Did you know? Actually, the Mandarin we speak now is not pure Chinese.
Although the Han nationality is the ethnic group with the largest Chinese population, it is also divided into 8 major branches.
Among them, there is such a people, and their "race" alone accounts for 100 million people, and they are distributed all over the world.
Their language is known as the "living fossil" of ancient Chinese, inherited the most orthodox Chinese, and has even been listed as an official language in foreign countries.
This clan is the famous Hakka people.
So, why is the Hakka ethnic line so unique?
Why is Hakka the most orthodox Chinese?
The Hakka people migrated
The Hakka people are destined to be a traveler in history, because they have experienced a total of 5 great migrations and are still moving around the world.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains suffered from the "Five Hu Chaos", and the situation was turbulent.
It was also in this context that many Central Plains people were forced to flee to the south, and eventually settled in Hubei, Jiangsu and other places.
When the first great migration ended a few hundred years later, another civil strife broke out, and this was the Anshi Rebellion.
The Anshi Rebellion led to the misery of the people in the Central Plains, especially the rise of many rebel armies, and the war continued.
Therefore, some Hakka ancestors moved south again, and even ran as far as Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong.
However, before that, the Hakka ancestors did not call themselves Hakka until they came to the Song and Yuan dynasties.
Zhao Kuangyin added a yellow robe in Chenqiaoyi, established the Northern Song Dynasty, and set the capital of Kaifeng.
Under the governance of the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Central Plains was once again vibrant, and Tokyo Bianliang was even rich and charming.
However, when the Jin soldiers invaded the hinterland of the Central Plains and drank the Yellow River, the Central Plains fell into war again, and some people began to move south, eventually to the Meizhou area of Guangdong.
At this time, the household registration system was relatively perfect, and some immigrants from outside were called "guests" and incorporated into the Hakka register, so some people who moved over began to call themselves Hakka.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, some Hakka people rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, and after the defeat, they fled to all parts of the country, including Hunan, Sichuan and other places.
The last great migration was during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, when the Hakka people, as the main force of the rebel army, were strangled by the imperial court after the defeat, so in order to escape for their lives, they once again migrated to Hainan, Guangxi and other places, and even crossed the ocean to other countries.
Therefore, there are Hakka people in more than 80 countries around the world, and most of them have a certain relationship with China.
A living fossil of the ancient Chinese language
Most of the Hakka people used to be from the Central Plains, so they retained a large number of ancient Central Plains pronunciation in the Hakka language, and were called the "living fossils" of ancient Chinese in the Tang and Song dynasties.
1. Information source: Guangming.com, the link has been attached at the end of the article
If you carefully analyze the Hakka dialect, you will find that it contains a lot of written terms from the Tang and Song dynasties, and even many ancient Chinese pronunciations of that era.
For example, in Hakka, the meaning of "Ye" is not the grandfather we understand, but "father", because it is recorded in "Mulan Poem", which says: "Grandpa has no eldest son, and Mulan has no eldest brother." ”
The "grandpa" mentioned in it refers to Mulan's father.
Also, the Hakka people call "last year" the "old year", and some people may think that the old year should refer to the previous year, but in Hakka, it only refers to "last year".
There is such a saying in Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin", such as the prodigal son Yanqing said that "Tokyo was troubled in the old year", that is, "Tokyo was troubled last year".
Therefore, when Mandarin is popularized, and then use the pronunciation of Mandarin to compare the rhythm of Hakka, you will find that many sounds in Hakka can be found in ancient classics.
Historian Chen Yinke also made a careful analysis of the Hakka dialect, and found relevant languages in classics such as "Erya" and "Laozi", which once again proved that the Hakka dialect has the same root and origin as ancient Chinese.
Even in the past, the Hakka people also had an ancestral precept, that is, anyone who could not speak Hakka would not be considered Hakka.
2. Information source: Damin News, the link has been attached at the end of the article
Moreover, they do not intermarry with people of other races, so they can retain the purest Chinese dialect.
In addition, the Hakka people retain the clan concept in Confucian culture, and they attach great importance to their ancestors and families, so they have a strong sense of clan identity.
The Hakka people often build an ancestral hall for their surnames, and they also have to write a special genealogy, which records the ins and outs of the surnames and each other's generations.
The reason why the Hakka people have such a strong sense of identity is inseparable from the role of language.
No matter in the world, as long as you can speak Hakka, you will be considered a fellow countryman, because the Hakka people have always adhered to the ancestral motto of "not forgetting the words of their ancestors".
There are now 100 million Hakka people all over the world, such as Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, mathematician Yau Chengtong, and actor Leslie Cheung.
Even the Hakka Chen Yaxian was the president of the Republic of Suriname in South America, and there are many Hakka people in this country, and the government has also designated Hakka as the official language of Suriname.
3. Information source: CCTV, the link has been attached at the end of the article
A minister in Suriname once said that China is like a "distant relative" to Suriname.
Unique Hakka culture
In fact, in addition to the uniqueness of the Hakka language, the Hakka tulou is also a treasure of Chinese culture, known as the "ancient castle of the East".
After the Hakka people migrated to the south, combined with the local climatic conditions, they built suitable for living tulou.
Moreover, most of the Hakka people live in family units, and the wide walls can be used to defend against foreign enemies, and the whole building is not only strong, but also has strong artistry, and was even listed as a world cultural heritage in 2008.
Therefore, whether it is Hakka dialect or Hakka tulou, it is an irreplaceable existence in the whole of China, and has made great contributions to the continuation of Chinese civilization.
However, in real life, because the Hakka people dress differently from Hanfu, they are often considered to be an ethnic minority, but in fact, the Hakka people are also Han people.
Because although the Han nationality has a large population, it is also subdivided into eight major ethnic groups, among which the Hakka ethnic groups are mainly distributed in Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi.
Many dialects are also subdivided on the basis of the folk lineage, the language of the Hakka people is mainly Hakka, while the Cantonese people are mainly Cantonese, and the northern people are the official dialect.
However, no matter what kind of language it is, it has been influenced by Chinese culture, and together they have formed a splendid Chinese civilization.
The Hakka people are only one of the unique Chinese sons and daughters, who have preserved the language and culture of the Tang and Song dynasties in China during thousands of years of development and migration.
They also inherited the Confucian culture of the Central Plains, focusing on family unity and honor, and have a strong influence all over the world.
Even their diet is closely related to the Central Plains, they brought the Central Plains food culture to the south, and combined with the local food characteristics, they have studied Hakka cuisine, such as three cups of chicken, tea and other delicacies are world-renowned.
Therefore, Hakka culture itself is a "living fossil", and the study of Hakka culture can make us see the former China more clearly.
Information sources:
1. Guangming.com: "This dialect is called a "living fossil" of ancient Chinese"
https://m.gmw.cn/baijia/2022-08/31/1303117812.html
2. CCTV: "Suriname: Chinese once became president, Hakka is the official language"
https://tv.cctv.com/2017/05/29/VIDETfdvBd9CxpIUUwVy5lxl170529.shtml
3. Damin News: "Hakka: The Dialect That Should Not Disappear"
https://www.toutiao.com/article/6762793278187241987/?channel=&source=search_tab
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