Chaoshan

Chaoshan 潮汕地区
Map of Chaoshan in Pink (lower right)
Country	China (Guangdong)
Major Cities	List Shantou Jieyang Chaozhou Shanwei (sometimes)
Government
• Governor of Guangdong	Zhu Xiaodan
Area
• Metro	10,415 km2 (4,021 sq mi)
Population
• Metro	13,937,897
• Metro density	1,300/km2 (3,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CST (UTC+8)
Language	Min
Local dialect	Teochew dialect

Chaoshan or Teoswa (Chinese: 潮汕; pinyin: Cháoshàn) is the linguistic and cultural region in the east of Guangdong, China that is developing into a single metropolis. This region is the origin of the Min Nan Teochew dialect (潮汕话). The region, also known as Chiusaan in Cantonese, consists of the cities Jieyang, Chaozhou and Shantou. It differs linguistically from the rest of Guangdong province which consists of Leizhou Min, Yue, and Hakka speakers. It is historically important as the ancestral homeland of many Thais, Singaporeans, and Malaysians of Chinese descent.

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), which have agglomerated into a single extremely dense metropolitan area and among China's most densely populated. It is Guangdong's second largest metropolitan area after the Pearl River Delta, and part of the Southern China Coast Megalopolis.

The Chaoshan region is the second largest economy in Guangdong, after the Pearl River Delta, however, it is still considered quite small in scale, in comparison. In recent years, due to corruption and car smuggling in the 1980s and 1990s, the central government has chosen to slow down growth of this region even though it is still designated as an SEZ (Special Economic Zone). As a result, business has slowed compared to other areas in Guangdong. In recent years Li Ka-shing has also invested heavily in the education and healthcare of this region, in response to the potential for growth.