Chaoshan

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The southeast coast of Guangdong Province is home to the Cháoshàn (潮汕) Teochiu linguistic and cultural region. Unlike southwestern Guangdong, where Cantonese is spoken, the Minnan dialect of Teochew is spoken here.

Encompassing the cities of Raoping, Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Huilai, and Shanwei, the Chaoshan region, with a population of approximately 10 million, covers an area of about 10,500 km² that stretches from Shanwei on the coast to the border of Fujian. This is a unique area with its own culture that is quite different to its neighbours in Canton and the rest of China. It does, however, share similarities to the Minnan areas just north of Chaoshan in Fujian province. One of the main reasons for its uniqueness is its language. It is said that this dialect of Chinese is one of the most difficult ones to master, it has over 8 tones compared to the 4 tones found in Mandarin. Music, opera, and food are also obvious characteristics that distinguishe Chaoshan people from the rest of Guangdong. A temperate climate and fresh seafood attracts many visitors to this area. The people are more relaxed than other areas of China, smoking rate is less, and work should always take the backseat to noon naps and Kung-Fu tea. Many visitors from Hong Kong flock to the area for the great food known throughout China. The food is bland and so is able to retain its original flavor without being tampered by soy sauce, vinegar, chili, and other sauces. Other favorites are beef balls, fish balls, guo3 (which is a special type of rice noodle),fen3, and numerous other small treats.

In recent years, due to corruption and car smuggling in the 1980s and 1990s, the central government has chosen to slow down growth of this region even though it is still designated as a SEZ (Special Economic Zone). This has had a major effect on the lives of Chaoshan people. Business is not as vibrant compared to other cities in Guangdong and Shantou University is finding it hard to attract local high school graduates. Despite of that, new construction is prevalent and there appears to be hope in the horizon for this unique area on the coast of Southeast China. The other factor that benefits this area is the overwhelming Overseas Chinese from this area. The richest Chinese person in the world Li Ka Shing is from this region. He has invested greatly on the education and healthcare of this region. This section is edited by Jiwei who lived in this region for the past 8 months. One word of warning for visitors is that this area has one of the worst traffic conditions in all of China. Not in volume, but in the chaotic motorbike riders in this area. It is not uncommon to see 4 if not 5 people on one Suzuki.

The name "Chaoshan" (潮汕) is of recent provenance, a contraction of the names of its two largest administrative areas, Chaozhou (潮 州) and Shantou (Traditional Chinese: 汕頭; Simplified Chinese: 汕头)

[edit] Maps

Chaozhou Prefecture (in yellow), part of the Chaoshan Teochiu linguistic region

Jieyang Prefecture (in yellow), part of the Chaoshan Teochiu linguistic region

Shantou Prefecture (in yellow), part of the Chaoshan Teochiu linguistic region]]

Chenghai Prefecture (in yellow), part of the Chaoshan Teochiu linguistic region

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