The Fate of the Hakka in Tahiti
By Jimmy
Ly
Papeete Tahiti
October 31st 2003
MY FAMILY
Gnai hé yit tsak hakka gnin.
I am a Hakka.
Wo shi ke chia ren.
Je suis un Chinois Hakka.
I have never ceased to lay a claim on my belonging to my hakka roots. I know
for sure that I am not a Polynesian and though I hold a French passport and a
French identity card, there is no ambiguity that I am not either a Frenchman for
that matter. But France is my country of citizenship, the country where I have
studied for more the eight years and French is the language I communicate
within my own community and with the Polynesians in Tahiti. Moreover, my
two sons went through and accomplished their time in the French military
service and therefore they can justify outright that they belong to France and
that their citizenship is not obtained deceitfully. But I also know my days as a
Hakka is numbered because the hakka community in French Polynesia year
after year is inching away from its roots.
True, I am an oddity in my community. But though my hair was blond, my eyes
are green, and my skin is fair, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind about my
belonging to the Hakka for at least three generations. To my knowledge, my
parents, my grand parents and my great grand parents are Chinese of Hakka
origin.
My parents are born in Tahiti but all my grand parents came from the province
fo Kwantung. My paternal grand parents come from the village of Xia Gong
Tan and my maternal grand parents come the district of Si Ka Pu in Longang.
Probably my direct ancestors lived in the villages of Si Ka Pu and Xia Gong
Tan around the city of Longgang, in the Guanzhou province, about one hour
drive from Shenzhen. In 1998, with some members of my family, I tried to go
back to Xia Gong Tan. But because ithe journey was probably ill-prepared and
in fact decided on the spot, the trip has not been a success and ended up very
much in frustration.
I myself am a second generation Tahiti-born Chinese, totally educated in French
speaking schools. I never attended a Chinese school whatsoever, probably
because my parents, like many others, felt that since we live in a country other
than China, it would be wise to study the language of the land we are living in.
Also especially those in business or running food stores found it imperative to
have at least a member of the family speaking French in order to deal with the
local administration. So their choice was not only cultural but was also founded
on economic terms.
It was also made in concordance with the catholic religion which made
tremendous progress among the Hakka community after the second world war.
Although they have not quite abandoned their own gods like Kanti, they have
embraced with enthusiasm the teachings of christian religion. Moreover, though
the level of instruction was not bad in local chinese schools, more and more
parents felt they had to send their offspring to religious schools which were far
more disciplined and more efficient in terms of success in final examinations
than the public schools. Their responsible attitude explains their popularity
among chinese parents.
Educated in France and in the United States, along with some former students
who were also fortunate to go study in France, I have founded the WEN HUA
(Wen Fa as it is written in French) association in Tahiti. When we came back to
Tahiti after finishing school, we made a cruel and terrifying observation. We
saw our own culture dying of a slow death. And so we decided to do some
action. First we decided to write a book about the story of our own community
though in French and also revive the traditions like the Chinese New Year. In
these two actions we have been most successful. The Red book as it is called
affectionately, though now 25 year old is the first account to be written by
Chinese tu sang about the Chinese in French Polynesia. And to this day it is the
only one.
My situation as a second generation chinese born in Tahiti is very common
among the Chinese community in Tahiti except for the fact I have been
educated in France and in the United States where I graduated with a bachelor
degree in French whereas many of my friends never went to study overseas
because the parents could only affford to send one student. This unfortunate
situation has caused much jealousy among brethren. Along with the founding of
the WEN HUA association, which goal was to promote and reestablih the
preeminence fo Chinese culture among our community, my notoriety in French
Polynesia comes from the fact that I have written three books in French. Their
main message is mainly that our Chinese heritage and our culture are dying. In
the three books, I urge the members of my community to study the means and to
concretize actions in order to save the foundations of our chineseness and
hakkaness for that matter.
1- “Hakka en Polynésie” the first book is to awaken the community about our
cultural losses
2- “Bonbon soeurette et Paï coco” tells the story of the making of a Polynesian
Chinese namely myself educated in his island and « forced » to go study abroad
in France before returning in Tahiti. In Paris he met some Chinese students in
Chinese associations where he was looked down upon in a disparaging sense
because he did not know how to speak mandarin and could not write any
Chinese characters. It was the first time I have encountered contempt upon my
Hakka origin.
