Cantonese in Americas

Public History · Oral History · Cultural Research

Introduction

Since the 17th century, hundreds of thousands of Cantonese migrants from Guangdong's coastal region have crossed the South China Sea and the Pacific through commerce, contract labor, education, and family reunification. They moved back and forth among Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and North America.

This project shifts the focus from a single origin group to a broader question: how Cantonese culture has been carried abroad, transformed, and transmitted across generations. Through oral histories, visual archives, and digital humanities methods, this project documents cultural survival, migration, and memory.

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BY THE NUMBERS:

175+ Years

Documented migration since the 1848 Gold Rush.

530,000+

U.S. residents speaking Cantonese at home.

30 Million+

Descendants in a vast global diaspora.

Timeline of Cantonese Migration

Waves, Networks, and Institutions

Trace the arc of a diaspora that defied borders. From the rugged goldfields of 1848 to the refugee waves of the 20th century, this timeline reveals how a people weathered the storms of exclusion to forge new destinies.

Witness the rise of Chinatowns, the resilience of Huiguan associations, and the silent strength of communities that anchored themselves in foreign soil—rebuilding the concept of "home," one generation at a time.

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Cantonese as Linguistic Capital

Power, Hierarchy, and Identity

Language is never just words; it is the currency of power and the architecture of identity. Explore the invisible battlegrounds where Cantonese and Mandarin vie for dominance in schools, policies, and labor markets.

Map the poignant shift of a mother tongue—fading from public squares to the intimate whispers of the kitchen table—and uncover what is lost, what is saved, and what it truly means to sound like where Cantonese comes from.

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Culture Symbols

Rituals, Performance, and Resilience

From the ritual pulse of dragon and lion dances and ancestral offerings to the kinetic power of Kung Fu; from the evolution of cuisine—transforming from a survival strategy into global gastronomy—to the Opera stage that preserves the memory of a mobile homeland.

Witness how Cantonese culture reshapes itself, forging a resilient new identity across the seas.

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