The Hakka People: Your Taiwanese child could be Hakka!

The Hakka people are one of the majority groups in China and are
a sub group of the Han Chinese. They predominantly originally
presided in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian China.
The origination of the Hakka people is still a mystery and
contested to this day.
The Hakka People have over time, migrated to not only several
provinces in China, but also to many other countries such as
Australia, Canada, United States and Parts of Europe. Their successful
migration and acclamation to their new surroundings
despite the many challenges he Hakkas faced, highlights their strength
as a people and culture making them a substantial influence
on Chinese history by providing key revolutionary, political, and military
leaders to the chinese culture both in China and overseas,
forever changing the face of Chinese history.
As the Hakka moved to new territories, where Punti did not reside.
The Hakkas became the 'Punti' population for these areas
over time. Because of the Hakka's lack of desire to conform to the Qing
dynasty, by refusing to bind their women's feet, the Hakka
people were displaced and persecuted for their culture which differed
greatly from the Manchu. Thus over the past 40 years, because
of transitions in China, the Hakka, along with the Hoklo and Shanghai
people, have been 'localized' and adopted as Punti identity.
Occupationally the Hakka people found their beginnings based in
agriculture along with 95% of China in that day and time.
Finding work hard to find their lack of employment lead them to other
Naturalistic and earthy endeavors such as folk lore art,
music, and literary writings. Their new endeavor as a people proved
successful in the famed folk lore songs "mountain song"
and "eight tones".
The culture of the Hakka's not only offered wonderfully new and
different art and music but also an entirely different cooking
style was introduced by the Hakkas. Their keen knowledge of foods and
how to preserve their natural flavors by cooking them
just so so proved valuable to their people not only for sustenance and
individuality but also became famous, but amongst
another nation. The United Kingdom's Chinese restaurants, unlike the
U.S. serving Cantonese style Chinese food, they serve
Hakka Chinese style food. Most of the United Kingdom's Chinese
restaurants are owned by none other than Hakka families.
Formosa Island, more commonly known as Taiwan, also finds itself a
home to the Hakka people. Although the Hakka people
in Taiwan, makes up 15% of the population, the Hakka's still find
themselves being persecuted and prefer to reside in the hills
in hopes of escaping the glares and stares of the Non Hakka villagers.
The Hakkas in Taiwan reside mainly in the mountainous
regions and hilly regions of Taiwan, but are also found in Ping Tung
(where Jo hails from), Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung counties.
The years have been kind to the Hakkas however. Despite their
persecution and differences in culture, the Hakka's have made
several contributions to the Chinese History. One key Hakka decedent,
which was a failed Qing Scholar and once apart of the
Qing dynasty, tried to make his claim to fame by self proclaiming
himself as Jesus' brother and spreading his own version of
the Christian faith across the Southern provinces of China.
The missionaries of course disavoweled Hong for his "new religion".
Hong's teachings however, were accepted and the movement eventually
formed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Taiping Tian Guo).
This "movement" also came close to single handedly toppling the Qing
Dynasty and in turn contributing to the military failure of
said Qing Dynasty.
Other Contributions of the Hakka people politically, artistically,
and in all other venues has also proven the Hakka people to
be quite valuable in many counts to Chinese history on the mainland
and also across the globe. Just to name a few Prominent
contributors which hail from the Hakka people:
Chen Yuchang, Shi Dakai, and Li Xuicheng contributed politically.
Guo Moruo, Han Suyin, and Luo Xianglin were literary
figures.
Alex Man, Luo Dayou, S.H.E. and Shino Jin which made their fame
through entertainment.
Lin Fengmian, Hong Huang Yin, and Hsn Mu-Jheng were famous for
their musicality. Mu-Jheng was the composer of
"Mountain Song".
The Hakka architecture is also not too far removed from it's
Naturalistic roots. As it offers a new yet simple design, using
mainly circles and squares for the main structures. The Circles and
squares, not only serve as multi family living quarters but
also as a type of fortress to keep unwanted guests out and all the
inhabitants of the structure safe and secure. These structures
are Tu Lou.


Since finding our son Josiah, we have learned that he has a blood
deficiency called G6PD, Glucose 6 Phosphate
dehydrogenase deficiency. This deficiency basically attacks the red
blood cells. Making the red blood cells die quicker than a normal
healthy body. How does this connect to the Hakka people?
The Hakka people are known for eating one of the main items
that the sufferers of G6PD must avoid, which is Fava Beans,
or any bean known to man. Since the Hakkas have such a fine cuisine,
which is heavily inindated with Fava beans, when one
of their children is known to have this, they will usually seek out a
family to adopt the child. There are Four levels to the
deficiency, 1 being Ground Zero, and 4 being the best case scenario.
As you may imagine, level one means that the amount
of possible triggers for the deficiency to push the carrier into anemia,
of course is higher. Meaning that more things will need
to be avoided by the carrier. The amount and severity of the deficiencies
reaction to a trigger will become lower or null and void
the farther away from Ground Zero your numbers are or in lamen terms,
the higher your red blood cell count is, the better off YOU
are if a "trigger" is introduced into your system. The level and numbers
also dictate how long your red blood cells will
last and also how long or invasive a trigger will or can be on said system
if it is introduced for any reason to the carrier's body.
If removing the trigger does not make the anemic reaction relent, then
a blood transfusion may be the only viable route to be had.
Right now Jo sits on about a 2-3 level. Meaning he will have to avoid all
sulpha drugs, all quinine drugs, possibly tylenol and most
pain killers, All beans known to man, and possibly but not likely avoid soy
products including hidden soy product such as Soy
lethicin and Guar Gum. The carriers of said deficiency usually live
very whole and long lives however, usually without incedent. It is
said that most carriers "effected" by the G6PD are male and that 11%
of Asian males are carriers of the deficiency. They are rarely a
level one however. This does not all mean that this deficiency is indeed
indicative to the Hakka people, just more likely to not
have a normal life amongst a culture that eats the main triggers consistently.

Some Hakka Links to See: