Sichuanese Mandarin , or Szechwanese Mandarin, commonly known as Sichuanese, Szechuanese or Szechwanese (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Si⁴cuan¹hua⁴; ), is a branch of Southwestern Mandarin, spoken mainly in Sichuan and Chongqing, which was part of Sichuan until 1997, and the adjacent regions of their neighboring provinces, such as Hubei, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan and Shaanxi. In addition, because Sichuanese is the lingua franca in Sichuan, Chongqing and part of Tibet, it is also used by many Tibetan, Yi, Qiang and other groups as a second language.