A Hakka's village in southern Taiwan, the Six-Twei,六堆 villages

I went to a Haaka's village called 'Liu-Twei (六堆) or Six-Groups' in the Ping-Tong(屏東) county with Wu-Feng church group on March 7. It was an opportunity to learn about Hakka Taiwanese heritage and history. I am fascinated with the Hakka's culture.

First, I was surprised to find Hakka's villages in the Kaohsiung and Ping-Tong area. In the past, I thought Hakka's villages are only located in the northern Taiwan, or in the Hsing-Ju or Tau-Oeng (桃園) areas. I was wrong. the Hakka lives across all geographic areas of Taiwan. In fact, it is estimated that 1 in 4 Taiwanese has a Hakka's heritage.

During early days of Taiwanese history, the Hakka faced the Hok-Lok福佬 on one side and the aborigines on the other side. Hakka's villages were usually 'militarized' to better defend their villages. Hakka's 'Twei, 堆, was actually a military unit. Liu-Twei means 'Six military units.' What are they? They are: the 'middle unit', or 中堆, that included Ju-Tein Village or竹田鄉、the 'spear-head' unit that included Wan-Rein village or 先鋒隊﹝萬巒﹞、the 'rear unit that included Nei-Pu village, or 後堆﹝內埔鄉﹞、the 'front unit' that included Lin-Lok and Chang-Zu villages or 前堆﹝麟洛、長治﹞、the 'left unit' that include Jau-Tong and Hsin-Pi villages, or 左堆﹝佳冬、新埤﹞, the 'right unit' that included Mei-Long and Kau-Su villages, or 右堆﹝美濃、高樹). (The maps of the area are shown in the top.) In the past, the three major ethnic groups of Taiwan, or the Hok-Lok, the Hakka, and the Aborigines were constantly in conflicts; in fact, the external colonial powers often took advantage of such conflicts for their 'divide-and-conquer' tactics.

Being a smaller and weaker ethnic group compared to the Hok-Lok, Hakka usually allied with the external colonial power, especially during the Ching 清 dynasty. It was said that this Six-Twei or the Six military units were set up to help the Ching army suppress Chu I-Kwei 朱一貴 rebellion in 1721. The rebellion was triggered by the corruption and oppression of Ching officials against common Taiwanese peasants.

It must be mentioned that all three ethnic groups did work together for the rebellion against the Japanese during the I-Wei 乙未 Taiwanese-Japanese war in 1895. Additionally, all these three ethnic groups were targeted at the same time during the 2-28 incidence in 1947, and during the 'white-terror' period between 1949 and 1987 by the nationalist Chinese colonial power. Today, every Taiwanese is facing the same threat of annexation of Taiwan by the communist Chinese power in China, and by the betrayal of Taiwan by the nationalist Chinese in Taiwan.