The Hakka connection
By Adrian Yap, TODAY | Posted: 10 July 2008 1139 hrs

	Photos  of

MEIZHOU, China: As a Chinese saying goes: “No matter how tall the tree is, the leaves will eventually fall back to the root.”

I’ve always been curious about my Hakka heritage and after galloping across the globe in the Amazing Race Asia 2 with my race partner Collin Low and seeing how people in other countries lived, I was compelled to make a trip of my own to the hometown of my forefathers.

The opening of a Hakka museum three months ago in Meizhou — a city that is the unofficial capital of the Hakka in north-eastern Guangdong province — was also a boon for those interested in the culture of this migratory group of people.

Called the “Guest People”, the Hakka originated from the central plains around the Yellow River. Years of strife and upheavals beginning in the Jin Dynasty (265 to 420 AD) caused them to migrate southwards to Guangdong and Fujian provinces. From there, the Hakka spread to other parts of the world in search of a better life.

My return to Meizhou, which my grandfather had left at the age of 13, was via a seven-hour coach ride from Hong Kong. It was a comfortable trip on the new expressway that stretched from Shenzhen to Chaozhou. Mountains shrouded in mist flanked the highway. Nestled in the slopes were ancestral graves that added a touch of the surreal to the landscape. According to Hakka belief, it was good fengshui to build a big grave for deceased family members high on the mountain.

Outside the city, the roads were pot-holed and fringed by fields of rice, corn, bitter gourd and other crops. Two- or three-storey walled houses jutted from the green land. On this, Hakka farmers were bent double tending their crops before the next rainy season threatened to destroy their livelihoods.

I met my uncle in Meizhou. The hour-long drive to my grandfather’s village of Cheng Shan was an apprehensive one. In the car, I practised my limited Hakka to speak to relatives who shared the same blood as me but whose existence I only knew about from my parents.

Rolling into town, I saw wizened Hakka elders sitting outside the giant double doors of their house, languidly watching the world go by while some shy children dashed behind the pillars, from where they peered at me.

I was about to enter the set of a Zhang Yimou movie, or so it seemed. My uncle and his family lived in a three-storey house with a small field of corn outside. (There will be no hike in the price of maize here.) The wooden double door had huge Chinese characters written on top and opened into a courtyard. I immediately bonded with grandaunt, aunt, and cousins. Here was family, people who shared the same genes as me — how could the feeling of kinship not be instant?

My grandfather’s birthplace was a short walk from my uncle’s house. I could visualise how he had walked that path to seek a better life in Singapore. The house was derelict, ferns and weeds abound — yet, I looked at it with wonder and awe.

Every wall of that house bore witness to my grandfather’s domestic life. We climbed the stairs to the very room he used to occupy. Suddenly, I was not just a citizen of a country with a mere 43 years of history. I had a past that stretched back centuries, over vast stretches of land to this place.

I felt a connection to my forefathers, one I’d not have felt were I back in Singapore.

The Hakka museum in Meizhou city provided more insights into Hakka culture and my past. For 25 yuan ($5), visitors can peruse exhibits that include profiles of famous Hakka people such as Dr Sun Yat-Sen, the father of modern China.

There are also miniature models of Hakka dwellings. To ward off bandits and marauders, the Hakka constructed communal homes that act as fortresses. The buildings are about three to four-storeys tall, either round or square, and have windows high on the walls. The structures can accommodate up to 1,000 people.

The architecture of the Hakka forts — or tu lou — is unique. In fact, the tu lous in Fujian province were designated Unesco World Heritage sites on Monday.

In Meizhou, there are classical Hakka-style townhouses, complete with fish ponds, around the Ren Jing Lu Museum, the home of Qing diplomat and poet Huang Zunxian.

Before leaving my hometown, I had a sumptuous meal of home-cooked Hakka food which consisted of yong tau foo — apparently invented because the Hakka didn’t have wheat to make dumpling wrappers — salted baked chicken and Hakkamei cai, or salted preserved vegetables.

The meal was delicious; then again, food made by loving hands usually is. - TODAY/sh

Disclaimer
The information displayed here belongs to the individual content providers and is intended for general information only. MediaCorp Pte Ltd will not be held liable for any loss, damage or injury caused by or arising through any inaccuracies or incomplete information shown on these pages. MediaCorp Pte Ltd will not be liable for any loss or damage, whether direct or indirect, relating to the use of the information. Selling, re-distributing or reproducing the information on these pages without prior permission from MediaCorp Pte Ltd is strictly prohibited.