TAIWANESE HAKKA:
Origin--MODERN BIOLOGICAL STUDIES
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Content
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT HAKKA
2. ORIGIN OF HAKKA
2.3 MODERN BIOLOGICAL STUDIES:
2.31 Immunoglobulin Studies
2.32 Human Leukocyte Antigen Studies
2.33 G6PD Deficiency Studies
2.34 Multiple Genes Analysis
2.35 Other Biological Studies
2.36 Hakka Taiwanese and Taiwanese Aborigine
CULTURE AND LANGUAGE OF HAKKA IN TAIWAN
HISTORY OF HAKKA IN TAIWAN
1) Immunoglobulin Studies:
Human immunoglobulins have structural differences. These
differences can be used as genetic markers for population genetics. One of
these markers Gm is in immunoglobulin G H (heavy) chain. These genetic
markers are inherited in fixed combinations termed Gm haplotypes. It has
been recognized that the Gm haplotypes common to Mongoloid populations are
Gm ag, axg, ab3st and afb1b3.
Prof. Hideo Matsumoto of Osaka Medical College collected blood
from different areas and analyzed the difference of Gm markers. He
divided the Mongoloid populations into two groups. One is northern group
which is characterized by high frequency of Gm ag and Gm ab3st and extremely
low frequency of Gm afb1b3 haplotype, and the other one southern group
characterized by a remarkably high frequency of Gm afb1b3 and a low
frequency of Gm ag and Gm ab3st.
Dr. Matsumoto speculated that the origin of the Gm afb1b3
characteristic of southern Mongoloids exists in Yunnan and Guangxi areas
of southwest China. The origin of the Gm ab3st characteristic of northern
Mongoloids exists in Siberia, most likely in the Baikal area. (
"Characteristics of Mongoloid Populations and Immunogenetics of Various
Diseases Based on the Genetic Markers of Human Immunoglobulins" by H
Matsumoto in "Expl Clin Immunogenet 1989; 6:68-87").
No specific study on Hakka by Dr. Matsumoto was found. However,
he had one paper on Taiwanese ("Gm and Km allotypes of the Taiwanese" by H
Matsumoto et al in "Jap J Human Genet 1975; 20:169-173"). From the study in
Taichung area, an area with about 5% Hakka and 95% Hoklo, they classified
Taiwanese as southern Mongoloid group characterized by a high frequency of
Gm afb1b3. They did not make comment about the difference between Hakka and
Hoklo. (In their paper, however, they did mention Minnan and Hakka groups in
Taiwan).
Similar study done by a group of Chinese scholars, however, did a
study in an area with primarily Hakka population. This paper ("Study on
Immunoglobulin Allotypes in the Chinese: a Hypothesis of the Origin of the
Chinese Nation" by T Zhao et al in "Acta Genetica Sinica 1991; 18:97-108").
Their study also suggested that Chinese originated from two distinct
populations, southern and northern. Hakka from Meixian clearly belongs to
southern Mongoloid group.
Phylogenetic tree of 74 populations was constructed using
unweighted pair-group clustering method by T Zhao et al. The closest
"relatives" of Hakka are the people from Guangzhou, She (Ú®) people and the
people from Liuzhou of Guangxi. Hakka also have close "relatives" from
other southern aboriginal groups such as Mulao, Zhuang, Dong, Jing,
Miao, Bouyei, and Shui.
From the above data, at least biologically, Hakka is primarily
originated from southern Mongoloid groups rather than from northern or
central China (Chung-yuan, He-nan) as many believe.
2)Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA):
Dr. Chen, Kuang-ho (³¯ ¥ú ©M ¡^ in Taipei recently published an
article “ Genetic Finding and Mongoloid Population Migration in China ”
in Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica No. 73, 209-
232, 1992. He used data from three following articles:
1) Sun Y et al : A comparative Study of HLA Distribution among
Some Nationalities in China: I. Gene Frequencies and Genetic
distance. Journal of Chinese Microbiology and Immunology 4:205-
211,1984
2) Zhao, Tongmao et al: Genetic Distance Estimated on the Basis of
HLA. Academia anthropologica Sinica #:165-170, 1984
3) Zhao, Tongmao : HLA Fenxing Yuanli He Yingyong , Shanghai,
China, Shanghai Kexue Jishue. 1982
He used standardized isonomy to measure similarities between
populations. He made a taxonomy tree of the average linkage analysis
from 25 Mongoloid populations in China. This figure can be seen in :
Taxonomy Tree of the Average Linkage Analysis of HLA in Chinese Populations
(Click the left side on " HLA Genetic Findings on Chinese Populations")
The summary of his findings:
1) Chinese populations can be divided into northern and southern
groups.
