Cantonese people

Cantonese

廣府人 / 广府人
Cantonese noblewoman and servants
Total population
c. 66 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau) Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines) Western world (United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand)
Languages
Cantonese, Taishanese and other Yue languages (native languages), Southwestern Mandarin, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian, Hong Kong English, Macau Portuguese
Religion
Predominantly Chinese folk religions (which include Confucianism, Taoism, ancestral worship) and Mahayana Buddhism Minorities: Christianity, Atheism, Freethought, others
Related ethnic groups
Hong Kong people, Macau people, Taishanese people, other Han Chinese subgroups
some population totals are based on speaker counts and may not reflect the total population with ancestry

The Cantonese people (廣府人; 广府人; gwong fu jan; Gwóngfú Yàhn), or Yue people (粵人; 粤人; jyut jan; Yuht Yàhn), are a Yue-speaking Han Chinese subgroup originating from or residing in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang), in Southern Mainland China. Although more accurately, "Cantonese" refers only to the people from Guangzhou and its satellite cities and towns and/or native speakers of Standard Cantonese, rather than simply and generally referring to the people of the Liangguang region.^[2]

Historically centered on and predominating the Pearl River Basin shared between Guangdong and Guangxi, the Cantonese people are also responsible for establishing their native language's usage in Hong Kong and Macau during their 19th century migrations within the times of the British and Portuguese colonial eras respectively. Today, Hong Kong and Macau are the only regions in the world where Cantonese is the official spoken language, with the mixed influences of English and Portuguese respectively. Cantonese remains today as a majority language in Guangdong and Guangxi, despite the increasing influence of Mandarin. Taishanese people may also be considered Cantonese but speak a distinct variety of Yue Chinese, Taishanese.

There have been a number of influential Cantonese figures throughout history, such as Yuan Chonghuan, Bruce Lee, Liang Qichao, Lee Shau-kee, Ho Ching , Flossie Wong-Staal and most notably Sun Yat Sen the first president of republican China.

Terminology[]

"Cantonese" has been generally used to describe all Chinese people from Guangdong since "Cantonese" is commonly treated as a synonym with "Guangdong" and the Cantonese language is treated as the sole language of the region. This is inaccurate as "Canton" itself technically only refers to Guangdong's capital Guangzhou and the Cantonese language specifically refers to only the Guangzhou dialect of the Yue Chinese languages. David Faure points out that there is no direct Chinese translation of the English term "Cantonese".^[3]

The English name "Canton" derived from Portuguese Cantão^[4] or Cidade de Cantão,^[5] a muddling of dialectical pronunciations of "Guangdong"^[6][7] (e.g., Hakka Kóng-tûng). Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city of Guangzhou, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors.^[8][10] Within Guangdong and Guangxi, Cantonese is considered the prestige dialect and is called baahk wá [pàːk wǎː] (白話) which means "vernacular". In historical times, it was known as "Guangzhou speech" or Guangzhounese (廣州話, 广州话, Gwóngjāu wá) but due to Guangzhou's prosperity it has led people to conflate it with all Yue languages and many now refer to "Guangzhou speech" as simply "Guangdong speech" (廣東話, 广东话, Gwóngdūng wá). Similar cases where entire Chinese language families are thought to be a single language occur with non-specialists, conflating all Wu Chinese languages as just Shanghainese and its different forms, as it is the prestige dialect (although historically Suzhounese was) or that Mandarin only refers to the Beijing-based Standard Chinese and that it is a single language rather than a large group of related varieties.

There are many other Chinese languages spoken by the Han Chinese in these areas. In Guangxi, Southwestern Mandarin is spoken as are other Yue Chinese languages apart from Cantonese. In Guangdong, aside from other Yue Chinese languages, these non-Cantonese languages include Hakka, Chaoshan, Leizhou Min and Tuhua. Non-Cantonese speaking Yue peoples are sometimes labelled as "Cantonese" such as the Taishanese people (四邑粵人; sei yāp yuht yàhn), even though Taishanese (台山話) has low intelligibility to Standard Cantonese. Some literature uses neutral terminology such as Guangdongese and Guangxiese to refer to people from these provinces without the cultural or linguistic affiliations to Cantonese.

