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Hakka
客家話 / 客家话
Hak-kâ-fa/Hak-kâ-va (Hakka/Kejia) written in Chinese characters
Spoken in	Mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan (due to presence of Taiwanese community in Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan Area), Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Mauritius, Suriname, South Africa, India and other countries where Hakka Chinese migrants have settled.
Region	in China: Eastern Guangdong province; adjoining regions of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces
Ethnicity	Hakka people (Han Chinese)
Native speakers	30.0 million  (1984) (no recent data available)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Gan–Hakka Hakka
Writing system	hanzi, romanization[1]
Official status
Official language in	none (legislative bills have been proposed for it to be one of the 'national languages' in the Republic of China); one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the ROC [2]; ROC government sponsors Hakka-language television station to preserve language
Regulated by	The Guangdong Provincial Education Department created an official romanisation of Meixian Hakka dialect in 1960, one of four languages receiving this status in Guangdong. It is called Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an.
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hak
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Hakka is one of the major Chinese subdivisions or varieties and is spoken natively by the Hakka people in southern China and the island of Taiwan and throughout the diaspora areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia and around the world.

Due to its original usage in scattered isolated regions where communication is limited to the local area, the Hakka language has developed numerous variants or dialects, spoken in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou provinces, including Hainan island, Singapore and Taiwan. Hakka is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Wu, Minnan, or other branches of Chinese. It is most closely related to Gan, and is sometimes classified as a variety of Gan.^[2]

Taiwan, where Hakka language is the mother tongue of a significant minority of the island's residents, is an important world center for study of the language. Pronunciation differences exist between the Taiwanese Hakka dialect and China's Guangdong Hakka dialect, and even in Taiwan two local varieties of Hakka exist within that dialect.

The Moi-yen/Moi-yan (梅縣, Pinyin: Méixiàn) dialect of northeast Guangdong in China has of course been taken as the "standard" dialect by the Chinese government. The Guangdong Provincial Education Department created an official romanization of Moiyen in 1960, one of four languages receiving this status in Guangdong.

Etymology[link]

The name of the Hakka people who are the predominant original native speakers of the language literally means "guest families" or "guest people": Hak 客 (Mandarin: kè) means "guest", and ka 家 (Mandarin: jiā) means "family". Amongst themselves, Hakka people variously called their language Hak-ka-fa (-va) 客家話, Hak-fa (-va), 客話, Tu-gong-dung-fa (-va) 土廣東話, literally, "Native Guangdong language," and Ngai-fa (-va) 話, "My/our language".

History[link]

Early history[link]

The Hakka people have their origins in several episodes of migration from northern China into southern China during periods of war and civil unrest.^[3] The forebears of the Hakka came from present-day Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and brought with them features of Chinese languages spoken in those areas during that time. (Since then the speech in those regions has evolved into dialects of modern Mandarin.) Hakka is quite conservative, and is generally closer to Middle Chinese than other modern Chinese languages.^[4] The presence of many archaic features occur in modern Hakka, including final consonants -p -t -k, as are found in other modern southern Chinese languages, but which have been lost in Mandarin. The difference between Hakka and the better-known Cantonese may be compared to that between Portuguese and Spanish, whereas Mandarin might be compared to French – more distantly related, and with a quite different phonology.

Due to the migration of its speakers, the Hakka language may have been influenced by other language areas through which the Hakka-speaking forebears migrated. For instance, common vocabulary are found in Hakka, Min, and She (Hmong–Mien) languages.

Some people consider Hakka to have mixed with other languages, such as the language of the She people, throughout its development.

Linguistic development[link]

A regular pattern of sound change can generally be detected in Hakka, as in most Chinese languages, of the derivation of phonemes from earlier forms of Chinese. Some examples:

• Characters such as 武 (war, martial arts) or 屋 (room, house), pronounced roughly mwio and uk in Early Middle Chinese, have an initial v phoneme in Hakka, being vu and vuk in Hakka respectively (Mandarin: wu).
• The initial phonemes of the characters 人 and 日, among others, are a ng consonant in Hakka (人:ngin, 日:ngit), and have a corresponding reading in Mandarin as an initial r- consonant.
• The initial consonant phoneme exhibited by the character 話 (word, speech; Mandarin hua) is pronounced f or v in Hakka (v does not properly exist as a distinct unit in many Chinese languages).
• The initial consonant of 學 hɔk usually corresponds with a h [h] approximant in Hakka and a voiceless alveo-palatal fricative (x [ɕ]) or velar fricative (h [x]) in Mandarin^{[citation needed]}.

Phonology[link]

Dialects[link]

The Hakka language has as many regional dialects as there are counties with Hakka speakers in the majority. Some of these Hakka dialects are not mutually intelligible. Surrounding Meixian are the counties of Pingyuan 平遠 (Hakka: Pin Yen), Dabu 大埔 (Hakka: Tai Pu), Jiaoling 蕉嶺 (Hakka: Jiao Liang), Xingning 興寧 (Hakka: Hin Nen), Wuhua 五華 (Hakka: Ng Fah), and Fengshun 豐順 (Hakka: Foong Soon). Each is said to have its own special phonological points of interest. For instance, the Xingning does not have rimes ending in [-m] or [-p]. These have merged into [-n] and [-t] ending rimes, respectively. Further away from Meixian, the Hong Kong dialect lacks the [-u-] medial, so whereas Moiyen pronounces the character 光 as [kwɔŋ˦], Hong Kong Hakka dialect pronounces it as [kɔŋ˧], which is similar to the Hakka spoken in neighbouring Shenzhen.

As much as endings and vowels are important, the tones also vary across the dialects of Hakka. The majority of Hakka dialects have six tones. However, there are dialects which have lost all of their Ru Sheng tones, and the characters originally of this tone class are distributed across the non-Ru tones. Such a dialect is Changting 長汀 which is situated in the Western Fujian province. Moreover, there is evidence of the retention of an earlier Hakka tone system in the dialects of Haifeng 海 豐 and Lufeng 陸 豐 situated on coastal south eastern Guangdong province. They contain a yin-yang splitting in the Qu tone, giving rise to seven tones in all (with yin-yang registers in Ping and Ru tones and a Shang tone).

