 paibei or Hk. phai tshu (派字 paizi) more often. In the olden days, where three or four generations lived in the same household, it was important to distinguish the different generations in the same family because when young people married early and old men took on new wives or concubines late in life, it was not uncommon for one’s uncles or aunts to be much younger in years. The generation name gives a person (usually male) his identity and position in the family and clan hierarchy. The sequence of the different generations is usually determined by generation ‘poems’ or ‘songs’. Whenever a new lineage was established through geographical emigration or social elevation, they started their own poem or song—usually composed by a group of elders. These poems vary in length Hakka Cultural Markers 345 from around a dozen characters to hundreds of characters. Each successive character becomes the generation name for successive generations. When the use of the last character in the poem is reached, the cycle is repeated or the poem extended. One branch of the Liao family in Beruas still has the ‘poem’ left behind by their grandparents, Mr. Liaw Chuan Hin (廖傳*興 Liao Chuan Xing) (1900– 1977) and Madam Chen Keow Moi (曾嬌妹 Zeng Jiao Mei) (1902–1996). It reads:

始祖廖姓配名 Shizu liaoxing peiming (First Ancestor of the Liao Clan’s Name Conferring [Poem])

均必才光仕元達芳朝堂詩書傳*世遠學*葉廣聲楊英雄能定國富貴德稹祥仁義禮智信亁坤日月長均上必下一高一底307

According to the poem, Mr. Liaw Chuan Hin is the thirteenth generation of this branch of the Liao clan as indicated by his generation name Chuan 傳*. What is interesting is that this family skipped two generations in the use of their generation poem in Malaysia. Mr. Liaw Yoon Foo is the grandson of Mr. Liaw Chuan Hin. Yoon Foo’s father was named Lew Tong Sing (originally Liao Dong Sheng 廖洞生 and later 廖棟生). If the poem was used strictly to prescribe names for his generation then he should have been named 廖世生 Hk. Liao She Sang. Tong Sing was the only surviving biological child of Mr. Liaw Chuan Hin and Madam Chen Keow Moi. Later they bought a girl and one of Mr. Liaw’s brothers gave them one of their sons. It is possible that Mr. Liaw Yoon Foo’s father was named ‘Cave-born 洞生’ because his parents were trying to protect him from the ‘bad spirits’. It is believed that being born in such a lowly place as a cave would render him unworthy of attention from bad spirits. As soon as it looked like they have outwitted the bad spirits, they changed his name to 棟生 Dongsheng (House-born). However, his name still deviated from the generation poem.

307 For translation of the poem, see Appendix C. 346 Chapter 6

Nor did the next generation follow the poem because they should have used Yuan 遠 but instead, Mr. Liaw Yoon Foo and his brother were given Hk. Yoon (永 yong) as their generation name. However, the following generation (his sons and his nephews as the sixteenth generation have all adopted the generation name Hk. Hock (學* xue) as in the poem sequence. Mr. Liaw Y.F. is not sure why the family skipped two generations. He speculated, “It could be that the family poem was only discovered or received from someone after our generation. But Grandma instructed us to use the generation name for our children, which we all did”. There are very few surviving family members who can throw any light on the mystery of the two-generational lapse. For the time being, this branch of the Liao family is trying to reclaim at least a small part of their Hakka heritage by reviving the use of the generation poem to create names for their male offspring. However, we have to keep in mind that many of them have married non-Hakka women and their children’s Hakka identity has been eroded beyond reclaiming. In that sense, reinstating the use of the generation poem in this Hakka family allows them to reclaim some elements of their heritage, which can contribute to their Hakkaness.

The above list of Hakka cultural markers shows that most of them have only historical importance and little relevance in the Hakka identity of the new generation in the twenty-first century. Due to the dehakkalization process in the last forty years, the usefulness of these markers has deteriorated. The rapid decline is borne out in the case study by comparing certain Hakka cultural elements of the BGH and their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. When some of these cultural markers are applied to the three generations, there is clear erosion of Hakka identity from one generation to the next. Migration, though still an important factor in producing global Hakka, is different between the BGH and their grandparents’ generation. BGH’s grandparents came mostly as huashang (traders) and huagong (laborers) and all their parents were born in Malaysia. According to Wang Gungwu’s migration pattern the BGH fits into the fourth Chinese migration pattern of the Descent or Re-migrant Pattern. As such, like other global Hakka, the BGH have only historical ties with China and no personal affinity. Ancestral village is a term that refers to their grandfather’s village somewhere in China and has no role in their lives. They refer to their place of birth as their hometown. Until recently, blood ancestry and the Hakka language have been the two most important cultural markers that gave the Hakka their undisputed Hakka identity but in the twenty-first century, marrying across dialect and race has diluted blood ancestry and has contributed to the rapid waning of the Hakka language for global Hakka. The hundred percent Hakka-Hakka marriages of Hakka Cultural Markers 347 the grandparents of the BGH is reduced to zero in the BGH. This has affected not only the blood ancestry but also the language spoken in the families. All the BGH spoke Hakka but only those of their children born in Malaysia before their migration could speak Hakka. None of those born after emigration spoke it. This is the trend for global Hakka around the world. So language, blood ancestry, and migration patterns as Hakka cultural markers are inadequate in the twenty-first century. Education and occupation used to be important markers for the Hakka. Opportunities in the receiving countries along with the shifts in economies and immigration policies mean both these markers have lost their functions. Education and job opportunities in Malaysia were open to all dialects. The shift can also be seen in the case study. Every BGH has a formal education compared to only 18 percent of their parents’ generation. Their parents’ occupations were mainly associated with agriculture and small business while the BGH have mostly become middle-class professionals. Hence, education and occupations cannot be used as Hakka cultural markers in the twenty-first century. As my research shows, death rituals, traditions performed for boys only, the practice of taking in child-daughters-in-law are markers that have been disappearing and some survived only into the mid-twentieth century in Malaysia. Traits such as fighting and pioneering spirit, diligence, thrift and conservativeness remain only as ethos to aspire to and have no basis as cultural markers in twenty-first century society. Some of the other markers such as religion, food, artistic expression, and the bestowing of ordination or generation names have all been diluted to the point of non-distinction. The role of Hakka woman, an iconic Hakka cultural marker in the past, can hardly be used to identify the Hakka in this day and age. Apart from the earthen round house, redesigned for institutional or commercial uses, Hakka architecture for living space has not survived simply because habitats and the way we live have changed making it unsuitable for modern living. Cultural markers are still useful to the global Hakka for defining their traditional Hakka identity, but as their Hakka identity gradually turned into Hakkaness by the onslaught of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism, these markers become less relevant. Most of these markers will become irrelevant in future generations and the two most important markers (blood ancestry and the Hakka language) will not survive in the offspring of the global Hakka. The answer to the question whether Hakka cultural markers are still relevant in the twenty-first century is clearly “No”. The dehakkalization process has rendered these markers inapplicable. Perhaps, the point to make is not whether these markers are still useful or relevant but more to ask if Hakka need these markers to define their identity in this day and age. By all accounts 348 Chapter 6 it appears that ‘Hakka identity’ in the twenty-first century based on cultural markers is untenable and a more suitable concept of relating to ‘being Hakka’ is to look at the elements of Hakka identity that constitute Hakkaness. Since Hakkaness is an open and elastic concept there is no need for definitive cultural markers. These so-called Hakka cultural markers should be conveyed into the golden chest of Hakka history—to be taken out and used for historical studies or going down memory lane. Chapter 7 Conclusions

Global Hakka: Hakka Identity in the Remaking is a study of micro-history in the realm of Chinese Studies. The primary objective of this work is to document the shaping and reshaping of Hakka identity in the global context and observe what shape it will take in the twenty-first century. I have supported my thesis with arguments in relation to concepts such as ethnicity, Han, Chineseness, huaqiao, modern sojourning Chinese, overseas Chinese and migration which are connected to the perception of being Chinese and Hakka. In the past Hakka identity has attracted the most attention of all the different Chinese dialect groups because of its many distinctive cultural traits. However, there have been very few works published on how Hakka identity has evolved in the last three decades. As such, this is an overdue reassessment of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century, which is influenced tremendously by globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism and digital cross-pollination. In conjunction with the above concepts, I have explored new ideas such as elastic identity, dehakkalization, and sinoism as an off-shoot of racism. The origins and the use of so-called Hakka cultural markers have also been re- examined to ascertain their roles in giving Hakka their distinctive identity in the past and whether they are still relevant in this day and age. With the reassessment of Hakka history and Hakka ethno and cultural genesis, I have redefined Hakka identity for the twenty-first century within the global framework of transnational relations. This work explores new directions in re-contextualizing and re-conceptualizing Hakka identity with the help of works from many disciplines. The insights that I have harvested from my research, fieldwork and travels are reflected through systematic analysis. I have also summarized the historiography of Hakka Studies up to its latest position and brought it into the global context by combining it with studies in social sciences and anthropology. By reviewing materials from different disciplines and contextualizing them in this study, I have given the study of global Hakka identity transnational and inter-cultural perspectives. This combined approach reveals different facets of Hakka identity across historical narratives that have been neglected for some time. I have also selected so-called Hakka texts such as genealogy, generation poems, ditties, mountain songs and modern compositions to show how certain aspects of Hakka identity have persisted as well as transformed and reformed through time and place.

The making and remaking of Hakka identity in the twenty-first century is summed up by the three elements in the title of this work i.e. globalization, identity, and identity-remaking. These three elements provide the basis for a model that can be extrapolated to other cultural groups traversing the same journey. This model can also provide insights into how identity-remaking can be used by individuals or cultural groups worldwide to examine their lapsed heritage or lost traditional identity which are inevitably eroded in the age of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism and digital cross-pollination. I have presented an analytical study which has yielded processual information and corresponding conclusions in a constantly changing and shrinking internationalism. In other words, I have documented the process of Hakka identity in the remaking, where the outcome is fluid and the only constants are its transformation and reformation. This study of Hakka identity in the remaking can also contribute to new migration studies or theories in the social sciences, anthropology, ethnology and the humanities. The ambiguity of identity as a concept in the twenty-first century rendered Hakka identity, whether claimed, ascribed or appropriated, problematic. The process of the constant making and remaking of Hakka identity has produced different forms of personal and group Hakka identities around the world. The transformation and reformation of Hakka identity in the last three decades fits into the context of globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism. These processes together with new patterns of migration and technological advancements have given rise to the concept of the global Hakka. I have chosen the term ‘global Hakka’ to reflect the dynamics of this newly- created, interconnected, transnational community where national and ethnic boundaries are recast periodically; geographical distances shortened by modern travel; and cultural boundaries blurred by inter-culturalism within the realm of globalization. ‘Global Hakka’ encompasses not only the notions of change, dynamism, fluidity and a world on the move but also a Hakka identity that is transnational, protean, elastic and still in the process of being remade. The process of Hakka identity-remaking is ad infinitum and, as such, there is no limit to the ways in which Hakka identity can be transformed and reformed. In the twenty-first century, the remaking of Hakka identity has arrived at a point where calling it Hakka identity is problematic. When people take on more and more identities as they encounter different scenarios in different phases of their lives, innate or traditional identities can be marginalized (disclaimed) or brought to the fore (reclaimed) to negotiate the different situations in life. As this study shows, the effects of migration, globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism have provided many scenarios which have contributed to the creation of the concept of elastic identity Conclusions 351 for the global Hakka. The global Hakka use identity-elasticization either to enhance their personhood by emphasizing it or they marginalize their Hakka identity by hiding it. Identity-elasticization is an approach that global Hakka are comfortable with in their busy lifestyles. They elasticize their Hakka identity as and when they see fit for the occasion. In general, the more identities a global Hakka takes on, the further their Hakka identity is subverted. By adopting an elastic identity, global Hakka are able to negotiate themselves into the different communities—both local and transnational, Hakka and non-Hakka. Globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism have not only facilitated flexible citizenship but they also pro- pel elastic identity. A change in citizenship requires transfer of national identity and a pledge of political allegiance to the new adopted nation. However, it requires only an open heart and mind to adopt elastic identity and there are no limits to the number of identities that one can embrace to feed that elasticity. To the question of “Who are you?” the global Hakka practice identity- elasticization to negotiate their place in their community, society or country. This study also gives fresh new insights into concepts such as ethnicity, identity, Han, Chineseness, huaqiao, sojourning Chinese, overseas Chinese and migration in relation to global Hakka identity. Taken together with the processes of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism, these concepts affect Hakka identity-remaking. These concepts are problematic not only for the Hakka case in this day and age but also for Chinese Studies in general because the paradigms and boundaries defining them have shifted within the globalized world. Globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialism, technological advancement and digital cross-pollination have turned villages into global communities, which affects the way the Chinese construct their Chineseness—as the global Hakka have. The idea of a monolithic Chineseness has been debunked and it is set to fragment further in the future. The gaps between the different Chineseness around the world are getting wider and wider, and Chineseness is not only different around the world but it can also be different within a country, community and even in a family. Chineseness will be embraced as part of a personal identity and there are as many types as social, economic and political environments can produce. Mainland Chineseness might dominate as a brand of Chineseness because of its sheer numbers but it cannot claim exclusivity on the world stage because overseas Chineseness, though fragmented, provides viable alternatives. The long accepted belief that “you are Chinese or you are not” has been demystified because Chinese around the world demand to be seen as Chinese of their own making, be it American, Australian or Malaysian Chinese. The 352 chapter 7 rising involvement of different Chinese communities in local and national politics and the economies of their receiving countries around the world tes- tify to it. This fragmentation is not only the result of socio-political-economic and cultural factors. Genetic transfer is also playing an increasingly important role. Chineseness in traditional Hakka identity was a contentious issue in early twentieth century China. Hakka wanted to be seen as sharing the same Chinese Chineseness. However, in the twenty-first century, the Chineseness of the global Hakka is influenced by political, biological, economic and social challenges that are fuelled by globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism. As such, they develop the kind of Chineseness that serves their own personal agendas. The antagonistic attitudes and vitriol spilled among the Chinese against one another confirm the schism between the different Chinese groups around the world. Calling their prejudices and in some cases hatred (e.g. between the Hongkongers and Mainland Chinese) is not giving enough importance to these emotional manifestations. It is a phenomenon that should be watched closely. Perhaps it signifies the onset of a new ‘racial’ theory or the inception of a new term to describe this new development—sinoism or chinesism? Chineseness as a concept will follow the route of Hakkaness, which is fluid and open, and can be claimed or disclaimed. It too will be based on personal choice and lifestyle as to which kind of Chineseness one subscribes to. The huaqiao (Chinese sojourners) concept was an important historical concept that essentialized migration out of China and it was mostly nayang- bound. However, it suffered a natural death by the mid-twentieth century. Being huaqiao gave early migrants both political and psychological securi- ties, which bound them to China. New emigrants from China are now called 新移民 xinyimin with new destinations, such as Africa and other parts of the world. Historically, we accept that all huaqiao are Chinese sojourners, but in the twenty-first century, Chinese sojourners are not huaqiao. Modern Chinese sojourners are global. This shows that migration theories have to be reassessed and new terms have to be coined for modern Chinese sojourners. Historical, spatial and temporal factors have to be factored into the equation. Hence, the term huaqiao should be retired in modern migration studies and the English expression ‘Chinese sojourner’ has to be used with care because new waves of migration out of Mainland China as part of the globalization process are technically also Chinese sojourners vis-à-vis American Chinese sojourners in China. All Han are Chinese but being Chinese is not the same as being Han and by the same token Hakka is not necessarily Han. Hakka is part of the Chinese family. The modern Han nomenclature is a concept invented by politicians and revolutionaries to unite the Chinese. Overseas Chinese in Malaysia and Conclusions 353

Singapore do not see themselves as Han. They prefer to call themselves huaren—people of Chinese descent and they refer to Chinese from Mainland China as ‘Chinese nationals’. Given the dramatic rise of China both economically and militarily, it will be interesting to see how China embraces the Han concept and who can be Han in the future. As it stands now, Han Chinese is just one of the fifty-six ethnic groups in China, and overseas Chinese do not belong in this category. Given that Hakka identity has shifted and whether we use ethnological, societal, western or eastern definitions of ethnicity, there is no such thing as Hakka ethnicity in China or beyond in this day and age. Hakka identity must be redefined in the global framework of transnational relations and not pegged to ethnicity, which is now subject to new boundaries and paradigms. The term ‘Hakka ethnicity’ has no place in Hakka studies in the twenty-first century. Similarly, the concept of being Hakka has to be re-assessed and redefined in a changing internationalism. Global Hakka living in their new receiving countries cannot sustain their Hakka identity, and what is left from the erosion of their Hakka heritage are only elements of their Hakka identity. Anthropology and ethnology essentialized identity for Chinese migrants all over the world, but to understand Hakka identity-remaking in the twenty-first century adequately requires a more personalized approach, because anthropological and ethnographical boundaries and paradigms are too limiting and constricting. Global Hakka identity is being remade to a point where it no longer constitutes an identity in the twenty-first century. The lack of opportunities or contexts for them to exercise their Hakka identity has sped up the process. Hakka identity has been marginalized, eroded and crowded out of the Hakka’s personal identity as they move around the world. Hakka identity in the twenty-first century has become a personal concept determined by lifestyle and personal choices. Hakka identity co-exists with the other identities that an individual acquires in the course of their lifetime and the advantage is that this personalized Hakka identity can be elasticized as and when the situation requires. Young people with only elements of ‘Hakka identity’ would find it difficult to recognize themselves as Hakka. However, they can profess to have Hakkaness—personalized Hakka qualities that are part of their overall identity or personhood. Cultural markers provided essential paradigms and conditions for the construction of Hakka identity in the past. Through the analysis of Hakka migrational history, I have demonstrated why migration should be considered a Hakka cultural marker in the making of traditional Hakka identity because migrational experiences and the narratives of emigration and immigration play an important role in the construction of Hakka identity. The globalization 354 chapter 7 process has transformed old migration models and new ones have developed. Though migration cannot be considered an exclusive cultural marker for the global Hakka in the twenty-first century, it is still very important because of the continuity of its function in creating global Hakka and its contributions to the Hakka identity-remaking process. Migration always entails spatial separation but space and distance cannot prevent the formation of global Hakka communities in this new technological era. Migration is an essential element in the Hakka identity-remaking process both in the past and at present. The Hakka are part of the global labor migration phenomenon of the twenty-first century. On the one hand, Hakka migration is the driving force that transforms and reforms Hakka identity and the move contributes to their distinctive cultural construct. On the other hand, it also diminished and marginalized their Hakka identity as they moved and adapted to new environments. Every time the Hakka migrate to a new place, it is inevitable that a little of their Hakka identity is adulterated through social interaction with other cultures. Hakka identity is made and remade with every move—then and now. The re-evaluation of the so-called Hakka cultural markers has brought new insights into Hakka identity and their cultural construct in the past and in future. Using the list of Hakka cultural markers that I have culled from different sources, I have demonstrated that most of these markers have only historical value and no place in Hakka identity in the twenty-first century. Defining a Hakka in the twenty-first century will be a difficult job because most of these traditional Hakka cultural markers have lost their function as identity markers. Even the two powerful markers (blood ancestry and language) have been eroded by genetic admixture and cultural adaptation. Globalization, trans nationalism, deterritorialization and digital cross-pollination have further complicated Hakka identity to an extent where there is no one right answer to what Hakka identity is. This is also part of Hakka identity-remaking because dehakkalization has rendered cultural markers irrelevant. Erosion of Hakka identity through globalization, transnationalization, deterritorialization, technological advancement and migration contributed to the dehakkalization process, which in turn made most of the cultural markers irrelevant in the last forty years. In the last two decades globalization, cultural adaptation, government policies, upward social mobility and personal choices have hastened the dehakkalization process. The biological contributing factor to dehakkalization is manifested when a Hakka marries a non-Hakka— especially someone of another race. This personal choice has profound consequences for the Hakka as a group as well as individuals, as this study has shown. Conclusions 355

If current trends persist, Hakka identity and whatever Hakka culture that exists now will (1) die out—especially in the global Hakka; (2) be intellectualized by academics; (3) be touristified for Hakka unanimity as the Hakka Mother River Memorial has done; or (4) be ‘disneyfied’ through the building of ‘Hakka villages’ for tourism as in Taiwan, China and Penang, Malaysia. These outcomes are also part of the dehakkalization process and they contribute to the remaking of Hakka identity. Given how Hakka history has unfolded through the ages, dehakkalization is inevitable. However, it used to take two to three generations to lose language skills but among the global Hakka it has happened from one generation to the next. Dehakkalization will produce individuals left with only elements of Hakka identity, which cannot be constituted as an identity in the traditional sense because identity requires markers, however few it might take. These individuals can only claim to have Hakkaness. By all accounts it appears that dehakkalization through cultural adaptation, assimilation or genetic transfer has created different ways of ‘feeling’ Hakka around the globe that are not based on cultural markers. The concept of ‘being Hakka’ in the twenty-first century will involve adopting elements of Hakka identity to form part of a personhood. As this idea of being Hakka is reconstituted from elements of Hakka identity, it does not come anywhere near the traditional Hakka identity. It is a small part of the whole identity of an individual. Furthermore, it is mostly personal and selective, and based on lifestyle and attitude. This feeling or perception, of ‘being Hakka’ in the twenty-first century, has become fluid and inclusive and the outcome is a sense that is best described as Hakkaness within their selfhood. Since Hakkaness is an open and flexible concept it requires no cultural markers to sustain its existence. Hakka identity is mostly historical whereas Hakkaness represents the present and the future. Put another way, Hakka identity is based on collective memory and history while Hakkaness is free to be constructed and adapted to fit into the future. It is a quality determined by oneself and one’s lifestyle. Hakkaness is therefore, more akin to individual personality. There was continuity in Hakka identity which was upheld by traditions and customs whereas Hakkaness has no continuity. It takes root wherever and whenever it sees fit and it is global in nature. Traditional Hakka identity was maintained by many of the cultural markers but it cannot be said of Hakkaness. Hakkaness involves embracing random elements of Hakka identity and it depends on an individual’s personal choice. Anthropology emphasizes continuity to define identity but Hakkaness is a new off-shoot that arises out of discontinuity. Hakkaness points to a method that describes a personal phenomenon and it cannot be confined in a theory. It is a work still in progress—an unfinished process. 356 chapter 7

However, we can call it the XYZ-ness concept that can be applied to all cultural groups going through the same experience. Hakkaness is part of a person’s identity. It is a constitutional part of our identity. It is selective, situational and governed by personal lifestyle or views. Unlike Hakka ethnicity in the past, which was innate as well as constructed by conflicts, Hakkaness does not pose any threat. Others are interested in Hakkaness only as a cultural trend and there is no competition either. Claiming Hakkaness is a personal choice based on lifestyle and outlook. In the past, diminishing Hakka identity was not an exercise of a single point in time or event but a gradual process—a natural progression. Hakka identity in the remaking in the past was a gradual process but Hakkaness is a global project that is happening at an astonishing speed. The general consensus among global Hakka is that in the age of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism and digital cross-pollination, being a Hakka has no benefits in their day-to-day encounters, but it has some cultural advantages with other Hakka who feel strongly about their Hakka identity or Hakkaness. I found that despite the minimal advantage to having a Hakka identity in the twenty-first century, people still admit to having Hakka roots, mainly because of nostalgia and ontological expectations and demands. By identifying with Hakka ancestry and ethos, it evokes a powerful sense of history and distinctiveness in the Chinese realm. Older Hakka may still be able to enjoy these associations but the younger generation, though proud of their Hakkaness, will have a hard time relating to being Hakka in the traditional sense. I surmise that it is not a question of whether ‘Hakka identity’ will survive but rather in what form. Being Hakka would be a state in which elements from the historical and traditional Hakka identity are incorporated into their personhood and it is better expressed as Hakkaness. In future, a mutated form of cultural Hakkaness might continue to fascinate historians and ethnographers. The museums and restored Hakka villages for cultural tourism will be the few places that offer ‘Hakka culture’ and experiences. Thus, commercialization and disneyfication of the Hakka identity will ensure the survival of Hakkaness as a cultural brand. Global Hakkaness is reconnecting the Hakka and generating a new kind of twenty-first century Hakka unanimity. Global Hakka will continue to network globally to stay as a cultural group and to attend Hakka world events to formal- ize these connections. With the help of modern technologies and communication techniques, these Hakka activities might even lead to a re-flowering of different kinds of Hakka ‘communities’ that are both local and global. The study on global Hakka from Beruas shows how transformation and reformation of Hakka identity are linked to migration patterns, globalization, transnationalism, and deterritorialism and sets the stage for understanding Conclusions 357 the trends and directions that global Hakka identity is taking in the twenty- first century. It also represents many of the trends of the identity-remaking processes that other cultural groups are facing. The constant global Hakka identity-remaking in the cultural-socio-politico-economic context has not ‘damaged’ BGH’s identity completely, but it has altered it to a point of no return. The Hakka identity of the BGH is eroded and marginalized not only by the processes of globalization, transnationalism and deterritorialization but also by personal choices (not speaking to their children in Hakka) and genetic admixture (marrying a person of a different dialect or race). Their progeny have no Hakka identity to speak of. What they can claim is only Hakkaness— elements of Hakka identity within their crowded identities. The sad thing is that Hakkaness in the latest generation will inevitably be crowded out by other identities. In time, Hakkaness too will be a memory. The findings in the case study corroborated earlier statements that education, success, and upward social mobility contribute to dehakkalization. It also confirms that the most damaging factor that marginalizes Hakka identity is marrying outside the dialect and race. This act destroyed the two most important Hakka cultural markers—blood ancestry and language. Hakka identity is eroded and marginalized in the BGH as they adapt to a new lifestyle in their receiving countries and the survival of the Hakkaness of their children is ques- tionable. In time there will not be much left to be ‘remade’. As my research shows, it is rare to find a Hakka-Hakka marriage among the global Hakka and this means that Hakka identity could be bred out genetically in a couple of generations. This case study can serve as a model for other cultural groups going through the same shift in identity-remaking. At this stage of the journey of Hakka identity-remaking, in which global Hakka identity is diminishing and their progeny can only claim Hakkaness, I would like to reiterate that Hakkaness is an inclusive and open concept, which sets no limits or boundaries i.e. a concept where elements of Hakka identity can be claimed, disclaimed, reclaimed, ascribed or appropriated by others. It can be a quality that one can embrace or discard to varying extents; display in the open or hide away. The elements of Hakkaness could include qualities such as the wish to be identified as being a Hakka through personal and collective history, family kinship, ancestral village of the ancestors, native hometown or natal-country; affinity with Hakka food, customs, traditions and other cultural activities, or through membership of Hakka associations or forums (both local and international). Any individual can claim Hakkaness as part of their elastic identity regardless of the percentage of blood ancestry or whether that person can or cannot speak the language. In short, it is a personal cultural construct that can be embraced, transformed and reformed in any way that one finds relevant in the global context. In this sense anyone can claim to 358 chapter 7 have Hakkaness if they can find affinity with Hakka identity elements. Hence, Hakkaness is a better choice to describe the concept of being Hakka in the twenty-first century. Anyone who possesses Hakkaness as part of their personal identity can choose to express it in any way they see fit. As I conclude this study, I would like to share some thoughts regarding my Hakka identity as a global Hakka at this juncture. Dehakkalization has eroded my traditional Hakka identity to the point where I can only say that I have Hakkaness as part of my personal identity in my day-to-day living, but this Hakkaness can revert to a Hakka identity when I am in Beruas. Do I mourn for my diminishing Hakka identity and that I am only left with Hakkaness? Ja’nien. I feel Hakka when I visit my family in Malaysia, where I can still speak the Hakka dialect or eat home-cooked Hakka food. Living in the West for an extended period of time has deprived me of the context to express my Hakka identity. My Hakka identity has been eroded to the point where it can no longer be called identity but can only be construed as Hakkaness. The awareness of ‘being Hakka’ is now mostly nostalgic memories of my childhood. So, yes, I mourn for my vanishing Hakka identity but at the same time I know that it is inevitable in the age of globalization. On the one hand globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialism, and digital cross-pollination have contributed to the dehakkalization process in the last thirty years, but on the other hand, these processes have also enabled the global Hakka to negotiate and deal with their diminishing Hakka identity in their personhood. They can network to spread the word of danger that is threatening what is left of the Hakka identity and culture. I am not confident of a revival but we can hope for some low level maintenance. It might even awake latent and lapsed Hakka and get them involved in discussing the crisis facing Hakka identity. Global Hakka: Hakka Identity in the Remaking has borne out my thesis that Hakka identity will be genetically and culturally adulterated to a point where it cannot be seen as identity but only as Hakkaness—the XYZ-ness in your person- or selfhood. If I may be bold enough, I would state that the demise of the Hakka identity will happen in the next two generations of Hakka around the world. No one and nothing can stop their and their progeny’s Hakka identity from diminishing and disappearing. The double onslaught of genetic adulteration and inter-culturalism and the effects of globalization, transnationalism, deterritorialization and digital cross-pollination have proved to be the undo- ing of the Hakka identity of the global Hakka. However, on a positive note, global Hakka around the world can claim or reclaim Hakkaness in their self- or personhood and they can use it to strengthen and give diversity to their personal identity. Appendices

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Appendix A Global Hakka: A Case Study308

Jessieca Jones (a.k.a. Jessieca Leo)

1 Introduction to the Case Study

The aim of this paper is to study a small group of Hakka,309 who have left the village- town of Beruas in the state of Perak on the west coast of the Malaysian Peninsula,310 to make their homes overseas—mostly in cultures that are very different from the Hakka environment in which they grew up.311 It looks at the reasons why they left their hometown;312 how they identify themselves in their new place of residence; who they married; their offspring in relation to the Hakka language and traditions; how they see the future of ‘Hakka culture’, and the social and cultural costs of living overseas, marrying outside the dialect group and their evolving Hakka identity. For the purpose of this paper, I use the term ‘global Hakka’ to refer to someone who has left their hometown to reside in another country, usually with a different culture. I have not used the more traditional terms ‘Hakka migrants’, ‘overseas Hakka’ or the more fashionable ‘diasporic Hakka’, because these terms carry with them historical contexts and paradigms from a world that has seen tremendous social, political and economic changes. We live in a world that is in the process of being further globalized not only economically but also physically, socially and intellectually. Nowadays it is common to find families, not only spread out all over their natal-country313 but also

308 I wish to thank my supervisor Professor Dennis Schilling for his support and supervision, Professor Chuang Ya-chung for his valuable comments on the paper when it was first presented at The Second Taiwan International Conference on Hakka Studies (2008); the anonymous reviewers for their encouragement and constructive suggestions; and most of all, the informants for their patience and co-operation. 309 The author is part of the group under study. 310 Please see Map 1 for the location of Beruas. 311 I have excluded Beruas Hakka living in Singapore for this study because of the similar cultural and social environment. Their values and lifestyles are so alike that Hakka leaving Malaysia to live in Singapore do not have to make many changes to adjust to their new life. 312 I use ‘hometown’ as opposed to ‘ancestral home’ because the latter is often associated with their grandparents’ home in China. 313 I have divided the migration history of the Beruas global Hakka into three different phases. The first phase starts in their ‘natal-country’ (Malaysia), which I define as the place where they are born and spent their childhood. The second phase was spent in their respective ‘transit-country’, where they studied, worked and lived before migrating. Lastly, the third

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004300279_010 362 Appendix A around the globe. Thus, for this case study, the term ‘global Hakka’ is more appropriate in this newly-created, interconnected, transnational world community where geographical distances are shortened by modern travel and where cultural boundaries are constantly being eroded and recast in the globalization process. Global Hakka conveys not only a sense of change, dynamism and fluidity but also an identity that is transnational, on the move, and still in the making. This is the first case study of a larger comparative study that I plan to carry out on global Hakka from different communities, villages, towns or cities in different countries. The Beruas global Hakka is a unique case because they form a ‘homogenous group’in the sense that they all share a common background, such as being brought up in the same small town and village environment; being influenced by common social factors; having families who know each other; and many of them having been to the same school together at some point in their lives. The study of this group of global Hakka is significant because it is different from earlier studies. This survey looks at individual Hakka as a unit to form a group that is separated spatially, whereas the Hakka studies preceding this have, so far, dealt with groups of Hakka in a particular Hakka community as the unit under study.314 For this group, being alone (i.e. isolated from Hakka contact and influences) meant that they and their families have had to adapt radically to their new environment and compromise on their Hakka values and identity. I believe that such a study could help us understand not only the migration pattern of an ethnic group in a globalized world, but also how future transnational developments will influence the formation and transformation of Hakka identity worldwide. Since language and ancestry are becoming less and less useful markers for defining ethnic identity in a world where cultural boundaries are being constantly diffused and shifted, I hope this case study will initiate the debate on setting out the criteria for defining a Hakka in the twenty-first century. Before we look at the findings of this survey, it is important to establish how this group, the Beruas global Hakka was created. One of the main reasons that contributed to its creation was Malaysia’s political agenda in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the older global Hakka left Beruas in the 1970s to study overseas when the New Economic

phase is associated with their ‘host-country’ i.e. where they have decided to reside at the time the interviews were conducted. Most of the Beruas global Hakka have gone through all three phases and many have lived in more than one ‘transit-country’. A few continue to live in their ‘transit-country’ and have turned it into their host-country by becoming citizens. 314 For recent studies of different groups of Hakka around the world, see Constable (ed.) (1996); also see Sinn (ed.) (1998), and Hsu L.K. & Serrie (eds) (1998) on Overseas Chinese communities in different parts of the world. Each group under study has one host-country whereas the global Hakka as a group has different host-countries. Appendix A 363

Policy (NEP) was introduced.315 The NEP was conceived after the political crisis of May 1969 when the Chinese clashed with the Malays, with the aim ‘to eradicate poverty’ and ‘restructure society to eliminate the identification of race with economic function’. However, the implementation of these lofty ideals created instead resentment and situations in which the Chinese were discriminated against.316 One of the policies introduced by the NEP that affected the Beruas global Hakka was the quota system in higher education.317 A large number of Chinese students were not given places at local universities although they had the results required to qualify them for entry. Thus, Malaysian Chinese students left in huge numbers for Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. Many of the Beruas global Hakka in this survey were among those students who left Malaysia for higher education. Some of them did not return after their education, but many did return only to emigrate later because they saw no prospects for themselves or their children in their natal-country, where being Chinese was increasingly a cause for discrimination.318 It was also around this time that the government decided to switch from English to Malay as the medium of instruction in the education system. By 1975 the conversion program from English to Malay as the medium of instruction in all national-type (English) primary schools was completed and the conversion program of national- type (English) secondary schools was completed by 1982.319 University first-year Arts courses were conducted in Malay as of 1980 and by 1983 all university courses in the arts, science, engineering, medicine etc., were conducted in Malay. The younger global Hakka from Beruas adapted very quickly but the older ones were put at a disadvantage and they saw no future for their children’s education. Those with families aspired to sending their children to a Western university and, therefore, learning English was paramount for their children. The other important factor that contributed to the migration of the Beruas global Hakka in the 1980s and 1990s was the gradual Islamization of Malaysia.320 Before the 1982 General Election the different races lived in a manageable multiracial environment. However, in the early 1980s the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)321 leadership was taken over by a group of ulama (Muslim scholars), who changed their agenda of

315 For the history and background of the NEP, see Sundaram (2005, 182–193); and Means (1991, 23–27). 316 See Sundaram (2005, 205f). 317 See Means (1991, 24); Carstens (2005, 158). 318 See Carstens (2005, 144–176) for a discussion of how Chinese culture was excluded from the National Cultural Policy. 319 http://www1.mmu.edu.my/~husni/chap6.doc. 320 For discussion and analysis on the resurgence/revival of Islam in Malaysia, see Barraclough (1983), Nagata (1984), Nair (1997), Deliar (1984) and Peletz (2002). 321 See Deliar (1984) on the history and rise of PAS. 364 Appendix A

Malay nationalism to the pursuit of an Islamic state in Malaysia. This new rallying cry put fear into the other races, in particular the Chinese, as they were seen as the cause for all the problems of the Malays.322 As can be seen in the survey, those who emigrated in the 1980s and 1990s included many who had returned after their overseas studies and left again, when they saw the road that Malaysian politics was taking. As Gomez noted, Malaysian society has evolved with the rise of a new generation that has adopted different perspectives on key issues, such as democracy, human rights, gender equality and national identity, but the two main Malay political parties (UMNO and PAS) that have dominated the Malaysian political landscape have not reviewed their position on these issues for the last fifty years.323 The Beruas global Hakka are part of this more educated, better travelled and better informed generation of Malaysians who have the knowledge, foresight and ability to decide their own and their children’s futures. Since this study is undertaken from historical and social perspectives rather than anthropological aspects, I will start by looking at the history, ethnicity and migration patterns of the Hakka. This will be followed by a short discussion of the history of Beruas and how the Hakka settled in it. However, the main part of the paper will deal with the survey of this group of eighteen persons to draw conclusions on the future of the Hakka ‘cultural construct’ in relation to their new environment and how they view their Hakka identity. The so-called cultural markers commonly used to identify Hakka will also be discussed to ascertain whether they apply to the global Hakka under study. Following that, the methodology of the survey and problems encountered will also be examined. The findings from the survey are presented to help answer the following questions:

– What does it mean to be a Hakka in their new environment—the country they have chosen to reside in at the time of the interviews? – Is their Hakka consciousness/identity waning or getting stronger? – How do they see the future of the Hakka cultural construct? – Are there any attempts at preserving their Hakka ‘heritage’?