3- “Adieu l’étang aux chevrettes” is written as a letter to my last son not to
forget his own cultural heritage alongside with an account of a disappointing
journey to the author’s ancestors village near Long Gong: called Xia Gong Tan.
So the title “Farewell to Xia Gong Tan”
Although the community now seems to be conscious enough of the magnitude
of the cultural plight, this awareness does not mean they have adopted dynamic
steps to alleviate the problem. Most of the time they have been very relectant to
invest into cultural policies or take voluntary steps in order to cure the sorry
state. The economic success of the Chinese community in Tahiti does not
translate well, if at all into the construction of new schools, the venue of
language professors to teach hakka or calligraphy, the establishment of new
structures or classes.
TAHITI AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS
I live in Tahiti, an island in the Pacific Ocean in between the countries of New
Zealand and South America.
Tahiti, my country of birth, belongs to the archipelago of the Society Islands
which belong to the greater French Polynesia which comprises of 5 small
archipelagos of 218 islands in the South Pacific ocean.
The Windward islands or “Iles du vent” including Tahiti and the capital Papeete
The Leeward islands or « Iles sous le vent »
The Tuamotus
The Australes
The Marquesas
The Society islands form the two most important archipelagos and are
composed of the Windward and the Leeward islands where live
approximatively three quarters of the 250.000 inhabitants of French Polynesia.
Topographically the Society islands are high islands of volcanic origin
surrounded by a coral reef forming a lagoon.
Though far the usual maritime routes, one can easily see on a global map that,
Papeete, the administrative capital of Tahiti, was a natural stopover for the ships
following the line Hong Kong-Sydney-Lima- San Francisco. That’s why we can
follow easily the trail of many chinese immigrants toward the East along this
very popular maritime route.
Because of the natural situation of the islands in the South Pacific added to the
exceptional beauty of our lagoons, it is no wonder that today our economy is
focused for the most part on activities related to the sea like tourism, the pearl
industry and the fishing industry.
The tourism while suffering quite a lot of the consequences of September 11 th
has seen many new projects coming out. Quite a few of these new international
five stars hotels are privately owned by hakka capital.
The black pearl industry has been dominated by the name of Tahiti hakka–born
Robert Wan, called the “Emperor of the pearl”. He himself accounts for more
than half of the entire production in French Polynesia. But alongside with him,
less important but chinese producers are also supplying quality production in
the market and tend to have less problems with their production as their farms
are much smaller than those of the more famous known Wan production which
sells to international markets in Tokyo Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In the fishing industry some Hakka chinese has made some foray in the fishing
industry but tend to be a small participation compared to the Polynesians who
receive financial support from the territory.
So the Hakka Polynesians are very much present in the economic picture of
French Polynesia.
THE POPULATION
The actual population of French Polynesia is comprised of :
Whites who are called popaa by the native Polynesians. Since the departure of
the atomic testing center called the Centre d’expérimentation du Pacifique,
(C.E.P), they are found mainly in the administration, education and less in the
army and the police.
Demi-Tahitians or Half Polynesians with other mixed blood. Depending on the
circumstances they identify themselves as Tahitians or French. They can be
fluent in Tahitian and French
Tahitians are native people with predominantly Polynesian blood. They speak
Tahitian language by choice and are not very fluent with French although the
situation is evolving very rapidly
Chinese which include pure Chinese (they are less and less) and mixed ChineseTahitian and today French ancestry.
The actual population according to the latest census of 2003 is about 250.000.
But since ethnicity cannot be taken into account because it is forbidden by law
to mention it in statistics, we can only speculate that the Hakka people are
about 12 000. If you add the half blood whether half polynesian or half
occidental, we have a grand total of perhaps 20 000 to 25 000 of people with
mixed Chinese blood.
