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I am an awakened Hakka, hear me out
The writer reflects on her mixed feelings about embracing a minority identity and what it means for her.
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Ngai hei Hakka ngin. These words, which translate to “I am a Hakka person” in English, are the essence of my cultural heritage and ancestry, yet until now I have always had mixed feelings about embracing this identity. Why so? Let me explain.
The Hakkas are the fourth-largest dialect group in the Chinese community in Singapore, after the Hokkiens, Cantonese and Teochews. There are some 260,000 of us living here, accounting for roughly 8 per cent of the Chinese population.