History[]

Pre-19th century: History of Liangguang[]

Nanyue (Nàhm Yuht) Kingdom

Until the 19th century, Cantonese history was largely the history of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. What is now Guangdong, and later Guangxi, was first brought under Qin influence by a general named Zhao Tuo, who later founded the kingdom of Nanyue in 204 BC.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} The Nanyue kingdom went on to become the strongest Baiyue state in China, with many neighbouring kingdoms declaring their allegiance to Nanyue rule. Zhao Tuo took the Han territory of Hunan and defeated the Han dynasty's first attack on Nanyue, later annexing the kingdom of Minyue in the East and conquering Âu Lạc, Northern Vietnam, in the West in 179 BC.^[16]

The greatly expanded Nanyue kingdom included the territories of modern-day Guangdong, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam (Tonkin), with the capital situated at modern-day Guangzhou. The native peoples of Liangguang remained under Baiyue control until the Han dynasty in 111 BC, following the Han–Nanyue War. However, it was not until subsequent dynasties such as the Jin Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty that major waves of Han Chinese began to migrate south into Guangdong and Guangxi. Waves of migration and subsequent intermarriage meant that existing populations of both provinces were displaced, but some native groups like the Zhuangs still remained. The Cantonese often call themselves "people of Tang" (唐人; tòhng yàhn). This is because of the inter-mixture between native and Han immigrants in Guangdong and Guangxi reached a critical mass of acculturation during the Tang dynasty, creating a new local identity among the Liangguang peoples.^[17]

During the 4th–12th centuries, Han Chinese people from North China's Yellow River delta migrated and settled in the South of China. This gave rise to peoples including the Cantonese themselves, Hakkas and Hoklos, whose ancestors migrated from Henan and Shandong, to areas of southeastern coastal China such as Chaozhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou and other parts of Guangdong during the Tang dynasty.^[18] There have been multiple migrations of Han people into Southeastern and Southern China throughout history.^[19]

The origin of the Cantonese people is thus said to be Northern Chinese peoples that migrated to Guangdong and Guangxi while it was still inhabited by Baiyue peoples.^[20] During Wang Mang's reign in the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), there were influxes of Han Chinese migrants into Guangdong and Guangxi, western coast of Hainan, Annam (now Northern Vietnam) and eastern Yunnan.^[21]

19th–20th century: Turmoil and migration[]

Cantonese bazaar during Chinese New Year at the Grant Avenue, San Francisco, circa 1914. Names of shops are in Cantonese and there are four daily newspapers printed in the Cantonese language at that time, as there were already a significant number of Cantonese people who had been there for generations.

During the early 1800s, conflict occurred between Cantonese and Portuguese pirates in the form of the Ningpo massacre after the defeat of Portuguese pirates.^[22] The First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860) led to the loss of China's control over Hong Kong and Kowloon, which were ceded to the British Empire. Macau also became a Portuguese settlement. Between 1855 and 1867, the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars caused further discord in Guangdong and Guangxi. The third plague pandemic of 1855 broke out in Yunnan and spread to the Liangguang region via Guangxi, killing thousands and spreading via water traffic to nearby Hong Kong and Macau.

The turmoil of the 19th century, followed by the political upheaval of the early 20th century, compelled many residents of Guangdong to migrate overseas in search of a better future. Up until the second half of the 20th century, the majority of overseas Chinese emigrated from two provinces of China; Guangdong and Fujian. As a result, there are today many Cantonese communities throughout the world, including in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Americas, the Caribbean and Western Europe, with Chinatowns commonly being established by Cantonese communities. There have been a large number of interracial marriages between Cantonese men and women from other nations (especially from Cuba, Peru, Mexico ), as most of the Cantonese migrants were men. As a result, there are many Black Caribbeans and South American people who of Cantonese descent including many Eurasians and people Cantonese ancestry.^[23]

