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Southern Min
Hoklo-Taiwanese 閩南語; 闽南语 Bàn-lâm-gú
Geographic distribution	Fujian Chaoshan, Shanwei, and Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong extreme south of Zhejiang much of Hainan (Hainanese) most of Taiwan Hong Kong parts of Malaysia Singapore Philippines Thailand Indonesia Brunei Cambodia Myanmar Vietnam
Ethnicity	Hoklo people Teo-Swa people
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Min Coastal Min Southern Min
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Proto-Min
Subdivisions	Hokkien (Quanzhang or Tsuan-Tsiang; e.g. Amoy, Taiwanese, Singaporean) Chaoshan (Teo-Swa; e.g. Kekyeo, Teochew and Swatow) Zhenan Datian (transitional) Sanxiang (Sahiu) Hailufeng (Haklau)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nan
Linguasphere	79-AAA-j
Glottolog	minn1241
Southern Min in mainland China and Taiwan
Subgroups of Southern Min in mainland China and Taiwan
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	闽南语
Traditional Chinese	閩南語
Literal meaning	"Language of Southern Min "
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǐnnányǔ Wade–Giles Min-nan yü IPA Gan Romanization Mîn-lōm-ngî Hakka Romanization Mîn-nàm-ngî Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Máhn-nàahm yúh Jyutping Man-naam jyu Southern Min Hokkien POJ Bân-lâm-gí/Bân-lâm-gú Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Mìng-nàng-ngṳ̄ Northern Min Jian'ou Romanized Mâing-nâng-ngṳ̌
Notes	Chaozhou–Shantou Min is believed to have split from Old Chinese, rather than Middle Chinese like other varieties of Chinese.

Southern Min (simplified Chinese: 闽南语; traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm-gí/gú; lit. 'Southern Min language'), Minnan (Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (Min Nan Chinese pronunciation: [bàn.lǎm]), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan (many citizens are descendants of settlers from Fujian), Eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and Southern Zhejiang. Southern Min dialects are also spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern and Central Vietnam, as well as major cities in the United States, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. Minnan is the most widely-spoken branch of Min, with approximately 48 million speakers as of 2017–2018.

The most widely spoken Southern Min language is Hokkien, which includes Taiwanese. Other varieties of Southern Min have significant differences from Hokkien, some having limited mutual intelligibility with it, others almost none. Teochew, Longyan, and Zhenan are said to have general mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, sharing similar phonology and vocabulary to a large extent. On the other hand, variants such as Datian, Zhongshan, and Qiong-Lei have historical linguistic roots with Hokkien, but are significantly divergent from it in terms of phonology and vocabulary, and thus have almost no mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Linguists tend to classify them as separate languages.

Geographic distribution

Mainland China

Southern Min dialects are spoken in southern Fujian, specifically in the cities of Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and much of Longyan, hence the name. In addition, varieties of Southern Min are spoken in several southeastern counties of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, the Zhoushan archipelago off Ningbo in Zhejiang, the town of Sanxiang at the southern periphery of Zhongshan in Guangdong, and in the Chaoshan (Teo-swa) region in Guangdong.

The variant spoken in Leizhou, Guangdong as well as in Hainan is classified as Hainanese and is not mutually intelligible with mainstream Southern Min or Teochew. Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate.

Puxian Min was originally based on the Quanzhou dialect, but over time became heavily influenced by Eastern Min, eventually losing intelligibility with Southern Min.

Taiwan

The Southern Min dialects spoken in Taiwan, collectively known as Taiwanese, is a first language for most of the Hoklo people, the main ethnicity of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Southern Min while some non-Hoklo speak Southern Min fluently.

Southeast Asia

There are many Southern Min speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Many ethnic Chinese immigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian and brought the language to what is now present-day Malaysia and Singapore (formerly British Malaya, the Straits Settlements, and British Borneo), Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies), the Philippines (former Spanish East Indies and later, US Philippine Islands (P.I.)), Brunei (former part of British Borneo), Southern Thailand, Myanmar (British Burma), Cambodia (former French Cambodia of French Indochina), Southern Vietnam (former French Cochinchina of French Indochina) and Central Vietnam (former French Annam of French Indochina). In general, Southern Min from southern Fujian is known as Hokkien, Hokkienese, Fukien, or Fookien in Southeast Asia and is mostly mutually intelligible with Hokkien spoken elsewhere. Many Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese also originated in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong and speak Teochew language, the variant of Southern Min from that region, particularly Thailand, Cambodia, Southern Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc. In the Philippines, Philippine Hokkien is reportedly the native or heritage language of up to 98.7% of the Chinese Filipino community in the Philippines, among whom it is known in Hokkien Chinese: 咱人話 / 咱儂話; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lán-nâng-ōe / Lán-lâng-ōe / Nán-nâng-ōe; lit. 'our people's language'.

