Multicultural Spectacle and Ethnic Relationship in Arts Festivals:

The Cases Studies of the Hakkas in Taiwan

Li-jung Wang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan
Abstract: Festivals such as the Edinburgh Arts Festival in Scotland, the Nottinghill Carnival in London or the Music Festival in Salzburg are viewed as important sources of urban development, tourism and local cultural economies. In addition,
festivals enrich cultures through the establishment of cultural identity, the production and consumption of cultural activities,
the promotion of cultural capital, the representation of symbol and discourse, and the maintenance of cultural diversity.
Therefore, there is a growing interest in researching festivals and their impact. In Taiwan, the government has established
various councils to support ethnic cultural development through ethnic festivals called Multicultural Taiwan. Many ethnic
arts festivals, such the Tung Blossom of the Hakka Festival, A-ha, and the Festival of Austronesian Cultures, are becoming
the main cultural and arts activities in Taiwan. This paper focuses on the relationship between festivals and ethnic development, considering various perspectives. From the view of policy, this paper analyzes how the national Hakka policy has
influenced the development of festivals. From the view of cultural production, this paper discusses how the festivals represent
the identity and the self- concept of the Hakkas, and how the festivals combine the Hakkas experience. With respect to
audience, this paper explores how the festivals influence the participants identity, and how a cultural legacy is formed by
the festivals. Finally, this paper intends to consider the general meaning and functions of ethnic arts festivals in contemporary
Taiwan, and argues that the Hakka culture is moving toward the concept of cultural diversity.
Keywords: Ethnic Spectacle, Identity, Festival, Cultural Policy, Cultural Diversity

Introduction
N 2002, MORE than ten Hakka festivals were
held in Taiwan; all were subsidized by the government. The promotion of Hakka festivals is
viewed as an important cultural and ethnic policy
with multiple purposes. First, the festivals represent
a special ethnic culture, the Hakka culture, and support the development of a multicultural Taiwan.1
At the same time, the Hakka festivals provide opportunities to develop and perform Hakka arts, and to
demonstrate Hakka culture for both the Hakkas and
non-Hakkas. In addition, the Hakka festivals support
local tourism and industries. Many Hakka villages
use the festivals to attract tourists and sell commodities, such as Hakka tea, cakes, traditional woodcarvings, or foods. In this way, the Hakka festivals
play an important role in the (re)construction of
contemporary Hakka culture.
This paper will examine the relationship between
the Hakka festivals and official cultural policy, explore how the Hakka culture and arts are represented

in festivals, discuss how the festivals affect the reconstruction of cultural identity for the Hakkas, and
analyze the influences of Hakka festivals on the development of contemporary Hakka culture.

Festivals, Identity and Ethnicity

Festivals have had various meanings and purposes
over time. Malcolm Gillies points out that a festival
will say something about a special purpose series
of events designed for some kind of celebration,
spectacle or ritual in earlier stage (Gillies, 2004:5).
Currently, festivals seem to concentrate particularly
on celebrating the performing arts, ideas, literature,
nature and food (Ibid:5).In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Sadie points out:
An generic term, derived from the Latin Festivitas, for a social gathering convened for the
purpose of celebration or thanksgiving. Such
occasions were originally part of a ritual nature

Taiwanese society today is struggling with two problems that have deep historical roots. The first is a persevering lack of a common national identity, resulting in clashes between conflicting Chinese and Taiwanese identities and leads to broader social conflicts. The second
relates to inequalities among Taiwans various cultural communities. Such inequalities have created crises in political legitimacy and social
justice. In response to these challenges, multiculturalism has taken an increasingly important role in Taiwanese cultural policy, with a new
national identity being constructed around the concept of a multicultural Taiwan. In 1997, the Tenth Article of the Constitution of the
Republic of China (ROC, the state that currently governs in Taiwan) was amended to state that the government recognizes and supports
multiculturalism. Moreover, in 2001, President Chen Shuibian publicly stated that, the ROC is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country.
Multiculturalism is a basic national policy (the Presidential Palace, 11 Nov., 2001). These and other actions by senior Taiwanese officials
demonstrate that multiculturalism has emerged as a new force in Taiwans search for a common national identity.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS,
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and were associated with mythological, religious and ethnic traditions.

