Hakka in mainland China (in yellow) in Guangdong Province, where
Xingning and
Meixian are located. Hakka populations are found in 13 out of the 27
provinces and
autonomous regions of mainland China.
Guangdong Hakkas who live in Guangdong comprise about 60% of the total Hakka population. Worldwide, over 95% of the overseas-descended Hakkas came from this Guangdong region, usually from
Meizhou and
Heyuan as well as other towns such as
Shenzhen,
Jieyang,
Dongguan and
Huizhou. Hakkas live mostly in the northeast part of the province, particularly in the so-called Xing-Mei (
Xingning–
Meixian) area. Unlike their kin in Fujian, Hakka in the Xingning and Meixian area developed a non-fortress-like unique architectural style, most notably the weilongwu ( or Hakka: Wui Lung Wuk) and sijiaolou ( or Hakka: Si Kok Liu).
Fujian Tradition states that the early Hakka ancestors traveling from north China entered Fujian first, then by way of the
Ting River they traveled to Guangdong and other parts of China, as well as overseas. Thus, the Ting River is also regarded as the Hakka Mother River. The Hakkas who settled in the mountainous region of south-western Fujian province developed a unique form of architecture known as the
tulou (), literally meaning
earthen structures. The
tulou are round or square and were designed as a combined large fortress and multi-apartment building complex. The structures typically had only one entrance-way, with no windows at ground level. Each floor served a different function: the first floor contained a well and livestock, the second food storage, and the third and higher floors living spaces.
Tulou were built to withstand attack from bandits and marauders. Today, Western Fujian is inhabited by 3 million Hakkas, scattered around villages in 10 counties (county-level 'cities' and districts) in Longyan and Sanming prefectures, 98% of whom are Hakkas living in Changting, Liancheng, Shanghang, Wuping, Yongding, Ninghua, Qingliu and Mingxi counties.
Jiangxi Jiangxi contains the second largest Hakka community. Nearly all of southern Jiangxi province is Hakka, especially in
Ganzhou. In the Song dynasty, a large number of Han Chinese migrated to the delta area as the Court moved southward due to invasions by northern minorities. They lived in Jiangxi and intermixed with the She and Yao minorities. Ganzhou was the place that the Hakka had settled before migrating to Western Fujian and Eastern Guangdong. During the early Qing dynasty, there was a massive depopulation in Gannan due to the ravages of pestilence and war. However, Western Fujian and Eastern Guangdong suffered a population explosion at the same time. Some edicts were issued to block the coastal areas, ordering coastal residents to move to the inland. The population pressure and the sharp contradiction of the land redistribution drove some residents to leave. Some of them moved back to Gannan, integrating with other Hakka people who had already lived there for generations. Thus, the modern Gannan Hakka community was finally formed.
Sichuan The
Kangxi Emperor (), after a tour of the land, decided the province of
Sichuan had to be repopulated after the devastation caused by
Zhang Xianzhong. Seeing the Hakka were living in poverty in the coastal regions in
Guangdong province, the emperor encouraged the Hakkas in the south to migrate to Sichuan province. He offered financial assistance to those willing to resettle in Sichuan: eight ounces of silver per man and four ounces per woman or child. Sichuan was originally the home of the Deng lineage. One member was hired as an official in Guangdong during the Ming dynasty. However, during the Qing plan to increase Sichuan's population in 1671, members of the lineage returned to Sichuan.
Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan.
Hunan Hakka people are mainly concentrated in Liuyang and Liling villages.
Henan As with those in Sichuan, many Hakka emigrated to
Xinyang Prefecture (in Southern Henan Province), where
Li Zicheng carried out a massacre in Guangzhou (now in
Huangchuan) on 17 January 1636.
