# Why is Cantonese the predominant dialect in Chinatowns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638 "2010-01-20T00:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/41 "2010-01-21T20:10:07Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > So that would presumably be before 1848 since there were certainly Chinese in CA at or soon after the gold rush. > > I honestly don’t know - how did the Hawaiians and the Chinese get along? Why were the Chinese there if not en route to the Americas? Was there significant trade between China and Hawaii, enough to support a Chinatown? Were there corresponding Hawaiians in China for that matter? It was a big whaling center from just after the turn of the 19th century, especially Lahaina on Maui. In fact, the bay or harbor by Lahaina is a big mating ground. Nowadays, you can take whale-watching trips out of there. New England missionaries started flocking to Hawaii shortly after 1800, which is just about the time an incipient Honolulu, on Oahu, began forming. The Chinese began arriving soon after. A boom town was forming. Some of those missionaries founded family dynasties that still predominate today to some extent. Such as Mr. Dole, these days of pineapple-plantation fame. An excellent read is James Michener’s _Hawaii_. I was reading that at the time I moved to Hawaii way back when and found it pretty close factually. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/42 "2010-01-21T20:22:27Z")
Ah, here we go: [Honolulu’s Chinatown is the first Chinatown to be created outside Asia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown). San Francisco’s Chinatown was the first one in North America, but of course not only does Honolulu’s predate it, Hawaii is not part of North America. It’s Polynesia. More on whaling (and I’m relying on my memory here): In addition to American whalers, Britain, Russia and Japanese whalers hunted around Hawaii extensively in the 19th century, and they all eyed adding Hawaii to their territory, which is one reason the US eventually decided to hurry up and get in while it could. No, I know of no Hawaiians in China back then. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/43 "2010-01-21T20:29:00Z")
Thanks, that all makes sense. Maybe I will pick up that book. I am from the Chesapeake region, I never read Michener’s Chesapeake either. Maybe I should! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/44 "2010-01-21T20:36:14Z")
Well, I grew up in Texas but never read his _Texas_. I’ve spent time in Mexico and found his _Mexico_ just okay. But his _Hawaii_ was really good. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/45 "2010-01-21T21:57:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Hawaii didn’t just pop into existence in 1959 when it became a state. It was Hawaii for quite a long time before that, and the Chinatown in Honolulu predates any in California. I was taking a crack at a joke, the chinatown in Honolulu became a chinatown _in the_ United States in 1959, thus not the oldest one \*in the \*United States. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638/46 "2010-01-25T16:59:01Z")
Hmm this was interesting, from yesterday’s LA TImes: > **[A Chinese American immigration secret emerges from the dark days of...](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-24-la-me-paper-son24-2010jan24-story.html)** > > A Chinese American immigration secret emerges from the dark days of discrimination > [@](#): > > Steve Yee’s older sister Lillie was the only child who understood enough of the home village dialect to communicate with their mother, who spoke no English. Th children in this family appear to be about 10 years older than the family of my college girlfriend, so maybe it is more common that I thought. I also never heard of the phenomenon “Paper Son” which is the overall thrust of the linked article, before reading this this morning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cantonese-the-predominant-dialect-in-chinatowns/525638.md?page=2)