Meizhou

Meizhou, cradled in the mountains of eastern Guangdong, is widely regarded as the cultural heartland of the Hakka people. Its countryside is dotted with distinctive enclosed roundhouses and ancestral halls, and Hakka is the everyday language. The city is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, with large diaspora communities across Southeast Asia and beyond. Its cuisine, built on preserved vegetables, salt-baked chicken and stuffed tofu, is a benchmark for Hakka food. Set in a humid subtropical basin with tea-covered hills, Meizhou offers airport and rail links and a quieter, tradition-rich alternative to the coastal cities.