It is said that these earthen hakka buildings were once mistaken by U.S. reconnaissance satellites as a launching base for rockets.
There were three noticeable social upheavals in China's history, namely the rebellion of the eight princes in the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316), Huang Chao's uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the invasion of the Jin troops at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). During these periods, the shadow of death born of war, natural disasters and pestilence caused a mass exodus of people who left the Yellow River plains and sought refuge in the south. Some of these people, after crossing the Yangtse River, traversing what is now Jiangxi Province and tramping over the Wuyi Mountain Range, finally reached western Fujian Province.
The puppet shows of the Hakka in Yongding closely resemble traditional puppet shows from Pucheng in Shaanxi Province.
They immediately fell in love with the region's green mountains, fertile lands and pleasant climate. Their protracted journey at an end, they settled down and built their new homes in this hilly virgin land. These people began to be called the "Hakka", which means "guest families", thus distinguishing them from the native people there. In the next thousand or so years, the Hakka spread out to all parts of the world. A considerable number emigrated to Southeast Asia as well as to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. When asked of their ancestry, they all say that their ancestral home is in western Fujian.
The unique Meilin Opera in Taining.
