Taishanese is a dialect of Yue Chinese. The dialect is closely related to Cantonese

Cantonese

Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...

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Taishanese is spoken in the southern part of Guangdong Province in China, particularly in and around the city-level county of Taishan

Taishan

Taishan is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is part of the Greater Taishan Region....

. In the mid to late 19th century, a significant number of Chinese emigrating to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 originated from this area, making Taishanese a dominant variety

Varieties of Chinese

Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...

 of the Chinese language

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 spoken in North American Chinatowns.