TAIPEI: A draft bill of the Hakka Basic Law was reviewed by a Legislative Yuan committee yesterday, paving the way for the zoning of special Hakka areas in which the unique Hakka dialect and culture can be conserved and promoted systematically.

Welcoming the review of the draft bill, Council for Hakka Affairs (CHA) Minister Huang Yu-cheng noted that Article 6 - the centerpiece of the bill - stipulates that the CHA will zone cities and townships as Hakka areas so long as at least 33 percent of the population there are of Hakka descent. "The Hakka dialect will also be designated as the official language in those areas," Huang said.

A total of 61 townships around Taiwan are expected to be zoned as Hakka areas as a result of that stipulation, he continued.

The Hakka, which translates as "guest families" in Cantonese, comprise a unique ethnic group of Han Chinese who fled famine and war in central China in past centuries and eventually settled in southern and eastern China, predominantly in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian and Taiwan.

A 2008 CHA survey found that Taiwan's Hakka population - using a broad definition of the term - accounts for 25.6 percent of the total population.

Huang also said the CHA will begin an island-wide census from 2010 to enable the government to better grasp the situation of the Hakka people in Taiwan. The census is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

He quoted the latest tallies compiled by the CHA as indicating that the total number of Hakka people in Taiwan ranges from 3.10 million to 5.87 million, depending on whether a narrow or broad definition of the term is employed.

Most of Taiwan's Hakka people are concentrated in the northern counties of Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taoyuan, and in the southern county of Pingtung.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/29/2009 page2)