Hakka -- Gypsy of China

[Ian_Lee]

Anyone fluent in Hakka dialect?

Hakka is another interesting group in China who became refugees/immigrants/settlers after they were forced out of the Yellow River Basin by the nomadic tribes at Eastern Jin Dynasty about 1,700 years ago.

Most of Hakka settled in south of Yangtze and they constitute a large segment of Taiwan's population.

The most famous event of Hakka was the Taiping Rebellion. All the top echelons were Hakka from Guangxi and Guangdong.

Moreover, Hakka women were the only group that did not bind their feet in dynastic China. In fact, the palace guards of the Taiping Kingdom in Nanking were mostly unbound-feet Hakka women.

[ax]

I'm hakka to the boot...

ax

[pazu]

Yes, and the Chinese in Pakistan are mostly from Mei Xian (County of Mei 梅縣)

[smithsgj]

How'd they end up in Pakistan Pazu?

[channamasala]

Mongolian women didn't bind their feet either.

[trooper]

Hello! I speak some Hakka, unfortunately not much. I come from a Hakka family, but like many foreign-born Chinese, English has become my first language. Actually, I think my Mandarin has now overtaken my Hakka because I don't get the chance to use/practice/update/study Hakka - most Hakka in the UK of my generation prefer English of course and second Cantonese.

[nnt]

The CEDICT dictionary also provides Hakka pronunciation:

http://www.chinalanguage.com/CCDICT/index.html

The word khách (客 ke4, khách in Hán Việt)from 客家 (hakka) was sometimes used as a synonym to "Chinese", because many Hakka went to Vietnam (as migrants, pirates or allies) at the end of 19th century after the end of the Taiping.

[gao_bo_han]

Manchu women didn't bind their feet either.

[pazu]

How'd they end up in Pakistan Pazu?

I think it's because some other people went to Pakistan or India many years ago, and brought more people there. People wanted to leave China for many reasons, but most didn't know where to go, if they have one friend or remote relative there, they would probably go there too.

I remember a newspaper or magazine in Hong Kong asked Hker where would they choose to live,

1. Vancouver

2. Calgary

3. Alberta

4. Ontario

Most people choose 1.

Then they were asked to say more about their choices, they usually know nothing more than the other options.

[smithsgj]

.

Welcome back Pazu, btw

[Guest Wuliao]

Hakka - political potstirrers

Teochew - Mafia dons

Hokkien - Street Thugs

Cantonese - Money Minded (fill in your occupation)

Any more quaint sterotypes you wish to bring up?

[Amdir_Flassion]

Hakka - political potstirrers

Teochew - Mafia dons

Hokkien - Street Thugs

Cantonese - Money Minded (fill in your occupation)

Any more quaint sterotypes you wish to bring up?

Yeh, i've got a few more:

Shanghainese - too Westernised, gold-diggers (the women of course - even my Vietnamese friends say that too)

Northerners - poor manners, no politeness to anyone

Singaporeans - well, they're in the same boat as the Shanghainese. Even though they shouldn't belong in this topic's focus

Can't think of anymore, except that one stereotype I know of all Chinese from Australia is that we are quite un-hygenic

[trooper]

Ax, which dialect of Hakka do you speak?

Ian_Lee, are you Hakka too?

[skylee]

Ax' date=' which dialect of Hakka do you speak?

Ian_Lee, are you Hakka too?[/quote']

Alas, hakka is already a dialect. Can things get even more complicated? :?

BTW, my father is hakka from 五華 in Guangdong. But I don't know anything about the dialect or the place at all.

[trooper]

Yes, there are differences in Hakka, with Hakka from Meixian taken as the standard form.

Your situation is very common. The Hakka dialect is on the decline and may well disappear totally this century. In Hong Kong, everyone speaks Cantonese of course, including the Hakka, whereas few people from non-Hakka families speak Hakka. But even among Hakka families, many of those in the current generation don't know how to speak it. I only know a bit myself.

I really doubt that my future children will be able to speak it.

I've mixed feelings about it. How would you feel if the language, and hence also the traditional culture, of your parents and grandparents is fading away? On the other hand I realise people have to be practical and realistic about things and accept that progress brings change.

[Guest Virtual Blue]

Take the Welsh language as an example. A few years ago, it was dying as only one in 20 people in Wales coluld speak the national language (and when you think about it, there are more people in London than the whole of Wales!). Today, Welsh culture and language has endured a facelift where it is taught at schools. And Welsh is more unpractical than Hakka. More people speak Hakka across the globe.

[Ian_Lee]

Trooper:

I ain't Hakka.

Your worry about Hakka language is justified. According to UNESCO, half of the world's 6,000 languages are dying out. Another report said that 90% of the world's languages will become extinct before the end of this century.

When you lose a language, you are also losing a culture, a heritage and your roots.

[smithsgj]

> When you lose a language, you are also losing a culture, a heritage and your roots.

Very true.

Here's a link on endangered languages: http://www.ogmios.org/home.htm

[Jive Turkey]

Mongolian women didn't bind their feet either.

Manchu women didn't bind their feet either.

That's because they weren't/aren't Chinese; they're Mongolian and Manchu.

[Quest]

Mongolian women didn't bind their feet either.

Manchu women didn't bind their feet either.

That's because they weren't/aren't Chinese; they're Mongolian and Manchu.

They were/are Mongolian Chinese and Manchu Chinese.