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The Origin of Hakka
Hakka people have a habit of editing and correcting the pedigree of a clan. Tracing Hakka’s family names in the pedigree of a clan, one can find that Hakka people originate from the Han ethnic group. They were inhabitants of northern China. The area of their activities was around today’s Shansi, Henan and Hubei. Linguists tried to verify a point, saying Hakka dialect is the closest to ancient rhymes of the Central Plains. Hakka’s system about the society centered around clannish rules and the practices, culture, customs, clothes, religious worship, geomancy and superstitions are similar to those of the old Central Plains.
Because northern China had had destabilizing upheavals, Hakka people had five times experienced moving from one place to another. According to research by the historian, Siang-lin Luo, there are five periods when Hakka people moved from the Central Plains of the Yellow River’s drainage area into southern China. The details are as follows.
＊ Record of Ciou Family Tree, Liouduei, Pingtung
The first moving happened in the Yongjia period of Eastern Jin. This was the period of the invasion of China by the northern barbarians. China’s capital was moved from Luoyang to Nanjing. In the Central Plains, the northern barbarians spread all over, and also continuous military operations caused disorder. So a large number of aristocratic elites and ordinary people moved towards the area south of the Yangtze River one after another. To take refuge from danger, Hakka people’s ancestors also moved gradually southwards, crossing the Yellow River and then reaching the area of Hubei, Anhuei, southern Henan and Jiangsi.
The second move occurred at the end of Tang and Song dynasties. This was mainly caused by the famous rebellion of Chao Huang, an incident forcing Hakka’s forefathers to move to southern Anhuei, southeastern Jiangsi, western and southern Fujian, and eastern and northeastern Guangdong.
The third move happened from the end of Southern Song until the early years of the Ming dynasty. When Mongolians dominated at the Central Plains, the Song rulers tried to come south. Hakka people living in southern Jiansi and western Fujian then moved to eastern and northern Gunagdong to support the emperor and his royal family of the Song dynasty. So they fought against Mongolian soldiers, often sacrificing their lives.
The fourth move took place from the end of the Ming dynasty into the reigns of the Cianlong emperor and Jiacing emperor of the Cing dynasty. Because Manchurians came southwards and became dominant, the population expanded. The Hakka people then moved from eastern and northern Guangdong and southern Jiangsi into central Guangdong and its seashore area, Sichuan, Guangsi, Hunan and Taiwan. A small part of Hakka people moved to southern Gueujhou, and to Heili of Sikang.
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