Hakka in Hong Kong During the 15th century to 19th century,
Hong Kong was in the imperial district of
Xin'an (now
Shenzhen) County. The
1819 gazetteer lists 570
Punti and 270 Hakka contemporary settlements in the whole district. However, the area covered by Xin'an county is greater than what was to become the British imperial enclave of Hong Kong
by 1898. Although there had been settlers originating from the mainland proper even before the Tang dynasty, historical records of those people are non-extant. Only evidence of settlement from archaeological sources can be found. The
New Territories lowland areas had been settled originally by several clan lineages in
Kam Tin,
Sheung Shui,
Fanling,
Yuen Long,
Lin Ma Hang and
Tai Po and hence were termed the Punti before the arrival of the Hakka, and fishing families of the
Tanka and
Hoklo groups to the area. Since the prime farming land had already been farmed, the Hakka land dwellers settled in the less accessible and more hilly areas. Hakka settlements can be found widely distributed around the Punti areas, but in smaller communities. Many are found on coastal areas in inlets and bays surrounded by hills. Hakka-speaking communities are thought to have arrived in the Hong Kong area after the rescinding of the
coastal evacuation order in 1688, such as the Hakka speaking Lee clan lineage of
Wo Hang, one of whose ancestors is recorded as arriving in the area in 1688. As the strong Punti lineages dominated most of the north western New Territories, Hakka communities began to organise local alliances of lineage communities such as the
Sha Tau Kok Alliance of Ten or
Shap Yeuk as
Patrick Hase writes. Today, there are still Hakka villages around Hong Kong, but being remote, many of their inhabitants have moved to the post-war new towns like
Sheung Shui,
Tai Po,
Sha Tin and further afield.
Hakka in Taiwan , Taiwan, pre-1945. The Hakka population in Taiwan is around 4.6 million people today. Hakka comprise about 15 to 20% of
Taiwanese people and form the second-largest ethnic group in the country. They are descended largely from Hakka who migrated from southern and northern Guangdong and western Fujian. They resided in "savage border districts, where land could be had for the taking, and where a certain freedom from official oppression was ensured." Back then the Hakka on Taiwan had gained a reputation with the authorities of being turbulent and lawless. In the past the Hakka in Taiwan owned
matchlock muskets. Han people traded and sold matchlock muskets to the
Taiwanese aborigines. The Aboriginals used their matchlock muskets to defeat the Americans in the
Formosa Expedition. During the
Sino-French War the Hakka and Aboriginals used their matchlock muskets against the French in the
Keelung Campaign and
Battle of Tamsui. Liu Mingchuan took measures to reinforce Tamsui: in the river nine torpedo mines were planted, the entrance was blocked with ballast boats filled with stone which were sunk on 3 September, matchlock-armed 'Hakka hill people' were used to reinforce the mainland Chinese battalion, and around the British Consulate and Customs House at the Red Fort hilltop, Shanghai Arsenal manufactured Krupp guns were used to form an additional battery. , Taiwan
Lin Ch'ao-tung () was the leader of the Hakka militia recruited by Liu Ming-ch'uan. The Hakka used their matchlock muskets to resist the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. Hakka people and Aboriginals conducted an insurgency against Japanese rule, rising up against the Japanese in the
Beipu uprising. Taiwan's Hakka population concentrates in
Hsinchu and
Hsinchu County,
Miaoli County and around
Zhongli District in
Taoyuan City and
Meinong District in
Kaohsiung and in
Pingtung County, with smaller presences in
Hualien County and
Taitung County. In recent decades, many Hakka have moved to the largest metropolitan areas, including Taipei and Taichung. On 28 December 1988, 14,000 Hakka protestors took to the streets in Taipei to demand the Nationalist government to "return our mother tongue", carrying portraits of Sun Yat-sen. The movement was later termed "1228 Return Our Mother Tongue Movement". Hakka-related affairs in Taiwan are regulated by the
Hakka Affairs Council. Hakka-related tourist attractions in Taiwan are
Dongshih Hakka Cultural Park,
Hakka Round House,
Kaohsiung Hakka Cultural Museum,
Meinong Hakka Culture Museum,
New Taipei City Hakka Museum,
Taipei Hakka Culture Hall and
Taoyuan Hakka Culture Hall.
Hakka diaspora in
Miaoli County.
