The Devastating Legacy of the Hakka-Punti Clan Wars

The Taiping Rebellion was the major Hakka-related conflict of the 19th century, but the Hakka-Punti wars turned out to be equally devastating for the Hakka people. Much of the overseas Chinese living abroad today do so as a consequence of these clan wars.

In this video, I want to talk about this largely forgotten series of conflicts. It was a tragic and terrible time for everyone living then.

[darrenchin_]

thank you for the educational video. the "Hakka Explained" video was what brought me to this brilliant channel in the first place a year ago. I am Hakka and 3 generations before me settled in the modern-day Malaysian state of Sarawak and I always wondered what was the catalyst for my family's migration overseas. Like many other Hakka families, it is impossible to tell. Nevertheless, videos like these help me understand more about my roots.

[JoshuaC]

My grandfather was one of those Hakka sold into slavery in Malaysia, he managed to escape and even started his own family. Very interesting video, good to learn about the past

[StudlyHunk]

Im a Hakka from Borneo. I believe my ancestors migrated there during the conflict. Hakka womrn were popular with their hardworking and capable hands so they even were employed to build roads in Borneo.

[danielboey]

"Punti" is Hakka for "local". In Cantonese, it's "Puntei". The Punti people were basically the Cantonese people. Their animosity extended to Malaya where, during the 19th century, 2 major triads fought each other over control of the tin mining industry. The 2 triads were the Hai San (Hakka) & the Ghee Hin (Cantonese). The British intervened and the war finally ended.

[sikezeng]

Interesting to learn about this history. I am from Qingxi area in Dongguan. I've always heard people refer to non Hakka speaking locals as Bunti. I think our family have settle there for many generations but I just realized that village was not our village and we invaded it generations ago. I just didn't know because we immigrated to the US when I was a kid. There are some Bundi villages amongst our majority Hakka town but we seem to not associate with them much. But it makes sense now. Come to think of it, all the surrounding Hakka villages probably belong to Bundi clans. I only found out just by asking my dad this stuff out of curiosity. What a tragic time.

[tofuchicken]

This channel is a great resource for the history of the ethnic han disapora. I've looked for information on this topic in english and none have been as detailed as this video.

[d.e.seymour]

This is probably the only video analyzing the Hakka-Punti conflict.

[brokeheartwolf]

🙏🏻Where I live, happened here too. Thank you for this. But, here as time went on, Hakka and Punti intermarried.

[josechong]

Thank you for sharing such informative video. I am Hakka from overseas and I still speak the language. To me, any piece of history feels like drinking morning dew in an arid land.

[laurencechan]

@Asianometry I am a descendant of a Punti.
My ancestors lived in Taishan county for 30 over generations, which is the most ravaged county in the
Hakka-punti animosity
regions. During the Taiping Rebellion the occupying soldiers
and officers were mostly Hakkas. Like you said most local Hakkas were farming workers for the Punti
landowners. When Taiping soldiers came,
these local Hakkas and Hakkas from surrounding counties
ganged up with Taiping
soldiers and seized lands from the Punti
owners. With the collapsed of Taiping
Rebellion the Punti owners gathered a
mighty force to drive
out the Hakkas Many
died from fights. The Qing government settled the Hakkas of
the Taisan County
to a southern most
township of Chixi赤溪鎮 bordering the sea.
Many Hakkas from the 4 Siyi 四邑counties of Taishan, Kaiping, xinhui, Enping were
settled to Hainan(before the feuds has very few Hakkas), Guangxi,
Southern Hunan etc
to avoid further bkoodsheds. There
is a Cantonese proverb: 客家霸地主
Hakka seizing land
from Punti, often heard
in Hongkong movies and dramas. Cantonese Old timers
discouraged children
from marrying Hakkas.

.

[JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Thanks for the vid. Gives perspectives I hadn't thought about.

[hawaiifightingalliance]

My great grandma is Punti from Hong Kong. Her family were from Guangdong. After she was born in Hong Kong they immigrated to Hawai'i.

[johnsamu]

Very interesting, it's a story I never heard before and is totally ignored in the current history.

[santiom]

In East Kalimantan (Borneo) island in Indonesia during the 1800-'s the Hakka traders formed an army to relinquish the TeoChiu organized traders, they won with many dead among the TeoChiu's, then built a "(Hakka) Republic" in East Kalimantan.
But today the TeoChius descendants there has forgotten what happened to their ancestors two hundred years ago

[janakakumara]

Deprivation leads to tribalism which leads to exploitation and violence. It is so tragic that there is so much needless violence in the world.

[purrfekt]

Punti is not a clan. Pen Di Ren (本地人) literally means a native or locally born person. The whole conflict was between nativists vs immigrants. Even today, that term is still used in many areas with native Chinese populations to refer to themselves in contradistinction to recent immigrants. For example, the descendants of the Hakkas who migrated to Singapore would refer to themselves as pen di ren to distinguish themselves from newcomers from China.

[sanneoi]

I'm Puntei, or Cantonese, myself. Giving the world great people like Sun Yat-Sen and Lee Kuan-Yew redeems the Hakka in my eyes, and I am a strong believer in the familial bonds between all Chinese.

[Phonming]

as i grew older, started to learn and know more about hakka and am proud of being hakka

[SF]

Thanks for sharing!! Too proud to be a Hakka from Malaysia.

[rodrigoh]

Respect Both

Greetings to Hakka and Punti