Chaozhou is believed to have been founded more than 1700 years ago. The town reached its zenith during the Ming era and was well known as a place of great culture as well as an important commercial and trading centre.

Teochew dialect (???); by which the Chaozhou culture is conveyed; is one of the most conservative Chinese dialects because it preserves many contrasts from ancient Chinese that have been lost in some of the other modern dialects of Chinese.