Are Missionaries in Taiwan still needed? (Alain R. Haudenschild)

Are Missionaries in Taiwan still needed? (rev.from first publication in Dec 9, 2008)  中文

The Discussion

Ralph Winter regards a country as a “reached country” when it is able to continue the ministry of evangelizing its country responsively without major assistance by a foreign missionaries. Winter answers the question by asserting that Taiwan is no longer a pioneer mission field. He sees remaining missionaries as "church–tending missionaries, who are deeply burdened in serving the church movements created by 'yesterday's' pioneer mission work." National church leaders should be given "the privilege of reaching their own people."The question today whether in Taiwan where most unreached unreached segments of the population have still not even 2% Christianity Winters concept can be applied to get multy-ethnic mission work done.

Re-evaluating Ralph Winter’s Statement for Taiwan

What really happen since then seems to justify a re-evaluation. In the meantime new missionaries have arrived and taken up new responsibilities alongside with local ministers in church-planting and outreach. New local pastors have stepped into the places where formerly Chiang Kai-shek soldiers with a good Christian education had filled the pastoral ranks of the country side churches. While Christianity among the Mandarin speaking churches especially in the central and south cities of Taiwan grew slightly, not much change was noted in the traditionally better evangelized northern part of Taiwan. Since this is the case some smart pastors undertook the effort to count differently. How about including the Sunday School kids?

Well, if Christianity is counted this way Taiwans’s Protestant Christianity by the end of 2007 was 4,13%, had 48 churches with more than one thousand worshipers every Sunday and 23 mega churches in Taipei, with eight of them in the Daan District of Taipei only. In the meantime there are more than 50! Also with this way of counting Taipei has 8.95% Protestant Christianity, not including the Catholics, Adventists and the True Jesus Church!

But how about looking where this growth occurred? – The whole growth was in the already better reached Mandarin speaking segments of Taiwan, which makes up about 20% of Taiwan’s nearly 24 million inhabitants today. What happen is that Christianity in the meantime became even more part of the often despised group of solely Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese. – This is probably what Ralph Winter intended to explain as well: Once a people group has 5% Christians it has the force to develop pretty much on its own. This “rule” 20 years ago could only be applied on the Aborigines and the Mandarin speaking segments of Taiwan’s Christianity. And it seems to proof true.

The Unreached Segments

In terms of unreached segments of Taiwan’s multicultural society compared to 20 years ago it has become even more complicated with more than 650,000 mostly Asian expatriates (guest-workers, in-married brides) not included the 200,000 immigrants from mainland China challenging both missionaries and local churches. If this new fact is included in the presentation of Taiwan’s society the numbers look about this way:

Map 1: Division of Major Language Groups in Taiwan Dec. 2012

20,3% Mandarin speaking (mother tongue)

18,9% Hakka (4,62 mio)

55,5% Hoklo

03,3% Expatriates (550,000 incl. in-married & 220,000 from China)

02,0% Aborigine 304,000

What we quickly realize is the percentage of Hoklo speaking people coming down below 60%. – On the other hand we have a number of new languages in which people are hungry for the Word of God. The big question is whether the 3900 mostly Mandarin speaking churches of Taiwan are going to reach those more than 77% people in the almost entirely unreached segments without support from professionals?

The last 17 years in Taipei and North Taiwan in this account give as a lesson: if left on their own local pastors will choose the easiest way of church growth, which is not to do any cross-cultural work. Otherwise the church will not grow quickly! In a face conscious country like Taiwan this is a work driving reality. Besides, the theological seminaries do not prepare well for cross-cultural ministries, leaving many pastors in the assumption to add some more languages in their church-life would do the job. Usually the result is giving up new ministries in about 2 yrs time. At least they tried. What will they do without help from professionals? Nothing will change.

Characteristics of the three Unreached Segments of Taiwan:

a) The Taiwanese speaking working class are linguistically (Hoklo/Hokkien) and culturally separated from the majority of evangelical churches which still mainly use Mandarin, although some churches have tried often unsuccessfully to open Hoklo /Hokkien speaking cell-groups and ministries. They realized: This people groups dislikes learning things the way Mandarin- and Hakka speaking people are used to. This people group comprises 56% of the population and there are still only a few churches or workers specifically reaching out to them. Missions and local organizations concentrating their mission efforts on this group of people now are: Village Mission, Overseas Missionary Fellowship International, LCMS, Formosa Christian Mission/Team Expansion, The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), Youth With A Mission (YWAM), SEND International, Grassroot Mission, Evangelical Formosan Church, Southern Baptist Mission). Despite big plans in the nineties, not much was achieved until now. - This group’s folk-religion is called Taiwan folk-religion a mixture of animism and traditional Chinese religions with an emphasis on spiritism to find revelation. It is polytheistic and syncretistic. At times, the boundaries between the belief systems are lost. There is also an receptiveness to incorporate new ideas and thoughts. They can easily incorporate every type of Christian belief and yet don’t see a need to commit their lives to Christ. There is an urgent and critical need for more local church ministries support and missionaries willing to work among Hoklo and learn Min-nan (Hokkien/Taiwanese) as the first language of communication.

b)The Hakka in Taiwan count 4,6 mio people with 14,000 evangelical Christians. The Hakka communities in the north (Taipei 550,000) north-west (Hsinchu 65% of population), central (Miaoli, Taichung, Taichung County, Nantou) and south (Pingtung) and south-east (Taitung). There is now a national group concerned for outreach: 'Christian Hakka Evangelical Association'. Several missions have opened a ministry among them (SEND, WEC, YWAM, Lutheran Brethren World Missions, Presbyterians and Baptists). There are now about 80 Hakka-speaking churches, among them is the largest denomination the Chung Cheng Church Association (42 churches) in Northern Taiwan. They also head the Hakka Theological Seminary training center in Chudung focusing on the training of Hakka Christians for Hakka ministries. The Hakka Church Growth movement was founded in 1998 with the goal to have Hakka churches in all major cities of Taiwan, or at least cell-groups ministries.

