Taishanese people

The ancestors of Taishanese people are said to have arrived from central China under a thousand years ago and migrated into Guangdong during the Tang Dynasty.

Taishanese American laundrymen and shopkeepers were a primary source of funding that helped launch Dr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities while he was in exile and raising money from overseas countrymen.

[4][5] Unlike most varieties of Chinese, Cantonese has de facto official status in Hong Kong and Macau and has an independent tradition of the written vernacular.

As a result, Sze Yup people have dominated in the entertainment industry and play most major roles in the music and movie sectors.

Kaiping has traditionally been a region of major emigration abroad and a melting pot of ideas and trends brought back from Overseas Chinese.

Famous overseas Taishanese businessmen includes Loke Yew, the richest man of Malaysia in his time and who made significant impact in the growth of Kuala Lumpur and was one of founder fathers of Victoria institution.

Norman Kwong who is the lieutenant governor of Alberta, is also president and manager of Calgary Stampeders a Canadian football league.

[2] Some of the more well-known academics are: Because the history of going abroad is long and there are many people sojourning widely in various districts, Taishan is called the "No.1 Homeland of Overseas Chinese".

[8] The Taishanese diaspora is distributed in 91 countries and regions of the five continents including US, Canada, Hong Kong, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.

Taishanese have had a large influence in the course of Asian-American history, as they were the first Asian Americans to be elected as Governors, Mayors and U.S congressmen in the continental United States.

They also represented the largest Asian community in America and made a significant contribution in building the First transcontinental railroad of United States.

[9] J. O. Wilder, a Central Pacific-Southern Pacific employee, commented that “The Chinese were as steady, hard-working a set of men as could be found.