Shantou offering a glimpse of what to expect in future

Walking around the wholesale clothing market near Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, it doesn't take long to spot sellers from Shantou.

They speak Cantonese or Putonghua with strong local Chaoshan accents - a dialect my daughter and I have been learning for years from my wife, who was born in a fishing village near the eastern coastal city.

Local officials often proudly say there are actually three Shantous - one for locals, one for people working in big cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and a third for the many thousands of its former residents living overseas.