From the earliest times festivals have been distinguished by their use of music, often in association with some kind of drama. In modern
times the music festivals frequently embracing
other kinds of art, has flourished as an independent cultural enterprise, but it is still often possible to discover some vestige of ancient ritual
in its celebrationof town or nation, political or
religious philosophy, living or historical person
(Sadie, 1980:505).
Falassi offers a further definition of festival as a
periodically recurrent, social occasion in which,
through a multiplicity of forms and a series of coordinated events, participate directly or indirectly
and to various degrees, all members of a whole
community, united by ethnic, linguistic, religious,
historical bounds, and sharing a world view.
Therefore, the meaning of festivals is related to
overt values recognized by the community as essential to its ideology and world view, to its social
identity, its historical continuity and to its physical
survival which is ultimately what festival celebrates
(Falassi, 1987:1-2).
Many researchers focus on the relationship
between festivals and the construction of ethnic
identity. Paul A. Bramadat used Canada as an example, pointing out that a festival is viewed as an
ethnic cultural spectacle and may be defined as an
organized event in which a group represents itself
both to its own members and to non-members.
Ethnic spectacles may facilitate the presentation
of dramatic performances of identity directed not
only by, but also at a particular ethnic group, in order
to tell a certain kind of story about what it might
mean for individuals and groups to combine various
identities within themselves. Accordingly, festivals
are viewed as sites of dialogical self-definition, by
which individuals and groups may define or redefine
their identities (Bramadat, 2001).
Sandhya Shukla analyzes the Cultural Festival
of India celebrated by Indian diasporas in the USA.
Shuklas paper explains/demonstrates that the Cultural Festival of India can been seen as an occasion
for a new type of imagined community, or as an
instance of diasporic nationalism; that is, it is produced by immigrant Indians intent on projecting a
positive image of themselves and is steeped in romantic
notions
of
the
home
country
(Shukla,1997:296). The text of the Cultural Festival
of India provides the concretization of Indian-ness
and becomes a fashionable multicultural gesture. It
also promotes peaceful ethnic relations (Ibid:300).
From the view of globalization, Shukla also believes
that diasporic nationalism produces an abiding
sense of identity through the concretization and es-

sentialization of culture. The identity produced is

national and transnational at the same time, with both
the interests and more global referents (Ibid:309).
Considering overseas Caribbean festivals, Keith
Nurse points out that festivals are products of and
responses to the processes of globalization as well
as transcultural and transnational formations; and
therefore, they are theoretically sites for the ritual
negotiation of cultural identity and practice (Nurse,
1999:661). These festivals or carnivals are the outcomes of the hybridization of multiple ethnicities
and cultures brought together under the rubric of
colonial and capitalist expansion. New identities are
forged and negotiated in the process. The overseas
festivals have become a basis for an-Caribbean
identity, a mechanism for social integration into
metropolitan society and a ritual act of transnational,
transcultural, transgressive politics (Ibid: 683).
In addition, festivals play an important role in
public representation to non-members, that is, public
education. Members of ethnic minorities can determine how their ethnicity is portrayed. Some people
think that the ethnic characters in festivals are likely
to be fictitious; however, these characters are an expression of how the minority wishes to be recognized
(Bramadat, 2001). In many festivals, members of
ethnic memories desire to contradict the stereotypes
placed on them by dominant groups establish a new
image from themselves.
Therefore, festivals can be seen as a specific form
of cultural resistance. For example, Homi Bhabha
believes that a festival is a site for the ritual negotiation of cultural identity and practice between and
among various social groups (Bhabha, 1994).
Mikhail Bakhtin shows that festival employs an
esthetic of resistance and thus acts as a counter
hegemonic tradition for the contestations and conflicts embodied in construction of class, nation, race,
gender, sexuality and ethnicity (Bakhtin, 1984).
Similarly, Nurse argues that the arts and rituals of
festivals have operated as mechanisms for inverting,
subverting and deconstructing the moral and philosophical bases of societal strictures, conventions and
power relations for the depressed (Nurse, 1999:665).
Self-definition by the members of ethnic minorities is not long-lasting. Carl L. Bankston and Jacques
Henry discuss the Cajun Festival in the USA
(Louisiana), and point out that ethnicity is a matter
of interpreting and reinterpreting a putatively primordial collective past, the nature of ethnicity changes
and specific ethnicities change in character as the
social influences on interpretations change (Bankston & Henry, 2000:378) Therefore, ethnic groups
and ethnic boundaries constantly undergo redefinition
and transformation as a consequence of the interplay between ethnic group actions and the larger social structures with which they interact (Ibid:

