Right... Here goes the wacky urge to find out more about Hakka.
So I was on the plane home for the CNY when the Going Places magazine on the plane was featuring this building they call "tu-lou", literally translated as earthern structures.
According to Wikipedia, the materials used for this architecture can either be brick, stone, or rammed earth, with the latter being most common.. The external wall is typically 1 metre in thickness and the entire building could be up to three or four stories in height. Often turrets were also built to extend the range of defensive power and to cover otherwise indefensible points. Battlements were also constructed on the top floor for muskets. yada yada yada. Read more here and here.
Well, what I find special about it is not because of the architecture, but rather because it's uniquely Hakka. *sniggering* Yay! Something symbolic of the clan!
And according to Wiki again, the the largest communities of Hakkas worldwide, live mostly in eastern Guangdong, in particular the so-called Xing-Mei (Xingning-Meixian) Area, whereas most the oversea descended Hakkas came from Huizhou. Unlike their kin in Fujian, the Hakkas in the Xingning(興寧,Hin Nin) and Meixian(梅縣,Moi Yen) area developed a non-fortress like unique architectural styles, most notably the weilongwu (Chinese: 圍龍屋, wéilóngwū) and sijiaolou (Chinese: 四角樓, sìjǐaolóu). Don't ask me what it deciphers, all I understand was, the part where I might actually be the descendant of someone from Huizhou. But I suppose the sijiaolou thingy is something like the pic shown below.
Well, either way, at least I know my paternal grandfather came from Hoppoh. And hence us Hoppoh Hakka. The eldest uncle visited the town a few times with grandparents as well. The maternal grandparents were born locally, and I forgot where the maternal great grandparents hailed from. *snigering* Too bad there's nothing on Google that could show me more insights of the clan. Therefore, I've yet to find out where exactly is Hoppoh. *blergh* But I did came across the other blogger being a Hoppoh Hakka as well. Google if you're interested. *sniggering*
I'm not being erm, chauvinistic of the Hakka culture or anything, I'm just being curious. Are you not?
I know I asked paternal grandfather a whole lot about it when I was younger. There's this book of names in grandfather's house. It's called the "zhu-pu". I forgot if it's the names of everyone who belongs in the same clan or was it of everyone with the surname "Bong". Anyways, shall stop here, the book is another story for another day.
By the way, Bong in hakka means Yellow.
Okay pardon me about the excessive swapped tu-lou pics from flickr, I just couldn't help being obsessed. *sniggering* Here's one last one.
OOOH LOOOK! And them villagers are pretty advance too! *sniggering* I didn't mean to laugh, I just thought it's such a huge contrast. I mean... the satelite dish and the ancient traditional atchitecture...
_______________________
earth building one by turezure
earth building two by AuRoRiN & MoOoK
earth building three by Wai Lit's China record
earth building four by NZJY
earth buildings five by onekell
last pic by danwashburn.com
Monday, March 24, 2008
That Hakka Something
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 Jujus:
I have to tell you, I have never met anyone with your surname b4 this.
Like, OMG Bong = Huang2 (hanyupinyin)/Yellow??? Whoa!
you're a Hoppoh Hak?
LOLs.
they talk funny.
ngee choy lai wui hek?
LOLS!
Thanks for your post, always been curious about this Hoppoh Hakka, etc.
My dad's hakka too, and we're Chong, or mandarin 'Zhang', yet another friend who's Teochiew, also has the surname Zhang but in english it's teo, and another cantonese friend who also has the surname 'zhang' but in english is cheung, ahha.
joshy, i know. it's special innit?
daniel henry, dun play play ler.. anyway it's still different, the pronunciation of the hoppoh hak in my place and over here in west msia. la bui instead of lai wui. and nope, it's not funny. foochow is funnier.
aleckii, it's the different clan's spelling for the same surname lar. same as ng and wong and ong and watever la. :P
and oh my holy mother Mary, what are you guys doing so godly in that hour?!
Post a Comment