Southern Min speakers form the majority of Chinese in Singapore, with Hokkien being the largest group and the second largest being Teochew. Despite the similarities, the two groups are rarely viewed together as "Southern Min".

Classification

The variants of Southern Min spoken in Zhejiang province are most akin to that spoken in Quanzhou. The variants spoken in Taiwan are similar to the three Fujian variants and are collectively known as Taiwanese.

Those Southern Min variants that are collectively known as "Hokkien" in Southeast Asia also originate from these variants. The variants of Southern Min in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province are collectively known as Teo-Swa or Chaoshan. Chaoshan Min is of great importance in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sumatra, and West Kalimantan. The Philippines variant is mostly from the Quanzhou area as most of their forefathers are from the aforementioned area.

The Southern Min language variant spoken around Shanwei and Haifeng differs markedly from Teochew and may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou. Linguistically, it lies between Teochew and Amoy. In southwestern Fujian, the local variants in Longyan and Zhangping form a separate division of Southern Min on their own. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Penang, Malaysia and Medan, Indonesia, a distinct form based on the Zhangzhou dialect has developed. In Penang, it is called Penang Hokkien while across the Malacca Strait in Medan, an almost identical variant is known as Medan Hokkien.

Varieties

There are two or three divisions of Southern Min, depending on the criteria for Leizhou and Hainanese inclusion:

• Southern Min
  • Hokkien under the Quanzhang division (泉漳片)
  • Teochew, Swatow, Jieyang, Haklau Min under the Chaoshan division (潮汕片)
  • Leizhou and Hainanese dialects under the Qiong-Lei division (瓊雷片).

More recently, Kwok (2018: 157) has proposed an alternative classification, with a divergent Northern branch that includes Quanzhou dialect but not Zhangzhou dialect, as shown below:

• Southern Min
  • Northern
    • Cangnan
    • Quanzhou, Zihu
  • Central-Southern
    • Central
      • Zhangzhou
      • Longyan, Datian
    • Southern
      • Guangdong
        • ? Haifeng
        • Jieyang, Chaoyang
      • Hainan
        • Leizhou
        • Haikou

Hokkien

Hokkien is the most widely spoken form of Southern Min, including Amoy dialect and Taiwanese. Both of these developed as a combination of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou speech. Varieties in South-East Asia include Singaporean Hokkien, Penang Hokkien, Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien, Medan Hokkien, and Philippine Hokkien.

Chaoshan (Teo-Swa)

Teo-Swa or Chaoshan speech (潮汕片) is a closely related variant of Southern Min that includes the Kekyeo dialect, Teochew and Swatow dialects, and some consider Haklau Min to also be part of. It has limited mutual intelligibility with Hokkien, though they share some cognates with each other. Chaoshan Min is significantly different from Hokkien in both pronunciation and vocabulary, and mutual intelligibility is difficult.

Phonology

Southern Min has one of the most diverse phonologies of Chinese varieties, with more consonants than Mandarin or Cantonese. Vowels, on the other hand, are more-or-less similar to those of Mandarin. In general, Southern Min dialects have five to six tones, and tone sandhi is extensive. There are minor variations within Hokkien, and the Teochew system differs somewhat more.

Southern Min's nasal finals consist of /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and /~/.

Sino-Xenic comparisons

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Southern Min can trace its origins through the Tang dynasty, and it also has roots from earlier periods. Hokkien people call themselves "Tang people", (Tn̂g-lâng 唐人/唐儂) which is synonymous to "Chinese people". Because of the widespread influence of the Tang culture during the Great Tang dynasty, there are today still many Southern Min pronunciations of words shared by the Sino-xenic pronunciations of Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese languages.

Writing systems

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Both Hokkien and Chaoshan (Teochew and Shantou dialects) have romanized writing systems and also respective Chinese characters. In mainland China, it is known as 閩南文 (Bân-lâm-bûn), while in Taiwan, it is known as 台文 (Tâi-bûn). The Han Chinese characters are known in mainland China and Taiwan as 漢字 (Hàn-jī / Hàn-lī). In Malaysia and Singapore, the Chinese characters are sometimes known as 唐儂字 / 唐人字 (Tn̂g-lâng-jī / Tn̂g-lâng-lī). In the Philippines, the Chinese characters are known as 咱儂字 / 咱人字 (Lán-nâng-dī) or 漢文字 (Hàm-bûn-dī).