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2000:381). Both the groups themselves and their

cultural associations shift as members negotiate with
the society sounding them.
Although ethnic festivals in Taiwan are intended
to promote a new ethnicity for the Hakkas, we can
also see the various tensions inherent in their development. The following section discusses the experience of the Hakka festivals? and considers the problems involved.

Hakka Festivals in Cultural Policy

Hakka policy is a recent development. Prior to the
1988 Return My Mother Language to Me movement, the Hakkas, similar to the other invisible
minorities in Taiwan, received little government recognition or support. However, with rising Hakka
consciousness, a strengthening Hakka movement,
and the development of Hakkaology, Hakka issues
have gained widespread public attention. Under the
rubric of Multicultural Taiwan, the Hakka people
today receive significant support from the government, as political parties are forced to adopt Hakka
policies in order to win Hakka votes during elections.
Since 1995, the Hakka Cultural Festival has been
held annually in Taipei. Festival sponsorship has
become a key element in forming Hakka policy, and
today many other cities and counties hold Hakka
cultural festivals of their own. These festivals have
several functions. For example, the Hakka Cultural
Festival combines Hakka traditions with contemporary lifestyles?, thus helping to add new cultural elements to traditional Hakka culture. At the same time,
people can learn about traditional Hakka culture
through modern cultural activities (Dai Biaochu,
1998:161-2). In addition, for the generations of
Hakkas who were born and raised in Taipei, the
Hakka Cultural Festival helps them better understand
what it means to be Hakka (source: Lin Xiaofang,
2001, interview).
Aside from the Hakka festivals, the Council on
Hakka Affairs (CHA, the main official institution
dealing with Hakka issues at the central government
level, established in 2000) outlined policies aimed
at improving cultural participation. In their Six Year
Plan to Promote Hakka Culture (2002a) the Council
on Hakka Affairs included such measures as helping
to set up Hakka cultural workshops and artist villages; establishing Hakka cultural centres to help the
local governments and communities promote Hakka
culture; and rejuvenating Hakka cultural life through
Hakka cultural activity promotion, documenting
Hakka traditional life, and reintroducing aspects of
Hakka traditional culture (CHA, 2002a:6-12).
Cultural festivals are viewed as important ways
to promote Hakka culture. CHA pointed out:

The invisibility of the Hakkas is one reason

they are marginalized. The Hakka culture is
already minimal in Taiwan; gradually, either it
will be forgotten, or it will be seen as alien.
Therefore, the renaissance of the Hakka culture
depends on whether the whole society can
construct a friendly environment in which to
present the Hakka culture. At the same time,
the Hakka people should be aware of the threat
to their culture, and begin to save it by ways of
Hakka cultural movements (Ibid: 6).
As described above, cultural festivals influence participants in many ways. For the Hakkas, cultural
festivals will be the stage to communicate, transfer
and construct the Hakka culture and identity. For the
non-Hakkas, they will exhibit the special Hakka
culture and increase understanding of the Hakkas.
Many Hakka cultural festivals have been created
and developed since the establishment of CHA. Over
ten different festivals are held in one year by both
central and local governments. One of them, the
Tung Blossom of Hakka Festival, has become the
fourth most popular festival in Taiwan after only
three years. With the promotion of Hakka festivals,
the Hakka culture is seen openly by Taiwan society,
creating a new field for the reconstruction of Hakka
culture.
To sum up, the purposes of the Hakka festivals
are asfollows:
First, they provide an ethnic spectacle, exhibiting various forms of culture based on Hakka
experiences and traditions.
Second, they create a new space in which to
develop the Hakka culture and arts, which were
previously ignored and limited by the government.
Third, they supply opportunities for the Hakkas
to access and participate in their own culture,
in order to understand the Hakka culture and
keep it alive.
Fourth, they enrich/popularize the Hakka identity through cultural activities and arts, which
will enable the new generation to experience
the Hakka culture more deeply.
Ethnic Spectacle and the Hakka Festivals
The Hakka festivals present a view of the reconstruction of Hakka culture and define the Hakka experience as follows:
The experience of emigrating from China to
Taiwan: many artistic works and performances
describe the experiences of the ancestral Hakka
people emigrating from mainland China to
Taiwan. For example, the dance of Seeing the
Hakkas: from Headwater, expresses how the

