Our Province

The words of my uncle:

Guangdung Province is at the very south tip of China.  It is isolated from the rest of China by a high mountain range along its northern border.  Historically Guangdung was considered barbaric, a hot and humid jungle full of diseases and unfit for civilized inhabitants.  From the north, only exiles, refugees, criminals and other misfits migrated into Guangdung.  However, the contact with Europeans changed all that.  Ever since the door to China was forced open by the Opium War, Guangdung became the first contact point and hence the most westernized and advanced province in China.

Two thirds of the total population is concentrated in Pearl River delta, a hundred-mile radius centered at Guangzhou, the provincial capital.  The "Three Counties," Namhoi, Sunduck and Poonyu are the richest lands and produced the smartest people.  The rice paddies there are endless and extend beyond the horizon.  Sunduck is also famous for their fine silk and expert cooks.  People from these three counties including Guangzhou City, and along the banks of West River and North River, as far west as Guangsi Province, speak a Cantonese dialect.  My maternal grandmother was from a Fatsan Town in Namhoi.

The "Four Counties" Sunwooi, Toisan, Hoiping and Yunping are the next richest and speak a different dialect system.  Most Chinese in America are from this region, particularly Toisan.  American money made this region the most modern.

Chungsan County was the native place of Dr. Sun Yatsan, the founder of the Nationalist Party and the Republic of China; he is respected by all Chinese.

East River region belongs to another dialect group.  My wife's ancestor was from Tungkwoon County.  She was born and grew up in Hong Kong but still carries a Tungkwoon accent.  Her county was so rich that each Tungkwoon college student, male or female, could receive a one-time scholarship of 100 silver dollars.  No proof or identification was needed.  The individual's accent was enough proof, or one just mentioned his father's name.

North River region was famous for lumber.

Counties in the far east had many people living overseas in Southeast Asia.  They and the Fujianese dominated Southeast Asian commerce and finance for a century.  Many soldiers and general also came from this eastern part.

Counties in the far west belong to another dialect group, which bears some similarities with Vietnamese.  In history, North Vietnam and Guangdung were once under one state.  Laborers from Yeungkong and Soonyi sometimes came to our district to do construction work.

Guangdung was famous for good cooks and many good fruits.  Tangerine from Chiuzhou, oranges from Sunwooi, lichi from Changsing were most delicious.  In Imperial times, Changsing lichi was presented to the Emperor as a local delicacy.  The fruit was transported by relay horses, running all the way non-stop from Guangzhou to Beijing, so as to keep the fruit from spoiling.

Guangdung people (the Cantonese) are a most widely traveled people.  Cantonese were found in every province and major city in China and every corner of the world.