The Hakkas
Tan Sri Lee Siow Mong’s 1980 article in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society traces the origins and migrations of the Hakka people from their earliest known presence in Shantung Province through successive waves of southward displacement to their eventual settlement in Malaysia. The overarching thesis is that the Hakkas were a nomadic, rootless minority group whose repeated persecutions and migrations shaped their distinctive cultural identity, hardiness, and eventual prominence in Malaysian Chinese society.
Summary
Lee Siow Mong addresses the obscurity surrounding Hakka origins, noting that unlike other Chinese dialect groups, the Hakkas cannot be clearly traced to a single ancestral homeland. The article reconstructs a migration narrative spanning roughly two millennia, beginning with the Hakkas’ presence in Shantung during the Third Century B.C. and following successive displacements through the Ch’in, Tsin, Tang, Sung, Ming, and Manchu dynasties. Each wave of persecution or political upheaval pushed the group further south and southwest, from the Yellow River basin through Honan, Kiangsi, and Fukien, ultimately into Kwangtung and beyond. The author emphasizes that the Hakkas were never native to any region they inhabited, which explains the etymology of their name—Hakka meaning “guests” or “strangers”—and their persistent status as a resented minority wherever they settled.
The article then turns to the Hakkas’ cultural distinctiveness: their dialect (closely akin to Mandarin), their distinctive dress (longer jackets, square-toed shoes, thick silver bangles, broad-brimmed hats), their refusal to bind women’s feet (a practical adaptation to a migratory life), and their reputation as hardworking agriculturalists and miners rather than fishermen. Lee Siow Mong also highlights their martial character, citing the Hakka soldiers who perished with the Sung Prince in 1280 and the Hakka leadership of the Taiping Rebellion under Hung Hsiu Chuan in the 1850s.
The final section connects this Chinese history to the Malaysian context, explaining that the Hakkas’ proximity to South China made Malaysia a natural destination. The author identifies Kah Yin, Tai Pu, Fei Chow, and Feng Soon in Kwangtung, along with parts of Fukien, as the principal source regions for Malaysian Hakkas, each maintaining its own district guild (Huay Kuan) in Malaysia.
Key Findings
- In 1970, there were 862,000 Hakkas in Malaysia, constituting approximately 24% of the Chinese population, making them the second-largest Chinese dialect group after the Hokkiens (p. 107).
- The initial Hakka migration from Shantung occurred during the Ch’in Dynasty (B.C. 255–209), when persecution under the unifier of China drove them south to Honan, Kiangsi, and Anhui (p. 107).
- The Hakkas reached Kwangtung in large numbers during the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368), settling in the Kah Yin District, which remains the only area in Kwangtung where they can claim near-complete control of the land (p. 107).
- Yap Ah Loy, born in Fei Chow in 1837, arrived in Malaysia in 1854 at age 17 and became Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur in 1869 at age 32; he is credited with building Kuala Lumpur (p. 110).
- The Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s, led by the Kwangtung Hakka Hung Hsiu Chuan, triggered Manchu persecution of Hakkas with prices placed on their heads, prompting further migration to Malaysia (p. 110).
- Hakka women did not bind their feet, a practical adaptation to their migratory existence that distinguished them from other Chinese groups (p. 109).
Conclusion
Lee Siow Mong’s definitive takeaway is that the Hakkas’ identity as a hardy, fighting, and industrious people was forged by two thousand years of forced displacement and perpetual minority status. Their nomadic origins explain both their cultural distinctiveness and their capacity for rapid adaptation in new environments, making them among the earliest and most consequential pioneers in Malaysian Chinese history.
Context
- The article draws on general Chinese historical sources and the author’s own knowledge of Hakka communities in Malaysia; no specific archival collections are cited, and the bibliography section is empty (p. 110).
- Lee Siow Mong, a prominent Malaysian Chinese businessman and philanthropist (later elevated to Tan Sri), writes from the perspective of a community insider, and the article functions as a piece of ethnic historiography aimed at a general readership rather than a specialist academic audience.