There is a classical Chinese expression, “within the four seas, we are one family, shihaiyijia,” traditionally indicating the family of those with Chinese ethnicity, but at times expressing that all races are one family, onejia, in a more “magnanimous” gesture. Except there is one race of Chinese actually called KeJia, who have been historically outside this jia because they were considered guests or strangers. Their name clearly shows this, since ke客 is guest,jia家 is family, literally guests or strangers family, not exactly within the big family.To flip this story, however, I would like to suggest, that actually “we are all Kejias,客家,” or Hakka, the common English term, meaning we are all guest or stranger peoples.
中国古话说：“四海一家”，一般是指具有中华民族血统的人的家，有时也泛指海纳各个民族的大家。但中国有一个民族例外，他们被称为“客家”，他们被视为客人或外人，长期游离于家之外。正如他们的名字一样，“客”就是客人，“家”就是家庭，字面意思就是“客人或者生人的家庭”，不在这个大家庭内。回顾这个历史，我认为，事实上“我们都是客家人”，也就是说我们都是客人或者陌生人。

I am actually ethnically Hakka, hence my special interest. Some ethnologists claim Hakkas are a “minority group” of China, who reportedly migrated from the northern plains of China where they originated, particularly moving to the south and southwest, and throughout the country. Because they were considered strangers, hence their name, they were often relegated, over many generations, to the mountainous areas. There they generally remained relatively poor, and had limited access to the lowland richer areas, with their much better transportation and communication systems.
我特别感兴趣因为从血统上讲我也是客家人。有一些人类学者声称客家人是中国的“少数民族”，据研究他们是从他们的发源地—–中国北部平原穿过中国，迁徙到南方和西南部。因为他们被视为外来人，因此他们被呼为客家人，世代居住在山区。由于居住山区他们一般而言相对贫困，他们不允许到低洼富庶、有较好的交通和联络手段的地方。

One striking fact about Hakkas is that there is no such place called Hakka land, anywhere in China. Every language group of people in China probably has their so-called homeland, (eg Shantou or Chaozhou speakers come from Shantou, or Chaozhou respectively), but Hakkas do not; they are always considered strangers and wanderers!
客家人一个显著的特点就是在中国没有一个地方被称为客家地。在中国任何一个语种的部族都有他们自己所谓的故土，例如讲汕头话的或讲潮州话的人分别来自汕头或者潮州，但是客家人却没有，他们总是被视为陌生人、漂泊者。

Growing up in an English-speaking environment, I was actually not very aware of my heritage, until, strangely, in my teen years, I read James Michener’s famous book, “Hawaii.” In the preface to the book, he wrote about the Hakkas who populated Hawaii from China, which in a round-about way, stimulated my own interest in finding out more about my own heritage! From a “white guy.”
因为生长于英语环境，我一直不太留意我自己的出处，直到青春少年时，很特别，那时我读到James Michener的名著《夏威夷》。在前言里，他描述了来自中国定居夏威夷的客家人，它激发了我的兴趣，从白人的思维逆转，去探寻我自己的血脉渊源。

The Hakkas, feeling discriminated against by the lowland people, often explored other venues of opportunity. They began in particular to migrate to many of the islands of the world, including the Hawaiian Islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indonesia archipelago, Singapore, and Taiwan. They also targeted closer areas of Asia like Thailand and Malaysia; and, surprisingly, countries as far away as South Africa.
客家人感到被平地上的人歧视，他们不断地去探寻其他的机会，特别是他们开始移民到世界上很多的海岛上，像夏威夷群岛、加勒比海群岛、印尼群岛、新加坡和台湾。他们也把目标指向像泰国、马来西亚这样的亚洲临近的地方，但是意外的是，他们却走得很远，到了遥远的南非国家。

Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised very recently (2017) to be invited to a gathering of more than 100 South African Hakkas, to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of their own, in a Chinese banquet hall in Vancouver, Canada. What an amazing network that represented, spanning 3 continents, 7,000 miles from China to South Africa, and 10,000 miles from South Africa to Canada, often with a United Kingdom arm.
事实上，我最近(2017年)非常荣幸受邀参加在加拿大温哥华华人宴会厅举办的聚会，100多个南非客家人齐聚一堂，为一位90岁高龄的客家长者祝寿。这是多么惊奇的网络，横跨3大洲、从中国到南非跨越7000英里、从南非到加拿大飞跃1000英里，有不少人从中国途径南非再经英国中转到达加拿大。

The story is often told that Hakkas have always been very hard working, possibly because they felt they had to work harder, in view of their disadvantaged positions in life. So, the story is usually that they did extremely well in the lands that they migrated to, and often became prominent business people in their new adopted homes. Of the Hakkas who migrated, probably the most famous island Hakka is Lee Kuan Yew, or LǐGuāngyào, Oxford educated founder of the Republic of Singapore and the longest-serving, 31 years, very popular Prime Minister. A stranger and a wanderer can certainly rise to the top.
人们都说客家人非常勤劳，可能是他们感到生活中的不利，需要加倍的努力。他们在移民的土地上非常认真的工作，往往成为新的国土上的商业佼佼者。移民到海岛的客家人中最出名的是李光耀，牛津大学毕业，新加坡国的缔造者，非常著名的总理，在任长达31年。这说明陌生人、漂泊者也可以攀登到社会顶层。

Meanwhile, back in the home country, being discriminated against brought pressure often to band together. The ancient Hakka ancestral homes were often described classically as circular with members of many related families congregated together for community and safety. This I have only seen from drawings and pictures, especially in Fujian and Taiwan; when I went back to visit the ancestral home in Guangdong province, in the 1990s, our village had the more conventional Chinese village structure.
然而回到祖国，由于歧视带来的压力让他们团结在一起。古代客家人的祖屋常常被描述为许多有关联的家庭为了团体和安全的需要聚居在一起形成一个圆圈。在福建和台湾的时候我也仅仅从图画中看到过这种祖屋。上世纪九十年代我回到广东省参观祖屋，我发现我们的村庄有更传统的中国乡村建筑结构。

But the concepts of clannishness, gathering together for community and safety, had important value, especially when Hakkas migrated to foreign countries. Hakka “clan houses” were located in most towns where there were large numbers of Hakka migrants, and served importantly in welcoming new immigrants, settling them down in the new country, and even providing necessary loans and mechanisms to transfer moneys to and from the home villages. I am not aware, however of these overseas houses taking on the traditional unique architecture.
但是氏族的观念，为了部族和安全聚居在一起，具有重大的意义，特别是客家人移民到其他国家。客家宗祠分布在几乎所有的有大量客家移民聚集的城镇，它们在欢迎新移民、让他们在新的国家安顿下来，提供必要的借贷，以及从家乡转进转出钱财方面发挥重要作用。我不曾留意到这些海外的房子所呈现出的一种独特的像古代的客家村寨那样的建筑特点。

In the home country, some of the Hakkas became rather famous revolutionaries, maybe because they felt especially over-burdened and upset by the ruling classes. The most famous one was Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a Hakka from Guangdong province, who is revered as the founder of the Chinese Revolution of 1911.He led the overthrow of the great Qing Dynasty, finishing off thousands of years of dynasties of China, and beginning a dramatic new phase of Chinese history, with varying degrees of democracy, minus the Emperor. Even though his Nationalist Government was later overthrown, and succeeded by a Communist Government, Sun Yat-Sen is still highly respected by both Nationalists and Communists, as the founding revolutionary that started the post dynastic order.
在祖国一些客家人成为著名的革命者，他们也许更深刻的感受到来自统治阶层的压迫和动荡。最著名的当属来自广东省的客家人孙中山博士（他曾经是一名医师），他被尊为1911年辛亥革命的领导者。他领导推翻了大清王朝，结束了中国千年的封建制度，开创了中国史上的崭新的一页，带来了一定程度的民主，消除了帝制。尽管他的民国政府后来被推翻，代之以共产党政权，孙中山仍被国民党和共产党人所尊重，被尊为革命的先驱。

