By the Editorial Department

Disappearing Hakka

In Taiwan, “Hoklo” has been a term used by the academic circles in the Hakka filed surveys to refer to Hakka people who can’t speak Hakka. Now, this term refers to a large proportion of the 4 million Hakka Taiwanese. The assimilation of language in the modern society warns of loss of the cultural identify and the gaps within the same ethnic culture.

Taiwan is a multiethnic society with most people originally migrated from the mainland. The term Hoklo is a generalization for Hakka people who originally came from Fukien and now generally can’t speak Hakka or don’t even know their Hakka heritage. According to the Cabinet-level Council for Hakka Affairs, with the addition of Hoklo, the Hakka population in Taiwan will make up over 30% of the total population instead of the original 15%. Many Taiwanese are Fukien-origin Hoklo, including former President Lee Teng-hui and President Chen Shui-bian.

According to a survey done by Council for Hakka Affairs member Lee Kun-jin, among the Shao-an Hakka people who live in Erlun and Lunpei areas of Yunlin County, younger generations (age below 30) can’t even understand daily Hakka. It is feared that Shao-an Hakka may soon be an extinct language. The Hakka population in Changhua County is estimated over 100,000 strong, covering towns including southern Datsuen, Yuanlin, Shetou, Tianchung and northern Ershuei along the Bagua Mountain. Today, Hakka families – including Chang, Chen, Liu, Chiu and Chan – who live around Yuanlin, Pushin, Yungching, Shetou and Tianwei are suffering from the same fate of the Shao-an Hakka people. The first ever Hoklo Culture Festival to raise Hakka awareness was hosted in Yunlin and Changhua counties, where there is the largest Hoklo population.

Mutual Respect and Multicultural Identity

Due to the cultural crisis faced, Council for Hakka Affairs started promoting multicultural identity and ethnic harmony in 2002. To fully implement these ideas, the council hosted the 2002 Hoklo Culture Festival with Changhua and Yunlin County governments as a start to promote the concept of multicultural identity and raise Hakka awareness in the numerous Hoklo people.

Dr. Leo Liu, Vice Chairman of Council for Hakka Affairs said that though the Hoklo was scattered all over Taiwan, the population was concentrated in the Changhua plain. So they chose to host the Hoklo Culture Festival in Changhua and Yunlin in hopes for both Hoklo and Hakka people to appreciate their ethnic heritage.

Among the invited to the press conference for the Hoklo Culture Festival, former Cabinet Secretary-General and DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan is a Fukien Shao-an descent and can speak fluent Hakka. He went on the stage and participated in a bilingual (Hoklo and Hakka) puppet show with Liao Lai-Shing, founder of the Long Hsing Ger Puppet Show Troupe.

Council for Hakka Affairs Chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan said in the Hoklo Culture Festival that the Hoklo identity was a beautiful fruit sparked by the awareness of both Hoklo and Hakka people. As the concept of multicultural identity grows in Taiwan, the Hoklo culture demonstrates the significance of mutual respect and tolerance among all ethnicities and cultures. The purpose of this festival is to incorporate the travel routes with the cultural aspects – geography, society, history, arts, religions and architecture – of Yunlin and Changhua areas, so everyone can come and explore the Hoklo culture.

Hoklo Culture Festival in Changhua County

The Head of Changhua County Wong Chin-Chu had just discovered her in-laws’ Hakka heritage. She said that among Changhua’s total population of 1300,000 people, there were 160,000 with Hakka heritage. However, the Hakka culture of this Hoklo population was dying. So these cultural activities were attempts to honor the nature of Hakka people – such as perseverant, industrial and courageous, and to appreciate the multicultural aspects of Changhua County.

Wong also said at the end of the Hoklo Culture Festival that the county government would continue to host various activities to extend the festival in Changhua County. This move would not only enhance cultural awareness among the Hoklo population, but also encourage cultural tolerance and diversification.

The County Culture Bureau said that most people in Taiwan were unfamiliar with the term or meaning of Hoklo. However, it signified the co-existence of different cultures and served as a reminder of cultural tolerance in a multiethnic society like Taiwan.

The Hoklo Culture Festival in Changua was held on July 27th and 28th. The Hoklo artifact exhibition and the opening ceremony at the Hsing Ling Temple square featured a series of activities, including folk art performances from 14 groups, the local produce fair, the Hoklo delicacies making and food fair, photo and painting contests.

At the artifact exhibition, there’s a pair of calfskin three-inch lotus shoes, which was collected many years ago by Hong Yu-tsun, the owner of Baodo Folk Art and Antique Store. Hong said this pair of lotus shoes – hand-woven with exquisite designs – originally belonged to a rich family around 1910’s. It’s said to cost the family a big portion of the farmland to acquire these shoes. Hong bought them in the town of Lukang and could never part with them since, though once she was offered NTD $100,000 for the shoes.

