ABSTRACT
In China the Hakka people form a distinct linguistic group, speaking a dialect which may be described as about mid-way between Cantonese and Mandarin. 2 It is generally held that they originated in Central China and gradually travelled southwards in a series of movements as a result of pressure from the north. Between the T’ang and Sung dynasties (907-959) Hakka-speaking groups had reached Fukien; and during the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279) they moved into Kwangtung. Two more big movements during the Ch’ing dynasty (1644-1911) took Hakkas as far afield as Szechwan, Hainan, and Formosa. 3