2 History, Migration Pattern, and Ethnicity

The concept of the ‘Hakka heartland’ is relatively new in relation to Hakka history. Most Hakka claim historical origins in North China and various studies based on

322 See Gomez (2007) for how the Malaysia was developed politically in the 1980s. 323 Ibid., 19. Appendix A 365 genealogies and local histories have supported this claim.324 Luo Xianglin postulated that there were five waves of migration, starting from central northern China, primarily from Henan.325 According to Luo Xianglin, the first wave began in 317 CE which coincided with the southward flight of the Jin. When we accept this supposition, it only means that the Hakka have lived in the northern part of China prior to their ‘first- wave’ migration and it does not exclude the theory that the Hakka had migrated from somewhere else to Henan before that ‘first-wave’ migration. However, for this paper, only the fifth-wave of Luo’s Hakka migration pattern will be discussed in conjunction with the global Hakka from Beruas. Luo believed that the fifth wave of the Hakka migration started at the end of the Hakka-Punti War in 1867 in the Guangzhou area. After the war the governor of Guangdong set up a ‘reservation’ for Hakka refugees but it was too small to hold them all. This started the Hakka emigration overseas to Hainan Island as well as to Borneo, Sarawak, Malaya and around the world. When Luo published his work in 1933326 this wave was still in progress. The Beruas global Hakka in this study are the descendants of migrants from this wave, who migrated to Malaya. This fifth-wave Chinese migration pattern from the 1800 onwards is further broken down into four sub-patterns by Wang Gungwu and they are:

1) The Trader Pattern huashang (Chinese Trader). 2) The Coolie Pattern huagong (Chinese Coolie). 3) The Sojourner Pattern huaqiao (Chinese Sojourner). 4) The Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi (Chinese Descent or Re-migrant).327

Migration Patterns 1, 2 & 3 refer to Chinese migration from China as “the departure from Chinese soil for the purpose of living and working abroad” with the likelihood of settlement, whether or not that was the intention of these Chinese from the start.328 All the ancestors of the Beruas global Hakka came to the Malay Peninsula under the huashang, huagong or huaqiao patterns. For obvious reasons, Beruas global Hakka migration does not fit into any of the three patterns that their ancestors were part of,

324 See Constable (1996, 14), who listed studies by Eitel (1873–4), Hsieh (1929), Luo (1933), Picton (1873–4) and Cohen (2006, 40–41). 325 See Cohen for a summary of Luo’s Hakka five-wave migration theory published in 1933 (1996, 40–54). 326 See Luo (1993, 3 & 63). 327 Wang G.W. (1991a, 3–21). 328 Ibid., 1991a, 3–4. 366 Appendix A but their migration corresponded to Wang Gungwu’s fourth migration pattern of the Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi (Chinese Descent or Re-migrant).329 Given the above migration patterns that had taken place in the past, and the present global migration patterns that have settled the Hakka in all parts of the world,330 it seems appropriate to ask whether there is still such a thing as ‘Hakka ethnicity’ in this day and age. Most scholars speak of Hakka ethnicity/consciousness/identity interchangeably and see it as a relatively recent phenomenon. It may be true when described by definitions cast by western anthropologists331 but as Constable noted, Hakka history began “centuries ago, in time immemorial, [which] paradoxically predates the existence of the name Hakka, of Hakka ethnicity.” It is accepted that the term Hakka was coined by the Cantonese in the seventeenth century, but clearly the Hakka existed centuries before they were called Hakka. Regardless of their pre-Hakka appellation, I agree with Constable that Hakka ethnicity/consciousness/identity existed from the moment the group (as a clan, tribe, state or even kingdom) came in contact with other non-Hakka groups, which is in “time immemorial”. However, in today’s Hakka communities around the world, it is difficult to find ‘Hakka ethnicity’ as described in the classical sense. By classical I mean those definitions or descriptions of the word ethnicity from writings (mostly by anthropologists) from the 1940s to mid-eighties.332 Some of the definitions might have been appropriate in describing Hakka identity at some point in the history of Hakka migration,333 but, by the 1980s the term ‘ethnicity’ is not so much a term ‘on the move’ as Glazer and Moynihan describe it, but a term ‘under fire’.”334 Ethnicity as described by these scholars in the latter part of the twentieth century was definitely on the move again and it is difficult to use it to define or describe Hakka identity in the late twentieth or twenty-first centuries. Another development is that recent studies of ethnicity are often associated with race and nationalism335 and as such it is difficult to apply to studies of the Hakka in the twenty-first century for the following reasons:

329 Ibid., 1991a, 6–8. 330 For an overview of the Chinese who had migrated to different parts of the world and are now known as Overseas Chinese, see Sinn (ed.) (1998). 331 For a collection of definitions and descriptions of the term ‘ethnicity’, see Bank (1996, 4–5). 332 Ibid. 333 For example, Abner Cohen’s definition that “. . . ethnicity refers to strife . . . between ethnic groups in the course of which people stressed their identity and exclusiveness” can certainly be used to describe the Hakka-Punti war in Guangdong during the mid-nineteenth (1969, 4). 334 Cited by Bank (1996, 5). 335 For in depth discussion, see Smith (1987) and Jenkins (1997). Appendix A 367

1) Hakka is not a race per se in the usual sense because they are clearly part of the Chinese race. 2) Aspiration of nationalism as used in anthropological, political or economic studies is difficult to apply to the global Hakka because their mobility meant that their loyalty and patriotism is spread all over the world. Hakka in Taiwan are the only group in the world who have managed to have a Hakka-political agenda but they have no ‘nationalistic’ aspiration.336

It can be said that Hakka living in Beruas and the Beruas global Hakka in their different host-countries harbor no Hakka-political aspiration.337 All in all, therefore, these old definitions of ‘ethnicity’ are not appropriate for Hakka studies in the twenty-first century. If these mostly anthropological definitions of ethnicity cannot be used to define modern Hakka identity, it brings us to the question of whether the various over-used cultural markers such as language, food, gender traits, behavior etc. are applicable or valid for defining the Hakka as an ethnic group. Appendix I shows a summary of the cultural markers culled from past and recent writings which have been used to define the Hakka.338 Some of these markers might have been true at various stages of Hakka history but most are now irrelevant and the few reliable ones are becoming less and less useful in the twenty-first century for Hakka communities around the world and those in Beruas. The comparison in Appendix I of the Beruas global Hakka and their parents shows us that general markers such as occupation, language, and religion differ greatly between the two generations. The only common trait is shared historical origin and language between these two generations. So, is a Hakka a Hakka because the person thinks they are, regardless of the percentage of blood ancestry and the ability to speak the language or is a person a Hakka because another person or a public authority calls them so? Is a person from another dialect group or a Westerner adopted by a Hakka family, i.e. speaking the Hakka language, practicing Hakka traditions and customs, considered a Hakka?339 As seen above, it is no longer adequate to identify a Hakka using cultural markers or definitions or descriptions of the word ‘ethnicity’ from writings from the 1940s to mid-eighties. Hakka identity must be redefined in the global frame and transnational relations. Replacing the concept of Hakka ethnicity with Hakkaness can be a solution.

336 See Martin (1996, 176–195). 337 See Strauch (1981) on how new villages were courted by the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) to swell their membership. 338 See also Wright (2006) for a summary of these cultural markers. 339 See http://www.asiawind.com/hakka/ for the case of a Caucasian American, adopted by a Hakka family, who declared proudly that he is a Hakka at the International Hakka Conference in Longyan, Fujian in 2000. 368 Appendix A

Given that “identity, both personal and collective, is formed in the material reality in which we live,”340 this Hakkaness could be defined in an all-inclusive approach. The criteria for Hakkaness could include qualities such as the wish to be identified as being a Hakka through personal and collective history, family kinship, ancestral village of the ancestors, native hometown or natal-country; affinity with Hakka food, customs, tradition and other cultural activities, or through membership of Hakka associations or forums (both local and international). In short, any individual, who wants to be identified as a Hakka, can do so if the person thinks that they have Hakkaness in them, regardless of the percentage of blood ancestry or if that person can speak the language or not. The only pre-requisite is that the person has some Hakka blood in him or her.341 That brings us to the question of “how much blood ancestry” would qualify. Let us look at the New Zealand Maori342 and Australian Aboriginal experiences.343 A prerequisite for playing in the New Zealand Maori Ruby League team is that the player must be of at least one sixteenth Maori descent.344 On the other hand, the University of Newcastle, Australia (Policy: 000749): Aboriginal and/or Torres Straits Islander—Establishing Status within the University Policy Provision stated that “persons seeking to gain access to benefits designed especially for Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander persons will be required to provide evidence to demonstrate that they meet the following criteria for establishing Australian Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander status: i) They are of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent; and ii) They identify as an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person; and iii) They are accepted as such by the community in which they live or have lived.345

The New Zealand Maori Ruby League is quite specific about the degree of blood ancestry whereas the University of Newcastle is more inclusive. Hakka history and experience may be quite different from those of the Maori and Australian Aborigines but the

340 See McIntosh (2005a, 271). 341 Allowances can be made for exception to the rule in cases such as the Caucasian American mentioned above. 342 For a discussion of the history of the Maori experience see Walker (1990). 343 See Chesterman and Galligan (1997) for the history of the Australian Aboriginal civil right movement. 344 See http//www.reference.com/browse/wiki/New_Zealand_M%C4%81ori_rugby_league_ team. 345 http://www.newcastle.edu.au/policy/000749.html. Appendix A 369 above cases have demonstrated that the establishment of ethnic identity is important and the methods used can be quite different. Similarly, there will come a time in the near future when a self-professed Hakka might have to prove themselves to be so.346 I foresee that future debates on Hakka identity or Hakkaness will have to focus on these issues and the resolution of these debates is not going to be straightforward.347

3 History of Beruas

By looking at the history of Beruas, I hope to reveal the historical and social background of the global Hakka of Beruas. Bruas or Beruas is a small, sleepy town on the west coast of the Malaysian Peninsular in the state of Perak.348 Many scholars believed that the pre-Islamic sixth century Kingdom of Gangga or Gangga Negara, mentioned in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) is the same as the Kingdom of Bruas.349 The

346 For example, a World Hakka Foundation with scholarships to give away or a Hakka bank with special loans might stipulate that only Hakka can apply. They would have to list the criteria for the definition of a Hakka. 347 As one of the Beruas global Hakka, I can attest to the complexity on how to define Hakka identity or Hakkaness in this day and age i.e. as an Overseas Hakka brought up as a second generation Malaysian Chinese, who studied in the West, and is currently living in Europe. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Hakka tulou (earthen buildings) in Yongding, Fujian, which raised many issues for me regarding my Hakkaness. To get a better sense of what these magnificent buildings are all about, I stayed in one of them. This particular tuluo was run as a guesthouse by the descendants of the Hakka who built it in the late nineteenth century. Do I identify with my host as a Hakka? On my first meeting with the family, I felt instant ‘clanship’ (chhi ka ngin) but when I tried to communicate with them with my Dongguan Hakka dialect, I realized that they could not understand me and neither could I understand their type of Hakka. We had to communicate in putonghua Mandarin. Knowing the importance of tulou as a Hakka cultural marker, I had to ask myself how I was relating to these buildings. On one level I felt proud to be associated with them but when I search deeper to try to define my Hakkaness through them I became confused. The entry in my dairy read: “. . . it felt kind of strange and yet familiar . . . there is a sense of belongingness but yet I cannot pinpoint the connection. . . when I stand back it feels comfortable although there is still a distance . . .” I realize now that these Hakka cultural relics have very little to do with my Hakka identity. I can claim historical and cultural pride but not personal affinity. 348 The coordinate of Beruas is WGS84—Latitude (lat): 4°30’0”N Longitude (lon): 100°46’ 60”E), north of Kuala Lumpur the capital city and south of Penang. 349 See Brown’s translation of the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals): “after [sailing] for some time Raja Suran arrived at a kingdom named Gangga Negara under the ruler of Raja 370 Appendix A

Kingdom of Gangga is said to have collapsed after an attack by King Rajendra Chola of Coromandel, South India, between 1025 and 1026 during the rule of Raja Gangga Shah Johan.350 Gangga Negara was named Beruas351 after Islam was established in the Malay Peninsula and nothing much was mentioned of Beruas until the sixteenth century. The Malay Annals record that the king of Bruas paid tribute to Sultan Mahmud Shah of Malacca (1488 to 1511) and he was conferred the title of Tun Aria Bija DiRaja. Another important source comes from Tom Pires, a Portuguese official who wrote in 1512 that “. . . Another is Bruas. This has not so much tin, but it has more people and it is a trading place. It has a great many paraos and people, and there are two villages on the Bruas River. This Bruas has plenty of rice. They are Malays. They pay six thousand timas (tin ingots) to Malacca every year. The people have more presumption than all the others put together. The captain here is Tuan Açem, mandarin of Malacca.”352 Bruas (also Bruasz) was mentioned 3 more times in the Suma Oriental as an important trading town and kingdom.353

Gangga Shah Johan. The kingdom was situated on a hill with high elevation towards the front while the rear is a low-lying valley, a fort located to the west of Dingding facing towards Perak which is not in the far distance . . .” in “Sejarah Melayu: Malay Anals” in Journal of Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. According to notes from the Beruas Museum, “. . . the account strongly suggests that the kingdom could possibly be situated in the Dingding district (now Manjung)—somewhere to the south of Mount Bubu, east of the Segari Hills close to Dendang river somewhere in Beruas. 350 Ancient remains in Pali and Sanskrit inscriptions such as the Sima slab inscribed with the Ye dharma stanza, found in the north of Province Wellesly and the seven inscriptions on a granite rock in Kamunting attests to the existence of an Indianized settlement along the coast. 351 Beruas is the name of a wild mangosteen and according to local oral history the town was originally located at Pengkalan Baru and Batang Kubu, where the trees grew in abundance. Another oral source mentioned that Beruas was established by a prince from Aceh, Sumatra, named Malik al-Mansur, who was driven out of his country due to his unbecoming behavior. His entourage sailed from Aceh and landed in Perak. Malik was told that the tree he was resting on was named Bruas and he named the area after the tree. A number of royal Acehnese gravestones in the area lay testimony to the claim that the area is first ruled by them. It is believed that this kingdom was located at Kampung Kota where a number of royal tombs, tools and numerous sixteenth century Chinese ceramic shards had been found. Artefacts unearthed around Beruas and displayed in the Beruas Museum also indicated that Beruas and its surrounding areas could have been the starting point for the spread of Islam in the Peninsular 352 See The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, (1944, 261). 353 It was said that during that time, ships were able to navigate up to 90km inland on the Bruas River and a large number of ocean-sailing ships sailed to Bruas to trade (ibid, 106f, 139 & 144). Appendix A 371

For years, villagers have unearthed artefacts, including tombstones with inscriptions. Artifacts on display in the Beruas Museum include a 128kg cannon, swords, kris (a type of Malay dagger), coins, tin ingots, pottery from the Ming Dynasty and various large jars. The Museum and Antiquities Department agree that the Kingdom of Beruas existed but the exact site could not be ascertained. It is hard to say that the present location of Beruas is the same that was mentioned in texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because the Bruas River was badly silted and lost its role as an important trading center during the seventeenth century.354 Bruas, once a kingdom and an important trading port, regressed into a small settlement.355 Present day Beruas is made up of two areas: the one-street town (called Town hereafter) and the “new village” (called New Village hereafter).356 The settlement became a “town” when two rows of shop-houses built of bricks, separated by the “main road”, were erected in 1918.357 The Town was surrounded by Malay kampongs but the majority of the inhabitants in the Town and its immediate surroundings were Chinese. According to a Mr. Chong, born in 1909, the two main dialect groups in Town were the Hakka and the Hokkien. There were two Chinese schools—one run by the Hokkien and one by the Hakka. The demography of Beruas changed dramatically when the New Village was established a kilometer north of the town, making the Hakka the majority in Beruas.358 The Beruas New Village was one of the 440 new villages created by the British during the Emergency359 after WWII under the Briggs’ Plan, which was carried out by

354 See Koopmans (1964) for his study of the geomorphology of the Perak River. He believed that the Perak River had changed its course several times due to extensive flooding and it is possible that the capital of Gangga Negara had also shifted several times along the river to Pengkalan, Tanjung Rambutan, Bidor and Sungai Siput, where bronze Hindu and Buddhist idols from the sixth to tenth century had been found. Another report in The Malacca Strait Pilot says “Sungei Bruas is a small river fronted by the mud bank extend- ing from 5 to 9 miles offshore but navigable by canoes for nearly sixty miles. It appeared that the former port of Baruas or Bruas disappeared through silting.” See also research on Gangga Negara conducted first by Colonel James Low in 1840 and a century later by Quaritch-Wales. 355 It played a small role again when tin was discovered in the Larut and Kinta areas. It was mentioned in the Perak Government Gazette that Sultan Ismail, who became Sultan in 1871, transported the tin ore from his tin mines at Papan in boats to his residence at Blanja. From there it was taken to Bruas, which was on the Bruas River, for export. See Lubis & Nasution Khoo, Raja Bilah and the Mandailings in Perak: 1875–1911, 9. 356 If someone wants to know exactly where one lives they will ask, “New Village or Town?”. 357 The year 1918 was carved on one of the wooden beams in the pawnshop belonging to the Lee Family, who are Taipu Hakka. 358 Interview conducted with Mr. Chong Y.C., who was born in Beruas in 1909. 359 See Briggs (1951). 372 Appendix A

General Sir Gerald Templer,360 known as The Tiger of Malaya. Beruas New Village was a direct result of this British ingenuity in their battle “to curb the red tide” in Malaya.361 The two settlements are connected by the north-south trunk road of Malaya, which runs along the West Coast of the peninsular from the border with Thailand right down to the Causeway and across the Straits of Singapore to the island. A short road (about fifty kilometers) branched out to the west from Beruas, making it the ‘gateway’ to sea- side towns such as Sitiawan and Lumut, and Pangkor Island. Before all the new highways were built in the 1980s, Beruas was a thriving ‘junction-town’, where travelers and goods passed through from north to south and vice versa. The town ‘grew’ with the development of the country, first serving the tin trade, then timber, then rubber and palm oil. Almost 60 percent of the inhabitants of the roughly one hundred households in the New Village were Hakka, whereas the Hakka in the town area (about 50 percent) were sprinkled around an area a short distance from the main street and behind the wet-market. The Hakka in Beruas belong to different types of Hakka. They include Dongguan, Tapu, Jiayingzhou, Huizhou, Hepo, and Meixian but the majority is Dongguan Hakka. The Hakka have no problem relating to being Hakka or being seen as Hakka, especially in the New Village, where they are by far the majority. They coexisted peacefully not only with the other dialect groups but also with the Malays and Indians who lived in the rural areas of Beruas. In fact, Dongguan Hakka is the lingua franca in Beruas.362 Members of the other dialect groups (Hokkien and Hainanese) spoke to the Hakka in the same tongue. Politically, the Beruas Hakka (as a group) had a limited

360 See Cloak (1985) for Templer’s biography. 361 The Briggs Plan, conceived precisely to cut off this supply and communication pipeline to the communists, involved resettling more than half a million Chinese in specially designed resettlement areas; about one sixth of the Chinese population of Malaya. All the Chinese living around the fringes of the jungles and other sundry squatters were rounded up and moved into these new, fenced-in communities, which were regulated by dusk- to-dawn curfews and guarded day and night by local policemen or home guards. Those who were caught or accused of aiding the Communists were sent to special detention camps but there were also many innocent Chinese who were detained for being in the wrong place and at the wrong time. These detainees had three choices. They could choose to inform on their colleagues up in the mountains in exchange for lighter sentences. If they refused, they would most certainly be sentenced to death or long detention without parole. By law, a citizen of Malaya cannot be deported but the British made life so unbearable for these detainees that they preferred voluntarily repatriation back to China under the Banishment Act. 362 There were a few families who I thought were Hakka who turned out to be Cantonese and Hokkien, when I made inquiry early this year. I had not known because they and their children communicated with the villagers in Hakka. Appendix A 373 role in Malaysian politics. All dialect groups are lumped together as the Chinese race in contrast to the Malays or Indians and they exert their political influence as such.363 However, the new villages as a whole played an important role in the history of the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association).364 Economically, Beruas Hakka had no special advantages either. The Beruas Hakka were subsistence farmers, small market gardeners, rubber-tappers, owners of small businesses such as vegetable, pork or fish stalls in the wet market and small sundry shops or stalls selling snacks of fruit and iced drinks. Hakka women earned extra money by selling home-made cakes and buns as breakfast fare or set up stalls selling noodles and other home-made food. The few better-off Hakka owned the pawnshop, the medical hall, retail shop and the tin-smith shop. The three coffee-shops were owned by Hainanese and the two richest and biggest sundry shops were owned by Hokkien and Cantonese families. This short history of Beruas shows that the Beruas global Hakka were brought up in the same social environment and affected by the same political and economic changes. Thus, it confers a high degree of ‘homogeny’ to the background of the Beruas global Hakka for the case study.

4 Survey, Methodology, and Related Problems

During a visit to Beruas at the beginning of 2005 it occurred to me that there were quite a few of us who were living overseas. This gave me the idea to find out more about where they were and how they were dealing with their Hakka identity in their new countries of residence. I started to compile a list of those who had emigrated and to prepare the questionnaire I would use for the interviews. Apart from myself, I located seventeen others who were living in different parts of the world. These eighteen subjects have either two Hakka parents (15) or a Hakka father (3). It so happened that this is the total number of Hakka from Beruas who have chosen to make their homes overseas from a population of less than 1500. Beruas being such a small community meant that the families of the Beruas global Hakka knew each other either intimately or casually. The Hakka being the majority in the town and the village also helped to build the proverbial “clannishness” which anthropologists often ascribe to the Hakka. I went to school with the older subjects and knew of the younger subjects and their families. Being part of the case study has many advantages. The subjects were able to answer questions with less inhibition and

363 The history and analysis of the Chinese in Malaysian politics and the history of MCA see Koon (1988). 364 For an in-depth study of the administration, leadership and political structure of a typical new village see Strauch (1981). 374 Appendix A

I believe that information was more forthcoming. All of them were very enthusiastic at the idea of a study being conducted about them by a fellow Hakka from Beruas and they were most helpful and cooperative. However, to be consistent and to keep an objective perspective on the survey, I usually read the questions to them as they were written in the questionnaire and just let them talk. The questionnaire that I have designed consists of sixty questions.365 Before the interview, I asked them for permission to tape the conversation. I also asked them if they would mind if I needed to quote them. Except for one, they all gave me permission to quote them if necessary. When I visited Beruas again during the Chinese New Year in 2006 I managed to interview three of them personally using the questionnaire. The rest were interviewed on the phone and the conversations were also recorded. Except for one interview in 2008, the interviews were made in the latter part of 2006 over a period of 6 months. After conducting the telephone interviews, I usually sent the interviewees a copy of the questionnaire asking them if they had anything to add. I intend to use the same questionnaire as the framework for future case studies of global Hakka from different communities.366 I also visited Beruas again in January 2009 and caught up with four of the Beruas global Hakka in the study and I also interviewed some of their parents and relatives.367 One of the problems with this survey is that the pool of interviewees is rather small and this means that the findings have to be seen in a wider context. However, this is the sum total of Hakka from Beruas who are living overseas, but it says a lot about the Hakka given that Beruas is such a small settlement. Not including those Beruas Hakka living in Singapore in this study has it pros and cons. Including those Beruas Hakka living and working in Singapore would increase the pool considerably but, because of the similarity of the cultural construct, it would also skew the findings. Two other problems are the mobility and personal status of the subjects. At least three of the interviewees have already moved from the country where they were when the interviews took place and one of the two single men has just married. Evidently, this is all part of the process of formation and transformation of the Hakka identity in a globalized world.

365 See Appendix II. 366 As this is an ongoing project, I would appreciate any suggestions to improve the questionnaire Please write to me at: [email protected]. 367 I hope to do more studies of the Hakka in Beruas. Appendix A 375

5 Summary of the Findings368

5.1 Interviews: A total of 18 persons were interviewed: 7 male and 11 female. Seventeen of the subjects were interviewed in 2006 and 1 in 2008. Out of the 18, 16 are married and 2 were single at the time of the interview.369 Except for two interviews conducted in Hakka, the rest were conducted in English with a bit of Hakka thrown in.

5.2 Bloodline: Of the 18 subjects, 15 have two Hakka parents; 1 has a Hakka father and a Hokkien mother; and 2 siblings have a Hakka father and a Hockchew mother i.e. 15 full-Hakka370 and 3 half-Hakka.371

5.3 Families: The subjects came from 11 different families. Three of the families are related—they share a great-great-grandfather back in China. There are two families with three subjects; three families with two subjects; and the rest have one subject each in this survey.

5.4 Age: The ages of the subjects vary. There is a difference of 30 years between the oldest subjects, born in 1950, and the youngest, born in 1980, i.e. they represent two generations.

5.5 Male/Female Ratio: In the group, there are seven males (39 percent) and eleven females (61 percent).372

368 See Appendix III for a summary of the findings of the survey. 369 The single man has married a Chinese woman from Xian, China. I met her in January 2009 and I asked her if she knew her husband is a Hakka. She did not. 370 Full-Hakka here means having two Hakka parents. 371 Hakka adhere strictly to agnatic tradition. 372 This figure can give a very misleading view of gender issues in the Beruas Hakka community. Hakka parents of that generation were still very Confucian in their mindset. Most of them preferred to educate sons and were willing to make sacrifices such as selling their land to send a son for higher education overseas, as in some of the Beruas global Hakka cases. More progressive parents, who allowed their daughters to pursue an education, encouraged them to study locally and enter professions such as teaching or nursing. Nursing was the preferred choice because there is no outlay for parents because a trainee nurse can also support herself with the small allowance she earns. The lament has always been that educating a daughter is a waste of money because once they are married, her birth family will have no claim on her and that it is tantamount to educating a daughter for the other family. The Lee family in Beruas was unusual because Mrs. Lee was a teacher and she strongly believed in educating children as long as they had the talent. More Hakka sons than daughters were sent overseas for further studies, but many of the 376 Appendix A

5.6 Reasons for Leaving Malaysia: The majority of the Beruas global Hakka initially left Malaysia for higher education and to look for better opportunities and a better life for themselves and their children. Many in the group also went back after their education but later emigrated permanently. (See below 5.11 Education and 5.12 Migration for more discussion). Some of the more important reasons that contributed to the migration of the Beruas Hakka were discussed above and they included the NEP (New Economic Policy) which discriminated against the Chinese; the conversion of the medium of instruction from English to Malay in schools and universities; the Islamization of Malaysia; outdated political agendas of the Malaysian political parties and the expanded outlook of an educated class.

5.7 Occupation: As seen in Appendix III (11), none of the global Hakka continued the occupations of their parents since most of them have become professionals, while others chose other types of work. Their parents were subsistence farmers, small market gardeners, rubber-tappers, owners of small businesses such as vegetable, pork or fish stalls in the wet market, small sundry shops, or stalls selling snacks of fruit and iced drinks in Town. Occupations of the global Hakka from Beruas include a financial analyst, three engineers, a computer system analyst, a banker, a financial controller, a nurse, an air stewardess, a chemist, a business consultant, a restaurant owner, an administration and finance manager, a vice-president of an international conglomerate, an accounts manager and an accountant. The two not in white-collar jobs are self-employed as restaurant owner and house-keeper for a rich family. In just one generation, this group of global Hakka has vaulted themselves out of a rural setting onto the global stage of finance, engineering and business and into different associated lifestyles.