The Taiwan Baptist-, the Bread of Life Church, as well as Taiwan - and other Presbyterian Friendship  Churches have opened their doors for such ministries and church-planting efforts in the cities Toufen, Miaoli county (YMAM), Miaoli (YMAM), Touwu, Miaoli county (Taiwan Grassroot Mission) Hsinchu County (SPFC), Chungli (SEND), Hsinfeng (SEND), Hualien (Baptist), Taichung (WEC), Dongshe (SEND w. Central TW Baptists) and in Taipei (four districts). Of the 10 more CCT Hakka churches scheduled to plant within the next years already four were started recently. There is a critical need for Hakka church leaders. Of 14 churches in the Taoyuan/ Hsinchu area only 6 are independent, nevertheless pending God’s provision the movement wants to press on and on every third year plant a new church. Through the initiative of the Chudung Hakka Theological Seminary a Hakka mission agency network was established and first missionaries were sent out to Indonesian Hakka areas for theological teaching/church-planting.

This group’s folk-religion is called Hakka folk-religion a mixture between with ancestor worship and Vedism/ Brahmanism, which both were in fact the pretext for the Chinese Taoist Yin-Yang and Feng-Shwey belief. With only a few gods the Hakka Folkreligion it is much less polytheistic than Taiwan Folkreligion. To have the right „Feng-shwey“ to be in balance with the Yin-Yang and in peace with the ancestors for a Hakka is much more important than it is for his Hoklo neigbhor. In contrast to him he also seeks to gain insights in the future through magic (geomantic) rituals, rather than by using spiritism (a possessed person) like the Hoklos.

There is only some openness to incorporating new ideas and thoughts if the connection to already high regarded Hakka beliefs can be established. They can not easily incorporate elements of Christian belief but usually rather reject than discuss its content. If they agree they commit their life completely to Christ. There is an urgent and critical need for more local church ministries support and missionaries willing to work among Hakka and learn Hakka as the first language of communication.

c) Factory & Construction Guest Workers, Health Care-takers, Foreign Brides

The number of guest-workers and foreign brides immigrating to Taiwan in recent years continue to grow with as many as 550,000 coming from the countries Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, some of them living here without legal papers. Except form the Philippines most are from unreached or mission work prohibited countries.

The Thai. In the last 11 years 6 churches were founded for the Thai. The first was started in Chiayi in 1997, by the Chiayi Christian Hospital. Today there are Thai churches in Taichung, Chungli, Guanin, Shulin (near Taipei), Kaoshiung. There is a need for more pastors; Thais in Taiwan are very receptive to hear the Gospel, get training and successfully start churches in their home-country. Most Thais in Taiwan are reached by either Thai or German missionaries, the later speaking Thai very well (Taiwan Fellowship Deaconry Mission). Over the strongly SEND supported TECC (Taiwan Expatriate Caring Committee) network it was possible in cooperation with other missions to establish a first Thai church association (under the financial oversight of the Taiwan Fellowship Deaconry Mission). - While at least some Thai factory worker can be reached through Camp and Church ministry, the inmarried Thai are completely unreached. In the meantime The China Lutheran Seminary has picked up the lead to serve this people group even with scholarships and support churchplanting among them. In 2010 they opened a mission center  with regular Global Mission Prayer Meetings. - More (Thai) pastors are needed to complement the serving team of six Thai pastors under Thai leadership.

   The more than 300 Filipino and local English churches/fellowships have taken over responsibility for this 86,000 member counting English & Tagalog speaking group. They are reached by Radio, garbage evangelism, preaching, bible-studies, correspondence courses and literature ministry. Involved church denominations are „World for the World Fellowships“, „Jesus is Lord Church“, Joshua „Generation Worldwide Ministry“, „Life in the Spirit“. Some churches like the „Taipei International Church,“ the Taipei Episcopal Churches the Bread of Life, the House of Christ and a few other churches have opened their doors and rooms for Filipino fellowships. Many Filipinos turn their lifes to Christ during their time in Taiwan and go back with a vision for their homeplace.

The Vietnamese workers, health care-takers and brides (99,000 in September 2012) come with low education from a poor and a non Christian background. In the meantime also students show up for studies in Xhongli, Taichung and Kaoshiung. They are very receptive for the gospel too. In 2008 the first Vietnamese church was founded (Free Wesleyan Church Taipei), the second Vietnamese church (Xhongli) was officially registered in October 2013. SEND has a short term missioanry working among them, C&MA has one Vietnamese pastors couple in Taiwan serving fulltime. Two missionary couples work independently at several places among Vietnamese students since 2010. Already a few hundred found the LORD and several were baptized in Taiwan, some ask to get baptized in Vietnam after leading their family members to the LORD too. Because it is nearly impossible to bring Vietnamese pastors from Vietnam to Taiwan the workers among this group with a wide open harvest field is far too few.