Unlike the migrants from Fujian, who mostly settled in Southeast Asia, many Cantonese emigrants also migrated to the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Many Cantonese immigrants into the United States became railroad labourers, while many in South America were brought in as coolies. Cantonese immigrants in the United States and Australia participated in the California Gold Rush and the Australian gold rushes of 1854 onwards, while those in Hawaii found employment in sugarcane plantations as contract labourers. These early immigrants variously faced hostility and a variety of discriminatory laws, including the prohibition of Chinese female immigrants. The relaxation of immigration laws after World War II allowed for subsequent waves of migration to the Western world from southeastern mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. As a result, Cantonese continues to be widely used by Chinese communities of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau regional origin in the Western hemisphere, and has not been supplanted by the Mandarin-based Standard Chinese. A large proportion of the early migrants also came from the Siyi region of Guangdong and spoke Taishanese. The Taishanese variant is still spoken in American-Chinese communities, by the older population as well as by more recent immigrants from Taishan, in Jiangmen, Guangdong.

Cantonese influence on the Xinhai Revolution[]

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 was a revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty, and established the Republic of China. Guangdong's uprising against the Qing dynasty in 1895 let to its naming as the "cradle of the Xinhai Revolution".^[24][25][26] Revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong.^[27][28] Hong Kong was where he developed his thoughts of revolution and was the base of subsequent uprisings, as well as the first revolutionary newspaper.^[29][30] Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary army was largely made up of Cantonese, and many of the early revolutionary leaders were also Cantonese.^[31]

Cultural hub[]

A Cantonese gentleman in Qing-era traditional attire, c. 1873–1874

Cantonese people and their culture are centered in Guangdong, eastern Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau.

Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), the capital city of Guangdong, has been one of China's international trading ports since the Tang dynasty. During the 18th century, it became an important centre of the emerging trade between China and the Western world, as part of the Canton System. The privilege during this period made Guangzhou one of the top three cities in the world.^[32] Operating from the Thirteen Factories located on the banks of the Pearl River outside Canton, merchants traded goods such as silk, porcelain ("fine china"), and tea, allowing Guangzhou to become a prosperous city. Links to overseas contacts and beneficial tax reforms in the 1990s have also contributed to the city's ongoing growth. Guangzhou was named a global city in 2008. The migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40 percent of the city's total population in 2008. Most of them are rural migrants and they speak only Mandarin.^[33]

Hong Kong and Macau are two of the richest cities in the world in terms of GDP per capita and are autonomous SARs (Special Administrative Regions) that are under independent governance from China. Historically governed by the British and Portuguese empires respectively, colonial Hong Kong and Macau were increasingly populated by migrant influxes from mainland China, particularly the nearby Guangdong Province. For that reason, the culture of Hong Kong and Macau became a mixture of Cantonese and Western influences, sometimes described as "East meets West".

Hong Kong[]

Hong Kong Island was first colonised by the British Empire in 1842 with a population of only 7,450; however, it was in 1898 that Hong Kong truly became a British colony, when the British also colonised the New Territories (which constitute 86.2% of Hong Kong's modern territory). It was during this period that migrants from China entered, mainly speaking Cantonese (the prestige variety of Yue Chinese) as a common language. During the following century of British rule, Hong Kong grew into a hub of Cantonese culture, and has remained as such since the handover in 1997.

Today Hong Kong is one of the world's leading financial centres, and the Hong Kong dollar is the thirteenth most-traded currency in the world.

Macau[]

Macau native people are known as the Tanka. A dialect similar to Shiqi (石岐話), originating from Zhongshan (中山) in Guangdong, is also spoken in the region.

Parts of Macau were first loaned to the Portuguese by China as a trading centre in the 16th century, with the Portuguese required to administrate the city under Chinese authority. In 1851 and 1864, the Portuguese Empire occupied the two nearest offshore islands Taipa and Coloane respectively, and Macau officially became a colony of the Portuguese Empire in 1887. Macau was returned to China in 1999.