People with some Chinese ancestry sometimes consider themselves chinese but
for the majority of them many do not consider themselves as chinese. It all
depends on the education they have received in their childhood. They tend to
stick with the first cultural environment they have been exposed to. Seldom you
will see half polynesian and half chinese speak chinese. Although those who
can speak the language do it remarkably well
Today we have more and more mixed marriages between the hakkas and other
blood whether occidental or Polynesian. The offspring of which have a hard
time to decide whether they are Chinese or not Chinese.However because
Polynesian people are very tolerant, these children do not suffer too much of a
loss of identity, and even when their identity is becoming blurred they tend to
adapt themselves to the situation in a very cool manner, calling themselves
Polynesians in a geographical sense when they are at a loss to define
themselves.
We can see that the cultural problems of the hakka community in Tahiti stem
from sheer numbers in the population of French Polynesia, vide the following
statistics :
Polynesians and Half Polynesians : 80%
Whites or Popaa : 13%
Chinese and Half Chinese : 7%
Since the immigration has been stopped effectively since 1947, the hakka
community has been thriving on the economic prosperity of the island with
however no exterior cultural resourcing. No wonder that our cultural identity is
seeking into oblivion.
ORIGINS OF THE HAKKA IMMIGRATION IN TAHITI
Contrary to the admitted myth, the current Chinese population in Tahiti does not
come from the fabled workers of the Stewart sugar cane plantation established
in 1865 in the fields of Atimaono in Tahiti. In fact when the plantation went
bankrupt, the majority of the Chinese coolies returned to China. Only 320
workers chose to remain in the islands and married with local Polynesians
mainly because there were not any Chinese brides available. Chinese women
arrived in the Polynesian islands around 1904, year of registration of all aliens
and of the first known census.
Most of the hakka community in Tahiti originated from successive waves of
immigration during the years of 1909 1928. The years of intense immigration
started from 1909 to 1914. It stopped for a while and resumed from 1921 to
1928, probably following the 1911 revolution. But again in these migrations,
you have to take into account the number of Chinese who went back to their
native country whether they have succeeded to become rich or not. All in all
this was a period of intense migration back and forth China.
Political turmoil like the 1911 revolution, or natural calamities, floods and
famines were evidently the factors which lead the hakka population of the
Guandong province to seek for a more decent livelihood far abroad. They all
derived mainly rural villages from the Guandong province. Very hardy and
enterprising, they arrived in the South Seas islands via Sydney. But as it was
mentionned earlier, in the beginning, it was supposed to be a temporary
departure from the native soil in order to earn enough money to return to the
homeland with at least some capital gain.
Back and forth from China was the familiar and traditional pattern of chinese
immigration in Polynesia and many of the immigrants in French Polynesia have
their mind set to return to the homeland one day. Because the conditions of
living were barely adequate, it was difficult for most of them to settle in a
French country where they were considered administratively as aliens. There
were also other reasons why the chinese immigrants wanted to return to their
home soil. Not every one of them had achieve economic success and most of
them have left their families back home. That’why, following the end of World
war II, in the year of 1947, about a thousand of immigrants, mostly cantonese,
returned to Hong Kong and settled back in Guandong in their native
villages.The reasons most often cited were the lack of institutional facilities to
maintain the cultural heritage like schools but mostly it was the desire to give
the children a formal chinese education and to teach the language.
After this episode the chinese immigration to French Polynesia was forbidden
for Chinese nationals and therefore was stopped. The local chinese community
which became by force in majority hakka lived in a political and administrative
limbo due to the international situation between China and Taïwan until the year
of 1964, date of the recognition of the Popular Republic of China by Geneal De
Gaulle president of France. Today, thanks to the better means of communication
and the softening of the mainland policies, many local chinese have made the
journey to go back back to see their native villages and sometimes wwith
mixed results with mixed result. As for me for example, it has been a
disappointing experience because there was no more related family to welcome
me. Everything has disappeared and the scenery has completely changed. No
more romantic rice fields or villages but a very urbanized and new environment
with numerous factories aligned one after another.
CITIZENSHIP
In 1973, following the intense lobbying efforts from the “tu sang” reunited in a
caucus, called Union Pour le Devenir de la Polynésie Française, (U.D.P.F.), the
French government in Paris under the presidency of Georges Pompiddou issued
the decree 73-42 of january 9th of the same year, under which all Chinese born
in French Polynesia are now French citizens with the right of vote, although the
right to acquire the land is still somewhat restricted.