The Indonesian (200,000 in September 2013) are the fastest growing group with some Indonesian churches to go to, but usually with a Muslim background. Five Indonesian churches (Taipei LLT, Taipei – , Chungli -, Taoyuan Gereja Bethany Indonesia and Taiwan Industrial Evangelical FEllowship (their Indonesian churches are called "Living Water Churches") are doing some outreach work and also church-planting among. Only in 2013 efforts to do much more among this largest group of expatriates were heard and more helpers enter the ministry, however still far too few. The Taiwan Industrial Evangelical Fellowship has church-planting team and works closely with a local church planting group of committed Taiwanese in several church-planting ministries in the south. (Maps about the distribution at TECC's separate blog)

Since May 2004 the „Taiwan Expatriate Caring Committee“ (TECC) ministers among expatriates to coordinate the trans-lingual and cross-denominational ministries in Taiwan, as well as its data management. Ever since the awareness for the spiritual needs of these expatriates increased among local churches. TECC took responsibility for the organizing for annual conference, the print of 20,000 Gospel of Mark in Mandarin/Vietnamese, the print of the 10,000 Gospel of Mark in Thai and Indonesians, as well as the translation of follow up material for the „Taipei Franklin Graham Festival“ in 2008 in Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese. Seconds editions have followed in Indonesian and in Vietnamese already and new Thai version is in planing.

The TECC Committee members is represented by missionaries from the Taiwan Industrial Evangelical Fellowship (TIEF), Taiwan Fellowship Deaconry Mission (TFDM), Taipei International Church (TIC), Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA) and SEND International of Taiwan (SEND). Through the multilingual bimonthly publication „Kaibian“ a publication and an Indonesian mission magazine supported by TIC and TECC today thousands of expatriates can be reached at their working place.

In addition there are 200,000 Chinese foreign workers from mainland China, for which we hope the churches take care by themselves. There is an urgent and critical need for more local church ministries support and missionaries willing to work among these people groups especially from the local churches’ site.

 How to turn this development into another direction?

This remains the special task missions have to tackle. They are the professionals to reach those living in the spiritual darkness. As the local Christian leaders are very occupied in increasing their churches worshiping attendance and performance in their society, they have a hard time to focus on this challenge with their whole church bodies. There has been some improvement in the last two years, but much and very soon more commitment is needed, because the average wisdom how to handle basic problems in life in a democracy has decreased rapidly in the last years. The biblical teaching provided by Sunday schools, outreach and all type of ministries especially in Minnan speaking areas with alomost no Christian testimony at all is a desperate need.

Local pastors and church-leaders don’t miss a single chance to attend seminars with related topics to increase their knowledge in order to perform better in that account. In fact they often feel helpless to really contribute in crossing their culture and reaching others in an unfamiliar culture. They will only commit if they are given a job to do within those groups. But with the exception of a few churches they will not start on their own.

Map 2: Overview of (Protestant) Christianity Growth within 15 Years

% 1997 -- Groups--% Christians 2007    2012

2,5% ------  Mandarin ------- 3,3%                  6,00%

0.3% ------- Hakka------------0.35                    0,4%

0,7% --------Hoklo------------ 1%                      01.1%

0.01%-------Asian Expatr.-- 0,25%                00,4%

90% --------Aborigine------- 85%                    80,00%

From the missions side and local expatriate churches’ side there are some worth to imitate examples how to face this situation LWCS World Mission, (assigning all their people to Chia-yi County), OMF International with Formosa Christian Mission/Teamexpansion (assigning many people for Hoklo Ministries in Chia-yi City), Taiwan Fellowship Deaconary Mission (inviting Thai pastors to serve the Thai), Taipei International church (establishing a Tagalog ministry thus planting five Filipino churches) etc. Only a few did something among the Hakka and not much was achieved in those 20 yrs either. But the conditions for growth have improved. The 13,000 Hakka believers call an extra Hakka Theological Seminary in Chu-dung their own and preapre a larger one in Longtan. They have at least sent out missionaries and started a church-planting movement with high goals. Even U.S. Chinese missions agencies like the “Grassroot Mission” or the local “Village Mission” are excellent partners in reaching both the Hoklo and the Hakka.

The Relationship to Local Churches

What may help to turn things around for both local churches and missions alike is a more holistic approach in gaining families for Jesus like in Dutch times. In those days Sunday School was the major tool to educate and gain people and tribes for the Kingdom (I know in those days the concept of families was just about introduced, but we still can learn from it). Apparently this is something very “hot” in local Taiwanese churches. When our office planned the Taipei Franklin Graham Festival the North Taipei Sunday school teachers decided to run a “Kids Festival”, bringing 34,000 to the Kids Evangelism. Not less than 3200 of them gave their lives to Jesus. Franklin Graham was not even here yet. In addition as a thorough research conducted by SEND International in 2009 revealed international teams do better in reaching teh unreached in the areas without any or very weak Christian testimony. 

The local churches through the Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association support the Taiwan Expatriate Caring Committee network logistically, making it a common effort to resource mission ministries among expatriates through churches and burdened organizations. But again, this does not mean they learn how to integrate them in their midst.

