Cantonese people

廣東人
广东人

Wong Fei Hung · Edmund Ho · Yuan Chonghuan Fish Leong · Gary Locke · Gigi Lai Sun Yat-sen · Bruce Lee · Rainie Yang
Total population
Around 66 million (est. worldwide)
Regions with significant populations
China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau), Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam), Western world (United States, Peru, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia)
Languages
Predominantly Yue Chinese (Yue), Pinghua, Min (Zhongshan Min, Min)
Religion
Predominantly Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Traditional Chinese religion. Minority Christianity; small Muslim population in and around Guangzhou, whom may be referred to as "Hui".
Related ethnic groups
Hong Kong people, Han Chinese

The Cantonese people (simplified Chinese: 广东人; traditional Chinese: 廣東人; Mandarin Pinyin: Guangdong rén; Jyutping: Gwong2 Dung1 Jan4) are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term " people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei (Jyutping: bun2 dei6) sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan (廣府人) for this narrower definition. This article mainly focuses on this latter definition.

They are referred to as "Kongfu" in Malaysia and "Konghu" in Indonesia. They are referred to as "Hoa" in Vietnam. They make up the vast majority of Hong Kong population, most of them coming from Guangzhou and Taishan; as a result of this Hong Kong is a heavily Cantonese language influence-speaking society adding to the fact that Hong Kong, music, entertainment media are all Cantonese. Taishanese people are also another sub-group of the Cantonese.

Cantonese people have been successful in many areas such as politics, entertainment, and business in many parts of the world, including some of the world-famous people that are of Cantonese origin. One of the world's most famous people of Asian descent was Bruce Lee, who was also of Cantonese origin and is considered among the 100 most influential people in history and in the 20th century.

Culture

Cantonese written manhua Tin Ha

A statue on the Avenue of Stars, a tribute to Hong Kong Cantonese cinema.

Bāngzi (梆子) is one of the main instruments used in Cantonese opera

Cantonese food Dim-sum

Yue Chinese, broadly "Cantonese", is one of the major divisions of varieties of Chinese, with 70 million speakers. It consists of many closely related dialects native to areas of Guangdong and Guangxi. The pronunciation and vocabulary of Cantonese has also preserved many features of the official language of the Tang dynasty with only little elements of ancient Yue language. Cantonese is an western word used by westerners to described the native Guangdong people, who are linguistically different from the vast majority of Chinese population. The culture of the Cantonese and history of Nanyue originated in Guangdong. Abbreviation of Guangdong(粵/Yue) is an shortened form of Baiyue.

More specifically, the Cantonese refers to the prestige dialect of the language native to Guangzhou. This is the language used as a lingua franca, education, media in Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas. Unlike most other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese has semi-official status in Hong Kong and Macau, and has an independent tradition of a written vernacular. Aside from Standard Mandarin, Standard Cantonese is the only other Chinese dialect/language to be internationally known world wide and has its own versions of songs, dramas, movies. Including animations and video games that are dubbed in Cantonese. Many books, articles, magazines, newspapers especially Manhua (Chinese comic books) can also be found written in Cantonese. Hong Kong Cantonese is therefore a cultural marker and identity for Hong Kong people to distinguish themselves from mainland Chinese.

Cantonese language opera exists in the form of Cantonese opera, which uses a theatrical form of Cantonese singing and rhyming patterns in its performances. The Cantonese opera tradition may date back as far as the Song Dynasty in the 13th century.

Due to its political and economic status of being outside the direct control of the PRC, Hong Kong has been an active (and primary) producer of Cantonese language entertainment. Cantopop, Cantonese language pop music, enjoys multinational fan base in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, China (Guangdong, Guangxi) and to a small extent Japan. Canton-Pop is also popular among the Chinese community in the United States, Canada, Malaysia and Australia. The major center of the Cantonese music industry is in Hong Kong. Well-known Cantopop artistes include Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Joey Yeung, Alan Tam, Roman Tam, Danny Chan, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Faye Wong, Sammi Cheng, and Coco Lee. Many of these well known stars are Cantonese, and from the families of other internal Chinese immigrants.

