Coming Home to Meixian

Appears in
top 1000The Hakka Cookbook
The Hakka Cookbook

By Linda Anusasananan

Published 2012

  • About
Meixian (Moiyen in Hakka) is the ancestral home to many Hakkas, including my family. I include it in our trip but am a bit nervous about tracking down family roots. Old quarrels, grudges, and hidden agendas haunt our family. My generation never understood the family politics. Going home might open a Pandora’s box of secrets we were afraid to uncover.

Regardless, I feel we need to go. I press my father’s younger brother, Uncle Henry, for details. Did he have the Chinese names for our family village? My grandparents’ immigration papers are in English and the phonetic village names aren’t precise enough. Also, the names of villages and cities have changed in China. Uncle Henry sends me the Chinese characters for his and my father’s village, Lop Muey, but doesn’t know the name of my mother’s family’s hometown. I show the characters to our guides, who locate the general area and feel that once we are there, locals will direct us.