Hakkaology, a new discipline in China, is aiming to change the minds of scholars both in the mainland and overseas and overcome centuries of prejudice.
This month, Shanghai's East China Normal University established China's first department focusing on the study of the Hakka culture.
'The Hakka people and Hakkaology are important keys to the kaleidoscopic Chinese culture,' said Wang Dong , professor of Hakkaology at the university.
'Since the Hakka people have maintained their culture and lifestyle after hundreds of years of migration, they provide a valuable source for understanding the history of ancient Chinese.
'Researchers have also showed that the language used by the Hakkas is probably the ancient language used by our ancestors in the north.' The Hakkas - the name literally means 'guest people' describing those who do not belong to the place in which they have settled - have for many years been stigmatised as mean, stingy, unfriendly, and even barbarous.
In 1921, a geography book was published saying the Hakkas were one of the barbarous tribes living in the mountainous regions of Guangdong.
'The book also said a character quan [meaning 'dog'] should be added on the side of the word Hak [meaning 'guest'],' said Wong Shek-wah, the 78-year-old chairman of the Tsung Tsin Society, the central body of ethnic association for all Hakka people.