In Taiwan, there are two main dialects: Sixian (Hakka: Siyen 四縣) and Haifeng (Hakka: Hoi Foong 海豐), alternatively known as Hailu (Hakka: Hoiluk 海陸). Hakka dialect speakers found on Taiwan originated from these two regions. Sixian (Hakka: Siyen 四縣) speakers come from Jiaying 嘉應 and surrounding Jiaoling, Pingyuan, Xingning, and Wuhua. Jiaying county later changed its name to Meixian. The Hoiliuk dialect contains postalveolar consonants ([ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ], etc.), which are uncommon in other southern Chinese languages. Wuhua, Dabu, and Xingning dialects have two sets of fricatives and affricates.

Ethnologue reports the dialects as Yue-Tai (Meixian, Raoping, Taiwan Kejia: Meizhou above), Yuezhong (Central Guangdong), Huizhou, Yuebei (Northern Guangdong), Tingzhou (Min-Ke), Ning-Long (Longnan), Yugui, Tonggu.

Vocabulary[link]

Like other southern Chinese languages, Hakka retains single syllable words from earlier stages of Chinese; thus it can differentiate a large number of working syllables by tone and rime. This reduces the need for compounding or making words of more than one syllable. However, it is also similar to other Chinese languages in having words which are made from more than one syllable.

Hakka prefers the verb [kɔŋ˧˩] 講 when referring to speaking rather than the Mandarin shuō 說 (Hakka [sɔt˩]).

Hakka uses [sit˥] 食, like Cantonese [sɪk˨] for the verb "to eat" and 飲 [jɐm˧˥] (Hakka [jim˧˩]) for "to drink", unlike Mandarin which prefers chī 吃 (Hakka [kʰiɛt˩]) as "to eat" and hē 喝 (Hakka [hɔt˩]) as "to drink" where the meanings in Hakka are different, to stutter and to be thirsty respectively.

Writing systems[link]

Various dialects of Hakka have been written in a number of Latin orthographies, largely for religious purposes, since at least the mid-19th century.

Currently the single largest work in Hakka is the New Testament and Psalms (1993, 1138 pp., see The Bible in Chinese: Hakka), although that is expected to be surpassed soon by the publication of the Old Testament. These works render Hakka in both romanization (pha̍k-fa-sṳ) and Han characters (including ones unique to Hakka) and are based on the dialects of Taiwanese Hakka speakers. The work of Biblical translation is being performed by missionaries of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

The popular The Little Prince has also been translated into Hakka (2000), specifically the Miaoli dialect of Taiwan (itself a variant of the Sixian dialect). This also was dual-script, albeit using the Tongyong Pinyin scheme.

See also[link]

	China portal
	Languages portal

• Varieties of Chinese

Further Reading[link]

• Mantaro J. Hashimoto (2010). The Hakka Dialect: A Linguistic Study of Its Phonology, Syntax and Lexicon. Volume 5 of Princeton/Cambridge Studies in Chinese Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 612. ISBN 0-521-13367-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=6MkgQ86JWCYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 1st of March, 2012. 
• Simon Hartwich Schaank (1897) (in Dutch). Het Loeh-foeng-dialect. BOEKHANDEL EN DRUKKERIJ VOORHEEN E. J. BRILL LEIDEN: E.J. Brill. pp. 226. http://books.google.com/books?id=VC4OAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 1st of March, 2012. ()</ref>

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Notations[link]

• Branner, David Prager (2000). Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology – the Classification of Miin and Hakka. Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-015831-1. http://books.google.com/?id=7BLQcXUht2sC. 

External links[link]

Hakka edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Hakka text-to-speech
• Hakka People Online
• Classification of Hakka Dialects
• Aspects of Meixian/Moiyen Dialect of Hakka Phonology
• Information about Hakka
• Video with basic hakka sentences as used by the East Timorese Chinese
• Chinese to Hakka Character Converter

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The Hakka (Hakka: Hak-kâ; Chinese: 客家; pinyin: Kèjiā), sometimes Hakka Han,^[1][3] are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China.

The Chinese characters for Hakka (客家) literally means "guest families".^[4] The Hakka's ancestors were often said to have arrived from what is today's central China centuries ago.^[5] In a series of migrations, the Hakkas moved, settled in their present locations in southern China, and then often migrated overseas to various countries throughout the world.^[6] The worldwide population of Hakkas is about 80 million, though the number of Hakka-language speakers is fewer.^[2] Hakka people have had a significant influence on the course of Chinese and world history: in particular, they have been a source of many revolutionary, government, and military leaders.

Origins, migrations and group identification[link]

Hakka distribution in China

It is commonly held that the Hakka are a subgroup of the Han Chinese that originated in northern China.^[7][8] To trace their origins, three accepted theories so far have been brought forth among anthropologists, linguists, and historians:^[9] firstly, the Hakka are Han Chinese originating solely from the Central Plain in China containing today's Shanxi and Henan provinces;^[9] secondly, the Hakka are Han Chinese from the Central Plain, with some inflow of those already in the south;^[9] or thirdly, the majority of the Hakka are Han Chinese from the south, with portions coming from those in the north.^[9] The latter two are the most likely and are together supported by multiple scientific studies.^[8][9] Clyde Kiang stated that the Hakka's origins may also be linked with the Han's ancient neighbors, the Dongyi and Xiongnu people (a.k.a. Huns),^[10] who later had a considerable and sometimes dominating presence in parts of northern China from the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220) period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589 AD),^{[11][page needed]}, and eventually merged and assimilated within the general Han populace.^{[citation needed]} This is disputed, however, by many scholars and Kiang's theories are considered controversial.^[12] It is known that the earliest major waves of Hakka migration began due to the attacks of the two afore-mentioned tribes during the Jin Dynasty (265–420).^[13]

Since the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC), the ancestors of the Hakka have migrated southwards several times because of social unrest, upheaval and invasions.^[14] Subsequent migrations also occurred at the end of the Tang Dynasty in the 10th century and during the end of the Northern Song Dynasty in 1125, the last of which saw a massive flood of refugees fleeing southward when the Jurchens captured the northern Song capital of Bianliang. A further southward migration may have continued^{[original research?]}, as the Mongols defeated the Jurchen Jin Dynasty and proceeded to take down the Southern Song, establishing the Yuan Dynasty in 1271. The precise movements of the Hakka people remain unclear during the 14th century when the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan and subsequently fell to the Manchus who formed the Qing Dynasty in 17th century. Hakka have suffered persecution and discrimination ever since they started migrating to southern parts of China.

