Hard working with ancient cultural roots, the Hakka blend into mainstream Chinese society. Their food, their holidays and their daily lives are like that of the Chinese around them. In one thing, however, the Hakka are different—the distinctive style of their traditional folk music. Visit a shady area in a park any day and you will find older Hakka men and women gathered to play and sing the music of their ancestors.
Population
There could be as many as 50 million Hakka around the world today, but estimates vary. By some reckoning there are about 2-3 million in Taiwan, approximately 14% of the population, and 32 million in mainland China, mostly in the south. There are also about 2 million Hakka Chinese in Malaysia.
Ethnicity
The Hakkas are a unique ethnic group of “Han” Chinese originally from the Yellow River region in China until they migrated south due to the infusion of other ethnic groups into the area. Many Hakka people are no longer part of a distinct Hakka group, for they have married Chinese of other dialects.
Language
The Hakka language is a form of Chinese closely related to Cantonese. There are three basic dialects of Hakka in Taiwan. All the young people also speak Mandarin but amazingly Hakka has maintained its distinctiveness.
Location
In Taiwan the Hakka tend to be centered in two areas: the hill country of the north and in the far south of the island. In China the Hakka live mostly in the southern provinces although they are descendents of northern Chinese groups that migrated south between the 4th and 18th centuries. Because of their wide dispersion and being constantly on the move for so long, the Hakka (meaning “Guest People”) got their name from being “guests” or “strangers” in foreign lands.
Culture
Like most Chinese, the Hakka are engaged in a variety of businesses, as well as farming and factory employment. They work 6 to 7 days a week, 14 hours a day and squeeze in recreation in their few leisure hours. Some Hakka have risen to high political office—such as Lee Kuan Yiu, the first prime minister of Singapore, and Deng Xiaoping of China. In terms of education, commerce, lifestyle and festivals the Hakka are like the rest of Chinese society. They are nevertheless very proud of their distinct cultural heritage traced from the “cradle of civilization.” The Hakka people are known to be very adamant about defending their own cultural heritage and sticking to tradition. It is important, therefore, to minister in the Hakka language not only for communication, but as a symbolic gesture of cultural respect.
Livelihood
The Hakka livelihood is similar to all other Chinese: family-owned businesses and shops, work in factories or offices in the cities, and rice or vegetable farming in the rural areas. They are very hard workers, often living in some of the harshest conditions. One anecdote has it that the northernmost restaurant in the world is, in fact, a Chinese restaurant run by a Hakka family.
Religion
The Hakka religion is a blend of Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism and ancestor worship. Motivated mainly by fear and superstition, they will do anything in any religious context, as long as it wards off bad luck or improves their lot in life.
Openness to Christianity
Traditionally the Hakka have been resistant to the gospel. Pride in their cultural heritage acts as a barrier to the gospel. Probably less than 0.2% of Hakka Chinese are Christians. There are 70 Hakka Chinese churches, most very small, although Hakka believers were some of the first to pioneer in countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Missions
There has been very little outreach to the Hakka by either missionaries or Chinese churches. Very few groups are targeting the Hakka as a distinct people. In Taiwan there are two ministries that have begun to reach out to the Hakka: YWAM and a local organization called Hakka Evangelical Association. Both the Bible and the Jesus film are available in the Hakka language, yet very few are believers in Jesus Christ.