Cantonese culture, or Lingnan culture, refers to the regional Chinese culture of the region of Lingnan: twin provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, the names of which mean "eastern expanse" and "western expanse", respectively, and Hong Kong and Macau.

With the migration of the Cantonese people to nearby Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in many overseas communities, Lingnan/Cantonese culture has become an influential cultural force in the international community, and forms the basis of the cultures of Hong Kong and Macau. English words of Chinese origin borrowed many terms from Cantonese.

Terminology Strictly speaking, the term "Lingnan culture" has two definitions:

In a purely geographical sense, the term includes not only Cantonese culture but also the cultures of the Hakkas, Teochews, Taishanese, Hainanese, and non-Han groups such as the Zhuangs, Tanka, or She within the Lingnan region. More typically, is only used in referring to Cantonese culture, the historically dominant culturo-linguistic force in Guangdong and Guangxi.

This article uses the second definition of "Lingnan culture" – as the synonym of "Cantonese culture".

Brief history and overview

From Nanyue to Sinicization

In 200 BCE, Guangdong and Guangxi, alongside the land now known as Northern Vietnam, was controlled by the kingdom of Nanyue (), inhabited primarily by the non-Chinese Yue people. The kingdom was later conquered by the Han Empire and came under Han Chinese control at around year 100 BCE. However, large-scale sinicization didn't occur until the 6th to 7th century CE, at which point the region was held by the Tang Empire. Later, between the 10th and 13th century, there was a large influx of Han Chinese migrants from the north, which was at that time invaded by the Mongols and a few other non-Han ethnic groups. This resulted in large-scale intermixing of the Han Chinese and Nanyue people during that period越人底色+移民——广府源流 –reflected in the fact that modern Cantonese people are, genetically, hybrid descendants of the ancient Han Chinese and Nanyue cultures.Wee, J. T., Ha, T. C., Loong, S. L., & Qian, C. N. (2010). Is nasopharyngeal cancer really a" Cantonese cancer"?. Chinese journal of cancer, 29(5), 517–526. Modern Lingnan (descendents of Northern Nanyue) contains both Nanyue and Han Chinese elements: modern Cantonese has kept some features of Middle Chinese pronunciation (the prestige language of the Tang Empire), but has also retained a substantial amount of features from the long-extinct Nanyue language.

Sinicization was still ongoing during the Tang and Northern Song dynasties, evidenced by many famous Northern Chinese poets and writers describing the region as "barbaric" and the language spoken in the region as unintelligible with the prestige language commonly spoken in the North. Famous Chinese writer Han Yu described the local population as "小吏十餘家,皆鳥言夷面", which literally means "[speaking] a bird language and [having] barbarian faces". Another writer, Liu Zong Yuan, described the local language as "楚越間聲音特異，鴃舌啅譟", which literally means that the language sounds strange and is unintelligible with the common language from the North. From the 15th to 18th century, Lingnan (especially the area around Guangzhou) served as one of the main ports for the Ming Empire. Cantonese people were exposed to Western European cultures and incorporated European elements into their own cultural artifacts. It was by that time that the Lingnan culture largely attained its current form.

From 19th century onward With Guangzhou being a major port for both the Qing dynasty and the People's Republic of China, Cantonese people have often dominated Han Chinese immigration to the Western world, resulting in Cantonese historically being the lingua franca in most Western Chinatowns. They also helped establish the Chinese term for Chinatown: . This term literally means "Street of the Tang people". This is said to reflect the fact that the sinicization of Lingnan was most prominent during the Tang dynasty, which resulted in the Cantonese people having an especially strong affinity to that dynasty.廣東唐人洋雜碎

Popular TV dramas and movies produced by Hong Kong resulted in the city having significant cultural influence in the region. Hong Kong, for its part, has experienced many cultural and economic exchanges with other East Asian nations. This, in turn, made Hong Kong absorb the cultures of Japan, Korea, and to some extent, Taiwan.

Overall characteristics Lingnan culture is considered to be a commercial, oceanic culture that embodies the history of the region: Its foundation consists of a mix of Han Chinese and Nanyue (especially the Tang dynasty's and Song dynasty's) influences, having preserved a considerable amount of Tang-Song cultural heritages not preserved in other branches of modern Han Chinese cultures. Lingnan later became the Ming Empire's main contact point with Western Europeans via commerce, and thus came to include European ideas in its arts and philosophy.

Traditional language

Traditionally, the Lingnan region's sole dominant language is Cantonese, the standard form and prestige dialect of the Yue Chinese. The vast majority of Lingnan's traditional operas, folk songs, and poetry are all expressed in Cantonese. It can trace its roots all the way back to the ancient Nanyue people. Their language did not belong to the Chinese language family, though. However, with the large influx of Han Chinese migrants throughout history, especially during the Tang–Song era between the 10th to 13th centuries, the language slowly sinicized and evolved into modern standard Cantonese.Chen, M., & Newman, J. (1984). From Middle Chinese to Modern Cantonese (Part 1). Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 12(1), 148–97.Chen, M. Y., & Newman, J. (1984). From Middle Chinese to Modern Cantonese (Part 2). Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 334–388.Chen, M. Y., & Newman, J. (1985). From Middle Chinese to Modern Cantonese (Part 3). Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 122–170.

