Besides Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, and the Liugdui area (part of current Kaohsiung and Pingtung), Hualien and Taitung are the two counties with the largest Hakka immigrants in the Eastern Taiwan. Hakka group is still one of the most important races in this area now (the second largest population beyond Hoklo people). This work will discuss the motivation, timing and migration of Hakkas in Taitung before the end of WWII, by reviewing official memorials and records in the late Qing Dynasty as well as governmental census, annual reports, and regional investigations in Japanese colonial period. Some Hakka people moved into Taitung directly from the mainland China; however, the majority migrated here locally from other regions of Taiwan. Most Hakka people were farmers, but some also played other important roles in the society, such as governor, council members or officers. Along with Hoklo people and other local aboriginals, the Hakkas was categorized as the Honto Jin (a common name of non-Japanese people in Japanese colonial period), in Japanese government census report. Personal and official Hakka immigrants became the agricultural fundamentals for the national development in both late Qing Dynasty and Japanese period. As a result, many Hakkas immigrant villages and Honto Jin communities were developed in Taitung at that time, especially around Lilong area (which is from the Amis word meaning ＂red worms＂, was called Kanzan District and now Guanshan). In this study, we could use recently-discovered personal oral history, family tree, and local documents, in addition to official records, functionary reports, and governmental census to more clearly reconstruct activity and development of the Hakka immigrants in Taitung before 1945.