If we want to aim for the 5% minimum percentage of Christians in an unreached population, missions must put their manpower and efforts in concentrating on those unreached segments like the Hakka, Hoklo and Expatriates without waiting whether local churches are ready to follow them. If it works they will join and learn to teach their people. In other words as far as Taiwan is concerned we have in almost 80% of its population a pioneer work to do within a highly structured and challenging environment but with all the promises of our LORD Jesus on our side. Therefore should not be afraid of the hard work. Taiwan’s churches will only learn to do it better, if we are more certain in our role and in our focus. The gospel was brought to Taiwan by many nations for the nations. Therefore for the multy-cultural Taiwan burdened, skilled and well prepared people are desperately needed, in a broad range of ministries in those above mentioned target groups. Besides, culturally sensitive people are needed in seminary and grassroots mission-theological teaching, music, Old Testament teaching, Christian writing with the ability to educationally prepare local churches for cross-cultural missionary engagements. Sheldon Sawatzki in his paper 21 years ago comes to the conclusion: “A mature church is one that is autonomous, financially independent of foreign subsidy, has sufficient resources and numbers to continue the work of evangelization in its own context, and is itself a missionary–sending church. For many denominational mission–planted churches in Taiwan, this stage is reached in thirty–forty years.” – As we have just seen those denominational mission did not strongly increase their personnel and efforts to work among the then 80% unreached people segment of Taiwan.

How do we look at it from a church-planters working cycle at it? In terms of the real missionary in Taiwan – only in part the mostly Mandarin as mother-tongue speaking groups are "reached."

When we apply the biblical cycle of church planting according to Paul”s life in Taiwan most mission agencies that entered the Taiwan field in the late 1940's and early 1950's have reached or passed the critical turning point in their life and work in Taiwan. Those who came later in the 1960’s like SEND International, Liebenzell and those who came in the in the nineties are not at that point yet. Usually the so called “Pauline Cycle” takes about 40 years time. The mission–planted church has traversed through stages of dependence (mission domination, the missionary as master, supervisor, administrator), independence (church domination, property transfer, the missionary as servant co–worker invited by church, financial independence) to the beginning stages of interdependence in which the relationship shifts from mission board–to–church to a church–to–church relationship. The missionary then gradually becomes an inter–church worker and an assistant for the establishment of sending structures. 

As far as Taiwan is concerned missions have gone through that cycle in one specific segment of the population , but only in one, sometimes two local languages. Many missions planted churches among the former immigrants, because it was easier and the missionaries com from the mainland spoke Mandarin already. When a church was planted in Hakka or Minnan within those of the nearly or completely unreached Hoklo or Hakka speaking segments of Taiwan up to today the churches are still weak and limited in taking over the job on their own.It is right here were more workers are desperately needed! If the percents are counted together( 55,5% Minnan/Hoklo and 18,9 Hakka),  this affects more than 74% of Taiwan's 24 mio Chinese population, with the expatriates even (minus the believers) still 76%! And these are only the big segments. - It seems the LORD has send the Taiwanese enough South Asian expatriates so they could as islanders learn more about other cultures and understand their own inter-Chinese World variety a bit better and prepare themselves for both: the cross-cultural task within the Chinese nations and to South Asian nations. Both challenges are in their midst now. How to master them without some assistance  from outside? This is probably the reason why international teams do better. They complement each other needs.

Conclusion

Back in those days Ralph Winter’s article caused some mission leaders to make a decision. Mennonite Mission director Sheldon Sawatzki, in those days decided for his denominational mission to transfer mission to the locals on Taiwan. He was finished with the Pauline Cycle’s last step in his churches of the Mennonite’s social segment of operation. To him for the local Mennonites to reach out to the unreached segments did not seem a big challenge. They had learned that. Others did not have so much trust in the locals or were not yet at the point of the Pauline cycle where this had become an issue. In fact for those mission-leaders who rather saw the millions in the unreached segments Winter’s article the discussion about this topic helped to create a better sense on the pioneer work among the still vastly unreached segments in Taiwan.

As resources from traditionally sending countries are dwindling missions must be able to justify their further engagement in Taiwan. A trend in evangelical mission thinking during the last decades is an emphasis on identifying and reaching the remaining unreached people groups in the world. The main argument is the more precise translation of the greek word "ethne" in mission commission related bible verses. Missionary strategists must discern where the job of missions is finished and in which “hsiangs” (villages, squatters) the missionary force needs to be deployed. Following this observation SEND International worked on the sharpening of a clear cut vision (Vision 119) for pioneer work in Taiwan and recruits and carefully preparing new and more people for this important ministry. Finishing the missionary work in Taiwan might still take its time - as long as large areas with thousands of people who do not recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with little chance to be reached by the locals, who have committed for transforming their cultures value system through their efforts too. As SEND believes it is not all to foreign missions to accomplish the trend is to always look for local partners, if possible.

In the end, part of mission’s responsibility is to pass down a good example how to implement cross-cultural mission as the last part of the Pauline cycle to a maturing local mainly Mandarin speaking church and at the same time focusing on the unfinished task within the unreached 77+ % unreached population with a long-term and “die hard” commitment.

This task will engage missions in Taiwan for at least another 20 yrs. time to level with what was reached in the Mandarin speaking segment, but it can be done and be completed. Contrary to Ralph Winter assumption missionary work should stop at the 5% mark, it should be considered a better goal to reach the 8-10% mark before disengaging, especially when the various Chinese - and other cultures in such a mixtures like in Taiwan make it harder for foreign mission agencies to carefully prepare missionaries for on cultural group only and local churches are still too weak to take full responsibility for the unreached nations in their midst. Yes, in Taiwan missionaries are still much needed, the more the better. But they need to be well prepared for their specific task.

