New Xiang, also known as Chang-Yi (长益片 / 長益片) is the dominant form of

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 neighbori ...

. It is spoken in northeastern areas of

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, Jiangx ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

adjacent to areas where

Southwestern Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin (), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (), is a Mandarin Chinese language spoken in much of Southwest China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the nort ...

and Gan are spoken. Under their influence, it has lost some of the conservative phonological characteristics that distinguish

Old Xiang Old Xiang, also known as Lou-Shao (娄邵片 / 婁邵片), is a conservative Xiang Chinese language. It is spoken in the central areas of Hunan where it has been to some extent isolated from the neighboring Chinese languages, Southwestern Manda ...

. While most linguists follow

Yuan Jiahua Yuan Jiahua (, ; January 19034 September 1980) was a Chinese linguist and dialectologist from Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province. He graduated from the English Department of Peking University in 1932, worked as an editor in the North Shanghai New Boo ...

in describing New Xiang as a subgroup of Xiang Chinese,

Zhou Zhenhe Zhou Zhenhe (; born 1941) is a Chinese historical geographer and a distinguished senior professor at the Institute of Historical Geography of Fudan University in Shanghai. His main research interests are cultural and administrative geography and ...

and You Rujie classify it as Southwestern Mandarin. However, New Xiang is still very difficult for Mandarin speakers to understand, particularly the old style of New Xiang.

Dialects and regions

New Xiang-speaking cities and counties are mainly located in the northeast part of Hunan, the lower river of Xiang and Zi. The

Changsha dialect The Changsha dialect () is a dialect of New Xiang Chinese. It is spoken predominantly in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, China. It is not mutually intelligible with Standard Mandarin, the official language of China. Classification T ...

is representative. There are three main subdialects under New Xiang. ; Chang-Tan : Urban Changsha,

Changsha County Changsha County () is a county in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Changsha. Located in the west portion of Changsha, the county is bordered to the north by Miluo City and Pingjiang County, to t ...

Wangcheng District Wangcheng District () is one of six urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China. It is the largest district of Changsha by area. The district is bordered to the north by Miluo City and Xiangyin Co ...

Ningxiang Ningxiang () is a county-level city and the 2nd most populous county-level division in the Province of Hunan, China; it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Changsha. The city is bordered to the north by Heshan Distric ...

Liuyang Liuyang () is a county-level city, the List of County-level divisions of Hunan by population, most populous and the easternmost county-level division of Hunan, Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city o ...

Xiangyin Xiangyin County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Yueyang City. Located on the southeastern shores of Lake Dongting, the Xiang River runs south to north through the middle lands of the county, the Zi Rive ...

, Miluo,

Nanxian Nan County, or Nanxian () is a county in the Province of Hunan, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yiyang. Located in the northern margin of the province, the county is bordered to the north by Shishou City of ...

, Urban Zhuzhou,

Zhuzhou County Lukou District, formerly Zhuzhou County (), is a district of the city of Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, China. Located on the south central Hunan along the Xiang River, the district is bordered to the north by Liuyang City, Lusong and Tianyuan Distric ...

, Urban Xiangtan,

Xiangtan County Xiangtan County () is a county in Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of Xiangtan City. Located on the east central Hunan, the county is bordered to the north by Yuhu, Yuetang Districts and Xiangtan City, to the west by Xian ...

; Yi-Yuan : Urban Yiyang,

Yuanjiang Yuanjiang () is a county-level city in the Province of Hunan, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yiyang. Located in the north of the province, the city is bordered to the north by Nan County, to the northeast b ...

Taojiang Taojiang County () is a county in the Province of Hunan, China, it is under the administration of Yiyang Prefecture-level City. Located in the north central part of the province, the county is bordered to the north by Hanshou County and Dingch ...

; Yueyang :

Yueyang County Yueyang County () is a county in Hunan province, China. It is under the administration of Yueyang City. The county is located on the northeastern margin of the province, the Xiang River runs through the west land of the county from south to eas ...

Yueyang Yueyang, formerly known as Yuezhou or Yochow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake and Yangtze in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative area of ...

Suantang (酸汤) is a lect spoken by about 80,000 ethnic

Miao people The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia, who are recognized by the government of China as one of the 56 official ethnic groups. The Miao live primarily in southern China's mountains, in ...

in Baibu (白布), Dihu (地湖), Dabaozi (大堡子), and Sanqiao (三锹) in Tianzhu, Huitong, and Jing counties of Hunan province. It is very similar to New Xiang, but is unintelligible with

References

Xiang Chinese {{St-lang-stub