5.8 Marriage: Out of the 16 married couples, not one married a full-Hakka!373 One woman married a Cantonese-Hakka man from Beruas.374 Out the sixteen couples, eight married Malaysians; seven married partners from different dialect groups; and one married a man from a different race—an Indian. The other 8 subjects married foreigners: one to a Chinese man from China, another to a Chinese woman from Singapore, and the rest to Caucasians from the United Kingdom (1), Germany (1), Italy (1), Australia (1) and America (2). What is interesting is that out of the six who

sons returned to Malaysia to pursue their career, while many females married foreigners and thus did not return. 373 One of the two single men had since married a Chinese woman from Xian, China. She is not Hakka and as such does not change the result of the findings i.e. none of the Breuas global Hakka married a Hakka. 374 As he has a Cantonese father, I have excluded him from the survey. Appendix A 377 married Caucasians, five of them are women (83 percent).375 This phenomenon is part of the trend where, “unlike the past, more female Hakka than male Hakka can be found among the emigrants, as international marriages become common.”376 It is important to note that all the paternal grandparents of the global Hakka married Hakka (100 percent) and out of the 11 sets of parents of the global Hakka, nine married Hakka (81 percent) and two of them married Chinese women of another dialect group (19 percent). By the third generation (global Hakka), none of them married a full Hakka (zero percent). In three generations, the pattern has changed from a 100 percent Hakka-Hakka marriage of the grandparents to zero percent in the global Hakka. This is one of the most serious reasons why the Hakka identity is in great danger of dying out as far as the Beruas global Hakka are concerned.377

5.9 Children: Parents of the global Hakka have an average of 6.3 children (highest 9 and lowest 3). Of the 16 couples, 12 couples have children with 8 couples having two each; 2 couples with three each and two couples with one each. Four couples (25 percent) in the group have chosen not to have children.378 The choice of a smaller family or not to have any children at all is both a social and global trend, but, nonetheless, marks a great difference from their parents’ obligation to family and society in their time.

5.10 Language: The majority (81 percent) communicate with their spouses in English with some Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Italian thrown in. Of the sixteen couples, only three spoke Hakka occasionally with their partners. One couple spoke in Cantonese only and another spoke only in German. As can be seen, they show no

375 If we include the woman who married a Malaysian Indian (non-Chinese), the figure is higher still. 376 See Huang J. (1998, 476). 377 In the social norm of Beruas in the 1950s and early 60s, marrying out of the dialect group was scandalous enough but marring someone of another race was never done. However, this group belongs to the 1970s generation where parents had little say in their choice of a spouse. In two decades, cross-cultural and social mobility changed many values of the new generation. At best the parents could voice their objection or preference but they never openly objected when it came to the union. Some parents were resigned to the fact that they could never communicate with their non-Chinese foreign sons- or daughters- in-law. The common lament was “yit tzak gai, yit tzak ap” a chicken and a duck [how can we communicate?] 378 This would have been unheard of in their parents’ generation, unless they were clinically infertile. In which case, they would buy a couple of children, especially a boy to carry on the family name. It was also common practice for families with many children to give one of their new-born to their childless relatives. 378 Appendix A partiality towards the Hakka language and this is the result of not only being educated in English and living in English-speaking countries but the natural product of cultural adulteration. The couples have an array of language options to choose from so there was no need for the non-Hakka spouses to learn Hakka. This is a far cry from the days when “non-Chinese women who married into the [Hakka] community learned to speak Hakka and observed the Chinese customs of their husbands.”379 Except for one global Hakka father, who speaks Cantonese to his daughters (although his wife is Hokkien) and Hakka to his eldest son, all the Hakka fathers of the Beruas global Hakka spoke Hakka to their children. The man’s Hokkien wife, who speaks Cantonese to his daughters, also speaks Hokkien to her children. The Hockchew wife of one of them spoke Hockchew to her children but her children learned Hakka from their father and grandparents. In this family they also communicate in Cantonese. This meant that except for one woman, all the global Hakka spoke Hakka (94 percent). In contrast, only children from two out of the 12 families of the global Hakka speak Hakka (16 percent). Two families have children, who can understand a small amount of Hakka but cannot speak it. The rest can neither speak nor understand Hakka. Their main language of communication is English. All the parents felt that the Hakka language is irrelevant for the development and success of their offspring. If they want their children to learn any Chinese they said it would be Mandarin and not Hakka.380 When asked how Hakka culture can be transmitted to future generations, two of them suggested that the parents should teach their children the Hakka language.

5.11 Education: Except for four parents out of the 36, the majority of the global Hakka’ parents have no formal education. They can typically converse in 1 or 2 other dialects and parents who do businesses in Town can also communicate in Malay with the other races. Compared to their parents, this group of global Hakka is highly educated. Between them they have four Masters, one MBA and 13 Bachelor’s degrees. Children of the Beruas global Hakka are either university or colleges graduates, still studying in universities or preparing to go to one.

5.12 Migration: The migration pattern of this group of global Hakka fits into Wang Gungwu’s fourth Chinese migration pattern of The Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi, which is very different from that of their grandparents, who came mostly as huashang (traders) and huagong (labourers). All their parents were born in Malaysia and thus, it makes the global Hakka second generation Malaysian Chinese. As such

379 Carstens (2005, 111) wrote that this applies to non-Hakka wives, such as, Siamese or Tamair mothers in the nineteenth century in Pulai. 380 Parents in Pulai expressed the same sentiments (ibid., 216f). Appendix A 379 they have no ties with China. Ancestral is a term that refers to their grandfathers’ villages somewhere in China and has no role in their lives.381 They refer to their place of birth and where they grew up as their hometown. Interesting to note is that quite a few have expressed the sentiment of ‘retiring’ to Malaysia. One has actually bought property in Beruas for his retirement. Another said, “I am going to buy a condominium in Penang; commute to Kuala Lumpur; and visit Beruas in between.”

5.13 Religion: Another departure from their parents’ generation is religion. Most of the Hakka families in Beruas belong to a mixture of Daoism, animism and some Buddhist elements. Apart from Guangong (God of War) and other deities, most of the Hakka families also worship Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. There is a Guanyin Temple at the end of Town that was built at the instigation of two of the subjects’ grandmother. The Hakka families contributed not only to the cost of its construction but also the labor to clear the land and erect it. The temple still stands but not many families worship in it anymore. At home, the ancestors and many different deities are worshipped on the family altar. As such, all the Beruas global Hakka grew up in this mixture of religions. At the time of the interviews, three siblings in this survey had converted to Christianity, one person admitted to attending church, but most said that they no longer practice any religion, even though some of them say they are Buddhists.

5.14 Hakka Identity: The survey shows the steady and systematic decline in Hakka identity from the older subjects to the younger ones.382 This occurred not only in the group as a whole but also within the same family. The eldest (born in 1950) of three siblings in one of the families is very proud to be a Hakka and he knows a fair amount of Hakka history, but the youngest in the family (born in 1961) knows next to nothing about Hakka history or her ancestral village.383 When global Hakka from Beruas meet other Malaysians or Singaporeans, they will first inquire where their hometown is followed by what dialect group they belong to. As for encounters with other nationalities, they introduce themselves first as Malaysian Chinese, to differentiate themselves from Mainland Chinese or other overseas Chinese.

381 See Martin (1996, 186). 382 Those born in the early 50s are proud of their Hakka heritage and take an interest in Hakka history. For example, they know where their ancestors came from, whereas those born in the 70s knew very little about their family and Hakka history. 383 One could argue that his male status and seniority conferred on him more ‘Hakka knowledge and consciousness’ but the older female subjects (S2 & S5—born in 1951 and 53 respectively) are just as proud of being Hakka, whereas the younger females in the group have little knowledge about being Hakka or Hakka history. Marriage between older Hakka men and non-Hakka women did not diminish their pride. This is similar for the women; two of whom are married to Caucasians. 380 Appendix A

Dialect identification only comes into play if they meet other overseas Chinese from Malaysia or Singapore. They never mention their Hakka identity to their Caucasian friends unless they are specifically asked about it. Hakka identity for the Beruas global Hakka is a secondary issue in their host- countries. The older Beruas global Hakka expressed sentiments for their Hakkaness but at the same time they are resigned to the fact that their offspring will have little to do with the issue of their Hakka identity. The younger generation of the Beruas global Hakka feels that Hakkaness is totally irrelevant to their future.

5.15 Hakka History: Except for three, most of them do not know much about Hakka history. For example, only two knew that Hakka women did not bind their feet. The younger ones in the group admitted to not knowing anything about their history and they showed no interest in the subject because they do not see its irrelevance to their lives. However, the majority knew that the Hakka came from the north. They either read it somewhere or were told by their parents. Seven of the eighteen global Hakka have visited their ancestral village to visit relatives whom they had never met. The younger global Hakka are not interested in the history of the Hakka or in visiting their ancestral village. One of them (born in 1976) said that she “will visit China in the future, but only to tourist places.”

5.16 Food: When the topic of food came up, 80 percent mentioned ‘kheu-nyuk’, a typical Hakka dish made of pork and yam. Hakka stuffed tofu, pig trotters in vinegar, pork stewed with dried oysters and a few other dishes were also mentioned but no one cooks them at home anymore.384

5.17 Hakka Association: Not a single one of the subjects belongs to a Hakka association. The most common reason given is that there is no such association near them or that they are too busy. To the question of whether they would join if there was one near them, most said yes. Two of them are members of a Hakka Forum.385

384 In order to have an idea of typical Hakka dishes eaten in Malaysia, see Traditional Authentic Hakka Dishes. 385 The first internet Hakka forum was started in Asiawind (www.asiawind.com) by Dr. Lee Siu Leung on 2 September 1996 and since then there have been many others. These forums and blogs allowed Hakka all over the world to communicate with each other, organize congresses, and facilitates meetings. Appendix A 381

6 Conclusions

Given the social, communication, transport, economic and political revolutions in the last fifty years, it is no surprise that new patterns of emigration have emerged. The emergence of the global Hakka from Beruas is the product of the social, political and economic changes in Malaysia in the 1970s and 1990s. Despite being brought up in a small rural community and being discriminated against as Chinese in Malaysia, this group of global Hakka has developed into confident, ambitious and successful players in the global arena. However, it is also safe to say that this success and mobility had in part (among the other factors mentioned above) contributed to the waning of their Hakka identity. In their new environment, the older generation of global Hakka finds it increasingly difficult to sustain their Hakka identity, whereas the younger generation feels that it plays no role in their lives. Thus, the Hakka identity of the Beruas global Hakka is a good example of ethnicity “under fire” and “on the move.” By not passing on the Hakka language to their offspring, this group has lost a part of their Hakka heritage. Only children from two out of the 12 families can speak Hakka. Three of the global Hakka have become grandparents. Two of their children married Caucasians and one married a Chinese of another dialect group. It can be expected that none of their grandchildren will ever be able to speak or understand Hakka unless a conscious effort is made to teach them. The Hakka language will die out in the descendants of the Beruas global Hakka if the status quo is maintained. Thus, marrying across culture, dialect and racial lines, as this group has done, has serious consequences for Hakka identity. To the question, “How do you see the future of Hakka culture?” and what can be done about preserving their Hakka heritage, the majority think that it is a lost cause. The age of globalization has not only diffused Hakka identity for the Beruas global Hakka but it has also marginalized Hakka culture for them. This is no doubt part of the process of the formation and transformation of the new Hakka identity. I had expected the outcome of the survey to show the Beruas global Hakka going the way most ethnic groups caught between industrial development and global influences will go, but I had not expected it to happen at such a reckless speed. 382 Appendix A

Appendix A.I: Summary of Hakka Cultural Markers

Hakka Global Global Comments cultural markers Hakka’s Hakka parents (GH)

General Architecture NA NA Only in China Customs Not Specifically Hakka Not Specifically Hakka Practice Chinese customs in general Food Yes NA Many typical Hakka dishes are still eaten in Beruas Migration Pattern Parents of GHs are Wang Gangwu’s Pattern Almost all the born in Malaya and no. 4: Re-migrant grandparents of the moved to Beruas Pattern GHs came from China in Luo’s fifth-wave. Religion Almost all practice a 3 converted to Religion is less mixture of Daoism, Christianity and the important in the GH. Buddhism & animism. rest do not practice any Religion is important. religion Mountain Songs Some parents of the GH NA Author’s mother sang (MS) can still sing these MS them in “duels” when she was young Education Not many were High proportion with Not specifically Hakka formerly educated tertiary education but mentioned in most studies on Hakka Hakka Language All spoke Hakka and Except for one, all spoke She has a Hokkien other dialects Hakka mother and her Hakka father spoke to her in Cantonese Occupation Pawnshop, small All became This is one of the businesses, mining, professionals or greatest difference iron-mongering, self-employed between the two farming, rubber-taping, generations Historical origin They knew their More than half did not Most knew little of ancestors in China know their ancestral Hakka history village Appendix A 383

Hakka Global Global Comments cultural markers Hakka’s Hakka parents (GH)

Behaviour Diligence All worked hard to Mostly professional The parents see increase their wealth diligence as a badge of honor. GH acknowledged their parents diligence. Clannishness Waning NA The changing social structure does not require it Revolutionary Some were involved NA No reason for GH to nature with the Communist do so movement Pioneering spirit Circumstances and If starting a new life is Not exclusive to Hakka willingness helped considered pioneering, but history made them then it applies seem more so

Women Unbound Feet NA NA Unbound foot was an important marker in Hakka history Outside labour Almost all Hakka NA Strong and hardworking women had some form women are Important of work that earned markers in Hakka them some money history Independence, Most of them had some Some of them battled History of unbound feet, fearlessness & degree of independence the odds to go overseas hard work, absent men resourcefulness because of the work contributed to the they did image of tough, sturdy Hakka women Clothing They have adapted to NA The typical Hakka Chinese dressing kerchief and liongmao (hat) were still worn by some of GHs’ grandmothers 384 Appendix A

Appendix A.II: Questionnaire for the Hakka Project The information on this questionnaire will be used for the purpose of a research paper on the Hakka who have left Beruas to make their home overseas and what it means to be a Hakka in their new environment. (All information given will be kept private and confidential. A number will be assigned to you if you wish to remain anonymous.)

1. NAME: 2. Address: Tel (home and office*): Mobile*: 3. Date of birth: 4. Place of birth: 5. Present Nationality: 6 Education achieved: 7 Name of Institution of education: 8. Present occupation: 9. Religion: 10. The year you left (a) Beruas: (b) Malaysia: 11. The reason for leaving (a) Beruas: (b) Malaysia: 12. Marital status: 13. Name of spouse*: 14. Nationality of spouse: 15. Dialect group of spouse if Chinese: 16. If spouse is Hakka, do you communicate in Hakka? 17. What language do you communicate with your spouse? 18. Name of ex-spouse (if any)*: 19. Nationality of ex-spouse: 20. Dialect group of ex-spouse if Chinese: 21. Children:

Name* Sex Age Married Yes/No

22. What language is spoken at home? 23. If Hakka is not spoken at home, do your children understand Hakka? Appendix A 385

24. Do you want your children to learn Hakka? 25. Do you mind if your children marry someone from another dialect group or another race? 26. When did your: a. Parents b. Grandparents or c. Great grandparents arrive in Malaya? 27. Where did they first settle if not Beruas? 28. Family business (if any): 29. Father’s dialect and occupation: 30. Mother’s dialect and occupation: 31. Siblings (how many): Brothers Sisters 32. Where are your siblings? 33. Which area of China did your ancestors come from? 34. What is the name of your ancestral village/town? 35. Do you still have close relatives living in China? 36. If yes, who, and where do they live? 37. What makes the Hakka different from the other dialect groups (Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, and Hainanese)? 38. What are the most important Hakka characteristics? 39. How much Hakka history do you know? 40. Where did the Hakka come from? 41. Why do you call yourself a Hakka? 42. How do you define a Hakka? 43. Do you consider yourself a practicing Hakka? 44. Do you belong to any Hakka association? 45. If yes: Give name and address: 46. Do you have any Hakka friends? If yes, do you speak Hakka with them? 47. Which dialect groups do most of your Chinese friends belong to? 48. Do you practice any Hakka/Chinese customs? 49. How often do you visit Beruas/Malaysia? 50. Have your children visited Beruas? 51. When was your last visit? 52. Do you still have any family members in Beruas? 53. How do you introduce yourself in your adopted country? a. First as a Hakka and then Chinese b. First as a Chinese and mentioned Hakka as “by the way” or c. Never mention Hakka at all. 54. Do you tell your foreign friends about your Hakka identity? Why not if no and why if yes? 386 Appendix A

55. Is your present home going to be your permanent home? 56. Why did you not return to Malaysia after your education? 57. Are there plans to “retire” to the village (Beruas)? 58. How do you see the future of the Hakka culture? 59. What do you think can be done to preserve Hakka culture? 60. Any other comments that you feel could help with my research.

Please indicate if you wish to remain anonymous. YES NO

* You may choose to or not to answer these questions but I do hope you will answer all the others. Like I said, I will not quote or mention your name if you wish to remain anonymous.

Thank you very much for your cooperation. I will be pleased to inform you when the study is completed and send you a copy if you wish.

Email: Jessieca Leo: [email protected] Institute of East Asian Studies University of Munich

Date of interview:

Follow up interview: Appendix A 387 18 M 80 HF hcM Do 98 98 M Am S – – 5 – – – M 17 F 1976 HF hcM Do 96 03 M* Au M – Au 5 1 No E M 16 M 1973 HF HM Do 93 00 M* Ch S – – 3 – – – C M 15 F 1962 HF hkM H 80 – I F M – I 4 2 No E I C M 14 F 1961 HF HM D 79 88 M* NZ M Ho M 5 – – H C E C E 13 M 1960 HF HM Do 79 79 Am Am M – Am 9 2 No E ? 12 M 1960 HF HM M 80 80 Am Am M Cn S 5 – – E C E 11 F 1956 HF HM M 79 87 Au Au M – Am 9 1 No * E C E 10 F 1955 HF HM M 76 84 Au Au M – M 9 2 No E C E 9 F 1958 HF HM M 78 90 M* Au M Ho M 5 – – E C E – 8 F 1954 HF HM M 74 74 M* UK D Cn Ch 9 2 No * H C C – 7 M 1954 HF HM M 76 – M* Ch M Ho M 8 2 Y M H C E 6 F 1953 HF HM D 89 96 Am Am M CH M 8 3 Y C H C – 5 F 1953 HF HM Do 74 93 B G M – G 6 – – G E E – 4 F 1951 HF HM D 71 88 Au Au M Ho M 5 2 No E H C E 3 M 1950 HF HM M 69 99 Ca Ca M Cn M 8 2 No C C E 2 F 1950 HF HM M 71 71 B UK M – B 9 3 No E C E 1 M 1950 HF HM D 66 84 Au Au M Ho M 5 2 No E M C E Appendix A. III : Summary of Interviews Subjects (S) Sex Year of Birth Year Parents (1) Parents Type ofType Hakka (2) Date Left Date 1. Beruas/Malaysia Host-Country 2. For Present Nationality (3) Nationality Present Country of (4) Residence Marital Status Spouse (Dialect) (5) Nationality ofNationality spouse (6) No. of ofNo. Children Parents No. of ofNo. Children Subject Children speak Hakka? Children Language with spouse (7) Language Schools (8) 388 Appendix A 18 – WM L B No 17 E UW HM 3 No No . 16 – CU E No No 15 E I L HM 2 No No + SU=Stanford University, University, + SU=Stanford 14 – LC PB T No 13 E AU E AC No 12 – UF E D No 11 E UM AM C* No 10 E RM IT HW C* No 9 – VU FC D No 8 E C F3 HK No No 7 E M H TU SU VP B No 6 C H LC RO No No 5 – UC MU HM 1 No No 4 E UM FM No No 3 C E BU FA C* No 2 E MU PN No No 1 E M UM SA B No USA; L=Local Chinese School, Beruas; CU=Coventry University, UK; UW=University of Wollongong, Australia; Western Michigan University, USA University, Michigan Western Australia; of UK; UW=University Wollongong, University, L=Local Chinese School, Beruas; CU=Coventry USA; and Finance Manager; Analyst, FM=Administration Nurse, FA=Financial Practice Analyst; PN=Professional Systems Computer (11) Occupation: SA= ofVP=Vice President HK=Housekeeper, Owner; Organization; International (formerly Chemist and Business Consultant; RO=Restaurant HM1=Homemaker (formerly Air Attendant), HM2=Homemaker Banker; E=Engineer; PB=Private Manager; AM=Accounts HW=Health worker, Controller; FC=Financial (formerly Accountant). HM3=Homemaker Church AC=Attend Christian, D=Daoist; to B=Buddhist, C*=Converted (12) Religion: Subjects (S) (9) with children Language Mother HM=Hakka Mother; hkM=Hokkien hcM=Hockchew HF=Hakka Father, (1) Parents: of Do=Dongguan, H=Huizhou (2)Type M=Meixian (Moiyen), Hakka : D=Dabu, of Residence in, residing with Permanent the country they are B=British, Ca=Canadian, Am=American, M*=Malaysian nationality: Au=Australian, (3) Present I=Italian. M=Malaysian; of States Ch=China, Am=United Zealand, F=France. America, NZ=New Ca=Canada, G=Germany, Kingdom, UK=United (4) Country of Au=Australia, residence: (5) Dialect of C-H=Cantonese-Hakka, Spouse: Ho=Hokkien, Co=Cantonese, Am=American, I=Italian, Au=Australian. of(6) Nationality China), S=Singapore, B=British, G=German, Ch=Chinese (from spouse: M=Malaysian, G=German, H=Hakka, I=Italian. with spouse: E=English, M=Mandarin, C=Cantonese, spoken (7) Language C=Chinese, E=English, M=Malay (8) Schools Attended: H=Hakka, I=Italian. Mainly in E=English, with M=Mandarin, C=Cantonese, with children: spoken (9) Language of Canada; UM=University Malaysia; University, UK; BU=Brandon of(10) Institute of Education: UM=University University, Canada; MU=Middlesex Manitoba, USA University, TU=Teesside Chinese School, Beruas; LC=Local Germany; NZ + Munich University, ofUC+MU=University Canterbury, Institute of Institute Education (10) Occupation (11) Religion (12) Religion Member of Hakka Association Appendix A. III : Summary of) ( cont. Interviews ਴⍮ц㌫䃚᰾

⍮䃚᰾ޜေݹᲟ↖ @ ѻㅜйᆀ噧৏㉽⊏㾯ⴱ䴙䜭㑓噧⭏ޜ噩䄡ᗧⲫ噧㱝㣍ޜॱцݹᲟޛ Ҿᆻԓѝ㩹噧 ࡍ⡢ᇓᐎࡪਢ噧㍟䲎ᆨ༛ю⴨噥ޜ䮻䴙䜭噤ሗ䜭噤⸣෾й㑓ѻ⾆噧ভ⊏㾯བྷ࿻⾆ҏ噥㪜Ҿ⊏㾯ሗ䜭䡎ᐎ噧・ᴹ བྷ⸣⻁ᴨ᰾ᇈ⡥਽㲏⡢䁈噥࿓ᕥ∿ཚཛӪ噧⭏йᆀ噧䮧⪎⩴噤 ⅑⫺⩴噤й⩣⩴噥 ᤹࠶䜑ѻ䃚㍋㍌噧⭡ᯬ਴䆌਴⁓噧㧛㺧а ᱟ噧❦ᴹྲ⾿ᔪⴱ≰ ࠶ޜᐎᓌ≨ᇊ㑓㘠᷇䲒ᆨ༛ᔆ⪋㘵噧㚎ࡽӪѻۣ噧㠚к⾆㱝㣍 ↖ေ䜑噧㱝ᾧޜ࠶ཚ৏䜑噧㱝ᗧޜ࠶␨⋣䜑噥ཚ৏⦻ဃѻ䜑噧 ᾧޜഐཆ⾆❑ఓ噧ԕ⭕᢯⽰噧␨⋣ᕥဃѻ䜑噧ᗧޜഐዣ⡦❑ఓ 噧ԕႯ᢯⽰噧᭵Ҽޜ࠶䜑н࠶ဃҏ噧㠣ᱟᖠᖠਟ㘳噥৸ᬊ䯙䆌䂣䔹噤Ჟޜ䃅㛢ҍ⭧噧֌䴙䜭噤ሗ䜭噤⸣෾й㑓⾆噧࠶й䜑噧 ᗎަࠪԅᡰち噧䮧᮷ .ᔓ噧ݳю⴨噤⅑᮷㠸噧৳᭯ਨ噤й᮷ᬗ噧㘠᷇ᆨ༛ 噧ભཚ৏䜑噥ഋ᮷⾿噤ӄ᮷Ӟ噧㘠᷇ᆨ༛ 噤ޝ᮷⾯噧㏃↧ਨ噧ભ↖ေ⬒噥гӔ⭘噤ޛ᮷᰾ 噧䙊᭯ਨ 噧 ҍ᮷ጟ噧ᨀࡁ 䛾 ભ␨⋣䜑噥噰ᵜ䃚᰾׍ᬊ≨ᇊ㘱᯿䆌ֶۣᡰ䔹ҏ噱噥^ 㠚⊏㾯࿻䚧≰ᐎሗॆ㑓⸣໱መޜѻ⅑ᆀ噧ޜ噩ݹᲟޜ⩴⫹а ц ޛॱ 噧⭏ а ᆀᰕഋॱ а 䜎噥 ޛॱҼцഋॱ а 䜎ޜ ⫺⩴ޜѻᆀ噧⡢≰ᐎ࿻⾆噧⭏ ҍᆀ࠶й䜑䮧 ᮷ᔓ噧ݳю⴨噤⅑᮷㠸噧৳᭯ਨ噤й᮷㠹噧㘠᷇䲒ᆨ༛ 噧↖ေ 䜑⍮噥ഋ᮷⾿噧㘠᷇䲒ᆨ༛ 噤ӄ᮷Ӟ噧㘠᷇䲒ᆨ༛ 噤ޝ᮷⾯噧 Liaoshi da zongpu (The Complete Genealogical Register of Register Genealogical Complete the Liao Clan) (The 廖氏大宗譜 Liaoshi da zongpu ㏃↧ਨ噧ཚ৏䜑⍮噥г᮷⭘噧㘠᷇䲒ᆨ༛ 噤ޛ᮷᰾噧䙊᭯ਨ噤 ҍ᮷ጟ噧ᨀࡁ䛾噧 ␨⋣䜑⍮噥 ޛॱйц᮷㠸ޜ噩ഋॱ а 䜎ޜѻ⅑ᆀ噧ޜ⭡≰ᐎ䚧кᶝ噧ᱟ⡢кᶝ ࿻⾆噥ᱲ↖ᒣ噤≨ᇊⲶ䳨кᶝ噧᭵ަᖼ㼄ᮓ㲅㹶ཊ噧䘘᰾ᆓ࠶ 䁝ޙ䛁噧㘼䳨㉽䙲਴ᴹᡰኜ噥ޜ㪜ᯬкᶝ㰶䊀⭠叴⎞ຈ噧⭏а Extract from the from Extract Appendix B

子曰花。八十四世花公：字實蕃，文興公之子初授湖廣參政大夫，妣馮氏，

，磜頭人，因宋元搆亂，移居廷平府順昌縣合陽市，又移杭地一郭坊村，明萬曆廿七年十月初七日公妣合葬于永定縣蘆豐，田鷄浮塘癸山丁向公開爲杭永二邑之始祖，杭永之有廖由茲。來矣迄今衍派分枝杭永二千有餘戶，每年期於二月初九日合，

祭，生一子曰昌。

八十五世昌公：字燕及，號十五郞，花公之子，公葬于橫橋南坑巳山亥向架上金盆形萬曆三十八年三月初一日巳時立碑築墳，，

期於每年二月十三日合祭。妣楊大娘、周五娘雙葬于郭坊大埔坪坤山艮向棋盤形花心穴每年期於月初十日合祭生三，一一。

子，長徹、次政、三敏。

八十六世徹公：字甫田，號十九郞，昌公之長子，妣張氏，合葬于

上杭峯市河頭白鷺樹下未山艮向黃龍過江形，嘉慶庚午年各戶

嗣孫更葬修築。

八十六世政公：字拱辰，號二十郞，昌公之次子，妣梁宜人，富盖都邑葬于永定縣溪南里大阜村，生三子，長懋息、次懋實、，

三懋孫。

八十六世敏公：字納齊，昌公之三子，授德安府通判，妣趙氏，公

葬于古鎮坪，妣葬于黃隔栗子坪。生五子，長念二郞、次念三

郎、参三十一郞、肆三十二郞、伍三十二郞。

八十七世懋孫公：政公之三子，妣朱氏，生二子，長百九郞、次千

九郎。

八十七世三十三郎公：敏公之五子，妣蕭氏、張氏、何氏，生三子

，長仲達、次仲遠、三仲琳。

八十八世千九郞公：號北經歷，懋孫公之次子，生一子月山。八十八世！遠公：三十三郎公之次子，生子安叔。 ^ 一八十九世月山公：千九郞公之子，生子均顯。一

八十九世安叔公：仲遠公之子，生二子，長大二郞、次四六郞。九十世均顯公：月山公之子生子完夫。一， ) Appendix B ( cont.

Appendix B 391

九十世四六郞公：安叔公之次子，生四子，長德貴，移程鄕、次德

秀，移黃河、三德明，移長樂、四德源，卽興寧始組〈以下參

閱德源公派說明〕。九十世完夫公：均顯公之子，生一子義恭。一

1 九十一世義恭公：完夫公之子，生一子以智。九十三世以智公：義恭公之子，生二子，長世穗、次世聰。

九十四世世聰公：以智公之次子，生二子，長金豐、次本軠。

九十五世本軠公：世聰公之次子，生二子，長宗興、次宗國字成生。

392 Appendix B

Translation

Extract from the Liaoshi da zongpu 廖氏大宗譜 (The Complete Genealogical Register of the Liao Clan) [In this register, like all genealogical registers, the first ancestor is Huangdi 黄帝 Yellow Emperor. The Earl of Liao 伯廖 (name 叔安 Shu’an) is one of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor from the twentieth generation. He is one of the sons of King Wen 文王 of Zhou and a brother of King Wu 武王. Liao Shu’an or the Earl of Liao became the first ancestor of the Liao clan 廖氏 in the State of Liao 飂.386 His lineage continued for thirty-six generations until the Spring and Autumn when Earl Shu (伯叔 Boshu) started a new lineage. Boshu became the first ancestor of the second lineage in the State of Liao, which was then written as 廖 Liao.]

Explanation of the Genealogy of Each Branch [of the Liao Clan]387 Explanation of the [Genealogy] of the Honorable Guangjing 光景公388 of Wuwei 武威389 Branch

80th Generation: The Honorable Guangjing 光景公 with the personal name Dedeng 德登, which is taboolized, was the third son of the Honorable Lanzhi 蘭芝. His ancestral home was in Jiangxi 江西 Province, Yudu 雩都 County. He was born in the middle period of the Sung Dynasty [960–1279]. At the beginning [of his career], he was a Prefect390 in Xuanzhou 宣州 [presently in the district of Xuancheng city, Anhui Province]. He continuously rose from a bachelor’s degree to become Councilor-in- chief.391 The Honorable [Guangjing] started [the Liao clans in the three counties of] Yudu, Ningdu 寧都 and Shicheng 石城. Thus, he became the Great First Ancestor [of the Liao clan] in Jiangxi. He was buried in Ningdu, Junzhou 鈞州 [in Jiangxi]. A large stone stele was erected in his memory with clear inscriptions of his official ranks, titles, honors, and names.

386 According to New Chinese Dictionary, Liao 飂 was an ancient kingdom situated south of today’s Tanghe 唐河 County, Henan (http://zidian.911cha.com/NDNjNg==.html, retrieved on 22nd May, 2012). 387 From Liao De (ed.) (1979, 6. 說 1). 388 Honorable Guangjing 光景公 (Guangjing Gong) is a posthumously conferred canon- ized name (諡 shi) and it was probably based on a poem or some very important events of the clan. As the name suggests, he was the ancestor whose “goodness radiates onto everything”. 389 According to Playfair, Wuwei existed as a district in Gansu during the Han, Jin, Northern Wei and Sui (1901, 526). Wuwei is presently a prefecture level city in Gansu. 390 A 剌史 cishi (Prefect) is the head of a Commandery (Hucker 1985, 559, no. 7568). 391 See Hucker (1985, 125, no. 483). Appendix B 393

His wife, Madam Zhang 張氏, bore him three sons. The eldest is Ruixuan 瑞瑄; the second, Qiongxuan 瓊瑄; and the third, Linxuan 琳瑄. Different views on the division of the Commaderies gave rise to many different [genealogical] registers. There was no consensus. But according to the Hanlin Academy scholar, Liao Ying 廖瑛 from Fujian 福建 Province, Tingzhou 汀州 Prefecture, Yongding 永定 County, and the transmitted genealogy of the elders, The Honorable Lanzhi 蘭芝 was enfeoffed with Wuwei Commandery; The Honorable Lankai 蘭楷 Taiyuan 太原 Commandery [presently a prefecture in Shanxi Province];392 and the Honorable Lande 蘭德 Qinghe 淸河 Commandery [presently a county in Xingtai 邢台, Hebei]. Taiyuan was a Commandery with the surname Wang 王. As [Honorable Lan]kai’s maternal ancestors had no descendants, [Lankai] as the nephew undertook to make the sacrifices [for his mother’s clan]. Qinghe 淸河 is a Commandery with the surname Zhang 張. The Honorable [Lan]de whose father-in-law had no descendants used his son-in-law [The Honorable Lande] to undertake the sacrifices. Hence, both Honorables [Lankai and Lande] moved to these Commanderies [Taiyuan and Qinghe] and their descendants used the surnames [of Wang and Zhang respectively]. Up to this point [the genealogy] is clearly verifiable. [At this point, the two branches of the Liao clan (i.e. that of Lankai and Lande) were dropped from the register after they moved to Taiyuan 太原 and Qinghe 淸河 and changed their surnames to Wang and Zhang respectively. Hence, the Liao genealogy was continued only through the Honorable Guangjing with the Wuwei clan emblem.] Furthermore, according to the register from Fujian 閩, this is recorded comprehen- sively. The Honorable [Guang]jing sired nine sons.393 They became the ancestors of [the Liao] clans in the three Counties of Yudu, Ningdu and Shicheng. [The Liao clan] branched out into these three Commandaries. From there they brought forth scholar- officials, who held offices such as:

The eldest, Wenguang 文廣 was a Principal Councilor-in-chief;394 The second, Wenxing 文興 was [an officer] in the Department of the Vice Minister;395 The third, Wenju 文擧 was a member of the Hanlin Academy who administered the Taiyuan Commandery; The fourth, Wenfu 文福 and the fifth, Wenliang 文亮 were both Hanlin scholars;

392 According to Playfair (1901, 459), Taiyuan existed as a prefecture in Shaanxi in the Ming. 393 There is obviously some confusion in this register and the one from Fujian because later in the 82nd Generation, the same set of ‘nine sons’ appear as his grandsons. 394 See Hucker (1985, 125, no. 483). 395 See Hucker (1985, 517, no. 6868). 394 Appendix B

The sixth, Wenlu 文祿 was Head of Registry396 who administered Wuwei and Piao 瓢; The seventh, Wenyong 交用; The eightieth, Wenming 文明 was [an officer] in the Office of Transmission;397 and The ninth, Wenfeng 文峯 was an officer in the Judicial Commission398 who administered the Qinghe Commandery.

