Despite its current unified state, China has always been home to many different peoples and their languages. According to linguists1, 'Chinese' represents a family of languages descended from the Sino-Tibetan language group, and they number in the hundreds. Here, we study the seven major Chinese languages, along with their most oft-spoken dialects.
| Language | Region(s) | Native speakers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | Across mainland China Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao Indonesia Singapore | ~836 million people | Mandarin is China's official language. It is a co-official language in Taiwan and Singapore. |
| Wu | Along the Yangtze River, particularly around the Delta and in Shanghai. | ~77 million speakers | Shanghainese is one of the top sub-languages. |
| Yue | Mostly in mainland China's southwest, but also Hong Kong, Kowloon, Macao, and Taiwan. | ~71 million speakers | Commonly called Cantonese |
| Min | from Fujian Province to south of Zhejiang Province, and into Guangdong Province. | ~60 million speakers | Hokkien is a major sub-language. |
| Xiang | Mainly in Hunan Province | ~36 million speakers | Also spoken in parts of northern Guangxi, Guizhou, and Jiangxi Provinces |
| Hakka | Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi Provinces | ~34 million speakers | 'Hakka' means 'guest family' |
| Gan | Around Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian Provinces | ~31 million speakers | Gan and Hakka have some aspects in common. |
Defining Chinese Dialects
Before we can begin any discussion of Chinese dialects and languages, we must first understand the difference between the two. Linguists and academics have a hard time telling where the dividing line between dialects and languages lies2. However, most agree that one factor helps them decide which is which.
If the speaker of one tongue can understand the speaker of another, their languages must be dialects. If two speakers cannot understand one another, they are speaking different languages.
We could put that into context by referencing the Romance languages. French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian all come from Latin. They roughly follow the same grammar rules and have adapted words to suit their speech patterns. However, they are not the same languages; a French speaker would struggle to understand a native Italian speaker, and so on.
The same phenomenon exists across China's linguistic landscape. All Chinese languages derive from the Sino-Tibetan language family, and they are all Sinitic languages. However, Most languages in China descend from the Yue branch of languages, while Mandarin stands apart. This is why Cantonese and Mandarin are so different.
For the most part, the 300-odd languages spoken across China are not mutually intelligible. This fact makes them languages, not dialects. However, some local languages borrow heavily from neighbouring speakers' speech, which could put them in the dialect category.
The Sino-Tibetan Language Family
This is the wold's second largest language family, after Indo-European3, counting more than 1.3 billion native speakers. It spans the Tibetan Plateau, stretching down into Myanmar, and up to the far northern reaches of China. Its languages split into two main clans.
Sinitic
The languages of China and associated lands: Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu and all others.
Tibeto-Burman
Includes Burmese, Tibetan, and all the indigenous languages of the Himalayas and Southeast Asia.
The split detailed above happened around 7,200 years ago, with the advent of agriculture in those regions. Sinitic language speakers settled around China's Yellow River Valley while Tibeto-Burmese speakers migrated further south. In all, this language family comprises around 450 different tongues, some of them spoken by only a few thousand people.
Major Dialects of Chinese
Again, we emphasise that these tongues qualify as languages rather than dialects because they are mutually intelligible. That is the main criterion linguists agree makes the difference between the two concepts. With that clear, let's discover the seven major Sinitic language groups.
Mandarin
By virtue of being the country’s official language, Mandarin is the most spoken language in China. Originally the language of the Beijing official class - the mandarins, more than 800 million people speak Mandarin as their primary language.
Officially, it is called pǔtōnghuà (普通话) – the common language.
It also goes by hànyǔ (汉语) – the language of the Han people.
You may also call it guānhuà (官话), meaning ‘official language’.
At one time, Mandarin was also known as běifānghuà (北方话 ) – the language of the north.
The Mandarin language, which comes from the Chinese speaking communities in the north of the country, has been the country’s official language since 1956. In fact, since Mandarin accounts for almost 80% of Chinese spoken in the world, the two terms have become almost interchangeable in English. That’s why when foreigners say that they’re “learning to speak Chinese”, they’re probably learning Mandarin.
Naturally, you can specify that you wish to learn a different Chinese language when you select your Chinese course on Superprof. If you’re based in NSW, you can also compare options for chinese classes sydney. You'll find more than 200 tutors who specialise in Cantonese, and over 1,500 who will teach you Mandarin.
Historically limited to China’s northern provinces, today, almost everyone in China can speak Mandarin. That’s because this is the language used to teach in schools across the country. It’s also the language of government, broadcast services, and any other public service you might access.
Wu
There are 77 million people who speak Wu in Shanghai, as well as Jiangsu, and Zhejiang Provinces; between six and seven per cent of Chinese people can speak it fluently. Wu is sometimes referred to as China’s second language; it has far more speakers than even Cantonese.
However, Wu has no standardised form. It includes a number of separate languages, many with their own dialects. In all, we may characterise Wu languages by their differing degrees of mutual intelligibility.
Due to Wu-speaking people dwelling in economically profitable regions, these languages have undergone substantial changes over time. In fact, the Wu tongue has been subject to a dramatic phonetic shifts.
