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Hakka Culture in Taiwan |
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The arduous journey made by Taiwan’s Hakka people from the Chinese mainland not only cemented their cohesion but also offered them new horizons. Facing Taiwan’s diverse geographic and, sometimes, perilous ethnic environments, they, as a minority group, had to develop a new identity and change according to local conditions. They thus created a distinctly new Hakka homeland, markedly different from those left behind in mainland China. It was this survival instinct of early Hakka immigrants in adapting to local circumstances that led to the gradual development of new aspects of Hakka culture in Taiwan that would have been unimaginable to their ancestors. After arriving in Taiwan, those Hakka from Guangdong and Fujian Provinces, who identified themselves as “original Hakka” based on geography and clanship, underwent a process of reorganization, development and struggle. Eventually they became “immigrant Hakka” based on their new location and the coalescence of different subgroups. This new Hakka society integrated regional differences in ancestral homeland, which not only expanded the breadth of Hakka ethnicity but also reconfirmed the value of original homeland culture. Hakka culture in the Guanxi area of Hsinchu, for example, is a fusion of cultures of early Hakka immigrants from the Sixian, Hailu, and Raoping regions, as well as of local indigenous Taokas people, and Holo immigrants from Quanzhou in Fujian Province. Hakka culture of the Dajia river basin in central Taiwan incorporates elements of the Dapu and Raoping regions, as well as of the indigenous Atayal and immigrant Holo, while Hakka culture in Taitung County, which was created by a second wave of migration from western to eastern Taiwan, is a blending of northern (Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli) and southern (Liudui) Taiwan Hakka culture. This was also a result of intimate interaction with indigenous Pingpu (Plains), Amis, and Pinuyumayan groups.
In order to appreciate Taiwan’s Hakka culture, it is important to recognize its unique developmental process. The following introductions to cuisine, clothing, architecture, religious beliefs, and cultural renaissance offer an understanding of the unique features of Taiwan’s Hakka people. I. Cuisine As one representative feature of Hakka culture in Taiwan, cuisine became a central element in the rejuvenation of Hakka culture. Each Hakka occasion has its special dishes, including ciba rice cakes in earlier times and lei (“pounded”) tea more recently, both of which combine delicious flavor with activity, thus encouraging people to participate in Hakka culture. Hakka cuisine is traditionally characterized by the three principles of “salt, fragrance, and fat.” While these are the features of Hakka festivities, daily cuisine tends to be simple and plain, sometimes barely filling the stomach, a characteristic that is rarely seen by non-Hakka people. Cuisine has also changed over recent years to keep up with social and lifestyle changes, and a taste of traditional Hakka flavors has become a popular reason for an excursion following introduction of Taiwan’s two-day weekend. The main characteristics of Hakka cuisine include retention of the ingredients’ inherent flavors, use of special spices and dipping sauces, and unique pickled vegetables. Most importantly, local cuisine with special home-style flavor (also known as “mom’s cooking”) can be found in each township or even in each village, making it worthwhile to seek out local Hakka cuisine in out-of-the-way places.
In addition to developing contemporary cuisine from Hakka traditions, elements of cooking from all parts of mainland China have been co-opted since Taiwan’s retrocession in 1945. This has led to development of numerous urban delicacies that have caught the attention of the food and drink market. Hakka moving from Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli to metropolitan Taipei improved the northern Chinese wheat-based cuisines, creating, for example, Yonghe soya milk. In recent years, this has become an urban delicacy both at home and abroad.
Hakka cuisine both traces its traditional roots and absorbs nutrition to create new opportunities, while also opening its arms to features from a wide variety of places. It thereby masters the taste buds of people today and adds its unpretentious style to the ranks of Taiwan’s culinary creativity. II. Clothing Although Hakka people had their own distinctive clothing culture in former times, recent changes in the customs of modern Taiwan make it extremely difficult to identify an ethnic Hakka by his or her attire. Since people no longer frequent Meinong’s East Gate in traditional blue clothing, this garment has been transformed from an item of everyday use into a representative costume or even a kind of uniform worn at Hakka sports meets or by performers of Hakka song and dance. Having awoken recently to the undesirability of this situation, people have started to return this Hakka symbol to everyday life.
In southern Taiwan, this began with blue dyeing, blue-colored clothes, and highly creative Blue Fashion Shows promoting traditional blue Hakka attire for daily use. In the Hakka areas of northern Taiwan, a range of daily articles has been developed using Hakka floral fabric, holding the promise of great success. After more than a decade of careful preparation, the Jiuzantou community in Hsinchu recently introduced the floral fabric Jiu Doll, which has proved very popular. Government agencies at various levels have taken an active role in reviving Hakka clothing culture. The Council for Hakka Affairs (under the Executive Yuan) and the Taoyuan County Government, for example, are both cooperating with young fashion designers to create floral Hakka attire. The Miaoli County Government and Miaoli City Office are also engaged in various projects to create Hakka garments that cater to modern needs. III. Architecture Hakka architecture in Taiwan is generally very different from that of their hometowns in mainland China. Taiwan’s Hakka people have continued the tradition of ancestor worship, however, which has resulted in retention of special structures such as the clan temple, family temple, and family ancestral hall. The ancestral hall, located at the center of a U-shaped residence, recreates the Chinese character 日 (sun), which, combined with a courtyard resembling the character 曰 (to say), creates a conceptual space of home, ancestral hall, and yard with the shape of a third character 昌 (prosperity). This symbolizes the hope that the family will prosper.
