# Cheenese leid

| Cheenese |
| --- |
| 汉语／漢語 or 中文 Hànyǔ or Zhōngwén |
| Hànyǔ (*Cheenese*) written in Hanzi |
| Native tae | Fowkrepublic o Cheenae (PRC, commonly kent as Cheenae), Republic o Cheenae (ROC, commonly kent as Taiwan), Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysie, Brunei, the Unitit States, Canadae, the Philippines, Australie, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesie, Mauritius, Peru, an ither places wi Cheenese communities |
| Native speakers | 1.2 billion (2004) |
| Leid faimily | Sino-Tibetan
* Sinitic
	+ **Cheenese**
 |
| Staundart forms | Mandarin

 |
| Dialects | * Mandarin
* Jin
* Huizhou
* Wu (includin Shanghainese)
* Hunanese
* Jiangxinese
* Hakka
* Yue (includin Cantonese-Taishanese)
* Pinghua
* Shaojiang
* Northren Min
* Eastren Min (includin Fuchow)
* Central Min
* Pu Xian
* Soothren Min (includin Amoy, Taiwanese)
* Teochew (includin Swatow, Chaozhou, Jieyang, pairts o Shanwei/Meizhou)
 |
| Writin seestem | Cheenese characters, zhuyin fuhao, pinyin, Xiao'erjing |
| Offeecial status |
| Offeecial leid in |  Unitit Naitions
 Fowkrepublic o Cheenae
 Republic o Cheenae (Taiwan)
 Singapore *(ane o the fower offeecial leids)*
 Wa State, Burma *(alangside the Wa leid)*
 Brunei
 Hong Kong *(alangside Inglish)*
 Macau *(alangside Portuguese)* |
| Recognised minority leid in |  Unitit States (minority an auxiliary)  Malaysie (minority an auxiliary)  Philippines (minority an auxiliary) |
| Regulatit bi | In the PRC: Naitional Commission on Leid an Script Wirk In the ROC: Naitional Leids Committee In Singapore: Promote Mandarin Cooncil /Speak Mandarin Campaign |
| Leid codes |
| ISO 639-1 | `zh` |
| ISO 639-2 | `chi (B)` `zho (T)` |
| ISO 639-3 | `zho` – inclusive code Individual codes: `cdo` – Min Dong `cjy` – Jinyu `cmn` – Mandarin `cpx` – Pu Xian `czh` – Huizhou `czo` – Min Zhong `gan` – Gan `hak` – Hakka `hsn` – Xiang `mnp` – Min Bei `nan` – Min Nan `wuu` – Wu `yue` – Yue `och` – Auld Cheenese `ltc` – Late Middle Cheenese `lzh` – Classical Cheenese |
| Linguasphere | `79-AAA` |
| Cairt o the Sinophone warld.
**Information:**
  Kintras identified Cheenese as a primary, admeenistrative, or native leid
  Kintras wi mair nor 5,000,000 Cheenese speakers
  Kintras wi mair nor 1,000,000 Cheenese speakers
  Kintras wi mair nor 500,000 Cheenese speakers
  Kintras wi mair nor 100,000 Cheenese speakers
  Major Cheenese speakin settlements
 |

**Chinese** or the **Sinitic leid(s)** (汉语/漢語 Hànyǔ; 华语/華語 Huáyǔ; 中文 Zhōngwén) is a leid faimly consistin o leids that is maistly mutually unintelligible tae varyin degrees. Oreeginally the indigenous leids spoken bi the Han Cheenese in Cheenae, it forms ane o the branches o Sino-Tibetan family o leids. Aboot ae-fift o the warld’s population, or ower ae billion fowk, speaks some variety o Cheenese as their native leid. Internal diveesions o Cheenese are uisually perceived bi their native speakers as dialects o a single Cheenese leid, raither than separate leids, although this identification is considered inappropriate bi some linguists an Sinologists.

Spoken Cheenese is distinguisht bi its heich level o internal diversity, although aw spoken varieties o Cheenese are tonal an analytic. There atween seiven an thirteen main regional groups o Cheenese (dependin on classification scheme), o whilk the maist spoken, bi far, is Mandarin (aboot 850 million), follaed bi Wu (90 million), Cantonese (Yue) (70 million) an Min (50 million). Maist o thir groups is mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang an the Soothwest Mandarin dialects, mey share common terms an some degree o intelligibility.

Staundart Mandarin *(Putonghua / Guoyu / Huayu)* is a staundardised form o spoken Cheenese, based on the Beijing dialect, whilk is pairt o a lairger group o North-Eastren an Sooth-Wastren dialects, aften takken as a separate leid. The Mandarin Cheenese leid is referred tae as 官话/官話 *Guānhuà* or 北方话/北方話 *Běifānghuà* in Cheenese. Staundart Mandarin is the offeecial leid o the Fowkrepublic o Cheenae (PRC) an the Republic o Cheenae (ROC, an' a' kent as Taiwan), as weel as ane o fower offeecial leids o Singapore. Cheenese—*de facto*, Staundart Mandarin—is ane o the sax offeecial leids o the Unitit Naitions. O the ither varieties, Stanudart Cantonese is common an influential in Guangdong Province an Cantonese-speakin owerseas communities, an remains ane o the offeecial leids o Hong Kong (thegither wi Inglis) an o Macau (thegither wi Portuguese). Min Nan, pairt o the Min leid group, is widely spoken in soothren Fujian, in neighbourin Taiwan (whaur it is kent as Taiwanese or Hoklo) an in Sootheast Asie (kent as Hokkien in Singapore an Malaysie).

Man speakin i the cheenese