Hong Kong's Cantonese-language cinema is a thriving industry that enjoys international fame. One of the world's largest motion picture industries, recent films such as Kung Fu Hustle and Infernal Affairs have generated acclaim worldwide. For some decades Hong Kong Cantonese speaking movie was the third largest motion picture industry in the world (after Bollywood and Hollywood) and the second largest exporter of films, due to popular Hong Kong action films. Cantonese speaking movies can be found exported around the world particular in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan.

Cantonese cuisine is one of the most famous types of Chinese cuisine, popular both within and outside China and is characterized by its variety of cooking methods, freshness and use of seafood. Cantonese food is best known in western world, many consider cantonese food to be the best in china and best in the world. When people in the west speak of Chinese food, they usually mean Cantonese food. Dim sum is equally famous for its variety of small servings.

In 1986, Prince Philip commented the Cantonese habits to the World Wildlife Fund conference saying: "If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it ." The Cantonese are known for eating everything, the tradition dates back to ancient Chinese culture and could be used as an effective survival knowledge, when other parts of China and of the world was strucked by either famine or starvation.

Historic figures

Some examples of many historical figures of Cantonese origin that have come mostly from the areas of Taishan, Shunde, Panyu and Dongguan.

• Yuan Chonghuan was a Ming Dynasty general famed for defeating the founder of Qing dynasty Nurchaci in the first battle as well as defeating Huang Taiji banner of 200,000 Manchu and Mongol soldiers in second battle with 9000 soldiers. It was because of Yuan Chonghuan that Nurhaci never recovered from the battle and died from his wounds.

• Ching Shih was the world greatest and powerful female pirate, she commanded 1800 ships and had more than 80000 pirates — men, women, and even children. She challenged the world superpower empires at the time like British, Portuguese, Qing dynasty and was undefeated. She was ranked as number 1 most successful pirate in history.

• Ho Ching is one of the "100 most influential men and women" who shaped the world by TIME magazine. As-well the same magazine ranked her third in the list of most powerful women in business (outside the United States). Similarly in 2007, business magazine Forbes ranked her third in its annual list of the world's most powerful women.

• John So he was the first Lord Mayor in the city's of Australia to be directly elected by the people and becoming the first mayor of Asian descent to win the World Mayor in 2006.

• Liang Daoming was a king of Palembang, the capital city of Sumatran Indonesia. He had thousands of followers and a sizable military troop and established trading ports in peninsula.

• Mac Cuu was a king of Ha tien, in Cambodia where he established an independent kingdom and played a role in relations between Cambodia and Vietnam. His kingdom lasted for a century and transformed it into a busy and popular destination.

• Jiang Guangnai was a general and statesman in the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. He successfully defended Shanghai from the Japanese invasion, it was remembered as January 28 Incident.

• Liu Yan (emperor) a king of nanhai and first emperor of the Yue/ Han kingdom that lasted from 917 - 971. Its territories included Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Island and Hanoi (north Vietnam). He commanded 100,000 soldiers in Battle of Bach Dang River (938) to subdue all of Vietnam under han rule, but his invasion was unsuccessful.

• Wen Zongyao served as a deputy president in Tibet during the Qing dynasty and supported the Xinhui revolution.

• Wu Tingfang served as China's foreign minister during the Qing dynasty.

• Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong's top action star and currently the highest paid actor in the whole of Asia.

• Norman Kwong was the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in Canada.

• Cheng I a cantonese pirate who became strongest pirate in China; his lover and wife was Ching Shi.

• Ah Pak was chieftain of Cantonese pirate that defeated the Portuguese pirates, including massacred of Portuguese pirates and Civilians in Ningpo, he also requested the massacre all foreigners, whether Portuguese, English, or American.