(The explanation of the origin [of the Liao clan] is based on the old genealogy register of Yongding, which has come down to us as it was recorded.)

81st Generation: The Honorable Qiongxuan 瓊瑄, second son of the Honorable Guangjing, first migrated from Jiangxi to Tingzhou, Ninghua County, Shibi Village. He produced a son called Forty-first Master 四十一郞.399

82nd Generation: The Honorable Forty-first Master 四十一郞, son of the Honorable Qiong Xuan, became the first ancestor of the Tingzhou [lineage]. He sired nine sons and divided them in three Commandaries:

The eldest, Wenguang 文廣 was a Principal Councillor-in-chief; The second, Wenxing 文興 was [an officer] in the Department of the Vice Minister; The third, Wenju 文擧 was a member of the Hanlin Academy and he commanded this branch of Wuwei Commandery; The fourth, Wenfu 文福 and the fifth, Wenliang文亮 were both Hanlin scholars; The sixth, Wenlu 文祿 was Head of Registry who commanded this branch of the Taiyuan Commandery; The seventh, Wenyong 交用 was a member of the Hanlin Academy; The eighth, Wenming 文明 was [an officer] in the Office of Transmission; and The ninth, Wenfeng 文峯 was an officer in the Judicial Commission who commanded this branch of the Qinghe Commandery.

83rd Generation: The Honorable Wenxing 文興 was the second son of the Honorable Forty-first Master 四十一郞. He migrated from Tingzhou to Shanghang 上杭 [presently a county level city in Longyan 龍岩] and became the first ancestor of the Shanghang [lineage]. Over a period of time, Wuping 武平 and Yongding

396 See Hucker (1985, 172, no. 1228). 397 See Hucker (1985, 553, no. 7467). 398 See Hucker (1985, 495, no. 6446). 399 The conferring of an Ordination name 郞名 langming is a strong Hakka tradition. For a detailed discussion, see Chan W.H. (1995 and 1996). Appendix B 395 became attached to Shanghang. Hence, his descendants were scattered in their various locations and they continued to multiply. In the Ming Dynasty they divided into two branches in the areas [of Wuping and Yongding] and the successive recording of the genealogical register for these two lineages were conducted separately. The Honorable [Wenxing] was buried in Shanghang, Lu Feng 蘆豐, Tianji fu tang 田鷄浮塘 (Frog-swimming Pond). He sired one son called Hua 花.

84th Generation: The Honorable Hua 花, with the courtesy name Shi Fan, was the son of The Honorable Wenxing 文興. First, he was conferred [the title of] Vice Minister Grand Master400 in Huguang 湖廣.401 His wife Madam Feng 馮氏 was from Qitou 磜頭. During the upheavals between the Song and Yuan Dynasties, they migrated to Tingping 廷平 Prefecture, Shunchang 順昌 County in the city of Heyang 合陽 [in Fijian]. [They migrated] again to settle in Hang[zhou], Guofang 郭坊 Village. In the Ming, during the Wanli [1573–1619] reign, in the 27th year [1599] 11th month, 7th day, Honorable [Hua] and his wife were buried together in Yongding County, Lu Feng, Tianjifu tang (Frog-swimming Pond)402 in the north-northeast—south- southwest direction.403 The Honorable [Hua] became the first ancestor of the Hangzhou and Yongding areas. This is how the Liao [clans] came to be in Hangzhou and Yongding! To date, the division of the clan in Hangzhou and Yongding [has produced] more than two thousand households. Every year on the 9th day of the 2nd lunar month, there would be a combined sacrificial ceremony [for the ancestors]. [The Honorable Hua] sired a son called Chang 昌.

85th Generation: The Honorable Chang 昌, courtesy name Yanji 燕及, alias Fifteenth Master, was the son of The Honorable Hua. The Honorable was buried at Heng Bridge 橫橋 in Nankeng 南坑 in the south-southeast—north-northwest direction.404 [The site was] arranged and decorated in the shape of a ‘golden platter’.

400 See Hucker (1985, 465, no. 5939/3). 401 In the Qing, the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong (eventually Guangxi as well) formed a political unit. 402 Hua and his father Wenxing were buried in the same cemetery. 403 There are twenty-four directional signs on the Chinese fengshui compass and 癸山丁向 guishan dingxiang represent the north-northeast—south-southwest alignment. See Feuchtwang (1982, 27–33). 404 The phrase 巳山亥向 sishan haixiang is another of the twenty-four directions (Feuchtwang 1982, 27–33). 396 Appendix B

In the Wanli reign, 38th year [1602], 3rd month, 1st day at 9–11 hour, a stele was erected and the tomb was constructed. Every year in the 2nd month, 13th day, a combined sacrificial ceremony was performed. His first wife from the Yang clan and fifth wife from the Zhou clan were buried together at Guofang, Dabu, Mount Ping Kun, in the southwest-northeast direction405 in a site shaped like a chessboard with a ‘flower heart’. Every year in the 2nd month, 10th day, a combined sacrifice was made. He sired three sons: the eldest Che 徹, the second Zheng 政, and the third Min 敏.

86th Generation (a). The Honorable Che, courtesy name Futian 甫田, alias Nineteenth Master, was the eldest son of the Honorable Chang. His wife, Madam Zhang was buried together with him in Shanghang, in the city of Feng, at the head of the river under the Bailu 白鷺 (White Egret) tree in the south-southwest—northeast direction406 at a site that is shaped as if the ‘yellow dragon is crossing the river’. In the Jiaqing 嘉慶 reign [1796–1820], in the gengwu 庚午 year [1810] every household continued to have descendants and they continued to bury [their ancestors] and tend [to their tombs].

86th Generation (b): The Honorable Zheng 政, courtesy name Gongchen 拱辰, alias Twentieth Master 二十郞, was the second son of the Honorable Chang. His wife, Liang 梁 was a pleasant person. The capital city [where they lived] was wealthy. He was buried in Yongding District, Xinan 溪南 neighbourhood, Dafu 大阜 Village. He sired three sons. The eldest was called Maoxi 懋息; the second, Maoshi 懋實; and the third, Maosun 懋孫.

86th Generation (c): The Honorable Min, courtesy name Naqi 納齊, was the third son of the Honorable Chang. He was awarded the post of local magistrate in De’an 德安 Prefecture. His wife was Madam Zhao. The Honorable was buried in Old Zhenping 鎮坪 and his wife was buried in Huangge 黃隔 on the Lizi Ping 栗子坪 (Chestnut Plain). She bore him five sons. The eldest son is remembered as Second Master 二郞; the second as Third Master 三郞; the third as Thirty-first Master 三十一郞; the fourth as Thirty-second Master 三十二郞; and the fifth as Thirty-third407 Master 三十三郞.

405 The phrase 坤山艮向 kunshan genxiang indicates another of the twenty-four directions (Feuchtwang 1982, 27–33). 406 The phrase 未山艮向 weishan genxiang indicates another alignment (Feuchtwang 1982, 27–33). 407 In the text it is written as Third-second Master 三十二郞, which is obviously a typo as indicated in the 87th generation. Appendix B 397

87th Generation (a). The Honorable Maosun was the third son of the Honorable Zheng. His wife is Madam Zhu. She gave birth to two sons. The eldest is called Ninth Master Bai 百九郞 and the second Ninth Master Qian 千九郞.408

87th Generation (b): The Honorable Thirty-third Master 三十三郞 was the fifth son of the Honorable Min. His wives were Madam Xiao 蕭, Madam Zhang 張 and Madam He 何. He had three sons. The eldest was called Zhongda 仲達; the second, Zhongyuan 仲遠; and the third, Zhonglin 仲琳.

88th Generation (a): The Honorable Ninth Master Qian, also known as Beijingli 北經歷, was the second son of the Honorable Maosun. He had one son named Yueshan 月山.

88th Generation (b): The Honorable Zhongyuan was the son of the Honorable Thirty- third Master 三十三郞 and he had one son called Anshu 安叔.

89th Generation (a): The Honorable Yueshan was the son of the Honorable Ninth Master Qian. He had a son named Junxian 均顯.

89th Generation (b): The Honorable Anshu was the son of the Honorable Zhongyuan. He had two sons. The eldest was called Elder Second Master 大二郞 and the second, Forty-six Master 四六郞.

90th Generation (a): The Honorable Junxian was the son of the Honorable Yueshan. He had one son named Wanfu 完夫.

90th Generation (b): The Honorable Forty-six Master was the second son of the Honorable Anshu. He had four sons. The eldest, named Degui 德貴 migrated to Cheng Township; the second, Dexiu 德秀 migrated to the Yellow River; the third, Deming 德明 migrated to Zhangle 長樂 [present county level city in Fuzhou]; and the fourth, Deyuan 德源 became the first ancestor [of the Liao clan] in Xingning 興寧 [present county level city in Meizhou]. (The following was in consultation with the clarification from the branch [register] of the Honorable Deyuan 德源.)

91st Generation: The Honorable Wanfu 完夫 was the son of Junxian. He had one son called Yigong 義恭.

408 It is possible that they were twins. 398 Appendix B

92nd Generation: The Honorable Yigong was the son of the Honorable Wanfu 完夫. He had one son named Yizhi 以智.

93rd Generation: The Honorable Yizhi was the son of the Honorable Yigong. He had two sons. The eldest was named Shisui 世穗 and the second, Shicong 世聰.

94th Generation: The Honorable Shicong was the second son of the Honorable Yizhi. He had two sons. The eldest was called Jinfeng 金豐 and the second Benren 本軠.

95th Generation: The Honorable Benren was the second son of the Honorable Shicong. He had two sons. The eldest was named Zongxing 宗興 and the second, Zongguo 宗國 with the courtesy name Chengsheng 成生.

[The register then starts a new branch of the clan with The Honorable Deyuan 德源 as the first ancestor in Xingning 興寧 (present county level city in Meizhou). He is an 11th generation descendant of The Honorable Guangjing 光景 with the Wuwei 武威 clan emblem of the 80th generation. The Honorable Deyuan would have been registered as the 91th generation if he has not become the first ancestor of the Liao clan in Xingning.]

Notes

(1) This particular branch of the genealogical register started with the Honorable Guangjing from the 80th generation of the Liao clan. His personal name was Liao Dedeng and he was the third son of The Honorable Lanzhi with the Wuwei tanghao or commandery. Guangjing’s ancestral home was in Jiangxi Province, Yudu County and he became the Great First Ancestor of the Liao clans in the three counties of Yudu, Ningdu and Shicheng in Jiangxi. The first concrete date given in the register is in the 84th Generation, which states that “In the Ming 明, during the Wanli 萬曆 [1573–1619] reign, in the 27th year [1599], 11th month, 7th day, the Honorable [Hua 花] and his wife were buried together in Yongding County, Lu Feng, Tianjifu tang (Frog-swimming Pond).” If we assume that one generation consists of approximately twenty years, Guangjing would have become the first ancestor in the 1520s–30s in the Ming. (2) Daughters do not appear in the register. Only the wives are mentioned (妣). This follows the agnatic tradition of the Chinese. (3) There are obvious flaws in these registers as indicated by the 80th and 82nd generations. According to another register from Fujian, Guangjing of the 80th generation sired nine sons and his grandson, Forty-first Master of the 82nd generation, Appendix B 399 also had the same set of nine sons with the same names and they held almost identical positions, with the exception that the third and sixth sons, who commanded different Commanderies. This could be a copying error because it was mentioned that Guangjing had three sons with Madam Zhang. (4) This genealogy is compiled as genealogies were written and from the literally style and the language used, it is hard to detect any Hakka elements. However, the contents reveal that it is a Hakka genealogy. All the places mentioned in the register are located in the so-called Hakka heartland. Another telling sign is the conferring of 郞名 langming or Ordination name, which is considered a Hakka tradition. Generation names are also used frequently. Appendix C 班次 banci Hk. pan tshu, 派輩 paibei Hk. phai pui or 派字 paizi Hk. phai tshu (Generation Poem of a Liao Lineage)

始祖廖姓配名

均必才光仕, 元達芳朝堂詩書*傳世遠, 學*葉廣聲楊409 英雄能定國, 富貴德稹祥仁義禮智信, 亁坤日月長

均上必下一高一底

Chhi tsu liao siang phui miang

Kiun pit tshoi kwong su Nyen that fong chau thong Shi shu chhon she yen Hok yap kong shang yong Yin hiung nen thin kwet Fu kwui tet chhit yong Yin nyi li chi sin Khien khwun nyit nyet chhong

Kiun shong pit ha yit kau yit tai

TRANSLATION Each and everyone must be officials of talent and light [Be] the first to reach the fragrant Imperial Hall The Book of Poem was handed down from ancient times [distant generations] The learning from [book] pages spread like the sound of poplar Heroes are able to put the nation in order Riches, honor and virtue accumulate auspiciously Benevolence, righteousness, rites, wisdom and trust [Like] the males and females [in our family] will grow day and night.

409 Mr. Liaw Chon Hin 廖傳興 belongs to the thirteenth generation of this Liao lineage and he is the first generation Malaysian Hakka Chinese. The next two generations did not use the generation poem in their names but the fourth generation reverted to using the generation poem—using 學 as part of their given names. See pp. 344–6 for discussion.

Song I 月光光，秀才郎，騎白馬，過蓮塘，蓮塘背，種韭菜410，韭菜花，結親家，親家門口一口塘，放介鯉毑411八尺長，長介拿來煮酒食，短介留來討脯娘412，討介脯娘高天天，煮介飯啊臭火煙，討介脯娘矮嘟嘟，煮介飯啊香馞馞。

Nyet kong kong, siu tshoi long Khi pkak ma, kwo len thong Len thong poi, chung kiu tshoi Kiu tshoi fa, ket tsin ka Tsin ka mun kheu yit kheu tong Yong kai li ma pat chak chong Chong kai na loi chu tsiu sit Ton kai liu loi thau pu nyong Thau kai pu nyong kau thien thien Chu kai fan a chhiu fo yen Thau kai pu nyong ai thun thun Chu kai fan a hiong phut phut

410 韭菜 jiucai Hk. kiu tshoi is commonly known as Chinese chives or garlic chives. The botanical name for jiu 韭 is Allium tuberosum. The seeds, roots and leaves can be used for medicine (Zhang Youjun et al. 1994, 1186). 411 The character 毑 can also be written with the radicles inverted as in MacIver (1905, 390– 91). 鯉毑 lijie Hk. li ma is a female carp. A male carp is called a 鯉公 ligong Hk. li kung. 412 脯娘 pu niang Hk. pu nyong is a Hakka expression for woman (MacIver 1905, 643). It is interesting to note that 脯 pu Hk. pu in Hakka means to bend and the literal translation is ‘bending lady’. Can it be that the term came about because the women are always bending down to work—be it in the field or at home?

TRANSLATION The moon shines Talented Scholar Rides a white horse Crosses the lotus pond

Behind the lotus pond Plant garlic chives When the garlic chives blossom It is time to form marital liaison

In front of the in-laws’ house there was a pond413 They raised female carps that were eight feet long The long (big) ones were used for cooking with wine to eat The short (small) ones were kept for marrying a woman

If you marry a very tall woman She will cook rice that smells of smoke! If you marry a very short woman She will cook rice that smells fragrantly!

Song II Dongguan Meixian 東莞梅縣 (Zhang 1951: 262) 月光光，樹頭背，鵝擔水，鴨洗菜, 雞公礱榖狗踏確[碓]，414 狐狸燒火貓炒菜，猴哥偷食䊒疤喙。

Nyet kong kong, su teu poi, Ngo tam shui, ap se tshoi Kai kung lung kwuk keu thap toi Fu li shau fo miau tshau tshoi Heu ko theu sit luk pa vui

413 Traditional Hakka houses in China usually have a semi-circular pond, known as ‘half- moon pond’ (半月池) to provide aquatic food and water source for irrigation, washing clothes and extinguishing fire (Poon 2007, 8). 414 碓 dui Hk. toi is a pestle, worked with the foot, used to hull rice (MacIver 1905, 878). Appendix D 403

TRANSLATION The moon shines Behind the tree The goose carries water The duck washes vegetables The cock grinds rice paddy The dog stamps on the pestle The fox tends the fire The cat stir-fries the vegetable The monkey steals food And it was scalded on its maw.

Song III Dongguan Dabu 東莞大埔 (Zhang 1951, 262)

月光光，樹頭背，雞公礱榖狗踏確[碓]，狐狸燒火貓炒菜，田雞415食飯脚懶懶，老虎上山拗苦柴。

Nyet kong kong, su teu poi, Kai kung lung kwuk keu thap toi Fu li shau fo miau tshau tshoi Ten kai sit fan kiok lan lan Lao fu shong san au khu cai.

TRANSLATION The moon shines Behind the tree The cock grinds the grains The dog stamps on the pestle The fox tends the fire The cat stir-fries the vegetable The frog eats rice [until its] legs become lazy The tiger goes up the mountain to break dry firewood.

415 田雞 tianji Hk. thien kai is the edible frog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus). 404 Appendix D

Song IV [嘉應]鄉土歌謠: 童謠 [Jiaying] Local Folk Songs: Children’s Folksongs (1974, 466, No. 6) 月光光，秀才郎，騎白馬，過蓮塘，蓮塘背，種韭菜，韭菜花，結親家，親家門口一口塘，養介鯉毑八尺長，長個拿來煮酒食，短個拿來換姑娘。

TRANSLATION The moon shines Talented Scholar Rides a white horse Crosses the lotus pond Behind the lotus pond Plant garlic chives When the garlic chives blossom It is time to form marital liaison In front of the in-laws’ house there is a pond They reared female carps that are eight feet long The long (big) ones are used for cooking with wine to eat The short (small) ones are used in exchange for a woman.

Note: This is almost identical to Song A, which is commonly sung, except for the use of different characters. In Song A, a woman is a Hk. pu nyong 脯娘 pu niang, whereas in the above (Song D) the more conventional 姑娘 guniang Hk. ku nyong is used. Appendix D 405

Song V [嘉應] 鄉土歌謠: 童謠 [Jiaying] Local Folk Songs: Children’s Folksongs (1974, 466, No. 7)

月光光，好種薑，薑篳出，好種菊，菊打花，好種瓜，瓜未大，孫子偷来賣，賣倒三文錢，學打棉，棉斷綫，學打磚，磚封莭，學打鐵，鐵生鹵416，學屠豬, 屠豬蝕了本, 學賣粉417，粉會餿(腐化)，學做嬌[轎]。

Nyet kong kong, hau chung kiong Kiong pit chut, hau chung khiuk Khiuk ta fa, hau chung kwa Kwa vui thai Sun tsu theu loi mai Mai thau sam vun tshien Hok ta mien, mien thon sein Hok ta chon, chon fung tsiet Hok ta thiet, thiet sang lu, Hok thu chu, Thu chu shit liau pun Hok mai fun, Fun voi seu ( fu fa) Hok tso khiau.

TRANSLATION The moon shines It is time to plant ginger, When the ginger shoots out [of the earth], It is time to plant chrysanthemum When chrysanthemum blossoms, It is time to plant melon,

416 鹵 lu Hk. lu in Hakka means and Hk. sang lu is to become rusty (MacIver 1905, 428). 417 MacIver (1905, 126) refers to as “rice-flour, meal powder of any kind, and cosmetic”. In this context, it most probably refers to the selling of rice noodle. The Hakka term, Hk. mai fun tsai 賣粉了maifenzi refers to the occupation of selling noodle. 406 Appendix D

But before the melons were even big (ripe), The grandchild stole them to sell He sold it for three units of cash [Then] he learnt to make cotton [thread] When the cotton thread broke [He] learnt to make bricks, But the bricks contained knots [He] learnt iron-mongering But the iron became rusty [He] learnt to butcher pigs But butchering of pigs lost money [He] learnt to sell noodles But the noodle became stale [He] learnt to make sedan chairs. Appendix E 孝順父母理應當 (Xiaoshun fumu li yingdang) Hk. Hau sun fu mu li yin tong (The Reasons Parents Deserve Filial Obedience)

拿起竹板唱開場

孝順父母理應當，十月懷胎娘辛苦好比花木遇雪霜，嫩紅面色都轉黃。爺娘恩典唔418好忘，一出娘胎喊食乳一日食娘九到漿，二十過歲變老大娘。爺娘日夜掛肚腸419，記得當初還細420日，三餐飯碗唔曉扛，傑羹還愛放白糖421。子女還細苦爺娘，爺愁家中無錢用，娘帶細子422苦難當，睡盡幾多屎尿床。遇到冷天苦爺娘，被席拉倒淨屎尿，天氣楝[連]423冷愛起床，冷到腳下顫呀上。實在寒熱也苦娘，寒天驚怕你凍倒，熱天同你拍搧涼，攬等424行下又行上。帶子帶女費心腸425，無病無痛還過得，有病有痛急爺娘，幾多無睡到天光。走到腳底大[打]背農[囊]426，喊到醫生來看病，尋到錢來檢藥房，千方百計望安康。

418 The Hakka pronounce 唔 as m, which means ‘no’ or ‘do not’ (MacIver 1905, 439). 419 肚腸 duchang Hk. tu chhong (stomach and intestines) is translated as bowels (MacIver 1905, 1017). 420 还细 hai xi Hk. han se is a commonly used in Hakka to mean still small or young at age. 421 Sugar is added to children’s food so that it tastes better for them. 422 細子 xi zi Hk. se tsu DG. se tsu ng is a general term for a small child or children. 423 楝 lian4 refers to Melia japonica—a rounded, deciduous tree reaching 30–40 feet tall. Hk. lien3 [連] means ‘even when’ or ‘even if’. 424 攬等 lan deng Hk. lam ten means carrying in the arms in this context. 425 心腸 xinchang Hk. sim chhong is translated as affection (MacIver 1905: 754). 426 走到腳底大[打]背農 Hk. tseu tau kiok tai ta poi nong running so fast that the sole of your feet touches your back. Hakka call the back of the body Hk. poi nong 背囊 (beinang), see (MacIver 1905, 635).

曉行曉走心也慣，怕你搞火會燙到，怕你搞水跌落唐[塘]，怕你搞刀會割傷427。七歲送你入學堂，買紙買筆繳學費，買鞋買冒[帽]做衣裳，寧願自家喝粥湯。記念子女水楝[連]長，還細望你快長大，大了又愛娶妻房，又愛整屋制眠床428。希望日後有春光，等到爺娘年紀老，希望子女來贍養，竹頭生筍望想長。爺娘人人輪流當，有錢割肉也本分，無錢言語順爺娘，言語好過人叁湯。人人也愛奉爺娘，爺娘還生唔孝順，死了緊叫也平常，千拜萬拜一爐香。死別爺娘做病腸，大豬大羊來拜祭，唔當還生食四兩，還生食到過清香429。有些子女逆爺娘，大聲惡罵爺娘老不死，手指上額面霜霜，罵到爺娘真痛腸。有些子女唔照常，腳底筋來一生硬，討了老婆丟爺娘，好食柄430等親爺娘。人人養兒望春光，人人養兒望防老，年年積穀防飢荒，互相照顧幸福長。後生聽哩敬爺娘，老人廳哩添福壽，細子廳哩過乖張，歌子到此暫收場。

Na hi chuk pan chhong hoi chhong

Hau sun fu mu li yin tong, sip nyet fai thoi nyong sin ku Hau pi fa muk nyi siet song, nun fung mien tu chon vong

Ya nyong en tien m hau mong, yit chut nyong thoi ham shit nen Yit nyit shit nyong kiu tau tsiong, nyi ship kho soi pien lau tai nyong

Ya nyong nyit ya kwa tu chhong, ki tet tong chu han se nyit Sam tshon fan von m hiau kong, khiet kang han oi fong pak tong

427 搞火 gao hao Hk. kau fo, 搞水 gao shui Hk. kau shui, and 搞刀 gao tao Hk. kau tau are Hakka expressions used to describe things that children should not play with. 428 This is an advice to achieve household and marital harmony. 429 Given the context, 過清香 guo qingxiang could mean crossing over to another realm or to die. 430 柄 bing (handle) is pronounced as Hk. piang, which is the homophone for ‘to hide’. Appendix E 409

Tsu ng han se ku ya nyong, ya seu ka chung vu tshien yung Nyong tai se tsu ku nan tong, shoi tshin ki to shi nyau tshong

Nyi tau lang tien ku ya nyong, phi xi la tau chim shi nyau Tien hi lien lang oi hi tshong, lang tau kiok ha chen nga shong

Shit tshai han nyet ya ku nyong, hon tien kiang pa nyi tung tau Nyet tien thung nyi phok shen liong, lam ten hang ha yu hang shong

Tai tsu tai nyi fui sim chhong, vu phiang vu thung han kho tet Yu phiang yu thung kip ya nyong, ki to vu shoi tau tien kwong

Tseu tau kiok tai ta poi nong, ham tau yi sen loi kon phiang Tshim tau tshien loi kiam yok fong, tshien van pak ke mong on khong

Hiau hang hiau tseu sim ya kwan, pha ngi kau fo voi thong tau Pha ngi kau shui tiet lok tong, pha ngi kau tau voi kot shong

Tshit soi sung ngi nyip hok thong, mai chi mai pit kiau hok fui Mai hai mai mau tso yi shong, nen nyen tshu ka hot chuk thong

Ki nyam tsu ng shui lian chhong, han se mong ngi khwai chhong tai Tai liau yu oi tshi tshi fong, yu oi chin vuk chi min tshong

Hi mong nyit heu yu chhun kwong, ten tau ya nyong nyen ki lau Hi mong tsu ng loi sham yong, chuk teu sang sun mong siong chhong

Ya nyong nyin nyin lun liu tong, yu tshien kot nyuk ya pun fun Vu tshien nyen nyi sun ya nyong, nyen nyi hau kho nyin sem thong

Nyin nyin ya oi fung ya nyong, ya nyong han sang m hau sun Si liao kin kiau ya phin shong, tshien pai van pai yit lu hiong

Si phiet ya nyong tso phiang tshong, tai chu tai yong loi pai tsi M tong han sang shit si liong, han sang shit tau kho tsin hiong

Yu sia tsu ng nyak ya nyong, tai sang ok ma ya nyong lau put si Shiu chi shong nyak mien song song, ma tau ya nyong chin thung tshong

Yu sia tsu ng m chau shong, kiok tai kin loi yit sang ngang Thau liao lau pho tiu ya nyong, hau shit piang ten tshin ya nyong 410 Appendix E

Ngin ngin yong yi mong chhun kwong, ngin ngin yong yi mong fong lau Nyen nyen tsit kwuk fong ki mong, fu siong chau ku tsin ful chhong

Heu sang thang li kin ya nyong, lau ngin thang li thiam fuk shiu Se tsu thang li kho kwai chong, ko tsu tau tshu tshiam shiu chhong

TRANSLATION Picking up the bamboo [clappers to] commence singing:

The reasons that parents deserve filial obedience, Your mother suffered ten months of pregnancy, Like flowers and trees meeting snow and frost, Her rosy complexion turned pale.

Do not forget your gratitude to your parents, As soon as you were born, you yelled for milk, Your mother fed you gruel nine times a day, [Just] over twenty years of age, she has become an experienced woman.

Your parents worry about you day and night, Remembering the times when you were still small, [You] did not know how to lift the rice bowls at the three meals, When making [rice] gruel, white sugar was still added.

[When] children are still small they cause suffering to the parents, Your father worried that there was no money for household expenditure, The sufferings of your mother to raise small children was difficult to manage, [They] sleep deeply in beds soiled by stool and urine.

Encounters with cold days cause suffering to your parents, Covers and sleeping mats pulled and fallen only [to reveal] stool and urine, Even when the weather was cold, they [still] had to get out of bed, Chilled down to their legs that trembled up [their bodies].

Actually, both cold and heat caused suffering to your mother, On cold days she feared that you might freeze to death, On hot days she used the fan to keep you cool, Cradling you, she walked up and down.

Bringing up children takes feeling and affection, Without illnesses or aches, it is still bearable, Appendix E 411

[If you] suffer from illnesses and aches, your parents worry, Many do not sleep till daybreak.

They hurried around until the soles of their feet touched their backs To call the doctor to treat your illness, To find the money to consult the pharmacy, By every possible plan they hoped to keep you in good health.

As you gradually get used to walking and running, They are afraid you might play with fire and burn yourself, They are afraid you might play with water and fall into the pond, They are afraid you might play with knives and cut yourself.

At seven years old they sent you to school, To buy paper, buy brushes, and pay for school fees, To buy shoes, buy hat, and make school uniform, They would rather drink rice porridge.

Memories of their children are long like the river, When you were small they hoped that you would grow up soon, When you became an adult, that you would marry and [start a] family, You would build a house and make beds.

They hope that you will have a bright future, When your parents are old in years, [They] hope that their children will support them, Like the bamboo wishing its shoot will grow tall.

Every person should take turn to look after the parents, The wealthy can feed [them] meat to play their roles, The poor can use words and speech to comfort their parents, Words and speech are better than ginseng soup.

Every person must serve their parents, If parents are still alive but no filial obedience was accorded, After they are dead, it is common to grieve for them deeply, With thousands of kowtows, hundred thousand salutes and a full urn of incense sticks.

Using the departed parents as ‘ailing intestine’ [object of grief], They make sacrificial offerings of large pigs and big goats, 412 Appendix E

It would be better to eat four liang [of the meat] while still alive, While still alive, ate [the meat] before crossing over to the [land] of ‘pure fragrance’.

There are some children, who turn against their parents, Loudly cursing their parents as useless old fogies, Pointing fingers at their foreheads [until their] faces become frosty, Scolding their parents until it hurts them deeply.

There are some children, who do not follow the norm, When the tendon on the soles of their feet are hardened, After marrying a wife, they discard their parents, Things that are good to eat, they hide from their parents.

Everybody who bring up children hope for prosperity, Everybody who bring up children hope for protection in their old age, Every year they store up grains to avoid famines and disasters, Mutual caring will bring lasting happiness.

The younger generation who hear this should venerate their parents, The older generation who hear this should feel replenished by fortune and longevity, The young children who hear this should be perfectly well-behaved, This song is hereby temporarily concluded. Appendix F 人家日用 Renjia riyong Hk. Ngin ka nyit yung (People’s Daily Needs)431

PAGE 1 1 人家日用柴米油塩 2 蔬菜茶菓酒肉新鮮 3 松光燈火茅草烹食 4 早禾米飯大冬糯谷432 5 薯薑芋茆菠苓莧菜 6 芥菜蘿苩萁菜莙薘 7 葱蒜韮薤葫蘿蔔菜 8 蔬茆䔍薺豆豉楜椒 9 清明莔菰菗兒竹笋

1 Ngin ka nyit yung, tsai mi yu yam 2 Su tshoi tsha ko, tsiu nyuk sin sien 3 Tshiung kwong ten fo, mau tshau phen shit 4 Tsau vo mi fan, thai tung no kwuk 5 Shu kiong vu mau, po lin han tshoi 6 Kai tshoi lo phet, ki tshoi khiun that 7 Tshung son kiu hai, fu lo phet tshoi 8 Su mau ma tai, theu shi fu tsiau 9 Tshin min mang ku, chhiu yi chuk sun.

