In search of origin

‘He looks like his father (brother or whatever), doesn’t he?

A remark of this kind is not surprising, because two persons unrelated to each other may happen to look like one another in a general way. But when we refer to likeness between kith and kin, we are speaking about similarity in more ways than one. And these must be derived from inherited features: from either of one’s immediate parents, grand parents or remote forebears.

For example, it could be the shape of one’s nose, lips, chin, forehead, eyes and so on - any one of these or combination of these. And our cognitive ability, consciously or otherwise, will lead us on to a recognised pattern to make the aforementioned remark.

The recognition of a pattern in faces, or particular features of observed faces, prompts this writer to put forth a particular view about the possible historic origin of his compatriots- the Hakka people. This view is set forth in part two of his essay, "The Story of the Hakkas ( and a startling discovery)".The particular distinguishing feature mentioned there is the shape of the eye-brows-hence he refers to this as the eyebrow hypothesis(EBH).

But the shape of the eyebrows is only one distinguishing mark, although a very important one. Other distinctive marks that could be included are: the eyes ,the eyelids, nose, lips, or hairiness- these will be elaborated elsewhere later- see Letter to J, Appendix A.

While observation of facial features is his primary tool in arriving at his thesis on the possible Caucasian origin of some Chinese, including the Hakka people, it is not the only tool…..since making that first speculative deduction, he has read up scores of Chinese history books, both in Chinese and English. Relying on both the observation of facial features and his interpretation of Chinese history, he is led to conclude that there is indeed a unique commonness in the facial features of the so-called 'northern Chinese', with what may be described as Caucasian features. He therefore postulates that there is a causal link between the Caucasian people (the so-called Europeans or ancestors of Europeans) and the northern Chinese( more specifically north-western Chinese).Such blood ties or connections could have occurred many thousand years ago(say well beyond 5000 years), and not just be confined to recorded or recent history.

However, it should be pointed out here that there was no such reference to a distant causal link of blood ties between the people from the Caucasus and the Chinese, in the books he has consulted, except in one book by Clyde Kiang entitled, ‘The Hakka Odyssey’. But this was available to and read by him well after he has written his eyebrow hypothesis (EBH).

This shared common viewpoint with Clyde Kiang is remarkable, the more so because the two of us never knew each other. However, while Clyde’s book is based on scholarly research, and runs to well over100 pages, this writer’s viewpoint is only a short essay and is mainly speculative, based on his personal and subjective

observations.

And here let me repeat, I have never met Clyde nor read his book until much later after I have written my own article in late 1996, and so what I wrote was independently arrived at, and not in anyway influenced by, or plagiarised from Clyde Kiang’s book. Yet both arrived at the same conclusion of a Caucasian origin for some Chinese. As I have mentioned about this common convergence to a friend: it is as if Clyde has made a hand, and I a glove, independently of each other, and now both hand and glove fits!

How I arrived at this hypothesis is recounted in the following narration:-

-The Story of the Hakkas ( and a startling discovery); and

-Letter to J.

I do realise of course that reading these two articles alone is hardly enough for one to be persuaded by what I am trying to tell – yet, I do have enough faith in my own story for me to put it down for others to read!

I am convinced in my own mind of my hypothesis of a Caucasian link in the blood of some Chinese, particularly northern Chinese( based on EBH and other facial features ) because I see it so plainly and clearly in the faces of many Chinese I have met and studied.

By the way, such Caucasian-look Chinese need not necessarily be Hakkas and present day northerners, and indeed could well be Cantonese, Hokkiens, Hainanese,

Shanghainese or whatever – because the original ‘northern’ Chinese have by now been pretty widely dispersed to all parts of China throughout the country’s history, and so it is more a question of ‘how much’ or ‘how many’ in the ‘mixed’ sample population one wishes to observe.

Next, it is useful but not always possible or even polite to ‘verify’ from Q&A about one’s ancestors, but this is being done wherever it is possible.

Lastly, I have tried to read and interpret Chinese history ( and even examined Chinese words, to the extent I am able) with an open mind, and in so doing have also made some ‘startling’ discoveries (but more of this at another time).

Some friends thought I read too much into too little or am too ‘imaginative’. But instead of giving in to their point that I am being deceived by my own imagination, I would rather say that I am using an approach that may be likened to a lateral way of thinking, one that is deliberately different from others, and in defiance of conventional wisdom and a set mould of thinking.

And so with your indulgence, I hope you will tolerate my rather unorthodox, unscientific and unscholarly views and approach in presenting the attached stories I have put together. These are presented in the hope that, one day, a more scholarly research will either confirm, or rebut, these views of mine.

Thank you for your reading.

LML March 10, 2000, Kuala Lumpur.