Cantonese has retained certain features of the Nanyue language.〈粵語中的百越語成分問題〉 李敬忠著 刋載於《學術論壇（雙月刊）》 1991年第5期 第65–72頁 .0.1991-05-012 For instance, unlike most other Chinese languages, Cantonese often put an adjective behind the noun it is describing. In Cantonese, the word for "hen" () is made up of two words: "", meaning "chicken", and "", meaning "female (in a non-human sense)", thus resulting in a compound word.

Cantonese has largely inherited all six syllable codas () from Middle Chinese, which means that most Tang poems will rhyme better if recited in Cantonese.為什麼有時候普通話讀詩詞不押韻，而用粵語讀卻很有味道？ However, Cantonese lost all voiced consonants () from middle Chinese and its prenuclear glides () have evolved significantly from middle Chinese.

Writing system

In terms of its writing system, Cantonese traditionally preferred not to write their own language verbatim and instead relied on classical Chinese in most forms of writing. Starting from the early 20th century, however, a complete Cantonese writing system had been developed in Hong Kong and Macau that utilizes both standard Chinese characters and native characters, and became popularized.

Architecture

Classic Lingnan architecture

Lingnan architecture () is the characteristic architectural style of the Lingnan region,淺談嶺南民居的嶺南建築特色Hao, X. I. E. (2010). Possibility of Lingnan Architectural Design [J]. Interior Design, 1, 014. mostly associated with Cantonese people. It differs significantly from those found in other Han Chinese regions because of factors such as climates and availability of materials, both of which were affected by the geographical features of Lingnan. Overall, classical Lingnan architecture tends to (1) use pale colors such as green and white, (2) avoid circular or cylindrical structures, (3) have many open structures like balconies, (4) be decorated with large numbers of relief carvings and sculptures, and (5) be built using materials resistant to moulds and moisture. The last point is obviously related to the hot and humid subtropical climate of Lingnan.

The Chan Clan Temple in Guangzhou is a representative example of classical Lingnan architecture. The temple was built in the late 19th century and served as an academy for Chan families in 72 counties of the Guangdong province. It comprises all sorts of folk architectural and decorative arts and is famous for its "three carvings" (stone, wood, and brick carvings), "three sculptures" (ceramic sculpture, clay sculpture, and colorful sculpture), and "one cast" (cast iron). As a result, it is called the best of all the clan buildings in the neighborhood.

Tong lau

Tong lau () is a style of architecture prevalent in the Lingnan region (as well as in some other areas by the South China Sea) starting from the 19th century. Combining Southern Chinese architectural styles with Western European ones, it is particularly prevalent in regions with more exposure to Western European cultures, such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau. Tong laus in Lingnan show influence from the classical Lingnan style.

Lingnan garden

Lingnan garden, or Cantonese garden, is the style of garden design native to the Lingnan region. Geographically, Lingnan has a very different climate from China's heartland (i.e., Zhongyuan), resulting in the development of a different style in garden-designing. The most frequently cited traits of Lingnan gardens are: (1) they tend to surround their plants and flowers with buildings for provided protection, due to the frequent rainstorms in the region; (2) Lingnan gardens usually use regionally native plant species, such as red cotton flowers, lotuses, orchids, and lychee trees; and (3) due to Lingnan being far away from the center of political power (i.e., Zhongyuan), gardens in the region have historically been less stressed by royal standards, resulting in a style that leans more towards the common people, e.g., Lingnan gardens are decorated with a large amount of folk arts, ranging from sculptures to porcelains, and also tend to use smaller and simpler buildings.

Visual arts The Nanyue people were already making a lot of pottery and sculptures back at the time of their kingdom. After sinicization, the techniques of the people in the region only became even more polished and refined. Nowadays, Cantonese are accomplished craftspeople, known for creating and exporting many fine craft products, including various types of sculptures, embroidery, porcelain, paper cutting, kites, and furniture, among many others. They have also produced several schools of fine arts. In some, visual art styles invented primarily by the Cantonese include the following:

Canton ivory carving

Canton ivory woodcarving () is another well-known product from Lingnan. With a history of 2000 years, it traditionally uses ivory as a raw material to make sculptures, with the Canton-style renowned for being particularly delicate and detailed without being brittle. The Cantonese people have also successfully produced the legendary craft product – Ivory ball.

After the 1980s, however, international ivory trade has been banned. This resulted in the Cantonese people now trying to find substitute materials – materials that look and feel like but are actually not ivory – in their attempt to pass on this ancient art.張民輝：「以骨代牙」 廣州牙雕的輝煌與傳承

Canton jade carving

Canton jade carving () is the Cantonese style of jade carving.琢玉人用心雕刻精緻孤品非遺廣州玉雕，一種讓玉石煥彩生輝技藝 It has a history of more than two thousand years – with archaeologists unearthing jade carvings from the remains of the kingdom of Nanyue.西汉南越王墓玉器（图） After sinicization, the people of Lingnan learned jade carving from the Tang Empire's jade wares, and invented the technique of "lau sik" () – retaining the colors of the original materials, resulting in jade carvings that are very colourful yet natural. Nowadays, Canton jade carvings are frequently used in Cantonese jewelry and decorations.

Cantonese embroidery