It's a complicated matter. At least when it comes to Chinese in California. Many of the people that immigrated before California even became a state came here from the Guangdong region.

The Toisanese, prior to California becoming a state and before Gold was found, toil the lands and made due with farms and labor.

Gold was eventually found and eventually California became known as Gaam Saan (Gold Mountain) in the Cantonese language. This eventually led to an influx of Cantonese speakers from the Guangdong Region (also during the time of the Opium Wars, and much of China being dirt poor.)

Those ancestors did their best to not cause too much trouble, even during California independence from Mexico. Even when xenophobic tendencies cause a huge mess (yes..... the same California that everyone believes is very inclusive of everyone was xenophobic towards the Chinese to the nth degree for stealing gold and taking their farm resources,) even when weird fires were started in Cantonese neighborhoods (at least in my city.)

This eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act and led to some ancestors being stuck in Angel Island from anywhere to 1 month to a year before they were deported back to China or allowed in (this also influenced the immigration time-frame of the Japanese and Koreans that wanted to get in.)

Still... they kept trying to come here because it was considered a promise land. It wasn't until the World War II did we repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act because China, at the time, was an ally.

But safe to say, throughout the California history, a part of it is Cantonese in origin, everything from the start of California, Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, Civil War, Chinese Exclusion Act, World War I and II, Civil Rights, all the way to present day, they were a part of it

For many of the younger people that were born here (like me,) California and America is basically the homeland, even if we can communicate with the people in the Guangdong Province. For many newer immigrants, California is still seen as the promise-land, even if the meaning has changed sense 150 years ago.