Yantian District’s folk culture, an integral part of the Lingnan cultural sphere, remains deeply rooted in local life and continues to shape the district’s social identity. Traditional customs surrounding marriage, birth, illness and death have long been passed down, forming a stable and richly textured cultural framework grounded in Han traditions from the Central Plains.

The district’s population has historically been dominated by two communities—Guangfu (Cantonese) and Hakka—and their distinct ways of life continue to define Yantian’s local customs.

Guangfu communities, traditionally engaged in fishing and salt production, retain many maritime-influenced practices—ancestral veneration of the sea goddess Mazu, rituals to propitiate spirits, communal offerings, rain-praying ceremonies and other seafaring and agricultural folk rites. Hakka residents preserve their own characteristic customs, including ancestral worship, lion and dragon dances, and local culinary traditions such as homemade tofu and glutinous rice wine.

Proximity to Hong Kong has introduced diverse international influences into Yantian’s cultural landscape, reshaping social attitudes—particularly toward marriage—and fostering a blend of Eastern and Western customs.

Over the past four decades of reform and opening, the district has embraced many new, healthy social practices, festivals and cultural trends that have become mainstream, contributing to an improved social and cultural environment and supporting economic vitality.