HAKKA CLAN HOLIDAYS AND RETURN MIGRATION IN RURAL CHINA: THE VIEW OF THE HAKKA PEOPLE

Abstract

Based on field materials collected by the author in 2019-2020, the article considers traditional and typical Hakka provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi social practices in the context of internal and transnational migration in the 20th century. The Hakka are a subgroup of the Han inhabiting the mountainous regions of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, which has hardly been studied in Russian sinology and anthropology. Local villagers in Fujian Province identify themselves as “Hakka people.” These villages are, on the one hand, a curious example of the preservation of traditions of the Hakka identity, and, on the other, their changes under the influence of labor migration, since most of the villagers earn money in Europe and their families practice a transnational lifestyle. For migrants, a stay in their native villages during the period of rest is filled with activities in conceptual and ideological cultural spaces. Taking into account the peculiarities of indigenous and foreign customs, the author analyzes the traditions of holding family and clan holidays of indigenous Hakka in comparison with the traditions of the Hakka of other regions, as well as the Han as a whole. Under the influence of modern transnational and internal migrations, the absoluteness of the traditions of collective pastime is being rethought and questioned. At the same time, it is argued that the social practices under consideration - collective tea drinking and family and clan celebrations - demonstrate the identity of local Hakka, as well as the role of the institution of family and clans in the life of rural society and migrant families