--- title: "The Hakka people: the ‘guest families’ of southern China" url: https://popularinchina.com/culture/hakka-people section: "Culture" type: answer updated: 2026-11-02 next_review: 2027-02-02 status: checked author: "The Popular in China desk" fact_checker: "Alex Liu" publisher: Popular in China (https://popularinchina.com) license: Quote with attribution and a link to https://popularinchina.com/culture/hakka-people --- # The Hakka people: the ‘guest families’ of southern China _The Hakka are a branch of the Han Chinese, not one of China’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, yet they have a language, a cuisine and a style of building all their own. Here is who they are, where their story is said to begin, how to hear and taste Hakka culture, and where to see the great earthen tulou of Fujian._ **Verdict: A Han Chinese people with a culture of their own** (客家人) — Counted as Han in China’s census; known for the Hakka language, Fujian’s earthen tulou and a hearty, preserved-food cuisine ## Short answer The Hakka (客家人, Kèjiā rén, ‘guest families’) are a Han Chinese people, not a separate officially recognised ethnic group. Their heartland is the hill country where Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi meet, with Meizhou as its best-known city. They are known for the Hakka language, Fujian’s earthen tulou and dishes such as salt-baked chicken. ## At a glance - **In Chinese:** 客家人 (Kèjiā rén); 客家 means ‘guest families’ - **Official status:** Counted as Han Chinese; not one of China’s 56 recognised ethnic groups - **Population:** No census figure, as the census counts them as Han; estimates vary widely, up to about 80 million worldwide - **Where they live:** Mainly Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangxi, and Hong Kong; also Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - **Language:** Hakka (客家话, Kèjiāhuà), a Sinitic language most closely related to Gan; about 44 million native speakers (2023) - **Known for:** Earthen tulou and walled villages, salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu, and women who never bound their feet - **Best-known city:** Meizhou, Guangdong, whose motto is ‘Capital of Hakkas in the World’ ## Who the Hakka are, and where the name comes from China officially recognises 56 ethnic groups, and the Hakka are not one of them: they are counted as **Han Chinese**, who made up 1,286,311,334 people, or 91.11% of the population, in the 2020 census. Britannica describes the Hakka as a branch of the Han; others call them a Han sub-ethnic group, set apart from other southern Han Chinese by how widely they are dispersed. For the bigger picture, see our guide to [ethnic groups in China](/culture/ethnic-groups-in-china) and the [Han Chinese](/culture/han-chinese). The characters 客家 (Kèjiā) mean ‘guest families’. The English word Hakka may come from the Cantonese pronunciation of the name, which marked newcomers apart from the 本地 (bendi), the long-settled ‘natives’; the Hakka may also have taken up the name themselves after moving south. Because the census does not count them separately, there is no official total. Britannica gives an estimate of about 80 million Hakka worldwide, while noting that fewer people speak the language; other estimates are much lower. About 60% of Hakka are said to live in Guangdong. Sources: [1][2][10][11] ## The migration story Hakka origins are not certain, and the story is told largely through family genealogies and tradition. In the traditional account, the ancestors of the Hakka lived in the Yellow River valley, in what is now Henan and Shanxi, and moved south in great migrations: one in the early fourth century, another in the late ninth century, and a final one in the 13th century, after the fall of the Southern Song, which brought them to the hills they live in today. Accounts trace the route through Jiangxi into western Fujian, then down the Ting River into Guangdong. Arriving later than other southern Chinese, the Hakka mostly settled in the less fertile uplands, in their own communities. From the 19th century many left again for Southeast Asia and beyond; more than 95% of Hakka families overseas trace their roots to Guangdong, usually to Meizhou or Heyuan. One custom stands out in the records: unlike most Chinese before the 20th century, Hakka women did **not bind their feet**, a difference often linked to the field work they shared. Sources: [1][2] ## Tulou and walled villages The Hakka are best known abroad for their houses: big communal buildings, home to a whole clan, built around a courtyard. [1][3][4][8] | Type | Chinese | Where | What it is | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Tulou | 土楼 (tǔlóu) | South-western Fujian | Earthen houses several storeys high, round or square, with tall mud walls, a single entrance and no windows at ground level. One building could house up to 800 people. | | Weilongwu (‘wrapped dragon’ house) | 围龙屋 (wéilóngwū) | North-east Guangdong, around Meixian and Xingning | The popular Hakka compound style of north-east Guangdong; unlike the tulou, it is not built as a fortress. | | Sijiaolou (‘four-corner house’) | 四角楼 (sìjiǎolóu) | Meixian and Xingning, Guangdong | Another non-fortress style of Hakka compound from the same area. | | Weiwu (walled house) | 围屋 (wéiwū) | Southern Jiangxi | The local name for Hakka walled villages; there are about 500 in southern Jiangxi, some 370 of them in Longnan county. | | Walled village | — | Hong Kong | Lai Chi Wo is described as the largest and best preserved Hakka walled village in Hong Kong. | Not every tulou is Hakka: Hokkien (Minnan) people in southern Fujian built them too. ## Fujian Tulou: the UNESCO World Heritage Site UNESCO inscribed **Fujian Tulou** as a World Heritage Site in 2008: 46 buildings spread over more than 120 km of south-western Fujian, in the counties of Yongding, Nanjing (南靖, not the city of Nanjing) and Hua’an. Fujian has more than 20,000 tulou in all. Three of the best known: [3][4] | Tulou | Cluster | Built | Why visit | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Chengqi Lou (承启楼) | Gaobei | 1709 | Nicknamed ‘the king of tulou’: four storeys, with an outer ring 62.6 m across. | | Zhencheng Lou (振成楼) | Hongkeng | 1912 | ‘The prince of tulou’, with a double ring and 184 rooms in the outer ring. | | Eryi Lou (二宜楼) | Dadi, Hua’an | 1770 | A four-storey outer ring about 71 m