By 2002, Macau had become one of the world's richest cities,^[34] and by 2006, it had surpassed Las Vegas to become the world's biggest gambling centre.^[35] Macau is also a world cultural heritage site due to its Portuguese colonial architecture.

Culture[]

The term "Cantonese" is used to refer to the native culture, language and people of Guangdong and Guangxi.^[36]

There are cultural, economic, political, generational and geographical differences in making "Cantonese-ness" in and beyond Guangdong and Guangxi, with the interacting dynamics of migration, education, social developments and cultural representations.^[37]

Language[]

The term "Cantonese language" is sometimes used to refer to the broader group of Yue Chinese languages and dialects spoken in Guangdong and Guangxi, although it is used more specifically to describe Gwóngjāu wah (廣州話), the prestige variant of Cantonese spoken in the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton). Gwóngjāu wah is the main language used for education, literature and media in Hong Kong and Macau. It is still widely used in Guangzhou, despite the fact that a large proportion of the city's population is made up by migrant workers from elsewhere in China that speak non-Cantonese variants of Chinese and Standard Mandarin.^[38] Though in recent years it is slowly falling out of favour with the younger generation ^[39] prompting fears in Cantonese people that the language may die out. Cantonese language's erosion in Guangzhou is due to a mix of suppression of the language and the mass migration of non-Cantonese speaking people in to the area.

Because of its tradition of usage in music, cinema, literature and newspapers, this form of Cantonese is a cultural mark of identity that distinguishes Cantonese people from speakers of other varieties of Chinese, whose languages are prohibited to have strong influences under China's Standard Mandarin policy. The pronunciation and vocabulary of Cantonese has preserved many features of the official language of the Tang dynasty with elements of the ancient Yue language.^[40] Written Cantonese is very common in manhua, books, articles, magazines, newspapers, online chat, instant messaging, internet blogs and social networking websites. Anime, cartoons and foreign films are also dubbed in Cantonese. Some videogames such as Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto III and Resident Evil 6 have substantial Cantonese dialogues.

Arts[]

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

Statue of Cantonese martial artist Bruce Lee at the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong

Cantopop during its early glory had spread to Mainland China, Taiwan, (South) Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Well-known Cantopop singers include Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Joey Yung, Alan Tam, Roman Tam, Anita Mui, Danny Chan, Leslie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Sammi Cheng and Coco Lee, many of whom are of Cantonese or Taishanese origin.

The Hong Kong movie industry was the third-largest movie industry in the world (after Hollywood and Bollywood) for decades throughout the 20th century, with Cantonese-language films viewed and acclaimed around the world. Recent films include Kung Fu Hustle, Infernal Affairs and Ip Man 3.

Cantonese people are also known to create various schools or styles of arts, with the more prominent being Lingnan architecture, Lingnan school of painting, Canton porcelain, Cantonese opera, Cantonese music, among many others.

Cuisine[]

Cantonese dim sum

Cantonese cuisine has become one of the most renowned types of cuisine around the world, characterised by its variety of cooking methods and use of fresh ingredients, particularly seafood.^[41] One of the most famous examples of Cantonese cuisine is dim sum, a variety of small and light dishes such as har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings), siu mai (steamed pork dumplings), and cha siu bao (barbecued pork buns).

Genetics[]

According to research, Cantonese peoples' paternal lineage is mostly Han, while their maternal lineage is mostly Nanyue aboriginals.^[42][43] Speakers of Pinghua and Tanka, however, lack Han ancestry and are "truly, mostly pureblood Baiyue".^[44][45] These genetic differences have contributed to Cantonese differing from other Han Chinese groups in terms of physical appearance^[46] and proneness to certain diseases.^[47] The genetic admixture of the Cantonese people clusters somewhere between the Zhuang people (Tai) and the Northern Plains Han Chinese people.

Notable figures[]

This is an incomplete list of notable Cantonese people.