1 Peoples’ daily needs Firewood, rice, oil and salt433 2 Vegetables, tea and fruits Alcohol and fresh meat 3 Light from pine [wood], lamps and fire Reed for cooking food 4 Early paddy and cooked rice Winter crop434 of glutinous rice

431 I would like to thank Prof. Cynthia J. Brokaw for the digital copy of the text. This text was published by the Wenhai lou 文海楼 in 1888 (Brokaw, 2007, Appendix G: 25). 432 The Hakka generally grew and ate rice in the south of China. Hence, when grain is mentioned, it usually refers to the rice crop. I translate 米 mi Hk. mi as hulled rice that is uncooked and 谷 or 穀 gu Hk. kwuk as unhulled rice (both threshed and unthreshed), unless otherwise mentioned. 禾 he Hk. vo refers to paddy that is still growing in the fields. 433 These four items are the figurative expression of life’s daily necessities. 434 MacIver (1904, 805).

5 Sweet potatoes, ginger, taro435 and water mallow436 Spinach, edible fungus and Chinese spinach437 6 Mustard leaves and radishes Aloe-vera,438 mare’s tail439 and beet440 7 Scallions, garlic, Chinese chives and wild garlic Bottle gourds441 and radish leaves 8 Vegetables, water-mallows and water-chestnuts [Black] bean paste and bell peppers 9 At grave-cleaning festival there are China jute442 and mushrooms Garden burnet roots443 and bamboo shoots

PAGE 2 10 豆芽豆腐菉豆黃豆 11 笋干木耳紅薯白薯 12 青絲茄子帶豆苦瓜 13 老薑嫩薑海粉山藥 14 醃菜藏浸蔴油茶油 15 蔗糖沙糖米糖蜂糖 16 冬白老酒時酒燒酒 17 荔枝龍眼白菓核桃 18 蓮蓬菱角甘蔗枇杷

10 Theu nga theu fu, liuk theu vong theu 11 Sun kon muk ngi, hung shu pak shu 12 Chiang su khio tsu, tai theu fu kwa 13 Lau kiong lun kiong, hoi fun san yok 14 Yen thsoi tshong tsim, ma yu tsha yu 15 Cha thong sa thong, mi thong fung thong 16 Tung pak lau tsiu, shi tsiu sau tsiu 17 Lai chi lung ngan, pak ko fut thau 18 Lien phung lin kok, kam cha phi pha

435 Colocasia esculenta. 436 Hibiscus moscheutos. 437 Amaranth mangostanus. 438 It is also known as Aleo-dichotoma. 439 It is also known as Hippuris vulgaris, which is also used to feed goldfish (MacIver 1904, 305). 440 Plantago major. 441 Allium scorodoprasum. 442 It is also known as Abutilon avicenae and its berries are used in fevers (MacIver 1904, 455). 443 It is also called Radix sanguisorbae—a medicinal plant with bitter root. See also MacIver (1904, 42). Appendix F 415

10 Bean sprout and bean curd Lentil and soya bean 11 Bamboo shoots and edible fungus, Red and white sweet potatoes 12 Greenish black egg plants Runner beans and bitter gourds 13 Old ginger and young ginger Seaweed and yam444 14 Pickled vegetables stored away to mature Sesame oil and tea oil 15 Cane sugar and brown sugar Granular sugar and honey 16 Winter clear445 old [rice] wine New wine and distilled alcohol 17 Litchii and longan [fruits] Gingko nuts and walnuts 18 Heads of lotus seed and water caltrops Sugar canes and loquat446

PAGE 3 19 楊梅黑棗桃李干查 20 油椑橄欖栗子柿餅 21 漳州柑橘西瓜土瓜 22 蕀瓜梨子柰子林樆 23 胭脂紅李香片氷糖 24 傁糟醬醋糍粄糖糕 25 米米兆447粽糦豆饀麪包 26 米粉豆粉蕨粉烏豆 27 煑粥煑羹苡粄炊酒

19 Yong moi het tsau, thau li kon tsha 20 Yu pi kam lam, lit tsu se piang 21 Chong chiu kann kit, si kwa tu kwa 22 kit kwa li tsu, nai tsu lim khim 23 Yen chi hung li, hiong phien pen thong 24 Yam tsau tsiong tshu, chi pan thong kau

444 Dioscorea opposite. 445 When the rice wine is considered ready to drink, it is decanted. 446 Eriobotrya japonica. 447 This character is not found in all dictionaries that I have consulted so far (including in MacIver). I suspect the character is used phonetically. In this case, it could be a cake made of rice in the shape of a peach or a snack made with rice, similar to rice dumpling. There is a Hakka cake called 桃粄 taopan Hk. thau pan, which is a rice cake of peach shape. 416 Appendix F

25 Mi thau tsung chi, theu tau mien pau 26 Mi fun theu fun, ket fun vu theu 27 Chu chuk chu kang, yi pan choi tsiu.

19 Red bayberry448 and black dates Peaches, plums and Chinese quinces 20 Wild persimmons and Chinese olives Chestnuts and dried persimmons 21 Zhangzhou mandarin oranges Water-melon and morning-glory tubers449 22 Jasmine squash and pears Crab-apples and apples 23 Rouge-red plums, Scented tea and rock sugar 24 Salt, [rice wine] dregs,450 thick sauce and vinegar Sticky rice pastry and sweet cakes [made from rice flour] 25 Peach-shaped rice cake and glutinous rice dumplings [wrapped in bamboo leaves] Buns filled with bean-paste 26 Rice flour, bean flour Bracken fern-root451 powder and black beans 27 Cook rice porridge and cook rice gruel Barley cake and brewed alcohol

PAGE 4 28 炆爛豬頭壽桃菓盒 29 燒肉肉員鐍雞草魚 30 [䱒]鰱鯽鯉鰍鱔鰻蟹 31 鴨牳臊雞雉雞土籜452 32 田雞石蜦猪肝心肺 33 牛肚血脾膏骨蹄腿 34 雞卵鴨蛋猪爪羊肝 35 猪牳猪子貴散價錢 36 細絲紋銀九呈[程]八色 (4)

448 Also known as Arbutus (Myrica rubra). 449 It is also known as 菲芴 feiwu Hk. fui vut—an edible tuber. 450 Even today, it is still used for flavouring Hakka dishes such as steamed fish and special rice noodle soup. 451 Pteridium aquilinum. 452 In the original text it is written without the shi (豕) radical. The Kangxi Dictionary explained that 籜 lun is an beast/animal and in this context it could refer to an animal called lun that lives probably underground. See http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl? if=gb&char=%F0%A7%B1%9C&remap=gb. Appendix F 417

28 Mun lan chu theu, so thau ko hap 29 Sau nyuk nyuk yen, kit kai tshau ng 30 Yip lien tsit li, tshiu shen man hai 31 Ap mu sau kai, chhi kai tu lun 32 Thien kai sak lun, chu kon sim fui 33 Nyu tu hiet pi, kau kwut thai thui 34 Kai lon ap than, chu tsao yong kon 35 Chu mu chu tsu, kwui san ka tshien 36 Se su vun nyun, kiu chhin pat set.

28 Tenderly stewed pig heads Longevity peaches in fruit box 29 Roasted meat and meatballs Kit-chicken and grass carp453 30 Blowfish, silver carps, golden carps, and common carps Loach (conger eels), finless eels, eels454 and crabs 31 Female ducks, ‘pungent’ chicken, Pheasants and lun (moles?) 32 Frogs455 and snake-eating frogs Pig’s liver, heart and lung 33 Cow’s stomach, blood and spleen Bone marrow, hoofs and legs, 34 Chicken ovum and duck eggs Pig’s trotters and goat liver 35 Sows and piglets The value determines the price 36 Thin silk [thread] and fine silver Nine measures and eight colors

PAGE 5 37 逼火潤水低假兑充 38 買賣糴糶賖借現錢 39 填還本利典當取贖 40 生于禾谷加二加三 41 綿梭葛布苧蔴蕉布 42 京青羅山安福平湖 43 大號青藍門庄新攺 44 尤敦二梭家機舊攺 45 斜紋褐子絧布絲布

453 See Read (1977, 15). 454 Anguilla lostoniensis. 455 The Chinese edible frog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus). 418 Appendix F

37 Pit fo yun shui, ti ka tui chung 38 Mai mai thak thiau, chha tsia hien tshien 39 Thien van pun li, tien tong tshi shuk 40 Sang yu vo kwuk, ka ngi ka sam 41 Mien tsun kot pu, chhu ma tsiau pu 42 Kin tshiang lo san, on fuk pin fu 43 Thai hau tshiang lam, mun tsong sin koi 44 Yu tun liong tsun, ka ki kiu tsun 45 Sia vun kot tsu, tung pu su pu.

37 Set fire [to clear land]456 and irrigate To make the inferior wasteland productive457 38 The business of buying and selling grains Buying and selling on credit [require] loans of ready cash 39 For the repayments of capital and interest Pawning and redeeming [is necessary] 40 Life depends on the rice crops [That can] increase by twenty or thirty percent 41 Floss-silk, shuttles and Hk. kot-458cloth Cloths made of Chinese grass,459 hemp460 and banana [bark]461 42 Plant indigo and lay net in the mountains Secure good fortune and calmness all round 43 [Use] mostly blackish-green and indigo [Decorate] the doors with new talismans 44 [Grain] containers and two shuttles Household equipment and old talismans 45 Coarse cloths462 with slanting designs Tong-cloths463 and silk

456 This probably refers to the ‘slash and burn’ type of agricultural method. 457 Hakka are renowned for turning land that are considered ‘useless and inferior’ into productive arable land. 458 It is also known as Dolichos and cloth is made from the fibres of its creeper. 459 Boehmeria nivea. 460 James Hayes was informed by old villagers in Kowloon and the Southern District of the New Territories that itinerant Hakka persons, mostly men it seems, come yearly to villages sometime after the second rice harvest (October–November) to weave locally-grown hemp thread into cloth. The finished product was then dyed and used by local people to make clothes, or sold to others for a like purpose (Hayes, 1968). 461 Fibres from these plants are often used to produce cloth. 462 Probably a cloth made from the creepers of the Dolichos 葛 ge Hk. kot. 463 A cloth treated with oil from the tong-tree. Appendix F 419

PAGE 6 46 紅白絲線紸絲羅縀 47 綢絹紗絨棉被裙襖 48 大袖長杉短衫褲襪 49 水褲腳礻邦 [綁] 花鞋畀464腳 50 蒲鞋編鞋雲頭翻尖 51 礻尚鞋撘底署[暑?]毡絨襪 52 起缸作染深烏嬌藍 53 桃紅黑綠銀紅毛青 54 捲擺碾石裁縫針匠

46 Fung pak su sien, chu su lo hai 47 Chhiu ken sa yung, mien pi kiun au 48 Thai tshiu chong sam, ton sam fu mat 49 Tsui fu kiok pong, fa hai pun kiok 50 Phu hai pien hai, yun theu fan tsiam 51 Shong hai thap ti, shu chen yung mat 52 Hi kong tsok nyam, chim vu kiau lam 53 Tau fung hiet luk, nyun fung mau tshiang 54 Ken pai chhen shak, tshai fung chin siong

46 Red and white silk yarns Light silk thread and gauze shoes465 47 Light silk, thin tough silk, muslin and woolen [cloths] Cotton quilts, skirts and [lined] short jackets 48 Long gowns with large sleeves Short coats, trousers and socks 49 Short trousers466 with leg-bindings Flowery shoes for the feet 50 Straw sandals and woven shoes [With] turned-up toe-caps of cloud [designs] 51 Shong-boots with steps at the bottom Summer rug and woolen socks 52 Prepare vat to make dye Deep black and delicate indigo 53 Peach red [pink] and dark green Silvery red and hair-black 54 Arrange the stone rollers467 Dressmaker and needle craftsmen

464 It is pronounced as Hk. pun or Hk. pin and it means ‘to give’—“a sign of the passive” (MacIver 1904, 652). 465 縀 is the old character for 鞋 xie Hk. hai (shoes). 466 They are usually worn by labourers. 467 Used for laundry. 420 Appendix F

PAGE 7 55 裁剪衣裳熨斗枚針 56 護領綾縀大紅織金 57 簮㡌儒巾瓦楞㡌子 58 寒暑絨緯纓子絲帶 59 盔羅滾紗耕田家伙 60 犁鈀牛扼犁金壁擔杆 61 钁頭糞箕棕索米籮 62 谷斗禾倉谷笪蔑簋 63 眠床蚊帳枕頭薦蓆

55 Tshai tsien yi shong, thong teu moi chim 56 Fu liang liang hai, thai fung chit kim 57 Tsam mau yi kin, hon shu yong vui 58 Hon shu yung vui/ve, yin tsu su tai 59 Khwui lo kwun sa, kang tien ka fo 60 Li pha nyu ak, li phit tam kon 61 Khiok theu pun ki, tsung sok mi lo 62 Kwuk teu vo tshong, kwuk than met khwui 63 Min tshong mun chong, chim theu tsien tshiak

55 Cut up [cloth to make] clothes Pressing irons and needles 56 Protect and care for damask silk shoes Crimson [in color] and knitted with gold [thread] 57 Hairpins, caps and Confucian head-coverings Multicolored caps 58 Cold, heat and woolen weave Tassels and silk ribbons 59 Helmet-gauze and rolled muslin Farmers’ household goods 60 Ploughs, rakes and oxen harnesses Plough-handles and carrying poles 61 Big hoes and manure baskets468 Ropes of palm fiber and [large open] rice baskets 62 [Ten-pint or ‘peck’]469 grain baskets and granaries Rough bamboo mats [for drying grains] and square bamboo baskets for grains 63 Beds and mosquito nets Pillows and woven grass mats

468 A 箕 ji Hk. ki can be a basket or tray made from rattan or bamboo. There are many different types of 箕 ji Hk. ki and their names depend on their functions. Obviously, a 糞箕 fenqi Hk. pun ki is a basket for carrying manure and a Hk. poi ki is one for winnowing. 469 One 斗 tou Hk. teu or ‘peck’ contains ten pints (升 sheng) (MacIver 1904, 834). Appendix F 421

PAGE 8 64 椅棹長櫈簣箱櫥櫃 65 斧頭柴刀草刀鉟刀 66 足秤官秤觔两錢分 67 厘毫絲忽石斗升合 68 百畝千担萬把十秤 69 九桶八貫一丈二尺 70 三隻四對五雙六件 71 各樣貨物田租屋稅 72 楼倉牛稅間房春堂

64 Yi tsok chhong ten, khwui siong phi khwui 65 Pu theu tsai tau, tshau tau phi tau 66 Tsiuk chhin kon chin, kin liong tshien fun 67 Li hau su fut, shak teu shin hap 68 Pak meu tshien tam, van pa ship chin 69 Kiu thung pat kwon, yit chhong yit chhak 70 Sam chak si tui, ng sung luk khen 71 Kok yong fo vut, thien tsu vuk shoi 72 Leu tshong nyu shoi, kan fong chhun thong

64 Chairs, tables and long benches Baskets, chests, cupboards and cupboards with counters 65 Axes and knives [for cutting] firewood Knives for cutting grass and stiletto knives 66 Accurate balances and official scales Jin Hk. kin and liang Hk. liong are calculated differently 67 Do not be careless with the hundredth and thousandth [units] Dan 石 Hk. shak, dou 斗 Hk. teu, sheng 升 Hk. shin, and ge 合 Hk. hap 68 Hundreds mu [of land] and thousands piculs470 Ten thousand articles and ten scales 69 Nine buckets and eight jars One zhang 丈 Hk. chhong [ten Chinese feet] and two che 尺 Hk. chhak [a Chinese foot] 70 Three zhi 隻 Hk. chak [classifier] and four couples Five pairs and six jian 件 Hk. kian [a classifier] 71 Many different types of merchandises Farm rent and house taxes 72 Storied granaries and oxen taxes Rooms and “spring halls”

470 One 担 tan Hk. tam (picul) is equal to 100 斤 jin Hk. kin (catties) (MacIver 1904, 810). 422 Appendix F

PAGE 9 73 浴堂廚灶糞橑471門路 74 店舖街坊城裏城外 75 人家客舖府縣州市 76 鄉村堡甲田園溝圳 77 坡眼坑壟祠堂庵廟 78 寺觀社壇田坵坆[坟]墓 79 船道路程耕種耘屯 80 栽插苗殃[秧] 砍樹破柴 81 割禾放水劈茅擔稈

73 Yuk thong chhu tsau, pun lau mun lu 74 Tiam phu kai fong, shang li shang ngoi 75 Ngin ka hak phu, fu yen chiu shi 76 Hiong tshun pau kap, thien yen keu chun 77 Po ngan khang lung, tshu thong am miau 78 Su kwon sha than, thien hiu fun mu 79 Shon thau lu chin, kang chung yun shi 80 Tsai tshap miau yong, kham shu pho tshai 81 Kot vo fong shui, phiak mau tam kon

73 Bath houses, kitchens and stoves Manure sheds and paths leading to the house 74 Shops and stores in the neighborhood Inside and outside of the city walls 75 Everyone visits the stores Prefectures, counties, sub-prefectures and cities 76 The village tithing system Fields and gardens, drains and irrigation canals472 77 [Hill] slopes, shallow ditches and ridges between fields Ancestral halls, monasteries and temples 78 Buddhist temples and community altars Fields on hillocks and tumulus 79 Boats arrive at the travelled path473 Cultivation, weeding and transplanting of the rice seedlings 80 Transplanting and taking care of rice seedlings Felling trees and splitting firewood 81 Cut the paddy and let the water out Split open reed and carry straw

471 橑 liao Hk. lau in the Dongguan Hakka is pronounced DG. liao which means a shed. See also L144, in which 猪撩 zhuliao Hk. chu liao clearly means a pigsty. 472 According to MacIver (1904, 65) a 圳 Hk. chun is an artificial water course or canal for irrigation and it is larger than a 溝 gou Hk. keu. 473 It is equivalent to saying “When the time is right.” Appendix F 423

PAGE 10 82 芒做草鞋晒糞添生 83 收割田禾供猪474餵狗 84 看鴨牧牛犁田送飯 85 茶壺酒瓶碗碟匙莇[箸] 86 飯筲砵頭475 鍋甑水桶 87 酒礶酒缸茶甌酒鐘 88 酒盞茶匙面盆面架 89 梳箱鏡架銅鏡蜜節 90 耘鈀鋤頭屠刀屎鈀

82 Miong tso tshau hai, sai pun tiam sang 83 Shiu kot thien vo, kiung chu vui kiaw 84 Khon ap muk nyu, li thien sung fan 85 Tsha fu tsiu phiang, von thiap shi chhu 86 Fan sau po theu, vok tsen shui thung 87 Tsiu kwon tsiu kong, tsha eu tsiu chung 88 Tsiu tsan tsha shi, mien phun mien ka 89 Su siong kiang ka, thung kiang mit tsiet 90 Yun pha tsho theu, thu tau shi pha

82 Various kinds of grass to make straw sandals Sun-dry manure to increase growth 83 Harvest the paddy Nourish the pigs and feed the dogs 84 Look after the ducks and herd the cows Plough the fields and send meals [to the workers] 85 Teapots and wine bottles Bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks 86 Rice baskets and ceramic bowls Wok, steamers and water buckets 87 Wine vats and wine jars Bowls for tea-drinking and wine goblets 88 Small cups for wine and teaspoons Basins for washing face and frames for holding wash-basin 89 Boxes for combs and mirror frames Copper mirror with secret joints 90 Weeding rakes and big hoes Butcher knives and rakes for faeces

474 供猪 gongzhu Hk. kiung chu is a Hakka expression for feeding the pigs. 475 砵頭 botou is an expression for a ceramic bowl, see http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/10/ ZdicE7ZdicA0ZdicB5184044.htm (Retrieved on 2nd May. 2012). The pronunciation in Hakka is probably Hk. po theu. 424 Appendix F

PAGE11 91 糞箕尿杓鑵金觜鉔鈎 92 鋤斧堘刀鉟鑿刨鑽 93 班[板]斧瓜刂刀巧匠利鋸 94 墨斗曲尺規矩準繩 95 法子天平厘戥算盤 96 夾剪鉄鎖蓑衣笠蔴476 97 飯盆腳盆甑盖ࣻ杓 98 葉盖笊篱塩箕精箕 99 盤籣箥[簸]箕米篩落斗

91 Pun ki nyau shok, kwon tsui tsap keu 92 Tsho pu shin tau, phi tshok phau tson 93 Pan pu kwa tau, khau siong li ki 94 Met teu khiuk chak, kwui ki chun shin 95 Fap tsu thien phin, li chhin son phan 96 Kiap tsien thiet so, so yi lip ma 97 Fan phun kiok phun, tsen koi phau shok 98 Yap koi tsau li, yam ki tsin ki 99 Phan lau po [poi] ki, mi si lok teu

91 Manure baskets and urine scoops Jars with spouts, heavy iron rakes (with three or four long prongs) and hooks 92 Hoes, axes, and knives for making low ridges between rice fields Stiletto knives, chisel, [carpenter’s] plane and awls 93 Axes for planks and paring knives Skilful workmen with sharp saws 94 Ink markers477 and carpenter’s squares Compasses, set squares, spirit levels and plumb-lines478 95 Regulations and balances, Small scales479 and abacuses 96 Double-layered scissors and iron locks Rain-capes [made of palm bark] and [wide, round] bamboo hats 97 Rice platters and large basins for washing [feet or clothes] Covers for steamers/cauldrons and scoops made of bottle-gourd 98 Covers [made of] leaves, [bamboo] skimmers and ladles/scoops

476 砵頭 lima Hk. lip ma is a Hakka expression. 477 A carpenter’s straight line marker consisted of an inked cord stretched tight and then lowered onto timber. 478 This is also an idiom to mean “established standard / norms / criteria”. 479 A balance consisting of a small copper pan, attached to three strings on the sides and tied together at one end of a small round wooden stick that have measurement scales on it. It is used for weighing small items such as silver, medicine, opium, etc. Appendix F 425

Baskets for salt and creels (fishing baskets) 99 Plate-like scoops and a [shallow, round] wicker tray for winnowing Rice sieves and bins [for a bushel]

PAGE 12 100 筤畾梭簆箂藍縩筐 101 雞籠鴨筐廣鍋鋏銚 102 鑄踏爐心鑵金觜秤錘 103 鉄鎚鐏鐏火鍬鉄杓 104 棕荐草蓆毡條褥毯 105 雨傘木屐皮屐釘靴 106 花㼛燭台香炉潻棹 107 罾篙竹綱酒䉪[罍]魚藍 108 石炭火把青靛染布

100 Long lui su kheu, loi lam tse khiong 101 Cai lung ap khiong, kwong vok kiap thiau 102 Chu thap lu sim, kwon tsui chhin chhui 103 Thiet chhui tsun tsun, fo tshiu thiet sok 104 Tsung tsien tshau tshiak, chen thiau yuk than 105 Yi san muk khiak, phi khiak tang hio 106 Fa phiang chuk thoi, hiong lu tshit tsok 107 Tsen kau chuk kong, tsiu lui ng lam 108 Shak than fo ha, tshiang thien nyam pu

100 Baskets made of young bamboo, small baskets with narrow mouth for holding small fishes, frogs etc., weaver’s shuttles and heddles of looms Bamboo baskets and large square baskets for flax480 without a cover 101 Chicken cages and duck baskets Wide-mouth pots and pincers [for picking up embers] 102 Casting in the middle of the furnace fire Jars with spouts and balances with counterweights 103 Iron hammers and butt-ends of a spear Fire forges and iron ladles 104 Palm fiber mats and grass sleeping mats Blankets, mattresses and carpets 105 Umbrellas and wooden clogs Leather clogs and boots with nails 106 Flower vases and candle holders Incense burners and lacquer tables

480 The strands of flax are used for making thread. 縩 cai is also pronounced as Hk. tshai to mean new or fresh-looking clothes (MacIver 1904, 903). 426 Appendix F

107 Square nets,481 bamboo poles for boats and bamboo poles for drying clothes Wine jars482 and fish baskets 108 Coal and torches Indigo for dyeing cloth

PAGE 13 109 做衫工錢供飯點心 110 州省各別禮義皆同 111 迎仙拜佛和尚道士 112 福首作頭建醮求福 113 禳災還愿散禍消除 114 窄油澆燭白蠟茶油 115 紙錢菓品各樣齊儀 116 上壽做懴誦經作會 117 跪拜行香鼓手吹打

109 Tso sam kung tshien, kiung fan tiam sim 110 Chiu sen kok phiet, li nyi kai thung 111 Nyang sein pai fut, fo shong thau su 112 Fuk shiu tsok theu, ken tsiau khiu fuk 113 Siong tsai fan nyen, san kwo siau chhu 114 Tsat yu hiau chuk, pak lap tsha yu 115 Chi tshien kwo phin, kok yong tshe nyi 116 Shong so tso tsham, siung kin tsok fui 117 Khwui pai hang hiong, ku shiu chhui ta

109 The wages for making a jacket Support expenses for food and snacks/light meals 110 Prefectures and provinces are all different [But] Rites and propriety are all the same 111 Welcome the immortals and worship the Buddha Buddhist monks and Daoist priests 112 The blessed leader is the first [to bow] Perform sacrifices and libations to seek fortune 113 Sacrifice to avoid calamities and repay [fulfilled] desires Disperse transgressions and eliminate [calamities]

481 A large square net made of bamboo strips for fishing and it can be lowered and raised from the bank of the river. 482 From the context, it is probably a copying mistake. An alcohol jar makes more sense. 罍 lei Hk. lui is also an ornamental wine drinking-cup carved out of wood (MacIver 1904, 432). Appendix F 427

114 Pour oil [into oil lamps] and offer candles White wax483 and tea oil 115 Paper money and fruit items Every type of full rituals 116 To increase longevity or, show repentance Chanting sutras to form alliances [with the gods] 117 Kneel to worship and burn joss sticks Musicians blowing and beating [drums and gongs]

PAGE 14 118 大銅鐃鈸鑼銃[鐘]簫笛 119 凉傘彩旗香案執事 120 禮儀器物伶俐484整齊 121 宇宙一統天下两京 122 十八省塲六部衙門 123 都堂485察院486 布政487三司 124 按察488各道489 各府州縣 125 知府490大守491 二府同知492 126 三府通判493 四府推官494

118 Thai thung nyau phat, lo chhung thet siau 119 Liong san tshai ki, hiong on chip su 120 Li nyi hi vut, lang li chin tshe 121 Yi tshiu yit thung, thien ha liong kin 122 Ship pat sen chong, liuk phu nga mun 123 Tu thong tshat yen, pu chin sam su 124 On tshat kok thau, kok fu chiu yen 125 Chi fu thai shiu, liong fu thung chi 126 Sam fu thung phan, si fu thui kon

483 Wax deposited by insect (coccus-pe-la) on certain trees (MacIver 1904, 586). 484 In Mandarin 伶俐 lingli means clever, bright or quick-witted. In Hakka Hk. lang li is the common expression for being clean or cleanliness. 485 See Hucker (1985, 543, no. 7293/3). 486 Ibid. (1985, 105, no. 56). 487 Ibid. (1985, 391, no. 4770). 488 Ibid. (1985, 103, no. 12). 489 Ibid. (1985, 487, no. 6306). 490 Ibid. (1985, 158, no. 983). 491 Ibid. (1985, 470, no. 6023). 492 Ibid. (1985, 553, no. 7471). 493 Ibid. (1985, 555, no. 7497). 494 Ibid. (1985, 549, no. 7399). 428 Appendix F

118 Big copper hand-bells and cymbals Gongs, bells, bamboo flutes 119 Cooling mandarin umbrellas and colorful flags An altar of incense to facilitate affairs 120 Ritual and ceremonial utensils Cleanliness and neatness 121 Unity of the universe The world has two capitals [Nanjing and Beijing] 122 Eighteen provinces Six ministerial yamen 123 The Censor Office and Investigation Bureau Three offices of the Provincial Administration Commission 124 A Surveillance Commissioner in each Circuit Every Prefecture, sub-prefecture and county 125 The Prefect is the Great Guardian The Second Prefecture is the seat of the Associate Administrator 126 The third Prefecture is the seat of the Controller-general The fourth Prefecture is the seat of the Prefecture Judge

PAGE 15 127 知縣太爺縣丞二爺 128 主簿三爺典史四爺 129 教諭川導巡檢司獄 130 朝廷宮室府庫廊廟 131 王家相府察院衙門 132 布政司道按察分司 133 鼓樓画閣水閣凉亭 134 春夏秋冬年月日時 135 新歲元宵清明寒食

127 Chi yen tai ya, yen shin ngi ya 128 Chu phu sam ya, tien su si ya 129 Kau yi chhon thau, sun kiam su nyuk 130 Chhau thin kiung shit, fu khu long miau 131 Vong ka siong fu, tshat yen nga mun 132 Pu chin su thau, on tshat fun su 133 Ku leu fa kok, shui kok liong thin 134 Chhun ha tshiu tung, nyen nyet nyit shi 135 Nyen soi nyen siau, tsin min hon shit

127 First Elder County Magistrate Second Elder County Deputy 128 Third Elder Official Registrar Fourth Elder Historian Appendix F 429

129 Teach, instruct, transmit and lead Patrol, inspect and manage the prisons 130 Imperial court and palaces Prefectural treasury and imperial temples 131 Princely households have the same Prefecture Investigation Bureau and yamen 132 Court of the Censors’ Circuits Surveillance Commissioner Branch Office 133 Drum towers and painting screens Water screens and pavilions 134 Spring, summer, autumn and winter Year, month, day and time 135 New year and night of the fifteenth of the first month495 Ching ming [eat] cold food496

PAGE 16 136 年節端陽七夕中秋 137 重陽九月冬至過年 138 豐登大熟天下太平 139 算命卜卦費米用錢 140 百姓人家架造房屋 141 棟梁簷壁門路廳堂 142 花臺天井香火祠堂 143 廂房廚間浴堂樓倉 144 春堂礱磨猪撩497牛欄

136 Nyen tsiet ton yong, tshit sip chung tshiu 137 Chhung yong kiu nyet, tung chi kwo nyen 138 Fung ten thai suk, thien ha tai phin 139 Son miang puk kwa, fui mi yung tshien 140 Pak siang ngin ka, kwa tshao fong vuk 141 Tung liong yam piak, mun lu thang thong 142 Fa thoi thien tsiang, hiong fo tshu thong 143 Siong fong chhu kan, yuk thong leu tshong 144 Chhun thong lung mo, chu liao nyu lan

495 元宵 Yuanxiao (a.k.a. Lantern Festival). 496 “Qingming Festival [eat] cold food” means to abstain from cooked food for three days around the Qingming Festival. 497 猪撩 zhuliao Hk. chu liao is how the Dongguan Hakka call a pigsty. In this case, liao is used phonetically as there is no Mandarin equivalent. Hk. liao also means to tease in Hakka. 430 Appendix F

136 The New Year and Dragon Boat Festivals498 The Double Seven Festival499 and Mid-Autumn Festival500 137 Double Nine501 Festival of the ninth lunar month [After] Winter Solstice502 celebrate New Year 138 Abundant ascendance and major ripening [of the crops] Peace and prosperity in the world 139 Fortune-telling and divination [Is liken to the] waste of rice and spending [unnecessary] money 140 The common households Erect houses and buildings 141 Ridgepoles, beams, eaves and walls Road [leading] to the front door and main room 142 Flower terraces and open-air wells Burning incense in the ancestral hall 143 Rooms adjoining the reception room and kitchens Bathhouses and storied granary503 144 ‘Spring halls’, rice mills and grindstones Pigsties and fences for the cows

PAGE 17 145 鴨局鵞塘魚池雞藪 146 鳥銃[鐘]虎鎚篱笆墻垣 147 井灶土磚瓦石灰桶 148 穿枋屋菥[磶]504 屋角仰板 149 結盖步簷門樓街巷 150 庵觀寺門僧人道士 151 師傅徒弟匠夫人力 152 起工建造待客酒席 153 冠婚喪祭喜筳會親

498 Dragon Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. 499 This festival falls on the evening of the seventh of seventh lunar month and it is celebrated by unmarried women, who hope to find a good husband. This festival is based on the legend of the annual meeting of Cowherd and Weaving Maid 牛郎織女. See (Werner 1932, 73–74). 500 The Mid-autumn festival is the traditional moon-viewing festival that falls on the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month. 501 It is also known as the 重陽 Zhong Yang Hk. Chhung Yong Festival. The Zou clan of Pusing still gather to worship their ancestor on this day. 502 Winter Solstice falls on the 22nd of the 24 solar terms 二十四節氣. 503 The upper stories of Hakka stamped-earth communal houses are usually used as granary. 504 菥 xi Hk. sit is used phonetically to represent 磶 xi Hk. sit, which is the stone on which house pillars sit (see MacIver 1904, 766). Appendix F 431

145 Ap khiuk ngor thong, ng chhi kai teu 146 Nyau chhung fu chhui, li pa siong yen 147 Tsiang tsau thu chon, nga shak foi thung 148 Chhon fong vuk sit, vuk kok nyong pan 149 Kiet koi pu yam, mun leu kai hong 150 Am kwon su mun, sien ngin thau su 151 Su fu thu thi, siong fu ngin lit, 152 Hi kung ken tshau, thai hak tsiu sit 153 Kwon fun song tsi, hi yen fui tshin