台灣客家聖經福音 情境化的步驟 (郝安倫牧師) pdf file

台灣客家聖經福音

情境化的步驟

─ 台灣客家文化、社會、宗教習俗、傳

說與聖經福音情境的功效評估倫

第三部:

德文論文之中文摘要

此翻譯為台灣教會

從事客家福音事工之用

郝安倫

哥倫比亞國際大學,

德國分校神學碩士論文之部分、 空塔 (Korntal)、 德國。

2004.8年

中文版本：二零零八年 ，台北市。

台灣異象提案 (何馬可牧師， 國際差傳協會台灣區會長)

乎召119位禾場工人投入國際差傳協會的事工。 西元2010年4月16日

異象: 福音從臺灣最傳統的人口中心的 60 個燈塔教會照射出去發光並為整個社會帶來醫治。

臺灣大部分的人口集中在西邊沿海從桃園到台南的60 個鄉村城鎮。 幾乎所有的城鎮都由兩個舊路線台1線 和台19線所連接。 儘管台灣已有現代化的鐵路、 高速公路和幹道，福音在145 年以來已達到臺灣最大的 15 個城鎮，但沿著這兩條路仍有幾十個小社區是幾乎完全未聽聞到福音的區域。 此地帶的平均人口是 40,000 人，大部分的城鎮基督徒比例少於百分之一。 很多都只有兩個或三個的教堂。 這些地方的居民是福音最難接觸到的。 他們包括絕大部分的工廠工人和臺灣農業相關產業的農民。國際差傳協會有一個五年的目標就是在2010年 至 2015年間要在這60個城鎮中的三個地方建立新的教會。 我們認為這個目標僅僅是另一個大的異象 — 在 2029年以前福音能觸擊到所有 60 區域 — 的開始。 我們相信這些區域強健的教會，與大城市的大型教會和神學院合作，將能夠有效地繼續完成臺灣福音遍傳的事工。 如果宣教士可以在20個地區建立模範教會，我們應該能夠開始撤回外籍宣教士人數並將接力棒傳遞給我們台灣弟兄姐妹。 您願意為著你能做什麼以得著這些地區來禱告嗎？
從大甲到新港的西部沿海區域是每年朝聖的媽祖女神的地帶。 每年在農曆的第三個月的第廿三日有一個八天的媽祖偶像遶境進香活動，這是臺灣最大的宗教節慶。 遶境進香進入這些區域正被養魚場嚴重的破壞，特別是在雲林、 嘉義兩縣以及彰化縣。 這些土地正在下陷，沿海農民未來的前途渺茫。似乎是當他們越崇拜媽祖， 他們的處境就變得更為嚴重。 這些區域為臺灣最窮和最多沒受過教育的人口，總括在一起約有 700 萬人口。 政府一直以來沒有為此土地復墾提出解決方案。直到最近，有一位臺北教會的弟兄，得著神給了他的一個異象，如何恢復這些下陷的土地。 他與政府分享這項計畫，政府已決定嘗試這個提案。 這個專案將從其中嘉義海岸的東石鄉，一個受影響最嚴重的土地開始實施。 如果這次能成功的話，他們將嘗試其他區域。 政府已提出此項10 年計畫， 並編列175 億元的預算。

我們禱告這塊土地將會被收復！

更重要的是我們祈求臺灣人會看到真神提供了一個計畫，要透過對耶穌基督的信仰得著新生命。 我們祈求上帝這 119位傳道人與同工一起合作，從台 1線 和台19線的沿路建立60個 教會。 您願意幫助我們嗎？

Hakkas in Taiwan

Hakkas in Taiwan
An interview with Professor Clyde Kiang. by Kok-ui Lim.

* To: fhakka@asiawind.com
* Subject: Hakkas in Taiwan An interview with Professor Clyde Kiang. by Kok-ui Lim.
* From: Clem Lee
* Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 16:18:32 -0800
* Organization: Concord Fabrics, Inc.

Came across the following while net-browsing:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>Hakkas in Taiwan An interview with Professor Clyde Kiang by Kok-ui Lim

ed. note: This is the fifth in a series of articles on Taiwan's culture and identity.
The traditions which define the 21 million Taiwanese people today embrace the collective
history and experience of a rich diversity of peoples who together have shaped and
defined the customs of the island.

Clyde Kiang is the author of The Hakka Search For A Homeland (English), The Hakka
Odyssey & Their Taiwan Homeland (English), and Hakka yi Taiwan (Chinese). A native of
Taiwan, Dr. Kiang writes and speaks fluently Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and English as
well as his native Hakka. He is a professor of library science at the California
University of Pennsylvania.

TIR: Can you tell us where the word "Hakka" comes from?

Kiang: The word Hakka is a Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese term "keh-chia"
meaning "guest families", "strangers", or "foreigners". The term "keh-chia" has been in
use since 780 A.D. when it appears in the Tang census and chronicles. In fact, when
Hakka ancestors migrated from northern China to settle in new lands south of the Yangtse
River, the native people of the south began calling them Hakka. It is interesting to
know that the Hakka people eventually adopted the
term as their ethnic identity.

TIR: Who are the Hakka?

Kiang: Hakka are a distinct member of the Mongoloid race and Han people, with
considerable intermixture of indigenous stocks in the north as well as the south. More
specifically, they are descended from Hsiung Nu (Huns) and Tung-yi (Eastern Barbarians).
After centuries of settlement in China, Hakka have adopted much of Chinese culture.

TIR: What is the history of Hakkas in Taiwan?

Kiang: The earliest record of Hakka people in Taiwan dates back to the invasion of the
island by Chen Leng in 610 A.D. As a pirate, Chen brought his soldiers and explorers
from Kwangtung (Canton). In the 16th century, more Hakka pirates followed. During this
period, Hakka wood cutters and animal hunters penetrated into Taiwan's foothills. When
Koxinga established his kingdom on the island, his commander-in-chief Liu Kuo-suan was a
Hakka and without a doubt there were a large number of Hakka soldiers in Koxinga's army.

