Reading the Hakka website, and following the definition of a Hakka by Luo XiangLin: I would qualify to be a Hakka as I satisfy all 3 criteria. Beyond the criteria I was born in a Hakka homeland.

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The Hakka people are quite an interesting group among ethnic Chinese. As a branch of the Han Chinese, the Hakka is believed to be different from the neighbouring people. Most people follow the conclusions of Luo Xianglin, who claimed that the Hakka is the “noble pure blood Han from the Central Plain”, and have been migrating to the South since the third Century in five waves. Because they are late comers, they are named Hakka. Because they retain the most precious culture of the Chinese, they have a sense of superiority and refused to be assimilated. Instead they identify themselves as Hakka and keep their own language and culture even after centuries of migration.

Luo Xianglin had listed three criteria for Hakka:

(1) one’s ancestors lived in the Hakka homeland),
(2) identifies himself to be Hakka,
(3) able to speak the Hakka dialect.

 

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 It is worthy to note that the great majority of Chinese in Mauritius are Hakka. My family whose last dwelling in China was in Mei Xian according to our records had migrated to MeiXian some 600 years ago. We would have formed part of the third wave of migration from central plain China to the South.

I recommend you to read about the Hakka people who have their own customs & characteristics forged by their own history. The story of the Hakka woman is another interesting and telling event in the whole history of China which depicts the determination for survival of the people.

Another Quote from the preface of the book: The origin of Hakka People

I have been asked many times, “Why are you interested in Hakka? It is a dying language, and a disappearing culture.” My answer may be quite surprising to many, including Hakka. My interest started from the curiosity to find out about my own roots. It grew into the exploration of how cultures are preserved and how they interact with others.

The study of Hakka is a study of conservation and survival of an ancient heritage under constant impact of others, which is something all cultures are facing in today’s world. Some paraphrase Hakkas as Jews of Chinese. I think a more appropriate paraphrase may be dandelion. A little flower, tough enough to survive the harshest environment, travels to all corners of the world, plants its roots in the poorest soils and blooms with yellow flowers. It has a lot of useful culinary and medicinal applications yet few people know about them. There are many varieties, tall and short, large and small. They adapt to the surrounding, but still remain well recognizable as dandelion.

 I am proud to be a Hakka.