• Chen Zuyi was an 14th century respected and feared pirate to ever infested in the sea's of southeast Asia. He ruled and occupied the capital city of Palembang including sending a scale of raids to the Strait of Malacca to plunder on foreign ships and preyed on both native and foreign merchants for several years.

• Patrick Chan is a Chinese Canadian male figure skater, 2011 World Champion, 2010–2011 Grand Prix Final Champion, the 2009 Four Continents Champion, the 2009 and 2010 World silver medalist, the 2007 World Junior silver medalist and a four-time (2008–2011) Canadian Champion.

• Michelle Kwan is a Chinese American female figure skater and a five-time (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 & 2003) World champion.

• Lee Shau Kee is the fifth richest person in Asia with $18.5 billion dollar.ranking him 28th among the world's richest people.

• Yi Jianlian is a 7 ft tall Chinese basketball player; he played for NBA, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Washington Wizards.

• Arthur Chin was born to a father of Cantonese origin and a Caucasian mother of Peruvian background. Chin is recognized as America's first ace in World War II. Credited for destroying nine enemy aircraft between 1937-1939 during Sino-Japanese War.

• Mei Quong Tart was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment in Australia.

• Hiram Fong was a politician and the first Asian American and Chinese to be elected as Republican United States Senator. He was also the first Asian American and Chinese to be nominated for presidency of the United States.

• Gary Locke is the first governor of a state in the Continental United States of Asian descent, and remains the only Chinese American in to serve as a governor.

• Julius Chan was born to a Cantonese father from Taishan, he was the Prime Minister of from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997.

• John Woo is a respected Hong Kong and Hollywood director. In 2002 he was mentioned to be "arguably the most influential director making movies today"[3]

• Liu Chang the last emperor of South Han Kingdom, he became emperor at age of 16 and was famous for his lust with Persian girls who were prominent in his harem. Liu Chang also had a Persian princess in his harem.

• Steven Lo is responsible in making team and clubs in becoming successful and popular than ever before. He served as an adviser and team manager for the Hong Kong Football association at the 2009 where Hong Kong became champion of East Asian football in 2009 and South China club have also became semi-finalist in AFC cup.

• Lee Siew Choh was a politician and medical doctor from Singapore. Initially a member of the People's Action Party (PAP), became Singapore's first Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP).

• Tony Leung is Hong Kong award winning best actor in Cannes Film Festival in 2000 and 2008 in Asian Film Awards.

• Andy Lau one of Hong Kong most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s.

• Deng Shichang a first generation of modern naval officers trained in China who fought bravely against the Japanese, the People's Liberation Army Navy named a naval training ship as Shichang in remembrance of him.

• Jimmy Lai is the founder of Giordano, one of Asia's largest retailers with claims more than 11,000 employees in 1,700 shops across 30 territories worldwide.

• Chu Ching-wu he was an invited contributor to the White House National Millennium Time Capsule at the National Archives in 2000 and was selected the Best Researcher in the U.S. by US and World Report in 1990.

• Chin Gee Hee a merchant in America who founded the Quong Tuck Railway which contributed rail way workers to help the completion of projects such as the Great Northern Railway and the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad.

• James Wong Howe is one of leading cinematographers in Hollywood in 1930's - 1940's. He was nominated for ten Academy Awards for cinematography, winning twice.

• Tse Tsan-tai was one of the earliest Chinese revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty. He started the first uprising Tse wrote the first declaration of the Revive China Society, with an open letter to Guangxu Emperor in English. He was also the first Chinese to fly and airplane. He published also had an significant contribution to Chinese patriots anti feelings against Qing and western powers.

• Peter Chin is an old generation Cantonese New Zealander, a lawyer and was the 56th Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand.

• Choh Hao Li was a Chinese-born U.S. biochemist was first person to discovered that human pituitary growth hormone (somatotropin) consists of a chain of 256 amino acids and first to succeeded in synthesizing this hormone.

