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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Hakka settlement in the middle ground

streets or settlements resulting from the intrusion of
industrialization and the “concrete revolution” that has
spread throughout the country (Figure 4). Falling under
the top-down regime led by city governments, traditional
rural settlements and their indigenous cultures are being
devastated at an unprecedented rate (Tao & Wang, 2014).
For local inhabitants, houses built with new materials and
in ornate Western styles not only satisfy their demand for
a modern lifestyle but also serve as symbols of wealth and
status. Simultaneously, the government has encouraged the
construction of new houses, which creates the prosperous
illusions of rural development. These uniform, featureless
buildings, driven by both the inhabitants’ aspirations and
government policies, may lead the Middle Ground to
ultimately become a place where “the richly varied places of
the world are rapidly being obliterated under a meaningless
pattern of buildings, monotonous, and chaotic” (Lyndon
et al., 1962, P.33-34).

3. Methods
3.1. Study area: Hakka settlements in northeast
Guangdong

Figure 1. The middle ground in Chinese official urban hierarchy. This article focuses on the Hakka settlements in Zhongxin,
Source: Drawing by the authors Dahu, and Xiuduan towns within Lianping county, Heyuan,
located in northeastern Guangdong province, southern
strictly organized according to specific cultural practices China (Figure 5). Northeastern Guangdong is adjacent
and social rituals. Among these settlements, markets played to the Pearl River Delta, which has become a global
an essential role as the adhesive of the agricultural social manufacturing hub due to its advantageous geographic
organization, combining the myriad peasant communities location and favorable policies. Since the economic reforms
into the broader social system (Skinner, 2001). However, began in 1979, rapid economic growth has led to significant
the transformation of traditional agricultural production urbanization, widening the urban-rural divide as the flow of
has led to the conversion of these rural settlements, once products, capital, and labor intensified (Zhou, 2020). As the
rooted in the local social environment, into peri-urban areas Pearl River Delta has upgraded and transformed its industrial
reliant on spatial mobility. This shift has introduced more structure, its peripheral peri-urban and rural hinterlands
modern housing affected by urbanization, accelerating the have converted into suppliers of affordable labor and
vanishing of local rural culture. Nowadays, buildings with agricultural products for metropolises such as Guangzhou
both rural and urban characteristics coexist in the Middle and Shenzhen. Concurrently, increasing factories have
Ground, although it should be noted that urban influences relocated to these areas to reduce land costs. This evolving
are gradually overtaking rural ones – an inevitable trend. urban-rural relationship has triggered a fundamental
Consequently, the model of the Chinese Middle Ground is structural transformation of Guangdong’s countryside.
proposed in Figure 2. Between the 16 and 17 centuries, a large number of
th
th
The boom in rural house building occurred between Han Chinese from the north migrated to southern China
1985 and 1995 in China, transforming building materials to escape war and famine. Known as the Hakka, meaning
and forms from vernacular to modern characteristics “guest family” in Chinese, this ethnic Han group primarily
(Figure 3). In 1985, building materials were still settled in the border areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and
predominantly local, such as brick and timber, but since Jiangxi provinces. Today, it is estimated that approximately
1996, these materials have been replaced by reinforced 32 million Hakka people live in these regions (Erbaugh,
concrete. Modern materials quickly became dominant in 1996). Northern Guangdong is a major Hakka settlement
rural buildings, particularly after the 2000s. Nowadays, area and the location of the Yue Gan Trade Route, which
common housing typologies, typically 2- or 3-story historically connected Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces.
concrete-framed houses, have come to dominate the More than 20,000 traditional Hakka villages, often built

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3649