Historical[]

• Liu Yan, king of Nanhai and first emperor of the Yue/Han kingdom between 917–971
• Liang Daoming, king of Palembang during the Ming dynasty.
• , a Toisan Cantonese was Sir Stamford Raffles' who was the first man to land on modern-day Singapore and led the way in posting the East India Company's flag on Singapore Island.
• Ching Shih, a female pirate who engaged in confrontations with the Qing dynasty and the Portuguese Empire before retiring in Canton and becoming a brothel house owner
• Cheng I, pirate and husband of Ching Shih
• Ah Pak, pirate chieftain who defeated Portuguese pirates
• Liu Chang, the last emperor of the Southern Han Kingdom
• Yuan Chonghuan, a Chinese general from Ming dynasty who defeated the Manchus
• Mạc Cửu, ruler of Hà Tiên in the 18th century; played a role in the relations between Cambodia and Vietnam
• , interpreter that assisted translations for American Commodore Mathew Perry in opening up Japan
• Sun Yat-sen, born in Zhongshan, Guangdong; Chinese revolutionary and founder of the Republic of China

"Portrait of Sun Yat-sen" (1921) Li Tiefu

• Deng Shichang, admiral and one of the first modern naval officers in China in the late Qing dynasty
• Tse Tsan-tai, early Chinese revolutionary of the late Qing Dynasty
• Kang Youwei was a Chinese scholar, noted calligrapher and prominent political thinker and reformer of the late Qing dynasty.
• Liang Qichao was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher, and reformist who lived during the Qing dynasty and Republic of China.
• Henry Lee Hau Shik, first Finance Minister of the Federation of Malaya and the only major leader of the independence movement not born in Malaya.[36]
• Jiang Guangnai, general and statesman in the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China who successfully defended Shanghai City from the Japanese invasion in the 28 January Incident of 1932

Entertainers[]

• Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American and Asian female international movie star
• Anita Mui, singer and actress, dubbed as the "Madonna of the East".
• James Wong Howe, leading Hollywood cinematographer in the 1930s–40s and ten-time Academy Award nominee
• Lai Man-Wai, the father of Hong Kong cinema
• Stephen Chow, His grandfather is from Ningbo but his mother is Cantonese. He is actor and film director known for the comedy blockbusters Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle
• John Woo, influential film director
• Tony Leung Chiu-wai, award-winning actor known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, including In The Mood For Love
• Andy Lau, one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful singers and actors since the mid-1980s
• Gigi Lai, actress and Cantopop singer
• Aaron Kwok, dancer and singer since the early 1990s
• Amy Kwok, actress and Miss Hong Kong 1991
• Eason Chan, well-known Cantopop singer
• Rainie Yang, Taiwanese singer
• Vivian Chow, Cantopop singer and actress
• Fish Leong, Malaysian-Chinese singer
• Kris Wu, Chinese-Canadian actor and singer, former member of K-Pop boy band EXO.
• Jackson Wang, singer and member of K-Pop boy band GOT7.
• Louis Koo, Hong Kong actor
• Tony Leung Ka Fai, Hong Kong actor
• Cheung Ka Fai, Hong Kong actor
• Leo Ku, Hong Kong singer
• Rui En, famous Singaporean actress
• Liang Wern Fook, one of the pioneer figures in Singaporean Chinese folk songs
• Yuen Woo-ping, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema
• Sinn Sing Hoi, one of the earliest generation of Chinese composers
• Chris Cheong, an international mentalist and illusionist.
• Terence Cao, Singaporean actor
• Mark Chen, renowned Singaporean composer
• Kelly Poon, Singaporean singer
• Awkwafina, her mother is South Korean. American rapper, comedian, television personality, television host
• Jeff Chan, Asian American tenor saxophonist and composer
• Zen Chong, Malaysian actor and won supporting acting in 2009
• Michael Paul Chan is an American television and film actor.^[48]
• Laura Ling, American journalist and writer. Correspondent and vice-president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit
• Lisa Ling, American journalist, television presenter, special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Sam Tsui, American singer/songwriter and video producer. Internet celebrity with 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube
• Wong brothers, three ethnic Chinese film directors, the pioneers of the Indonesian movie industry
• Lo Lieh, famous Hong Kong action star
• Lü Wencheng, master of Cantonese music and Guangdong folk music
• Lucas Wong, member of K-Pop boy group NCT
• , member of K-Pop boy group NCT
• Hendery, member of K-Pop boy group NCT

Opera singers[]

• Warren Mok, an operatic tenor who has performed many leading roles since his European debut in 1987.
• Hung Sin-nui, Master of Chinese and Cantonese opera.

