[lg policy] New hope for Hong Kong's vanishing languages and cultures?

[Harold Schiffman]

 New hope for Hong Kong's vanishing languages and cultures?

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

By Lisa Lim <http://www.scmp.com/author/lisa-lim>
23 Sep 2016

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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.
Hakka academic spreading the word on saving languages
<http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1820677/hakka-academic-spreading-word-saving-languages>

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.

Hakka vendors near Kowloon City in 1910.

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.
Cantonese dominates, but Hongkongers speak myriad languages - old and new
<http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1983590/cantonese-dominates-hongkongers-speak-myriad-languages-old>

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 *ce hei* (邪氣; “evil air”) and *zam* (
針; “needle”) refer to a waterspout and its tail, respectively, and the
lyrics of their *Sea Water Song*, performed on auspi­cious occasions, tell
of the ecologies and behaviours of local fish: “Largehead hairtail becomes
white in colour after death.”
The uncertain origins of Hong Kong’s Tanka people
<http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1947244/uncertain-origins-hong-kongs-tanka-people>

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.

A Tanka woman talks to tourists in Aberdeen. Picture: SCMP

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.

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.

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2021675/new-hope-disappearing-languages-and-cultures


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