The Economy and lifestyle of Hakka people
As the Chinese saying goes, “People are shaped by the land they inhabit.” Environmental settings significantly influence the traditional way of living and customary practices. Before the outbreak of World War II, the economy of the New Territories in Hong Kong relied mainly on fishing and farming. Local inhabitants efficiently utilised the natural resources available […]
Yellow rice wine chicken
Yellow rice wine chicken is a popular dish in the Hakka culinary tradition. One might be familiar with red and white wine, but what about yellow rice wine? Historically, villagers in the New Territories used to produce their own wine using glutinous rice for personal consumption. Made from simple ingredients like glutinous rice, water and […]
Stone-ground rice flour: the everyday life of farmers
Stick rice flour (粘米粉) and glutinous rice flour (糯米粉) are essential ingredients of traditional Hakka pastries. In bygone days before the establishment of supermarkets, pre-packaged rice flour was not available in rural areas. To make Ban-kwo (Hakka rice cake,茶粿和糕粄), farmers had to crush rice grains into powder by manually grinding the ingredients with a stone […]
Hakka Rice Cracker (Micang): a back-breaking Lunar New Year treat
Besides Hakka Year Cake (圓籠粄), the Hakka community celebrates Lunar New Year with a special delicacy called ‘Micang’ (Hakka Rice Cracker, also known as ‘Miceng’ and ‘Mitong’). Similar to chaguo (glutinous rice cake, 茶粿), the Hakka rice cracker is a rice-based product. Its main ingredients include sticky rice flour (粘米), glutinous rice flour (糯米), peanuts, […]
Hakka Year Cake: Family steamed rice cakes in bamboo steamers
Known as ‘gou’ (糕) in Cantonese and ‘ban’ in Hakka, this traditional delicacy is a form of cake created using ground rice. During the Lunar New Year, the Hakka people place great importance on making Hakka Year Cake (‘circular steamer cake’, 圓籠粄), serving both as gifts and for household consumption. A prevalent theory circulating online […]
The Seventh Sister’s Birthday Festival
七姐誕算是一個已經式微的大節日，舊時七夕是華人民間大節，風俗非常多！
在新界鄉郊當然有不少慶祝活動，而且是以女性為主的節日，浪漫和精緻，值得將七夕復興。
相傳這一天，天上的織女和幾位姊妹落到凡間遊歷，期間在河川之間洗澡，此時，牛郎遇到織女一見鍾情，從此雙方墜入愛河，織女偷偷下凡成了牛郎妻子，織女還將天上的手作工藝的藝法傳授給凡人，牛郎與織女男耕女織，過著幸福的生活。
Tools | Ethnobotanical Study of Plants in Villages
Dwarf Mountain PineBaeckea frutescens The branches of the plant can be tied together to make brooms. They grow on hillsides facing the sun. The crushed leaves of the plant smell of White Flower oil. They can be used to produce aromatic oil and tannin extracts. Sandpaper vineTetracera asiatica Both the top and the bottom surfaces […]
The Crafts of Vernacular Architecture
【1. Walls – Mud Bricks, Blue Bricks, Rubble Masonry】 Vernacular houses in Hakka villages tend to be constructed with 3 main materials, mud bricks, blue bricks, and rubble masonry. Old village houses tend to be constructed with mud bricks. Wealthier villagers would construct the front façade of the house with blue bricks and construct the […]
Hakka braised pork
It is said the essence of Hakka cuisine is savory, fragrant and fat. Dishes with pork belly are one of the most representational dishes of the cuisine. To our knowledge, there are three types of Hakka dishes made with pork belly. Kau Pork – a representational dish for complex cooking techniques Kau could refer to […]
Multipurpose temples: A Map of Deities in Sha Tau Kok (Part II)
In addition to worshiping, temples serve three additional purposes: 1. As a regular meeting place for village and village alliance discussions, negotiations and arbitrations, and as a symbol of unity. Some temples were only worshipped by one village originally, yet they evolved to become the core temple of the whole village alliance after the formation […]