Why do half the Chinese in overseas Chinatown speak Cantonese?

When I was a child, the internet was underdeveloped, and people's impressions of overseas Chinese often came from movies. In the movies, these China people spread China culture overseas, which is very different from the traditional culture in the north. The most important thing is that most of them speak Cantonese, whether at home or in Chinatown.

Now that many years have passed, the pattern of overseas Chinese has long changed. So is Cantonese still the strongest in the overseas Chinese circle at present?

First, early overseas immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong are the main force.

In the early years, the southeast coast was sparsely populated and the ports were dense. Since ancient times, it has been closely related to overseas cultural and commercial exchanges. Therefore, it is not surprising that early overseas immigrants were mainly from Fujian and Guangdong.

Among the two places, Fujian Minnan, Guangdong Guangfu and Chaoshan are the places with more immigrants. Therefore, in terms of language, Minnan and Chaoshan are similar, both speak Minnan dialect, Guangfu people speak Cantonese, and Hakka people speak Hakka dialect. However, because of the existence of the provincial capital of Guangzhou, Hakka and Chaoshan people in Guangdong also have a certain sense of identity with Cantonese. So in terms of language, Minnan and Cantonese are the strongest.

At that time, the classic route of a Guangdong immigrant may be to take a small steamboat from his hometown, go down the Pearl River or the Han River, come to Hong Kong or Shantou, and then transfer to a steamboat that is humid, stuffy and seriously overloaded, and spend more than a few months crossing the Pacific Ocean. It is such a group of Cantonese immigrants who let Cantonese go from Guangdong to the world. 1945 According to the data released by the Statistics Office of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the National Government, the number of overseas Chinese in China reached 8,546,374, including 5,992,066 from Guangdong, accounting for 70% of the total number of overseas Chinese.

As a big immigrant province, Fujian immigrants mostly chose Southeast Asia in the early years, while Cantonese people dominated in North America. After entering the 20th century, the United States has gradually developed and gained an absolute right to speak in the world structure, which is also the reason why Cantonese has a stronger sense of existence and centrality than Minnan.

Second, Mandarin has gradually become the mainstream of overseas Chinese.

This phenomenon began to change after the reform and opening up, especially after the new century, Guangdong no longer became the mainstream province of immigrants.

The first is the sudden emergence of Wenzhou people in Zhejiang. People in these places prefer European countries such as France and Italy, followed by immigrants from Fuqing and other places in eastern Fujian. However, even so, most immigrants belong to the southeast coastal areas, and their culture and folk customs are similar to some extent. Therefore, even immigrants will soon be assimilated by the older generation of overseas Chinese, and it is the people in the non-coastal areas of China who really change the language structure of overseas Chinese.

In the early years, due to geographical and historical reasons, the economic development in northern China has been relatively slow. After the industrialization of new China in the north, the super-large state-owned enterprise system built around energy-based industries such as coal mine, steel, oil, etc. has enabled northerners to gradually accumulate wealth, such as Shanxi coal bosses and old state-owned enterprises in three northeastern provinces. In addition, the economy of inland areas such as Sichuan is also booming, which makes many people have the ability to immigrate. It is the large number of immigrants from these areas to Europe and the United States that make the traditional Mandarin people slowly change the language structure of overseas Chinese circles and move closer to Mandarin.

In fact, you can know just by watching the news. For example, Cantonese cuisine is the main food in Guangdong, but now you can often see Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Northeast cuisine, hot pot restaurants and so on overseas. Obviously, it is not opened by Cantonese.

However, although Cantonese may no longer be the most powerful Chinese dialect overseas, it is still the most infiltrated Chinese dialect in overseas cultural soil. The ancestors of these overseas Guangfu people were penniless and came to the other side of the ocean alone, where they worked hard and sweated, which also affected these areas. For example, in America, there are many places called "Canton". For example, in Kung Fu Panda, Po is pronounced "Master" in Cantonese.