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The Hakka Images

• Byline:JIM HWANG
• Publication Date:06/01/2012

Photographer Zhang A-xiang took this picture of a woman known as Aunt A-cha in the 1960s. Aunt A-cha was the first licensed midwife in Toufen Township, Miaoli County, and was also popular for performing the shoujing ritual, a Taoist rite for “reclaiming the frightened souls” of children. Aunt A-cha passed away many years ago, but her offspring have continued providing shoujing services to children in the area. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

A series of books on five veteran photographers and one long-running group preserves the stories and traditions of the Hakka people.

While Taiwan’s mixture of indigenous and immigrant cultures provides opportunities for learning and mutual understanding, such co-mingling sometimes also carries the risk of blunting the distinctive characteristics of an individual culture. To preserve the uniqueness of the Hakka heritage, in 2008 the Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center under the Hakka Affairs Council started putting together a digital archive dedicated to Hakka photographers and their works. So far, 90,000 images by 31 Hakka photographers have been archived.

The Hakka people, who immigrated to Taiwan in several waves over the centuries, constitute about one-fifth of Taiwan’s current total population of around 23 million. In February this year, the Hakka Affairs Council worked with Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. Ltd. to release the first six volumes in a photo book series collectively titled Lives of the Hakka Village—A History in Photos. Each book contains approximately 100 images taken by an individual photographer or group. Several Hakka culture and history workers talked with the photographers, their families or village elders before writing the accompanying text and captions.

The photographers chosen for the six books include Deng Nan-guang (鄧南光, 1907–1974), Li Zeng-chang (李增昌, 1927–), Zhang A-xiang (張阿祥, 1916–), Li Xiu-yun (李秀雲, 1919–2001), Liu An-ming (劉安明, 1929–) and the Ngang Giang Photography Group. Deng Nan-guang, born to a wealthy family in Beipu Township, Hsinchu County, northern Taiwan, received his high school and university education in Japan, where he developed a profound interest in photography. After returning to Taiwan in 1935, Deng set up a camera shop in Taipei and continued documenting the lives of local people and promoting photography until he passed away at the age of 64. In addition to the new book, Deng’s works are showcased at the Deng Nan-guang Photo Memorial in his hometown.

Li Zeng-chang became interested in photography at the age of 8, when he had his first picture taken by a local photo shop, though it was not until 20 years later that he owned his first camera. Although Li started out by taking pictures of his family and friends, his subject matter broadened after he joined a local photography club. Li picked up techniques from fellow enthusiasts in the club and traveled around Taiwan with them to indulge his passion for the art form.

Like most other Hakka immigrants who settled in the Liudui area in Neipu Township of Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, Li Xiu-yun was born to a family that had been growing rice for several generations. As a teenager, Li Xiu-yun was first drawn to photography by the pictures in Japanese war propaganda posters, but did not own his first camera until he was 45. Li Xiu-yun did not hold a solo exhibition until 1996, when, at the age of 78, he held one titled My Hometown.

While most of these veterans were attracted to photography by a love for the art form, Zhang A-xiang from Toufen Township in Miaoli County, northern Taiwan and Liu An-ming from Meinong District in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan began their journeys as a way to make a living. They both started out as photo shop apprentices and later opened their own studios. Cameras were too expensive for the average person to buy at the time, so photo shops were often hired to photograph important events, take family shots and even shoot portraits for identity cards. Though long retired, Zhang, now 96 and Liu, now 83, are still documenting Taiwan through their lenses.

The Ngang Giang Photography Group was founded in 1991 by 11 Hakka photographers who were then between 34 and 70 years old. From the group’s founding through the present day, most of the members have been retired or active civil servants or school teachers from the Miaoli area. Despite the emergence and eventual dominance of color photography, Ngang Giang members have always insisted on documenting their people and villages in black and white.

In the six books of the Hakka series released so far, the images captured by these veteran photographers not only tell stories, but also help ensure that valuable cultural and historical assets are passed down to succeeding generations.

