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<h1>New hope for Hong Kong's vanishing languages and cultures?</h1>
<p class="gmail-article-header__subhead">The Tanka
people have been in Hong Kong for thousands of years, and the Hakka
hundreds of years. Long neglected, their languages and cultures are
finally being preserved</p>
<p class="gmail-article-header__author">By <a href="http://www.scmp.com/author/lisa-lim" title="Lisa Lim">Lisa Lim</a></p>
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23 Sep 2016
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</div><div class="gmail-article-body gmail-clearfix gmail-processed"><p>A
unique feature of Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival is its fire-dragon
dances, the most famous of which takes place in Tai Hang. The tradition
began in the 1880s when, so the legend goes, the Hakka village suffered a
plague that was dispelled only after villagers constructed a dragon
from straw and covered it with lit joss sticks.</p>
<h6><a class="gmail-color7" href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1820677/hakka-academic-spreading-word-saving-languages" shape="rect">Hakka academic spreading the word on saving languages</a></h6>
<p>The Hakka, or “guest families”, moved from northern to
southern China in a series of migrations beginning in 200BC. They
settled in Hong Kong from 1700, engaging in farming and construction,
and establishing walled villages in the New Territories.</p>
<p class="gmail-caption-wrapper"><img class="gmail-caption gmail-caption-processed gmail-processed" src="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/09/22/5555989c-7b2b-11e6-aba3-c12eb464ff87_660x385.jpg?itok=wYlY6lY5" title="Hakka vendors near Kowloon City in 1910." height="385" width="660"><span class="gmail-caption-text">Hakka vendors near Kowloon City in 1910.</span></p>
<p>Already here was another indigenous community, the Tanka,
or Sui Seung Yan – “on-water people” – an ethnic minority from coastal
southern China. Tanka people have been in Hong Kong since prehistoric
times, traditionally managing the commerce of the seas, and living in
small colonies of boats in Aberdeen, Tai O and, later, in typhoon
shelters; about 200,000 Tanka boats were anchored in Hong Kong in the
mid-20th century.</p>
<h6><a class="gmail-color7" href="http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1983590/cantonese-dominates-hongkongers-speak-myriad-languages-old" shape="rect">Cantonese dominates, but Hongkongers speak myriad languages - old and new</a></h6>
<p>A 1729 Qing-dynasty edict classified the Tanka as a “mean
class” and prohibited them from settling onshore and from intermarriage
with other Chinese, which helped preserve their customs and practices.
The Tanka language, a sub-dialect of Yue Chinese, encompasses special
terms, knowledge and world views. Tanka terms <em>ce hei</em> (<span class="gmail-chineseinline gmail-c1" id="gmail-U10718411755bEC" lang="zh">邪氣;</span> “evil air”) and <em>zam</em> (<span class="gmail-chineseinline gmail-c1" id="gmail-U10718411755pgC" lang="zh">針;</span> “needle”) refer to a waterspout and its tail, respectively, and the lyrics of their <em>Sea Water Song</em>,
performed on auspicious occasions, tell of the ecologies and
behaviours of local fish: “Largehead hairtail becomes white in colour
after death.”</p>
<h6><a class="gmail-color7" href="http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1947244/uncertain-origins-hong-kongs-tanka-people" shape="rect">The uncertain origins of Hong Kong’s Tanka people</a></h6>
<p>The song and the terms – and the traditional ecological
knowledge they encompass – are no longer being transmitted to the
younger generation. Neither are heritage languages being maintained: in
1911, 15.1 per cent of Hong Kong’s population spoke Hakka as a home
language; nowadays, it’s hardly heard at all.</p>
<p class="gmail-caption-wrapper"><img class="gmail-caption gmail-caption-processed gmail-processed" src="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/09/22/5feb5be8-7b2b-11e6-aba3-c12eb464ff87_660x385.jpg?itok=AORrqjyd" title="A Tanka woman talks to tourists in Aberdeen. Picture: SCMP" height="385" width="660"><span class="gmail-caption-text">A Tanka woman talks to tourists in Aberdeen. Picture: SCMP</span></p>
<p>The relocation of these communities to post-war new towns
and urban centres – coupled with the decline of small-scale rural
economies, and language policy and attitudes – contributed to reduced
heritage language use.</p>
<p>However, the value of indigenous cultures and languages has
been recognised of late and, in 2011, the Tai Hang fire-dragon dance
joined the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Although
none of Hong Kong’s 10 ICH entries on the national list comprise
languages, in the first ICH Inventory of Hong Kong, in 2014, 21 of 480
items are oral traditions and expressions, including Hakka, fishermen’s
dialect and other language varieties. There is hope yet for tangible
outcomes.</p><p><a href="http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2021675/new-hope-disappearing-languages-and-cultures">http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2021675/new-hope-disappearing-languages-and-cultures</a><br></p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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