The Cantonese abroad

Although people had been leaving the southern region for centuries, it wasn’t until the early 19th century that the first large-scale instance of emigration occurred. At this time, many people of Cantonese, Hakka or Fujian stock left China to seek their fortunes in such distant places as South-east Asia, Britain, Australia, Canada, the USA and the Philippines. They took with them their culinary knowledge, and established the innumerable Cantonese restaurants and Chinese food stores that can be now found all over the world.