Gan Chinese - Classification

Classification

The classification of Gan is subject to debate. Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is a large amount of dispute as to whether Gan is a language or a dialect. There are three dominant views:

• The first viewpoint considers Gan to be a dialect of Chinese, which is supported by the scholars in mainland China. Actually, Gan and Xiang were carved out of the region of the Mandarin language until 1937 and some Gan speakers consider Gan a dialect of Chinese, mostly owing to political beliefs or nationalist sentiments. Gan has more similarities with Mandarin than with Cantonese or Min.
• Some consider Gan and Hakka one language, “Gan-Hakka”, or a group of languages with Hakka and Cantonese, because there are many similarities among the three.
• Others consider Gan an independent language because Gan is unintelligible with other Chinese languages.

See also: Identification of the varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.