2) The northern group is split into the Mongolian and Hanren (Han people)
subgroups. However, there is no southern Hanren subgroup in southern group.
Hanren and national minorities have mixed.
3) Hanren admixtures are less pronounced in north. On the other hand,
the heterogeneity of southern Hanren is so mixed that there is no way
to identify Southern Hanren. The genetic mixture of Southern Hanren
with national minorities has advanced to the point that the genetic
distance between a particular Southern Han population and a
neighboring minority may be shorter that the genetic distance between
two particular neighboring Han populations.
In the discussion section, he made few very interesting points
as follows:
There is one generally accepted theory that Hanren moved along
Huanghe (Yellow River) migrated eastward, then moved towards the
south. However, northern Hanren have not mixed with any southern
Han populations and vice versa. There are three possible explanation
for this contradiction.
A) The number of investigated Han may not statistically large
enough, other wise, either the general understanding is wrong or the
origin of Hanren is not unique.
B) The unique migration route never existed. Nor is there any
indication of the existence of other routes to south.
C) There were at least two Han origins which were separated at
Changjiang (Yangtze River).
As a result of discussions with Dr. Du, Ruofu ( §ù Y ¨j ), the
Division of Human Population Genetics of the Genetics of the
Genetics Institute, Academic Sinica, Beijing. Two terms used by
historians might be able to explain the findings, "jianbing" and
"ronghe" (Ý ¨Ö ¡A ¿Ä ©M ).
Jianbing describes a situation where the name of a minority
population is accepted by a new population which formed from an
admixture of minority population with an aboriginal majority
population and/or populations. The latter population would, in effect,
lose its identity. The minority is generally the invader and the majority
population the invaded.
Ronghe is a situation where an invaded majority regains its
identity after a long period of exchanging genes with its invaders. In
most situations the consequence of mixing genes is the key factor
which distinguishes ronghe from jianbing. Jianbing occurred in the
south and ronghe most likely occurred in the north.
Before the Han(º~ ) dynasty, the majority of invading
populations were from the south. Two examples are the war between the
Han emperor Huangdi (¶À «Ò) and leader of southern population
Qiyu(°E ¤× ) and northern invasion by Chuguo( ·¡ °ê ) from south.
Qin Shi-huang(¯³ ©l ¬Ó), the first northern emperor to unify China,
not only brought all of the Han populations under his control but
absorbed Chugo and south and later expanded Hanren territory to
further south.
The HLA data certainly agreed with the immunoglobulin data.
Hakka and other southern populations (such as Wu, Ming, Yue and others)
in China and Taiwan (Hoklo, aboriginal groups) are primarily southern
origin rather than migrated from northern China.
Recently, I found a brochure of "The Chicago Community Cord
Blood Bank". If you want to donate the cord blood to the bank or to
request a donor, there is a form of Parents' Ancestry for both mother
and father. Under Asian/Pacific Islander, there were following categories
to be checked. ( ) Asian Indian, ( ) Filipino, ( )Hawaiian/Polynesian,
( )Japanese, ( )Korean, ( )Northern Chinese, ( )Southeast Asian/Southern
Chinese, ( )Oriental, not otherwise specified. To find the best suitable
donor is based on HLA typing. In order to find a best donor quickly, which
category would you like to check, if you are a Hakka. A firm believer that
Hakka are the descendants of people from Tsung-Ngien (Chung-yuan, Central
Plain) or Northern China would check the category of ( ) Northern Chinese?
3) Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD)
Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase is an enzyme in the red
blood cell. It help to maintain the stability of red blood cell. If the
level of G6PD is low (deficiency) in the individual, the red blood cell
is more like to hemolyse, especially under the stress with certain drugs
or consumption of raw fava bean. The condition is still called “
favism ” ¡] Åú ¨§ ¯g ¡^ especially in case of fava bean ingestion. Hakka
in Taiwan is well known to have high prevalence of G6PD deficiency among
the different ethnic groups. Two most common abnormal G6PD were named as
Taiwan-Hakka and Taipei-Hakka before.
The G6PD gene is located in X-chromosome. Therefore, male
have higher deficient rate because one affected X-chromosome gene
is generally sufficient to cause deficiency (male has XY chromosome).
However, female with XX chromosome is less likely to cause
significant problems if they have one other normal gene in X
chromosome. It is a hereditary disorder.
The prevalence of G6PD deficiency varies greatly throughout
the world. A world map of G6PD deficiency from WHO Working
Group (Bull. WHO 1989: 67:601) also demonstrated that Taiwan and southern
China have a high deficiency rate. In the area around the
provinces of Kuangtung, Kuangsi, Yun-nan and the neighboing Southeast
Asian countries all have high prevalence of the deficiency. The
deficiency rate is listed as 3-6.9 % or higher in southern China.
However, the deficiency rate of northern China is less than 0.5%.
It is very interested to know, comments were made by some
medical articles about the high deficiency rate of Hakka in Taiwan.
They merely mentioned that it is interesting to note the discrepancy
between the northern Chinese and Hakka. Two articles mentioned this
because the Hakka claimed they migrated from northern China but
have much higher rate. ( Tang, KT et al in Blood 1992, 79:2135 and
Chen, WP et al in Chinese Medical Journal (Taipei) 1987; 40: 443).
In the later article, in a northern general hospital (in Taipei, Taiwan)
12.9% of male newborn and 7.8% of male and female have G6PD deficiency
if both parents are Hakka. In overall population (including Hakka), the
rate of G6PD deficiency is 2.9% (male) and 1.9% (male and female)
respectively. The later figure of 2.9% and 1.9% are low because this
hospital is located at the area that many new residents came after 1949
and significant number of them are from northern China.
In the past two decades, molecular analysis of abnormal G6PD
became possible. Exact location of abnormal nucleotide in G6PD
gene and abnormal amino acid in G6PD enzyme were found. Some
abnormalities found in Hakka were found also in other ethnic groups
not only in China but also in Southeast Asia. These hereditary
abnormalities, however, are not found in northern Chinese.
The vast majority of more than 100 molecularly identified G6PD
mutants are single amino acid replacements caused by single missense
nucleotide mutations. The molecularly known mutants will allow more
accurate study of population movement. Taiwan, southern China, Southeast
Asia, and southern Pacific islands were known to have a high prevalence of
G6PD deficiency.
The two most common mutants in Taiwan, 1376T and 1388A, or their
biochemically equivalent mutants were commonly found in southern China,
Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The third most
common 493G mutant in Taiwan has not been found in China or overseas
Chinese but is a relatively common mutant in the Philippines. This mutant is
the most common one among one aboriginal group, the Siasiat, in Taiwan.
Two other relatively uncommon 1360T and 487A mutants in Taiwan have not
been found in China. However, 1360T is the most common mutant in the
Philippines and is also found in the Vanuatu islands in Melanesia. The 487A
mutant is more common in other Southeast Asian countries. Another
uncommon 592T mutant in Taiwan is the most common one in another
aboriginal group,the Ami, and this mutant can also be found in China and
Laos.
F8C/G6PD polymorphism studies are available from certain areas.
Han and aboriginal groups in Taiwan have a similar pattern suggesting they
might have the same ancestors. The same F8C/G6PD haplotype was found in
1376T mutants in the Taiwanese and the Li minority in Hainan, China. The
G6PD mutant and F8C/G6PD polymorphism studies suggest that the Han and
minorities of southern China, southeastern Asians, Han and aboriginal groups
in Taiwan probably originate from the same ancestors somewhere in
Southeast Asia or southern China. The current Han population in Taiwan and
southern China are unlikely the descendants of massive migration of northern
Chinese.
