LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cantonese: Northern China
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Systematic efforts to develop an alphabetic representation of Cantonese pronunciation began with the arrival of Protestant missionaries in China early in the nineteenth century. Romanization was considered both a tool to help new missionaries learn the dialect more easily and a quick route for the unlettered to achieve gospel literacy. Earlier Catholic missionaries, mostly Portuguese, had developed romanization schemes for the pronunciation current in the court and capitol city of China but made few efforts at romanizing other dialects.
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Diversity of Sub-Dialects Cantonese families continue to pass on Cantonese and Cantonese sub- dialects (Toisanese, Yun-Pingnese) to their children and speak it on a daily basis in Chinatown. The Cantonese sub-dialects are commonly Toisanese, Yun- Pingnese & Sun-Wuinese.
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Due to Canton's proximity to the southern coast of China, fresh live seafood is a specialty in Cantonese cuisine. In a Cantonese's viewpoint, strong spices are added only to stale seafood to cover the rotting odor. The freshest seafood is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming. For instance, only a little soy sauce, some ginger and some spring onion is added to a steamed fish. The light seasoning is used only to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. However, most restaurants would gladly get rid of their stale seafood inventory by offering dishes loaded with garlic and spices.
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Due to Guangdong's proximity to the south China sea, cooking live seafood is a specialty in Cantonese cuisine. Prawns, shrimps, scallops, lobster and crab are in plentiful supply. Many Chinese restaurants maintain live seafood tanks. The freshest seafood is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming. Less fresh ones will be fried or even deep fried. When cooking a fresh fish, only a small amount of soy sauce, ginger, and spring onion is added to a steamed fish, while loads of garlic and spices will be added to cook an unfresh fish.
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Spicy hot dishes are extremely rare in Cantonese cuisine. Spicy hot foods are more common in very hot climate, such as that of Szechuan, Thailand etc. where food spoils easily. It is believed that chili peppers kill food spoiling germs and induce sweating which helps tropical people keep their cool (pun, sic). Canton is on the richest soil in China in term of agriculture, and aquaculture. The endless supply of fresh food and mild weather make spicy hot dishes unnecessary in Canton.
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