Native dialects are the dialects which were widely-used among residents on land in Hong Kong before it was ceded to the United Kingdom, including Weitou and the mainstream Hakka dialect, as well as those that were only popular in specific areas like Tingkok dialect, Tung Ping Chau dialect, Pingpo Hakka dialect and so on. Half a century ago, the number of people in Hong Kong who mainly spoke Cantonese was less than half of the total population. The situation was particularly common in the New Territories, with the majority of the villagers communicating in Weitou and Hakka.

The origin of Weitou, which is closely related to the southward migration of the Tang clan, Man clan, Pang clan, Hau clan and Liu clan of the New Territories, can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. Meanwhile, Hakka first appeared in Hong Kong in around the late Ming and the early Qing Dynasty. Within this period, the influence of the rescission of the Evacuation Edict by Qing Emperor Kangxi was the most immense, which made masses of Hakka people in Eastern Guangdong move south to plant the abandoned fields. The Hakka dialect was therefore brought to Hong Kong.

The sense of identity of a community is built up by its own dialect. Many Hakka people who have migrated overseas feel a sense of intimacy with one another like a family when they come back to join celebration activities like jiao festivals, as they speak the same dialect with the local villagers.

Nevertheless, listening to and speaking these native dialects in Hong Kong nowadays is not easy. For instance, in the Spring and Autumn Ancestral Offerings Ceremonies, which the villagers have placed great importance on, only some of the local villages can preserve the tradition of using Weitou to perform sacrificial rituals. Some villagers who are keen on learning Weitou would seize the opportunity in this rare chance to learn from the older generation on the spot, since it is very difficult to find someone whom they can talk to using the dialect in their daily life.

In former times, every female living in walled villages had to learn singing The Wedding Lament. They would be scolded if they did not know how to sing it. Not only does the song preserve a lot of words in Weitou, but it also records various aspects of the females’ lives and their mental outlook back in the old days. Even though these elements have become our precious cultural heritage, they can now only be shown in the singing voices of the elderly female villagers.

The Hakka communities have numerous folk songs as well, such as The Funeral Lament, which is sung when a family member has passed away, or songs that are sung by a man and a woman in duet when they work in the fields. All of these songs are filled with cultural connotations of the folks. However, as there is a decreasing number of people speaking Hakka, perhaps it is not an alarmist talk saying that the dialect would disappear gradually.

Producer: Gladys YEUNG