英文摘要 |
The paper uses the principles of Bon-gwan and vernacular language to explore the meaning of the term Hakka, literally meaning 'the guest', in the documentary sources from the Six Dynasties (220-658) to the Ming-Ch'ing (1368-1840) era in the history of China, and attempts to answer the question of 'what the Hakka is.' The paper does not intend to deal with the issues of the origin of the term Chinese Hakka and the evolution of the terms 'the guest' and the Hakka in Taiwan, which will be discussed by other papers. The paper proposes three main arguments: First, if we employ the concept of ancestral hometown (the principle of Bon-gwan) to differentiate between 'the guest' and 'the non guest' peoples, then 'the guest' would mean those who neither reside in their hometown nor register in the household registration system. Therefore, the term 'the guest' in concept is the opposite of the term inhabitants, and it is a generic term in nature rather than a specifi one according to the principle of Bon-wan. Those registered in the border areas of Hokkien, Canton, and Kiangsi provinces but were called the Hakka are in fact the inhabitants, not 'the guests.' Then those being called 'the guest' must be those who migrated out this area. Second, if we employ the concept of provincial dialects (the principle of vernacular language) to differentiate, then the term Hakka indicates the speakers of Hakka language, and the term Hakka conveys the specifi rather than the generic idea. Therefore, the Hakka signifis an ethnic group based on the vernacular language within the Chinese civilization. Third, the term Hakka in the documentary sources from the Six Dynasties to the Ming-Ch'ing era in the history of China is after the principle of Bon-gwan rather than an ethnonym. After the early Ch'ing China the defiition of Hakka gradually shifted from the principle of Bon-gwan to that of vernacular language, but the process is so slow and it has never been fully completed up to now. The long-term mixture of the terms Hakka and 'the guests' leads to the confusion among the researchers and the identifiation of the Hakka people, which results in all kinds of controversial arguments that need to be further clarifid. |