The first consequence of this important legal step is the official recognition of
the Hakkas as full members of the polynesian society which lead therefore
toward a better integration and participation in the political, sociological and
economic life of French Polynesia. As they now had the same rights as normal
French citizens, they could intervene in the conduct of the political fate of
French Polynesia through their vote in elections notably for the territorial
assembly.
Though progress was slow, the Hakka Chinese of French Polynesia even made
some incursions in domains that were not open to them before. Because the
young Chinese were now joining the French army, they were no longer
considered as second class citizens. And as such they started to postulate for
places and jobs in the administrative body of French Polynesia. Though the
integration was difficult in the beginning and even frowned upon, one may even
say that racism was rampant. Thanks to the stubborn efforts of the elders and
sometimes the suffering of the pioneers, the candidacies of today youngest
hakkas in the local administration are accepted on the same basis as the native
applicants and they are working efficiently alongside with their polynesian
counterparts
Also the naturalization and the granting of French nationality to the hakka
Chinese prompted them to create their own political parties.At that time the
majority of them felt that their interests and their voices would have more
weight and consideration and would be taken into account if they have their
own representatives at the local assembly. In the beginning of the electoral
battles, they were so successful that they have elected two representatives at the
territorial assembly. However truly to hakka character, they did not join their
forces together. Gradually, with the augmentation of the size of the polynesian
population, division and dissension among the chinese community sealed the
fate of these two parties which depended too much on ethnic votes and
unfortunately they disappeared in the nineties not before they made their impact
felt in the political realm of the Polynesian assembly. More often than not, the
two representatives have been praised for the high quality of their work and
interventions in the parliament.
These past few years with the emergence of a dominant party, in order to get a
political representation, the hakka Chinese had a difficult choice to make: either
join their forces with minor opposition local polynesian parties or try its luck
with the dominant one at the risk od being dominated and completely diluted. In
spite of the risks, the latter line was chosen by the majority and with much
difficulty but with much work and luck, they also succeeded in placing two
chinese representatives of the highest quality, one of them was even elected at
the vice presidency of the assembly.
On the other hand by successfully contracting alliance with the dominant party,
many local Chinese have been elected as full members of the highly regarded
city hall council of Papeete where their influence was much felt for the better
good of the capital, the mayor of which is half Chinese.
Moreover the very important and actual minister of Finances has been chosen
among the elected chinese members of the ruling party. To this day, he is still
holding in office in the very difficult job of managing the French Polynesia
financial budget. He is being helped in this unenviable chore by the financial
adviser in charge of the territorial budget who is also Chinese.
But the success of the Chinese in integrating the public administration in Tahiti
has also its drawbacks. For example, in order to balance the budget, very often
they have to elaborate and propose the unpopular fiscal measures in the
territorial assembly. Of course the business community at large and especially
Chinese always find these measures discriminatory and unfair. Also a
successful candidate who has been chosen by the President of French Polynesia
to a ministry has to prove he is up to the task and more satisfactory results are
demanded and expected from his part than from his polynesian counterparts, so
much that adversely he has to prove himself to be tougher upon his own kins
than the Polynesians.
Many examples of this kind illustrate also the plight of Chinese successfully
integrating the French and local administration. The most exemplary case is
with the customs department at the international airport of Papeete where
incoming passengers had to declare goods at their arrival. Hakka people are
likely to be subject to more control than the other passengers by their own kins,
as a proof to their superiors that they are not showing more indulgence to their
kins.
As for the near future with a new statute for French Polynesia to be voted by the
French parliament, we are afraid to predict that the future evolution does not
spell anything good for the small and proprietary political parties. Will there be
anymore any representative of chinese origin at the local assembly when
tougher laws will be passed limiting at 10% the lower limit of votes a party has
to obtain in order to joint the territory parliament ? This remain to be seen. But
it would be a very tough challence indeed lyiong in front of the party leaders.
THE CHINESE SURNAME
Every Chinese knows the importance of the surname in fixing one’s identity
among the many different groups composing the population of a country. For
example, traditionally the bond of kinship is so strong that it is incestuous for a
couple sharing the same surname to marry. But in order to obtain French
citizenship, the French administration asked the chinese applicant that their
chinese surname be changed in a way to sound more french.
