Hakka language：Hakka

Hakka, ethnic group[1] of China[2]. Originally, the Hakka were North Chinese, but they migrated[3] to South China (especially Guangdong[4], Fujian[5], Jiangxi[6], and Guangxi[7] provinces) during the fall of the Nan (Southern) Song dynasty[8] in the 1270s. Worldwide they are thought to number about 80 million today, although the number of Hakka speakers is considerably lower. They are considered to be a branch of the Han.

Their origins remain obscure, but the people who became the Hakka are thought to have lived originally in Henan[9] and Shanxi[10] provinces in the Huang He[11] (Yellow River) valley. They moved southward from there in two large migrations, one in the early 4th century and another in the late 9th century, perhaps to escape warfare or the domination of Inner Asian peoples. Their final migration in the 13th century took them farther south to their present areas of concentration.

The n...