The History of Ya Dialect

Cao Ya dialect immigrants mainly come from Hakka areas of the old Tingzhou government in western Fujian and the old Jiaying government in eastern Guangdong after the Song Dynasty (Tingzhou government is the main one, and there are records of Wazi Street in Shanghang or similar ancestral homes in Wengyuan area of Shaoguan). Although it was after the Song Dynasty, large-scale migration took place in the Ming Dynasty. This is inseparable from two generals in the Ming Dynasty: Wang Shouren and Chen Lin.

Since Wang Shouren (1472-1529) directed the war to quell the rebellion in Guangdong and Guangxi, it has had a great impact on the population in the rebel areas. In this regard, it is necessary to transfer a certain number of people from other areas to these areas. When I arrived in Chen Lin (1543- 1607), I put down the Miao and Yao rebellions in Luoding, Xinyi and Gaozhou, and settled in Yunfu today, "recruiting soldiers to listen to the people's migration" to contain the ethnic minorities in western Guangdong and Guangxi who might be in trouble. Because Chen Lin is from Wengyuan, and his ancestral home is in Shanghang, Fujian (Hakka was used, but there was no such word at that time), most of the people who followed him to move to western Guangdong were Shanghang, Fujian or came from there. It can be said that Chen Lin has laid the distribution pattern of Ya language in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi today.

These immigrants will never forget their ethnic origin. When they arrived at their new house, they worked hard to develop and lay the foundation. When they have the conditions, they will use their surnames to build ancestral temples and offer sacrifices to their ancestors, which will be passed down from generation to generation. More importantly, in the cracks of strong dialects such as vernacular, it is commendable that Ya people have passed on Ya language to this day. Although Ya dialect is deeply influenced by other local dialects, it still adheres to its own characteristics, and Ya dialects in different regions can still talk to each other. The problem of fighting between locals and foreigners

In the late Qing Dynasty, the Manchu government wanted to completely liquidate and eliminate the Taiping rebels and other anti-government forces. At the same time, the population of Guangdong coastal areas and other places has increased sharply (local immigrants and natural population growth), people are living in poverty and living resources are in an extremely tight state. Because of the rapid changes in politics and economy at that time, it was against this background that a fierce struggle between natives and tourists took place. Especially in the "Siyi area", the fighting between natives and tourists is the most tragic. After the battle, a large number of Hakkas finally returned to their native places in eastern Guangdong. Such as Heyuan and Meizhou. A large number of guests have also been moved to western Guangdong, Qiongzhou, Rongxian, Pingnan, Guangxi and other places, becoming part of the elegant people.

The two sides of the Turkish-Hakka conflict are not exactly the same in different places, such as the Turkish-Hakka conflict in Guangxi, where the Turkish side is Zhuang and the local Han nationality, and the Hakka side is Guangdong Guangfu and Han Hakka. But on the whole, the ethnic groups in Hakka, in Siyi and other areas, all come from Gannan, western Fujian, eastern Guangdong and northern Guangdong, using the same Chinese dialect and having the same customs and habits; Their situation is often worse than that of Turkey. Therefore, in the decades of the most intense conflict between Turks, that is, during the war between Turks and Turks in the late Qing Dynasty, these immigrants and the people in their places of origin had a strong sense of national identity with each other. The final result is that these people generally accept Hakka dialect as the common name of the ethnic group, which also represents the formal determination of the name of the Hakka ethnic group.

Identity problem

Because the Ya dialect people in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi moved in much earlier than the Hakka people in Siyi, and by the end of Qing Dynasty, there was no such conflict in Siyi. In addition, the inconvenience of communication in the old society led to the people who spoke Ya dialect in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi being very close to Hakka dialect in northeastern Guangdong and even Shanghang, Fujian, but there was no concept of Hakka dialect.

This situation continued into modern times. When Ya dialect people and people who call themselves Hakkas have the opportunity to communicate directly, the relationship between them causes confusion in their identity. Some people simply think that "Ya dialect is very similar to Hakka dialect"; Others, for various reasons (such as not knowing the classification of linguistics), strongly deny the internal relationship between Ya dialect and Hakka dialect, and even naively think that Ya dialect is the indigenous language in western Guangdong.

Nevertheless, the consistency between Ya dialect and other Hakka dialects is obvious. Although due to historical reasons, in the absence of communication, the identities of the two sides are different; But as long as they come together, they tend to agree with each other.

In the early days, Ya dialect people emigrated overseas, because their languages were highly consistent, and they had the identity of Hakka as other Hakka immigrants. For example, the Guangxi and Gaozhou Clubhouse in Singapore (formerly known as Sanhe Clubhouse) was mainly founded by "Hakka people" in Guangxi and Gaozhou (that is, people who speak elegant dialects), and together with immigrants from other Hakka areas, they participated in the establishment of the Nanyang Hakka General Association.

With the development of the times, the communication between people in different regions is getting closer and closer, and more and more Ya dialect people agree that their mother tongue belongs to Hakka, and are willing to accept the fact that Ya dialect is Hakka. In 20 1 1 year, the 24th World Hakka Family Congress was held in Beihai, Guangxi, which undoubtedly prompted the Ya dialect people in this area to tend to be recognized by the Hakka people.