Dear J,

This is the 5^th and last day of my stay in Perth, and then I fly home to Malaysia.

Sorry, I did not live up to my promise earlier to send you the pictures "in a few days’ time." This is partly because it took me a long time to locate the relevant film negatives, and partly I was sheer slow and lazy.

There was, however, an attempt by me one morning to craft a 2-page material expanding on the so-called eyebrows hypothesis(EBH), but unfortunately I pressed a wrong button before saving it, and so lost the whole thing – that’s how familiar I am with the computer!

By the way, you have yet to tell me what exactly was the positive feedback you have for me about my Hakka story - is it the EBH, the Hakka language or the outline of the Hakka history?

Frankly, my own "obsession" about the story is the EBH, because I honestly feel that I have stumbled on something never realised before. For whatever it is worth, it is the only thing original from me!

While the discovery was recent, as stated in the article, let me say that my interest in trying to understand the roots of my family goes back much earlier. Let me explain how and why.

In my family (we are from Tapoo or Dapu county in north-eastern Kwangtung Province, a very poor and economically backward county), my father’s only brother, who has now passed on, had features that struck me as being very Caucasian, such as : a very hooked and large nose, double eye-lid and big eyes, and generally a very outstanding handsome face (almost Arabic or European), besides being broad-built and tall.

My father, on the other hand, was short and less handsome, although he had deep and big round eyes and a big nose. And his lips are more Han, not thin and well defined or well shaped like my uncle’s.

I understand now of course that these artistes must be close cousins of similar people in Sinkiang. In other words, they were probably "Russians" from Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and other " tans" that used to be part of the old Soviet Union.

Now you may ask, what is the point of bringing up old tales such as above.

As I have hinted, I have been observing face types for many years, particularly faces and features that resemble Caucasian-type. When I chance to meet someone (Chinese) with those features, I would try to ascertain what dialect group he or she belongs to.

To ascertain whether these had their features from recent intermarriage with Europeans, I even sometimes asked whether their parents or grandparents were from Hongkong or Macau or other colonised territories , or whether they were from Hakka land in China. And once they tell me their parents are Hakkas from mainland China, I would puzzle out why they have such features.

Now we have more or less established that the Hakkas were firstly from the ‘north’. North means north of the Yangtze River, which flows into Shanghai.

A little above the Yangtze River is the province of Henan, which has a history of being the hub of Chinese civilisation.

While Henan lies to the north of this north /south divide, it literally means south of the Yellow River.

Now the Yellow River is greater than the Yangtze River in terms of its civilising influence on the people of China. Among other things, it has created and it boasts of many culturally rich cities like Luoyang, Chengchow and Kaifeng.

From the Chinese point of view, the province of Henan is the center or heartland of China or Chinese civilisation, from which the idea of the Middle Kingdom probably originated.

The Yellow River is also called the Mother River; today, a symbolic mother statue is built along the Yellow River to mark the birth or origin of the sons and daughters of the Yellow Emperor or the Yellow River.

I recall that for good measure, my first trip to China in search of my Hakka roots took me to the shrine of the First Yellow Emperor somewhere near Chengchow, as well as to the mother statue of the Yellow River, to pay homage or due respect, and some even to kowtow , ‘worship’ or give sacrificial offerings to the First Yellow Emperor and to the Statue of the Mother River.

Next, the provinces of Sanxi and Shaanxi are even more ancient and culture-rich Chinese provinces than Henan Province- e.g. the discovery of large bronze musical bells, the birthplace of Chinese writing and the "ancestral homes "of many (or most) Chinese surnames.

Today’s Gansu was formerly part of the larger Shaanxi, and its capital Lanzou is the gateway to China via the Silk Road.

The Silk Road is peopled by tribes of Turkic speaking people, and they and the majority of the people of Sinkiang have European features or are basically Caucasian.

Although the bands of Hsiungnu tribes that later took control of China were only a tiny minority amidst a majority of Han people (probably 1-2%), history has repeatedly shown that a minority, well armed (for example with superior horse power in ancient days), and determined, could vanquish a numerically stronger foe.

The Mongolian conquest in the 12^th Century and the Manchurian conquest in the 17^th Century were further examples.

