Huizhou Chinese

Huizhou Chinese

Huizhou (simplified Chinese: 徽州话; traditional Chinese: 徽州話; pinyin: Huīzhōu-huà) or Hui (simplified Chinese: 徽语; traditional Chinese: 徽語; pinyin: Huī-yǔ), is a division of Chinese. Its status is disputed among linguists, with some classifying it as Wu, others as Gan, and still others setting it apart as a primary branch of Chinese.

Hui is spoken over a small area compared to other Chinese varieties: in and around the historical region of Huizhou (for which it is named), in about ten or so mountainous counties in southern Anhui, plus a few more in neighbouring Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Despite its small size, Hui displays a very high degree of internal variation. Nearly every county has its own distinct dialect unintelligible to a speaker a few counties away. It is for this reason that bilingualism and multilingualism are common among speakers of Hui.

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is plenty of dispute as to whether Hui is a language or a dialect. See Varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.