Cantopop is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hong Kong popular music from the middle of the decade. Cantopop then reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before slowly declining in the 2000s and shrinking in the 2010s. The term "Cantopop" itself was coined in 1978 after "Cantorock", a term first used in 1974. In the 1980s, Cantopop reached its highest glory with fanbase and concerts all over the world, especially in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. This was even more obvious with the influx of songs from Hong Kong movies during the time.
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese-language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of political and economic freedom than mainland China and Taiwan, and developed into a filmmaking hub for the Chinese-speaking world.
Gweilo or gwailou is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. In the absence of modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use. Cantonese speakers frequently use gwailou to refer to Westerners in general use, in a non-derogatory context, although whether this type of usage is offensive is disputed by both Cantonese and Westerners.
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou and its surrounding Pearl River Delta, and is currently spoken by over 82.4 million native speakers.
James Wong Jim was a Cantopop lyricist and songwriter based primarily in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2,000 songs, collaborating with songwriter Joseph Koo on many popular television theme songs, many of which have become classics of the genre. His work propelled Cantopop to unprecedented popularity.
Martin Booth was an English novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press.
Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of a Chinese language after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. Written Chinese was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Written vernacular Chinese first appeared in the 17th century, and a written form of Mandarin became standard throughout China in the early 20th century. Cantonese is a common language in places like Hong Kong and Macau. While the Mandarin form can to some extent be read and spoken word for word in other Chinese varieties, its intelligibility to non-Mandarin speakers is poor to incomprehensible because of differences in idioms, grammar and usage. Modern Cantonese speakers have therefore developed new characters for words that do not exist and have retained others that have been lost in standard Chinese.
The Cantonese people or Yue people, are a Han Chinese subgroup originating from Guangzhou and its satellite cities and towns. In a more general sense "Cantonese people" can refer to any Han Chinese people originating from or residing in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, or it may refer to the inhabitants of Guangdong province alone.
Mott Street is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatown's unofficial "Main Street". Mott Street runs from Bleecker Street in the north to Chatham Square in the south. It is a one-way street with southbound-running vehicular traffic only.
Stephen Matthews is a British linguist in Hong Kong. He is Co-Director of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His specialist areas include language typology, syntax and semantics. His current interests include the word order typology of Chinese; the grammar of Chinese languages, notably Cantonese, Chaozhou and other Minnan dialects; language contact and bilingualism, with particular reference to Sinitic languages.
Russians in Hong Kong form one of the territory's smaller groups of expatriates and a minor portion of the worldwide Russian diaspora. Many Russians from China passed through Hong Kong in the 1950s through 1970s on their way to resettlement in Australia, Brazil, and Canada.
Yaumatei Ferry Pier, also known as Public Square Street Ferry Pier (1924–1933) was a ferry pier at the junction of Public Square Street and Ferry Street in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The seaside outside Ferry Street is now reclaimed.
Virginia Yip (葉彩燕), is a Hong Kong linguist and writer. She is director of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre. She is a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include bilingual language acquisition, second language acquisition, Cantonese, Chaozhou and comparative Sinitic grammar, psycholinguistics, and cognitive science.
Chui A-poo was a 19th-century Qing Chinese pirate who commanded a fleet of more than 50 junks in the South China Sea. He was one of the two most notorious South China Sea pirates of the era, along with Shap Ng-tsai.
D. C. Lau was a Chinese sinologist and author of the widely read translations of Tao Te Ching, Mencius and The Analects and contributed to the Proper Cantonese pronunciation movement.
James Dyer Ball (波乃耶) was a Hong Kong scholar and author born in Canton. He is noted for his works on Chinese culture and for contributing to the development of the system of Cantonese Romanisation.
Cantonese slang is a type of slang used in areas where the Cantonese language is spoken. It is commonly spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Macau and Hong Kong.
Gus Borgeest was a Chinese-born British resident of Hong Kong who established a camp for refugees on Sunshine Island. He was also winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1961.
Gweilo Beer is a craft brewery founded in July 2014 in Hong Kong. It released its first beer in June 2015.
Fred Gifford Leebron is an American short story writer and novelist. He is the author of three novels, and a Professor of English at Gettysburg College.
