[1] The Language Atlas of China divided Northeastern Mandarin into three subgroups, following a classification be Hè Wēi based on the occurrence of nasal initials in words having a zero initial in Beijing:[3][5][6] More distant varieties tend to be more similar to the Beijing dialect than closer ones, so that the speech of Harbin is closer to that of Beijing than that of Jilin and Changchun, which in turn are closer than that of Shenyang.
[7] A form of Northeastern Mandarin (with some words from Udege and Nanai) has been spoken since approximately 1800 by the Taz people nearby in the Russian Far East, primarily in Primorsky Krai.
[8] Overseas, Northeastern Mandarin is spoken in increasingly larger communities in New York City Chinatowns/Flushing in the United States.
Northeastern Mandarin shares similarities with the Beijing dialect, such as a similar distribution of the Middle Chinese entering tone across the other tone classes and the preservation of initial [w], where the dialects of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, have [v].
[9] The [ʐ] initial of Beijing (spelled r- in pinyin) is generally elided in northeastern varieties.