Punti
Punti' is a Cantonese endonym referring to the native Cantonese people of Guangdong and Guangxi. "Punti" designates the Weitao dialect Cantonese-speaking locals in contrast to the other Yue Chinese Cantonese speaking people's and others such as Taishanese; Hoklo people from Fujian who spoke the Hokkien dialects; the Hakka immigrants who arrived in Guangdong and Guangxi during the Qing dynasty; and ethnic minorities such as the Zhuang people of Guangxi, and the boat-dwelling Tanka people who are both descendants of the Baiyue – although the Tanka have largely assimilated into Han Chinese culture.
In Hong Kong, "Punti" as an ethnic group refers in a strict sense to the Cantonese-speaking indigenous inhabitants of Hong Kong who had settled in Hong Kong before the New Territories of Hong Kong were leased to the British Empire in 1898. Prominently represented by the "Weitou people" – the Hau, Tang, Pang, Liu, and Man – these indigenous Punti inhabitants were afforded additional privileges in land ownership enshrined in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory and the Basic Law of Hong Kong.
When used to designate a language, "Punti" is equivalent to the Standard Cantonese mainly used in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. Punti became a commonly used word in Hong Kong law courts and other authorities such as the police; when a defendant chooses to use Punti in the court, he/she elects to use Cantonese as the language of trial instead of English. Despite the reference of "Punti" in this context means nothing more than "Cantonese Chinese" as a spoken language and the Hong Kong variation of the language, there are political and practical reasons of not using direct reference to the word "Cantonese Chinese".
Modern use of the demonym "Punti" is promoted by the Hong Kong Museum of History, which maintains an extensive collection of Punti artefacts.