• Loke Yew he was regarded as the richest man in Malaysia during his time and played a significant role in the growth of Kuala Lumpur and was also one of the founding fathers of Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur.

• Liang Qichao was described as the greatest personality in the of Chinese journalism. Liang was considered "a brilliant scholar, journalist, and political figure".

• Anna May Wong was the first Asian American to become an international star.

• Jack Yan he created over 100 typeface designs himself for the firm. He founded is own magazine company in New Zealand and is one of magazine's longest-serving columnists.

• John Yap is a Canadian politician and is currently the Parliamentary Secretary for Clean Technology to the Minister of Energy and Mines

• Ma Sicong was referred to in China as "The King of violinists" and has great influence in music of modern China.

• Meng Foon is the current mayor of Gisborne, New Zealand and is the first person to serve four consecutive terms since Harry Barker retired in 1977.

• Chan Heung is one of the famous martial artist of southern China, he was the founder of Choy Li Fut martial art systems, his martial art schools is now found throughout the world.

Cantonese who contributed to modern history of China and Hong Kong

• Ta-You Wu - Father of Chinese physics

• Lai Man-Wai - Father of Hong Kong cinema

• Feng Ru - Father of Chinese aviation

• Liang Sicheng - Father of modern Chinese architecture

• Hu Die - 3rd Empress of Chinese movie

• Lee Ya-Ching - China’s first lady of flight

• Dai AiLian - Mother of Chinese dance

Cantonese Cultural hub

Hong Kong and Macau are two cultural hub centers for Cantonese people, it is two of the top 50 richest international cities in the world, and also two of the highest GPD per capita in China. The type of Cantonese that is spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is called Guangzhouwa, it originated from Guangzhou city, which is also an cultural hub for Cantonese and was ranked a world city in 2008, but in 2010-2011 it became an city for migrant workers, which have constituted 40% of Guangzhou population, many of these migrants speak only mandarin. As a result Guangzhou is no longer an cultural hub for Cantonese alone. Unlike China, both of these cities also retained a high level of autonomy and freedom, with different government law to China. The colonies originally had only few people, so the British and Portuguese encouraged Chinese migration to their colony, and relied on them to build western architecture for Europeans and Chinese architecture for Chinese. Because of these migrations, both of the cities became an linguistically and culturally Cantonese society, due to the vast majority of migrants being Cantonese, the culture of Cantonese began merging with western culture. Hong Kong and Macau culture are generally viewed as where the "East meets West". And Macau is also a World cultural heritage site (Historic Centre of Macau).

Hong Kong

The British empire first colonized the empty Hong Kong Island in 1842, however it was in 1898 - 1997 that Hong Kong truly became an colony when the British empire added the New territories which constituted 86.2% of Hong Kong's modern territory, and it was this time that Chinese migrants (mosly Cantonese) started entering to this colony. It is today one of the world's leading international financial centers, and is ranked as the 5th world city. It is also the eighth most traded currency in the world.

Macau

It became an colony of the Portuguese empire in 1887, parts of the city was first lent to the Portuguese by the Chinese empire as an trading center in 16th century, and had to administer the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty. It than occupied Taipa and Coloane in 1851 and 1864 respectively. After the hand over of Macau to China in 1999, Macau became one of the world's richest cities in 2002. In 2004 it broke the record of being the World’s Highest Skyjump. It became the world's biggest gambling Center in 2006.