Politicians[]

• Tang Shaoyi, Prime Minister of the Republic of China.
• Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong
• Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Chief Executive of Macau
• Fernando Chui, Chief Executive of Macau
• Wu Tingfang, China's foreign minister during the Qing dynasty
• Wen Tsung-yao, politician and diplomat in the Qing dynasty and Republic of China
• Kang Tongbi (康同璧) was the daughter of Kang Youwei, a Chinese reformer and political figure of the late Qing dynasty and early Republican era.
• Hiram Fong, the first Asian-American and Chinese to be elected as Republican United States Senator and nominated for presidency of the United States
• John So, the first Lord Mayor of Melbourne to be directly elected by the people in 2006, and the first mayor of Asian descent
• Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada, the first non-white Canadian to be appointed to the vice-regal position
• Norman Kwong, the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Canada
• Gary Locke, first governor of a state in the Continental United States of Asian descent; the only Chinese American ever to serve as a governor
• Judy Chu, first Chinese-American woman to be elected to the United States Congress
• Julius Chan, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982, and from 1994 to 1997
• Lee Siew Choh, politician and medical doctor. Singapore's first Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP)
• Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Kalong Ningkan was the first Chief Minister of Sarawak.
• Víctor Joy Way was the Prime Minister of Peru from January 1999 until December 1999.
• José Antonio Chang Escobedo was the Prime Minister of Peru and second Chinese–Peruvian Prime Minister, the first being Víctor Joy Way
• Peter Chin, lawyer and 56th Dunedin, New Zealand mayor
• John Yap, Canadian politician
• Meng Foon, mayor of Gisborne, New Zealand
• Alan Lowe, architect, former mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Ida Chong, accountant, former municipal councillor of Saanich, British Columbia, former cabinet minister/Member of Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada
• Yeoh Ghim Seng, Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore from 1970 to 1989
• Chang Apana, inspirational detective with an influential law enforcement career
• Kin W. Moy American diplomat and the first ethnic Chinese to be director of the American Institute in Taiwan,
• Debra Wong Yang, first Asian American woman to serve as a United States Attorney.
• Chan Heng Chee, Singapore's Minister in Prime Minister's Office, Chief of Army from 2010 to 2011
• Chan Sek Keong, third Chief Justice of Singapore, Attorney-General of Singapore from 1992 to 2006
• Chan Kong Choy, Malaysian politician, deputy president and transport minister
• Cheryl Chan, member of the country's governing People's Action Party (PAP)
• Sitoh Yih Pin, Singapore politician member of Parliament (MP)
• Leong Yew Koh, first Governor of Malacca since independence.
• Cheong Yoke Choy, famous and well respected philanthropist during the British Malaya era.
• Edwin Tong, member of Parliament in Singapore representing the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency.
• Eu Chooi Yip, prominent member of the anti-colonial and Communist movements in Malaya and Singapore
• Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Home Affairs
• Jek Yeun Thong, prominent first generation People's Action Party (PAP) politician in Singapore
• Hoo Ah Kay, leader with many high ranking posts in Singapore, honourable consul to Japan, Russia and China.
• Kan Ting Chiu, Senior Judge in the Supreme Court.^[49]
• Ho Yuen Hoe, Nun who received a Public Service Award from the President of Singapore
• Kin W. Moy, American diplomat. He is one of the first Chinese to hold an important position
• Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan Hong Nam (陈康南;), was the former Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak.
• Fong Chan Onn, Malaysian politician and a former Minister of Human Resources
• Fong Po Kuan, Malaysian politician from the Democratic Action Party (DAP)
• Loke Siew Fook, Member of the Parliament of Malaysia
• Tan Chee Khoon, major figure in Malaysian politics from 1959 to 1978
• Lui Tuck Yew, country's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Defence, Singapore's Chief of Navy from 1999 to 2003
• António Ng Kuok Cheong is currently a member in the Macau Legislative Assembly and was the founding chairman of the New Democratic Macau Association.

