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During the late 1960s and 1970s, Mandarin pop songs were getting more and more popular and became the mainstream of Hong Kong pop. [6] In the 1970s, Hong Kong audiences wanted popular music in their own dialect, Cantonese. Also, a Cantonese song Tai siu yan yun (啼笑姻緣) became the first theme song of a TV drama.
Cantonese classical music especially were usually much livelier in pace and happier than those of other China provinces which is typical and the very essence of the Cantonese's character. In Guangdong, there are numerous traditional genres of music such as Teochew music and Hakka music (Hakka Hanyue and sixian).
In English, the term "Cantonese" can be ambiguous. "Cantonese" as used to refer to the language native to the city of Canton, which is the traditional English name of Guangzhou, was popularized by An English and Cantonese Pocket Dictionary (1859), a bestseller by the missionary John Chalmers. [6]
Scholars say it is closer to ancient Chinese than Mandarin is — a Tang Dynasty poem would sound more like the original if read in Cantonese. The two languages share a common writing system.
Because of its tradition of usage in music, cinema, literature and newspapers, this form of Cantonese is a cultural mark of identity that distinguishes Cantonese people from speakers of other varieties of Chinese, whose languages are prohibited to have strong influences under China's Standard Mandarin policy.
Guangdong music is a style of traditional Chinese instrumental music from Guangzhou and nearby areas, though nowadays it is found also in much of China. [29] Guangdong music compositions are primarily based on tunes derived from Cantonese opera and Cantonese folk songs, especially before the 1920s.
The tradition then moved to Hong Kong and reached its height from the 1950s to the late 1960s, when it was replaced by Taiwanese pop (sung in Mandarin) and later Cantopop (Cantonese popular music). While it is considered a prototype, music enthusiasts may see it as an early version of Mandopop (Mandarin popular music). [citation needed]
Bāngzi (梆子) is one of the main instruments used in Cantonese opera. Cantonese instrumental music was called ching yam before the People's Republic was established in 1949. Cantonese instrumental tunes have been used in Cantonese opera, either as incidental instrumental music or as fixed tunes to which new texts were composed, since the 1930s.