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ancestors left their hometowns, faced difficulty

and danger on the seas, and settled in Taiwan.
The creators of the dance intend to provide a
historical perspective of the Hakka people in
Taiwan.
Those in power always control the writing of history.
The writing of Taiwanese history was dominated by
the Hokkiens2 in the earlier stages and by the mainlanders after 1949. For example, the two main books
on Taiwanese history, Taiwan 's General History by
Lian, Heng, and Four Hundred Years of Taiwanese
History by Shi, Ming, are written by Hokkien writers.
Thus, the Hakkas are described as others and as
an accessory of the dominant groups during periods
of ethnic conflict between the Hakkas and the
Hokkiens3. These views have led to a stigma being
attached to the Hakkas, and also to continuing misunderstandings between the Hokkiens and the Hakkas. Until the present time, most county histories,
like those of Taoyuan/Hsinchu/Miaoli, where the
Hakkas are in the majority, were written by Hokkiens. Recently, in response to this situation, Hakkas
have sought to produce a new version of their history.4
Farming Experience is portrayed in various art
forms, such as dance, theatre and music. These portrayals present the difficulties faced by the Hakkas
in their early history in Taiwan, around two or three
hundred years ago. Farming work displays the Hakka
character: hard-working and frugal labourers. For
example, Hakka dances display the farmers tilling
land, herding cows, and weeding.
Farming experience is seen as an important part
in the Hakka experience; however, some people feel
that it is a common historical experience for all ethnic
groups (two or three hundred years ago). Thus,
farming experience is not unique to the Hakkas.
Stories of Hakka women are also presented in
Hakka cultural activities. Compared with the women
of other ethnic groups, the Hakka women make more

contributions to family finances. Historically, most

of them had to go out to work like men because the
Hakka faced many difficulties earning money.One
of their unique characteristics is that the Hakka women did not bind their feet like other women.
Therefore, Hakka women were often described as
having big feet (tianzu).
One woman dancer uses big feet to explore the
destiny of the Hakka women. She has said:
Big feet are special gifts for the Hakka women. We know the Hakka women should do
farm work or pick tea at any age. It is really
hard for them; however, the Hakka women feel
happy to contribute themselves to family. They
are so thrifty and are striving for their children.
I want to praise these mothers, grandmothers
and all women in my dance (interview with Xu
Mengyue, Hakka dancer, 2005).
The experience of the Hakka women is not strange
for the young generation. Most of the young Hakkas
hear similar stories within their families. For example, one young Hakka girl has told us that her
grandmother had childbirth when she was working
on the farm. But she has no idea about her grandfather (interview with Hu Mingchun, Hakka undergraduate student, 22 years old, 2005). The experience of
the Hakka women is seen as unique among the various ethnic groups in Taiwan.
The Tung Bloom is also significant in the new
construction of the Hakkas through festivals. The
Tung bloom is a common tree in Taiwan. Most of
the Hakkas are unaware of the link between the Tung
bloom and the Hakkas. However, after the establishment of the Council on Hakka Affairs (CHA, 2001),
the officers decided to use the Tung bloom as a
symbol of the Hakka people. Linked the Hakkas and
the Tung bloom in three ways: the Tung bloom is
found around the hills, grows in poor soil, and has a
white color; the Hakka people live in the hills, are
poor, and are clean.