Southeast Asia Vietnam There are two groups of Hakka in Vietnam. One is known as
Ngái people and lives along the border with China in Northern Vietnam. Another group is Chinese immigrants to Southern Vietnam, known as
Người Hẹ, and is located around
Ho Chi Minh City and
Vũng Tàu.
Cambodia About 65% of the
Hakka trace their roots back to
Meizhou and
Heyuan prefectures in Guangdong Province. About 70% of the Hakkas are found in Phnom Penh where they dominate professions in the field of
Traditional Chinese Medicine and shoemaking. Hakkas are also found in
Takéo Province,
Stung Treng and
Rattanakiri, consisting of vegetable growers and rubber plantation workers. Hakka communities in the provinces migrated to Cambodia through Tonkin and Cochinchina in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Thailand There are no records as to when Hakka descendants arrived in Thailand. In 1901, Yu Cipeng, a Hakka member of The League Society of China came to visit Thailand and found that the establishment of many varied organizations among the Hakka was not good for unity. He tried to bring the two parties together and persuaded them to dissolve the associations in order to set up a new united one. In 1909, The Hakka Society of Siam was established and
Chao Phraya Yommarat (Pan Sukhum), then interior minister, was invited to preside over the opening ceremony for the establishment of the society's nameplate, located in front of the Chinese shrine "Lee Tee Biao". Yang Liqing was its first president.
Singapore In 2010, 232,914 people in Singapore reported Hakka ancestry. Singapore's most prominent Hakka is its founding prime minister,
Lee Kuan Yew.
Malaysia . Hakka people form the second largest subgroup of the ethnic
Chinese population of
Malaysia, particularly in the
peninsula, with several prominent Hakka figures emerging during
colonial British rule. There are 1,729,000 people of Hakka ancestry in Malaysia as of 2016.
Chung Keng Quee, "Captain China" of
Perak and
Penang, was the founder of the mining town of
Taiping, the leader of the
Hai San, a millionaire philanthropist and an innovator in the
mining of tin, having been respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement. Another notable Hakka was
Yap Ah Loy, who founded
Kuala Lumpur and was a
Kapitan Cina of the settlement from 1868 to 1885, bringing significant economic contributions and was also an influential figure among the ethnic Chinese. In the district of
Jelebu,
Negeri Sembilan, Hakka people make up more than 90% of the Chinese subgroup, with the dialect itself acting as a
lingua franca there. This has contributed greatly to the fact that the place is commonly known among Hakka Chinese as "Hakka Village". The greatest concentration of Hakkas in central peninsular Malaysia is in
Ipoh,
Perak and in Kuala Lumpur and its satellite cities in
Selangor. Concentrations of Hakka people in Ipoh and surrounding areas are particularly high. The Hakkas in the
Kinta Valley came mainly from the
Jiaying Prefecture or
Meixian, while those in Kuala Lumpur are mainly of
Huizhou origin. A large number of Hakka people are also found in
Sarawak, particularly in the cities of Kuching and
Miri, where there is a notable population of Hakka people who speak the "Ho Poh" variant of Hakka. In
Sabah, most of the ethnic Chinese are of Hakka descent. In the 1990s, the Hakkas formed around 57% of the total ethnic Chinese population in Sabah. Hakka is the lingua franca among the Chinese in Sabah to such an extent that Chinese of other subgroups who migrate to Sabah from other states in Malaysia and elsewhere usually learn the Hakka dialect, with varying degrees of fluency. In 1882 the
North Borneo Chartered Company opted to bring in Hakka labourers from
Longchuan County, Guangdong. The first batch of 96 Hakkas brought to Sabah landed in
Kudat on 4 April 1883 under the leadership of Luo Daifeng (Hakka: Lo Tai Fung). In the following decades Hakka immigrants settled throughout the state, with their main population centres in
Kota Kinabalu (then known as Jesselton) and its surroundings (in the districts of
Tuaran,
Penampang,
Ranau,
Papar,
Kota Belud and to a lesser extent in
Kota Marudu), with a significant minority residing in
Sandakan (mainly ex-
Taiping revolutionists) and other large but smaller minority populations in other towns and districts, most notably in
Tawau,
Tenom,
Kuala Penyu,
Pitas,
Tambunan,
Lahad Datu,
Semporna,
Kunak,
Sipitang,
Beaufort,
Keningau and
Kudat. The British felt the development of North Borneo was too slow and in 1920 they decided to encourage Hakka immigration into Sabah. In 1901, the total Chinese population in Sabah was 13,897; by 1911, it had risen 100% to 27801. Hakka immigration began to taper off during World War 2 and declined to a negligible level in the late 1940s.