During the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi (1654–1722), the coastal regions were evacuated by imperial edict for almost a decade, due to the dangers posed by the remnants of the Ming court who had fled to the island of Taiwan. When the threat was eliminated, the Kangxi Emperor issued an edict to re-populate the coastal regions. To aid the move, each family was given monetary incentives to begin their new lives; newcomers were registered as "Guest Families" (客戶, kèhù).

Punti[link]

The existing Cantonese speaking inhabitants (Punti or 本地, "original land") of these areas were protective of their own more fertile lands, and the newcomers were pushed to the outer fringes of fertile plains, despite having migrated legitimately, or they settled in more mountainous regions to eke out a living. Conflict between the two groups grew and it is thought that "Hakka" became a term of derision used by the Punti aimed at the newcomers. Eventually, the tension between the two groups (the Hakkas had by then been settled for several hundred years and could not be regarded as migrants in any sense) would lead to a series of 19th century skirmishes in the Pearl River Delta known as the Punti–Hakka Clan Wars (土客械鬥). The problem was not that the two groups spoke a different tongue. In fact, the "locals" comprised different peoples speaking several mutually unintelligible tongues, as was typical of the Chinese countryside all over southern China, but they would regard each other as "locals" or Puntis, but exclude the Hakka from such designation.

The term "Punti" is not synonymous with "Cantonese", as a Cantonese in any other part of China, Beijing for example, would not be able to call himself a "Punti", as the Punti of that area would be the Beijing or Hebei people.

The term "Punti" is a Hakka word given to the Cantonese by the Hakka people. Speakers of Cantonese pronounce the Hakka word "Punti" as boon-day.

Over time, the newcomers adopted the term "Hakka" to refer to themselves, not least due to the migratory tendencies inherent in their own culture. However, because the term also covers Hakka language-speakers, (in the same way that Punti covered several people speaking different tongues) and because the Han Chinese registered as Guest Families who migrated may not have been Hakka language-speakers, and because of intermarriages among Hakka and Punti members (which showed that relation between the two were very good at times), identification as Hakka was largely a matter of self-selection. Through studies of both Cantonese and Hakka genealogies, some Hakka and Punti people with the same surnames claim the same ancestors, although their descendants strongly identify with one group to the exclusion of the other.

Other locations[link]

The Hakka ancestors are thus but one group of many who migrated southwards, becoming linguistically marked by differences yet unified through cultural assonances. As of 2010^[update] Hakka people live in the southern Chinese provinces, chiefly in Guangdong, south-western Fujian, southern Jiangxi, southern Hunan, Guangxi, southern Guizhou, south-eastern Sichuan, and on Hainan and Taiwan islands, where there are television news-broadcasts in the Hakka language. The Hakka dialects across these various provinces differ phonologically, but the Meixian (Meizhou) dialect of Hakka is considered^{[by whom?]} the archetypal spoken form of the language. Migratory patterns have been established for some groups, for example in Taiwan, northern and southern migrations from corresponding provinces in China.

Identity[link]

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

According to the 2009 studies published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Hakka genes are slightly tilted towards northern Han people compared with other southern Han people.^[15] Nevertheless, the study has also shown a strong common genetic relationship between all Han Chinese with only a small difference of 0.3%.^[15]

Lingnan Hakka place names indicate a long history of the Hakka being culturally Han Chinese.^[16][17]

Social and cultural influences[link]

Tianluokeng Tulou cluster. Hukeng Town, Yongding County, Fujian

Due to their agrarian lifestyle, Hakka have a unique architecture based on defense and communal living (see Hakka architecture), and a hearty savory cuisine based on an equal balance between texturised meat and vegetables, and fresh vegetables (see Hakka cuisine).

When Hakka expanded into areas with pre-existing populations, there was often little agricultural land left for them to farm. As a result, many Hakka men turned towards careers in the military or in public service. Consequently, the Hakka culturally emphasized education.

Hakka people built several types of Tulou and fortified villages in the southwestern Fujian and adjacent areas of Jiangxi and Guangdong. A representative sample of Fujian Tulou (consisting of 10 buildings or building groups) in Fujian were inscribed in 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[18]

Historically, Hakka women did not bind their feet when the practice was commonplace in China.^[19]

Martial arts[link]

The Hakka community is also a source for a variety of martial arts. Those systems in general are referred to as Hakka Kuen (Hakka Fist); Southern Praying Mantis, Bak Mei and Dragon Kung Fu are examples of styles practiced by Hakka.

Religion[link]

Typical traditional hillside tombs. Hukeng Town, Yongding County, Fujian

The religious practices of Hakka people are almost identical to those of other Han Chinese. Ancestor veneration is the primary form of religious expression.^[20]

Hakka in China[link]

Meizhou Prefecture (in yellow) in Guangdong Province, where Xingning and Meixian are located

In Guangdong[link]

Hakka who live in Guangdong comprise about 60% of the total Hakka population. Worldwide, over 95% of the overseas-descended Hakka came from this Guangdong region, usually from Meizhou and Heyuan: Hakka there live mostly in the northeast part of the province, particularly in the so-called Xing-Mei (Xingning-Meixian) area. Jiangxi contains the second largest Hakka community. Unlike their kin in Fujian, Hakka in the Xingning and Meixian area developed a non-fortress-like unique architectural style, most notably the weilongwu (Chinese: 圍龍屋, wéilóngwū or Hakka: Wui Lung Wuk) and sijiaolou (Chinese: 四角樓, sìjǐaolóu or Hakka: Si Kok Liu).