Before the 1990s, the main ethnic distinction in was between Benshengren (i.e., multigenerational ethnically Chinese residents of ) and
Waishengren (i.e., mostly post-1945 Mainland emigrants to the island). The distinction was clearly printed on ROC ID cards in the
field. For purposes of classification, Hakkas and Hokkiens were grouped together as Benshengren. The Province of Origin field was
removed from ID cards in the early 1990s, after which a new distinction focusing on the Four Ethnic Groups came into widespread
use under the name of Multicultural Taiwan Four Ethnic Groups refers to the four main ethnic groupings in Taiwan: Taiwanese of
Malayo-Polynesian descent (a.k.a. Taiwanese aborigines, around 3% in the whole population), Hakkas (15%), Hokkiens (65%) and
post-1945 Mainlanders (12%).
Taiwanese aborigines were the first ethnic group to settle in and arrived long before the first ethnically Chinese settlers. They are Austronesian and are of Malayo-Polynesian descent. s aborigines belong to over eleven different tribal groups, each with its own distinct
language, culture, social system, lifestyle and physical attributes.
Mainlanders mainly includes those who arrived in with the Guomintang (KMT) government between 1945 and 1949, as well as their
descendants. This group includes KMT party administrators, government officials, military men and their families, and refugees from
the war that had engulfed much of the Chinese mainland.
Hokkien represents the largest ethnic group in --over 65% of the total population. The main wave of Hokkien immigrants came to
from province (along the southeastern coast of ) during the seventeenth century.

During the events of Lin, Shuang, Wen (1786) and Zhu, Yu-gui (1721), which were two serious ethnic conflicts between the
Hokkiens and the Hakkas, the Hakkas were described as an accessory of the Ching Dynasty in oppressing the Hokkiens.
4
Interview with Xu, Zheng-Quang.

LI-JUNG WANG

To foster this symbolism, the CHA began to construct Hakka Tung bloom culture, featuring:
The Tung bloom festival: This festival was established to offer sacrifices to the Tung bloom
in April or May every year.
Tung bloom foods: Tung bloom rice and cakes
are sold at the festivals.
Tung bloom music and dance: Hakka writers,
dancers and musicians are invited to create
works based on the Tung bloom.
Tung bloom crafts: Crafts such as woodcarving
and pottery are produced.
Tung bloom trips: Tourists enjoy the sight of
the Tung blooms and experience traditional
Hakka lifestyle and industry.
The Tung bloom culture of the Hakkas is seen
clearly. This case represents the successful creation of new Hakka culture in Taiwan.
The new social problems of the city are also explored
in the Hakka arts and cultural forms. With the development of industrialization and urbanization, the
Hakkas leave their hometowns to find jobs in big
cities. They lose their traditional ethnic networking
and values, and face many new difficulties in work
and family life. In particular, popular Hakka music
represents these challenges. For example, the song
Half Piece of Pork Chop criticizes the loss of the
traditional Hakka duty to ones parents. Job describes the difficulty of getting a job in the city.
The Hakkas hope to redefine themselves with
these arts and cultural activities. Some people question whether the genuineness of the ethnic image
being defined, such as the relationship between the
Tung bloom and the Hakkas; however, this image
does express how the Hakkas hope to be seen and
understood.
Although progress has been made through the
festivals, the process of self-definition or self-interpretation for the Hakkas is complex and confusing.
Ethnic character is constructed by a groups actions
and social structure; therefore, that character changes
over time. Before, the Hakkas lived together and
could share a definite Hakka culture. Today however, many of the Hakka people have moved to the
cities and live intermingled with other ethnic groups,
making it difficult to maintain their traditional culture. Reconstructing or redefining Hakka culture
within the context of life in the city is a difficult undertaking. More and more of the Hakka people have
lived their entire lives in the city and have little or
no understanding of Hakka culture because they have
not experience life in the village.
5

At the same time, the newly defined culture is not

really accepted by all of the Hakkas, in particular the
portrait of the Hakka women. Young Hakka girls
reject the notion of traditional Hakka women who
are always obedient to their husbands or families.
Thus, there are many challenges to reconstructing a
common view of the Hakka people.5
The imagination of the Hakka culture is complex.
As Chen Ban said:
Most of the artists and cultural organizations
are trying to find out what the Hakka culture is.
We have no clear idea. But we are free to think
about it and try to create things that are Hakka.
The Hakka culture now is diverse, of course,
with some excellent aspects and some negative
aspects. We need more time to develop contemporary Hakka culture and arts.
(interview with Chen Ban, Hakka cultural
worker, 2005).

