Quanzhou County (; za, Cenzcouh Yen) is a
county in the northeast of
Guangxi, China, bordering
Hunan 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.
Historically, Quanzhou was under the administration of
Hunan Province. It was only after
Ming Dynasty (1368CE - 1644CE) that it was removed from Hunan into Guangxi.
Administrative divisions
Quanzhou County administers 15
towns, 1
township, and 2
ethnic townships.
Towns
The
county administers the following 15 towns:
*
Quanzhou
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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 t ...
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 ()
*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.
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 var ...
in the area.
Ethnicity
The Yao people of Quanzhou County are mainly located in the
county's two
ethnic townships: 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 t ...
References
Counties of Guangxi
Administrative divisions of Guilin
{{Guangxi-geo-stub