Xiang-speaking peoples

Xiang
Hunanese
湘語/湘语
"Xiang Language" written in Chinese characters
Native to	China
Region	Central and southwestern Hunan, northern Guangxi, parts of Guizhou and Hubei provinces
Ethnicity	Hunanese people (Han Chinese)
Native speakers	38 million (2007)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Xiang
Dialects	Old Xiang New Xiang Chen-Xu Xiang Hengzhou Xiang Yong-Quan Xiang
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	xian1251
Linguasphere	79-AAA-e

Xiang or Hsiang (Chinese: 湘; pinyin: xiāng; Mandarin pronunciation: [ɕi̯ɑ́ŋ]), also known as Hunanese (English: /ˌhuːnɑːˈniːz/), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related varieties of Chinese, spoken mainly in Hunan province but also in northern Guangxi and parts of neighboring Guizhou and Hubei provinces. Scholars divided Xiang into five subgroups, Chang-Yi, Lou-Shao, Hengzhou, Chen-Xu and Yong-Quan. Among those, Lou-shao, also known as Old Xiang, still exhibits the three-way distinction of Middle Chinese obstruents, preserving the voiced stops, fricatives, and affricates. Xiang has also been heavily influenced by Mandarin, which adjoins three of the four sides of the Xiang speaking territory, and Gan in Jiangxi Province, from where a large population immigrated to Hunan during the Ming Dynasty.