Chaoshan or Teoswa (; peng'im: Dio5suan1 [ti̯o˥˥꜖꜖.sũ̯ã˧˧]) is a cultural-linguistic region in the east of Guangdong, China. It is the origin of the Min Nan Chaoshan dialect (潮汕话). The region, also known as Chiushan in Cantonese, consists of the cities Chaozhou, Jieyang and Shantou. It differs linguistically from the rest of Guangdong province which was historically dominated by Yue speakers, followed by Hakka and Leizhou Min speakers. However, Mandarin has recently become the dominant language in the region. It is historically important as the ancestral homeland of many Viets, Thais, Cambodian, Singaporeans, Malaysians and Indonesians of Chinese descent.
Chao Shan people mainly spread over Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Hainan, and began to emigrate to Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, France, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia and other 100 countries and coastal areas. Chaoshan is home to more than 30 million overseas Chaoshan people.Chaoshan overseas Chinese batch selected on the World Memory List.
The name "Chaoshan" (潮汕) is a contraction of the names of two of its administrative areas, the prefecture-level cities of Chaozhou (潮州) and Shantou (汕头). Chaozhou and Shantou have agglomerated into a single extremely dense metropolitan area, which is among China's most densely populated. It is Guangdong's second largest metropolitan area after the Guangzhou-centered Pearl River Delta, and part of the Southern China Coast Megalopolis."Chaoshan" name from the 1904 construction of Chaozhou to Shantou railway, named Chaoshan Railway, later Chaoshan has become today's Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang these three prefecture-level city general name. Chaoshan region is the Chaozhou capital in history, so the descendants of overseas Chaoshan immigrants are often called "Chaozhou". However, Fengshun County, formerly part of Chaozhou Prefecture, was changed to Meizhou after the founding of the People's Republic of China, so it is not regarded as part of Chaozhou.