Very few succeeded to keep intact and undamaged their chinese surname, for
example, the LY family managed to keep their name more or less accurate with
a french phonetic translation ranging from Li to Lee or Lit and Ly. Although we
have seen further curious transformations to the likes of Lissau, Lissant, Lichon:
this could well be explained by the administrative clerk using the surname and
the last name bonded together to make the new names registered in a French
fashion. But the main reason behinf this was the avowed franch policy to
eradicate the chineseness in the surname in ordre to facilitate the integration of
the chinese community into the polynesian society .
On the other hand some researchers speculated that sometimes the Chinese
themselves may have welcomed and agreed to this pattern of transformation,
because maybe they wanted to show their desire of integration and their
willingness to be assimilited. And this added to the errors in writing the first
name by the local administration added to the surname to form a global
surname, all hakka surnames have been changed. And so ethnic surnames have
been replaced by their french sounding phonetic versions and sometimes by
french names outright with no relation whatsoever to the original surname.This
may have caused many problems of recognition among the tch’in tch’it even
leading to psychological and sometimes professional medical care. Because
concept of filiation or tch’in tch’it are forgotten and replaced by the vague
occidental concept of cousinship, we had some cases of misalliances fortunately
which had been stopped before the marriage
Today thanks to the work of many associations, there is a renewal and a
resurgence of the concept of the clan according to the siang, especially at the
moment of the two ka san.Thanks to computer programming, many families
have even embarked into the creation of a new genealogy. Apparently some
young members of extended families are feeling the urge to put down on paper
the origin of their relationship with other kin, so they can have something
tangible to transmit to their children whether they are of hakka descent or not.
THE LANGUAGE
Tahiti is a former french colony. Therefore the official and administrative
language is French, although most of the Polynesians speak their native dialects
which are slighly different depending on the archipelagos.All chinese schools
were closed in 1964 which is another facet of the french governement policy to
integrate the chinese with the polynesian.
As such all the Chinese children had to follow a french curriculum through
public or private schools while the the chinese ones were deserted by their own
students. Because the parents are following closely their studies, the children of
hakka origin are for most of them very successful. Somme of them even went to
study overseas in France and the United States and graduated from the highest
technological schools in France like Ecole Polytechnique, Mines, or Ecole
Centrale, the University of California Berkeley or even Columbia University. In
my opinion, their schlarly success is closely related to the hakka values the
families are still holding in high esteem.
Contrary to the fourth or fifth generation chinese born in French Polynesia, the
second generation can still speak or understand a little hakka, whereas the
former do not speak and hear at all. So much that they tend to evacuate and
obliterate the problem by saying they are polynesians. Although they do not
know what content to put inside this word.They survive as hakka by still
keeping the family as the base of community relationships and by holding
strong on some traditions or customs like the ching ming called here KA SAN.
Chinese is now studied as a foreign language in French high schools. Very few
young people can speak hakka with the exception fo those pursuing at school a
major in languages. These can speak mandarin fluently after a few stays in the
mainland or in Taiwan.The closing of the chinese schools is a factor but most
important the grand parents have failed for most of them to speak hakka to their
grand children. On the other hand even those who have succeeded to speak
hakka in their childhood have abandonned hakka due to the intense social
pressure in schools. So much that they are almost ashamed to speak the few
words of hakka they have learned at home. The usual joke is that the youngsters
not only do not speak but they do not even know to curse in Hakka.
All the associations have a hard time to establish Chinese speaking schools due
to the lack of qualified professors and a valid chinese curriculum interesting
enough to attact young people to speak hakka or mandarin. Moreover they have
to compete with other interests like learning music, local or classical dance,
martial arts: all these are often provided on Saturday morning where regular
classes are still held in high schools. So language is the area where the
community is feeling the loss most evidently.
THE FUTURE OF THE HAKKA COMMUNITY IN TAHITI
Wil there be anymore Hakkas in ten years from now? That is the formidable
question that the Hakka community in Tahiti will have to answer if its members
want to survive in an environment which is becoming less and less hakka and
more and more polynesian. Although ethnic Chinese still do well in economic
and political arena, they do not seem to quite aware of the identity and cultural
problems prefering concentrating to more mundane affairs.
