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| Folk Customs-Hakka
Village>1,000-Year-Old Hakka Customs |
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The
Hakka people's genealogical records are displayed in
their ancestral hall.
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Shibi (Stone Wall) Township,
located 25 kilometres from Ninghua County seat, is where the
ancestors of many Hakka people now residing in eastern Guangdong
Province, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan used to live.
In those days Shibi actually covered a large basin with an area
of over 300 square kilometres. The mighty Wuyi Mountain Range
to its northeast and northwest provided a natural defensive
barrier. More than 200 villages were scattered through this
region of undulating hills and mountain streams. In times of
turmoil therefore, this was an
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The
Central Plains custom of bringing gifts to celebrate
the one-month birthday of babies is still practised
in western Fujian.
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ideal sanctuary. Ever since the Tang Dynasty,
no war has ever hit these towns and villages. Not even Huang
Chao's insurrectionary troops and the invading Japanese army
in the 1940s disturbed this haven of peace.
According to local chronicles and genealogical
records, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-979)
the ancestors of the Hakka people set up their second home here,
maintaining the customs and life style of the Central Plains.
Over a period of about 400 years, a unique Hakka cultural area
gradually
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Preparing
pounded tea is a complicated process.
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developed. In the town's heyday, people bearing
some 100 different Central Plains surnames lived here.
Shibi today is much smaller than it originally
was, consisting of only 20 odd villages with a population of
over 2,000, all of whom share only six different surnames. This
is because as the community grew and developed, this remote
basin could neither accommodate a growing population, nor could
it prevent people of exceptional ability from leaving. In the
last 100 years or so, many Hakka families have left for distant
lands to pursue their dreams. However, the age-old customs of
the Hakka people are still alive and well. |
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