Chaoshan

Chaoshan or Teoswa (Chinese: 潮汕; pinyin: Cháoshàn) is the linguistic and cultural region in the east of Guangdong, China that is developing into a single metropolis. This region is the origin of the Min Nan Teochew dialect (潮汕话). The region, also known as Chiusaan in Cantonese, consists of the cities Jieyang, Chaozhou and Shantou. It differs linguistically from the rest of Guangdong province which consists of Leizhou Min, Yue, and Hakka speakers. It is historically important as the homeland of many Thais, Singaporeans, and Malaysians of Chinese descent.

Origin and Metropolis

The name "Chaoshan" (潮汕) is a contraction of the names of two of its administrative areas, the prefecture-level cities of Chaozhou (潮州), and Shantou (汕头), which have agglomerated into a single extremely dense metropolitan area and among China's most densely populated. It is Guangdong's second largest metropolitan area after the Pearl River Delta, and part of the Southern China Coast Megalopolis.

Economy

The Chaoshan region is the second largest economy in Guangdong, after the Pearl River Delta, however, it is still considered quite small in scale, in comparison. 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 an SEZ (Special Economic Zone). As a result, business has slowed compared to other areas in Guangdong. In recent years Li Ka-shing has also invested heavily in the education and healthcare of this region, in response to the potential for growth.

Teochew dialect

The Teochew variety (Chinese: 潮州話; pinyin: Cháozhōuhuà; Vietnamese: Triều Châu, Chaozhou dialect: Diê⁵suan³ uê⁷; Shantou dialect: Dio⁵ziu¹ uê⁷) of Southern Min is a variety of Chinese spoken in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and by the Teochew diaspora around the world. Teochew is sometimes spelled Chiuchow in Cantonese.

Teochew preserves many Old Chinese pronunciations and vocabulary that have been lost in some of the other modern varieties of Chinese. As such, many linguists consider Teochew one of the most conservative Chinese dialects.

Classification

Teochew is a member of the Southern Min or Min Nan dialect group, which in turn constitutes a part of Min Chinese, one of the seven major dialect groups of Chinese. As with other varieties of Chinese, it is not very mutually intelligible with other dialect groups of China but is mutually intelligible with some other Southern dialects, such as those of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Even within the Teochew varieties, there is substantial variation in phonology between different regions of Chaoshan and between different Teochew communities overseas.