Han people 汉族
Cantonese people 广府人 is a subgroup of the Han people that speak the Cantonese dialect of Chinese - Yue Chinese 粤语. They are included most people live in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau; many in eastern Guangxi and some in western Fujian. There are also large number of Cantonese speakers live outside China. Taishan people from Taishan Country and a few small dialect groups live in Guangdong are also considered Cantonese even though they speak different dialects. The estimated speakers of Yue is around 70 million.
Cantonese language, Hakka, Taishan and Putonghua 普通话 (Mandarin), which is China official spoken language, are often intelligible if the same terms are used in the same sentence. Because each dialect has its own terms, idioms and preferred ways of expressions the end result of a conversation, more often than not, becomes rather difficult. In another word if you ask all the above speakers to read a same written script based on 白话 you'll find many similarities to a point where you can understand each of them once you're familiarize with their sounds.
The original people of Guangdong belonged to the Yue until the kingdom was fully brought under Han control of Han Dynasty in 111 BC, but it wasn't until subsequent dynasties such as the Jin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty that major waves of Han Chinese literati migration to the south occurred. Migrations came in waves, displacing and assimilating the existing populations with intermarriages at different time periods. Many ethnic groups, like the Zhuang and the Miao, are not assimilated although their cultures are quite similar through thousands of years of communicate with each other.
Distribution of Cantonese speakers
Gary Locke 骆家辉 b1950, former Governor of Washington State and presiding US ambassador to China, is a third generation Chinese-American with ancestry in Taishan Guangdong
Bruce Lee 李小龙 1940-973, former Hong Kong star, with Guangdong ancestry
Donnie Yen 甄子丹 b1963, a Hong Kong actor, director, producer and a world Wushu medalist, was born in Taishan.
Tony Leung 梁朝伟 b1962, top rated actor in Hong kong, with ancestry in Taishan
Andy Lau 刘德华 b1961, one of the most commercially successful actor and singer in Hong Kong
John Woo 吳宇森 b1946, one of the most successful Hong Kong and Hollywood director