History

The Min homeland of Fujian was opened to Han Chinese settlement by the defeat of the Minyue state by the armies of Emperor Wu of Han in 110 BC. The area features rugged mountainous terrain, with short rivers that flow into the South China Sea. Most subsequent migration from north to south China passed through the valleys of the Xiang and Gan rivers to the west, so that Min varieties have experienced less northern influence than other southern groups. As a result, whereas most varieties of Chinese can be treated as derived from Middle Chinese, the language described by rhyme dictionaries such as the Qieyun (601 AD), Min varieties contain traces of older distinctions. Linguists estimate that the oldest layers of Min dialects diverged from the rest of Chinese around the time of the Han dynasty. However, significant waves of migration from the North China Plain occurred. These include:

• The Uprising of the Five Barbarians during the Jin dynasty, particularly the Disaster of Yongjia in 311 AD, caused a tide of immigration to the south.
• In 669, Chen Zheng and his son Chen Yuanguang from Gushi County in Henan set up a regional administration in Fujian to suppress an insurrection by the She people.
• Wang Chao, also from Gushi, moved south to Fujian and was appointed its governor in 893, near the end of the Tang dynasty, and brought tens of thousands of troops from Henan. In 909, following the fall of the Tang dynasty, his younger brother Wang Shenzhi founded the Min Kingdom, one of the Ten Kingdoms in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Jerry Norman identifies four main layers in the vocabulary of modern Min varieties:

1. A non-Chinese substratum from the original languages of Minyue, which Norman and Mei Tsu-lin believe were Austroasiatic.
2. The earliest Chinese layer, brought to Fujian by settlers from Zhejiang to the north during the Han dynasty.
3. A layer from the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, which is largely consistent with the phonology of the Qieyun dictionary.
4. A literary layer based on the koiné of Chang'an, the capital of the Tang dynasty.

See also

• Chinese in Singapore
• Languages of China
• Languages of Taiwan
• Languages of Thailand
• Malaysian Chinese
• Protection of the Varieties of Chinese

References

1. Mei, Tsu-lin (1970), "Tones and prosody in Middle Chinese and the origin of the rising tone", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 30: 86–110, doi:10.2307/2718766, JSTOR 2718766
2. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1984), Middle Chinese: A study in Historical Phonology, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-0-7748-0192-8
3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Min". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
4. Cai Zhu, Huang Guo (1 October 2015). Chinese language. Xiamen: Fujian Education Publishing House. ISBN 978-7533469511.
5. Southern Min at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020)
6. Lee, Tong Soon (2009). Chinese Street Opera in Singapore. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252032462.
7. Bodman, Nicholas C. (1985). Acson, Veneeta; Leed, Richard L. (eds.). The Reflexes of Initial Nasals in Proto-Southern Min-Hingua. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications. Vol. 20. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 2–20. ISBN 978-0-8248-0992-8. JSTOR 20006706.
8. Lien, Chinfa (2000-09-01). "Denasalization, Vocalic Nasalization and Related Issues in Southern Min: A Dialectal and Comparative Perspective". In Ting, Pang-Hsin; Yue, Anne O. (eds.). In Memory of Professor Li Fang-Kuei: Essays of Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects. Taipei: Academic Sinica. ISBN 957-671-725-6. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
9. "The politics of language names in Taiwan". www.ksc.kwansei.ac.jp. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
10. Kwok, Bit-Chee (2018). Southern Min: comparative phonology and subgrouping. Routledge studies in East Asian linguistics. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-94365-0.
11. Minnan/ Southern Min at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
12. Iûⁿ, Ún-giân. "Tâi-bûn/Hôa-bûn Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián" 台文/華文線頂辭典 [Taiwanese/Chinese Online Dictionary]. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
13. Norman (1991), pp. 328.
14. Norman (1988), pp. 210, 228.
15. Norman (1988), pp. 228–229.
16. Ting (1983), pp. 9–10.
17. Baxter & Sagart (2014), pp. 33, 79.
18. Yan (2006), p. 120.
19. Norman & Mei (1976).
20. Norman (1991), pp. 331–332.
21. Norman (1991), pp. 334–336.
22. Norman (1991), p. 336.
23. Norman (1991), p. 337.