A 1936 photo taken by Zhang A-xiang of his new wife, left; cousin, second right; and four friends along the bank of Zhonggang Creek in Toufen. Except for the Western dress of Zhang’s cousin, all others in the photo wear traditional wide-sleeved shirts and shin-length pants that allow for easy movement when working. A sense of fashion can still be seen, however, in the subjects’ hairstyles and in the details and patterns of their clothing. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Zhang A-xiang was hired to take this picture of the Hsu family’s newborn quadruplets in 1935. Having quadruplets was a big thing in the village, and thanks to experienced midwives, the mother delivered all of the infants safely in a remote area that lacked modern hospitals. Front row from left: the two midwives, father, mother and babies. Back row from left: the local doctor who examined the newborns and two officials from the Japanese colonial government’s health department. Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

A photo taken by Ngang Giang Photography Group member Chen Li-wen in the 1950s of a Hakka mother preparing dumplings. The dumplings that remain a common daily food in Hakka communities are reputed to have origins in the dumplings made of wheat flour found in northern mainland China. When the Hakka moved south to regions where wheat is seldom grown, wheat flour was replaced by flour made from rice. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

The God of War appears on stage in Beipu Township, Hsinchu County. In Taiwan, Hakka opera has been influenced by the music, movements and stories from many other kinds of folk opera as the country’s cultural integration has progressed. This photo was taken by Deng Nan-guang in 1935, when the occasional opera performance was the only form of public entertainment available in rural villages. Two years later, all public folk opera performances were officially banned by the Japanese colonial government. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Deng Nan-guang took this photo of a Hsinchu street scene, including a man maintaining his three-wheeler and a woman having her hair done, in the 1960s. Local elders say that at the time, the limited population of individual villages usually could not generate enough business to support resident hair stylists and barbers, forcing them to travel from one small town to another to earn a living. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Li Xiu-yun took this photo of a Hakka ba-yin music troupe between 1964 and 1970. In the past, ba-yin music was part of Hakka events ranging from weddings, funerals and festival ceremonies to birthdays, moving into new residences and passing government examinations. As time passed, however, ba-yin music fell out of favor and some of the techniques for playing the instruments as well as the music itself—both of which were passed down orally instead of in written form—were lost. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

A photo by Liu An-ming of farmers sorting heat-cured tobacco leaves in Meinong District, Kaohsiung City in 1965. At the time, the government had a monopoly on tobacco sales in Taiwan, so farmers could only sell their cured tobacco to the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Li Xiu-yun’s image of the “welcoming Wangyeh” ceremony at the Donggang Wangyeh Boat Festival at Donglong Temple in Donggang Township, Pingtung County between 1964 and 1970. Held every three years, the festival is one of Taiwan’s largest religious activities. The three stacks of firewood are set up for the “crossing the fire” ceremony, during which members of the troupe welcoming Wangyeh walk through the flames to ward off evil. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

A backstage photo of a Hakka opera performance in the 1970s by Chen Yen-chuan of the Ngang Giang Photography Group. Hakka opera’s prime years were between 1945 and 1960, after which movies became the main source of entertainment in Taiwan. Even today, when opera troupes go on tour, the backstage area serves as a temporary abode where cast and crew eat and sleep. When the show is taking place on stage, real life shifts backstage. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

In 1959, Li Zeng-chang took this picture of Donglin Road in Zhudong Township, Hsinchu County from the top floor of a newly opened four-story bank. Wuzhi Mountain is in the far background, and the three chimneys on the upper right belong to a glass factory set up under Japanese colonial rule. Buildings in the picture have long since been replaced by structures with more modern construction, while the shops have given way to banks, township offices, hotels and restaurants. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Li Zeng-chang used a special darkroom technique to give this 1969 photo the look of a relief sculpture. Prior to 1949, workers in Taiwan’s agricultural sector were mostly tenant farmers who grew crops for landowners. After the third stage of Taiwan’s long-running land reform effort was completed in 1963, however, farmers were allowed to own farmland and no longer needed to worry about losing their jobs as hired hands. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

A photo of a Hakka housing complex in Neipu Township, Pingtung County in the 1960s taken by Li Xiu-yun. The homes in the compound were built in a series of three concentric rows and incorporated defensive features and Fengshui design principles. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Deng Nan-guang’s photo of rooftops in Hsinchu in 1950. The different roof designs of the homes indicate owners’ varying social or economic backgrounds. Roofs with the swallowtail ridge could only be used for family shrines or for the homes of families whose ancestors had been government officials. (Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council)

Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw