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6 unusual facts about Cantonese


Changshan

The Mandarin Chinese word changshan is cognate with the Cantonese term chèuhngsàam, which has been borrowed into English as "cheongsam".

Dead or Alive: Final

Besides Japanese, a lot of the conversation of the film is in Cantonese, and some is in English.

Mesona

Exemplar species in this genus are Mesona procumbens Hemsley and Mesona chinensis, generically called xiancao (仙草) in Mandarin Chinese, sian-chháu in Taiwanese, and leung fan cao (涼粉草) in Cantonese, sương sáo in Vietnamese.

Nam Cheong Station

As "Nam Cheong" is also the Cantonese-based transliteration for Nanchang, some sources mistakenly state that the station was named after the mainland Chinese city.

Nine Girls and a Ghost

Nine Girls and a Ghost is a 2002 comedy film, filmed in Cantonese, in which a girl receives a Mini Cooper that is possessed by Marco, a ghost.

Siyi

Although Siyi and Cantonese both belong to the Yue branch of Chinese, Cantonese speakers cannot easily understand Siyi dialect.


Bendi

Punti, the Cantonese-speaking populations of Guangdong province in southern China

Big Two

Big Two (also known as Deuces and other names, see below; Mandarin: 大老二; pinyin: dà lǎo èr; Cantonese: 鋤大D; jyutping: co4 daai6 di2) is a card game similar to the game of Asshole, Crazy Eights, Bullshit, Winner, and other shedding games.

Chen Bingkun

Lu sent two wings of his army, one led by Tan Haoming, the other under Shen Hongying, into Guangdong where they drove back the Cantonese and occupied Qinzhou and Lianzhou.

Chinatown, Chicago

Chicago's Chinatown is home to a number of banks, Chinese restaurants, gift shops, grocery stores, Chinese medicine stores, as well as a number of services that cater to people interested in Chinese culture, including those speaking Chinese, especially the Cantonese dialect.

Chinese hip hop

In the late 90s Hong Kong's Softhard and LMF were influential though their Cantonese dialect was foreign to Mandarin speaking regions, while Taiwan's MC HotDog, Da Xi Men, and Da Zhi were more widely intelligible in mainland China.

Ching He Huang

Ching returned to BBC2 in 2012 for Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure which showed her travelling and exploring China’s culinary culture with the godfather of Cantonese cooking, Ken Hom.

Comrades: Almost a Love Story

Leon Lai plays a naive Northerner, Li Xiao-Jun, and Maggie Cheung plays an opportunist/entrepreneur from Cantonese speaking Guangzhou, Li Qiao, who takes advantage of mainlanders like herself for financial gains.

Cross Hills

Other eating places include Tams Cantonese restaurant and the Bella Napoli Italian restaurant, both on Main Street, and the Zolsha Indian restaurant which is at the eastern limit of the village on the junction of Keighley Road and Skipton Road.

Danny Chan

1987, An Autumn's Tale (秋天的童話) aka Chou tin dik tong wah (Hong Kong: Cantonese title); aka Liumang daheng (流氓大亨) (Taiwan Mandarin title)

David Chan Yuk-cheung

After graduation, he worked for the Hong Kong government's radio and TV station RTHK and the Cantonese broadcasting section of the BBC.

Douhua

In Singapore and Malaysia it is more commonly known by its names tow huay or tau huay in Min Nan, or by the Cantonese name (tau fu fa) with the Cantonese variation being more common in Malaysia, in fact it is almost exclusively known as tau fu fa there while tau huey is generally associated with Singapore.

Educational stage

Also, the English term Form followed by the English number is common usage even in otherwise Cantonese conversations.

Eitel

Ernst Johann Eitel, a German Protestant missionary to China and the author of a Cantonese dictionary.

Engineer's Office of the Former Pumping Station

It is proposed that the Red Brick Building will revitalize in conjunction with the Yau Ma Tei Theatre as a Xiqu (戲曲) Activity Centre, providing a performing and practicing venue for small-scale Cantonese Opera performance.

Freya Lim

However, Living Alone (一個人生活) was the more popular song from Freya, as it was also the ending theme song of TV series The Beauty Mermaid (天地傳說之魚美人), the song has a Mandarin and Cantonese cover version My Feelings (感應) sung by Hong Kong singer Vincy Chan.

Guide, Lancashire

Also in the village is a Post Office, Cantonese restaurant and a Working Man's Club which features artists and is available for private hire.

Guitar Fever

Guitar Fever is a Cantonese album by the singer Leo Ku, released on September 12, 2008.

Hong Kong 1967 Leftist riots

The legacy of the 1967 Hong Kong riots extends even to the Chinese lexicon; in Cantonese, a home-made bomb is often referred to as a Boh Loh (lit. Pineapple).

Hong Kong television drama

Hong Kong television dramas, along with cinema, have fostered an identity for the Cantonese dialect of Chinese separate to that of Standard Mandarin used in mainland China and Taiwan.

