China is like a big melting pot. It is combined by many tribes. Each
tribe has its own culture and customs. Just by looking at how many Chinese dialects there are, you will know why.
Excluding Mandarin, the Chinese official language, there are 9 main dialects, i.e.
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a) "Wu" (in Shanghai)
b) "Yue" (in Hong Kong & Guangzhou, etc.)
c) "Min" (in Fujian & Taiwan)
d) "Jin" (in Shaanxi & Inner Mongolia, etc.)
e) "Xing" (in Hunan)
f) "Hakka" (in southern China and sometimes in Hong Kong)
g)
"Gan" (in Jiangxi)
h) "Hui" (usually categorized as "Wu")
i) "Ping"
(usually grouped with "Yue").
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Interestingly, each branch of the above mentioned dialects covers a big region.
The provinces shown next to each dialect just to give you some brief idea of where it is located and spoken.
If
you happen to learn more of any of these dialects by meeting more Chinese people, you will be amazed by its outcome.
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I want to share some personal examples with you by looking at my family.
My
mother's family originated from Hong Kong. So, her family speaks Cantonese (i.e. "Yue").
On
the other hand, my father's family came from Shantou, one of the cities in Guangdong province where people speak "Yue"
as their dialects. His family communicate with each other through their regional dialect called "Chiu Chou Hua".
During our childhood, my parents talked to us in Cantonese. A lot of time when we visited our grandparents from
my father's side, we had no idea what there were talking about. We always relied on our parents to "translate"
for us :-)
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Chinese Name Stencile
Great for Tattoo,
Art Projects |
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Another example is a city called "Taishan" in the same province. People's
dialect over there is "Taishan Hua". So, you can imagine how many "regional dialects" there are
even in one main branch of dialect.
Since the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1179 A.D.), there was a lot of southern
and overseas migration, especially in the Southeast Asia. As a result, many Southeast Asian speak different Chinese
dialects, especially "Yue", "Min" and "Hakka".
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Talking about my father communicate with his family in "Chiu Chou Hua",
I remembered that when we toured in Thailand, he could communicate with the Thai in his regional dialect and we sometimes
could talk to them in Cantonese. And I was 9 years old at that time. It showed that how big the influence of the
Chinese dialects and the southern migration.
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Another great example of the migration is the Taiwanese. Most of them are
fluent in both Fujianese (a dialect under the branch of "Min") and Mandarin.
The 2 biggest migrations to Taiwan was in the 12th century and after the Chinese Civil War in 1945.
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Before the popularity of Mandarin, it was very difficult to communicate among the Chinese, except those sharing the same dialects. Fortunately, this
situation happens less and less.
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