Dr Sun Yat- Sen was truly a unique person, and I have always felt a special pride that he was not only Hakka, and a Christian, he also attended my Christian high school in Hong Kong. He was among the first graduating class of the Medical College that preceded Hong Kong University Medical School, also my alma mater. And this year, 2017, is his 150th birthday, and 130th anniversary of the medical school, so it is a good time to remember all this.
孙中山博士真是一个奇人，我总是为他自豪不仅仅因为他是客家人、基督徒，关键的是他曾经在我读书的香港基督教高中上过学。他是香港大学医科学校之前的医学院的第一批毕业生，那是我的母校。今年，2017年既是他的150周年诞辰，也是医学校130年华诞，这一刻真让人缅怀不已。

Less known is the fact that the Taiping rebellion, which nearly overthrew the Qing Dynasty in the late 19th century, was led by Hong Xiu-Quan, also from Guangdong, and a Hakka. He had received Christian tracts, by missionaries, which so inspired him that he decided that he was now the 2ndson of God, after Jesus Christ. He began a new Taiping Kingdom cult, that took elements of Christianity into his new culture and military system. He declared that he was invincible, and gathered many Hakkas around him for his revolt. For a while, it looked like he could achieve the overthrow of the dynasty, fighting even all the way to the great city of Shanghai. However, he was defeated there, partly because British and other foreigners joined with the Qing Dynasty to stop him. Unwelcome strangers can start rebellions. And cults that severely distort religions can be really dangerous.
可能对在19世纪末差点推翻清王朝的太平天国革命的领导者洪秀全知之甚少吧，他也是来自广东，是一个客家人。他仅仅接触了一位传道人关于基督教的一点简单介绍，这些介绍却在他的心里产生了极大的反响，他甚至宣称他是基督之后的上帝的第二个儿子。他开启了狂热的太平天国崇拜，他将一些基督教的教义运用于他的新的文化和军事系统里。他宣称他不可能战死或者战败，聚集了很多的客家人参加他的造反。曾经离推翻旧王朝仅一步之遥，他已经势如破竹直逼大城市上海。但是在那里他被打败了，部分原因是英国等其他国家和清王朝联手阻止了他。不受待见的异乡人开始了造反。被异化、扭曲的宗教狂热其实是非常危险的。

People who are discriminated against, but who can preserve their own culture, often seem to develop remarkable resiliency. I have always particularly admired the Jews, wandering in the world for 2000 years, and discriminated against in many countries. I like to think, they were like “Hakkas without a homeland.” Surprisingly to some, many rose above their circumstances, and assumed high positions, becoming fine businessmen, lawyers, doctors and scientists.
受到歧视的人们如果谁越能保留他们的文化传统，谁就越是能屈能伸，具有超凡的弹性。我非常敬佩犹太人，他们在世界各地流浪了2000年，在多个国家受到歧视。我总是想到：他们就像“没有故园的客家人”。惊讶的是，一些犹太人从他们所处的环境里脱颖而出，成为社会精英：成为成功商人、律师、医生和科学家。

One of my outstanding fellows in training at our Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, was a direct descendent of Maimonides, chief Jewish Rabbi, and physician in chief for Queen Isabella of the Catholic Spanish Empire, equivalent to Queen Elizabeth I ruling the historic British Empire. A member of a small discriminated minority, becoming chief physician of the Queen of a huge Empire! Consistent with the concept of “God’s chosen,” this unique race of truly strangers and wanderers, after years of being persecuted and slaughtered, have remarkably returned to their original Holy Land. This return was foretold in the Bible thousands of years earlier, which many have declared a miracle of God. Other discriminated minority tribes can take inspiration from this impressive and moving story.
我的一个在辛辛那提儿童医院进行专科培训的医生是迈蒙尼德(Maimonides) 的直系后裔，迈蒙尼德是犹太人大学者、天主教西班牙帝国伊莎贝拉皇后的首席医生，相当于伊丽莎白一世统治伟大的大英帝国。来自一个被歧视的小小部族中的一员，却成为了庞大帝国皇后的首席医生！坚信是“上帝的拣选”，这个独特的真正的陌生人、流浪者的民族，经历了数年的迫害和杀戮，终于奇迹般的回到了他们最初的圣地。这个回归在数千年前圣经就已经预言，这是上帝的神迹。其他的被压迫的少数部落可以从这个感人至深的故事里受到鼓舞。

