Hakka can
- Source: Global Times
- [08:30 January 31 2011]
- Comments
Cover of Hakka Culture Encyclopedia. Photo: CFP
By Zhang Lei
The first official compendium on Hakka culture, the Hakka Culture Encyclopedia has finally been released after three years' compiling.
According to Liu Weitao, vice president of Lingnan Hakka Culture Research Institute, it contains extensive information on the Hakka including their history and origin, art and architecture, mentality and spirit, dialect and customs, as well as prominent figures in their history.
Probably the biggest migratory group in ancient China, the Hakkas( literally, "guest people") had significant influence on the course of Chinese people and world history.
"As a Hakka, I always wanted to do some systematic research on the thousand-year-old Hakka culture, which has been overlooked for a long time," Liu told the Global Times.
Hakka history
Luo Xianglin, founder of Hakka Studies, was born in Guangdong in 1906. Over the last 100 years, Hakka study has risen again, though not without difficulty, and debates among Hakka experts today, such as the great migrations and whether Hakkas are purely Han people, are ongoing. "Since this is the first large-scale collection of Hakka culture, experts didn't easily reach agreements," Liu said.
According to the book, the Hakka have a history of nearly 2,000 years, and are mainly Han Chinese who migrated to South China from the North during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They speak an ancient northern dialect and share common culture customs, outlooks, and group consciousness. Now they mostly live in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces and overseas.
As of 2010, Hakka people live across 20 provinces and 372 cities and regions including Hong Kong and Macau, with the largest population being in Guangdong Province. It is generally believed that there are 80 million altogether, with six million living abroad.
