Spoken by nearly 60 million people, Cantonese rivals Mandarin as the lingua franca of both south China and of the world-wide Chinese diaspora population. Unique among all the Chinese dialects, Cantonese also has a writing system that is distinct from Mandarin Chinese and makes use of characters generally not understood by non-Cantonese speakers. It is an official language of Hong Kong and Macau, and written Cantonese is commonly found on street signs in Hong Kong as well as in newspapers and novels. The spoken language also exerts a strong cultural influence on East Asia, due to the prominence of Hong Kong's film and music industries. This dictionary with over 14,000 entries provides students and travellers with a portable, yet comprehensive resource for everyday use.