Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

===Mainland China===
Most Han Chinese living in northern and southwestern China are native speakers of a dialect of Mandarin. The [[North China Plain]] provided few barriers to migration, leading to relative linguistic homogeneity over a wide area in northern China. In contrast, the mountains and rivers of southern China have spawned the other six major groups of Chinese varieties, with great internal diversity, particularly in [[Fujian]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=183–190}}{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|p=22}}

However, the varieties of Mandarin cover a huge area containing nearly a billion people. As a result, there are pronounced regional variations in [[pronunciation]], [[vocabulary]], and [[grammar]],{{sfnp|Szeto|Ansaldo|Matthews|2018}} and many Mandarin varieties are not mutually intelligible.{{efn|For example:
* In the early 1950s, only 54% of people in the Mandarin-speaking area could understand Standard Chinese, which was based on the Beijing dialect.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|p=27}}
* "Hence we see that even Mandarin includes within it an unspecified number of languages, very few of which have ever been reduced to writing, that are mutually unintelligible."{{sfnp|Mair|1991|p=18}}
* "the common term assigned by linguists to this group of languages implies a certain homogeneity which is more likely to be related to the sociopolitical context than to linguistic reality, since most of those varieties are not mutually intelligible."{{sfnp|Escure|1997|p=144}}
* "A speaker of only standard Mandarin might take a week or two to comprehend even simple Kunminghua with ease—and then only if willing to learn it."{{sfnp|Blum|2001|p=27}}
* "without prior exposure, speakers of different Mandarin dialects often have considerable difficulty understanding each other's local vernacular even if they come from the same province, provided that two or more distinct groups of Mandarin are spoken therein. In some cases, mutual intelligibility is not guaranteed even if the Mandarin dialects concerned belong to the same group and are spoken within the same province. As reported by a native speaker of the Zhenjiang dialect (a Jianghuai (Lower Yangtze) Mandarin dialect spoken in the Jiangsu province), it is impossible for her to understand the Nantong dialect (another Jianghuai Mandarin dialect spoken around 140 kilometers away in the same province)."{{sfnp|Szeto|Ansaldo|Matthews|2018|pp=241–242}}}}

Most of [[northeast China]], except for [[Liaoning]], did not receive significant settlements by Han Chinese until the 18th century,{{sfnp|Richards|2003|pp=138–139}} and as a result the [[Northeastern Mandarin]] dialects spoken there differ little from the [[Beijing dialect]].{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|p=21}} The [[Manchu people]] of the area now speak these dialects exclusively; their native language is only maintained in northwestern [[Xinjiang]], where [[Xibe language|Xibe]], a modern dialect, is spoken.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|pp=215–216}}

The frontier areas of [[northwest China]] were colonized by speakers of Mandarin dialects at the same time, and the dialects in those areas similarly closely resemble their relatives in the core Mandarin area.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|p=21}} The Southwest was settled early, but the population fell dramatically for obscure reasons in the 13th century, and did not recover until the 17th century.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|p=21}} The dialects in this area are now relatively uniform.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=191}} However, long-established cities even very close to [[Beijing]], such as [[Tianjin]], [[Baoding]], [[Shenyang]], and [[Dalian]], have markedly different dialects.