I'm Still Waiting

Chinese diva Faye Wong also covered the song (named as 又继续等), with Cantonese lyrics by Richard Lam, on her early album You're the Only One.

Ian Gouw

In the fall of 2009, Gouw voiced the Cantonese version of Astro Boy.

Kellylicious

Kellylicious is the 30th Cantonese studio album of Kelly Chen, coming after 2006's Happy Girl.

Kowloon Restaurant

After three generations of ownership by the same family the restaurant has grown several times and a large range of Cantonese, Szechuan, Sushi, Polynesian, Japanese, and Thai cuisines are served in several themed dining rooms and lounges.

Kung Kao Po

Since October 19, 2003, an audio edition of the newspaper, recorded in Cantonese, is also available in MP3 format from the newspaper’s web site.

Leung Sing-Bor

During the World War II, when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong, Leung brought his family to escape to Guangzhou to Macau then to Guangxi At Guangxi, he formed a Cantonese opera troupe there and performed in various towns of Guangxi.

McDull, Prince de la Bun

The Pancakes, who composed the movie's theme song gum gum gum (Cantonese: 咁咁咁, literally "this, this, this"), was awarded the Best Original Film Song in the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Nicky Wu

During his time with Little Tigers Team, he pursued a solo career, releasing an extensive catalogue of songs, Mandarin and Cantonese albums as a solo artist when member Julian Chen left the group to serve compulsory military service.

Ningpo Massacre

The Ningpo Massacre was a massacre of Portuguese pirates by Cantonese pirates led by Ah Pak around the city of Ningbo.

Quon

Guan, a Chinese family name rendered in Cantonese as Kwan, or also in English as Quan or Quon.

Ready for the Times to Get Better

It was also rendered into the Cantonese-language song "Mayflower" (五月荷花) by Agnes Chan in her 1980 album Ching Kip, San Sing, Lau Long Hak (情劫·晨星·流浪客).

Shahe fen

Shahe fen is believed to have originated in the town of Shahe (沙河; Cantonese: Sa1ho4 pinyin: Shāhé), now part of the Tianhe District in the city of Guangzhou, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, whence their name derives.

Shanghai Street

It is proposed that the Red Brick Building will revitalise in conjunction with the Yau Ma Tei Theatre as a Xiqu (戲曲) Activity Centre, providing a performing and practising venue for small-scale Cantonese Opera performance.

Stanley, Hong Kong

The original Cantonese name of the village was believed to be based on a big tall cotton tree (Bombax malabaricum, Bombax ceiba 木棉樹) often covered with bright red blossoms at the time, hence red pillar (赤柱) in Hakka language.

The Story of Woo Viet

Woo Viet, as he is Vietnamese, should actually have the surname of Hồ (as in the "Ho" in Ho Chi Minh) rather than the Cantonese translation of the Hu / Woo / Ho surname.

The Wandering Songstress

The song has been covered by numerous singers, including Li Xianglan in the 1944 Japanese film Yasen gungakutai (野戦軍楽隊, Military Combat Music Band), Bai Guang, Teresa Teng, Tsai Chin, Wakin Chau, Adia Chan (in Cantonese), Lin Bao (林寶, in Wu dialect), Song Zuying, Zhang Yan (張燕).

Tomorrow's Way

Hong Kong singer and actress Fiona Sit covered this song as "Dear Fiona", a Cantonese version.

Toy and Help Yourself

Toy and Help Yourself are two 1997 Cantonese EPs recorded by Chinese Cantopop singer Faye Wong when she was based in Hong Kong.

Wudang t'ai chi ch'uan

Cheng Wingkwong was a formal disciple of Wu Jianquan, who eventually held the rank of Shifu (師父, or Sifu in Cantonese) in the Wu family's Hong Kong school.

Xianghua

Danzhou dialect, a dialect of Yue Chinese (Cantonese) around Danzhou, Hainan

Yokohama Chinatown

Yokohama Chinatown (Japanese: 横浜中華街, yokohama chūkagai; Simplified Chinese: 横滨中华街; Traditional Chinese: 横濱中華街; Pinyin: Hèngbīn Zhōnghuá Jiē; Cantonese Jyutping: Waang4 ban1 zung1 waa4 gaai1) is located in Yokohama, Japan, which is located just south of Tokyo.

Yuki no Hana

It was also covered by Mainland Chinese singer Han Xue on August 2004 in Mandarin; and by Hong Kong singer Vincy Chan in 2006, in Cantonese.

Zokwang Trading

Kim Hyon Hui, one of the agents who carried out the bombing of 1987 Korean Air Flight 858, stated in her autobiography Tears of my Soul that prior to the bombing, she and her partner Kim Sung-il had used Zokwang Trading's office as a base while living in Macau, learning Cantonese so that she and other North Korean agents could pose as Macau or Hong Kong locals.


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