According to Kuo Wen-li, Director of Taiwan Folk Art Museum – one of the sponsors at the festival, there were over 200 pieces displayed at the Hakka artifact exhibition. Collected from China and Taiwan over a period of many years, the collection included Dudou (women undergarment of the old days), bowls, Koji Pottery, wooden torture instruments, tobacco pipes, sword-shape girdles with embroidery, hundred year-old Matsu worshiping banners, pastry stands, children hats and colorful pendants.

At the Hoklo Culture Festival, you could see the breathtaking performance of the lion dance team, the daily goods and tools exhibition, various local music and dance shows. Both children and adults took turns to try this heavy stone mill, which was used in the old days to grind rice into rice milk. They also got to enjoy Hoklo rice pancake, which was made from vegetables and rice milk and then cut into small portions with a spatula.

The festival was attended by various local personalities, including the county head Wong Chin-chu, legislator Wei Ming-ku, Chutang town mayor Liu Mingshan, Beidou town mayor Chan Meng-shi, and town councilors Chiu Chien-fu, Lee Chun-yu, Hong Tsong-yi and Shi Shu-chen.

According to the county government, the Hsing Ling Temple was chosen to hold the festival for two major reasons:

1. It’s the religious center for the Hakka in Changhua County, worshiping Lord Guan and Confucius. This temple shows how Hakka people value justice and education and is a colorful representative of local culture.
2. This is the first Hakka festival held by the Changhua County government, who hopes that visitors can get to know what it means to be a Hoklo by experiencing the local culture and lifestyle.

As a preface to the festival, the county government ran five Hoklo Heritage Seminars during the period from June 24th to July 18th. Hosted by professors Liu Huan-yue and Hong Min-lin, the seminars were attended by historians and local people from 11 local towns to discuss and learn about the ethnic composition of the county.

Among Changhua County’s total population of 1,300,000, 84% are Fukien-origin, 3% are the aborigines and people from other provinces, and 13% are the Hoklo, who are with Hakka heritage but only speak Fukien (Taiwanese). They also discovered at the seminars that clan battles had rarely occurred in the history of Changhua County, which in turn had earned the title of the “model county of ethnic harmony.” All the data collected at the seminar was cataloged by the county government as an important part of the county’s cultural assets and teaching materials.

Though the unprecedented Hoklo Culture Festival was somehow experimental, it won enthusiastic participation. With this success, Changhua County government was determined to seek more venues to hold similar activities in the future.

Hoklo Culture Festival in Yunlin County

On July 25th, the Yunlin County Culture Bureau held a Hoklo Heritage Seminar preceding the Culture Festival. The seminar aimed to discover the lost Hoklo Hakka culture in Yunlin County. Doctoral candidate Wu Chong-jie from the National Tsing Hua University Graduate Institute of Linguistics spoke about “Hakka Community and Language” at the seminar, which was attended by over 200 people, including high school teachers, government officials and historians.

Council for Hakka Affairs Administrator Chung Wan-mei talked about the council’s dedication to Hakka awareness and promotion since its foundation. They published academic research reports to raise the awareness among the public of Hakka culture and heritage. They also promoted the understanding of Hakka culture and language to the world through establishing close contacts with various Hakka associations all over the world. The council constantly held Hakka related festivals and activities in hopes of reviving Hakka culture. This time, the festival was aimed at the Hoklo population in Yunlin and Changhua counties to promote appreciation of different cultural heritages.

The public attended the seminar was more or less wondering if they were of any Hakka heritage. The Culture Bureau had invited teacher Chiu Yen-kuei to help publish a book called, “One of theThree Hakka Dispositions of Two Eras: Hoklo Hakka in Yunlin.” The book kept detailed accounts of the dispositions and transitions of the Hoklo Hakka in Yunlin County. During the two major migrations to Taiwan before and after the Japanese Occupation, the Hakka was divided into Shao-an, Hoklo and Northern groups. And the purpose of this festival was to revive Hakka culture and awareness among the Hoklo population in Yunlin and Changhua counties. This was also an opportunity for the general public to gain better understanding of Hoklo Hakka culture.

On July 27th, the opening ceremony of the Hoklo Culture Festival was held at the square of Yunlin County Culture Bureau. It was hosted by Chung Fu-shan (Vice Chairman of Council for Hakka Affairs) and Huang Feng-shi (Chief Advisor of the county government). The two-day event covered interesting activities such as the Hakka delicacies fair, the Hoklo artifact exhibition, and shows performed by Hakka Puppet Show Troupe and Hakka Tea Harvest Theater.