History

Nanyue Kingdom

Until the 19th century, Cantonese history was largely part of the history of Guangdong. What is now Guangdong was first brought under Qin influence by a Qin Dynasty general named Zhao Tuo who later founded the kingdom of Nanyue in 204 BC, and became the strongest Baiyue state in China with many neighboring kingdoms declaring their allegiance to Nanyue rule. Zhao Tuo assimilated cultures of both Han and Yue as well as encouraging intermarriage. Nanyue under Zhao Tuo sacked the Han territory of Hunan in its capital city and defeated Han Dynasty's first attack on Nanyue. He later annexed kingdoms of Minyue in the east and Ouluo to the west. The greatly expanded Nanyue included the territories of modern-day Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Vietnam with its capital situated at modern-day Guangzhou. The original people of Guangdong belonged to the Yue until this kingdom was fully brought under Han control of Han Dynasty in 111 BC, but it wasn't until subsequent dynasties such as the Jin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty that major waves of Han Chinese literati migration to the south occurred. Migrations came in waves, displacing and assimilating the existing populations at different time periods, but some native groups still reside. Some studies have shown that most Cantonese have a mixture of DNA ancestry from Han Chinese from the North and Yue from the South. The Cantonese often call themselves "people of Tang", this is because of the Inter-mixture between native and Han immigrants in Guangdong reached a critical mass of acculturation during the Tang dynasty, creating an new local identity among the Guangdong people.

During the 19th century the Opium Wars with the West resulted in China's loss of control over Hong Kong, which was ceded to the British. Macau, a Portuguese settlement subjected to Chinese sovereignty since Ming Dynasty (16th century), was subsequently turned into a colony although self-administration was not achieved until the 1840s. These colonies make up roughly less than 2% of Guangdong territories. An Third Pandemic broke out from Yunnan and spread-ed to the city of Canton, beginning in March 1894, the disease killed 60,000 people in a few weeks. It than spread-ed to the water traffic with the nearby city of Hong Kong. Within two months, after 100,000 deaths, the death rates dropped below epidemic rates, although the disease continued to be endemic in Hong Kong until 1929. Plague came to India in 1896, most likely from Hong Kong where the epidemic had been festering since 1894. In India, 12.5 million Indians lost the their life's to the disease. The turmoil of the second half of the 19th century compelled many residents of Guangdong to seek their fortunes overseas. Until the second half of the 20th century, the majority of overseas Chinese emigrated from two of China, Fujian and Guangdong. As a result of these migrations, many Chinese with a Cantonese background have settled throughout the world, particularly in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Pacific Islands, where they have established communities and mostly intermarried with local women, due to all the migrations being almost entirely of men.

Unlike the migrants from Fujian, who mostly settled in Southeast Asia, many Cantonese emigrants also migrated to the western hemisphere, particularly the United States and Canada. Chinese immigrants in North America were brought as cheap labourers to build the transcontinental railroads in the United States and Canada, while those in South America were mostly forced laborers brought in as coolies. Chinese in California participated in the California Gold Rush, while Chinese in Hawaii found employment in sugar plantations as contract laborers. Chinese also played a significant role in Australia's gold rush, from 1854 onwards. These early immigrants founded communities of Chinatowns but also faced hostility and a variety of discriminatory laws that targeted them. This includes denying the immigration of women to prevent Chinese families from taking root, culminating in anti-immigration laws that restricted Chinese migration. A large proportion of these early immigrants came from the Sze Yup (Seiyap) region of Guangdong. As a result, these early communities spoke mostly Taishanese, one of the dialects of Yue distinctive from Cantonese. The Taishan (, Hoisan) dialect is still spoken in Chinese communities in the Americas, by older people as well as more recent immigrants from Taishan. and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible. The relaxing of immigration laws after World War II allowed for subsequent waves of migration to the United States from both mainland China and Hong Kong, while the majority of the Chinese-Vietnamese boat people from the Vietnam War spoke Cantonese either as a first or secondary language. As a result, Cantonese continues to be widely used by Chinese communities of Guangdong and Hong Kong origin in the western world and has not been supplanted by Standard Chinese.

See also

• Chinese people
• Han Chinese
• Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
• Cantonese people in Hong Kong
• Cantonese wedding
• Cantonese cuisine

References

• David Faure; Helen F. Siu (1995). Down to earth: the territorial bond in South China. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804724357.