Most of the Chinese in the Riau Islands spoke a variety of Hokkien, a local variant of the Min Nan Chinese variety, as most of the Riau Islands Chinese are of Hoklo descent. The Riau Islands Hokkien is related to the Hokkien spoken in mainland Riau, such as the town of Bagansiapiapi and Selat Panjang, as well as the Hokkien spoken in Central and Southern Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Together, they are known as the Southern Malaysia Hokkien. This dialect is based on the Quanzhou dialect, which originated from the city of Quanzhou in Fujian, China. It is markedly distinct from Penang Hokkien and Medan Hokkien, which are based on Zhangzhou dialect, another Hokkien dialect originated from the city of Zhangzhou, also in Fujian. Other varieties of Chinese are also spoken in the province, such as Teochew, Hainanese, Hakka and Cantonese, albeit to a lesser extent compared to Hokkien. Hokkien serves as the "lingua franca" of the Chinese people in the Riau Islands. Most of the Chinese varieties spoken in the region has been greatly influenced by Malay and Indonesian, especially their vocabulary.