On behalf of Yunlin County, the co-host Huang Feng-shi thanked the Council for Hakka Affairs for the opportunities to play such an important role in introducing Hoklo culture to the public and bringing people of different ethnic heritages together. Vice Chairman of Council for Hakka Affairs, Mr. Chung commented on the council’s efforts to revive Hakka language and culture, and to re-establish the positive sides of Hakka culture. He also mentioned that the term Hoklo was first introduced in Taiwan by Mr. Lin Heng-dou to describe people with Hakka heritage who had migrated here long time ago and been assimilated into local culture. He said that this term also reminded us of the cultural tolerance and diversification in Taiwan.

Held in Changhua and Yunlin areas – the Hoklo stronghold, this festival called on the public to understand the importance of mutual respect and peace among all cultures, and at the same time to appreciate your own heritage.

The two-day event featured Hakka delicacies, such as Hakka pounded tea, rice cake, different kinds of rice noodle, glutinous rice balls and dumplings, moxa flavored vegetable buns, and local produce for sale. There was also a traditional puppet show performed in Hakka by Liao Chao-tang, and an exhibit of the early Hoklo tools collection provided by Chen Nan-rong. A Hakka opera, “Eight Fairies Crossing the Sea,” was performed by Rong Hsing Hakka Theater.

Chairman of Yunlin County Cultural Bureau Lin Ri-yang said that culture was manifested in the daily life activities. One could easily discover the wisdom and cultural beauty of the forefathers in those early tools and utensils. And this first Hoklo festival ever held in Yulin County also helped to build awareness in the local Hoklo people. Accompanied by Vice Chairman Chung, Chairman Lin visited the festival to pay regards to the staff and visitors. He tried out some Hakka delicacies and even demonstrated how to make pounded tea and glutinous rice balls. Impressed by the local produces from all over Yunlin, he encouraged the vendors to promote and market their products.

The Hoklo Culture Festival triggered a Hakka culture fever among the public. Liao Chun-long, the head of the Taiwan Folk Art Studio based in Douliu discussed the Hakka disposition in Yunlin County according to the different Hakka accents. He also called on the Shao-an Hakka in Yunlin to conserve their dying language.

Liao himself is also a Shao-an Hakka. Before passing away, his father asked him repeatedly to preserve the Shao-an Hakka language. He recorded his conversations with his father on all topics for use of research. Whenever faced with difficulties during his research, he’d consult professors Yang Chao-chen and Lo Chao-chin – both Hakka culture experts. In search of the origins of place names, he’d go to the countryside to interview with old Hakka people. According to his research, the Shao-an Hakka language originated in the mountain region of Shao-an County, Fukien Province. However, people in Shao-an now speak Fukien instead of Shao-an Hakka.

Liao is worried that Shao-an Hakka will soon be extinct. He says that the language is a minority language in Taiwan, mainly spoken in a few towns in Yunlin County, including Lunpei, Erlun and Hislo. In particular, people in the villages in Lunpei – Lunhsia, Gangtsipei, Mianchientsu, Fanhsianyuan, Hsinchiliao, Laowuchuang, Kangwei, Pengouliao and Nandiliao – communicate with each other almost entirely in Shao-an Hakka.

Originally, there were over 20 villages in Erlun and Hsilo – including Shenkengtsi, Santsuowu, Shibachangli, Nantsi, Tianwei, Wuwuchuang and Chiutsuowu that used Shao-an Hakka as their daily language. One can almost see the hardship the first settlers went through by looking at these place names. Liao Chun-long also talks about the Shao-an nursery rhymes. The older generations living in Lunpei still remember how their grandparents or parents taught them all kinds of nursery rhymes. These nursery rhymes are a part of the Hakka oral tradition, passing down from parents to children. The written records of them are almost non-existent. The content could be anything as long as it rhymes, so it’s both funny and fascinating to read these nursery rhymes.

Chief Advisor of the Yunlin County government, Huang Feng-shi thinks that the Hoklo Culture Festival brings awareness of the Hakka heritage to the Hoklo everywhere in Taiwan and allows the general public to further understand the Hoklo. This kind of events have definitely positive impact on enhancing the bond and harmony among all different ethnic groups.

Conclusion

The advisor of Council for Hakka Affairs, Yang Chang-cheng says that the Hoklo concept is not about Hakka territories or the so-called Pan-Hakka movement. It’s important to understand that in a multicultural society like Taiwan, cultural identities go through assimilation and rebuilding all the time, not fixed and divided. The Hoklo were originally Hakka, while Hakka culture became a part of the life of some aborigines like the Pingpu tribe. The Hakka is probably the best candidate to talk about the Hoklo culture without prejudice and with the deepest understanding of multicultural identity.

The conclusion of the 2002 Hoklo Culture Festival is not the end, but the beginning of the establishment of multicultural identity and systematic cultural researches.