TIR: How many Hakkas still live in Taiwan? Are Hakkas prominent in Taiwan society today?

Kiang: Presently there are about five million Hakkas on Taiwan which represents about
25% of the population. Among the prominent Hakkas are President Lee Teng-hui, KMT
Secretary General Wu Po-hsiung, DPP Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang, and many more.

TIR: How closely related is the Hakka language to Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taiwanese?

Kiang: Strictly speaking, the Hakka language is not related to Cantonese, Mandarin
Chinese, or Taiwanese. Hakka is of Altaic origin with sinicized adoption of Chinese
characters as the means of written communication. Kevin O'Connor, a linguist, has
written a thesis in which he states that the Hakka language is not descended from
ancient Chinese, but from a pre-Hakka language. Linguists cannot find enough
similarities between Hakka and ancient Chinese to show a relationship. A
variety of Hakka expressions, vocabulary and grammatical struc-tures are
incomprehensible to Chinese speakers and incompatible with Chinese usage.

TAIWANESE HAKKA: HISTORY OF HAKKA IN TAIWAN

THE HISTORY OF THE HAKKA PEOPLE IN TAIWAN by Alain R. Haudenschild

1. Introduction - The Hakka – Name, Origin and Migration to Taiwan

Since the beginning of Taiwans missions-history in 1865, only 0.35% of the presently 4,3 million Hakka in Taiwan are Christians. As research reveals one major reason for that lies in the way how the Hakka perceived the gospel. Today the Hakka are a distinct ethnic Han-Chinese people group. Their name in Cantonese pronunciation means „guest families“. As descendants of the ancient Hsiongnu (Hunish people), they originate from the Central Asian Baikal Lake area, but migrated in several waves to the south of China. Some of them arrived in South Taiwan as early as the seventh century AD. In Taiwan the Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli and Pingtung counties are the Hakka heartland. Besides, large numbers of Hakka also live in the Meinung area.

2. The Hakka - their Culture and Use of Language in Church Ministries

Many people have accused the Hakkas of being very resistant to the gospel. But it seems that the Hakkas of Taiwan have been neglected. The need for having the gospel bi¬blically contextualized specifically into their mental framework has never been a priority. While the Hakka look the same as other Chinese and seem to talk like other Chinese they have friends from different Chinese backgrounds. When it comes to family celebrations and reli¬gious festivals they return to their roots. Whether a missionary can speak Hakka or not soon or later becomes an issue. George McKay, in 1895 after 20 years of missionary and medical ministries among Hakka felt, to learn Hakka is not worth the effort, because „in a few years the Hakka may become extinct.“ As McLean says this believe has never become true. Dr. McKay obviously did not know that many Hakka may be willing for the purpose of making better business to use Minnan (Taiwanese) or Mandarin, but since Hakka is a part of their cultural identity and family-lineage, never to give up their heart-language.

The Hakka People`s Relationship To Their History

The interested Christian in Asia quickly becomes aware of the Hakka as a Chinese minority who due to their special history and their constant search for a homeland during their 2400 years of recorded history has long been described as the „Jews of Asia“. Some periods of their exceedingly complex history can serve to contextualize biblical teaching. During their 1400 years long period of wandering, exploring and fighting, the Hakka of Taiwan experienced almost every kind of persecution, discrimination and aggression imaginable. Therefore, to take some time studying the Hakkas history among history-minded Hakka with the purpose of finding stories to contextualize the gospel makes a lot of sense.

Waves of Immigration, Local Religious Hakka Traditions and Resources

During the time of the imperial China five large immigration waves (249-209 BC, 255-206 BC, 307-419 AD, 907-1280 AD) brought the Hakka from Central China to nearly everywhere in the world. Since the 4th century, when they left the Yellow River area the Hakka where on the run to escape invasions and chaotic wars. Wherever they went, they held on to their own customs and language. They became known as the Hakkas, which means "Guest People," because they did not assimilate with local populations. The Hakka, however, call themselves "Ngai," which means "me." With every wave of immigration more traditions of Hakka culture went lost. This is the main reason why Taiwan has so many different local Hakka-traditions.


U-shaped Fofong houses were originally built by Hakkas to protect against attacks. A few of these homes remain standing today.

Whenever we find out from where in China a certain local tradition originates with some ressources we can figure out its original intention and if suitable for biblical contextualization use it. In the 1720s, Hakka and Hoklo settlers rose up together against the Ching dynasty (1644-1911). As they were on the point of victory, however, the Hoklo leader announced that he would be king of Taiwan. The Hakkas balked and there was a split. The outnumbered Hakkas sided with the Ching dynasty to defeat Taiwan's first independence movement. Blood was spilled on both sides, and bad feelings between Hakkas and Holkos lasted for more than a century. The Ching dynasty came to see the Hakkas as allies, however, and allowed them to move into some prime aboriginal lands.

The Early Hakka Settlement of Meinung
A glimpse of Meinung's beauty--it is easy to see why the Hakka decided to settle here.In 1736, some Hakkas settled in Meinung (美濃), Kaohsiung county, a lovely mountain valley with deep, rich soil and some small rivers. To take possession of the land, they drove the aboriginal inhabitants into nearby mountains. The aborigines naturally fought back; later, however, peace was made and the Hakkas and aborigines lived next to each other on friendly terms. To protect against attacks, however, Hakkas built U-shaped Fofong (clan) houses. The ancestral temple in the back was always the tallest part of the structure, and there was only one entrance to such a complex.