Again, the G6PD data is consistent with those of immunoglobulin,
and HLA. From G6PD data, the origin of Hakka is again primarily from
Southern Mongoloid rather than Northern Mongoloid, Tsung-Ngien (Chung-
yuan) or Northern Chinese.
(If you have big-5 Honsii fonts, there is an article on "G6PD mutation and
Ethnic Relationship in Taiwan published in Taiwan Medical Journal
42:252-256,1999, it is available on Internet. There is another article on
G6PD deficiency in Hakka Taiwanese Newsletter #18, the address is:
Hakka Taiwanese Newsletter #18)
4). Multiple Genes Analysis
L.L Cavalli-Sforza, P. Menozzi and A. Piazza published a book
" The History and Geography of Human Genes" in 1994 by Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. It is a remarkable book about
the genetics of human population. The book is more than thousand
pages thick and has more than 500 genetic map based on different
genes. They use scientific methods to analyze many genes in many
populations of the world. Base on the data they collected, they
calculate the genetic distance among different populations and have
proposed various "genetic trees".
In the chapter (chapter 4) of Asia, based on 68.6 genes on
average, a tree was constructed from 39 populations. These genes
include all above mentioned immunoglobulin, HLA, and G6PD genes.
Again North China and South China belong to different major clusters.
They made a comment that , despite millennia of common history and
many migrations, a profound initial genetic difference between these
two regions has been in part maintained.
South Chinese join Southeast Asians while the North Chinese
associate with Koreans, Japanese, Ainu, Bhutanese and Tibetans.
Other Southeast Asians includes Malaysian, Balinese, Viet Muong,
Thai, Indonesian and Philippine.
This genetic tree also showed the Northern Chinese is closer to
Caucasoid than to Southern Chinese. The authors comment that
unlike the data from physical anthropology, the tree showed a major
distinction between Southeast Asia and the rest of Asia. The
association between East and Northeast Asians and the all Asian
Caucasoids (such as Arabian, Iranian, Asian Indian) are clear from
these gene studies.
In the section of East and Central Asia (sections 4.12 ) and
Southeast Asia (section 4.13), there are more detail discussion and
other methods of analysis. Regardless what kind of methods they
used, all the genetic trees and maps demonstrate that Southern Chinese
is distant from Northern Chinese.
In the part discuss China, it mentioned that at least 52
minorities or isolated ethnic groups in China. Almost half of these
ethnic groups live in the Yun-nan provinces and these ethnic groups
may be the enclaves of original inhabitants. It said by far the majority
of modern Chinese, however, call themselves Han, the dominant
group.
A tree of Han based on blood type ABO, RH, MN by Du et al
(Chinese Surnames and the Genetic Differences between North and
South) clearly demonstrated a separation of north and south. Base on
the Han surnames from the 1982 census in the same paper, Du et al
find their frequency distribution originates a tree that is in substantial
agreement with the genetic one, in spite of transmission of surnames
limited only by the male line.
No specific data of Hakka was shown or discussed in the book.
Hakka is only mentioned once when the waves of migration to Taiwan
are discussed. All these biological gene studies, Hakka in Taiwan or
China are primarily not the descendants of Northern Mongoloids but
primarily descendants of original southerners.
5) Other Biological Studies:
Similarly, there are also other biological data, especially
thalassemia genes and mitochondria DNA, might be very helpful to trace the
origin of Hakka. Will try to obtain these data and to update them here
later.
6) Hakka Taiwanese and Taiwanese Aborigine
The contribution of Taiwanese aboriginal groups to Hakka Taiwanese
should be a very important component in discussing the origin of Hakka in
Taiwan. From the above 3)Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) study,
partial ancestry of the current Han population in Taiwan might come from
aboriginal groups. Some aboriginal groups of Taiwan might have originally
migrated from the Philippines, or Taiwan is the ancestral origin for
Taiwanese aboriginal groups, Filipinos and other southern Pacific Islanders
as some recent studies suggest.
We are collecting more other data and will update later.
Culture and Language of Hakka
HAKKA IN TAIWAN
{to be continued} update on 11/20/98 Albert Chu
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