From Xiamen, we started a three and half hour journey by bus westward towards Yongding County | 永定 in southern Fujian | 福建 where more than 99% of the population identify as Hakka | 客家.
Part of the first segment of our tour focused on Hakka | 客家 , a subgroup within Han Chinese. Unlike other Han Chinese, Hakka are not named after a geographical region such as a province or county in China. However, many Hakka can trace their ancestral homes to areas in Guangdong and Fujian and have a distinct language. The worldwide population of Hakkas is considered to be 80 million to 120 million making it one of the largest overseas Chinese community groups. In my cursory readings of Hakka history, many scholars write about their migrations from northern and central provinces to southern China that led to Hakka being named as 客家 (which literally means guest family) by groups who had already settled in these areas.
One of my goals for this trip was to have a better understanding of Hakka since I’ve met many people of Chinese descent who identify as Hakka but I’ve never had a firm understanding of Hakka history.
On the way
We stopped at a rest stop designed specifically for busloads of tourists. Once passengers got off the bus, they were directed to the bathroom and then led into a shop where there was only one way to enter and one way to exit. It was like being on a ride you couldn’t get off. People were funneled through a pathway with displays of teas, cookies, herbs, and other goods from the area. This was coupled with 服务员 | Fúwùyuán (attendants) blaring through microphones as they directed people and highlighted specialty items to purchase.
It was intense, efficient, and even a bit comical.
Fujian Tulou | 福建土楼
We were headed to Hongkeng village in Hukeng town | 湖坑鎮 Yongding county | 永定 which holds one of the largest concentrations of traditional communal homes known as tulou | 土楼 (earthen buildings). Upon our approach to Hongkeng, the landscape became dotted with clusters of circular structures made of golden soil and central openings against a rural landscape. At first glance, these buildings seemed extraterrestrial because it looked incongruous to the more modern surrounding structures. In fact, there’s a story that the US military thought these buildings were missile silos when they were detected in satellite photos during the Cold War.
Tulous are large enclosed rectangular or circular buildings made with thick rammed earth walls between three and five stories high and generally house entire clans of the same surname. For defensive purposes, tulos have one main gate and contain smaller interior structures that hold ancestral halls, storehouses, and living areas—functioning like a small contained city.
We visited the Zhenchenglou | 振成樓 nicknamed "the prince of tulou" because it is one of the largest structures in the area. It was built in 1912 by the descendants of a wealthy tobacco merchant. Zhenchenglou is a double ring tulou — its outer ring is four stories high totaling 184 rooms while the inner ring is two stories with 32 rooms.
Zhenchenglou is still an active residence in addition to being a tourist destination. This tension played out throughout our visit in the tulou. Upon entering the building, one immediately is standing in a store where you can purchase ice cream, Coke | 可口可乐 and Mao Zedong souvenirs. As we were walking through the tulou, there were vendors throughout selling food, clothing, old communist philosophy books, and freshly rolled cigarettes near communal kitchens for residents. Visitors could walk throughout the ground level but were prohibited from visiting the second through fourth floors. The second level was used for food storage while the third and fourth floors were bedrooms. The ground level served as the communal gathering spaces where the ancestral hall, dining rooms, and kitchens were located.
It was interesting seeing how spaces were used in a tulou. In some ways, how people congregated in public/communal spaces were familiar to me where the line between public and private becomes slightly blurred as I observed a similar phenomenon in Chinatown NYC public parks which often function like community living rooms.
Our guide throughout the tulou was a local resident, and the tour ended with a tea tasting in her home. She shared that small cups were used for the tasting because it encourages one to sip the tea which enhances the flavor. And one couldn’t finish the tea in one sip but with three smaller sips because the Chinese word for taste includes the character 品 Pǐn which is made up of ”three mouths” 口 Kǒu. The guide had several different sized cups and pitchers filled with hot water. She would fill some of the cups with water, often pouring the first rinse into open slits on the table surface, before transferring the brewed tea into another container. Our guide looked like a conductor orchestrating movements among the tea, water, and cups.
Intrigued by this tea preparation ritual, I found a video about tea customs originating from Fujian which includes some practices we observed at our tea tasting.
Sitting in our guide’s home, I thought about the delicate balance that plays out among aspects of livelihood, tourism, and sustainability. Many shops within the tulou were catered for tourists and most of the local economy seemed dependent on visitors. Yet, it is still a living and active community for local residents. I wondered if tourism is sustainable and if there are other economic opportunities to support the community.
These are similar questions many Chinatowns across North America are asking themselves today.
Meizhou, Guangdong | 梅州 广东
Our next destination was Meizhou | 梅州 in eastern Guangdong, which was another three and an half hour bus ride west. About two hours into the ride, a little cheer could be heard on our bus as we crossed the border into Guangdong because most of us in the group could trace our ancestry to places in this province.
We were coming home.
Meizhou is a city of roughly 4.3 million and is often known as the “capital of Hakka in the world” and the “hometown of overseas Chinese” as over 95% of overseas Hakkas can trace their roots to this area of Guangdong. Historically, Meizhou was both the final settlement place for Hakka migrating to the south and one of the main places of departure for the Hakka diaspora.
When we arrived in Meizhou, it was already time for dinner. So after checking into Howard Johnson ( yes, a Howard Johnson Hotel ), we headed to a local restaurant to eat a Hakka meal made up of: Stuffed Tofu | 酿豆腐, Braised Pork Belly | 梅菜扣肉, Salt Baked Chicken | 东江盐焗鸡, and Fish Balls |鱼丸.
After dinner, a few of us explored the public square (Meixian People’s Square | 梅县人民广场 ) located in the city center and across from our hotel. Almost every space in the square was filled with dancers, children running, karaoke groups, and families out strolling. If it wasn’t for the lack of natural light, it easily could have been in the middle of the day except it was 9:30 in the evening. There were quite a few dancing “troupes” engaged in complex line dancing which seemed like the exercise of choice for many in the square. ■