Fofong houses, in good repair, still line Poai Street (博愛街) and Yungan Road (永安路) in Meinung. Several generations of a family inhabit each compound.
At the end of Yungan Road is a curious pavilion, built in 1769, where paper on which words were written was once burned out of respect for language and culture. Though a lot of newspapers end up in the garbage these days, some people still burn them at the "Respect Words Pavilion" (敬字亭). Although this custom was once common throughout China, in Taiwan only the Hakkas kept it up.

Hakkas say "Knowledge is better than money." Even in the old days, women often learned to read and basic literacy was high among farmers. Today, in the small town of Meinung (population around 50,000), there are over 300 people with advanced university degrees.

Northern Settlements of Taiwan's Hakkas
The mountains of Miaoli county, about a 2-hour drive south of Taipei, were settled by the Hakka in 1737. Their new homeland reminded the Hakka settlers of Guangdong's rugged hills--they felt at home because the hills provided isolation and protection. Although the county is mountainous, settlers worked hard to cultivate the few areas suitable for farming. Thrift, diligence, and love for the land are Hakka traits still obvious in the country people of Miaoli.

Hakka women, even in ancient China, never bound their feet; they were needed to work the fields, and they also had to be able to flee danger. Because they worked alongside men, their status was higher than that of most Chinese women. Today it is mostly Hakka women who pick the sweet Pengfeng Oolong or Oriental Beauty Tea (椪風茶) for which Miaoli is famous. This visible participation continues to give them economic power in the community.

The Hakka in Miaoli and Hsinchu
Two places to visit in Miaoli county are the Huatao Kiln (華陶窯) and the Kuangsen Village of wood carvers in Sanyi (三義廣聲新城 ). At Huatao, local clay is worked into organic designs and wood-fired. Tours (available only in Chinese) allow visitors to make their own pottery, which is fired and sent to them later. A Hakka lunch is served.

The wood carvers at Sanyi are among Taiwan's best, and mostly use the island's camphor wood. Temple gods, folk scenes, dragons, and even abstract sculptures are turned out in open workshops.

Hsinchu county is 85% Hakka, and large celebrations at the famous Yimin Temple (義民廟), built in 1788, draw thousands of worshipers. On festival days, incense is offered to ancestors who have died defending the community. Besides ancestors, the main object of worship at the temple is "Tien Kung" which roughly translates as Lord of Heaven, or the Supreme Being.

North of Hsinchu is Taoyuan county, also with a large Hakka population. Hakka-style restaurants in communities like Chungli are the only evidence a tourist might find, however. Taoyuan has long been an industrial suburb of Taipei, and little remains here of the rural Hakka lifestyle.

The Hakka in Taipei
There are approximately 500,000 Hakkas in the Taipei area. Today, most Hakkas speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese as well as their own language. But when they introduce themselves as being from Miaoli, Hsinchu, or Meinung, other Hakkas will say "Oh, are you Hakka?" and will lapse into their mother tongue.

"You can sell your ancestors' rice field but you cannot forget their language," runs a Hakka saying. These days, however, some of the younger generation speak more Taiwanese (Hoklo) than Hakka. Will intermarriage with outsiders (unheard of a century ago but common today) and media pressure (almost all TV and radio broadcasts use either Mandarin or Taiwanese) erode the language? To encourage the use of the Hakka language, a Hakka radio station Hakka TV and a magazine have been developed.

Hakka people have lived in Taiwan since the 7th century BC and in higer numbers since late 1500. Most of them think of Taiwan as their homeland now, and hope to wander no more. At the same time, the Hakka must also struggle to keep their unique spirit, and develop a modern Hakka culture.

Resources: Clyde Chiang, the hakka Odyssey & Their Taiwan Homeland, Elgin Alegheny Press, 1992.
George Leslie Mackay, From Far Formosa- the Island, its people and Missions. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc., 1991.

Other sites in Chinese:
HAKKA TAIWANESE SPECCIAL PUBLICATION 客 台 語 專 刊 各 期
TAIWANESE HAKKA 台 灣 客 家 (ENGLISH)
HAKKA TAIWANESE RESOURCES 客 台 語 資 料 庫
HAKKA TAIWANESE HAKKA CULURE 台 灣 客 家 文 化 專 刊
TAIWAN RELATED ARTICLES 台 灣 專 刊

Sites about the (Christian) Hakka of Taiwan

Resources about the Hakka (Christians) in Taiwan

1. Articles:
# A Christian Response to Hakka Chinese Ancestor Practices by Joel Nordtvedt
# The Hakka - Steps toward a Biblical Contextualization of the Gospel among the Hakka in Taiwan by Alain R. Haudenschild
# Are Missionaries in Taiwan still needed? by Alain R. Haudenschild
# SEND International: Among Taiwan's Hakka for 25 Years by Alain R. Haudenschild

2. Taiwan Hakka Christian (Chinese) Websites:
# 基督教客家福音協會 CHRISTIAN HAKKA EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION
# 客家宣教神學院 Hakka Mission School

3. Secular Sites about the Hakka (of Taiwan)
Taiwan's Hakka: Historical Background of the Hakka in Taiwan
* Hakka forum and other Hakka Information