Erosion in our chinese roots is first reflected in the decline of the traditional
chinese associations. To preserve their past identity without reaching out to the
new generations means death. And yet to carry out necessary reforms means
also a form of dilution which could mean also death. Although revitalization is
felt today in the resurgence of the clans of same siang which have become more
dynamic. But they lack financial means and are too restricted in their recruiting.
Attracting young members of the same siang is another major difficulty of these
associations. Also they only come alive during the two ka san and are dormant
the rest of the year.
Because all the Chinese schools are closed and because French and local
tahitian dialect are spoken more than hakka, Chinese, which is now studied as a
foreign language and not learnt at home, is being more and more abandoned
whether through lack of choice or voluntarily. Even mandarin is taught only on
a parochial and french school basis. Hakka is not transmitted any more to the
children and in mixed families, especially those of french and chinese mix,
French is the natural language of communication at home along with the
language, a new type of education is being implemented. Children are now
taught to be independent and self reliant in the occidental mode. Although
individualisme does not connote necessarily selfishness or an uncaring attitude
toward elders, it does not stress on a communautarian attitude or values such as
filial piety.
As for myself and some second or third year generation Chinese, we still feel
that we are Chinese, yet we feel that a diffuse sense of loss of identity has
occured, especially with those of fifth or six generation born in Tahiti. Younger
generations born in the 70s or 80s do not have a cultural affinity with China and
its culture, because they have no personal recollections or memories of their
ancestors country. This is the reason why so many young Chinese relate their
lineage solely to the grand parents buried in the Chinese cemetary in Tahiti and
not to any kind of lineage from China or elsewhere.
Although traditional festivals are still celebrated like the Chinese New year, the
celebration of which is the result of sheer obstination by the WEN HUA
association, very instrumental in its revival, its main end result is better
exposure of the chinese community to the others of Polynesia. However twice a
year, the ceremonies of Ka San are still held with much fervor even they are
performed by families of mixed descent. On a lighter side, even our own style
of hakka cooking has to be changed in order to cater to polynesian tastes. Some
say that the future lays in more fusion cuisine incorporating the polynesian and
the occidental tastes, the best example of which is the famous raw fish chinese
style served in all good restaurants in French Polynesia.
So the movement of integration is inevitable but the community should be
aware and watchful that the process should not come not a loss of our identity.
We all know that we are walking on a very thin line. On one hand we should
avoid stressing our distinctiveness which could lead to our eventual
marginalisation. On the other hand if we don’t do anything against this
irresistible tide, we will be diluted to death by the sheer numbers surrounding
our community. Some speculate that the resurgence of China can be a factor in
holding still the movement. But to be realistic, it would have only a temporary
effect. So the only worthwhile question remains : are we Chinese anymore and
hakka for that matter? Will we, with the passing of time, eventually sink into
oblivion or be reborn into a new identity ?
One of the possible answer given by the elders derives from this indubitable
fact : as long as there is a Chinese temple reminding everyday and everyone,
that, somewhere in this island, there is a Hakka spirit alive and well, there is
always some hope that the community will somehow survive in his polynesian
environment and will pursue a destiny that no one knows the end result.
I am not sure if this pattern of conduct in my community is very different from
other Hakka communities around the world. As for myself, I just want my
children to assimilate all the lessons which have proved themselves so
invaluable from the long history and culture of the Chinese people. If they can
accomplish this task and succeed to harmonize with their polynesian and
occidental influences, they will evolve into human beings, that, having been
educated in both the east and the west, I can be really proud of. I know that
« real » Chinese or Hakka cannot help to have ambivalent feelings over this
very mixed bag of Chinese, but what can you do, when you are hakka, french,
polynesian all at the same time and a little bit of each. Besides, who can give the
answer of what is really a Chinese or Hakka identity?
So, in spite of all difficulties or objections, to the question am I still say a
Hakka?
My answer is : if I say that I am, then nobody can take away this claim from me
and the answer to the question is a resounding : Yes, my name is Ly Yuan Sang
and I am a Hakka.
Jimmy Ly
Papeete Tahiti
October 31st 2003