In Fujian[link]

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

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

In Jiangxi[link]

Nearly all of southern Jiangxi province is Hakka, especially in Ganzhou. In the Song Dynasty, a large number of Han Chinese migrated to the delta area as the Court moved southward because invasion of northern minority. They lived in Jiangxi and intermixed with the She and Yao minorities. Ganzhou was the place that the Hakka have settled before migrating to western Fujian and eastern Guangdong. During the early Qing Dynasty, a massive depopulation in Gannan due to the ravage of pestilence and war. However, while western Fujian and eastern Guangdong suffered population explosion at that time. Some edicts were issued to block the coastal areas, ordering coastal residents to move to the inland. The population pressure and the sharp contradiction of the land redistribution drove a few residents to leave. Some of them moved back to Gannan, integrating with other Hakka people who lived there already for generations. Thus, the modern Gannan Hakka community was finally formed.^[21]

In Sichuan[link]

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

In Henan[link]

As with those in Sichuan, many Hakka emigrated to Xinyang prefecture (in southern Henan province), where Li Zicheng carried out a massacre in Guangzhou (now in Huangchuan) on Jan. 17th, 1636.^[22]

In Hong Kong[link]

During the late Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong was in the imperial district of Xin-An (Now Shenzhen) County.^[23] The 1819 gazetteer lists 570 Punti and 270 Hakka contemporary settlements in the whole district.^[24] However, the area covered by Xin-An county is greater than what was to become the British imperial enclave of Hong Kong by 1899. Although there had been settlers originating from the mainland proper even before the Tang Dynasty, historical records of those people are non-extant, only evidence of settlement from archaeological sources can be found.^[25] The New Territories lowland areas had been settled originally by several clan lineages in Kam Tin, Sheung Shui, FanLing, Yuen Long, Lin Ma Hang and Taipo, and hence termed the Punti before the arrival of the Hakka, and fishing families of the Tanka and Hoklo groups to the area.^[26] Since the prime farming land had already been farmed, the Hakka land dwellers settled in the less accessible and more hilly areas. Hakka settlements can be found widely distributed around the Punti areas, but in smaller communities. Many are found on coastal areas in inlets and bays surrounded by hills.

Hakka dialect speaking communities are thought to have arrived in the Hong Kong area after the rescinding of the coastal evacuation order in 1688.,^[27] such as the Hakka speaking Lee clan lineage of Wo Hang, one of whose ancestors is recorded as arriving in the area in 1688.

As the strong Punti lineages dominated most of the north western New Territories, Hakka communities began to organise local alliances of lineage communities such as the Sha Tau Kok Alliance of Ten or Shap Yeuk as Patrick Hase writes.^[28] Hakka villages from Wo Hang to the west and YanTian to the east of Sha Tau Kok came to use it as a local market town and it became the center of Hakka dominance. Further, the Shap Yeuk's land reclamation project transforming marshland to arable farmland with the creation of dykes and levees to prevent storm flooding during the early 19th century shows an example of how local cooperation and the growing affluence of the landed lineages in the Alliance of Ten provided the strong cultural, socioeconomic Hakka influence on the area.

Farming and cultivation has been the traditional occupations of Hakka families from imperial times up until the 1970s. Farming was mostly done by Hakka women while their menfolk sought labouring jobs in the towns and cities. Many men entered indentured labour abroad as was common from the end of the 19th century to Second World War. Post war, males took the opportunity to seek work in Britain and other countries later to send for their families to join them once they sent enough money back to cover travel costs.

As post war education became available to all children in Hong Kong, a new educated class of Hakka became more mobile in their careers. Many moved to the government planned new towns which sprung up from the 1960s. The rural Hakka population began to decline as people moved abroad, and away to work in the urban areas. By the end of the 1970s, agriculture was firmly in the decline in Hakka villages.^[29] Today, there are still Hakka villages around Hong Kong, but being remote, many of their inhabitants have moved to the post war new towns like Sheung Shui, Tai Po, Sha tin and further afield.

Cuisine[link]

The Hakka people have a marked cuisine and style of Chinese cooking which is little known outside the Hakka home. Hakka cuisine concentrates on the texture of food – the hallmark of Hakka cuisine. Whereas preserved meats feature in Hakka delicacy, stewed, braised, roast meats – 'texturized' contributions to the Hakka palate – have a central place in their repertoire. In fact, the raw materials for Hakka food are no different from raw materials for any other type of regional Chinese cuisine: what you cook depends on what is available in the market. Hakka cuisine may be described as outwardly simple but tasty. The skill in Hakka cuisine lies in the ability to cook meat thoroughly without hardening it, and to naturally bring out the proteinous flavour (umami taste) of meat.

The Hakka who settled in the harbour and port areas of Hong Kong placed great emphasis on seafood cuisine. Hakka cuisine in Hong Kong is less dominated by expensive meats; instead, emphasis is placed on an abundance of vegetables. Pragmatic and simple, Hakka cuisine is garnished lightly with sparse or little flavouring. Modern Hakka cooking in Hong Kong favours offal, an example being Deep-Fried Intestines (炸大腸 or Zha Da Chang). Others include tofu with preservatives, along with their signature dish Salt Baked Chicken (鹽焗雞 or Yam Guk Gai). Another specialty is the Poon Choi (盆菜).^[30] While it may be difficult to prove these were the actual diets of the old Hakka community, it is presently a commonly accepted view. The above dishes and their variations are in fact found and consumed throughout China including Guangdong, and are not particularly unique or confined to the Hakka Chinese population.

Modern society[link]

The Hakka's modern societal structure and experience includes far more diverse and complex global elements than the Hong Kong landscape, where only a small fraction of the Hakka reside or have transitioned through.

Preservation[link]

In the latter half of the 20th century, a stronger emphasis has been placed on Hakka preservation through folk art and customs. A Hakka language dictionary has also been completed auspiciously in 1997 by Dr. C.F. Lau [ISBN Reference: ISBN 962-201-750-9], a devoted contributor to the preservation of the Hakka language in Hong Kong.

Hakka worldwide[link]

The Hakka have emigrated to many regions worldwide, notably Suriname, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma.

Hakka people also emigrated to Australia, Brunei, Canada, the United States, and to many countries in Europe, including Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Hakka people also are found in South Africa and Mauritius, on the islands of the Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago), and in Central and South America, particularly in Panama and Brazil. Most expatriate Hakka in Great Britain have ties to Hong Kong; many emigrated when Hong Kong still was a British colony during a period coinciding with the Cultural Revolution of China and economic depression in Hong Kong. There was once a sizable Hakka community in Calcutta, but most have migrated to Canada, the United States, Australia, Taiwan or Austria. In Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, Hakka people are sometimes known as Khek, the Hokkien (Minnan) pronunciation of the Hak in Hakka.

Hakkas in Indonesia[link]

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

Bangka Belitung[link]

Hakka also live in Indonesia's largest tin producer islands of Bangka Belitung province.^[31] They are the second majority ethnic group after Malay at about 330,000.^[32] The Hakka population in the province is also the second largest in Indonesia after West Kalimantan's and one of the highest percentages of Chinese living in Indonesia.