SEND International: Among Taiwan's Hakka for more than 40 Years

SEND International of Taiwan - Working among the Hakka for over 25 Years
This year is is 25 years since SEND International officially decided to adopt the outreach and church-planting among the Hakka of Taiwan as one of its primary goals in Taiwan. But that is only the year where something practiced for years since 1967 was officially recognized as a major need. Hakka who were part of the Presbyterian Church in the middle of the seventhies decided to inivestigate the roots of the Hakka Mission efforts back in the 19th century run by the Swiss Basler Mission in Guandong and Fukien and then decided to form the Chung Cheng Tang Association, howver not with much growth. Those years were important to gather information and understand the dynamics of the local churches. The seventhis were years of difficult years for the Christian Church in Taiwan. The charismatic movement, the prayer mountain in Miaoli and the Hosanna worship Group movement inspired by the Jesus People Movement in California lead to a fundamental new orientation of Taiwan's churches and the training of its leaders. But neither the Minnan (Hoklo) speaking nor the Hakka speaking Taiwanese became part of this.This resulted in a thorough investigation of ways to complement what locals apparently were unable to do by themselves.

I. The Hakka of Taiwan in 1980/81:
Back in December 1980 in the Taiwan church Growth Bulletin the hindrances for Hakkas to accept Christ were mentioned as follows:

-Negligence of early Missionaries
-Traditional Religion
-Ancestor Worship
-Structure of Society
-Attitude toward Work.

Among the problems for evangelism among Hakka in those days mentioned were:
-Language barriers making it difficult to communicate and train the Hakka Christians.
-Inability to develop a functional substitute for ancestral remembrance in accordance with biblical principles.
-Difficulties of Hakkas in identifying with other Christians of existing local churches.
-Brain-drain in economic outflow from village churches as a result of industrialization and urbanization.
-Shortage of Christian workers: Hakka evangelism is alwazs localized in one place and is initiated by single Christian worker.
-Missionary organization: Lack of a well-developed and effective administrative system.
-Women's evangelism: woman have their greatest influence on religion at home and so far no women's ministry has been established.
-A rapid turnover of Christian workers due to financial difficulties and education problems of their children has resulted in inability to achieve any goals.
Lack of strategic planning and guidelines in training in training laymen and in helping missionaries to further their theological education.

It was back in 1984 that SEND International of Taiwan decided to make urban Hakka work one of its primary goals in its ministry in Taiwan. After some initial church-studies the first Hakka church was planted in Chungli in 1988.
As of 1981 86 churches were counted in areas where Hakka lived, but only 43 of them were aimed directly to reaching Hakka. Chungli with a Hakka population of 80% in those days with over 100,000 people living had one of the ten churches who used Hakka language to reach out among Hakka. Most of those 43 known Hakka churches were very small, struggling congregations, and only 12 of them were self supporting. According to a report of Roland Friesen, Field Director of SEND International of Taiwan, in those days, more than half did not even have a Christian worker assigned to them. In 1981 in Taiwan were around 6,000 known Hakka Christians, making up 0,24% of the estimated Hakka population of Taiwan in those days.
There were six denominations and several independant churches that were working among the Hakka, but of these only the Presbyterians had a specific program to reach them. They had a Hakka research Center in Hsinchu. Only three missions declared Hakka ministry a primary objective, the Evangelical Free Church of Hongkong, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church and SEND International. It was suggested that in those days Taiwan only had a maximum of 10 missionaries able to speak Hakka.

II. The Hakka of Taiwan in 1998
Since SEND began with church-planting among Hakka in 1988 it conitued to develop realtionships with other Hakka churches and offered support for a theological training center for Hakka. Fespite the few workers but with the major force of the Chung Cheng Tang, the Lutheran Brethren Mission and Hakka Christians from Overseaas a Hakka Mission School in Chudung was founded. For the Hakka in Taiwan this was great day, when this training center icould to welcome its first students.
YMAm started in church in Taoyuan and SEND another in Hsinfeng among Hakka, but as a whole due to alck of workers not many more churches were founded during the ninethies. Nevertheless were was some growth.
Almost twenty years later, the percentage of Taiwan's Hakka Christians had changed from 0,24 to 0,3%, however, in the meantime The Hakka Christians united under the Christian Hakka Evangelical Association which became the church-growth promoting Hakka church organization, mainly consisting of members of the Hakka Chung Cheng Tang Association, the largest Hakka Church Association of Taiwan. Regarding the urgent need for workers for Hakka (see in article in TMQ under "The Hakka"), however nothing had changed.-

III. The Hakka of Taiwan in 2009
Today, the percentage of Hakka Christian believers is at 0,35%, the number of believers had more than doubled compared to 1981, the number of churches increased to 90 churches, however, the Hakka believers themselves are quite limited to do this job on their own. They know how important mission is and even establsihed a little agency to send out their first Hakka missionaries to unreached Hakka in Indonesia-
Of those basic problems for evangelism among Hakka in the eighties some could be resolved. The still remaining problems however are:

Lack of enough co-workers
Unfinished transaltion of the Hakka Bible
Missing commitment of the local churches to support the Hakka outreach, especiallly from the wealthier Mandarin churches
Lack of Vision to soon resolve these problems
Lack of vision how to fill in the Taiwans overall development of evangelism
Lack of pastors willing to pastor Hakka churches.

The largest Hakka Church Association plans to plant a new church every third year and prays to have enough seminary graduates to give the new churches pastoral leader-ship. - SEND International continues to reach out among Hakka and is convinced God has great plans with this people group and wants the worldwide body of Christ to help them not only discovering the same, but also assists in developing it. The 28 years of more recent aggressive Hakka church-planting history shows the special effort was not in vain, but more could have been done with more willing hands supporting the case. - May the LORD of Harvest call more to enter the harvest among Hakka soon!