Yue
People often mistakenly use Yue and Cantonese interchangeably, but those qualifiers are not the same. Yue descends from the Sinitic language family and comprises several languages, including Cantonese. For its part, Cantonese includes several dialects; the type spoken in Hong Kong is slightly different from the variation people in Guangdong speak.
Mandarin split off from the Yue language family at least from the Tang Dynasty (618–907 of the Current Era – CE). Some evidence exists that they may have diverged as far back as the Qin Dynasty (221–206 Before the Current Era (BCE) )4.
Cantonese differs from Mandarin in structure and pronunciation. The Cantonese writing system prefers traditional characters rather than Mandarin's simplified writing. Cantonese is spoken by over 71 million people, compared to the more than 830 million who speak Mandarin as a first language..
The term ‘Cantonese’ defines both the language and the people who speak it. However, it is not one of many Chinese languages named after a people; it’s named after the region. In Cantonese you’ll find that:
Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong Province, Guangxi, and Southeast Asia, more so than any other Chinese language. Today, Cantonese enjoys high popularity thanks to Hong Kong cinema, Cantopop music, and social media.
Now, take a small break to enjoy the Hong Kong cinema staple, Andy Lau, sing the Lunar New Year traditional song. If you listen closely, you can hear his Cantonese pronunciation style, even though he's singing in Mandarin.
Min
Min is a broad group of languages spoken by the Min Chinese people. Their historic lands comprised the long-gone Minyue Kingdom. Today, that land is home to a bit of Fujian Province, Zhejiang Province and south, into Guangdong Province. The Min languages formed thanks to many influences over time.
All of this helped shape complex languages spoken throughout Fujian Province and regions to its south. Hokkien, a distinctive Min language, retained the elaborate grammar of Middle Chinese, and uses up to nine different tones. And, while the vocabulary may remain the same as Mandarin, the words’ meanings tend to keep their original meanings.
Xiang
The Xiang language retained its Old Chinese roots for a remarkably long time. It wasn't until the Tang Dynasty that large-scale immigration led to changes, as migrant brought their updated speaking styles to the region. Today's Xiang still reflects those Middle Chinese language influences, mainly in vocabulary and speech patterns.
Migrants from the north settled mainly in Northern and Western Hunan Province. Today, you'll hardly hear any Xiang spoken in those regions.
Migrants from Jiangxi Province had the greatest impact on the Xiang language. As Mongols eliminated Hunan populations, migrants settled on their lands and expanded further west, to Changsha, Yueyang, and other regions. This Gan influx had the greatest influence on the Xiang tongue.
Hakka
Of all the types of Chinese language, the Hakka tongue may be the most tragic. Hakka people are ethnically Han Chinese who, over centuries, migrated southward from their homelands. Perpetually chased away by violence, prejudice and persecution, Hakka speakers have made their homes across southern China.
Being northerners, Hakka people dressed and spoke differently, and they ate different foods. Hakka women didn't bind their feet; they worked beside their men in the fields.
This imposed isolation made Hakka people clannish. It allowed them to preserve their language, despite living near speakers of other tongues. Ultimately, many Hakka speakers migrated abroad, often having been sold as slaves.
Gan
The Gan language group concentrates mainly in and around Jianxi Province, on the fertile lands along the Yangtze River. You can hear it in Hunan and Hubei Provinces, and across Anhui Province, too. Like many other territories in China, these regions were influenced by Han language and culture as far back as 221 BCE.
The Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Qiang, and Di tribes terrorised the Chinese lands from 304 to 316 CE. They are the reason the Hakka people fled their homelands.
While the Han influence may have been systematic and somewhat orderly (but often brutal), the havoc the Five Barbarians wreaked on Northern China was anything but. As people fled the violence, Jiangxi became a way station of sorts. From there, people moved to neighbouring lands, specifically, those where Gan is still spoken today.
During the Tang Dynasty, this region became a centre of culture, with the Nanchang dialect marked at the Gan language's prestige speech form. However, since establishing Mandarin as China's official language, Gan proficiency dropped across younger populations.
Fortunately, today, we see a rash of conservation efforts, including local broadcasts in Gan. And were you to sign up for a Gan Chinese course Melbourne on the Superprof, you'll find 97 specialist tutors ready to help you learn this language.
References
- Gu, Y. “Chinese.” Encyclopoedia of Language and Linguistics, by Liqing Tao, Elsevier, 31 Mar. 2006, pp. 343–350, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080448542023361. Accessed 18 June 2026.
- KIEU, Chin Yew. “Distinguish between LANGUAGE and DIALECT: 5 Astonishing Reasons Why It Is Difficult.” Languageeducatorsassemble.com, Language Educators Assemble, 28 Sept. 2022, languageeducatorsassemble.com/distinguish-between-language-and-dialect/. Accessed 18 June 2026.
- Worlds, Geography. “Sino-Tibetan Language Family | History, Branches & Speakers.” Geography Worlds, 20 Mar. 2026, geographyworlds.com/blog/sino-tibetan-language-family/. Accessed 18 June 2026.
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