Nanhai Chao

"Nanhai Chao" (pinyin for 南海潮, penkyamp Nam4 Hoi2 Ciu4), or "Southern Sea Tides", is a song of the overseas Cantonese. Its melody is based on the folk songs of the boat people in the Pearl River Delta and its adjacent coasts.

Translation:

Red clouds are overtaking the Cantonese sky at daybreak,

The rising sun preludes an elegant prose;

The silk trees (symbolizing Guangzhou) and redbuds (symbolizing Hong Kong) adds hundreds and thousands of blooms again,

What a prosperous picture to last forever!

I see river tides still pushing that "sampan" (an Asian boat),

But it rafts through a refreshing scene of edifaces of jade.

I tell the ocean not to be so turbulant,

Across from thousands of miles of ocean I am home sick.

Penkyamp transliteration:

Honkha m�n s� Ye�d t�n d�nk p�hiũ

Z�nkz�nky�tse�ng z�y waze�ng

Honkmin zĩg�nk y�w t�m c�nb�g d�

Y�nty�nt m�ns�y ze�ng

Ng� g�n g�ngciu y�yin t�y hẽy n� s�nb�n

Ke�gs� ce�n gu� y�kye�kenklaw s�nt l�ng gẽnk

Ng� g�u h�iciu b�tow b�ty�u z� h�nky�nk

G�g ze� y�t p�n m�nl�y d�iyeong gu�ys�mpc�d