Punti and Cantonese 

The term Cantonese is the result of poor transliteration in English. Canton is the English word for both Guangdong (province) and Guangzhou (provincial capital of Guangdong). When the word Canton is made into the English adjective Cantonese, it could mean Guangdongese and Guangzhouese. The language people commonly refer to as Cantonese is in fact Guangzhouese. Taishanese people speak Taishanese, a language that is unintelligible with Guangzhouese. Many Taishan people in China still do not speak or understand Guangzhouese. This is the norm in the whole of China concerning regional spoken languages. It is acceptable to say that Taishanese is one of the Guangdongese languages, but then so is Hakka. The conflict is thus not a conflict between a Cantonese (meaning Guangdongese) speaking people against a non-Cantonese speaking people as both peoples spoke Cantonese meaning Guangdongese, be it one spoke Taushanese and the other Hakka. Neither party could also be described as Cantonese (meaning Guangzhouese) speaking people as neither were Guangzhouese speakers at home.

If not about language differences, then what was the conflict about? The conflict was simply a conflict of economics. The Hakkas were seen as late comers who stole the show in a declining economy.