Wu Chinese

Wu is a major branch of Chinese languages, spoken mainly in Shanghai, Zhejiang province, and parts of Jiangsu province—especially south of the Yangtze River. This area is known as the Wu cultural region. To outsiders, these languages are often simply called Shanghainese. In the 19th century, the Suzhou variety was the most prestigious form of Wu, but by the early 20th century, Shanghainese had taken over that role, coinciding with a period of rapid linguistic change in Shanghai. The Northern Wu languages form a family and are mutually intelligible, while Southern Wu varieties do not share a common ancestor and are not mutually intelligible.

Linguists find Wu notable for its distinctive features. It preserves all the voiced initials of medieval Chinese, as well as the checked tone, which appears as a glottal stop. Wu also has unique grammatical structures and vocabulary not found in other Chinese language groups. The influential linguist Chao Yuen Ren was a native speaker of Changzhounese, a Northern Wu variety. Speakers of both Wu and other Chinese languages often describe Wu, especially the Suzhou dialect, as soft-sounding, giving rise to the phrase "the tender speech of Wu."

Most Wu speakers do not identify with the term "Wu" itself, as this linguistic classification is a recent invention. Saying someone "speaks Wu" is like saying they "speak a Romance language"—it’s not a clearly defined entity like Standard Mandarin or Standard German. Instead, speakers typically refer to their local variety by adding the word for "speech" to the place name—for example, "Wenzhounese" or, in Northern Wu, using a different suffix for "speech." Common names for the entire group include:

- **Wu language** (吴语), the formal term used in dialectology. - **Wu topolect** (吴方言), a common name that adds "dialect" instead of "language," sometimes seen as dismissive. - **Wuyue language** (吴越语), a poetic and historical name linking the language to the ancient states of Wu and Yue. - **Goetian**, from the Japanese spelling of Wuyue, listed by Ethnologue; its English use is associated with separatist movements. - **Jiang–Zhe speech** (江浙话), meaning "speech of Jiangsu and Zhejiang." - **Jiangnan speech** (江南话), a less common name linking the language to the Jiangnan region, not to be confused with a Mandarin variety spoken in Xiangtan.

Historically, Han Chinese first arrived in the area before the dynastic period. After migrations during the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians, the vernacular that would become modern Wu began to take shape, though the court language in Jiankang (modern Nanjing) remained distinct from common speech. A second migration wave during the Southern Song dynasty to Lin'an (Hangzhou) created the modern literary layer. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, opera traditions and vernacular texts emerged. In the Qing dynasty, missionaries translated the Bible into local varieties and recorded pronunciations for the first time. Shanghai’s economic boom during this period elevated its urban dialect over Suzhou’s. The 20th century saw nationwide promotion of Standard Mandarin, but the 21st century has brought revival efforts for many Wu varieties.

Before Han Chinese settlement, the Jiangnan region was home to Kra-Dai or Austroasiatic peoples, called barbarians by early Chinese. According to tradition, Taibo of Wu settled there during the Shang dynasty, bringing Chinese administrative practices and forming the state of Wu. The majority population were the Baiyue peoples, with distinct customs. The *Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals* states that the customs and languages of Wu and Yue were the same, referring both to the Baiyue language and to "Ancient Wu," a Sinitic language likely used only by nobility. Ancient Wu’s northern border was the Huai River (not the Yangtze as today), and its southern limits may have reached Fujian; Proto-Min might be a descendant of Ancient Wu, though this is debated. As early as Guo Pu (275–324), speakers could easily tell dialects apart across different parts of China.