Athletes[]

• Chen Aisen, Chinese diver. He is a double gold medal winner at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a world champion.
• Wong Peng Soon, a renowned male badminton player in the latter half of the 20th century
• Patrick Chan, a world champion Chinese-Canadian male figure skater
• Michelle Kwan, Chinese-American female figure skater and five-time world champion
• Yi Jianlian, a 7-foot-tall Chinese basketball player for NBA, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Washington Wizards
• Guan Weizhen, female badminton player who won three consecutive women's doubles titles at the BWF World Championships
• Chen Xiaomin, Chinese retired weightlifter, in 2000 Sydney Olympics on the women's weightlifting gold medal, also a world and Asian champion
• Shanshan Feng, the first golfer from China to win LPGA major championship and major championship, she was ranked fifth in 2012 Women's World Golf Rankings.^[50]
• He Chong, Chinese diver. He is the 2008 Olympic Champion gold medalist in the 3m springboard. He was unbeaten from 2006–2016
• Jiang Jialiang, table tennis player. He won medals in Asia and world table tennis tournaments.
• Xie Xingfang, badminton player, a two-time world champion women's singles.
• Chen Xiexia, won three golds at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships. The first gold medal for China in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• Zhang Jiewen, gold medal in Badminton 2004 Athens
• Lao Lishi, gold medal in women's 10 meter synchronised platform along with Li Ting.
• Su Bingtian, sprinter. He is the reigning Asian champion over 100 metres, was a semi-finalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a finalist at the 2015 World Championships.
• Liang Wen-Chong, highest ranked golfer from the People's Republic of China, the only Chinese golfer to have reached the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
• Zeng Qiliang, the first medal of Chinese male swimmer in world championships.
• Lindswell Kwok, six times world champion of Wushi
• Brian Ah Yat, former American football quarterback
• Harland Ah You, is a former gridiron football defensive lineman who played 10 games with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 1998.^[51]
• Junior Ah You,^[52] Hall of Fame and Top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.^[53]
• Keanu Asing, surfer who competes in the World Surf League and debuted on the World Championship Tour of the 2015 World Surf League.^[54][55]<
• Josiah Ng, the first Malaysian to make it into the cycling Olympic finals becoming a three-time Olympian

Business[]

• Raymond, Thomas, and Walter Kwok, brothers whose property business makes them the fourth richest in Hong Kong^[56]
• Stanley Ho, Hong Kong and Macanese business magnate
• Lui Che-woo, real estate and hospitality magnate, Hong Kong billionaire, once the 2nd richest man in Asia
• Cheng Yu-tung, Hong Kong billionaire
• Tang Yiu Hong Kong billionaire businessman, founder of shoe and sportswear retailer Belle International
• Mei Quong Tart, rich nineteenth-century merchant
• Yaw Teck Seng was founded of Sarawak timber group, Samling
• Charles Sew Hoy, merchant and gold-dredging pioneer
• Loke Yew, philanthropist and was once the richest man in British Malaysia
• Chin Gee Hee, merchant and railway entrepreneur
• Lee Shau-kee, Once the 4th richest man in world, real estate tycoon and owner of Henderson Land Development
• Steven Lo, businessman and football team manager
• He Jingtang, a prominent Chinese architect for Olympic 2008
• Jimmy Lai, founder of Giordano
• Ho Ching, First Lady of Singapore^[57][58][59]
• He Xiangjian is the co-founder of Midea, one of China's largest appliance makers.
• Yang Huiyan, the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings
• Lawrence Ho, Hong Kong businessman, chairman and CEO of Melco International, the chairman and CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment
• Dennis Fong, Fong is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the first professional gamer.^[60]
• Peter Tham, A former Singaporean stockbroker and the director of Pan-Electric Industries and now a wanted criminal.
• Loke Wan Tho, He was the founder of Cathay Organisation in Singapore and Malaysia
• , who was the founder of Wong Kwok Group in Sabah, Malaysia
• Eu Tong Sen, leading businessman in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century
• Ah Ken, Chinese American businessman and popular figure in Chinatown, Manhattan during the mid-to late 19th century.
• Kathy Chan, Chinese-American entrepreneur and investor
• Wesley Chan, early product innovator at Google Inc., best known for founding and launching Google Analytics and Google Voice