Sources

• Baxter, William H.; Sagart, Laurent (2014), Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-994537-5.
• Norman, Jerry; Mei, Tsu-lin (1976), "The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence" (PDF), Monumenta Serica, 32: 274–301, doi:10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121, JSTOR 40726203.
• Norman, Jerry (1988), Chinese, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3.
• Norman, Jerry (1991), "The Mǐn dialects in historical perspective", in Wang, William S.-Y. (ed.), Languages and Dialects of China, Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, vol. 3, Chinese University Press, pp. 325–360, JSTOR 23827042, OCLC 600555701.
• Ting, Pang-Hsin (1983), "Derivation time of colloquial Min from Archaic Chinese", Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, 54 (4): 1–14.
• Yan, Margaret Mian (2006), Introduction to Chinese Dialectology, LINCOM Europa, ISBN 978-3-89586-629-6.

Further reading

• Branner, David Prager (2000). Problems in Comparative Chinese Dialectology — the Classification of Miin and Hakka. Trends in Linguistics series, no. 123. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015831-0.
• Chung, Raung-fu (1996). The segmental phonology of Southern Min in Taiwan. Taipei: Crane Pub. Co. ISBN 957-9463-46-8.
• DeBernardi, Jean (1991). "Linguistic nationalism: the case of Southern Min". Sino-Platonic Papers. 25. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. OCLC 24810816.
• Chappell, Hilary, ed. (2001). Sinitic Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829977-X. "Part V: Southern Min Grammar" (3 articles).

External links

• 當代泉州音字彙, a dictionary of Quanzhou speech
• Iûⁿ, Ún-giân (2006). "Tai-gi Hôa-gí Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián" 台文/華文線頂辭典 [On-line Taiwanese/Mandarin Dictionary] (in Chinese and Minnan).
• Iûⁿ, Ún-giân. 台語線頂字典 [Taiwanese Hokkien Online Character Dictionary] (in Minnan and Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2015-02-06.
• 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典, Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan by the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).
• 臺灣本土語言互譯及語音合成系統, Taiwanese-Hakka-Mandarin online conversion
• Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Greetings from Earth - Amoy The voyager clip says: Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô·! 太空朋友，恁好。恁食飽未？有閒著來阮遮坐哦!
• 台語詞典 Taiwanese-English-Mandarin Dictionary
• "How to Forget Your Mother Tongue and Remember Your National Language" by Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania
• ISO 639-3 Change Request Documentation: 2008-083, requesting to replace code nan (Minnan Chinese) with dzu (Chaozhou) and xim (Xiamen), rejected because it did not include codes to cover the rest of the group.
• ISO 639-3 Change Request Documentation: 2021-045, requesting to replace code nan with 11 new codes. Codes were added for Leizhou and Hainan Min, but the others were rejected for lack of evidence in published research.
  • "Reclassifying ISO 639-3 [nan]: An Empirical Approach to Mutual Intelligibility and Ethnolinguistic Distinctions". GitHub. 18 December 2021. – supporting documentation

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

v t e Min Chinese
Languages Eastern Min Houguan Fuzhou dialect Fuqing dialect Changle dialect Gutian dialect Matsu dialect Funing Xiapu dialect Fu'an dialect Ningde dialect Others Manjiang dialect Zhongshan Min Longdu dialect Nanlang dialect Southern Min Teochew Min Swatow dialect Hokkien Amoy dialect Quanzhou dialects Hui'an dialect Yongchun dialect Zhangzhou dialects Chawan dialect Longyan dialect Taiwanese Banana colloquial speech Northern Malacca Straits Hokkien Penang Hokkien Medan Hokkien Kelantan Peranakan Hokkien Philippine Hokkien Southern Malacca Straits Hokkien Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien Singaporean Hokkien Others Datian Min Houlu dialect Haklau Min Zhenan Min Zhongshan Min Sanxiang dialect Pu–Xian Min (Hinghwa) Putian dialect Xianyou dialect Northern Min Jian'ou dialect Jianyang dialect Shao–Jiang Min Shaowu dialect Jiangle dialect Central Min Sanming dialect Shaxian dialect Yong'an dialect Leizhou Min Zhanjiang dialect Hainanese Haikou dialect Wenchang dialect
Writing system Logographic Chinese characters Alphabetic Pe̍h-ōe-jī Pe̍h-ūe-jī Hainan Romanized Foochow Romanized Hinghwa Romanized Kienning Colloquial Romanized Taiwanese Romanization System Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet Daighi tongiong pingim Bbánlám pìngyīm Peng'im Fuzhou Transliteration Scheme Hainanese Transliteration Scheme Mixed Hàn-lô
Research Proto-languages Proto-Min Rime dictionaries Qi Lin Bayin Jianzhou Ba Yin

