Proportions of first-language speakers[1] "Chinese" is a blanket term covering many different varieties spoken across China.
Linguists classify these varieties as the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family.
In order of decreasing number of speakers, they are: The revised classification of Li Rong, used in the Language Atlas of China (1987) added three further groups split from these: The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:[2][3][4] In addition to the varieties listed below, it is customary to speak informally of dialects of each province (such as Sichuan dialect and Hainan dialect).
The number of speakers derived from statistics or estimates (2019) and were rounded:[5] Sometimes subcategory of Wu.
The non-Min dialects of Hainan were once considered Yue, but are now left unclassified: In addition to the varieties within the Sinitic branch of Sino-Tibetan, a number of mixed languages also exist that comprise elements of one or more Chinese varieties with other languages.