Hakka Festivals and Identity

As stated above, festivals are viewed as sites of
dialogical self-definition where individuals and
groups may define or redefine their identity, or theorized as sites for the ritual negotiation of cultural
identity and practice. Furthermore, some overseas
festivals have become a basis for pan-ethnic identity
and a mechanism for social integration into metropolitan society (Nurse, 1999).
The Council on Hakka Affairs believes that the
importance of festivals is that they help people understand what the Hakka culture is, improve the
Hakkas cultural confidence, and never be shameful
as a Hakka (interview with Zhong Qingbo, the officer in CHA).
The interviewees in this research study shared
some ways that Hakka festivals influence cultural
identity.

The Increase of Ethnic Confidence and

Cultural Identity
One Hakka interviewee said:
The Hakka is an obedient ethnicity. When our
government says that the Hakka culture is bad,
and tries to limit the development of the Hakka
culture, we will follow. When our government
says that Hakka culture is good, and tries to
improve the development of the Hakka culture,
we feel confident from it. When our government
oppresses the Hakka culture and language,
many Hakka pretend that they can not under-

The reconstruction of the Hakka culture has been full of conflict. Another case is that whereas some of the older generation claim that
Hakka tradition does not include dance, and that there is therefore no need to develop the Hakka dance, some of the young generation feel
that they can use the Hakka experience to create their own Hakka dance.

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stand the Hakka language. But now, they like

to show openly that they are Hakka. It means
that the Hakkas have a stronger ethnic identity
now (interview with Zeng Nianyou, Hakka
cultural worker, 2005).
The elder Hakka also feel that the Hakka identity is
becoming stronger:
We were an invisible ethnicity, and the
Hakka image was smeared by the whole society. But now, the various Hakka festivals and
cultural activities can help us to keep our dignity..we like to recognize our ethnic status
today. I also feel happy because our government
provides these opportunities to develop Hakka
culture. I like to participate in these festivals if
I receive the relevant information (Interview
with Chen Zhenghe, retired teacher, around 60
years old).

Festivals provide Content for Hakka

Identity
As the Council on Hakka Affairs points out, the last
generation of the Hakkas was not able to recognize
their ethnic status because of political factors; however, the next generation will not know how to recognize their ethnic status because they do not speak the
Hakka language and have no idea what the Hakka
culture is (CHA, 2003). Therefore, Hakka festivals
try to provide the means to construct a Hakka identity. For example, one interviewee explains:
I knew the mountain songs and Hakka theatre
from my parents; however, I never saw it on
my own in the past. However, I can really enjoy
it from festivals. At that moment, I feel that, I
am a real Hakka. I feel very close to some
Hakka experiences in these activities. (Interview
with Yeh Zuoling, engineer, 37 years old,
2005).
In addition, for the young generation of Hakkas, who
were born in Taipei, the Hakka Cultural Festival
helps them to understand what being Hakka means
(interview with Lin Xiaofang, Hakka photographer,
30 years old).
The Hakka festival, while strengthening ethnic
identity and cultural development, faces considerable
challenges from the differences of generations.
6

Young Hakkas in their teens and twenties do not

appreciate the Hakka festivals:
I do not understand the Hakka language, and it
is really tough for me to listen to Hakka music.
It is easier for me to follow Hakka dance, but
the stories expressed in the dances are still far
from my life and experience (such as the poor
Hakka women and working hard on farms). I
grew up in a big city, and never learned about
Hakka language and culture. My grandparents
never speak Hakka language to me. Maybe they
never tried to teach me what the Hakka culture
is because I am a girl and not a boy (interview
with Fan Yahan, undergraduate student, 22
years old, 2005).
Whether or not the young Hakkas can understand
the Hakka language is the most important factor in
determining whether they enjoy Hakka cultural
activities. Some of the young generation who can
speak the Hakka language are quite interested in
Hakka music and theatre. On the other hand, people
who cannot understand the Hakka language feel
isolated from these expressions of Hakka culture.
Another problem is relative to urbanization, which
has diminished many of the unique features of ethnic
life. It is difficult for the Hakka performers to represent modern experience; therefore, they pay more attention to the earlier way of life for the Hakkas, such
as farming and female labour. The gap between the
Hakka cultural proponents and their young audience
makes it difficult for the younger generation to enjoy
and appreciate the Hakka festivals.

