Xiang (Hsiang, ) or imprecisely
Hunanese , is a group of linguistically similar and historically related
varieties of Chinese, spoken mainly in
Hunan province but also in a few parts of
Guangxi,
Sichuan and
Shaanxi. Scholars divided Xiang into five subgroups, Chang-Yi, Lou-Shao, Hengzhou, Chen-Xu and Yong-Quan. Among those, Lou-shao, as known as Old Xiang, still exhibits the three-way distinction of
Middle Chinese obstruents, preserving the
voiced stops,
fricatives, and
affricates. Xiang has also been heavily influenced by
Mandarin, which adjoins three of the four sides of the Xiang speaking territory, and
Gan in
Jiangxi Province, from where a large population immigrated to Hunan during the
Ming Dynasty.