What is the relationship between Cantonese Pinyin (Hong Kong) and English? Cantonese pinyin seems to be closer to English than Chinese? Didn't realize it before. My ancestral home is Chinese mainland.

Let's just say that Hong Kong Pinyin has nothing to do with Chinese Pinyin.

The origin of Hong Kong-style pinyin is not very rich. At that time, when Britain occupied Hong Kong, many people did not understand English, so communication was very problematic. They don't even know how to call a name. For convenience, the British use their own grammar to pronounce. In fact, many invented Hong Kong Pinyin, that is, the pronunciation of Cantonese, are not very accurate. One pinyin can represent several Chinese characters, such as "Zhang" and "Chuang", and so can the same Hong Kong pinyin.