across, with 48 rooms on each level. | The other listed clusters and buildings include Chuxi, Tianluokeng, Hekeng, Yanxiang Lou, Zhenfu Lou, Huaiyuan Lou and Hegui Lou. Inside, each building was divided vertically between families, each with two or three rooms on every floor. ## The Hakka language Hakka (客家话, Kèjiāhuà) is a Sinitic language with about 44 million native speakers (2023). It is most closely related to Gan, the language of Jiangxi, and is sometimes classed as a variety of it. Britannica notes that many of its sounds fall between Cantonese and Mandarin, but Hakka is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese, Mandarin or the other main branches of Chinese, and Hakka dialects are not all intelligible with each other. The **Meixian dialect** of Meizhou is treated as the standard form. Hakka is spoken across Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou, in Hong Kong’s New Territories and overseas; in Taiwan it is one of the national languages. Hakka has five tones, though some dialects have six or seven. Sources: [2][5][7] ## Hakka food to try Hakka cooking is often described as outwardly simple but tasty, with preserved meats and vegetables, tofu, and plenty of braised and stewed dishes. [1][6][7] | Dish | Chinese | What it is | | --- | --- | --- | | Salt-baked chicken | 盐焗鸡 (yánjú jī) | Meizhou’s best-known dish: a whole chicken originally baked in a heap of hot salt; many cooks now use brine or a salt crust. | | Stuffed tofu (yong tau foo) | 酿豆腐 (niàng dòufu) | Tofu heaped with minced pork, salted fish and herbs, then fried or braised. | | Pork belly with preserved mustard greens | 梅菜扣肉 (méicài kòuròu) | Thick slices of pork belly layered with preserved mustard greens in a dark soy sauce. | | Lei cha (‘pounded tea’) | 擂茶 (léichá) | Ground tea leaves with peanuts, mint, sesame and other herbs, drunk as a tea or eaten with rice; see our guide to [Chinese tea](/culture/chinese-tea). | | Abacus beads | 算盘子 (suànpánzi) | Yam and tapioca dough cut into abacus-bead shapes, stir-fried with minced meat, dried shrimp and vegetables. | ## Some well-known people of Hakka descent - **Lin Fengmian** (林风眠), one of the pioneers of modern Chinese painting - **Shing-Tung Yau** (丘成桐), mathematician and winner of the Fields Medal - **Leslie Cheung** (张国荣), Hong Kong singer and actor - **Hou Hsiao-hsien** (侯孝贤), award-winning film director - **Jimmy Choo** (周仰杰), shoe and handbag designer - **Yap Ah Loy** (叶亚来), the 19th-century founder of Kuala Lumpur Sources: [1][9] ## Questions **Who are the Hakka people?** The Hakka are a Han Chinese people from the hills where Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi meet. They have their own language, cuisine and building styles, and many Hakka families also live in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. **Are Hakka Chinese? Are they Han?** Yes. The Hakka are Han Chinese. They are not one of China’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, and the census counts them as Han. **What does Hakka mean?** 客家 (Kèjiā) means ‘guest families’ or ‘guest people’. The name probably distinguished later arrivals from long-settled local people; the English spelling may come from the Cantonese pronunciation. **Where do the Hakka come from?** Their origins are uncertain. Traditional accounts trace them to the Yellow River valley in north China and describe great migrations south between the fourth and 13th centuries, through Jiangxi into Fujian and Guangdong. **Is Hakka a language or a dialect?** Hakka (客家话) is a Sinitic language with about 44 million native speakers. It is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin or Cantonese, so linguists usually treat it as a separate branch of Chinese with many local dialects; the Meixian dialect is the standard. **What is a Hakka tulou?** A tulou (土楼) is a large earthen building, several storeys high and round or square, built around a courtyard to house a whole clan. Fujian Tulou, a group of 46 buildings in south-western Fujian, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. **What is Hakka food like?** Hearty and outwardly simple, with preserved meats and vegetables, tofu and braised dishes. Try salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu (yong tau foo), pork belly with preserved mustard greens and lei cha. **Where is the best place to experience Hakka culture?** Meizhou in north-east Guangdong, which calls itself the ‘Capital of Hakkas in the World’, and the tulou clusters of Yongding and Nanjing counties in Fujian. Meizhou has high-speed trains to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen. ## Sources 1. [Wikipedia, Hakka people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people) — accessed 2026-11-02 2. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hakka](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hakka) — accessed 2026-11-02 3. [UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Fujian Tulou](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1113) — accessed 2026-11-02 4. [Wikipedia, Fujian tulou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_tulou) — accessed 2026-11-02 5. [Wikipedia, Hakka Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Chinese) — accessed 2026-11-02 6. [Wikipedia, Hakka cuisine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_cuisine) — accessed 2026-11-02 7. [Wikipedia, Meizhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meizhou) — accessed 2026-11-02 8. [Wikipedia, Hakka walled village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_walled_village) — accessed 2026-11-02 9. [Wikipedia, List of Hakka people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hakka_people) — accessed 2026-11-02 10. [National Bureau of Statistics of China, Communiqué of the Seventh National Population Census (No. 2), 11 May 2021](https://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817187.html) — accessed 2026-11-02 11. [Wikipedia, List of ethnic groups in China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_China) — accessed 2026-11-02 ## Related - https://popularinchina.com/culture/ethnic-groups-in-china - https://popularinchina.com/culture/han-chinese - https://popularinchina.com/culture/cantonese-people - https://popularinchina.com/culture/chinese-tea - https://popularinchina.com/culture/chinese-surnames --- Canonical page: https://popularinchina.com/culture/hakka-people