Overview of Jiangxi Hakka Dialect

Author: Liu Lunxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: Among the seven major dialects of modern Chinese, only the Hakka dialect is named after the ethnic group that speaks it, rather than the geographical name of the region where it is spoken. Indeed, on the one hand, the people who speak this dialect are generally referred to as Hakka people, and they themselves largely identify as such. On the other hand, the current distribution pattern of the Hakka dialect is the result of the migration of Hakka people during the late Ming Dynasty, the early Qing Dynasty, and thereafter. The founder of Hakka theory, Luo Xianglin, in his "Introduction to Hakka Studies" (1933), stated that the Hakka people are a byproduct of the Han Chinese, with most of their ancestors originally from the Central Plains. Since the Wendi Rebellion of the Jin Dynasty, they have gradually moved southward during several major historical upheavals and ultimately formed their basic settlement in the border region of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces, creating an ethnic group with unique characteristics in language, culture, customs, and other aspects. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, as well as after the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Hakka people underwent their fourth and fifth migrations, shaping the appearance of the Hakka people today. After Luo's theory was proposed, it had a significant impact on academia. Not only did historians accept his theory, but linguists also fully adopted it when dividing Chinese dialects. Even in modern Chinese textbooks, Luo's Hakka migration theory is still being recounted.