Arts[]

• , is a China as a national level A artist and vice-president of the Chinese Painting Society.
• Choy Weng Yang, contributions on post-modern arts in Singapore, helped shaped the contemporary art scene in Singapore
• Reagan Louie, an American photographer on sex life.
• Alan Chin (photographer), contributing photographer to Newsweek and The New York Times, editor and photographer at BagNews
• Bernice Bing, Chinese American lesbian artist involved in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene in the 1960s
• Lee Man Fong, A painter who had successful exhibitions in Europe and Asia.
• You Jin, received the Cultural Medallion Award in 2009 for her contributions to Singapore's literary arts scene.

Martial artists[]

• Ip Man, martial artist and teacher of Bruce Lee.
• Wong Fei-hung, martial artist in the Qing dynasty.
• Donnie Yen, martial artist and actor, one of Asia's highest paid action stars.
• Bruce Lee, one of the most influential martial artists and famous actors of Asian descent of all time.
• Chan Heung, founder of Choy Li Fut

Authors[]

• Francis Chan American Christian teacher, preacher, author of the best-selling book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
• Clara Ng Indonesian writer who is known for both adult fiction and children's literature.
• Amy Tan Award-winning Chinese American author of The Joy Luck Club and other best-selling books

Academics[]

• Flossie Wong-Staal, a virologist and molecular biologist; the first scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes in 1985. In 2007 The Daily Telegraph heralded Dr. Wong-Staal as #32 of the "Top 100 Living Geniuses".^[61]
• Chu Ching-wu, physicist and one of the first scientists to demonstrate high-temperature superconductivity, in 1987
• Choh Hao Li, Chinese-American biochemist and first scientist to synthesise human growth hormone in 1970
• Tak Mak, Chinese-Canadian immunologist and biochemist, discovered T-cell receptor.
• Wu Ta-You, the "father of Chinese physics"
• Wu Lien-teh, physician and Nobel prize nominee
• Vivian Wing-Wah Yam, chemist known for her work on light-emitting materials and solar energy
• Albert Chan, professor of chemistry and traditional Chinese medicine
• Liang Sili, rocket and missile control system scientist
• Nancy Ip – member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences
• Albert Chan (professor) – a Hong Kong professor of chemistry and traditional Chinese medicine.
• Liang Sili – Chief Designer of inertial guidance platforms for Chinese ballistic missiles.
• Mr Wong – Chinese Academy of Engineering academician, general surgery specialist.
• Li Shaozhen – improve cataract surgery quality in the introduction of technology and innovation

Mathematician[]

• Yum-Tong Siu – the William Elwood Byerly Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University

Other notable figures[]

• Feng Joe Guey, Chinese aviation pioneer
• Liang Sicheng, the "father of modern Chinese architecture"
• Dai Ailian, the "mother of Chinese modern dance"
• Lee Ya-Ching, pioneering aviator and actress
• Chang Apana A famous detective who influenced many fictional works.
• Ye Xiaogang, China's most active and most famous composers of contemporary classical music.

See also[]

• Cantonese culture
• Cantonese language
• Chinese people
• Punti-Hakka Clan Wars

References[]

Further reading[]

• David Faure; Helen F. Siu (1995). Down to earth: the territorial bond in South China. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2435-7.

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