Sze Yap Cantonese represents the second largest Han group in Hong Kong after the group of people (

Punti ''Punti'' ( zh, t=本地, j=bun2 dei6, l=locals) is a Cantonese endonym referring to the native Cantonese people of Guangdong and Guangxi. In Hong Kong, ''Punti'' designates Weitou dialect-speaking locals in contrast to non-Weitou speaker ...

) originating from the Guangzhou- Sam Yap region. The Sze Yap Cantonese comes from a region in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

in China called Sze Yap (

四 Chinese numerals are words and characters used to denote numbers in written Chinese. Today, speakers of Chinese languages use three written numeral systems: the system of Arabic numerals used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more famil ...

邑), now called Ng Yap, which consists of the counties of Taishan,

Kaiping Kaiping (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Hoiping, in local dialect as Hoihen, is a county-level city in Guangdong provinces of China, Province, China. It is located in the western secti ...

Xinhui Xinhui, alternately romanized as Sunwui and also known as Kuixiang, is an urban district of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China. It grew from a separate city founded at the confluence of the Tan and West Rivers. It has a population of about 735,50 ...

Enping Enping, alternately romanized as Yanping, is a county-level city in Guangdong province, China, administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen. Enping administers an area of and had an estimated population of 483,907 in 2020 ...

, Heshan and

Jiangmen Jiangmen ( zh, c=江门), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Kongmoon, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong provinces of China, Province in southern China. It consists of three urban distri ...

. The Sze Yap Cantonese group have contributed much to what makes Hong Kong a success. Hong Kong people of Sze Yap origin represented about 18.3% of Hong Kong's total population in 1961, and 17.4% in 1971; today this population still increases as more immigrants from the

Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisanwa, is a Yue Chinese language native to Taishan, Guangdong. Even though they are related, Taishanese has little mutual i ...

-speaking areas of Guangdong in mainland China continue to immigrate to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong census first began counting Sze Yap as an ancestral origin in 1961, and found that it was around 18.34% of the population, compared to 48.62% for the Guangzhou and Macau region. This census found that the district with the highest concentration of Sze Yap people was

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

Language

According to the 2011 Census and analysis done in the ''Routledge Handbook for Global Spanish'', the constituency with the highest concentration of Sze Yap speakers was Nam Cheong Central in

Culture

Today many Hong Kong people of Sze Yap origin have become successful in areas such as the entertainment industry, business and politics. Hong Kongers of Sze Yap origin include

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah ( zh, order=t,j, t=劉德華, j=Lau4 Dak1 Waa4; born Lau Fook-wing; 27 September 1961), is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He was named the "Fourth Tiger" among the Five Tiger Generals of TVB in the 1 ...

, Beyond,

Danny Chan Danny Chan Pak-Keung (; 7 September 1958 – 25 October 1993) was a Hong Kong singer, songwriter and actor. One of the first Cantopop idols in Hong Kong, he gained fame alongside performers Alan Tam, Anita Mui, and Leslie Cheung, who wer ...

, Kenny Kwan,

Joey Yung Joey Yung Tso-Yi (, ; born 16 June 1980) is a Hong Kong singer signed to Emperor Entertainment Group. Since her debut in 1996, Yung has won numerous awards, including the JSG Most Popular Female Singer and Ultimate Best Female Singer – Gol ...

, Ronnie Chan,

John Tsang John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP (; born Mui; born 21 April 1951) is a Hong Kong former senior civil servant and government official who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR to date, from 2007 to 2017. Born in Hong Kong ...

and

Andrew Li Andrew Li Kwok-nang (; born December 1948) is a retired Hong Kong judge, and a former Chief Justice of Hong Kong, who was the first to preside over the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, established on 1 July 1997. Li was succeeded by Geoff ...

. The "father of Hong Kong cinema",

Lai Man-Wai Lai Man-wai (; September 25, 1893 – October 26, 1953), also romanised as Lay Min-wei or M.W. Ray, considered the "Father of Hong Kong Cinema", was the director of the first Hong Kong film '' Zhuangzi Tests His Wife'' in 1913. In the film, Lai ...

, has ancestry from the Sze Yap region of Guangdong province. As a result, Sze Yap people have dominated in the Hong Kong

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

and play most major roles in the music and movie sectors. In many Hong Kong films,

can be heard, especially in many of Karl Maka's films, such as ''Merry Christmas'' and '' Aces Go Places''. It is said that over 100 famous people come from the Sze Yap region of Guangdong, making the region famous for producing more stars than any other city/region in mainland China. As a result, the local government in

which administers the Sze Yap or Ng Yap cities of Taishan, Kaiping, Enping,

, and Heshan, decided to build a Stars Park called Jiangmen star park (). The Cangdong Dialou village has been the setting of several films. Part of the film '' Let the Bullets Fly'' was shot in

, and the movie stars Chow Yun-fat, who is of Sze Yap ancestry. It's also the filming location of ''The Grandmaster'', an Yip Man film starring Sze Yap descendant Tony Leung. People from Kaiping (Hoi Ping) established the Hoi Ping Chamber of Commerce Secondary School in

Homantin Ho Man Tin is a mostly residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, part of the Kowloon City District. History Section of lists of villages in the book ' (literally ''The History of Bao'an County, Xin'an County'') published in twenty fourth year ...

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

Business

Besides dominating the entertainment industry, Sze Yap people are quite dominant and influential in Hong Kong's Business Industry, such as the

Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong public banking and financial services company headquartered in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and o ...

() (the Li family's ancestry is in Heshan), Lee Kum Kee (), Hang Lung Properties,

Maxim's Catering Maxim's Caterers Limited ( zh, t=美心食品有限公司, cy=Méihsām Sihkbán Yáuhhaahn Gūngsī) is a Hong Kong–based food, beverage and restaurant chain jointly owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited and Hong Kong Caterers Lt ...

(), Hysan Development, Li & Fung (),

Lui Che-woo Lui Che Woo, Grand Bauhinia Medal, GBM, Gold Bauhinia Star, GBS, Member of the Order of the British Empire, MBE, Justice of the Peace, JP (; 9 August 1929 – 7 November 2024) was a Hong Kong business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He ...

of Galaxy Entertainment Group and K. Wah International Holdings Ltd and many others.

Lee Hysan Lee Hysan or Lee Hy-san (1879 – 30 April 1928) was a Hong Kong businessman who was involved in the opium trade and refinery, as well as land development in British Hong Kong during the early 1900s. He was nicknamed the ''Opium King'' in Hong Kon ...

, who was born in the Kingdom of Hawaii, had ancestry in

. His company Dysan Development is now the largest commercial property landlord in the

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

area.

Hong Kong immigration

As many Sze Yap in Hong Kong who are either second, third or fourth generation Hong Kongers, Taishanese people speak Cantonese as their usual language and some may not know their ancestral origin. Therefore, that makes it hard to know the exact population, but based on the 1960s Hong Kong Census, it is probably right now about over 30% – 40%.

Statistics

1961 Census data of Sze Yap speakers by district

Average: 4.35 Standard Deviation: 2.29 Coefficient of Variation: 0.78

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taishanese People In Hong Kong Chinese culture in Hong Kong Siyi People in Hong Kong Society of Hong Kong