How many dialects are there in China? What are they?

There are eight dialects in China (a new language called Pinghua, mainly distributed in Guangxi). Some people also divide Chinese dialects into nine dialects and ten dialects. In fact, the "eight dialects", "nine dialects" and even "ten dialects" we are talking about are only domestic Han dialects. If minority languages are added, Chinese dialects can be drawn more and more carefully.

First, the northern dialect

It is customarily called "Mandarin". There are northeastern mandarin, Northwest Mandarin, Shanxi Mandarin and Southwest Mandarin. Represented by Beijing dialect, it includes the areas along the Yangtze River north, above Zhenjiang and below Jiujiang, as well as the northwest of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei and Hunan provinces and Guangxi, and the population accounts for more than 70% of the total population of Han nationality. Whoever lives in this dialect area naturally belongs to the northern dialect. The "mother tongue" of He surname people who migrated from this dialect area to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese who lived abroad belong to the northern dialect.

Second, Wu language.

Wu dialect is called "soft language of Wu Nong", represented by Shanghai dialect (Suzhou dialect). Including the south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province and the east of Zhenjiang (excluding Zhenjiang), most parts of Zhejiang Province. The user population accounts for about 8.4% of the total population of Han nationality. Whoever lives in this dialect area naturally belongs to Wu dialect. The "mother tongue" of He people who migrated from this dialect area to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese who lived abroad all belong to Wu dialect.

Third, Hunan dialect

Changsha dialect, as the representative, is distributed in most areas of Hunan province, and the population used accounts for 5% of the total population of Han nationality. Who lives in this dialect area belongs to Hunan dialect. The "mother tongue" of the Ho family and overseas Chinese who moved to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from this dialect area should be Xiang dialect.

Fourthly, Gan dialect.

Nanchang dialect, as the representative, is mainly distributed in Jiangxi Province (except the east and south along the Yangtze River) and the southeast of Hubei Province, and the population used accounts for about 2.4% of the total population of Han nationality. Whose language in this dialect area belongs to Gan dialect. The "mother tongue" of He and overseas Chinese who migrated from this dialect area to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan should be classified as Gan dialect.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) Hakka dialect

Meixian dialect, represented by Guangzhou dialect, is mainly distributed in the east, south and north of Guangdong Province, southeast of Guangxi, west of Fujian Province, south of Jiangxi Province, and a few areas in Hunan and Sichuan, and its users account for 4% of the total number of Han people. Whose language in this dialect area belongs to Hakka? Hakka dialect is the "mother tongue" of He ethnic group who moved to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from this dialect area, and it is also the "mother tongue" of overseas Chinese of He ethnic group.

Six, northern Fujian dialect

Fuzhou dialect, as the representative, is distributed in northern Fujian Province and parts of Taiwan Province Province, and some overseas Chinese in Nanyang also speak Minbei dialect. The user population accounts for about 1.2% of the total population of Han nationality. Whose language in this dialect area belongs to northern Fujian dialect. The "mother tongue" of the Ho family and overseas Chinese who moved from this dialect area to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan should be the northern Fujian dialect.

Seven, Minnan dialect

Xiamen dialect, as the representative, is distributed in southern Fujian Province, eastern Guangdong Province, parts of Hainan Province and most parts of Taiwan Province Province. Many overseas Chinese in Nanyang also speak Minnan, accounting for about 3% of the total Han population. The language of Ho people in this dialect area belongs to Minnan dialect. The "mother tongue" of the Ho family and overseas Chinese who migrated from this dialect area to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan should be Minnan.

Eight, Cantonese dialect

Represented by Guangzhou dialect, it is distributed in most areas of Guangdong Province and southeast Guangxi. Compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, overseas Chinese from Nanyang and other countries speak Cantonese, accounting for about 5% of the total population of the Han nationality.

As for the newly discovered "Pinghua", it is mostly distributed in Guangxi, characterized by the erosion of southern dialects by northern dialects!

Say something about Hainan dialect here.

Hainan has always been an "immigrant area", so the language on the island is deeply branded as "immigrant". It can be said that the language of Hainan Island is the epitome of the eight major dialects in China. At present, several generations of Han people live in Hainan Island. Besides Mandarin, he also speaks more than a dozen dialects (including minority languages), such as Hainan dialect (Minnan dialect), military dialect (southwest mandarin-northern dialect), Ai dialect (Hakka dialect) and vernacular (Guangzhou dialect). In addition, there are Han residents in Hainan: Danzhou dialect (suspected Cantonese variant), Mai dialect (suspected Cantonese variant), Lingao dialect (suspected Guangxi Zhuang dialect variant) and Village dialect (unknown language).