Indonesia in
Jakarta. Migration of Hakka people to Indonesia happened in several waves. The first wave landed in
Riau Islands such as in
Bangka Island and Belitung as tin miners in the 18th century. The second group of colonies were established along the
Kapuas River in
Borneo in the 19th century, predecessors to early Singapore residents. In the early 20th century, new arrivals joined their compatriots as traders, merchants and labourers in major cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, etc. Some research shows that the establishment of the Silk Road created commercial trade for the Hakka people in the south or along the way, and created conditions for overseas migration. The book "An Overview of Hakka Migration History: Where are you from?" published by My China Roots & CBA Jamaica mentions that Hakka people traded with caravans, stayed overseas to facilitate business, and their descendants became immigrants; places such as Indonesia, Kolkata, Toronto, and Jamaica still retain a long history of Hakka culture and organization. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Hakka people are sometimes known as
Khek, from the
Hokkien pronunciation
kheh. However, the use of the word 'Khek' is limited mainly to areas where the local Chinese population is mainly of Hokkien origin. In places where other Chinese subgroups predominate, the term 'Hakka' is still the more commonly used.
Bangka (in Indonesia) Hakka also live in Indonesia's largest
tin producing islands of
Bangka Belitung Islands province. They are the second largest ethnic group after
Malays. The Hakka population in the province is also the second largest in Indonesia after
West Kalimantan's and one of the highest percentages of Chinese living in Indonesia. The first group of Hakka in Bangka and Belitung reached the islands in the 18th century from Guangdong. Many of them worked as tin mining labourers. Since then, they have remained on the island along with the native Malay. Their situation was much different from those of Chinese and native populations of other regions, where legal cultural conflicts were prevalent from the 1960s until 1999, after which
Indonesian Chinese finally regained their cultural freedoms. Here they lived together peacefully and still practiced their customs and cultural festivals, while in other regions they were strictly banned by government legislation prior to 1999. Hakka on the island of Bangka spoke Hopo dialect mixed with Malay, especially in younger generations. Hakka spoken in Belinyu area in Bangka is considered to be standard.
West Kalimantan (in Indonesia) Hakka people in
Pontianak live alongside
Teochew-speaking Chinese. While the Teochews are dominant in the centre of Pontianak, the Hakka are more dominant in small towns along the
Kapuas River in the regencies of Sanggau, Sekadau and Sintang. Their Hakka dialect is originally Hopo, which was influenced by Teochew dialect and also has vocabulary from the local Malay and
Dayak tribes. The Hakka were instrumental in the
Lanfang Republic. The Hakka in this region are descendants of gold prospectors who migrated from China in the late 19th century. The Hakka in
Singkawang and the surrounding regencies of
Sambas,
Bengkayang,
Ketapang and Landak speak a different standard of Hakka dialect to the Hakkas along the Kapuas River. Originally West Borneo had diverse Hakka origins, but during the 19th century, a large number of people came from Jiexi, so many Hakkas in the region speak Hopo mixed with Wuhua and Huilai accents that eventually formed the dialect of Singkawang Hakka.
Jakarta (in Indonesia) Hakka people in Jakarta mainly have roots from
Meizhou, who came in the 19th century. Secondary migration of the Hakkas from other provinces like Bangka Belitung Islands and West Borneo came later.