The first ancestors of Hakka in Bangka and Belitung reached the islands in the 18th century from Guangdong. Many of them worked as tin mining labourers. Since then, they have remained on the island along with the native Malay. Their situation was much different from those of Chinese and native populations of other regions, where legal cultural conflicts were prevalent since the 1960s until 1999, by which Indonesian Chinese had finally regained their cultural freedoms. Here they lived together peacefully and still practiced their customs and cultural festivals, such as in celebrating the Chinese New Year and Qingming, while in other regions they were strictly banned by government legislation prior to 1999.^[33] The majority religions of Chinese Babel are Confucianism and Buddhism, with a significant number who are Christian. A small number are of confessed Islam as some have married Malays.

Hakka on the island of Bangka have an unusual accent, said to be heavily influenced by Malay, especially in younger generations. The younger generations speak much more Malay than the older Hakka. As Chinese languages employ tones to distinguish different words, differences in tone can change a word's meaning entirely; the Hakka dialect spoken by the islanders has such a different tonal system that their spoken language is hardly intelligible to Hakka of other regions. However, they still refer to themselves as Thong ngin as do the younger people, and speak Thong boi. Hakka ngin words are unpopular, as well as Hakkafa. The Hakka spoken in the Muntok area in Bangka is considered to be standard. Many Hakka in the province have moved outside the islands, especially to Jakarta. There are more than 30,000 - 50,000 Chinese Babel in Jakarta who speak both Malay and Thong boi. Younger generations living outside Babel will always gladly admit their hometown Babel.

Today increasing numbers of Thong Ngin parents from Bangka Belitung proudly send their children to mainland China to especially seek higher study at colleges and universities in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Wuhan, Shanghai up to Beijing, majoring in various subjects like Chinese language, art and culture, engineering, medicine, etc.

There is also a large Chinese population from Bangka and Belitung who live abroad, such as in China and Hongkong. They are proud to be Chinese Bangka Belitung, so they regularly return home once or twice a year to celebrate Chinese New Year, or to pay their respects at Qingming.^[34][35]

Pontianak[link]

Hakka people in Pontianak live alongside with teochew speaking Chinese. Whilst the teochews are dominant in the centre of Pontianak, the Hakka are more dominant in small towns along the Kapuas River in the regencies of Sanggau, Sekadau and Sintang. Their Hakka dialect is originally of Mei Xien (Hakka: MoiYan) standard but heavily influenced by the teochew dialect and vocabulary from the local Malay and Dayak tribes.

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

Singkawang[link]

The Hakka in Singkawang and the surrounding regencies of Sambas, Bengkayang, Ketapang and Landak speak a different standard of Hakka dialect to the Hakkas along the Kapuas River. Their place of origin in China is tai phu (Dabu 大埔), a district in Mei Xien. also Fuk Luk Hoi which means winds of the six seas.

Jakarta[link]

Hakka can still be heard in some commercial districts in Jakarta. Their numbers increase with internal migrations from the three regions mentioned above.

In East Timor[link]

There was a relatively large and vibrant Hakka community in East Timor before the Indonesian invasion in 1975. According to the local Chinese Timorese association's estimation, the Hakka population in 1975 was estimated to be around 25,000 (including a small minority of other Chinese ethnicity from Macau). During the invasion, many Hakka were killed. According to a book source, it was estimated that about 700 Hakka were killed on the first week of invasion in Dili alone. No clear numbers had been recorded since many Hakka evacuated and escaped to Australia. Recent re-establishment of Hakka associations registered approximately about 2,400 Hakkas remaining (400 families, including part Timorese families) in East Timor.

Now Hakka diaspora can be found in Darwin and spread-out in major cities such as Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne of Australia, Portugal, Macau and small numbers in other parts of the world. They often are highly educated, and many continue their education in Taiwan or China, while a majority of the younger generation study in Australia. The Australian government took some years to assess their claims to political asylum in order to establish their credentials as genuine refugees and not illegal immigrants, as partially related to the political situation in East Timor during that time. As no Asian country was willing to accept them as residents, nor to grant political asylum to displaced Hakka and other Timorese, they were forced to live as stateless persons for a time. Despite this condition, many Hakka had become successful, and established restaurant chains, shops, supermarkets, and import operations in Australia. Since the independence of East Timor in 2000, some Hakka families had returned and invested in businesses in the newborn nation.

In Malaysia[link]

Hakka form the second largest subgroup of the ethnic Chinese population of Malaysia. During this time, Chung Keng Quee, Capitan China of Perak and Penang was founder of Taiping, leader of the Hai San, a millionaire philanthropist, an innovator in the mining of tin and was respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement. A well known Hakka man was Yap Ah Loy, a Kapitan in Kuala Lumpur from 1868 to 1885, where he brought significant economic contributions, founded Kuala Lumpur and also was an influential figure among the ethnic Chinese. There are also less significant numbers of Hakka people in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, particularly in the town of Miri where there is a notable population of Hakka people who speak the 'Ho Poh' variant of Hakka. In the district of Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Hakka people make up more than 90% of the Chinese subgroup and the dialect itself acts as a lingua franca there. This has contributed greatly to the fact that the place is commonly known among Hakka Chinese to be Hakka Village.

The greatest concentration of Hakkas in northern peninsular Malaysia is in Ipoh, Perak and in Kuala Lumpur and its satellite cities in Selangor; however, even in areas of Hakka majority amongst the Chinese in these areas, Cantonese tends to be used as a lingua franca when conducting business or eating out whereas the Hakka language is generally only spoken locally or at home. Concentrations of Hakka people in Ipoh and surrounding areas are particularly high.

Sabah[link]

In the Bornean state of Sabah, most of the ethnic Chinese are of Hakka descent. According to the 1991 census, there were 113000 Hakkas in the state. This constituted 57% of the total ethnic Chinese population in Sabah. The second largest Chinese subgroup were the Cantonese with only 28000 persons.^[36] This shows that Sabah is one of very few regions in the world where Hakkas clearly outnumber other Chinese subgroups. Most of the Hakkas in Sabah speak with the Huiyang accent (Hakka: Fuiyong, 惠陽). Hakka is the lingua franca among the Chinese in Sabah to such an extent that Chinese of other subgroups who migrate to Sabah from other states in Malaysia and elsewhere usually end up learning the Hakka dialect.

