Hoochew Chinese

Fuzhou dialect
福州話 / Hók-ciŭ-uâ 福州語 / Hók-ciŭ-ngṳ̄ 平話 / Bàng-uâ
Native to	China (Fuzhou and its surrounding counties) and Taiwan (Matsu Islands), Thailand (Chandi Town and Lamae), Singapore, Malaysia (Sibu, Miri, Sarikei, Bintulu, Yong Peng, Sitiawan and Ayer Tawar) and Indonesia (Semarang, Magelang and Surabaya), as well as some other Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and in the West, particularly in the Chinatowns of New York City.
Ethnicity	Fuzhounese (Han Chinese)
Native speakers	< 10 million (date missing)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Chinese Min Coastal Min Eastern Min Houguan subgroup Fuzhou dialect
Early forms	Old Chinese Eastern Han Chinese Proto-Min
Writing system	Chinese characters and Foochow Romanized
Official status
Official language in	none
Recognised minority language in	one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the Matsu Islands, Republic of China
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	fzho
Glottolog	fuzh1239
Fuzhou dialect in Fujian Province, regions where the standard form is spoken are deep blue. 1: Fuzhou City Proper, 2: Minhou, 3: Fuqing, 4: Lianjiang, 5: Pingnan 6: Luoyuan, 7: Gutian, 8: Minqing, 9: Changle, 10: Yongtai, 11: Pingtan 12: Regions in Fuding, 13: Regions in Xiapu, 14: Regions in Ningde 15: Regions in Nanping, 16: Regions in Youxi
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The Fuzhou dialect, (simplified Chinese: 福州话; traditional Chinese: 福州話; pinyin: Fúzhōuhuà; FR:  Hók-ciŭ-uâ ) also Fuzhounese, Foochow or Hok-chiu, is the prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in eastern Fujian province. Like many other varieties of Chinese, the Fuzhou dialect is dominated by monosyllabic morphemes which carry lexical tones, and has a mainly analytic syntax. While the Eastern Min branch that it belongs to is closer to Southern Min than to other Sinitic branches such as Mandarin or Hakka, they are still not mutually intelligible.

Centered in Fuzhou City, the Fuzhou dialect covers eleven cities and counties: Fuzhou City Proper, Pingnan, Gutian, Luoyuan, Minqing, Lianjiang (including Matsu), Minhou, Changle, Yongtai, Fuqing and Pingtan. It is also the second local language in many northern and middle Fujian cities and counties such as Nanping, Shaowu, Shunchang, Sanming and Youxi.