The Possibility of Multiple Identities

Due to the prevalence of inter-ethnic marriages, some
of the younger generation of Hakkas live outside the
traditional Hakka regions and have either abandoned
their ethnic affiliations or been assimilated into
Hokkien culture. These are the Hokkien-Hakkas.
In some cases, the reverse is true, with Hokkiens
living in Hakka areas being assimilated into Hakka
culture and becoming Hakka-Hokkiens. This new
development demonstrates how Hakka experience
blurs ethnic boundaries and challenges traditional
views of ethnicity. The Hakka come close to matching current definitions of a postmodernist hybrid
culture (Young, 1995).6 Hybridity works simultan-

Hybridity and hybrid culture have been discussed in cultural studies by numerous researchers. Homi K. Bhabha, the first to use the
term hybridity in cultural studies, transformed the term from Bakhtin's intentional hybrid into an active movement? of challenge and
resistance against a dominant cultural power. Bhabha translated this movement? into a hybrid displacing space, which develops through
the interaction between indigenous and colonial cultures. He has since extended his notion of hybridity to include forms of counter-authority.
E. Said and S. Hall also use this term. According to Said, hybrid counter-energies challenge the centred, dominant cultural norms with
their unsettling perplexities generated out of their disjunctive, liminal space. Hall used the term to discuss black cultural politics and the
diaspora experience of black Africans. See Robert J. C. Young, Hybridity and Diaspora, in Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture
and Race (London and New York: Routledge, 1995).

LI-JUNG WANG

eously in two ways: organically, by hegemonising

and creating new spaces, structures and scenes; and
intentionally, by diasporising and intervening as a
form of subversion, translating and transforming.
The Hakka experience involves both organic and
intentional hybridisation, with the processes of merging and dialogisation of ethnic and cultural differences set critically against one another. They operate
dialogically together, in a double-voiced, hybridised
form of cultural politics. The existence today of hybrid groups such as the Hokkien-Hakka, HakkaHokkien, Pingpu-Hakka, Hakka-Saisiyat and
Mainlander-Hakka reveals the organic hybridity
of the Hakka today.
The increasing hybridity of the Hakka has occurred both intentionally and naturally as Hakkas
have integrated into hybrid Taiwanese culture. For
example, many Hakka writers have written important
works on Taiwanese history, culture, society and
future. The Hakka writers employ their cultural
background and consciousness as part of larger
Taiwanese culture.
Examining the culture of Hokkien-Hakka is a
good way to understand the hybrid culture that
bridges Hakka and Hokkien, a hybrid culture most
visible in terms of religion, architecture and food.
Beginning in 2002, the Council on Hakka Affairs
began sponsoring the Hokkien-Hakka Cultural
Festival. Activities included an academic conference
on Hokkien-Hakka issues, visits to sites important
to Hokkien-Hakka cultural heritage, and an exhibit
of cultural and historical relics.
In other words, the Hokkien-Hakka Cultural
Festival offers a new perspective on Hakka identity:
multiple identity. It also demonstrates multiple possibilities for ethnic and cultural identity. People can
be Hakka and Hokkien at the same time. As Yang
Cong-rong points out:
The more stable the ethnic relationship is in a
society, the more people will recognize that
they share more than one culture. At the same
time, the more people who share more cultures,
the more harmonious the ethnic relationship
will be. On the other hand, more tension among
the various ethnic groups will lead to the reduction of people who can recognize more cultures.
People are forced to choose one side as their
identity. Therefore, multiple identities show
tolerance for ethnic differences (Yang,
2004:31).
To sum up, the various Hakka festivals influence
ethnic identity in several ways, such as the increase
of ethnic conferences and cultural identity, the provision of content for identity, and the development of
multiple identities. The Hokkien-Hakka Cultural
Festival is an interesting case, presenting the recon-

struction of Hakka identity and the possibility to

define and redefine Hakka culture.

