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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]