Quanzhou County (; ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the northeast of

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

, China, bordering

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

province to the north and east. It is under the administration of

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

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 ( Chinese: 湘; Changsha Xiang: , Mandarin: ), 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 n ...

. Historically, Quanzhou was under the administration of

Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...

. It was only after the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

(1368CE - 1644CE) that it was removed from Hunan into Guangxi.

Administrative divisions

Quanzhou County administers 15

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

, 1

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

, and 2

ethnic townships An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

. ;Towns: *

Quanzhou Quanzhou 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, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

(全州镇) * (黄沙河镇) * (庙头镇) * (文桥镇) * (大西江镇) * (龙水镇) * (才湾镇) * (绍水镇) * (石塘镇) * (咸水镇) * (凤凰镇) * (安和镇) * (两河镇) * (枧塘镇) * (永岁镇) ;Townships: * (白宝乡) ;Ethnic townships: * (蕉江瑶族乡) * (东山瑶族乡)

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 () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They s ...

of Quanzhou County: *

Mien The Yao people () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They s ...

() * 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 (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

. With the exception of the Xieshui dialect group, the dialect groups are largely

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

. A possible explanation for the divergence of the Xieshui dialect group from other Biao Min dialects is increased interaction with

Han people The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 17.5% of the worl ...

in the area.

Ethnicity

The Yao people of Quanzhou County are mainly located in the county's two

: 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 type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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

References