Whether using mud, brick, wood, or bamboo, the choice of construction materials varies in accordance with local availability. This is also the continuation of a hometown tradition. Colors have changed, however, as the gradual replacement of the homeland’s “white walls and black tiles” by the Holo-influenced “red bricks and red tiles” has created a new Taiwan Hakka aesthetic style. In terms of spatial design, while the practice of keeping the ancestral hall as an open space for use by all extended family members has been retained, Hakka architecture has developed diverse styles in the different regions of Taiwan. Well-known examples include the Jiang family’s Heavenly Water Hall in Beipu, Hsinchu County; the Xiao Family Residence in Jiadong, Pingtung County; the communal residences jointly known as Liudui (Six Heaps); and the Tobacco Towers in Meinong, Kaohsiung County. All of these structures show how Hakka architecture has taken root in Taiwan.
Understanding of Hakka architecture from the perspective of regional industry and family business offers a more objective angle. Development of the camphor industry in northern Taiwan toward the end of the Ching dynasty and early Japanese colonial period (late 19th and early 20th century), for example, led Hakka farmsteads to be transformed into a variety of working and living spaces with closer interaction with other ethnic groups. This has created a new and highly distinctive Taiwan Hakka architectural style that combines red bricks with the clan spatial arrangement reminiscent of native hometowns. In southern Taiwan, the most distinctive spatial design is probably the “corridor room” that connects the main part of the residence with side rooms. This reflects spatial needs in a tropical climate that were largely absent from Hakka hometowns in mainland China. The corridor room is a very open space, having three doors that are usually left open, two inside doors, and two ventilation windows. It is the center of family life, usually serving as the living room, kitchen, or dining room. IV. Religious beliefs The religious beliefs of Taiwan’s Hakka people have both differences and similarities with those of other groups, as their beliefs and festivities are deeply influenced by location and season.
Hakka beliefs are also closely related to the formation of early societies, with almost every village being protected by its own Lord of the Earth, and every community having its own tutelary deity. As well as deities brought from their ancestral homelands, which include the bodhisattva Guan Yin, the Kings of the Three Mountains, the Three Great Emperor-Officials, the Sovereign Emperor Guan Yu, and Ma Zu, the fishermen’s deity, the Hakka have also developed worship of local deities since arriving in Taiwan. The latter include Lord Yimin and Lord Wanshan, as well as the ancestral spirits of each Hakka clan that came to Taiwan. During more than three centuries of development, the worship of deities brought from Chinese hometowns as well as other locally originating practices and beliefs have evolved into pillars of Taiwan’s native spirit. As well as being a tradition for all Han Chinese, Lunar New Year is the most important festival for family reunions and ancestral worship among Taiwan’s Hakka. According to legend, Broken Sky Day, the 20th day of the first lunar month, is a bad date because the “sky is ruptured and the earth leaks.” Some people say that this commemorates the mythical tale “Nüwa Repairs the Broken Sky.” For an agricultural people, this was one day on which they had to rest after a year of hard labor. A folk song competition has been held in Zhudong on this day for over 30 years, which is the largest Hakka “hill song” gathering in Taiwan. Sometime between the middle of the first lunar month and Tomb-Sweeping Day in April, Hakka people tidy and “hang paper” on their ancestral tombs. For people who have become increasingly urbanized, this is the most important occasion for a family reunion, as hundreds or even thousands of people gather at mountainside pagodas to honor all ancestors since their kin arrived in Taiwan. According to popular mythology, the Fifth Month Festival, as Hakka people call the Dragon Boat Festival, commemorates the Tang dynasty story “Driving off the Rebel Huang Chao.” Hakka families hang calamus and mugwort on their doors to dispel evil spirits. The festival is also connected with the historical figure Qu Yuan, a poet-statesman who threw himself into the Miluo River on this date in 278 B.C. The Festival of the Spirits of the Dead held on the full moon of the seventh lunar month is an important occasion in Hakka people’s nature worship, as well as the day on which the Earthly Official absolves ghosts of their sins. Through the Universal Salvation rituals common to both Buddhism and Taoism, people try to save spirits with compassion. In northern Taiwan, another celebration developed on the 20th day of the seventh lunar month. Centered on the Yimin Temple in Xinpu, the somewhat solemn yet grand Yimin Festival commemorates the Hakka Yimin militia who sacrificed themselves over the years in defense of their land. Other important folk festivals in Hakka communities include the Autumn Moon Festival on the full moon of the eighth lunar month and the Peace (or Winter Harvest) Opera in the tenth month. V. Cultural renaissance In addition to continuing the traditions of native homelands, perhaps the most eye-catching aspect of Taiwan’s Hakka renaissance is its courage to adapt and change. Unique Taiwan Hakka characteristics have emerged in recent years in literature, music, drama, mass media, architectural design, and social structure. In particular, Hakka consciousness was raised by the Recover My Mother Tongue campaign of December 28, 1988, as Hakka culture has gradually attracted national attention and the Hakka’s accumulated capabilities finally found their voice, with Hakka-related cultural and productive activities found throughout Taiwan. Following establishment of the Council for Hakka Affairs on June 14, 2001, events such as the Paulownia Blossom Festival and Hakka Cultural Festival, and setting up of the Hakka Television Station on July 1, 2003, have made Hakka culture one important element of Taiwan’s pluralistic society. VI. Conclusion Viewed from this grassroots level, Taiwan’s Hakka culture is unique in the world, due to the particular way of its formation. Irrespective of their origin, whether Guandong, Fujian, Jiangxi, or the almost unanimously accepted theory of China’s Central Plains, Taiwan’s Hakka people have evolved their own distinctive culture over the past two centuries. In addition to investigating ancient traditional blood relationships, any definition of “Hakka” also includes self-identification from the perspective of this cultural renaissance and cultural movements. Because of this, the topics of constantly renewing and creative Hakka culture are new directions in Taiwan Hakka studies.
CULTURAL TAIWAN |
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