In 1882 the North Borneo Chartered Company opted to bring in Hakka labourers from Longchuan County, Guangdong to solicit Hakka industrious workers. The first batch of 96 Hakkas brought to Sabah landed in Kudat on April 4, 1883 under the leadership of Luo Tai Feng. In the following decades Hakka immigrants settled throughout the state, with their main population centres in Kota Kinabalu (then known as Jesselton), Sandakan (mainly ex-Taiping revolutionist), Tawau and Kudat. The British felt the development of North Borneo was too slow and in 1920 they decided to encourage Hakka immigration into Sabah.^[37] In 1901, the total Chinese population in Sabah was 13897; by 1911, it had risen 100% to 27801.^[38] Hakka immigration began to taper off during World War 2 and declined to a negligible level in the late 1940s.

In Jamaica[link]

Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka; they have a long history in Jamaica. Between 1845 and 1884, nearly 5000 Hakka arrived in Jamaica in three major voyages. Most came to Jamaica under contract as indentured servants. The terms of the contracts made free return-passage available for any Hakka who wanted to return to China. Most of them did.^[39] In 1854, 205 Chinese workers who had been working on the Panama canal arrived in Jamaica. They had demanded re-settlement due to the threat of yellow fever in Panama. Many were ill upon arrival in Jamaica and were immediately hospitalized in Kingston. Fewer than 50 of these immigrants survived - the rest died of yellow fever.

Chin Pa-kung (a.k.a. Jackson Chin), opened a wholesale business in Kingston where the Desnoes and Geddes building now stands. Chang Si-Pah and Lyn Sam opened groceries nearby. These gentleman provided guidance for other Chinese immigrants to Jamaica.^[40]

During the 1960s and 1970s substantial migration of Hakka Jamaican Chinese to the USA and Canada occurred.

In Mauritius[link]

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

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

In Réunion[link]

Many Chinese people in Réunion are of Hakka origin.^[41] They either came to Réunion as indentured workers or as voluntary migrants.^[41] Today, most do not speak the Hakka language.^[41]

In Taiwan[link]

In Taiwan, Hakka people comprise about 15 to 20% of the population and are descended largely from Guangdong immigrants: they form the second-largest ethnic group on the island.

Taiwan's Hakka population concentrates in Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and around Chungli in Taoyuan County, and Meinong District in Kaohsiung City, and in Pingtung County, with smaller presences in Hualian and Taitung County. In recent decades^[when?] many Hakka have moved to the largest metropolitan areas, including Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung.

Many people in Taiwan are of mixed Hoklo, Hakka, and Taiwanese aborigines heritage. Approximately half of the population of Hakka in Taiwan also speaks Taiwanese Hokkien, and it is highly likely^{[original research?]} that many Taiwanese-speaking households descend from Hakka families in Taiwan who lost their language a few generations back.

The Taiwanese variant of the Hakka language resembles other variants of Hakka spoken in other parts of the world, but differs vastly in terms of pronunciation due to the influence of Taiwanese Hokkien.^{[citation needed]} Therefore it is difficult, though not impossible, for speakers of other Hakka variants to understand Taiwanese Hakka.^{[citation needed]}

In Thailand[link]

There are no records as to when Hakka descendants arrived in Thailand. In 1901, Mr. Yu Cipeng, a Hakka member of The League Society of China came to visit Thailand and found that the establishment of many varied organizations among the Hakka was not good for unity. So, he tried to bring the two parties together and persuaded them to dissolve the associations in order to set up a new united one. In 1909 "The Hakka Society of Siam" was established, and Chao Phraya Yommarat, then Interior Minister, was invited to preside over the opening ceremony for the establishment of the society's nameplate, located in front of the Chinese shrine "Lee Tee Biao". Mr. Yang Liqing was its first President.^[42]

World Hakka Congress[link]

Prominent Hakka[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (December 2008)

The Hakka pronunciation of each name listed below is included unless the vernacular name is itself based on Hakka pronunciation. Take note, however, that this is a work in progress; some vernacular names are still without their Hakka pronunciations. This will be rectified as soon as possible.

The Hakka have had a significant influence, disproportionate to their smaller total numbers, on the course of Chinese and overseas Chinese history, particularly as a source of revolutionary, political and military leaders.^[19]

Hakka were active during the Taiping Rebellion,^[43] the largest uprising in the modern history of China. The uprising, also known as Jintian Uprising, originated at the Hakka village of Jintian in Guiping, Guangxi. It was led by the failed Qing scholar, Hong Xiuquan, who was influenced by Protestant missionaries. Hong's charisma tapped into a consciousness of national dissent which identified with his personal interpretations of the Christian message. His following, who were initially Hakka peasants from Guangxi, grew across the southern provinces. The hugely disciplined Taiping army, which included women in their ranks, captured stoutly defended towns and cities from the Qing defenders. In 1851, less than a year after the uprising, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (太平天囯) was established. It had, at one stage, occupied one-third of China, and almost toppled the Qing Dynasty. The kingdom lasted for eleven years.

Hakka continued to play prominent roles during the revolutionary and republican years of the Kuomintang, as well as during the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, in which many of the leaders on both sides were Hakka.

Lee Kuan Yew, Sun Yat Sen, and Deng Xiaoping were among four Hakka Chinese named as "the 20th Century's 20 Most Influential Asians" by Time magazine.^[44]

Hakka influence is also evident in Guangdong, China, where the "Hakka Gang" "客家帮" has consistently dominated the provincial government. Presently, the governor, Huang Huahua, and four deputy governors are Hakka.^[45]

See also[link]

• Hakka architecture
• Hakka language
• Hakka cuisine
• Hakka hill songs
• Hakka Kuen
• Meizhou
• Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
• Japanese invasion of Taiwan
• Battle of the Burning Village
• Larut War

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2010)

Specific references:

General references:

External links[link]

Hakka people edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hakka

• The Hakka Community in India
• The Institute of Hakka Research at Jiaying University
• (Chinese) Council for Hakka Affairs in Taiwan
• Hakka Population and Distribution from asiawind.com
• (Chinese)台灣客家文學館 Taiwan Hakka literature museum
• The HAKKA Association of Thailand
• The Hakka Community in Thailand

