INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AT HONG KONG

Indigenous culture became a hot topic after the handover of Hong Kong, and in recent years, people also have begun to talk about cultural conservation. 

In the opinion of many, indigenous culture is related to Hong Kong's collective memory. It is about the Star Ferry Pier, it is about Queen's Pier, it is about Lee Tung Street. However, all these memories were derived from the colonial period, so they are half Chinese and half English instead of purely local. Hong Kongers keep on searching, seeking, and exploring to discover the real indigenous culture of Hong Kong.

In my view, Hong Kong's real indigenous culture is Hakka culture. You may feel confused: Hakka culture seemingly is not the mainstream one of today's Hong Kong.

Hong Kong originally belonged to Bao'an County, half of whose population were Hakkas. Even three hundred years ago, there were Hakka villages in Hong Kong. Nowadays, more than 2 million Hakka people live in this city. They have unique customs, foods, language and so on.

Hakka elements are actually across Hong Kong everywhere. Sam Tung Uk in Tsuen Wan, Tsang Tai Uk in Sha Tin and Law Uk in Chai Wan, all are typical Hakka style constructions. Possibly, the person you encounter in Hong Kong's street is also a Hakka. Tin Hau Temple in Causeway Bay, the only Temple classified as a declared monument in Hong Kong, was built by the Tai family in the early 18th century. The Tai family is a Hakka family from Guangdong.

Narrowly speaking, Hakkas are inhabitants at the junction of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi. They are a group that entered the southern provinces after the Jin dynasty. Broadly, everyone residing in Hong Kong can be considered as Hakkas, because almost all 7 million Hong Kongers are settlers from other places. From generation to generation, they are like "guests" in Hong Kong.

According to the dictionary, the Hakkas are a unique ethnic group of "Han" Chinese originally active around the Yellow River area. They have migrated repeatedly many times in China's history due to wars, chaos, plague, etc. From the Yellow River area to the Yangtze River area, from the Yangtze River area to Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, and during the last hundred years or so, Hakka people even migrated to South East Asia, East Africa and Europe. From this point of view, the modern "Hakka" can be interpreted as "haak geoy" (living in a place other than one's hometown). Hence, every resident in Hong Kong is Hakka, and the indigenous culture of Hong Kong is Hakka culture.

Hakka people are noted for their preservation of certain cultural characteristics that may be traced to the pre-Qin period as expressed in the customs, foods, spoken language, etc. They are also known to be most adamant about defending their cultural heritage, which was the reason for their migration and flight from the "northern" influence at that time. Nevertheless, in today's Hong Kong, the government hasn't done enough for cultural conservation. Although we can see the society is actively preserving old buildings and streets, there are no comprehensive policies or plans to protect our intangible cultural heritage.

To know our indigenous culture, to preserve our indigenous culture should be the objective of the government and every citizen of Hong Kong.