Cantonese, also known as Cantonese and Guangfu dialect, is commonly known as vernacular Chinese, and is called Tang dialect overseas. It is the tonal language of Sino-Tibetan language family and the mother tongue of Guangfu people of Han nationality. Elegant words, which originated in the ancient Central Plains, have a complete set of nine tones and six tones, perfectly retaining the characteristics of ancient Chinese. It was defined as a language by UNESCO in 2009. It is widely used in China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hongkong, Macau and Southeast Asia, as well as in Chinese communities in North America, Britain and Australia.

Overseas, because a considerable proportion of immigrants come from Cantonese, Cantonese has become the most popular language in most overseas Chinese communities. In Hong Kong and Macao, it ranges from the daily communication of citizens to school education, industry and commerce, to the election of government organs and the Legislative Council. As far as scientific research, news media and mass entertainment are concerned, Cantonese is in an absolute dominant position (besides Cantonese, English is also popular). In the Chinese language family, Cantonese has successfully developed into a fully functional language except Mandarin. At the same time, the prosperity of mass media and entertainment in Hong Kong makes Cantonese have a very strong influence.

Cantonese is not only widely used in overseas Chinese communities, but also supports Cantonese culture centered on Hong Kong culture and South Guangdong culture, which makes Cantonese have a strong influence and can be said to be one of the most vibrant languages in the world at present. At present, Cantonese has become the fourth largest language in Australia, the third largest language in Canada and the third largest language in the United States. Besides, Cantonese is the only Chinese independently studied in foreign universities in China besides Mandarin, and it is also the only Chinese with a complete writing system besides Mandarin, which can be completely expressed in Chinese characters (Cantonese).

Guangzhou pronunciation is the standard pronunciation of Cantonese, and most Cantonese dictionaries are based on Guangzhou pronunciation. Guangzhou has long maintained the standard status of Cantonese with traditional arts such as Cantonese Opera and Cantonese Opera. 1After the end of 1970s, canto pop, Cantonese TV series and Cantonese movies in Hong Kong strongly influenced Guangdong, and then affected non-Cantonese provinces and cities in China. There is no obvious difference between Hong Kong accent and Guangzhou accent, but the sense of language is slightly different, which is due to the different idioms and words used in different social systems and the teaching reform in the two places. In view of the increasing phenomenon of lazy pronunciation among young people in Hong Kong in recent years, some university professors in Hong Kong launched a Cantonese pronunciation campaign to replace the current common pronunciation with the advocated pronunciation, which was opposed by Cantonese scholars in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Some Cantonese are close to Cantonese, such as Zhaoqing in western Guangdong, Gaozhou (formerly known as Maoming County) in Maoming City, Xinyi and some Cantonese in southeastern Guangxi. However, the accents of Taishan in Guangdong and Yulin in Guangxi are quite different from those of Guangzhou dialect.