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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Han Chinese (Cantonese) of Malaysia

The Han Chinese (Cantonese) of Malaysia, numbering approximately 1,930,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Han Chinese ethnolinguistic group of southern China's Pearl River Delta who speak Cantonese and share a regional heritage shaped by Lingnan culture, maritime trade, and extensive overseas migration. They mostly adhere to Chinese Folk Religion and Yue Chinese is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Han Chinese, Cantonese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Chinese
Primary Language(s): Yue Chinese (yue)
Primary Religion(s): Chinese Folk Religion
Population: 1,930,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046594
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Han Chinese (Cantonese) of Malaysia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Chinese Folk Religion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

82%
%
Chinese Folk Religion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Yue Chinese
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Chinese, Yue Speakers

Media Resources in Yue Chinese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Yue Chinese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Revised chinese Union Version (Shen Edition)✓✓
Studium Biblicum Version (Catholic)✓✓
Union Version✓✓
Union Version✓✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Yue Chinese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Han Chinese (Cantonese) are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Han Chinese (Cantonese):
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Han Chinese (Cantonese) of Malaysia

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
readJames 4:4

Pray that the lost will be convicted of their friendship with the world, which is hostility toward God, and that they will turn from their sin and embrace the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
readJames 1:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will ask God for wisdom when they lack it, trusting that He will generously give it to them.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
readPsalm 96:4

Pray that God will raise up believers to declare His glory among the lost, so that they may know that He is great and greatly to be praised, that He is exalted above all gods.

Han Chinese, Cantonese Across Countries (ROP3 - 103701) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

25 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG006808Han Chinese (Cantonese)China64,770,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG050587Han Chinese (Cantonese)Hong Kong6,245,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG046594Han Chinese (Cantonese)Malaysia1,930,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG043259Han Chinese (Cantonese)United States1,030,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseAtheism
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG046444Han Chinese (Cantonese)Vietnam789,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG050584Han Chinese (Cantonese)Macao668,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG047426Han Chinese (Cantonese)Canada573,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG020725Han Chinese (Cantonese)Singapore512,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG043796Han ChineseUnited Kingdom197,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG017533Han Chinese (Cantonese)Peru118,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG024831Han ChinesePanama69,500No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseAtheism
Han ChinesePG016447Han ChineseTrinidad and Tobago44,500No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG009111Han ChineseLaos36,500No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG015468Han ChineseReunion31,500No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG016472Han Chinese (Cantonese)Venezuela30,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG016322Han Chinese (Cantonese)Dominican Republic12,000No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG042924Han Chinese (Cantonese)Ecuador9,700No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseAtheism
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG000058Han Chinese (Cantonese)Belgium9,500No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseAtheism
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG015361Han Chinese (Cantonese)Mauritius8,400No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG033444Han ChineseBrunei7,900No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG024760Han Chinese (Cantonese)Honduras7,800No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG016362Han Chinese (Cantonese)Guyana3,300No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG015656Han Chinese (Cantonese)Zimbabwe1,600No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han ChinesePG016401Han ChineseCuracao1,100No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion
Han Chinese (Cantonese)PG016380Han Chinese (Cantonese)Haiti550No Longer UnreachedYue ChineseChinese Folk Religion

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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