dc.description.abstract | The inner diversity of the four groups, Minnan, Hakka, Waishein and Aborigine, are not included in the classification of the ethnic groups of Taiwan nowadays. So a general method to view each group as internally homogenized cannot make the existing phenomenon clear. For example, the Waishein-Hakkas who immigrated from the provinces of mainland after 1945 are both excluded out of the research on the Waishein and Hakkas.
Researches on the history of the migration of Hopo-Hakka-Migrants indicate that wars and natural calamities are the push forces that compel them away from home. We also know, by observing the condition of their adaptation, that the migration network is not only the inducement of their arrival at Taiwan, but also the social support of their settlement. The preservation of the Hakka language and the special food-culture of pestled-tea, not only show that they have a common hometown, but also strengthen the consciousness of their Hakka identity and keep the vitality of Hakka culture.
The Surname association and fellow provincials’ society form the cohesive force of the migrants, actively helping them to adapt the local life and strengthening the sense of identity. The worship of the Three Mountain Kings, whose ancestral temple locates in Jie-yang, Guang Dong province, is the focus of the belief of the migrants. The Tsen Won-yea Ritual on every Lantern Festival, which symbolizes the Three Mountain Kings’ inspection tour around the boarder, is a public memorial activity of the Hopo-Hakka-Migrants. They assemble in the ritual, full of vigor, and the collective memory of the homeland reappears. The belief and ritual become the media of the integration of the natives and indigenization of the Hopo-Hakka-Migrants.
The most important in the discussion above is that the language, food-culture, the Surname Association, the fellow provincials’ society, the belief on the Three Mountain Kings and the tsen won-yea ritual strengthen the collective memory through first-hand experience, and then the collective memory forms a cohesive force and strengthens the consciousness of identity.
The Hopo-Hakka-Migrants have the ethnic identity of both Hakka and Waishein groups. The identity of Hakka group provides a shortcut for the self-supporting Hopo-Hakka-Migrants to integrate into the local life during the process of getting the group identification and indigenization.
As to the ethnic identification, the Hopo-Hakka-Migrants think themselves Hakka, not Waishein people. It is much more difficult for the Waishein people to integrate into the local society because the protection of state power. The Waishein people, though diversified in the inner group identification, think themselves outcomers. The Hopo-Hakka-Migrants are consistent with the Waishein people in their national identity. Both of them have the strong consciousness of idea of homeland and the identity of mainlanders. They do not consider themselves Taiwanese, like other native people. So this research, as a remedy for the defect of homogenizing the Hakka or Waishein groups, will focus on the double identity of the Hopo-Hakka-Migrants.
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