在今天的臺灣社會，很多人都認同自己是客家人，也相信「客家」族群的存在由來已久。然而，當代社會學家指出，臺灣客家認同的興起，實際上是 1980年代以後一系列客家運動的產物，是一種現代政治環境下嶄新的族群想像。研究者也指出，清初至 1980年代以前，臺灣社會形塑一種「泛臺灣客家認同」，此論點十分具有啟發性，但筆者懷疑，這一概念可能過度化約了歷史，它一方面忽視了「泛臺灣客家認同」和現代族群想像之間可能存在的關聯機制，另一方面也混淆了前近代至當代人群分類觀念的差異。因此，本文試圖探究十九世紀後期至客家運動興起以前，「客家」族群觀念移植臺灣並逐漸為地方人士所接受的過程，以便為「泛臺灣客家認同」的討論注入歷史根基。 本研究發現，「客家」觀念並非源生於臺灣社會，而是十九世紀下半葉以來，隨著臺灣開港，由西方人從東南亞和中國東南沿海地區移入。其後，日本殖民者用籍貫的「廣東」取代了「客家」，作為該種族的名稱，儘管它包羅的範圍與我們今日所界定的「客家」有所不同，但日治時期日本及臺灣知識階層在身分、文化與社會結構上，對客家族群的塑造卻影響深遠。日治中期以後，臺灣客家菁英對於這一身分的認識，顯示出在不同的政治和社會背景下，中國大陸之民族主義與殖民主義交織的影響。戰後初期，隨著國民政府接收臺灣，具有客家意識的中國大陸客家知識階層，以及崛起於日治時期並受到近代中國民族主義思潮影響的知識菁英，推動了「客家」觀念與「廣東種族」的融合，並逐漸向臺灣地方社會滲透。「泛臺灣客家認同」，正是於此一歷史演變過程中形成。

The rising “Hakka” identity in the Taiwan society has been an increasingly noticeable phenomenon since the late 1980s. Social scientists have analyzed specific social movements that contributed to the construction of Hakka identity in the past two decades. Yet, the present article contends that the introduction, mutation, and evolution of “Hakka” concept by westerners, local elites as well as different regimes on Taiwan from the 1860s to the 1980s provided this on-going construction with historical foundation. Investigating the roots of Hakka ethnicity on Taiwan since the second half of the nineteenth century, the author finds that the concept of “Hakka” was a transplant introduced to Taiwan since the 1860s by westerners who had been influenced by the prevailing notions of race. Although the usage of “Hakka” continued to gain dominance even during early Japanese rule on Taiwan, colonial officials adopted “Guangdong (yue)” in place of “Hakka” as a category for ethnic classification in population censuses and language surveys. However, a pan-Hakka identity, which included non-Hakka speaking people from Guangdong and non-Guangdong origin but Hakka speaking people, has been flourishing because of the grafting effects through the use of cultural symbols representing Hakka ethnicity. As soon as the government of Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949, their “Hakka” conception, which sprouted with the growing nationalism in the Chinese mainland and many overseas Chinese communities, merged with the local Hakka identity that thrived in the war-time colonial milieu and had ultimately molded a strong Hakka identity among many local “Hakka” intellectuals. The Hakka elite’s propagation of Hakka identity, echoing the state-building appeal of post-war Chinese regime on Taiwan, eventually constructed a solid historical foundation that allowed the mushrooming of Hakka identity in Taiwan society since the late 1980s.