So with these assumptions and deductions and some evidence from written records, I would like to hypothesise that:-

i) a Caucasian strain ( type A1) must have intermingled with Han type majority to produce type A2 or even type AB in the melting pot of old China;

ii) Type B (true Han?), even if their origin was way up north or north-west of China, would today be mostly found along the coast – probably pushed out there by the more aggressive Type A1, A2 and AB from around the Yellow River;

iii) Also pushed to the south ( and south-west), where in those years the forests were virginal and the population thinner (excepting coastal ports and surrounding flatlands ) were mostly of type B Han strain.

Indeed, if we reflect upon it, it is precisely for the same reason, i.e. the aggression or invasion of the "northern’’ people against the south (not to mention the overuse and abuse by them of resources in the upper reaches of the Yellow River) that today, China’s "backward" provinces bordering Yunnan are now its only and last green belt, inhabited by the less developed tribal peoples, and by the remaining roaming tigers, elephants and pandas that have survived the harshness and barrenness of China.

Therefore, on the evolution of the Chinese people along the Yellow River, I am of the view that the Hakkas, whose roots are traceable to Henan, were in earlier times people from the ancient provinces of Sanxi and Shaanxi (and Gansu), which have had a more glorious past dating from the Han and pre-Han period.

Some of them would therefore have in them a Caucasian strain traceable to nomadic tribes in the far north-west of China or even beyond the Gobi deserts .

This accounts for the "Caucasian" features among some Hakkas.

Of course, for many of them, the dilution from the original has by now become so thin that it needs a trained or experienced eye to notice or pick out any, if at all, of these features.

For amusement, if for nothing else, here is a quick test kit of prominent figures to help you categorise which of your friends or acquaintances belong to Type A, Type B or Type AB :-

- From recent mixed marriages, with recognisable Eurasian face and features, we could cite as examples of Type A Chinese: famed author Han Su-yin; Hong Kong gaming tycoon Stanley Ho, and film actress Jen Nie (wife of deceased actor, Fushen); and Fei Xiang, handsome Sino –American pop star from Taiwan.

-Also recognisable as having a Eurasian face and features –Type A- but not reported to have Eurasian parentage, and therefore assumed to be ‘100% pure Chinese’, would be Sun Yat Sen., a Canton Hakka, the first President of the Republic of China; Aw Boon Haw of Tiger Balm fame, a Yunting Hakka; and the famed director Zhang Yimou , a northerner from Shaanxi, described by one as ‘slim, handsome and with an engaging smile,’ ; and his one time protégé- the beautiful Gong Li, from Shangtung Province, north east China; He Tsai Fei, petite wife No. 3 in famed Chang Yimou film ‘Raise the red lantern’.

-On the other hand , not recognisable with any outstanding Eurasian features, but are Hakkas, are Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and Taiwan’s Lee Teng Hui , the latter in fact moving more into the category of Type B.

-And those with typical southern look (Type B), even resembling, one could say, very much like the majority of Japanese faces , are Premier Zhu Ronji and President Jiang Zemin ;

-In the intermediate group (Type AB ) are Mao Zedong ; Hong Kong’s Tung Chee-hwa and Li Ka-shing; Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong; and singers Coco Lee and Faye Wong– but placing them in the AB group is very much an arbitrary business, because of the problem of choosing which features to include in or exclude from the categorisation- for example, is it the eyebrows, the eyes, the eyelids ,the nose, the lips, or the hairiness? Each such individual has some features of both Type A or B ( for example Coco Lee and Faye Wong- very pretty, but Type B eyebrows!).

One rule of thumb: if not particularly "handsome" and positively with straight eyebrows, AND NEITHER the other way round (Type B), PUT UNDER Type AB!

For now, I rest my case. I think I have just enough time to catch the plane!

So, bye for now!

Sorry for the scratches and scrawls in this hurried letter.

Take care!

Sincerely,

ML.

*Writer’s note :

This letter was a follow-up to a friend, who was interested in my narration of The Story of The Hakkas( which she read from the net sometime back.), and with whom I had some chat subsequently in the net The reproduction of this letter serves as a supplement to the main story by me, and hopefully will give a more rounded picture of what I tried to convey in the main story.

Lee M Lock 25/1/2000

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