Timor-Leste There was already a relatively large and vibrant Hakka community in East Timor before the 1975
Indonesian invasion. According to an estimate by the local Chinese Timorese association, the Hakka population of
Portuguese Timor in 1975 was estimated to be around 25,000 (including a small minority of other Chinese ethnicities from Macau, which like East Timor was a Portuguese colony). According to a book source, an estimated 700 Hakka were killed within the first week of invasion in
Dili alone. No clear numbers had been recorded since many Hakka had already escaped to neighbouring Australia. The recent re-establishment of Hakka associations in the country registered approximately 2,400 Hakka remaining, organised into some 400 families, including part-Timorese ones. The Timorese Hakka diaspora can currently be found in
Darwin,
Brisbane,
Sydney and
Melbourne in Australia; in Portugal; in Macau; and in other parts of the world in smaller numbers. They often are highly educated and many continue their education in either Taiwan or the People's Republic of China, while a majority of the younger generation prefer to study in Australia. The Australian government took some years to assess their claims to be genuine
refugees and not illegal immigrants, as partially related to the political situation in East Timor at the time. As Asian countries were neither willing to accept them as residents nor grant them political asylum to the Timorese in general, they were forced to live as
stateless persons for some time. Despite this condition, many Hakka had become successful, establishing restaurant chains, shops, supermarkets and import operations in Australia. Since
the independence of Timor-Leste in 2000, some Hakka families have returned and invested in businesses in the newborn nation.
South Asia India There used to be 1500 Hakkas largely at Tangra,Kolkata and Bombay, arriving after the great
British Raj violence and chaos. However, from the 1960s, after armed fighting broke out, there has been a steady migration to other countries, which accelerated in the succeeding decades. The majority moved to Britain and Canada, while others went to the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Austria and Sweden. The predominant dialect of Hakka in these communities is Meixian. Hakkas are the largest Chinese community in India after Chinese Cantonese people of Indian ancestry. During the time he held office in Kolkata until the late 2000s, Yap Kon Chung, the Hakka ambassador, protected and helped the Chinese residents in India. Specifically, during the Sino-Indian war of 1962, oppression of Sino-Indian residents accused of
Anti-Indian sentiment by the Indians was escalated. Yap then made appeals to Prime Minister Nehru to bridge a bond between the Indians and Chinese persons. During his office, he was also the principal at a highly regarded school as well as a political facilitator who helped many families migrate to other countries such as Britain, Canada, the United States and parts of Europe until he himself migrated to Toronto, Canada to join his family. Yap died surrounded by family on 18 April 2014, at the age of 97.
Africa South Africa Most Hakka people are from the Meixian area.
Mauritius The vast majority of Mauritian Chinese are Hakkas. Most Mauritian Hakkas who emigrated to Mauritius in the mid-1940s came from Northeastern Guangdong, especially from the Meizhou or Meixian region. In 2008, the total population of
Sino-Mauritian, consisting of Hakka and Cantonese, is around 35,000. As of 2025, local sources estamate that number has fallen to approximately 10,000.
Réunion Many
Chinese people in Réunion are of Hakka origin. They either came to
Réunion as
indentured workers or as voluntary migrants. In the mid-1970s, the Hakka Benevolent Association in San Francisco was founded by Tu Chung. The association has strong ties with the San Francisco community and offers scholarships to their young members. There are significant
Hakka American communities in
San Francisco,
San Jose,
Seattle and
Los Angeles. There are around 20,000 Taiwanese Hakkas in the United States.
Canada There are several Hakka communities across Canada. One group that embraces on Hakka culture in this diverse country is the Hakka Heritage Alliance. Also see Jamaica.
Jamaica Most
Chinese Jamaicans are Hakka; they have a long history in
Jamaica. Between 1854 and 1884, nearly 5,000 Hakkas arrived in Jamaica in three major voyages. The Hakkas seized the opportunity to venture into a new land, embracing the local language, customs and culture. During the 1960s and 1970s, substantial migration of Jamaican Hakkas to the US and Canada have occurred. The Hakkas in Jamaica came mainly from
Dongguan,
Huiyang and
Bao'an counties of Guangdong Province.
New Zealand There are people of Hakka descent in New Zealand.
Tahiti Hakka people first arrived in
Papara,
Tahiti in 1865. ==Population==