145 Duck enclosures and goose ponds Fishponds and chicken coops 146 Bird-shaped bells and tiger-shaped hammers Scoops, small hand-nets, and low wall of a city 147 Furnace in the shape of a well and mud bricks Tiles and buckets for ashes 148 Crossed square pillars and stones on which pillars rest Corners of houses with upward-facing planks 149 Cover walkways along the eaves Doors, storied buildings, streets and lanes 150 Buddhist and Daoist monasteries Buddhist monks and Daoist priests 151 Masters and disciples Craftsmen and human strength 152 Proceed to work and construct [buildings] Hospitality and banquets 153 Capping [ceremony], marriage, mourning, and making sacrifices505 Marriage feasts unite families and relatives

PAGE 18 154 天下州省南北二京 155 浙江山東福建江西 156 廣東廣西雲南四川 157 河南陝西湖南湖北 158 貴州山西本省十府 159 福州泉州興化漳州 160 福寕台灣上有四府 161 延平建寕邵武汀州 162 又有二州龍巖永春

505 This is an expression for a life cycle. 432 Appendix F

154 Tien ha chiu sen, nam pet liong kin 155 Chet kong san tung, fuk ken kong si 156 Kwong tung kwong si, yun nam si chhon 157 Ho nam khiap si, fu nam fu pet 158 Kui chiu san si, pun sen ship fu 159 Fuk chiu tshan chiu, hin fa chong chiu 160 Fuk nen toi van, shong yu si fu 161 Yen phin ken nen, chhau vu then chiu 162 Yu yu liong chiu, lung ngam yun chhun

154 The world, prefectures and provinces South [Nanjing] and north [Beijing] are two cities 155 Zhejiang and Shandong Fujian and Jiangxi 156 Guangdong and Guangxi Yunnan and Sichuan 157 Henan and Shanxi Hunan and Hubei 158 Guizhou and Shanxi Our provinces have ten administrative units/government seats 159 Fuzhou and Quanzhou Xinghua and Zhangzhou 160 Funing and Taiwan Above them are four prefectures 161 Yanping and Jianning Shaowu and Tingzhou 162 There are two other prefectures Longyan and Yongchun

PAGE 19 163 本府八縣長汀寕化 164 清流歸化連城上杭 165 武平永定完納錢粮 166 經承啚差走往催征 167 滿泒照例以供國家 168 秀才監生吏員鄉約 169 百姓耆老鄉宦紳衿 170 主公佃戶士農工商 171 漁樵耕讀三教九流

163 Pun fu pat yen, chong then nen fa 164 Tshin liu kwui fa, lien shang shong hong 165 Vu phin yun thin, yen nap tshien liong 166 Kin shin tu tsha, tseu vong tshui chin Appendix F 433

167 Man kwa chau li, yi kiung kwet ka 168 Siu tshoi kam sang, li yen hiong yok 169 Pak siang khi lau, hiong fon shin khim 170 Chu kung thien fu, su nung kung shong 171 Ng tsian kang thuk, sam kau kiu liu

163 This prefecture has eight counties Changting and Ninghua 164 Qingliu and Guihua Liancheng and Shanghang 165 Wuping and Yongding Complete paying or receiving money and provisions506 166 Those owing [money] and had repaid insufficiently Will be tracked down hastily 167 From the Man to the Gu Rivers are splendid examples For supporting the Royal Family 168 Talented scholars monitor students Officials and employees and village appointees 169 Commoners and elders Village officials and local gentry507 170 Rulers, dukes and tenant farmers Scholar officials, farmers, craftsmen and merchants 171 Fishing, wood-gathering, farming and learning The Three Religions and nine streams [of thoughts]508

PAGE 20 172 陰陽醫士地理算命 173 丹青相士七僧八道 174 九流琴棋文房四寶 175 紙墨算[筆?]硯文約契書 176 寄信請帖油票稅約 177 告示審單告訴呈狀 178 里長當役拜見下程 179 催征比較伺候官府 180 初一十五陞堂画卯

506 Generally it means to settle all debts or pay bills, especially using grains. 507 It is also known as the ‘girdle-wearer’. 508 They are Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. The Nine Schools of thought of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (770–220 BC) include Confucians 儒家, Daoists 道家, Yin and Yang 陰陽家, Legalists 法家, Logicians 名家, Mohists 墨家, Political Strategists 縱橫家, Eclectics 雜家, and Agriculturalists 農家. This is also a figuratively expression for people from all trades. 434 Appendix F

172 Yim yong yi su, ti li son miang 173 Tan tshiang siong su, tshit sien pat thau 174 Kiu liu khim khi, vun fong si phau 175 Chi met son ngan, vun yok khe shu 176 Ki sin tshiang thiap, yu phiao shoi yok 177 Kau shi shim tan, kau su chhang tshong 178 Li chong tong yit, pai ken ha chhin 179 Tshui chin pi kau, su heu kwon fu 180 Chu yit ship ng, shin thong vak mau

172 Yin and Yang [practitioners] and medical scholars Geography and fortune-telling 173 [Water-colour] painters and physiognomists Seven sanghas and the eight Daos 174 The nine streams [of thoughts], qin (zither-like musical instrument) and chess The four treasures in the study509 175 Paper, ink, brushes510 and inkstones Agreements and deeds 176 Mail and invitation cards Stamps and duty payable 177 Official notifications and investigation lists Information on petitions and accusations 178 The li is long when one becomes a corvée Like paying a formal visit to those of lower status 179 Going on a long campaign can be compared To serving the Mandarins 180 The first and fifteen days [of every month] Worship in the [ancestral] hall and paint a mark

509 The Four Treasures in the Study, namely brush 筆, ink 墨, paper 紙 and ink-stone 硯 are the essentials of calligraphy and scholarship (idiom). 510 The accepted Four treasures in the study are brush 筆, ink 墨, paper 紙 and ink-stone 硯. We can assume that 算 suan Hk. son is a writing mistake. Appendix F 435

PAGE 21 181 早堂簽押投文審事 182 造冊書房俱給酒食 183 戸丁理年男丁女口 184 各戶甲首不許拖欠 185 眾鄉看甲捉防賊盗 186 鄉長約正縂甲地方 187 做牙511會事出菜歛銀 188 請客接官答應齊備 189 夫馬迎送準備火把

181 Tsau thong tshiam ap, theu vun shim su 182 Thsau tshak shu fong, khi kip tsiu shit 183 Fu ten li nyen, nam ten nyi kheu 184 Kok fu kap shiu, put hi tho khiam 185 Chung hiong khon kap, tsuk fong tshet thau 186 Hiong chong yok chin, 縂 ap ti fong 187 Tso nga fui su, chhut tshoi ham nyun 188 Tshiang hak tsiap kon, tap yin tshe phi 189 Fu ma nyang sung, chun phi fo pa

181 In the morning session [of the yamen], sign in Use the received words [information] to investigate a case 182 Make booklets and build study rooms Entirely to provide alcohol and food 183 Household inside the ding year Male and female 184 The head of every household Must not be in arrears on payments 185 The whole village takes care of the unit To catch or defend against thieves and robbers 186 The village chief appoints the just Together they make it the best place 187 Make feast [for the workers] and unite all affairs Bring out vegetables and collect money 188 Invite guests and receive officials Agree completely 189 To welcome or send off sons-in-law Get ready the torch

511 做牙 zuoya Hk. tso nga is a feast given to workmen on the 1st and 15th of every month MacIver 1904, 982). 436 Appendix F

PAGE 22 190 灯籠蜡燭線香點火 191 孚本名姓叩首作揖 192 春秋二祭始高曾祖 193 考婆父母禴祀蒸[烝]嘗 194 宰牛殺猪魚鴨羹粄 195 菜酒田螺芋卵笋藠512 196 祭首供應紙錢香燭 197 剗墓修坟分胙米粿 198 子孫宗族伯叔兄弟

190 Ten lung lap chuk, sien hiong tiam fo 191 Fu pun miang siang, kheu shiu tsok yip 192 Chhun tsiu liong tsi, chhi kau tsen tsu 193 Kau pho fu mu, yok ki chin shong 194 Tsai nyu sat chu, ng ap kang pan 195 Tshoi tsiu thien lo, vu lon sun hiau 195 Tshoi tshiu tenlo, yu lon sun tsin 196 Tsi shiu kiung yin, chi tshien hiong chuk 197 Tshan mu siu fun, fun tse mi kwo 198 Tsu sun tsung tshuk, pak shuk huing thi

190 Lanterns and candles Offer incense and light candles and lanterns 191 Trust in your origin, names and surnames Bow or kowtow with hands held in front 192 For the two sacrifices of spring and autumn Begin with the ancestors and great-grandfather 193 [Followed by] the aged or deceased grandmother and parents Annual seasonal513 ancestral sacrifices 194 Slaughter oxen and butcher pigs Fishes, ducks, gruel and rice cakes 195 Vegetables, alcohol and winkle mollusc (snails) Taro, eggs, bamboo shoots and wild garlic 196 The leader of the sacrifices supplies all that is needed Paper money, incense and candles 197 Trim [the grass on] the grave and repair and decorate the tomb Divide the sacrificial meat, rice, and cooked rice for making cake 198 Sons and grandsons of the clan Father’s elder and younger brothers and [own] brothers

512 It is also known as 薤 xie Hk. hai (wild garlic). Hakka usually call it 藠頭 jiaotou Hk. hiau theu. 513 They are the spring, summer, autumn and winter sacrifices. Appendix F 437

PAGE 23 199 次序行禮不可怠慢 200 新年拜[排]酒各依房分 201 出辦禮物禮生唱班 202 設酒棹席老幼昭穆 203 赤蟹花蟹鴛鴦鞋底 204 銀魚海蜇金鈎蟶干 205 蝦米海參鰻干蜂魚 206 鮋魚冐[鯧?]514馬膏鹹魚海味 207 黃瓜馬頭洋鮑墨干 (23)

199 Tshu si hang li, put kho thai man 200 Sin nyen pai tsiu, kok yi fong fun 201 Chhut phan li vut, li sang chhong pan 202 Shet tsiu tsok sit, lau yu chau muk 203 Chhak hai fa hai, yen yong hai tai 204 Nyun ng hoi chet, kim keu shin kon 205 Ha mi hoi sem, man kon fung ng 206 Yu vui [chhong] ma kau, ham ng hoi vui 207 Vong kwa ma theu, yong pau met kon

199 The order of performing the rites Cannot be neglected 200 New Year and other celebrations Each will depend on the [ability of the] different branches of the clan 201 Payments and preparation of presents Master of ceremonies and singing groups 202 Preparation of alcohol and setting up of tables for the feast Old and young show reverence 203 Red crab, flower-crabs Mandarin ducks on the low parts of shoes 204 Oriental whitebait515 and jelly fish516 Dried golden-hooked razor clams517 205 Dried shrimps and sea cucumbers Dried eels and “hornet-fish”

514 The character 魚冐 is not found in any of the dictionaries that I have consulted so far (including in MacIver). I suspect the character is used phonetically to name a type of fish. On the other hand, it could be a writing mistake and it could be 鯧 chang Hk. chhong— the silvery pomfret or Stromateoides argenteus. 515 Oriental whitebait / slender silvery-white fish e.g. Galaxias maculatus and Salangichthys microdon. 516 Rhopilema esculenta is an edible jellyfish. 517 Solecurtus constricta 438 Appendix F

206 Rockfish,518 silvery pomfret Salted fish and seafood 207 Cucumber and “horse head” [fish?] Foreign abalone and dried cuttlefish

PAGE 24 208 黃螺雜花鹿筋沙趐 209 燕窩龍膓禾虫雪虫 210 蝦公雜魚諸般物色 211 朝夕抄寫體認字畫 212 熟記于心可以應用 213 後生小子亦可無求 (24)

208 Vong lo tshap fa, luk kin sa chi 209 Yen vo lung chhong, vo chhung siet chhung 210 Ha kung tshap ng, chu pan vut set 211 Chhau sip tshau sia, thi yin su vak 212 Suk ki vu sim, kho yi yin yung 213 Heu sang siau tsu, ya ko mau kiu

208 Yellow spiral snails [conches] and miscellaneous flowers Deer sinew and shark’s fin 209 Bird’s nest and ‘dragon’s intestines519 Paddy grubs and “snow” insects/worms520 210 King prawns and miscellaneous fishes All manner of things are identified 211 Morning and evening make copies Memorise the strokes of the characters 212 Memorise by heart [Until one is] able to use it 213 Children born in the future [Who have learnt this] will not have need of anything.

518 Also known as Scopion-fish or Sebasticus/Helocolenus marmoratus. 519 ‘Dragon’s intestines’ 龍膓 long chang Hk. lung chhong in this context refers to very expensive and hard-to-come-by food ingredients. 520 An edible grub, which is white in colour. Appendix G 山歌九首 Shange jiushou Hk. San ko khiu tsiu521 (Nine Mountain Songs Collected by Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲)

土俗好為歌，男女贈答，頗有<子夜>，<讀曲>遺意。采其能筆於書者，得數首。

In our local custom, we love making up songs, which young men and women replied to each other rather like the reminiscence of Ziye [songs]522 and the hummed refrains (讀曲 duqu). I have selected a few of these songs that can be can be transcribed onto paper.523

I 自煮蓮羹切藕絲，待郎歸來慰郎飢，為貪別處雙雙箸，隻怕心中忘卻匙。

Tshu chu lien kang tshiet nyeu su, thoi long kwui loi vui long ki Vui tham phiet chhu sung sung chhu, chak pha sim chung mong khiok shi

TRANSLATION I cook lotus gruel by cutting the silky thread of the lotus root, Waiting for my husband’s return to sate his hunger, Because he prefers chopstick from other places, I am afraid in his heart he has forgotten the spoon.

521 Taken from黃遵憲全集 Huang Zunxian quanji (The Complete Works of Huang Zunxian), edited by Chen Zheng (2005, 76–77). 522 Ziye 子夜 Ziye songs refer to the forty-two erotic quartrains from an anonymous singer from the 3rd–4th centuries, who was known only as Ziye (Klöpsch and Keen, 2004: 176). 523 These Hakka songs were sung in the vernacular and some of the vocabulary has no equivalent in literary Chinese. Huang Zunxian has chosen the songs that he thought could be rendered into literary Chinese. The transliteration into Mandarin no doubt contributes to the ‘dehakkalization’ of one of Hakka’s quintessence marker.

II 人人要結后生緣，儂要今生結眼前, 一十二時不離別，郎行郎坐總隨肩

Ngin ngin yau kiet heu sang yen, nung yau kim sang kiet ngan tshien Yit ship ngi shi put li phiet, long hang long tsho tsung sui ken

TRANSLATION Everyone wants to be married to their predestined [mate] in the next life, [But] I want to marry mine right here in this life, [So that] the whole day, we are not separated, When my husband walks or sits, we are always shoulder to shoulder.

III 買梨莫買蜂咬梨，心中有病沒人知。因為分梨故親切，誰知親切轉傷離。

Mai li mok mai fung ngau li, sim chung yu phiang mut ngin ti Yin vui fun li ku tshin tshiet, shui ti tshin tshiet chon shong li

TRANSLATION When buying pear, do not buy those stung by bees, No one knows of the pain in my heart, Because dividing pears is the reason for deep love, Who knows deep love can turn into painful parting.

IV 催人出門雞亂啼，送人離別水東西524。挽水西流想無法525，從今不養五更526雞。

524 Hakka men usually sail to their destinations. Hence, water is often associated with the separation. Additionally, the major rivers, flow from the west to the east. 525 Hakka women are often separated from their men. This song laments the inevitable farewell and to change the outcome is as difficult as making water flow west. 526 五更 wugeng Hk. ng kang is the fifth of the five night watch periods (03.00–05.00). The separation is blamed on the crow of the cock that heralds the morning in which the men has to leave. To avoid such separation it is better not to rear a cock that crows in the morning. Appendix G 441

Tshui ngin chut mun kai lon thi, sung ngin li phiet shui tung si Van shui si liu siong mau fap, tshiung kim put yong ng kang kai

TRANSLATION When people hurry to leave, the cock crows chaotically, Bidding farewell to people is like water flowing west to east, I cannot think of a way to divert water to flow west [from east], From now on, I will not rear Hk. ng kang cock.

V 鄰家帶得書信歸，書中何字儂不知。等儂親口問渠527去，問他比儂誰瘦肥。

Lin ka tai tet shu sin kwui, shu chung ho su nung put ti Ten nung tshin keu mun khi khi, mun tha pi nung shui seu phui

TRANSLATION The neighbour has returned with a letter, I do not know what is written in the letter, Wait, I will go and ask him personally, Ask him, “Compare to me, who is thin and [who is] fat?”

VI 一家女兒做新娘，十家女兒看鏡光。街頭鑼鼓冬冬打，打著中心隻說郎

Yit ka nyi yi tso tsin nyong, ship ka nyi yi khon kiang kwong Kai teu lo ku tung tung ta, ta chu chung sim chak shot long

TRANSLATION When the daughter from one family becomes a bride, Daughters from ten families would be looking at the reflection in their mirrors, The ‘tung-tung’ beatings of gong and drums in the streets, The beatings [of gong and drums] remind her of the husband her heart desires.

527 渠 qu (gutter) is pronounced as Hk. khi—the homophone for ‘him’. 442 Appendix G

VII 嫁郎已嫁十三年，今日梳頭儂自憐。記得初來同食乳，同在阿婆懷裡眠。

Ka long ki ka ship sam nyen, kim nyit su teu nung tshu lien Ki tet tsho loi thung shit nen, thung tshoi a pho fai li min

TRANSLATION I married my husband thirteen years ago, Today, as I comb my hair, I commiserate; Remembering the first time we drank from the same breasts, And sleeping together in my mother-in-law’s bosom.

VIII 自剪青絲打作條，親手送郎將紙包。如果郎心止不住，看依結發[髪]528不開交。

Tshu tsien tshiang su ta tsok thiau, tshin shiu sung long tsiong chi pau Yi kwo long sim chi put chhu, khon yi kiet fat put khoi kau

TRANSLATION I cut my black silky [hair] to make a plait, With my own hands I present it to my husband, wrapped in paper, In the event that my husband cannot stop his longings, For the sake of our marriage, do not ‘open’ yourself to other [love] liaisons.

IX 第一香櫞第二蓮，第三檳榔個個園[圓], 第四芙蓉五棗子，送郎都要得郎憐.

Thi yit hiong yen thi ngi lien, thi sam pin nong kai kai yen Thi si fu yung ng tsau tsu, sung long tu yau tet long lien

TRANSLATION The first is a grapefruit; the second, lotus, The third is betel nuts that are all perfectly round, The fourth is hibiscus; the fifth is jujube dates, Bidding farewell to my husband I also have to obtain my husband’s pity.

528 結髪 jiefa Hk. kiet fat means to get married. 結髪夫妻 jiefa fuqi Hk. kiet fat fu tshi refers to ‘legally wedded husband and wife’, and their first marriage (MacIver 1905, 239). Appendix H 蕃人曉著褲 Fanren xiao zhuo ku Hk. Fan ngin hiau chok fu (When Natives Learn to Wear Trousers)

蕃人曉著529褲，唐人死“庫庫”，蕃人曉kia530遮531，唐人好回家。

Fan ngin hiau chok fu, tong ngin si ku ku Fan ngin hiau kia cha, tong ngin hao fui ka

TRANSLATION When the ‘natives’ [Malays] learn to wear trousers,532 The Chinese are in big trouble,533 When the ‘natives’ [Malays] learn to hold an umbrella, It is time for the Chinese to return home [to China].

529 Instead of 穿 chuan Hk. chhon, 著 zhuo Hk. chok is usually preferred (MacIver 1905, 44). 530 There is no Mandarin equivalent to Hk. kia which means to open out and hold up as in using an umbrella (MacIver 1905, 266). 531 An umbrella is called Hk. cha 遮 in Hakka (MacIver 1905, 8). Mandarin uses 傘 san3 to denote an umbrella and it is pronounced as Hk. san4 (MacIver 1905, 670). 532 In Hakka, 曉著 xiaozhuo (know how to wear) is pronounced as Hk. hiau chok (MacIver 1905, 170 and 44 respectively). 533 Hk. si ku ku is a Hakka expression that means ‘in dire straits’.

By Chong Sau Lin (張少林 Zhang Shao Lin)

愛買kiak kiak534來有大蕉有細蕉打利蕉也有酸蕉還有亭核蕉香芽蕉紅毛蕉番薯蕉遇到爛字卯錢就來加焦有辣椒真係銷青辣椒噯丟米椒還辣過紅辣椒還有金馬崙535辣椒

愛買你就來大姑劬尋生菜黃瓜俺滿台金馬崙包菜賣魚知背豆芽撈泉菜亚妹劬想愛又尋西洋菜冬菇劬唔愛亚婆買鹹菜

愛買kiak kiak來有靚瓜有密瓜有金瓜冬瓜西瓜甜到卯的渣生木瓜老黃瓜葫蘆瓜為開生意成日都卯顧家有祘花包菜花唔係差噯丟三馬零利到卯粒沙唐山新鮮來過馬

愛買你就來大姑劬尋生菜黃瓜俺滿台金馬崙包菜賣魚知背豆芽撈泉菜亞妹劬想愛又尋西洋菜冬菇劬唔愛亞婆買鹹菜

534 There is no Mandarin equivalent to Hk. kiak which means ‘fast’ (MacIver 1905, 267). 535 金馬崙 jinmalun Hk. kim ma lun Cameron Highlands used to be a hill station.

愛買kiak kiak來有靚貨有好貨真貨新貨舊貨還有跳樓貨有鹹貨有酸貨二手貨賤貨臭貨麼介都變到禍西洋貨日本貨中國貨真貨徦貨三馬係來路貨講起認真唔少貨阿愛買你就來大姑劬尋生菜黃瓜俺滿台金馬崙包菜賣魚知背豆芽撈泉菜亞妹劬想愛又尋西洋菜冬菇劬唔愛亞婆買鹹菜亞婆買鹹菜亞婆買鹹菜

Oi mai kiak kiak loi Yu thai tsiau yu se tsiau ta li tsiau ya yu son tsiau Han yu thiu fut tsiau hiong nga tsiau fung mau tsiau fan shu tsiau Nyi tau lan tsai mau tshien tshiu loi ka tsiau Yu lat tsiau chin he siau tshiang lat tsiau Oi yu! Mi tsiau han lat kho fung lat tsiau Han yu kim ma lun lat tsiau Oi mai ngi tshiu loi Thai ku ki tshim sang tshoi vong kwa yam man thoi Kin ma lun pau tshoi, mai ng to poi Theu nga lau tshan tshoi a moi ki siong oi Yu tshim si yong tshoi tung ku ki m oi A pho mai ham tshoi

Oi mai kiak kiak loi Yu liang kwa yum it kwa yu kim kwa tung kwa si kwa Thiam tau mau tit tsa Sang muk kwa lao vong kwa fu lu kwa Vui khoi sang yi shin nyit tu mau ku ka Yu son fa pau tshoi fa m he tsha Aiyu! Sam ma lang li tau mau lip sa Thong san sin sein loi kho ma Oi mai ngi tshiu loi Thai ku ki tshim sang tshoi vong kwa yam man thoi 446 Appendix I

Kin ma lun pau tshoi, mai ng to poi Theu nga lau tshan tshoi a moi ki siong oi Yu tshim si yong tshoi tung ku ki m oi A pho mai ham tshoi Oi mai kiak kiak loi Yu liang fo yu hau fo chin fo sin fo khiu fo Han yu thiau leu fo Yu ham fo yu son fo nyi shiu fo tshien fo chhiu fo Mak kai tu pien tau fo Si yong fo nyit pun fo chung kwet fo chin fo ka fo Sa ma he loi lu fo Kong hi nyin chin m shau fo a Oi mai ngi tshiu loi Thai ku ki tshim sang tshoi vong kwa yam man thoi Kin ma lun pau tshoi, mai ng to poi Theu nga lau tshan tshoi a moi ki siong oi Yu tshim si yong tshoi tung ku ki m oi A pho mai ham tshoi A pho mai ham tshoi A pho mai ham tshoi

TRANSLATION If you want to buy, come fast There are big bananas, small bananas, ‘tali’ bananas and also sour bananas There are also bananas with seeds, fragrant bananas, foreign bananas and ‘potato-bananas’ If you meet rowdies with no money, they will cause disruption There are chillies—genuinely in demand green chillies Aiyu! Chilli padi is hotter than red chillies There are also bell peppers from Cameron Highlands

If you want to buy, please come Elder Aunt, if you are looking for lettuce or cucumber, I have a full table Cabbage from Cameron Highlands To buy fish you have to go inside [the market] Bean sprout and Hk. tshan tsoi are what the young woman is looking for Also looking for water cress, but you do not want mushroom Granny buys salted vegetable. Appendix I 447

If you want to buy, come fast There are pretty gourds, honey-melon, pumpkin and watermelons So sweet that they have no dregs Green papaya, old cucumber and bottle-gourd Because of doing business all day, I have no time to take care of my family There are garlic flowers and cauliflower, which are not inferior Aiyu! Everything is clean and there is not a single grain of sand They are bought wholesale fresh from China.

If you want to buy, come fast There are pretty, good, genuine, new and old merchandise There are also heavily discounted merchandise There are salty, sour, second-hand, inferior and smelly merchandise Everything will turn to a disaster Western, Japanese, Chinese, genuine and fake merchandise They are all imported merchandise By the way, to be frank, there is a lot of merchandise

Sung and Performed by Chong Sau Lin

ʎ537係538正宗嘅539客家人勤勞好有衝勁前方路艱苦有狼濤唔540驚一个人去拼 ʎ又大方又好熱情人緣好来相信冇541講亂癫化金銭朋友幇助情意真齊齊讚賞雅542客家人勤勞齊家公認冇講是非543唔得罪人誰忠奸會来看清 ʎ起家靠雅努力莫問ʎ出身好肯出銭出力客人受尊敬

Ngai he chin tsung ke ha ka ngin Khin lao hau yu chhung kin Tsien fong lu kan ku you long thau M kiang yit kai ngin hi phin

536 Mr. Chong’s performance of the song can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kDOjgOHptV8. 537 ʎ Hk ngai means I (MacIver 1905: 512). For a detailed discussion of the character, see pp. 160–162. 538 係 xi Hk. he in Hakka means to be, is, are, etc. to belong (MacIver 1905, 155). 539 嘅 Hk. ke is the Mandarin equivalent of 的 de. 540 唔 Hk. m means no or not (MacIver 1905: 439). 541 冇 mao Hk. mau in Hakka means do not have. 542 雅 ya Hk. nga is a contraction of ngai kai and it means mine (MacIver 1905: 510). 543 講是非 Hk. kong si fui in daily use means to carry tales, which usually results in causing disharmony in the community as well as offending people.

Ngai yu tai fong yu hau nyet tsin Ngin yen hau loi siong sin Mao kong lon tien fa kim tsien Phen yu pong tshu tsin yi tsin Tshe tshe tsan shong nga ha ka ngin Khin lao tshe ka gong nyin Mao kong si fui m tet chui ngin Shui chung kan voi loi kon tsin Ngai hi ka kao nga nu lit Mo mum ngai chut sin Hao hen chut tsien chut lit Hak ngin siu tsun kin (2X)

TRANSLATION I am an authentic Hakka person Diligence advances my strength The road in front is hard and bitter like great waves [But I am] not afraid to strike out alone I am generous and also passionate Believe in people’s destiny [And] do not madly waste money Helping friends with real feeling

Together we praise our Hakka people [Our] diligence is publicly recognised by all [We] do not take sides and do not offend others Whether loyal or evil they will be seen through clearly I start my family by depending on my own strength Do not ask if I can make physical contributions [I] will gladly contribute money and strength [Hence] Hakka people are respected. (Repeat) Appendix K 我是客家人 Wo shi kejiaren Hk. Ngai he hak ka ngin (I am a Hakka Person)

Lyrics by Liu Zhiwen 劉志文 Music by Xu Dongwei 徐東蔚 Sung by Wang Yinglou 王映楼

哎呀勒伊呀勒! 你從哪里來你是哪里人走過千年遷徙的坎坷，啊，一生歲月滄桑544的風塵，一生歲月滄桑的風塵曾經一無所有嘗夠苦辣辛酸545 漂泊天涯為創業四海為家求生存

山轉水轉心不轉我是客家人我是客家人山轉水轉心不轉我是客家人我是客家人

哎呀勒伊呀勒! 你往何處去鄉音識親人一生為了古老的夢想，啊，捧出炎黃子孫的真誠，捧出炎黃子孫546的真誠大業繼往開來全憑雙手苦拼風吹浮云走萬里樹高千丈不離根

天變地變情不變我是客家人我是客家人天變地變情不變我是客家人我是客家人

我是客家人我是客家人

Nyai ga let, yi nga let! Ni tshiung na li loi, ni he na li ngin Tseu kho tshien nian tshien tsai tit kham kho Ah! Yit sang soi nyet tshong song tit fung chu Yit sang soi nyet tshong song tit fung chu Tshen kin yit mau so yu, shong keu khu lat sin son

544 滄桑 cangsang is the abbreviation for the saying: 滄海桑田 canghai sangtian which means great changes. 545 苦辣辛酸 ku la xin suan are the four tastes associated with hardship. Taken together, they indicate extreme suffering. 546 炎黃子孫 yanhuang zisun refers to the Chinese as descendants of the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor.

Phiau phok tian ngai vui tshong nyap Si hoi vui ka khiu sang tshun San chon shui chon sim put chon, ngai he hak ka ngin San chon shui chon sim put chon, ngai he hak ka ngin Nyai ga let, yi nga let! Ni vong ho chhu khi, hiong yim shit tshin ngin Yit sang vui liau ku lau tit mung xiong Ah! Pung chut yam vong tsu sun tit chin shin Thai nyap ki vong khoi loi, tshien phin sung shiu khu pin Fung chhoi feu yun khi van li, shu kau tshien chhong put li ken Thien pien thi pien tshin put pien, ngai he hak ka ngin, ngai he hak ka ngin Thien pien thi pien tshin put pien, ngai he hak ka ngin, ngai he hak ka ngin

TRANSLATION Aiyalei! Yiyalei! (chorus) Where do you come from? Which place are you from? Going through the travails of thousands of years of migration Ah! A lifetime of great changes and vicissitudes of life Ah! A lifetime of great changes and vicissitudes of life

Once they had nothing They have tasted enough bitter, hot, pungent and sour (chorus) Drifting to faraway places to begin a new venture Regarding the four seas (world) as home so as to seek [a new] existence

Mountain may shift, rivers may turn, but the heart does not move I am a Hakka person I am a Hakka person

Mountain may shift, rivers may turn, but the heart does not move I am a Hakka person (chorus) I am a Hakka person

Aiyalei! Yiyalei! (chorus) Which direction are you going? Your native accent will enable you to find your close relatives Throughout one’s lifetime because of ancient dream Ah! To hold with both hands the sincerity of the descendants of the Flame and Yellow Emperors. 452 Appendix K

This great undertaking follows the past and heralds the future Entirely depended on both hands to painstakingly risk one’s life Walking ten thousand li in the blowing wind and floating clouds [Even when] a tree grows a thousand zhang, it does not leave its roots

Heaven might change, earth might change but feelings do not change I am a Hakka person I am a Hakka person

Heaven might change, earth might change but feelings do not change I am a Hakka person I am a Hakka person (chorus)

I am a Hakka person I am a Hakka person Appendix L 客家母親河 Kejia muqinhe Hk. Hak ka mu tshin ho (Hakka Mother River)

by Lin Zhanyi 林展逸

千百年來延綿潺潺的河水安靜的沈睡在汀江的心懷裡幾多炎黃客家子弟子孫受保佑香火來傳承啜食汀江母親的奶水流啊流～流啊流流出客家硬頸根流出客家血脈情流啊流～流啊流流出客家堅韌心流出客家凔海痕汀江～母親河汀江～母親河汀江～母親河薪火相傳四海一家親

Tshien pak ngen loi yen mien tsan tsan tit ho shui On tshin tit chim shoi tshoi thin kong tit sim fai li Ki to yam vong hak ka tsu thi Tsu sun shiu pau yu, hiong fo loi chhon sin Chhot shit thin kong mu tshin tit nai shui Liu ah liu, liu ah liu Liu chut hak ka ngang kiang ken Liu chut hak ka hiet mak tshin Liu ah liu, liu ah liu Liu chut hak ka kien nyun Liu chut hak ka chhung hoi long Thin kong . . . mu tshin ho Thin kong . . . mu tshin ho Thin kong . . . mu tshin ho Sin fo siong chhon Si hoi yit ka tshin.

