Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

=== Boundaries ===
{{Further|List of varieties of Chinese}}
The classification of Chinese dialects evolved during the 20th century, and many points remain unsettled. Early classifications tended to follow provincial boundaries or major geographical features.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=36–41}}

In 1936, [[Wang Li (linguist)|Wang Li]] produced the first classification based on phonetic criteria, principally the evolution of [[Middle Chinese]] voiced initials. His Mandarin group included dialects of northern and southwestern China, as well as those of [[Hunan]] and northern [[Jiangxi]].{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=41–42}}
[[Li Fang-Kuei]]'s classification of 1937 distinguished the latter two groups as [[Xiang Chinese|Xiang]] and [[Gan Chinese|Gan]], while splitting the remaining Mandarin dialects between Northern, Lower Yangtze and Southwestern Mandarin groups.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=49}}

The widely accepted seven-group classification of [[Yuan Jiahua]] in 1960 kept Xiang and Gan separate, with Mandarin divided into Northern, Northwestern, Southwestern and Jiang–Huai (Lower Yangtze) subgroups.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=53–54}}{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=181, 191}}
Of Yuan's four Mandarin subgroups, the Northwestern dialects are the most diverse, particularly in the province of [[Shanxi]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=191}} The linguist [[Li Rong (linguist)|Li Rong]] proposed that the northwestern dialects of Shanxi and neighbouring areas that retain a final glottal stop in the Middle Chinese [[entering tone]] (plosive-final) category should constitute a separate top-level group called [[Jin Chinese|Jin]].{{sfnp|Yan|2006|p=61}} He used this classification in the ''[[Language Atlas of China]]'' (1987).{{sfnp|Wurm|Li|Baumann|Lee|1987}} Many other linguists continue to include these dialects in the Mandarin group, pointing out that the Lower Yangtze dialects also retain the glottal stop.{{sfnp|Ting|1991|p=190}}{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=55–56, 74–75}}

The southern boundary of the Mandarin area, with the central [[Wu Chinese|Wu]], Gan and Xiang groups, is weakly defined due to centuries of diffusion of northern features. Many border varieties have a mixture of features that make them difficult to classify.
The boundary between Southwestern Mandarin and Xiang is particularly weak,{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=190}} and in many early classifications the two were not separated.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=41–46}} [[Zhou Zhenhe]] and You Rujie include the [[New Xiang]] dialects within Southwestern Mandarin, treating only the more conservative [[Old Xiang]] dialects as a separate group.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|p=55}}
The [[Huizhou Chinese|Huizhou]] dialects have features of both Mandarin and Wu, and have been assigned to one or other of these groups or treated as separate by various authors. Li Rong and the ''Language Atlas of China'' treated it as a separate top-level group, but this remains controversial.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=75–76}}{{sfnp|Yan|2006|pp=222–223}}