v t e Chinese language
Sinitic languages
Major groups	Mandarin Northeastern Changchun Harbin Shenyang Taz Beijing Beijing Taiwan Jilu Tianjin Jinan Jiaoliao Dalian Qingdao Weihai Central Plains Dongping Gangou Guanzhong Xi'an Luoyang Xuzhou Dungan Xinjiang Southwestern Sichuanese Chengdu–Chongqing Minjiang Leshan Renshou–Fushun Zigong Kunming Nanping Wuhan Gui–Liu Wuming Jianghuai Nanjing Nantong Nanping Lanyin Lanzhou dialect [zh] Urumqi dialect [zh] Xinjiang Other Junjiahua Qinjiang Gyami Jin Zhangjiakou–Hohhot Zhi–Yan Wu Taihu Shanghai Suzhou Wuxi Changzhou Hangzhou (?) Shaoxing Ningbo Jinxiang Jiangyin Shadi Taizhou Wu Taizhou Tiantai Oujiang Wenzhou Rui'an Wencheng Wuzhou Jinhua Chu–Qu Quzhou Jiangshan Qingtian Xuanzhou Xuancheng Huizhou Ji-She [zh] Xiu-Yi [zh] Qi-De [zh] Yanzhou [zh] Jing-Zhan [zh] Gan Chang–Du Nanchang Yi–Liu Ying–Yi Da–Tong Xiang Changyi Changsha Loushao Shuangfeng Xiangxiang Wugang Ji–Xu Yong–Quan Qiyang Min Eastern Houguan Fuzhou Fuqing Changle Gutian Matsu Fu–Ning Ningde Fu'an Other Manjiang Zhongshan Longdu Nanlang Southern Hokkien Quanzhou Zhangzhou Amoy Chawan Taiwan Philippine Pedan Penang Singapore Malaysian Teochew Swatow Haklau Zhongshan Sanxiang Other Zhenan Longyan Other Northern Jian'ou Jianyang Central Pu–Xian Shao–Jiang Leizhou Zhanjiang Hainan Wenchang Haikou Banqiao Hakka Meixian Wuhua Huizhou Tingzhou Changting Taiwanese Sixian Hailu Raoping Yue Yuehai Guangzhou Hong Kong Malaysia Xiguan Jiujiang Shiqi Weitou Dapeng Siyi Taishan Xinhui Other Gao–Yang Goulou Wu–Hua Yong–Xun Luo–Guang Qin–Lian Pinghua Northern Tongdao Younian Southern Yongjiang Guandao Rongjiang Unclassified Shaozhou Tuhua Xiangnan Tuhua Badong Yao Danzhou Mai Shehua Waxiang Yeheni Huizhou Bai Cai-Long Caijia Longjia Luren Laobeizi
Standard forms	Standard Chinese Sichuanese Taiwanese Philippine Malaysian Singaporean Standard Singdarin Cantonese Hokkien Hakka
Phonology	Historical Old Old National Cantonese Hokkien Northern Wu Mandarin Literary and colloquial readings
Grammar	Numerals Classifiers Honorifics Cantonese grammar Classical grammar
Idioms	Chengyu Xiehouyu
Input	Biaoxingma Boshiamy Cangjie Simplified CKC Dayi Pinyin Google Microsoft Sogou Stroke count Wubi (Wang Ma) ZhengMa
History	Old Chinese Eastern Han Middle Chinese Old Mandarin Middle Mandarin Proto-Min Proto-Hakka Ba–Shu Gan
Literary forms	Official Classical Adoption in Japan in Vietnam Vernacular Written Cantonese Written Dungan Written Hokkien Written Sichuanese
Scripts	Logographic Script styles Oracle bone Bronze Seal Clerical Semi-cursive Cursive Chinese characters Simplified Traditional Punctuation Braille Cantonese Mainland Chinese Taiwanese Two-cell Phonetic Cyrillization Dungan Cyrillic Romanization Gwoyeu Romatzyh Hanyu Pinyin MPS II Postal Tongyong Pinyin Wade–Giles EFEO Lessing-Othmer Yale Bopomofo Cantonese Bopomofo Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols Taiwanese kana Taiwanese Hangul Xiao'erjing Nüshu
List of varieties of Chinese

• Southern Min
• Languages of China
• Languages of Malaysia
• Languages of Singapore
• Languages of Taiwan
• Languages of the Philippines