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World > Asia >
China > China language
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language of
China |
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The Chinese refer to their dominant native language as the Han language. Over 50
minority languages are spoken only by 6% of the population. Han Chinese has
eight main varieties of speech referred to as the different dialects of the
language. Although the dialects differ as much Spanish differs from French,
tradition sticks to the term "dialects" because of the single method of Chinese
writing.
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Dialects of the Han Launguage |
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Cantonese: |
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Spoken in the south, mainly in the Guangdong province, southern Guangxi, Macau
and Hong Kong. |
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Hakka: |
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Very widespread, but mainly in Fujian and Guangxi. |
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Hsiang: |
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Hunan, south-central region. |
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Kan: |
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Shanxi and south-west Hebei. |
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Mandarin: |
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Basis of the modern standard language. A range of dialects found in northern,
central and western China. |
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Northern Min: |
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Northwest Fujian |
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Southern Min: |
Southest China, mainly in Zhejiang, Fujian, Hainan Island and Taiwan.
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