When the Chinese were “imported” for the gold mines of California, and the building of the groundbreaking railroads from America’s East to West, they were obviously considered as strangers, discriminated against, and looked down upon, with reputations as denizens of gambling (the “Chinese vice”) and opium dens. But, with the American born ethnic Chinese population becoming “fully American,” and coincident with increasing numbers of ethnic Chinese students and scholars coming to America, this minority group of people, rose from the ashes of their history to be called, somewhat condescendingly, “the model minority.”
随着加利福尼亚的金矿和横贯美国东西部的铁路的开工，中国人被输入到美国，他们显然被看作陌生人，被歧视，被蔑视，被称为“赌徒”（“中国恶习”）和“鸦片鬼”。但是随着美国出生的华人全面美国化，同时随着中国学生、学者到美国来的数量的上升，这个少数部族从历史的尘埃中升起，可以屈尊俯就的被主流人群称为“少数部族的典范”。

My mother’s parents were very unusual, in that they were invited to come from Shantou, China, to Seattle at the beginning of the 20th century, at a time of minimal Chinese immigration, to pastor a very small beginning congregation of Chinese in Seattle. Reports vary of some 7 to 14 families of Chinese only at the time in the city, although presumably there were other single men around also. Greater Seattle now has an estimated 100,000 people of Chinese ancestry, and ethnic Chinese descendants are found in all walks of life, beyond the more stereotypical laundry and restaurant businesses of the beginning years. Strangers and wanderers sooner or later become settlers.
我的外祖父母很不寻常，他们在20世纪初，中国移民还很少的时候应邀从中国汕头来到西雅图，为中国早期很少的移民做第一个华人教会的牧师。据说那时这个城市只有7到14家华人，也许还有几个单身汉在附近。现在大西雅图据估计有大约10万华裔，华人血统的人分布在各行各业，早已经不像开始那些年单调的洗衣房和餐馆。陌生人和漂泊者早迟都会成为定居者。

However, I like to think that everyone on earth, not just Hakkas, Jews, and migrant Chinese, is actually a Hakka, Kejia, guest, stranger or wanderer of some kind, either now or in their past history. I’m sure it’s not just in Seattle, London, Oslo, Kolkata, or Shanghai. Everyone likely has had some history of migration and a sense of being a stranger or wanderer, if we search far enough in our background. How about you?
然而，我常常想地球上的每一个人不仅仅是客家人，犹太人、移民的中国人不论现在或是过去事实上都是客家，客人，陌生人或者某种漂泊者，我确信这不仅仅在西雅图、伦敦、奥斯陆、加尔各答或者上海。如果我们仔细探寻我们的渊源，每个人似乎都有一段移民史，都有作为陌生人或漂泊者的感觉，而你呢？

Plus, the terrible refugee crises all over the world seems rather dismal at this moment, but in a sense, we are all some kind of refugee also. From the very long view of history, many of these refugee flows of large numbers of strangers, ultimately settle down, and become a vital force in many societies. You might call me an incorrigible optimist, but hope is something that helps to drive us also to not give up. And then the Good Book reminds us that we are all actually even considered pilgrims and strangers on this earth, before we go to the final true Holy Land. We are all Hakkas on this journey of hope.
另外，世界各地的严峻的难民危机这个时候越演越烈，但是从某种角度来看我们也都是不同形式的难民。从历史的长远来看，大量的漂泊者所组成的难民潮最终定居下来，成为许多国家举足轻重的力量。你可能认为我是盲目乐观者，但是希望让人奋进，从不放弃。圣经提醒我们在我们去到那个最后的真正的圣地之前，我们事实上都是在这个地球上的漂泊者和陌生人。