Chinese Jamaicans

Notable Chinese Jamaicans: Bunny Lee • Sean Paul • Clive Chin
Total population
Approx. 22,000 (1998)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Jamaica: Kingston Overseas: Toronto, New York City, South Florida
Languages
Jamaican English, Jamaican Patois
Religion
Christianity (primarily Catholicism and Anglicanism) with some elements of Chinese folk religion[2]
Related ethnic groups
Hakka people, ethnic Chinese in Panama, Jamaican Americans, Jamaican Canadians,

Chinese Jamaicans are the descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica. Early migrants came in the 19th century; there was another wave of migration in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the descendants of early migrants have moved abroad, primarily to Canada and the United States.^[3]

Migration history[link]

Most Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka and can trace their origin to the Chinese labourers that came to Jamaica in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries.^[4] The British parliament made a study of prospects for Chinese migration to the West Indies in 1811, and in 1843 made an attempt to recruit Chinese workers to come to Jamaica, British Guiana, and Trinidad, but nothing came of it.^[5] The two earliest ships of Chinese migrant workers to Jamaica arrived in 1854, the first directly from China, the second composed of onward migrants from Panama; they were contracted for plantation work.^[6] A further 200 would arrive in the years up until 1870, mostly from other Caribbean islands. Later, in 1884, a third wave of 680 Chinese migrants would arrive; with the exception of a few from Sze Yup, most of these were Hakka people from Dongguan, Huiyang, and Bao'an. This third wave of migrants would go on to bring more of their relatives over from China.^[4]

From 1910, Chinese immigrants were required to pay a £30 deposit and pass a written test to demonstrate that they could write 50 words in three different languages; the restrictions on Chinese migrants were tightened even further in 1931, but relaxed again by 1947 due to lobbying by the Chinese consulate.^[7] The 1943 census showed 12,394 Chinese residing in Jamaica; these were divided into three categories by the census, namely "China-born" (2,818), "local-born" (4,061), and "Chinese coloured" (5,515), the latter referring to multiracial people of mixed African and Chinese descent. This made Chinese Jamaicans the second largest Chinese population in the Caribbean, behind Chinese Cubans.^[8][9] By 1963, the Chinese had a virtual monopoly on retail trade in Jamaica, controlling 90% of dry goods stores and 95% of supermarkets, along with extensive holdings in other sectors such as laundries and betting parlours.^[10]

Since the 1970s, thousands of Chinese Jamaicans moved abroad as Jamaica's economy slowed; at first, they went primarily to Canada, which was more open to immigration than the United States, but the U.S. later became a major destination as well. As a result, clusters of Chinese Jamaicans can be found outside of Jamaica as well, in Toronto, New York City, and South Florida. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a new wave of Chinese migration to Jamaica, consisting of Hong Kong and Taiwan entrepreneurs who set up textiles factories on the island targeting the U.S. market, and often brought in migrant workers from China to staff their ventures.^[3]

Community organisations[link]

In comparison to Overseas Chinese communities elsewhere, hometown associations related to migrants' places of origin in China were not very influential among migrants to Jamaica.^[11] Some secret societies such as the Hongmenhui were active in organising plantation workers in the 1880s; however, the first formal Chinese organisation in Jamaica was a branch of the Freemasons.^[12] Later, the Chinese Benevolent Association (中華會館) was founded in 1891.^[13] The CBA continues to operate from a two-story building with guardian lion statues in the front; the ground floor is occupied by the Jamaican-Chinese Historical Museum. The building has been featured on a Jamaican postage stamp.^[3]

The first Chinese-language newspaper in Jamaica, the Zhonghua Shang Bao (中華商報), was founded in 1930 by Zheng Yongkang; five years later, it was taken over by the Chinese Benevolent Association, who renamed it Huaqiao Gongbao (華僑公報). It continued publication until 1956, and was revived in 1975.^[14] The Chinese Freemasons also published their own handwritten weekly newspaper, the Minzhi Zhoukan (民治周刊) until 1956. The Pagoda, started in 1940, was the first English-language newspaper for the Chinese community. The local branch of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) also began publishing their own paper, The Chung San News (中山報) in 1953.^[12]

Prior to Jamaican independence, there was an annual Miss Chinese Jamaica pageant, initially organised as a fundraiser for the CBA.^[15] It came to be supported by The Pagoda, which wrote editorials exhorting girls from the Chinese community to join, and in some years offered sponsorship prizes such as, in 1955, a two-week trip to Miami for the winner, in an effort to spark participation in what was sometimes a sparsely attended event.^[16] However, as the pageant grew in popularity, it drew charges from Afro-Jamaican journalists that the ethnic pride on display there was "unpatriotic" and "un-Jamaican". The pageant renamed itself to the Miss Chinese Athletic Club, in an effort to avoid controversy, but nevertheless, held its final "openly racialised beauty contest" in 1962.^[17] Over the following years, Chinese Jamaican women did not participate in the Miss Jamaica pageant for fear of racial controversy. However, this informal colour line was broken in 1973, when Patsy Yuen entered and earned the Miss Jamaica title in 1973, going on to place third in the Miss World competition in London; however, Yuen publicly portrayed herself as a completely assimilated Jamaican with little connection to her Chinese heritage, claiming in media statements that she didn't even like Chinese food, in order to avoid "disrupt[ing] the official picture of the country's identity".^[18]

There was also a Chinese Jamaican community school, the Chinese Public School. It was set up first by the Chinese Freemasons in 1920 (under the Chinese name 華僑公立學校), and operated until 1922; a Chinese drama club revived the school in 1924 (and gave it a new Chinese name 新民學校, literally "New People's School"), charging tuition fees of £6. The drama club continued to operate the school until 1928, when the CBA purchased it for £2,300 and gave it its present name, and moved it into a larger building.^[19] The CBA promulgated a new constitution for the school in 1944, which stated that it would follow the curriculum of the Republic of China's Ministry of Education, and that Chinese was the primary medium of instruction while "foreign languages" were secondary. In 1945, with enrollments booming to 300 students and competitor schools being established as well, the Republic of China consulate called for donations to renovate the school, eventually raising £10,000. In the 1950s, there was heated debate in the community over the medium of instruction, with some suggesting curriculum localisation in the name of practicality, while others saw abandonment of Chinese-medium instruction as tantamount to abandonment of Chinese identity.^[20] Practical considerations won out; the curriculum was reorganised with English as the primary instructional medium in 1952, and by 1955, the school only had two teachers who could speak any Chinese.^[21] After that, the school's fortunes fluctuated, and it was finally closed down in the mid-1960s.^[22][23]

