Eternity -- Dialects

The Chinese language has over 400 dialects in continental China alone. The people of each province have a special dialect, and then the people of each city, town, and village have their own special dialect as well. However, unlike many languages many of the Chinese dialects are vastly different from some of the other Chinese dialects. In many countries, a person with a southern vernacular can understand a person with a northern dialect. With Chinese dialects, some seem like an entirely different language. Fortunately, since they are dialects, the same basic written language is used throughout all of China.

Here are some dialects:

1. Mandarin
2. Cantonese
3. Hunanese
4. Pekingnese
5. Taiwanese
6. Ammoy
7. Folkenese
8. Fukienese
9. Shanghainese
10. Gansunese
11. Sichuanese
12. Hainanese
13. Yunnanese
14. Jiangsunese
15. Hubeinese
16. Liaoningese

Mandarin is the national dialect or the main language of China. Over 90% of Chinese people speak Mandarin, but also may very likely speak another dialect.
Cantonese is the main dialect used in Hong Kong and in areas around it. It is vastly different than Mandarin and can almost be considered another language.
Taiwanese is the dialect used in Taiwan in addition to Mandarin.