Chaoshan

Chaoshan (潮汕 Cháoshàn) is a region in Guangdong Province in China. The region takes its name from the two adjacent cities of Chaozhou (潮州) and Shantou (汕头).

Cities

• 🌍 Chaozhou — the main cultural centre of the region
• 🌍 Jieyang
• 🌍 Shantou — the largest city in the region and its main port
• 🌍 Shanwei — at the edge of the Pearl River Delta to the west, with beautiful beaches especially around the Zhelang Peninsula

Other destinations

Understand

Talk

This region has its own language, called Teochew or Chiuchow. Teochew is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin or Cantonese, but is partially mutually intelligible with Minnan, spoken across the border in South Fujian. The accent varies slightly between the three main Teochew-speaking cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, but if you are fluent in Teochew, this should not pose too much of a challenge. The dialect spoken in Shanwei is called the Haifeng dialect which, while closely related to Teochew, is distinct from it, and often described as an intermediate between Minnan and Teochew. There is also a Hakka-speaking minority. However, it is part of Guangdong province and many people speak Cantonese, though more often as a second or third language than natively.

As anywhere in China standard Mandarin has been the language of education, government and most media for decades, so nearly all educated people are fluent in Mandarin.

English is not widely spoken, though staff at the higher end hotels will be able to speak English.

Get in

Get around

See

Do

Eat

Chaoshan is known for seafood.

Drink

Stay safe

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