TRANSLATION The river water murmurs for thousands of centuries547 [The Hakka] sleep calmly in the cherished thoughts of the Ting River There are many generations of Hakka, who are descendants of Yan[di] (The Flame Emperor) and Huang[di] (The Yellow Emperor) Their progeny received blessings and protection [from them], Incense [nurtured their ancestors] so that their ancestry is passed on [To those who] drank and ate Mother Ting River’s milk

Flow ahh . . . flow, flow ahh . . . flow Let the Hakka’s stubborn roots flow out Let the Hakka’s emotion flow out through its blood and pulse

Flow ahh . . . flow, flow ahh . . . flow Let the Hakka’s hard and durable heart flow out Let the Hakka’s cold and uncountable scars flow out

Ting River . . . Mother River Ting River . . . Mother River Ting River . . . Mother River [Like] the flame of the faggots that pass on [forever]548 Within the four seas, we will be close as one family.

547 This is a metaphor for the Chinese people. 548 This is an allusion to Zhuangzi’s the Inner Chapters: Nourishing the Lord of Life), Verse 6 which states that 指窮於為薪，火傳也，不知其盡也 (What we can point to are the faggots that have been consumed; but the fire is transmitted (elsewhere), and we know not that it is over and ended). See http://ctext.org/zhuangzi/nourishing-the-lord-of-life (Retrieved on 25 June, 2013). Appendix M 海邊看飛機 Haibian kan feiji Hk. Hoi pien kon fui ki (Watching Aeroplanes on the Beach)

By Yu Tian Long 余畑龍

一個人在 Tanjung Aru549 看到好多人在拍拖550 一粒椰子两條 straw551 嘴角還咬着木瓜酸552 想到那天你和我講你決定跟他去英國終於有機會跟他滑雪還可以看看外國的月亮553 其實我好多話想跟你說放在心裡真是口難開二十年來沒跟你說晚晚夜… 夜長長發開口夢才講我真是中意你可不可以不要去英國我真是中意你

549 Tanjung Aru is a sub-district of Kota Kinabalu, capital of the state of Sabah in Malaysia. Its fame rests on the two-kilometre Tanjung Aru beach. The Sabah Tourist Promotion Board touts is as the place to see the “greatest sunset on earth . . . when the crimson sun dips slowly into the horizon, leaving the vast skies a brilliant red . . . foodstalls serving local food and drinks are open till late at night . . . enjoy coconut and sugarcane juice . . .” http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo/en/destination/77-tanjung- aru-beach/ (Retrieved on 9th January, 2012). 550 Hk. pak tor 拍拖 means courting. Tanjung Aru Beach is a favourite place for courting couples. 551 The Hakka term for straw is Hk. sui chao 水草. 552 Pickled papaya slices are a favourite snack made from half-ripe papaya pickled in vinegar and sugar. 553 The moon is often associated with romance. In Asia, the warm climate offers many opportunities for couples who sought romance and privacy under the moon.

可不可以不要跟那條啉死554 是說你想坐飛機不如我帶你去近近地反正翻開報紙都有零票555 兩間航空公司斗到死556 檳城 Johore 吉隆坡隨便你說我立刻上網要就快點遲就沒羅零票 book 完我就冤枉557 其實我好多話想跟你說亞庇558是一個好好住的地方多年來鬼老都來觀光上伸山！過 pulau!559 去 3rd Beach 曬月光560 我真是中意你可不可以不要去英國我真是中意你怕你睡覺冷到沒蓋被我真是中意你英國吃不到亞庇生肉面561 我真是中意你最好還是不要離開亞庇因為沒你在身邊

554 Hk. linn si is a rude term for an unsavoury character. The English equivalent is ‘prick’. 555 MR$0.00 tickets are free. Passengers pay only the various taxes. 556 This is a reference to AirAsia and Malaysian Airlines. AirAsia, a no-frills airline, has changed transnational relationships for Malaysians. As one old man in Beruas said, “Flying to Shenzhen is like taking a bus.” AirAsia offers four daily flights to Shenzhen. 557 The English word ‘book’ has entered into the Hakka language. Even Hakka in their 60s and 70s, who cannot speak English use this word. 558 Ah Pi came from the Malay word api (fire) and it is the local name for the old part of Kota Kinabalu. 559 Pulau is a Malay word for island. 560 Tanjung Aru Beach is divided into three sections. The 3rd beach is the one less visited by the public but the first choice for courting couples. Hk. sai nyet kong ‘basking in the moonlight’ is the euphemism for courting at night. See also http://walterjohn.net/sunset- at-tanjung-aru (Retrieved on 11th January, 2012). 561 Hk. sang nyuk man (生肉面 shengrou mian) is a local dish of noodle with a sauce served with a soup made with tender pork slices. It is a speciality of Kota Kinabalu. Appendix M 457

我會死一個人在海邊看著飛機飛上天一個人在海邊看著飛機越來越遠562

Yit chak ngin tshoi Tanjung Aru Kon tau hao to ngin tshoi pak tor Yit liap yeh tsai liong thiau “straw” Zoi kok han ngat kin muk kwa son Liaam tau ai ngit ngi lau ngai kong Ngi ket thin lau ki hee Yin Khet Chung you you ki fui lau ki vat siet Han ko yi kon kon ngoi khet ngat kong Ki sit ngai hao to va siong lau ngi kong Fong tshoi sim li tsin he heu nan hoi Ngi sip ngian loi mau lau ngi kong Man man ya . . . man tsong tsong Fat hoi heu mung zang kong “Ngai tzin he chung yi ngi” Ko m ko yi m moi hee Yin Khet Ngai tsin he tshung yi ngi Ko m ko yi m moi ken ai tiao linn si He kong hi siong chor fui ki Put yi ngai tai ngi hi kun kun ti Man tiam fan hoi pai ji tu you lang pioa Liong gaan hong kkung gung su teu tau oi si Bin sang, “Johore”, kit lung bo Sui pian ngi kong ngai jit khet song vong Oi chiu kai tit, chi chiu mau lo Lang piao book sai ngai chiu yen vong Ki sit ngai hao to va siong lau ngi kong Ah Pi he yit chak hao hao chu ke ti fong To ngian loi gui lao tu loi kon kong Song tsin san! Kor “pulau”! Hi “3rd Beach” sai nyet kong Ngai tsin he tsung yi ngi Ko m ko yi m moi hee Yin Khet

562 To listen to the song, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYbFqbNxTOY. 458 Appendix M

Ngai tsin he chung yi ngi Kong ngi soi muk lang tao mau kam pi Ngai tsin han he chung yi ngi Yin Khet sit m tau Ah Pi sang nyuk man Ngai tsin he chung yi ngi Chui hao han he m moi li hoi Ah Pi Yin wui mau ngi chhoi sin pian Ngai heawl si Yit kai ngin tshoi hoi pian Kon kin fui ki fui song tian Yit kai ngin tshoi hoi pian Kon kin fui ki yet loi yet yen.

TRANSLATION Alone in Tanjung Aru Many people are courting One coconut with two straws While still chewing pickled papaya in my mouth [I] thought of what you said to me that day You have decided to go to England Finally you have the chance to go skiing with him And also able to watch the foreign moon Actually I have much to say to you [But I] kept it in my heart [because] it is difficult to open my mouth For twenty years I have not told you Evening turns to night . . . the night is long Only when I am talking in my dream that I tell you “I really love you” Can you not, not go to England? I really love you Can you not, not go with that prick? If you just want to take a plane Why don’t I take you to places that are nearer In any case, there are many MR$0.00 tickets in the newspaper The two airlines companies are having deadly competition Penang, Johore, or Kuala Lumpur Just tell me and I will go on the Internet If you have decided, tell me quick or it would be too late If the MR $0.00 tickets are sold out, I am in trouble Actually I have a lot to say to you Appendix M 459

Ah Bi [Api] is a very good place to live For many years now, foreigners have been coming as tourists Climbing up Spirit Mountain, crossing to the islands Going to Third Beach for ‘moon-bathing’ I really love you Can you not, not go to England? I really love you I am afraid you will be cold in your sleep when you don’t cover yourself I really love you In England you cannot eat Ah Bi’s pork noodle I really love you It is better that you do not leave Ah Bi Because without you by my side I will die Alone on the beach Watching the airplanes flying up the sky Alone on the beach Watching the airplanes [flying] further and further away. Appendix N A Survey on the Definition of Migration, Emigration, and Immigration

This survey was conducted by email in 2011 between May and August. This is a summary from the twenty-seven informants from twelve different countries563 to demonstrate what these three words meant to different people.

Question: How do you define migration, emigration and immigration from the personal point of view i.e. gut feelings and personal experience.

MIGRATION . . . is what animals and people do in search of sustenance. This is the natural process before the development of agriculture and settlement.

. . . is to move from one area (usually a country or continent) to another . . . used mostly for birds who spend half the year in one country and then return to the first one.

. . . is something ongoing as in—up to the hills in the summer, down to the plains in the winter or populations migrating in response to say climate change or disaster. It’s something that makes sense in a given situation.

. . . is a word that worries me when it gets too personal . . . uprooting, transplanting, adjusting and adapting. None of which is comfortable, unless you’re in love, or intensely loving. None of this may last either, and then the process has to be repeated. More discomfort!

. . . is moving from one place to the other, perhaps seasonally: the Sierras, the beach, Apple valley . . .

. . . I immediately think of birds and personally Canadian geese. For years they would fly from Canada to New York and then return home. Then, in the late 1980’s they decided to remain in the New York area, particularly on Long Island.

. . . [is] tricky.

563 The countries are Australia (2), Canada (1), Germany (1), Italy (1), Japan (1), Kenya (1), Malaysia (5), Singapore (1), South Africa (1), United Kingdom (5), United States (7) and Vietnam (1).

. . . is the act of shifting yourself and / family to a new country. The assumption is that things would be better at the new chosen destination.

. . . is the movement of people or wild animals to other place or other country which refer to get better place . . . migration in waves (including legal and illegal).

. . . means leaving, starting over again but nowhere specific—a more natural part of life, sometimes out of necessity—but I feel that we only ever use it when talking about our own people, as if it’s exclusive to us.

. . . evokes no strong mental pictures . . . just general information about birds that migrate to sunnier climes and some vague idea that it has also become a ‘computer word’, to do with changing systems and ‘migrating’ information from the one system to the new one.

. . . I think of mass movement, as in bird migration. I know that it refers to people as well, but perhaps when it’s such a large group of people, we cease to think of them as people or individuals.

. . . is when animals and people come to new places and start a new life. They migrate to a new land that suits their needs (hopefully) and start working the land to meet their needs. Also the climate is important depending on the needs of the species migrating.

. . . I think of . . . birds migrating come to mind. I don’t think of it in terms of people, only animals.

EMIGRATION . . . I think of people who are suffering and want a better life, or to be close to their family, so they leave their homeland for a better one . . .

. . . I still have my old passport and know that my reluctance to give it up is emotional and I still want my ties to . . ., even with a piece of documentation . . .

. . . This usually evokes negative or sad feelings to me, since people wouldn’t want to leave their home or go to a strange land (since it’s almost against human nature) unless conditions were truly horrendous where they are leaving (e.g. famine, war, political oppression).

. . . To me means leaving your country that you see as ‘home’ and moving permanently to another one and making a new home. My father emigrated from the UK to South 462 Appendix N

Africa . . . In those days—early 60’s—it was filled with people who had emigrated, mostly from Europe. There were no negative connotations for me. It was and is something that people do, for various reasons that are important to them personally. When I came to live in the UK in 2008, I didn’t see myself as emigrating

. . . whenever I think of this, the destination always seems more calculated and specific, and more importantly a move out of choice rather than pressured or essential to survival.

. . . Never really had conscious association with this word.

. . . I think of leaving . . . [and] living in two places—the Peace Corps . . . When I speak to people about the experience, I tell them that you really find out who you are because everyone has such interest in you as a foreigner. Constantly asking why you behave/ believe the way you do . . . forces you to self-reflect.

. . . [moving to] Berkeley, New York, Singapore, London.

. . . means you move OUT. But what about all that’s familiar? No laksa-asam [noodles with a sour fish soup with fresh mint leaves and grated cucumber] . . . No gai fan chicken rice] from the favourite place. No mummy for instant baby-sitter . . . No old school friends, old colleagues, old students . . . . in short, people who give you instant recognition, and maybe a special treat/discount/request for donations. . . . . [!!!!].

. . . Just before coming to Italy I remember sitting on a bus with a friend and it suddenly hit me and I said “Fuck, I’m emigrating!” It seemed very final, but life really isn’t like that, is it?

. . . refers to me leaving Malaysia to Australia.

. . . is a human concept of leaving your place and moving permanently to another place. For me this word is one of sadness—what terrible events would force one to leave one’s place? Hunger, war, cataclysm, persecution?

. . . whenever I think of this [word], the destination always seems more calculated and specific, and more importantly a move out of choice rather than pressured or essential to survival.

. . . a co-worker . . . left the former Soviet Union . . . because of the political situation, couldn’t even tell any of his friends, let alone say goodbye to them. I found this to be Appendix N 463 so heartbreaking . . . [but] he talks about the plane landing in Italy around Christmas time, and looking down from the sky and seeing Italy lit up with Christmas decora- tions. He said that it gave him such a good feeling.

. . . Human beings move from context to context constantly: Personal-Biographically, socially, economically, and referentially. When the moving is made culturally and geographically, we might call it migration in order to denote that a process is happening that involves cultural and geographical (often combined with socio-economic) mar- ginalising or demarginilising, “othering” and being “othered”, appropriating or misap- propriating of hegonomic/normative status. Migration to me means one opportunity to express my human pursuit of “identitarian autonomy”.

IMMIGRATION . . . [I think of] my grandparents.

...... The first thing I noticed was language—we all spoke with English accents. People thought that I was cute; speaking with an accent. I lost it fairly quickly but my parents retained traces of it throughout their lives. Being immigrants in a small town made us an interesting anomalies, but socially acceptable. . . . Growing up, I never realized we had oriental ancestry. It was simply not discussed, and from a cultural perspective, it was really a non-issue in our status as immigrants . . . Since all our upbringing was British, including language (Mum never spoke Russian, although she is still fluent), the process was relatively seamless. I guess that is what the Empire was all about: transfer- rable culture to any environment.

. . . General as a traveller the department and officers that are responsible for border protection, work permits, visas etc.

. . . is when people move from their place to mine. This is the favourite topic of the mainstream media in Britain—‘outsiders coming to take what is rightfully ours’—thus it is filled with negative meanings. For me, as an immigrant (from Scotland to England) this word places me ‘outside’, as not belonging.

. . . I guess an immigrant is what you are in the new country. . . . . I don’t suppose it’s ever easy—communication problems, fitting in, trying to make a place for yourself etc.—everyone is suspicious of the ferenghi (foreigner).

. . . More than almost any other country, we are a nation of immigrants. Almost all of our citizens—with the notable and important exceptions of Native Americans and African-Americans—had ancestors who came to the US to escape political oppression, 464 Appendix N or for economic opportunity. Against that background, I find it shocking and hypocriti- cal that so many Americans express anti-immigrant sentiments, usually toward those who come across our border in violation of the law, but also—in many cases—toward those who arrive legally.

. . . is the movement of people which is related to political direction . . . into other country with legal permission.

. . . is an opportunity for change and development of a country in many aspects—a continuing cycle which has been happening since humans have been around, helping to discover new culture, beliefs as well as techniques and languages etc. The modern media, however, has created a society in which we feel immigrants are beggars, scroungers and frauds in order to whip up fear- trying to put an end to this cycle of learning to sell more papers!

. . . is a sign seen at all border posts. In my mind an immigrant is seen as a poor person who has moved into a country where they will be living at a disadvantage. This is because of unemployment, language and custom difficulties. They are usually scorned by local people. However, I feel that if a person has survived immigration, then they must be resilient, adaptable and strong. I think of all the immigrants to the USA entering through Ellis Island, the Tibetans who fled their homeland when the Chinese invaded, the Chinese who chose to immigrate to Taiwan, when the Communists took over; also, the desperate and starving immigrants to South Africa from war-torn Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola etc.

. . . Generally has a more positive feeling for me (which is probably strange, since they are the same people who are forced to emigrate and leave their homeland). When I think of immigration, I think of the positive result of reaching their destination of a land of opportunity (although for many people, they faced even more difficulties in their new homeland like prejudice and discrimination). I just picture people coming with plenty of hopes and dreams of a better life. My grandparents were immigrants from Italy. When I think of them coming through Ellis Island (although they describe it as a pretty bad experience) I have this image of them being hopeful and excited, and they did eventually make a better life here. I don’t spend much time thinking of their “emigration” experience, and what it must have felt like when they had to say goodbye to friends and family back in Italy.

. . . Pros/Cons come with my thoughts. On the good points, America is a wonderful country where anything can be accomplished and people coming here want better for themselves. Nothing wrong with that, my family came here from all over Europe and Appendix N 465 made a life. Also good, different cultures bring new languages, foods, traditions, teach us new trades, etc. . . .

The Cons, OMG! I live in a Russian neighborhood, which never was like this I see many negative things. This is “generally speaking”. The English language that we speak, or have spoken for many years is disappearing. Not like my great parents who spoke their language behind their doors at home, these people speak it 24/7 and not because I can’t speak it, I just feel left out within my own environment. Also, a lot of people come here and get all the wonderful benefits for FREE!!!!.. I see them buying Condo’s . . . and cars; then shop with food stamps and get free medical and social security checks. This angers me because I’m a single parent, work part-time and live off social security death benefits . . . worked over 30 plus years and can’t get a dime when I need help. Our families came to the USA with nothing and built that nothing into something with NO HELP!!! Sadly I cannot change that.

. . . reeks of the officers that you see at the airport who in the past have not been very friendly and are only now just improving. They are very officious and quite unwelcom- ing. All matters to do with immigration are uncomfortable as it always has to do with visas, etc.

. . . I think of the people who work on the farms in our country, who came from Mexico, but are fighting to stay here. I wonder why there is such ill will towards them from so many people who are natural citizens. Did they forget their families came from Europe? Did they want the jobs picking fruit all day for almost nothing so we don’t have to pay higher prices in the stores?? I think immigration is a complex issue, like abortion, and people get so angry and self-righteous that they lose sight of any solution . . .

Some respondents do not differentiate the three words and they use them interchangeably:

. . . Perhaps I feel that in a way we are all travellers now—since when one returns home—be it to another country—or just a train ride across the city—it is not the same as in our memories. How anyone retains a sense of identity in this milieu is tough. Perhaps that is why people do their family tree—to find a connectedness.

. . . The (borrowed) Indonesian word ‘“Imagrassi” defines it rather well—all to do with “grass being greener on other side” (of the fence). So we migrate just like the animals, instinctively, for better survival options at an alternative location. Improving ones lot, whether it’s because of weather, food, hobbies, availability of essentials. There is a relationship with the hunger for life or the will to improve these options as inertia has to be overcome. It can be likened to when in poker the cards are exchanged. Giving up what 466 Appendix N you know but not to be attached to the potential of some good options though the chances are with a new language to learn and a city to orientate, that it will be tough before it becomes better.

. . . I guess one ‘social aspect’ stands out—‘home’ or the ‘value of the heart’ however illusive the latter may be.

. . . [while] trekking in Nepal we were asked if we were from another valley; that was as foreign to them as anything was going to get. But thinking about it now, while migration still makes sense on all levels, emigration and immigration seem to be very anach- ronistic terms as we live in a world where people move around all the time.

. . . I believe that all artificial borders should be abolished and people should be free to move around wherever they can or want ...... maybe because we moved around so much from my childhood, I don’t feel closer to any one place than another on this beautiful world ...... but . . . and profoundly ...... I feel that the reason people feel ‘at home’ when they come here to Kenya is because this is the cradle of mankind and we, humanity, all began here ...... I think that it is the crossroads of North, East, South, and West. So I feel that’s why I feel at home here.

. . . the three terms are similar to me; just different perspectives and status—all about people moving: from one place to another (migration), leaving own country to another (emigration), and foreigner [coming] into my country (immigration).

. . . but I do not use MIGRATION or EMIGRATION, I use only IMMIGRATION. So I really do not know the difference.

. . . migration is an integral part of the human story and more broadly, the biological story. My grandparents were immigrants who never returned to their homelands even to visit. Looking at all the fear and politics around borders and migration today, I feel that borders are cruel and serve only to protect the places that earlier migrants settled and want to keep for themselves.

The situation in Malaysia is summarised by a thirty year old Malaysian Chinese woman.

There are lots of immigrants here in Malaysia from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia & China. These immigrants are mostly unskilled & semi-skilled workers who are allowed to work in certain sectors here in Malaysia. There is a handfull that holds the expatriate status. Appendix N 467

Pros: – Help curb the lack of man power in certain sector – Bring in foreign knowledge in certain industry – Cheap labour

Cons: – Social issues arises – Reduce job opportunities for locals – Abused by employers

Personal experience: My parents have a foreign domestic helper at home. Good assistance, inexpensive labour, and good cross culture experience. Many Nepali immigrants attend our church service. Once again, good cross culture experience. Get to know about abuse by employers and agents.

Emigration / Migration Issue here in Malaysia is that many white-collar young adults are migrating from Malaysia to more developed countries. There will be a brain drain in our nation in time to come.

Conclusion: In time to come, our nation will face labour issues as we are attracting blue collar immigrants, and white collar workers are migrating abroad. Appendix O Hakka Language Skill Survey Chinese Methodist Church Kindergarten Beruas Class 2009

Name M/F Father Mother Comments

1. Child (a) F Hakka Hokkien UBCNSH 2. Child (b) M Hakka Hokkien UBCNSH 3. Child M Hokkien Thai NA 4. Child F Hakka Hokkien UBCNSH 5. Child (a) F Hakka Hakka CUASH 6. Child (b) M Hakka Hakka CUASH 7. Child M Hakka Indian CUASH 8. Child M Hakka Thai CUASH 9. Child M Hakka Hochchew UBCNSH 10. Child M Hakka Hockchew CUASH 11. Child (a) F Hokkien Hokkien NA 12. Child (b) F Hokkien Hokkien NA 13. Child M Hokkien Cantonese NA 14. Child F Hokkien xHakka CSOUH 15. Child M Cantonese Cantonese NA 16. Child F Hakka Hokkien CUASH 17. Child M Hockchew Indonesian NA 18. Child (a) M Cantonese Hainanese NA 19. Child (b) M Cantonese Hainanese NA 20. Child F Hakka Hakka UBCNSH 21. Child M Cantonese Thai NA 22. Child F Cantonese Cantonese xCUASH 23. Child M Cantonese xHakka CUASH 24. Child F Hockchew Cantonese NA 25. Child M Hakka Hakka UBCNSH 26. Child (a) F Hakka Indonesian CNSOUH 27. Child (b) F Hakka Indonesian CNSOUH 28. Child (a) F Hakka Hakka UBCNSH 29. Child (b) F Hakka Hakka UBCNSH 30. Indian 31. Indian 32. Malay

Notes CUASH Can understand and speak Hakka UBCNSH Understands but cannot speak Hakka CNSOUH Cannot speak or understand Hakka NA Not Applicable Child (a)+(b) Silblings xHakka Hakka woman married to non-Hakka xCUASH Child with Cantonese parents but can understand or speak Hakka 470

map 1 Location of Beruas and Pusing on the Malaysian Peninsula. Map taken from http://www.globalcitymap.com/malaysia/malaysia-political-map.html. Beruas and Pusing added by Iris Huck. Bibliography

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Aborigines/Aboriginals 23, 127, 160, 165 Appropriated words 220–224 Australia in 208 Architecture 10, 29, 67, 176, 347 Taiwan in 58, 62, 120, 122, 166 Hakka cultural marker as 203, 232–237 Africa Hong Kong and Guangdong in 234–235 Chineseness and 109 Tourism for 199 Hakka and 59 Tulou (earthen building) 10, 29, 193, Investment and 106–107 232–234 Migration destination as 106–109, 152, Artistic Expression 153, 352 Ballads (historical-narrative) 66, 67, Modern sojourners and 110 331–332 African American and Hakkaness 198 Bamboo clapper songs (zhubange) 73, Agnatic tradition 25, 43, 119, 155, 197, 198, 331 200, 205, 207, 209, 235, 268, 283, 341 Hakka cultural marker as 326–335 Ah Beng and Ah Lian 152, 181 Hoisting big flags 334–335 Ali-Baba partnership 84 Instrumental music 332 American 96, 115, 130, 133, 149, 154, 161, 164, Literature 57, 91, 116, 150, 177, 185, 214, 169, 183, 194 (see also USA) 326–327, 328 African relationship 89 Modern Hakka songs 12, 60, 330–333, Ancestral identity 110 335 Asian American as 110 Mountain songs (shange) 66, 67, 70, Chineseness 132, 134, 143 327–330, 335 Chinese sojourners 109, 153 Pixiu dance 334 Cultural identity 110 Story-telling 332 Hakka and 59, 187, 195n169 Zhi-unicorn dance 333–334 Hakkaness 176 Astronaut fathers 113 XYZ-ness and 204 Au Boon Haw 6, 79, 87, 280–281 Americanness 130, 204 Australia Ancestor 10, 27, 41, 74, 86, 91, 101, 103, 104, Chineseness and 136 105, 147, 160, 174, 175, 189, 196, 300, 357 Migration and 26, 41, 44, 81–82, 102, 106, BGH of 200 112, 113, 136, 171, 176, 208, 250 Clan emblem and 102 Geomancy and 253 Baba 33, 127, 155, 156 (see also Peranakan) Hakka of the 165, 197, 205, 210 Balik Pulau 179–180, 235–236, 257, 264 Huaqiao and 149 Banana (English-educated) 138, 194, 196, Ordination names and 263 214 Patrilineality and 119 Bangka Island and the Hakka 220 Religious beliefs in 253, 272 Banshanke (mid-mountain Hakka) 179–180 Secondary burial and 336–338 Bao’an 54, 87 Worship 120, 133, 146, 266– 268, 270–271, Barbarians The 104, 167 (see also Xiongnu) 281, 321, 342 Basel Mission 46, 55, 158, 216, 245, 253, 254, Ancestral home 20, 28, 49, 91, 111, 149, 275, 263 280, 294 Population transfer and 88, 264, 315 Ancestoring 9–10 Bendi 86, 119, 163–164 (see also Punti) Asiawind 37, 207n178, 241, 367n339, 380n385 Benevolent associations/societies 43, 276, Anti-globalization 16 277 522 Index

Beruas (passim) Hakka language replaces 213–214 Clan emblem 103–104 Hakka-Punti War in 6, 163, 285, 288, 294 Dehakkalization and 189, 190, 229–231 Han debate and 125 Deterritorialized 26–28, 36 Language 181, 211–21, 220, 223, 227, 228, Economy 173, 259–260 231 Education and 249, 251 Occupational affinity and 173, 245, 257, Global Hakka (BGH) (passim and 257–258, 260 Case Study) Caribbean Occupational shift and 259–261 Chain migration and 88 Religious beliefs 261–272 passim Chineseness 133 Women 309, 313–314, 344 Hakka and the 53, 54, 177, 255 Blood ancestry Shopkeepers and 78, 252 Adopted Hakka of 176, 207 Carsten, Sharon 27, 28, 53–58, 82, 130, Hakka cultural marker as 206–211 136–137, 155, 229, 230, 263, 270, 286, 304, Intermarriage and 209–211 305, 309, 311, 313, 314 Miss Chinatown USA Pageant and 207 Central Plains 23, 99, 102, 125, 219 New Zealand Maori Ruby League and Chain migration (or serial migration) 9, 79, 208 87, 88, 100, 107, 113, 114 Naomi Campbell of 176, 208 Changting 75, 187, 188 Purity claim and 206–207 Hk. chhi ka ngin 193, 195, 282–283, 286, 331 Bloodline 9, 10, 193 Chin Peng 291–293 Born-again Hakka (see also Foo-Paton China 48 55, 56, 71–72, 73, 85, 89, 97, 109, 137, Patricia) 38, 194, 283, 339 164 Borneo and the Hakka 59, 88, 96, 130, 175, Africa and 106–107 179, 259, 263, 273, 274, 295, 296, 305, 365 Ancestoring and 9–10, 28, 278 Brain circulation 96 Chineseness and 128–144 passim 133, Brain drain 83–84, 113n98 143–144 British Guiana and the Hakka 54, 88 Christian missions and 23, 46, 55, 88, 158, British North Borneo Company 303, 305, 315 169, 253, 263 Burma and the Hakka 87, 280 Dehakkalization and 190 Ethnic awakening and 49, 78 Calcutta and the Hakka 53, 118, 171, 210, Ethnic minorities and 3, 24–25, 40, 49n31, 240n217, 259, 301, 309 123 California and the Hakka 6, 88, 120 Hakka and the 4–5, 9, 13, 34, 37, 40, 43, Canada 45, 47, 58, 73, 85, 184–185, 225 Hakka and the 31, 80, 82, 102, 106, 111, 116, Hakka identity and 7, 25, 45, 63, 75, 159, 250 171, 188 Hakkaness and 196 Hakka language and 46, 184, 212–214, 219, Jamaican and Indian Hakka and 171 226–227, 229, 295 Tsung Tsin Association and 186 Hakka Studies and 32, 43, 50–53, 55–56, Cantonese 3, 20, 41, 42, 47, 49, 57, 76, 86, 89, 219 118, 133, 140, 156, 160, 175, 181, 209, 210, 213, Han (ethnonym) and 40, 123– 128 passim 217, 254, 292, 299, 322, 330, 337–338, 366 Internal migration and 97–98 Chineseness and 135 Migration and 13, 47, 49, 54, 62, 78, 85, 89, Calcutta in 301 95, 100, 255, 281–282 Cultural difference from Hakka and 57 Modern sojourners (to China) and Hakka appellation and 158 109–111 Hakka conflicts 120, 126, 168, 169, 245, Overseas Chinese and 92, 96, 119, 144–153 245, 297, 303 250 Index 523

Taiwan and 30, 123 Clannishness 6, 12, 33, 37, 74, 77, 176, 193, Traditional Migration models and 99–105 204, 216, 235, 272–273, 280, 285–286, Chinatown (Reggae band) 196, 198 293–296 (see also Hakka unanimity) Chinatowns 126, 207, 250, 269, 272, 277 Au Boon Haw and 280–281 Chinese Institutionalized 282–284 African relationship 108 Maintenance 280, 284 Aid to Africa 107–108 Traditional Hakka identity in 281–282 Communist Party 190–191, 291 World gatherings through 280 Communities 57, 58, 132, 139, 146, 245, Classics The 68, 223, 247, 256 250, 252 Code-switching 142, 155, 227 Chineseness 14, 41, 128–144, 201, 351–352 Cohen, Myron 24, 48, 53, 133, 136, 183, 263, Academia in 134–136 316 Bai culture in 129 College of Hakka Studies 55, 235–236 English-educated in 138–139 Commercial Press (Shanghai) 48 Hakka in 130, 136–139, 177, 284, 352 Communism 51, 133, 147, 288, 293, 295 Huaqiao in 145 Computer mediated communication (CMC) Mao Zedong of 133n115 11, 19–20, 44, 53 Mestizos of the Philippines of 130 Concubines 65, 321, 344 Mixed-race in 127, 129 Confucian Overseas Chinese in 145, 152 Conservatism 235 Overseas Student Unions in 134 Culturalism 68, 330, 341 Papua New Guinea in 129 Ethics 68, 120 Peranakan in 129–130 Philosophy in Hakka architecture Differences in the same family 139 235 Southeast Asia in 133 Gender propriety 328, 330 Writings in 131 Confucius Institute 132 Chong Sau Lin 72–73, 330, 335 Conservativeness Christian missions 8 Generation names and 305 Catholic of the 130, 158, 264, 265 Hakka cultural marker as 304–305 Education and 8, 251 Ordination names and 305 Hakka and the 96, 169, 263–264 Music in 305 Population transfer and 88, 96, 264, 315 Constable, Nicole 31, 32, 53, 55, 118, 127, 158, Writings on the Hakka and 55 163, 170, 265, 277, 301 Christian names 135, 138, 181 Coolie Christianity 55, 127, 253–154, 238, 264–165, Chinese and 78 266–267, 295–296, 337 Definition 79 BGH in 272 Labor 109, 169, 315 Balik Pulau on 264 Migration pattern and 101, 114, 145 Hakka identity and 12, 176, 253, 263, 265 System 256 Rice Christian and 265, 295 Cook Curry Day Campaign 143 Sabah in 264 Critical Han Studies Conference and Taiping ideology and 86n68, 263 Workshop 123 Hk. chu lai 283 Crossing the blood basin 340–341 Chuang Ying-chang 53, 57, 119, 121, 311, 322 Cross-culturalism 5, 59, 72, 209 Clan associations (see huiguan) Cuba 54, 88 Clan emblem 60, 102–104 Cultural markers (Chapter 6 passim and Wuwei of the Liao clan and 60, 61, see also Hakka cultural markers) 102–105, 392n389, 393, 394, 398 Cultural Revolution 101, 119, 285 524 Index

Dabu 66, 179, 195, 226, 246, 275, 276, 278, 279 Intermarriage and 15, 22, 27, 207, 209–211, Hakka 40, 155, 194, 241, 277 213, 219, 230–231, 342 Pawnshops and 256, 258, 259 Mother tongue and 140, 184, 211, 214, 230, Daoism (Taoism) 50, 262–263, 270 251 Datuk Gong or the Datuk Keramat 267, 270 Names 135, 180–183 Death Rituals Occupational-typing 172, 256–261 Crossing the blood basin and 340–341 (see also Occupations) Funeral Rites and 43, 284, 313, 321n291, Revival 228–229 329, 335–336 Singapore in 139–142, 156, 213 (see also Hakka cultural marker as 335–341 Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC)) Mourning dirge and 335, 338–339 Writing in 42–44, 48, 55, 215, 326 Secondary burial and 336–338 Diaspora 13, 86, 90–93, 109 (see also People Dehakkalization 11, 24, 199 dispersal) BGH in 199–200, 346 Digital cross-pollination (DCP) 2, 5, 19, 348, Communist China in 190–191 351, 356 Cultural assimilation by 6, 9, 191 Construction of Chineseness and 351 Cultural markers and 346–347, 354 Dehakkalization and 190, 358 Genetic exchange by 191, 354 Hakka identity and 19, 333, 349 Globalization, transnationalism, deterrito- Diligence 6, 12, 74, 77, 171, 176, 198, 252, 300, rialism and DCP through passim 326, 347 Intermarriage caused by 200, 209–211 Hakka cultural marker as 303–304 Language choice through 24, 206 Hk. ngai and 303–304 Migration and 7, 11, 176–177, 190, 192, 199 Hakka in Beruas and 304 Personal lifestyles through 191 Hakka women of 39, 306, 308, 313, 315 Personal choices through 191, 199 Dongguan 7, 54, 64, 71, 79, 103, 147, 160, 177, Successive generations in 174, 184, 191 184, 234n207, 241, 242, 272, 336 Deterritorialization 18, 76 Dialect 3, 4, 10, 38, 193, 220–223, 226 Beruas of 26–27, 36 Hakka 3, 38, 42, 69, 161, 162, 218, 220, 227, Change in lifestyle and 28–29, 357 281 Definition 18–19, 150 Dulang-washer 33, 39, 221, 274, 309, 310, 311, Dehakkalization and 190, 192, 199, 354 313, 315, 320 Hakka identity and 9, 11–12, 14, 19, 188, Durian 47 200, 354 Migration and 16, 78, 106, 108 Earthen buildings (tulou) 10, 29, 193, 232, Social mobility and 191 248, 316 Dialect (passim and see also Hakka language) Cultural marker as 232–234 Book trade and 141, 215 Revival 235–237 Chineseness and 135–136, 138–140, 172 UNESCO inscribed by 233 Code-switching and 142, 155, 227 Education 18, 23, 26, 31, 35, 68, 82, 84, 112, Dictionary 47, 211, 226–227 138, 145, 172, 182, 189, 203, 213, 228, 249, Dongguan Hakka of 220–225 251, 253, 255, 260, 269, 290, 308, 311, 347, (see also Hakka language) 357 Hakka of the 141, 160–161, 163, 165–166, BGH, their parents and children of 227, 177, 213, 215–220, 280–281, 304 251–252 Huiguan and (see Associations, guilds or Christian missionaries and 251, 265 clubs) English-educated of 38, 138, 139, 143, 214, Identity and 41, 42, 169, 174–180, 194, 249, 251, 259 197, 200, 204, 206–207, 225, 283, 294, 339 Hakka cultural marker as 244–252 Index 525

Imperial examinations and 244, Fake Chinese 142 248–249 Fangyan (local speech) 211, 218, 276 NEP and 81–82 Federation of Hopo Association 111 Respect (for education) and 68, 224, 248, Federation of Malaysian Ka Yin Associations 250, 252, 275, 289, 290 56, 111 Sibao book trade and 68, 69–70, 215, 247, Festivals 70 256, 326 Chinese New Year 27, 35, 41, 110, 120, 195, Social mobility and 214, 224, 244–245, 197, 239, 276, 277, 317, 335 249, 250, 251, 259, 261, 297 Dumpling Festival 271 Xuehaitang at the (Sea of Learning Hungry Ghost Festival 271 Academy) at the 247 Moon Festival 271 Women and 207, 245, 246, 250, 251, 259, Qingming 27, 70, 266, 271 312–315, 326 Summer Solstices 271 Elastic identity 14, 147 154–157, 175, 177, 349, Zuoya 70 350–351, 357 Fictive kinship 62 Emigration 76–115 passim Fighting spirit and fearlessness English 4, 48, 115, 116, 126, 138, 146, 147, 150, Communist Revolution in 289–293 155, 181, 186, 223 Hakka cultural marker as 286–296 Academia in 135–137 Hakka women in 287 Chineseness and 138–140, 142 Hakka-Punti War in 288 Education in 7, 8, 38, 138–139, 148, 152, Malayan Communist Party in (MCP) 194, 251, 259 291–293 Language 1, 35, 44, 46, 58, 76, 77, 93, 98, Martial arts and 286–287 110, 129, 152, 155, 178, 181, 184, 187, 191, 226, Republican Revolution in 289–290 227–228, 230, 231, 250, 280, 315 Taiping Revolution in 288 Mother-tongue as 143, 186, 206, 214 Filial piety 61, 67, 68, 73 English-educated 38, 138, 139, 143, 214, 249, Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to 251, 259 China 198 Englishlization 181n157, 214, Fishponds in Hakka architecture 67, Ethnic 8, 100, 166, 243, 316 235 Awakening 49, 78, 290 Flexible citizenship 30, 154, 351 Chinese 58, 84, 98, 150–151, 136, 267 Foo-Paton, Patricia (see also Born-again Classification Project 3, 49n31, 127, 353 Hakka) 38, 194–196, 339 Han (hanzu) 123 Footbinding 127, 159, 169, 177, 287, 302, Minority in China 123, 127, 129, 162, 180, 314 306, 307, 315–316 (see also Unbound Purity and pride 47–48, 127–128, 133n114, feet) 168 French Polynesia and the Hakka 24, 54 Solidarity (zudang zhiyi) 162 Frugalness (see Thrift) Studies 32, 50, 83, 98, 174 Ethnicity 116–123 Gan Basin and the Hakka 163 Definitions and problematics 4, 13–14, 22, Gan-bonding (god-parenting) 234–235 24, 32, 48, 116–120, 127–128, 131, 153, 159, Gansu Theory of migration 49, 102–105 170–171, 192, 201–203, 353 Genealogies 12, 34, 43, 66, 77, 157, 174, 244, Chinese model and 119 259, 262, 263, 305, 344, 349 Hakka and 53, 120–121, 153, 158, 172, 183, 185, Identity and 60–63, 77 191, 217, 280, 285, 288, 290, 295, 350, 353, 356 Gender Roles 32, 39, 70–71 Symbolic that is 122 Gender parity 328, 330 Taiwan in 44, 121–122, 128, 135, 166, 171 Hakka cultural marker as 305–326 526 Index

Generation names 63–66 Hakka Hakka cultural marker as 344–346 Activism 48, 183, 184, 228, 231 Generation poem 62–66, 344–345 Associations (see huiguan) Genetics 3, 98, 105, 109, 157, 164, 191, 203, 205, Cookbook 59, 239, 243 210 Ethos 73, 76 Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and Genesis 8, 157–164 164 Global network (HGN) 19–20, 44 Hakka Debate 164–168 Incubation period 24, 98, 159, 164, 219 Haplogroup and 104 Stereotypes 45, 58, 169–170, 204, 241, 296, HLA and 164 299, 312 Identity and 128, 129, 144, 197, 200–201, Hakka culture 209, 231, 352, 354, 355, 357, 358 Entertainment as 74 Immunoglobulins and 164 Monetizing for 199 Microsatellites and 164 Tourism for 198–199 Mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA and 97, Hakka Cultural markers (Chapter 6) 165, 166, 168 Architecture 232–237 Mitochondrial haplogroup and 105 Artistic Expression 326–335 Non-recombinant Y-chromosome (NRY) Blood ancestry 206–211 phylogeny and 104, 166 Child-daughters-in-law 321–326 Taiwanese Hakka and 165, 166 Clothing and accessories 316–321 Three-wave migration model and 165 Conservativeness 304–305 Xiongnu and 167 Death Rituals 335–341 Y-chromosome and 97, 165 Diligence 303–304 Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) 166 Education 244–252 Geography of the World 46, 126 Fighting and Pioneering Spirit 286–296 Ghee Hin-Hai San War 6, 120 Food 237–244 Global Hakka passim Generation names 344–346 Globalization Hakka language 211–232 Chineseness and 128–144 Hakka unanimity 261–286 Cultural markers and Chapter 6 passim Ordination Names 344 Definition 16 Poverty 296–300 Dehakkalization and 190, 192, 199 Religious beliefs 261–272 Ethnicity and 116–123 Rituals for boys 341–344 Hakka identity and 22–29, Chapter 5 Trade and occupation 252–272 passim Thrift and Frugalness 300–303 Han debate and 126–128 Women and Gender Roles 305–326 Identity going global and 16–22 Hakka food Import/export trade and 17–18 Dog meat and 241–243 Methodology and 29–39 Festival verse home-cooking 238–239 Migration models and 78–85, 99, 106–115 Cultural marker as 237–244 Migration, emigration and immigration Health profiles and 239–240 and 89–98 Pusing’s signature steamed cakes 240 Overseas Chinese and 144–153 Hakka heartland 78, 85, 86, 105, 119, 165, 167, Guangxi and the Hakka 52, 159, 180, 247, 176, 183, 206, 247, 285, 290, 297, 298, 302 303 Hakka identity (see also Identity) Guanlan and the Hakka 52–53 Appropriation 174–176 Guixiang (returning to the ancestral home) Earthen buildings (tulou) and 193 147, 149, 278 Elasticization 176–177 Index 527

Erosion 177, 180, 200 (see also Hk. chu lai and 283 dehakkalization) Cultural marker as 261–286 Genetics versus language debate in 164–165 Globalization of the Hakka through 280, Geopolitical spaces and 174–175 286 Historical identity as 304 Huiguan through 273–280 Imagined, idealized and stereotyped 169 Kongsi and 273 Maintenance 183–186 Dialect group identification and 274 Past, present, and future Chapter 5 Place (difang) identification 275 Personal concept as 170 Qiaoxiang ties 279 Hakka incubation period 24, 98, 159, 164, 219 Hk. tso nyin tshin 283–284 Hakka language 42, 53 Hakka-Punti War 6, 46, 57, 120, 160, 163, 288 Beruas kindergarten survey in 229–231 Hakkaness 189–202 Clannishness and 216 Assertion of person– or selfhood hood as Cultural marker as 211–232 191, 201 Dongguan variety and 220–225 African American in 198 Fangyan as 218 BGH in 193, 200 Historiography 216–217 Born-again Hakka family in 194–196 Intermarriages in 200, 209–211, 231 Commercialized 199, 201 North-South division in 217–218 Component of Hakka identity as a 194–196 Varieties and 211, 219 Concept of being Hakka as a 6–7, 14, 189, Words appropriation and 220–224 193, 200–201, 315, 348 Writings and conversation in 215 Construction and its 192, 194 Hakka as lingua franca 75, 76 (see also Crowded identity in 201 Hakka language) Cultural markers and 321, 335 Beruas in 42, 226, 230n201 Definition 199 Jamaica in 213 Disneyfied 201 MCP in 291–292 Hakka identity and 8, 10–11, 25, 44, 193, Pusing in 42, 226, 281 201, 315, 347 Sabah in 75, 76 Han Suyin and 192–193 Suriname in 226 Personal identity and 191–193 Titi, Jelebu in 281 Personal lifestyles and 191–192, 200–201 Hakka literature 326–327 Reclamation and 38, 194–198, 209, 346 Hakka Mother River Memorial 11, 15, 75, Reggae music in 196 187–188 Tourism and 198–199, 201 Identity maintenance for 184–185 Traditional identity and 201 Problematics for Hakka Studies and 75, XYZ-ness concept in 201 188–189 Han (ethnonym) 7, 9, 123–128 Hakka music Ancestry 127 North-South origin debate on 167 Cantonese and 125 Hakka Pop Music Award 77 Malaysia in 126 Hakka Research Society 47, 50, Overseas Chinese and 126 Hakka spirit (definition) 6, 20, 56, 73–75 Problematics (of the term) and 124–128 Hakka Studies Series 47, 52, 76 Han Suyin 138 Hakka Traditional Series 31, 44 Chineseness and 129 Hakka unanimity (see also clannishness) Social mobility and 177 BGH in 286 Marginalization of Hakka identity and Chain migration and 280–282 192–193 Hk. chhi ka ngin and 193, 286 Moribundity of Hakka language and 213 528 Index

Hawaii and the Hakka 38, 88, 195, 213, 255, Cultivating qiaoxiang ties and 279 265, 283, 334 Different categories of 276 Hawaii 38, 58, 169, 213 Diminishing role 277–278 Henan 100, 102, 105, 167 Globalizing the Hakka for 280 Hepo (or Hopo) Hakka 54, 111, 179, 180, 219, Place (difang) identification and 275–276 275, 279 Mutual support and protection for 275 Heptasyllabic quatrain 47, 67, 71 Reinvention 278 Hezhou and the Hakka 52, 180 Huiyang and the Hakka 54, 87 Hong Kong 3, 5, 28, 41–42, 50, 52–53, 57, 113, Huizhou and the Hakka 87 129, 144, 183, 209, 213, 223, 228, 250, 330 Hybridity in cultural identity 131–132, 133 Chineseness in HK literature 131–136, 143 Decline of Hakka language and 53, 190, Identity (see also Hakka identity) 212 Borderless and multiple 154 Hakka architecture and 234 Christian names and 181 Hakka food and 238–240, 243 Definition 168, 170 Hakka women and 307–308 Dialect group identification and 274–275 Overseas Chinese and 144–145, 147, 149, Elasticization 154–157 163–164 Geopolitics and 116, 174 Tsung Tsin Association 185 Hakka Text in 60–77 Hong Xiuquan 23, 86n68, 287, 288 Infinitus 154 Hsu Cheng-kuang 53 Internet and the 76 Hu Wenhu (see Au Boon Haw) Over-crowded 9, 10, 193 Huang Zunxian 47, 66, 71, 124, 246, 317, Personal 11, 155 Child-daughters-in-law and 322, 325, 328 India and the Hakka 44, 53, 120, 122, 171, 176, Consul General as 47 213, 259 Diligence and 303 Indonesia 51, 101, 184, 220, 228, 278 Family wealth and 298 Chinese education and 250 Hakka language and 328, 214–215 Chineseness and 250 Hakka Research Society and 215 Hakka and the 213, 216, 220, 226, 230, 265, Hk. Nyet Kong Kong and (The Moon 302, 330 Shines) 332 Hakka Associations and 250 Huaxia and 124 Overseas Chinese and 51, 313, 333 Mountain songs collected 70–71, 329 World Hakka Conference and 185 Penang in 47 Immigration 76–115 (passim) Pawnshop and 258 Institute of Hakka Culture 51 Poetry and literature and 68, 215, 326, 328 International Hakka Studies Association Rituals for boys only and 343 50 Thrift and frugalness, and 300 Internet Women in his family and 306, 314, Communication and (see also CMC) 44, 76, Huaqiao (Chinese sojourner) 8, 14, 95, 96, 139, 166, 175, 282 109, 144–153, 196, 277, 351–352 Hakka identity and 19–20, 44, 59n42, 127, Migration pattern as a 101, 145 169, 286 Term retired as a 150, 151, 153 Transnationalism and 19, 34, 76, 188, 226, Upgrading 146, 149–150 283 Huaren 9, 142, 144, 146, 147, 149, 150–151, 353 Intermarriage 76, 137, 143, 144, 156, 174, 190, Huazu 124 209, 210, 219, 231, 286 Huiguan (associations, guilds or clubs) 11, Internal migration of the Subei people 98, 43, 56, 273–280 275 Index 529

Inter-culturalism 4, 304, 350, 358 Ethnicity and 118, 127, 159, 206 Ipoh 8, 26, 27, 36, 56, 216, 260, 265, 259, 277, Hakka clannishness and 204, 216, 280, 302, 315, 334 Hakka conservativeness and 304 Islam and Islamization 82, 83, 261 Hakka education and 245–246, 286, 297 Jamaica 40, 41, 87, 183, 198, 213 Hakka incubation period and 24, 98, 159, Hakka and 44, 54, 87, 171, 196, 213, 252, 164, 219 294–295 Hakka migration and 101, 159, 255 Hakkaness 196 Identity and 160–163 Migrant Hakka women and 308–309 Macro-regionalism and 100, 159 Japan 58, 113, 114, 115, 146, 250, 291, 293, 297 Li Qiao 58 Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) and 292 Literature (and Hakka) 58n40, 185, 214, Japanese language in Taiwan 214 326–327, 328 (see also Huang Zunxian) Japanese Occupation and 16, 58, 215, 216 Loanwords (see appropriated words) 256, Local transnational community 44 Japanization of Taiwan and 171 Localism 76 Sun Yat-sen and 123, 247, 271, 289, Luo Xianglin 23, 48, 85n67, 99, 101, 102, 216, Jiaying and the Hakka 47, 66 217, 336, 365 Jin (Dynasty) 23, 49, 98, 99, 100 Luzhutian 63, 103 Jumping off airplane tiao feiji 26, 113–114 Malaya 56, 63, 71, 79 Kejia Malayan Communist Party (MCP) 291–293 Genesis 157–164 Malaysia passim Jingshen (Hakka spirit) 6, 20, 56, 73, 74, Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif) and 75 84 Kinship system 53 BGH and (see Case Study) Kinta Valley 38, 87, 274, 281 Brain drain and 83–85, 113n98 Kongsi 88, 273–274, 296 Hakka Associations and 56, 273–280 (see Kuala Lumpur 87, 89, 98, 110, 111, 260, 302, also Huiguan) 304, 315, 340 Hakka identity and 59, 79, 172 NEP and 80, 81, 83–84, 112 Lanfong Republic 273 New villages and 58, 172–173, 292 (see Language (see also the Hakka language) Case study for the creation of these new Death 212–213, 213n186 villages) Identity link and 211 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) 82, Revitalization 228–229 83 Latin America and the Hakka 54, 78 Push-country as 79, 84–85 Lee Kuan Yew Racism and discrimination 80–83, Cristian name and his 181 84n66, 85, 95, 109, 110, 112, 144, 152, 207, Dialects and 141 344, 349 Dialect TV and radio programs and 214 UMNO 83, 172, 173 Elastic identity and 155 Malaysian Frugalness and 301 Beruas Hakka passim Hakka ancestry and his 155 Chinese (malaixiya huaren) 73, 75, 80, Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) and 134, 142 141, 214 Chinese Association (MCA) 139, 172, Leong Sow-Theng 23–24, 48, 53, 88–89, 98, Citizenship 7, 72, 90 100, 158, 160, 245, 289, 303, 336 Hakka song 72–73, 75–77 530 Index

Mandarin 3, 10, 67, 74, 76, 110, 135, 138, 142, Moon Shines The (Yueguang guang) 66, 147, 155, 183, 191, 217, 218, 223, 226, 227, 235n208, 246, 401 231, 250, 295, 299, 326 Morality Dialects replaces 1, 35, 98, 141, 184, 213, Books 68n48, 244 227–231, 249 Song 67–68, 73 Mother tongue as 140, 184, Mother tongue 10, 140, 194, 212 Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) and Definition 140n123 139–140, 152, 213–214, 231 English and 206 Manjong Hakka Association 196–197, 226 Heritage languages and 228–229 Mao Zedong 107, 133n115 Maintenance 212 Martial arts 286–287, 293, 334, 335 Mountain songs (see also shange) 41, Mauritius (and the Hakka) 54, 282, 294 327–330, 335 May 13 riot 80, 82 Cultural marker as 327–333 Mestizos and Chineseness 30, 130 Gender role and 70–71, 330 Migrant upgrading 80, 96, 113, 149, 151, 277 Huang Zunxian collected by 70 Migration 76–115 (passim) Identity text as 70–71 Africa to 78 Nostalgia and 335 Beruas and 206 Sojourning and 70–71 Chain 79 (see also chain migration) Mourning dirge 335, 338–339 China in 97 Multiculturalism 47 Cultural marker as 85–89, 205–206 Taiwan in 55, 122, 171, 183 Dehakkalization and 190, 206 Music and stories 41, 326–333 DNA testing and 100 Push-and-pull theory and 79 Natal-country 3, 20–21, 38, 80, 82, 93, 109, Migration model 78–115 111–113, 151, 199, 357 Astronauts and airplane jumpers 113–115 National Central University 55, 173 Destination Africa 106–109 National Chiao Tung University 1, 54, 55, Gansu theory – alternative model 102–105 235–236 Internal migration 13 New Economic Policy (NEP) 80, 81, 112 New Chinese migration 106–109 Failure and its 83–84 Quasi-student migration 112 New migrants (xinyimin) 146, 152 Re-emigration of Chinese-descent (huayi) New villages 58, 172–173, 292 (see Case sojourners 13, 106, 109, 111–112, 171 study for the creation of these new Re-immigration to natal-country 111–112 villages) Sojourning model 101–102 New Zealand 8, 26, 31, 80, 81, 82, 106, 112, 113, Wave model 99–101 134, 208 Re-emigration of descent of re-migrant Hk. ngai (“I”) 160–162, 303–304, 312, 330 106 Hk. ngai (take on crippling hardship) Migration patterns (by Wang Gungwu) 303–304 Coolie Pattern huagong 101 Nostalgia 9, 74, 75, 77 Descent or Re-migrant Pattern huayi 101, 252 Occupation and trade 12, 67, 70, 77, 89, 173, Sojourner Pattern huaqiao 101 205, 224, 245, 247, 273, 276, 277, 286, 347 Trader Pattern huashang 101 BGH of 261 Mixed-marriages (see also Intermarriages) Book trade 256 119, 129, 143, 144 Cane fields in Hawaii and the Caribbean Modern sojourning 13, 107, 110, 114, 151 255 Index 531

Cultural marker as 252–272 Chineseness and 129–130 Dialect occupational affinity and 173, 194, Hakka 155–156 252, 256–258, 260–261 Penang Hakka Association 56 Dulang-washer 309–311 Perak Jiaying Association 56 Geomancy 253, 337 Pinyinizing dialect names 63n46, 135, Goldmining 41, 88, 96, 175, 255, 273, 296, 181–183 303, 309, 310 Pioneering spirit and fearlessness 294–296 Leather industry 258–259 Place-affinity 41, 170, 195n169, 286 Missionary source 253–254 Population dispersal 13, 18, 86, 90–94, 111 Occupational mobility 250–251, 259–261 Poverty Pawnbrokership 257, 258 BGH families and 298 Railway construction in the USA 255 Hakka cultural marker as 296–300 Shopkeeper in Jamaica, Suriname, Language preservation and 297 West Indies and Caribbean 252–253 Proto-Hakka 98, 104, 118, 158–160, 219, 226 Thailand in 258 Push-factor 79, 82, 101 South China in 255–257 Pusing Weaving by men and women 317 Dongguan Hakka and 220–226, 281 Tin mining 39, 79, 87–88, 255, 257 Dulang-washing and 221, 309–311 Ontological Hakka 220–226, 240, 281, 293, 309–311, Anxiety 9, 11, 12, 15, 71, 72, 74, 77, 146, 168, 314, 317–319 280, 286, 356 Malayan Communist Party and 293 Pride 9 Steamed cakes Hk. kok kui and 240 Reflection 74 Women’s attire and 314, 317–319 Ordination names (langming) 62, 63, Punti (see also Bendi) 262–263 Benturen and 163–164 Hakka cultural marker as 344 Bendi versus 86, 119, 163–164 Overseas Chinese Early settlers 163, 233, 264, 285, 288 China and 92, 145 Hakka-Punti War 6, 46, 57, 120, 160, 163, Chineseness and 128–129, 133, 137–139, 284, 288–289, 294 143–144 Sam Yah Company 6, 120 Documentation 42–43 Han and 126 Qiaoxiang 111, 279 Huaqiao and huaren debate in 144–153 Nanyang and 145 Racial discrimination in Malaysia 80–83, Studies 56–58 84n66, 85, 95, 109, 110, 112, 144, 152, 207, Translation and 150 344, 349 Regional Hakka Culture Series 51, 54 Panama and the Hakka 41, 54, 134, 178, 226 Religious beliefs Paper family 113 Beruas in 269–272 Pawnbrokership 36, 40, 173, 256–260, 298 BGH of 272 Pearl River Delta 61, 244, 247, 288, 289 Calling the soul of 271–272 Penang 48, 110, 216, 268, 267, 276, 280–281, Christianity and 263–266 334–335 Datuk Gong or the Datuk Keramat of Balik Pulau and 179–180, 257, 264 267 Hakka and 54, 56, 79, 98, 216, 205 Festivals and jiao in 261 Hakka Cultural Village 235–237 Folk religion and 261, 267 Peranakan 127, 129, 136, 156, 284 Guandi and 268–269 (see also Baba) Guanyin festival and 263, 270 532 Index

Religious beliefs (cont.) Lee Kuan Yew and 141, 155, 181, 214 Names of god and deities worshipped and Mainland Chinese migration and 143–144 262, 269 Mandarin as mother tongue and 152, Ordination name in 263 212–213 Priests (lam mor lau) and 271, 339 Nanyang Khek Community Guild Choir 74 Shamanism and 266 Occupational affinity of the Chinese and Shenism and 261 256–258 Spirit-mediumship and trancing and Peranakan and 33 266–267, 325 Singaporean identity and 139, 156, 214 Taiping Revolution and 263 Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) 139– Thai Pak Kung or Tai Pak Kung and 56, 141, 213–214, 231 268 Sinoi (see Reunion) Republican Revolution 289–291 Society for the Investigation of the Origin of Reunion Island and the Hakka 130, 269, 272 the Hakka People 126 Sinoi and the 130, 272 Sojourning Reverse-huayi sojourning model 109–111 Africa in 107, 153 Re-emigration 13, 77, 80, 106, 171, 178, 252 China in 109 Rice Christians 265, 295 English translation and 92, 95–96 Rituals for boys only Gender roles and 30, 70–71, 86, 89, 281, Hakka cultural marker as 341–344 287, 297, 307–308, 337 Lighting of lamp and 341–342 Historical sojourners and 108–109, Protecting boys from evil and 342–344 145–146, 148–149, 152, 172, 177, 225, 247, Romanizing dialect names 135, 180, 181–183 256, 272, 352 Huiguan and 273–277 Sabah and the Hakka 76–77, 87, 264, 184, Models 101–102 251, 259, 264, 295, 330–331 Modern sojourners and 13, 107, 109, 110, Sarawak and the Hakka 30, 59, 175, 265, 292 113–115, 151–153, 352 Secondary burial 175, 335–338 Reverse-huayi sojourners and 109–112 Shamanism 266 Song (Dynasty) 23, 61, 63, 98, 99, 124 Shandong 100, 102, 105, 167, 332 South America and the Hakka 59 Shange 66, 67, 70, 327–328, 330, 333 Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) 139–140, (see also Mountain songs) 213–214, 231 She 118, 159, 165 Spirit-mediumship and trancing 266–267, Shenzhen 57, 76, 97, 98, 210 325 Shung Him Tong and the Hakka 265 Spiritual transnationalism 18 Sibao book trade 68, 69–70, 215, 247, 256, Stereotyped Hakka images 58, 169–170, 204, 326 241, 296, 299, 312 Sichuanand the Hakka 52, 98, 160, 174, 177, Straits Settlements 47, 136, 256, 264 192, 254, 290n272, 302, 306 Steppes 49, 100 Singapore Sun Yat-sen 23, 123, 289–290 (see also Chineseness 131, 133–135, 138–139, 142 Tongmenghui) Dialect revival and 141 Suriname and the Hakka 40, 41, 87, 177–178, Englishlization and 214 226, 252, 295 Fake Chinese and 142–143 Hakka and 24, 27, 28, 40, 43, 52, 54–55, 57, Tahiti and the Hakka 87, 195, 221n185, 283, 88, 210, 265 321 Han and 126, 133 Taiping (the town) 28 Lee Hsien Loong and 156 Taiping Revolution 23, 158, 288, 289, 295, Index 533

Christianity and 86n68, 263, 264 Trinidad and the Hakka 54 Footbinding and 316 Tsung Tsin Associations 6, 185, 186, 195, 275, Women’s Regiment and 287 334 Taiwan 5, 24, 30, 43, 44, 51, 82 Tulou (see earthen buildings) Academy 132 Chineseness and 128, 131–133 Unbound feet of Hakka women 23, 70, 306, Hakka Affairs Council 59, 109 310, 315–316, 321, 325 Hakka activism and 228 United Hakka Association 48, 126 Heritage Language Program 228–229 UK/ United Kingdom 8, 31, 82, 112, 113, 114, Taiwanese 134, 135, 146 Aborigines 58, 62, USA/ United States of America 31, 37, 47, Hakka and politics 183 50, 80, 96, 97, 134, 250, 255, 363 Hakka identity 171–172 (see also America) Multiculturalism 55, 122, 171, 183 Receiving country as 82, 102, 112, 113, 171 Society 30, 53 Uxorilocal marriage 324 Tan Chee Beng 57, 127, 206, 211, 261, 270n251 Tangren (People of Tang) 9, 126, 133, 147, 151 Wave theories of migration 99–101 Tanning and leather industries 118, 259, 255, Wang Gungwu 257, 258, 309 Assimilation of Chinese in Thailand on Teochew 86, 119, 140, 141, 156, 166, 173, 209, 151 245, 257, 258, 276, 278, 283, 285, 299, Chinese ‘historical identity’ on 129 313 Chinese migration patterns on 99, 101, Thailand 34, 37, 136, 146, 151, 228, 250, 106, 111, 196, 346 Hakka and 38, 213, 258–259, 295, Chinese-Malay relationship on 80 298–299, 302, 313 Chineseness of China on 128 Thrift and Frugalness Chineseness of English-educated on 138 Hakka cultural marker as 300–303 Chineseness of overseas Chinese on 133 Han Suyin’s family in 300, 302 Demise of the term huaqiao on 152 Huang Zunxian’s family in 300 Documentations of overseas Chinese on Lee Kuan Yew’s family in 301 42 Tin-mining 7, 38, 39, 70, 79, 87–88, 120, 221, Hakka on 58, 85, 294 248, 249, 255, 257, 274, 277, 281, 293, 296, Huaqiao (Chinese sojourners) on 297, 309–311, 314, 334 145–146 Ting River 75 Mandarin as mother tongue in Singapore Titi, Jelebu and the Hakka 79, 87, 248, 281 on 140 Tongmenghui (Chinese Alliance) 289 Memories and expressive desires as Tonkin Gulf and the Hakka 159, 161 documents on 31 Toronto Migrant upgrading process on 80, Hakka and 44, 183, 196, 232 149–150 Hakka Conference 11, 15, 185–188, 280, The term Overseas Chinese on 147 286 Overseas Chinese studies on 56–57 Traditional Hakka identity 8, 25, 31, 192, 201, Objection to the use of ‘diaspora’ for 206 Chinese migration on 92 Traditional Hakka Society Series 29, 45, 50 Theories of migration on 95 Transmigration 90, 93 (see also Tracking migrant cycles thru’ ‘memories Transnationalism) and desire’ on 101 Transnational ‘local’ communities 19 Types of schools in overseas communities Transnationalism (passim) on 250 534 Index

West Indies and the Hakka 40n23, 54, Unsung Hakka women and 313–314 133177, 252, Unbound feet and 23, 70, 306, 310, West Kalimantan and the Hakka 41, 136, 315–316, 321, 325 255 Uxorilocal marriage and 324 Wolcott Affair 48, 126, 168 Women’s Regiment in the Taiping Women Revolution 287 Capacity for hard work and 307–309, 312, Words appropriation 72, 220–224 314 World Hakka Conference 11, 15, 75, 185–186, Child-daughters-in-law as 321–326 188 Clothing and accessories and 316–321 Identity maintenance for 185 Crossing the blood basin and 340–341 Globalization of Hakka and 186 Dulang-washer and 309–311 Wuwei 60n44, 61, 102–105 Education and 313, 314–315 (see also clan emblem) Fertility and 311–312 Footbinding and 306, 315–316 XYZ-ness 201, 356 Hakka cultural marker as 305–326 Xiongnu 105n86+n87, 167 Han Suyin and 306–307 Xuehaitang (Sea of Learning Academy) 247 Huang Zunxian’s family in 305 Mountain song and 70–71 Yellow Emperor 61 Mourning dirge and 338–340 Yen Ching-hwang 57, 146, 273, 295 Rubber-tapping and 3, 11, 314 Yongding 79, 87, 248, 324 Sojourning men and 307–309 Tulou 10, 193, 232, 234 Tanning industry and 309 Yu Tian Long 75, 175, 333, 335