Held by the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC), the 2023 World Hakka Culture Conference held its opening ceremony at Sheraton Taoyuan Hotel on September 24. Participants comprised Premier Chen Chien-jen, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan, and Minister of the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) Yiong Con-ziin. Hakka citizens from 25 nations around the world participated in the Conference, including 56 experts and scholars from Taiwan and abroad that acted as hosts and lecturers, totaling more than 500 prominent people and young leaders from all around the world. A considerable number of participants wore traditional clothing to showcase the diverse and beautiful Hakka cultural expressions in a global context.

21 years have elapsed since HAC held the first World Hakka Culture Conference in 2002. This year’s Conference was themed “Migration and Settlement: Globalism and Localism of Hakka People”. Over the course of two days, September 24 and 25, the topic of discussion was how Hakka people adapt to new locations overseas to become part of mainstream society, focusing on the resulting civic consciousness and civic participation of the Hakka diaspora across the world. Keynote speeches titled “Tracing the Current Development and Features of Hakka People Around the World” and “The Hakka and the Formation of the Modern World” were given by Hsin-huang Michael Hsiao, Senior Lecturer of the Office of the President, and HAC Minister Yiong Con-ziin on each of the two days, respectively.

The Conference’s theme combined 10 topics based on the framework of globalism and localism to achieve a comprehensive exploration of Hakka matters. The first day focused on political participation, interethnic relationships, language revitalization, culture, literature, and so forth. Among the guest speakers were Hasan Karman, ex-Mayor of Singkawang, Indonesia and Alex Liu, legislator of Newcastle, South Africa, who shared about their experiences of ethnic Chinese people joining mainstream society and participating in politics; Robert Hew, Chang Te-lai, and Pastor Djunaidi David, who spoke about interethnic relationships and interactions in Jamaica, Malaysia, and Indonesia; and Professor Chang Han-pi, Ghil'ad Zuckermann—Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Language at Australia’s University of Adelaide, and Dr. Cheng Chang-hsing to cover the area of language revitalization. Their fascinating expositions shed light on the revival of languages and the evolution of ethnic groups.

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2023 World Hakka Culture Conference

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