Quanzhou County (; za, Cenzcouh Yen) is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in the northeast of
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
, China, bordering
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
province to the north and east. It is under the administration of
Guilin
Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
City. Quanzhou is the biggest county in Guilin both in size and in population. The dialect here belongs to the
Xiang Chinese
Xiang or Hsiang (; ); Changsha Xiang: ''sian1 y3'', also known as Hunanese (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages, spoken mainly in Hunan province but also in northern Guangxi and parts of neighborin ...
.
Historically, Quanzhou was under the administration of
Hunan Province
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi t ...
. It was only after
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368CE - 1644CE) that it was removed from Hunan into Guangxi.
Administrative divisions
Quanzhou County administers 15
towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
, 1
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
, and 2
ethnic townships
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
.
Towns
The
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
administers the following 15 towns:
*
Quanzhou
Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...
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Township and ethnic townships
The county's sole township is .
The county's two ethnic townships are and .
Demographics
Language
Four
Yao languages
The Mienic or Yao languages are spoken by the Yao people of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Some of the Yao peoples speak Hmongic languages (Miao); these are called '' Bunu''. A small population of Yao people in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous Count ...
are spoken by the
Yao people
The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in ...
of Quanzhou County:
*
Mien
The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in t ...
()
*
Kim Mun
Kim Mun language (金门方言) is a Mienic language spoken by 200,000 of the Yao people in the provinces of Guangxi, Hunan and Hainan, with about 61,000 of the speakers in Hainan Province (figures as per Ethnologue, 25th Edition).
Iu Mien and K ...
()
*Ao Min ()
*
Biao Min ()
Within Quanzhou County, the Biao Min language is divided into the following five different dialect groups:
* The Qingshui (), Zhuwu (), Shangtang (), Xiaoheping (), Huangladong (), Huanglong (), and Leigongyan () group
* The Baizhu (), Jingrong (), and Daping () group
* The Bailing (), Liuzijie (), and Shijianping () group
* The Gumu () group
* The Xieshui () group
Much of the difference between local Biao Min dialects is in
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
, rather than
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
.
With the exception of the Xieshui dialect group, the dialect groups are largely
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
.
A possible explanation for the divergence of the Xieshui dialect group with other Biao Min dialects is increased interaction with
Han people
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive ...
in the area.
Ethnicity
The Yao people of Quanzhou County are mainly located in the
county's two
ethnic townships
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
: and .
Dongshan Yao Ethnic Township is home to the largest Yao population in the county, comprising about 20,000 people across 4,800 households.
The second largest concentration is located in Jiaojiang Yao Ethnic Township, where about 1,900 ethnic Yao reside across 400 households.
Within Jiaojiang, Banyaoshan Village () is home to about 120 ethnic Yao, residing across 20 households.
While not an ethnic township, the
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
of also has a sizable Yao community, numbering about 900 people across 190 households.
Within Shaoshui, Tongyou Village () hosts about 200 ethnic Yao across 60 households.
Climate
See also
*
Biao Min language
Biao Min, or Biao-Jiao Mien, is a Hmong–Mien language of China. The two varieties, Biao Min and Jiaogong Mian, are evidently not mutually intelligible.
Distribution
Ethnologue reports the Biao Min language to be spoken in the following counti ...
*
Yao people
The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in ...
References
Counties of Guangxi
Administrative divisions of Guilin
{{Guangxi-geo-stub