Hakka TV and Hakka culture

huangchunbin

Hakka TV and Hakka culture
Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang
Research Fellow, Academia Sinica Institute of European and American Studies
Member, The Taipei Society

Hakka TV's commencement of broadcasting by is no mere matter of yet another TV station coming onto the air. From the standpoint of the Hakka ethnic community, granted that it is an occasion for joy at having won a modicum of respect and affirmation from society, it is also sad for being almost totally unprecedented. From the standpoint of Taiwanese as a whole, those who affirm the value of a multilingual, multicultural society will likewise rejoice at the birth of a TV station which represents a disadvantaged ethnic group. It is hoped that this television station can continue to grow and mature and, further, even spur the birth of additional Hakka-language television stations or the production of Hakka-language programs by other, already-existing TV stations, genuinely serving to promote vitalization of the Hakka language.

As implied by the name "Hakka" (客家) - literally meaning "alien family" - the Hakka ethnic group is one which historically has migrated relatively frequently, sojourning here and there for a period of time. In the process, it is only to be expected that they have encountered social ostracism and bullying, for which reason they have developed a high degree of adaptability.

In past times in Taiwan, the first lesson in adaptation to be learned by the Hakkas was the skill of hiding their identity, pretending to belong to the majority Fukienese-ancestry group or the more recent mainland-immigrant community, and striving to mix in with them. Consequently, not only have some of them, after such protracted pretense, lost the ability to speak their own original language, but some, after several generations, have even lost track of their Hakka ancestry.

Such forgetfulness itself has constituted a sort of adaptive capacity, inasmuch as continual remembrance of their original identity and language would have posed an obstacle to survival-oriented adaptation. I've come upon quite a few Hakkas who, having left rural and small-town Hakka communities to take up residence in cities, say that it is much better to be able to speak Hoklo (Fukienese Amoy dialect) or Mandarin since, in past times at least, the ability to speak authentic Hoklo or Mandarin has been critical to the success of their businesses. To the contrary, the ability to speak authentic, fluent Hakka language has not been of any help in their efforts to adapt to and survive in their newly adopted urban-Taiwan home environments.

Many transplanted Hakka urbanites have tended to conceal their Hakka identities, some of them going to extremes to keep it secret, in great fear of being discovered by those around them. As to what exactly they fear, perhaps it is a matter of general sensitivity to long-enduring ethnic prejudices, or perhaps it is due to close associates' encounters with discrimination. In some cases it is rooted in deeply-embedded impressions, while in other cases it is the product of firsthand experience.

Thus it is that Hakka urbanites have often been referred to as "invisible people," not willing to "come out" unless absolutely necessary - even to the extent that Hakkas who come into contact with each other in the course of their daily lives are commonly unaware of their shared identities. As a result, the Hakkas seem relatively lacking in self-esteem and self-confidence with respect to their ethnic identities - which is particularly evident in the case of those who have moved away from Hakka-predominant regions to live in big cities.

Given the traditional fuzziness of the Hakkas' sense of group identity, after the passage of several generations, many of them no longer even realize that they are Hakkas, let alone have any sense of group cohesion. Under the stimulation of democratic electoral politics in recent years, however, ethnic group consciousness has gradually awakened, and there is now a growing awareness among various ethnic groups of their political clout. In this connection, the Hakkas may, on the one hand, be described as Taiwan's third-largest ethnic group, smaller only than the Fukienese-ethnic majority and the recent influx of immigrants from the mainland and their offspring; at the same time, they may alternately be described as Taiwan's second-smallest ethnic group, larger only than the aboriginal Taiwanese community.

Regardless, for the most part, the Hakkas' ethnic self-awareness is relatively weak, in addition to which Hakka politician affiliations are quite splintered, scattered among all of the various political factions. Consequently, the Hakka people have been unable to forge a coherent independent political force, continuing to be an amorphous grouping waiting to be manipulated by already-existing factional forces. To put it another way, the Hakkas have historically been a passive "object," still unable to become an active "subject." For the Hakkas to become a self-possessed, self-driving group on the one hand depends upon a conducive confluence of historical forces. On the other hand, it depends upon the Hakkas' own self-starting diligence.

The establishment of Hakka TV at this juncture in time, objectively speaking, cannot absolutely dissociate itself from the influences of political-party rivalry and the upcoming presidential election campaign. And although it may become a vehicle for manipulating the Hakka electorate's voting direction and even for splitting up the Hakka community politically, it may nevertheless become a mechanism for further coalescing a collective Hakka consciousness and enhancing the Hakkas' self-esteem and self-confidence. It all depends upon the actions of the Hakka people themselves, and we must wait to see whether the Hakka people have the will to seize this historic opportunity.

As one of Taiwan's mother tongues, the Hakka language has long been the victim of suppression (and self-suppression), having consequently become primarily a language limited within the sphere of private social and family communications. Only rarely has it been used as a medium for public discussion (as for example, in election-time political rallies or in representative assembly proceedings in predominantly Hakka communities). Consequently, after a protracted period of disuse in public venues, the Hakka language has inexorably atrophied, becoming dislocated from modern-day concepts and discussion of national public affairs. This problem has become so severe that there exist no places outside the family where Hakka can regularly be spoken and heard.

With younger generations speaking Hakka less and less and having no opportunities to hear it spoken publicly - which needless to say deprives them of the chance to imbibe Hakka traditional culture - Hakka language and culture are facing a very grave crisis. Hopefully, Hakka TV can gradually make up for these inadequacies. This of course will be a long-term "remedial-education" process. Hence the question of whether Hakka TV operations can survive over the long term is a matter of critical importance.

Regardless of the motivation for Hakka TV's establishment, I feel that we ought to welcome it and look forward to its future development. Although its current programming has been described as still being of crude quality, and as having a strong political-party coloration, it at least represents a starting point for ongoing progress. In this connection, I offer the following several humble opinions.

(1) Hakka TV programming should use language which is as natural and lively as possible, employing popularly used vocabulary to the greatest extent possible. Due to long-term suppressive pressures, the Hakka language is understandably perhaps lacking in terminologies that can adequately express various modern-day concepts, which must therefore be translated from Mandarin. We may often note that Hakka news transcripts are full of unnatural, directly translated phraseologies, which even Hakkas with solid Hakka-language ability have trouble understanding.

(2) The Hakka dialects used in the four Taiwanese counties where Hakka populations are concentrated (Taoyuan, Hinchu, Miaoli and Hualien) and in Overseas Chinese and mainland communities all count as commonly understood dialects whose differences pose no problems for Hakka speakers. Hakka TV programs can therefore employ a mix of domestic and foreign Hakka dialects, or different programs can use different dialects, and it is inadvisable to designate a single dialect from the very beginning as the mandatory standard.

(3) Hakka TV can immediately start up call-in programs. On the one hand, such programs will enable their audiences to discuss public affairs in Hakka language and uplift political standards in predominantly Hakka-ethnic communities. On the other hand, they will serve as channels for gathering information on Hakka-language phraseologies and customary usage from the entire Hakka community, as well as for soliciting Hakka community-wide opinions on Hakka TV programming.

(4) A definite distance must be maintained between Hakka TV management on the one hand and, on the other hand, the Hakka Commission mandated to oversee its operations as well as the Executive Yuan and the ruling party. They should all keep their hands off of Hakka TV, adhering to the principle of freedom of the media and that of withdrawal of political parties, governments and the military from media operations, thereby providing Hakka TV with the breathing room it requires for its unfettered development.

Edited by Tina Lee/Translated by James Decker

from:http://www.etaiwannews.com/Forum/2003/08/25/1061898123.htm