Interethnic relations[link]

Early Chinese migrants, largely male, often entered into common-law unions with the Afro-Jamaican women who worked in their businesses. However, Chinese women rarely married Afro-Jamaican men. Interracial marriage became less common as the number of women of Chinese descent in Jamaica grew.^[24] Nevertheless, by the 1943 census, nearly 45% of Jamaicans with some Chinese ancestry fell into the census category of "Chinese coloured" (mixed Chinese and African descent).^[9]

Along with other ethnic entrepreneurs associated with foreign capital—Lebanese, Syrians, and Cubans—Chinese entrepreneurs became a targets of antagonism from the Jamaican poor, who regarded them as "alien and exploitative".^[25] Unlike in other countries of the West Indies, where East Indians took the brunt of racial antipathy from black populations, in Jamaica the Chinese found themselves the targets of ethnic prejudice fueled by worker unrest.^[26] This resentment against Chinese Jamaicans often manifested itself in the form of property crimes, especially arson. However, in the popular imagination, such arson was not seen as the result of attacks by poor Jamaicans, but rather as attempts at insurance fraud, yet another example of "sharp" Chinese business practises.^[26][27] Anti-Chinese riots broke out in 1918 and 1938.^[28]

Resentments against Chinese Jamaicans again reached a boiling point in 1965. On 28 August, an employee of a Chinese-owned store in Kingston reported to police that three Chinese brothers beat her at the store; an angry crowd surrounded the store, and one member of the crowd was shot by a Chinese. Over the next few days, crowds of as many as 300 people were seen looting and burning Chinese stores in the Barry Street, West Queen Street, Spanish Town Road, Orange Street, and North Street area, with sporadic violence continuing until 1 September. During the disturbances, another eight people died; one of the dead had been shot by a Chinese trader defending his shop.^[27] The disturbances were an example of increasing tensions in West Kingston, foreshadowing later violence between the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party in the lead-up to the 1967 general election.^[29]

Religion[link]

Early Chinese migrants to Jamaica brought elements of Chinese folk religion with them, most exemplified by the altar to Guan Yu which they erected in the old CBA building and which remains standing there, even as the CBA moved its headquarters.^[30] However, with the passage of long decades since their ancestors first migrated from China, traditional Chinese religious practises have largely died out among Chinese Jamaicans.^[31] Some traditional practises persisted well into the 20th century, most evident at the Chinese Cemetery, where families would go to clean their ancestors' graves during the Qingming Festival in what was often organised as a communal activity by the CBA (referred to in English as Gah San, after the Hakka word 嫁山); however, with the emigration of much of the Chinese Jamaican community to the North American mainland, the public, communal aspect of this grave-cleaning died out, and indeed it was not carried out for more than a decade before attempts by the CBA to revive it in 2004.^[32]

Christianity has become the dominant religion among Chinese Jamaicans; they primarily adhere to the Catholic Church rather than the Protestantism of the majority establishment. Anglicans can also be found in the Chinese Jamaican community, but other denominations which are widespread in Jamaica such as Baptism (traditionally connected with the Afro-Jamaican community) are almost entirely absent among Chinese Jamaicans.^[33] Conversion of Chinese Jamaicans to Christianity came about in several ways; some made conversions of convenience in order to obtain easy legal recognition for marriages and births, while Chinese men who entered into relationships with local women were often absorbed into church community through the selection of godparents for their children, and the attendance of children at Sunday schools. Furthermore, Catholic teachers taught English at the Chinese Public School up until its closure in the mid-1960s, which facilitated the entry of Chinese Jamaicans to well-known Catholic secondary schools.^[23] There were a large number of conversions in the mid-1950s, evidence that the Chinese were "increasingly trying to adapt themselves to local society"; a former headmaster of the Chinese Public School, He Rujun, played a major role in attracting Chinese converts to Christianity in those years.^[34]

The newest wave of Chinese migrants from Hong Kong and mainland China are in many cases not Christians, but they have not brought with then any widely visible non-Christian religious practises. A few of them were already Protestants, and have formed their own churches, which conduct worship services in Chinese; due to language barriers, they have little connection to the more assimilated segments of the Chinese Jamaican community.^[35]

Cultural syncretism[link]

Chinese Jamaicans have also had an impact on the development of reggae. The trend of Chinese Jamaican involvement in reggae began in the 1960s with Vincent "Randy" Chin, his wife Patricia Chin, and their label VP Records, where artists such as Beenie Man and Sean Paul launched their careers; it remains common to see Chinese surnames in the liner notes of reggae music, attesting to the continuing influence.^[36][37]

Assimilation has taken place through generations and few Chinese Jamaicans can speak Chinese today; most of them speak English or Jamaican Patois as their first language. The vast majority have anglicized given names, and many have Chinese surnames. The Chinese food culture has survived to a large degree among this group of people.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

This is a list of notable Chinese immigrants in Jamaica, and Jamaicans of Chinese descent.

See also[link]

• Caribbean–People's Republic of China relations
• People's Republic of China–Jamaica relations
• Chinese Caribbean

Footnotes[link]

Bibliography[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bryan, Patrick (1996), "The Creolization of the Chinese Community in Jamaica", in Reddock, Rhoda, Ethnic Minorities in Caribbean Society, University of the West Indies Press, pp. 173–272, ISBN 978-976-618-024-9 
• Lee, Russell (1998), "The Chinese Retail Grocery Trade in Jamaica", in Wang, Ling-chi; Wang, Gungwu, The Chinese Diaspora: Selected Essays, 2, Singapore: Times Academic Publisher, pp. 112–130, ISBN 978-981-210-093-1 

External links[link]

• ChineseJamaican.com
• Jamaican Chinese Worldwide - One Family (published by Huntsmill Graphics in 2004)
• Caribbean Chinese Association, based in Toronto, Canada
• "Interview with Jamaican race car driver Natasha Chang", Jamaicans.com, 1 November 2008

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