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Summary
Liu-tuei area in Pingtung is the place where the Hakha people gather together. Among these Hakha villages, a large number of tablets were preserved, which recorded the ancestors’ hometown, the process of their moving to Taiwan, how they reclaimed the land and lived on it, and even their encouragement and blessings to their offspring. In this thesis I will do research on those couplets inside of the Hakha shrines, including those on parlors, doors, windows, pillars, lamps, and the couplets around A-kung-puo tablets, to discover and reveal the rich historical events hidden in these tablets, which recorded and preserved the cultural heritage. They might become the historical relics because the houses may probably be torn down. Chapter One is the preface, which shows my motive and purpose of research, questions to be answered, the anticipated goals, the research methods and ranges, and the possible difficulties and restriction. Chapter Two is about the explanation of the terms and the discussion of the literary documents. Chapter three is about those couplets on shrines and doors. Through the further research, I have found that most of the shrine parlor couplets described the names of the respectful ancestors; some other couplets were about the ancestors’ hometown in Mainland China, or about the ancestors’ glorious events. In addition, there is the research about the combination of two family names. The researchers have found that many of the new shrine couplets were produced due to the relationship of the marriage ( the married daughter still bore her family name). The couplets on the shrines and doors symbolized the glorious people of the specific family names. Every family name put into the couplets the people and events that they were proud of. Among them the persons’ righteous character and professional writing were firstly considered. It appears that the Hakhas mostly respect the literary saints. Chapter Four is about the couplets on lamps and pillars, of which the lamp couplets can be seen as the “gene code,” showing that the Hakhas have strong sense of their roots. The lamp couplets show the ancestors’ exhortation and blessings toward their next generations, which expresses Hakha people pay attention to the issue about whether a family has an offspring or not. Chapter Five is about the couplets around A-kong-puo tablet. From the research of A-kong-puo tablet, we can obviously feel the changes of the space in Hakhas’sitting rooms, and the changes could be reflected on the couplets. From the couplets on windows, doors, and parlors, we see Hakha’s cultural characteristics in every way. According to the various researches, we find that Hakha culture is developed surrounding the core of “filling land and reading history.” And this characteristics is closely related to Hakhas’ long term of removing, which is reflected on the Hakha people themselves. Therefore, the Hakhas are hard-working, respectful of their ancestors, having the sense of unity, harmonious with other people and nature, and preferring morality to nobility. However, in spite of the valuable tradition, the Hakha culture is facing the most serious disaster which has never appeared before, and it is collapsing with fast speed. This phenomenon should be cared about not only by our government but also by every Hakha people,who should make a self-examination about themselves.
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