Growing up Hakka, around a language that few dared to speak publicly
My relatives spoke Hakka, but behind closed doors. Imagine my surprise when I finally found myself in a public Hakka-speaking environment
When I was growing up in the Caribbean, I knew three things about my identity: I am ethnic Chinese, I was born in Hong Kong and I have Hakka heritage.
Who are the Hakkas, some of you might be wondering. They are a Han Chinese subgroup originally from China’s central plains, who migrated further and further south – to Jiangxi province, then Guangdong and Fujian – centuries ago, during turbulent periods in Chinese history. They also moved to provinces including Hunan and Guangxi, and as far west as Sichuan. Hakkas have a reputation for adaptability and resilience, given that past generations, as new arrivals, often had little choice but to put down roots in remote pockets of their adopted provinces.
In more recent times, they have also settled in Hong Kong, Taiwan and diasporic communities across Asia, Europe and the Americas. My family moved to the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago as part of a migration wave in the 1970s and 1980s. The local Chinese community was small, rather tight-knit and dominated by Hakkas from Guangdong.