Will Southwest Mandarin become the last dialect to compete with Mandarin?

No, most dialects from various places can be preserved.

Language itself is constantly changing, and people also have the freedom to choose their language. The state does stipulate that Mandarin is the universal language, but it does not stipulate that dialects cannot be used. In fact, it gives room for choice. The next generation of people now choose Mandarin. This is the trend of the times.

Extended information:

There are currently 10 major dialects in China, namely Mandarin dialect, Jin dialect, Wu dialect, Hui dialect, Min dialect, Cantonese dialect, Hakka dialect, Gan dialect dialect, Xiang dialect, Pinghua dialect.

Mandarin dialects

Mandarin dialects can be divided into Northeast Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin, Hebei and Lu Mandarin, Jiaoliao Mandarin, Zhongyuan Mandarin, Lanyin Mandarin, Southwest Mandarin and Jianghuai Mandarin.

Since Northeastern Mandarin contains the word northeast, it must be mainly distributed in Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, and most of Liaoning Province, followed by the eastern part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the northeastern part of Hebei Province. The number of speakers has reached 120 million, and it is also the dialect closest to Mandarin.

Beijing Mandarin is mainly distributed in Beijing, Chengde City, Langfang City, and Zhuozhou City in Hebei Province, Chifeng City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chaoyang City, Lingyuan City, and Jianchang County in Liaoning Province. There are about 15 million speakers, making it a small dialect in comparison.

Jilu Mandarin is distributed in most of Hebei Province, most of Shandong Province, Pinggu District of Beijing, Guangling County of Shanxi Province and Ningcheng County of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a population of about 90 million.

Jiaoliao Mandarin is mainly distributed in the Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province, the Liaodong Peninsula of Liaoning Province and the lower reaches of the Yalu River. The number of users is small and difficult to count.

Central Plains Mandarin is mainly distributed in most of Henan, southwestern Shandong, northwestern Anhui, southern Shanxi, Guanzhong Shaanxi, eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai, and areas south of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang. Lanyin Mandarin is distributed in Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the northern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the western part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Southwestern Mandarin is popular in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, parts of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and other places in southwest China, as well as adjacent western Hunan, most of Hubei, and southern Shaanxi. Abroad, it is the Kokang dialect of Myanmar. The main language is also spoken by some Han people in Laos, Vietnam and other places.

Jianghuai Mandarin, formerly known as Nanfang Mandarin and Xiajiang Mandarin; also known as Huai dialect, Jiangbei dialect and Xiajiang dialect. It is now classified as a branch of Chinese Mandarin. The user population is approximately 70 million, mainly distributed in the Jianghuai region of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

Jin dialect

The Jin dialect has a population of about 63.05 million. The main speaking areas are Shanxi Province, the central and western parts of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern Shaanxi Province, most of Henan Province north of the Yellow River, and western Hebei Province .

Wu Dialect

Wu Dialect is distributed in present-day Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, southern Anhui, northeastern Jiangxi, and northern Fujian, with a population of more than 90 million speakers.

Hui Dialect

Hui Dialect, also called Hui language, is a Chinese dialect distributed in ancient Huizhou Prefecture, most of Yanzhou Prefecture, and parts of Raozhou Prefecture in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River, with a population of speakers About 4.36 million.

Min Dialect

Min dialect is the Min language, which is mainly distributed in Fujian Province, Guangdong Province, Hainan Island, Leizhou Peninsula, and other regions, with a population of about 80 million.

Cantonese Dialect

Cantonese Dialect is distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Chinese communities in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and some Southeast Asian countries. Used in China, it is the official language of Hong Kong and Macau. There are more than 100 million users, which is a very large group.

Hakka dialect

Hakka dialect is distributed in Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Zhejiang and other provinces, among which the eastern and northern Guangdong, western Fujian, and southern Jiangxi and southeastern Guangxi. The total number of people speaking this language in the world exceeds 70 million, which should not be underestimated.

Gan Dialect

Gan Dialect, also known as Xi language in ancient times, is also known as Jiangxi dialect. It is the main language used by the Jiangyou ethnic group of the Han nationality. Mainly distributed in the central and northern parts of Jiangxi, that is, the middle and lower reaches of the Gan River, the Fuhe River Basin, the Xiuhe River Basin and the surrounding areas of Poyang Lake, eastern Hunan and northwest Fujian, southeastern Hubei, southwestern Anhui, and southwestern Hunan. The number of users is not counted.

Xiang Dialect

The Hunan Dialect is distributed in most of Hunan Province and the northern part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with a population of more than 25 million.

Pinghua Tuhua

Pinghua Tuhua is a kind of Chinese dialect in Southwest China. It is still unclear which dialect of Chinese it belongs to. Some scholars or dialect books and periodicals classify Pinghua as Cantonese, and some It is considered that Pinghua is an independent dialect with a population of more than 2 million.

Judging from the situation recorded in the "Overview of Chinese Language and Script", the dialect with the largest number of speakers is Northeast Mandarin among the Mandarin dialects, with 120 million speakers. It is closely followed by the Cantonese dialect, with 100 million speakers.

According to statistics like this, many people will guess wrong before they understand it carefully. But that’s okay. As a historical and cultural heritage, dialects should be preserved and protected. As for Mandarin, which is unified across the country, everyone must learn and speak it well so that there will be no obstacles in communication.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Dialect