The early 20th century Hakka scholar Luo Hsiang-lin conducted a search for the roots of the Hakka people, and concluded that the Hakkas descended from nobility who had fled to southern China long ago from the Yellow River region. Luo argued that the purest of all Han Chinese blood was to be found in the veins of the Hakka people. This idea quickly caught on among Hakkas, and has today achieved the status of gospel.
為了找尋自己的文化起源，清末民初的客籍學者羅香林考據出客家人是「逃難至中國南方的中原貴冑」，是中華民族中最正統、最純淨的漢族代表，而這種理論也迅速成為客族不容挑戰的信仰。