Hakka people : Ask Biography

Top: Liu Yongfu, Soong Ching-ling, Shing-Tung Yau, Sun Yat-sen
Bottom: Deng Xiaoping, Lee Kuan Yew, Chow Yun-Fat, Soong May-ling

Ethnic group

Group

Hakka
Hak-kâ

Population date

estimated 80 million worldwide

Significant populations

Greater China (Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Taiwan), Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore)

Home | Ethnic Group | Hakka people

:'Hakka is also a name for Harihara I, as well as a genus of jumping spiders.

The Hakka (Hakka: Hak-kâ; ), sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China.

The characters 客家 come from words indicating "visitors" or "travellers" and distinguish the Hakka from the Tujia ("natives"). The Hakka's ancestors were often said to have arrived from what is today's central China centuries ago. In a series of migrations, the Hakkas moved, settled in their present locations in southern China, and then often migrated overseas to various countries throughout the world. The worldwide population of Hakkas is about 80 million, though the number of Hakka-language speakers is fewer. Hakka people have had a significant influence on the course of Chinese and world history: in particular, they have been a source of many revolutionary, government, and military leaders.