Hakka Experience in Cultural Policy:

Towards Cultural Diversity?
Modern Hakka festivals demonstrate the new trend
in cultural policy toward cultural diversity, because
of the hybrid culture and multiple identities of the
Hakkas. Cultural diversity aims to rectify the problems of multiculturalism in cultural policy. As in the
case of multiculturalism, it addresses two main
problems. The first is to encourage the diversity of
culture, living, imagination and creativity among
individuals. For example, UNESCOs statement on
Our Creative Diversity stresses the crucial importance of cultural self-definition and the value given
to the individual voice (The Arts Council of England,
1998:11). The second problem is concerned with the
equal cultural opportunity of all people regardless
of their social background (The Arts Council of
England, 1997:19), as in the conception of multicultural citizenship. Cultural diversity has replaced
multiculturalism and become a key concept in cultural policy because it does not necessarily link culture
to sexual origin, race or ethnicity, and thereby avoids
the danger of ghettoisation lurking in some versions
of multiculturalism and ethnic arts (East Midlands
Arts, 1996). According to this definition, the first
point of difference between cultural diversity and
multiculturalism is that cultural diversity refers to
different forms of ethnically-based expression (The
Arts Council of England, 1997: 33). Secondly, it rejects ethnic arts as a meaningless term that implies
a form of homogeneity that has little bearing in
reality.
But the next problem for cultural diversity concerns the diverse cultures to which it refers. What
exactly are the different connotations of culture in
cultural diversity and multiculturalism? The official report of The Arts Council of England indicates
several cultural classifications, such as disability
culture, women's culture, youth culture, gay or lesbian culture, and hybrid culture.
Hybrid culture is an important concept in cultural
diversity because it highlights the direction of cultural development in a global age: culture is always
formed by interaction across a boundary, not only a
national boundary but also an ethnic or subcultural
boundary. As Bennett shows, cultural diversity is
desirable not only for its own sake but as a means of
achieving social cohesion, and it is a necessary means
of overcoming social exclusion (Bennett, 2000).
Cultural diversity tends to emphasize the intersection and intermixing of, and crossovers between,
different cultural perspectives and traditions that
produce the social dynamics for forms of cultural

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NATIONS, VOLUME 7

diversity that constantly interpenetrate one another

with new and unpredictable consequences.

Conclusion: The Hakka Festivals in

Taiwan
From the literature review and interviewee experiences with the Hakka festivals, we find that festivals
are sites of self-definition, the construction of ethnic
identity, cultural resistance, and ethnic spectacle.
Accordingly, the purposes of the Hakka festivals are
as follows:
First, they provide an ethnic spectacle to exhibit the various cultural forms based on Hakka
experiences and traditions.
Second, they create a new space in which to
develop Hakka culture and arts, which were
previously ignored and limited by the government.
Third, they offer opportunities for the Hakkas
to access and participate in their own culture,
in order to understand and inherit the Hakka
culture.
Fourth, they enrich the Hakka identity with
cultural activities and arts, which will provide
the new generation opportunities to increase
their Hakka experiences.
Although the Hakka festivals provide many positive
outcomes, the Hakka experience illustrates the diffi-

culty of constructing a homogenous, unified identity,

both in national and ethnic terms, in Taiwan today.
The hybrid Hakka culture and the reality of multiple
Hakka identities pose a direct challenge to discourse
on Multicultural Taiwan. The relationship between
Hakkas and Multicultural Taiwan is dialogic and
dynamic. While Multicultural Taiwan redefines
the identity and culture of Hakkas, the Hakkas
themselves infuse greater hybridity, heterogeneity,
diversity, dynamics and negotiated identity into
Multicultural Taiwan. This paper presents characteristics of hybrid culture and multiple identities in
the case of Hakka festivals. These festivals also point
toward new possibilities of cultural diversity in
Taiwan.
Interviewee List
Zhong Qingbo, officer of CHA, 2005
Xu Mengyue, Hakka dancer, 2005
Chen Ban, Hakka cultural worker, 2005
Zeng Nianyou, Hakka cultural worker, 2005
Lin Xiaofang, Hakka photographer, 30 years old,
2005
Chen Zhenghe, retired teacher, around 60 years old,
2005
Yeh Zuoling, engineer, 37 years old, 2005
Fan Yahan, undergraduate student, 22 years old,
2005
Hu Mingchun, Hakka undergraduate student, 22
years old, 2005

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About the Author

Dr. Li-jung Wang
Dr. Li-jung Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Policy Science, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
PH.D, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, UK.

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