Language Atlas of China

The Language Atlas of China, published by Hong Kong Longman Publishing Company in two parts in 1987 and 1989, maps the distribution of both the varieties of Chinese and minority languages of China.

It was a collaborative effort by the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, published simultaneously in the original Chinese and in English translation. Endymion Wilkinson rated this joint venture "outstanding".

A second edition was published by the Commercial Press in 2012.

Background
In the 1980s, Chinese dialects were relatively fully investigated and described, laying the foundation for the development of geolinguistics.Starting from Zhao Yuanren, Chinese scholars have mainly used static descriptions to study the ontology of dialects, ignoring the impact of social, historical and geographical factors on the evolution of dialects. In fact, language, as a product of human society, is closely related to non-linguistic factors such as social, cultural and historical factors. Inseparable. In order to have a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese dialects, scholars need to use new research methods, and geolinguistics came into being. The so-called geolinguistics is to intuitively show the relationship between language variation and regional space through maps. This is conducive to studying the true status of language change in different regions. With the improvement of social productivity, the development of various map software has also provided a lot of technical support for the development of dialect geography.In 2003, Shi Rujie translated and introduced the "Geography of Chinese Dialects" by Belgian scholar He Densong to China, which started the study of geolinguistics in China. Chinese scholars conducted in-depth discussions on geolinguistics, and the study of dialect geolinguistics became a trend.

As theoretical research gained momentum in China, scholars delved into the study of Chinese dialects, guided by the principles of geographical linguistics theory. This scholarly endeavor bore fruit with the successive publication of significant works such as the Atlas of Chinese Dialects and the New Atlas of Chinese Languages. Simultaneously, regional studies on Chinese dialects have flourished, yielding contributions from scholars including Peng Zerun, Wang Wensheng, Richard VanNess Simmons (known as Shi Haoyuan), Shi Rujie, Gu Qian, Xu Yue, and Li Yongxin.

Classification of Chinese varieties
The atlas organizes the varieties of Chinese in a hierarchy of groupings, following the work of Li Rong: The first edition of the Chinese Language Atlas divides Chinese dialects into ten regions: Jin, Wu, Hui, Gan, Xiang, Min, Cantonese, Pinghua, Hakka, and Mandarin. This objectively and comprehensively reflects the actual situation of Chinese dialect zoning.
 * supergroups (大区 dàqū): Mandarin and Min
 * groups (区 qū): Jin, Wu, Hui, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Yue, Pinghua and groups within Mandarin and Min
 * subgroups (片 piàn)
 * clusters (小片 xiǎopiàn) are only identified for some subgroups
 * local dialects (点 diǎn): localities that were surveyed

This book divides different dialect areas by two important criteria: the evolution of ancient “ru” tone characters and the evolution of ancient voiced initial characters. According to the first criterion of language evolution, we can distinguish between Mandarin and non-Mandarin. Most of the ancient Mandarin in ancient China has the ancient "ru" tone, which is now pronounced as "shu", and the ancient “ru” tone characters of non-Mandarin dialects are still pronounced as entering tone; according to the evolution of ancient voiceless initial “ru” tone characters, Mandarin can be divided into eight areas. According to the evolution of ancient voiced initial characters, nine non-Mandarin dialects can be divided.

Contents
The atlas contains 36 coloured maps, printed on loose white sheets measuring 15 x. Each map is accompanied by a blue sheet of the same size containing explanatory notes. The atlas is divided into three sections:
 * A. General maps
 * A1 Languages in China
 * A2 Chinese dialects in China
 * A3 Ethnic Minorities in China
 * A4 Minority languages in China
 * A5 Language distribution (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)
 * B. Maps of Chinese dialects
 * B1 Mandarin-1 (Northeastern China)
 * B2 Mandarin-2 (Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and western Shandong)
 * B3 Mandarin-3 (Henan, Shandong, northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu)
 * B4 Mandarin-4 (Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia)
 * B5 Mandarin-5 (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region)
 * B6 Mandarin-6 (Southwestern China)
 * B7 Jin group (Shanxi and adjacent areas)
 * B8 Chinese dialects (southeastern China)
 * B9 Wu group (Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu)
 * B10 Chinese dialects (southern Anhui area)
 * B11 Chinese dialects (Hunan and Jiangxi)
 * B12 Min supergroup (Fujian, Taiwan, eastern Guangdong and Hainan Island)
 * B13 Chinese dialects: Guangdong (mainland)
 * B14 Chinese dialects (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)
 * B15 Hakka group
 * B16 Chinese dialects overseas: (a) insular Southeast Asia (b) other parts of the world
 * C. Maps of minority languages
 * C1 Minority languages in northern China
 * C2 Mongolian languages
 * C3 Mongolian dialects
 * C4 Turkic (Tujue) languages
 * C5 Manchu-Tungus languages
 * C6 Minority languages in southern China
 * C7 Kam-Tai languages
 * C8 Miao-Yao languages
 * C9 Dialects of the Miao language
 * C10 Tibeto-Burman stock languages
 * C11 Tibetan dialects
 * C12 Minority languages (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)
 * C13 Minority languages (Yunnan province)
 * C14 Minority languages on Hainan and Taiwan islands

Second edition
Work began on a revised edition in 2002. The work was published in 2012 as a joint venture between the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the City University of Hong Kong. It consists of two volumes, dealing respectively with varieties of Chinese and minority languages. The revision follows the same structure as the first edition, but the number of maps has increased to 79, and the explanatory text is greatly expanded. The number of minority languages covered has also increased from 81 to 130.

Comments
As a successful example of Chinese dialect research, it has enriched the treasure house of Chinese linguistics and enhanced the status of the Chinese dialect discipline in China's linguistic disciplines.

This book comprehensively reflects the complex distribution of Chinese dialects and minority languages

This book has promoted the study of Chinese language and minority languages in China, and has provided help to experts and interested people in the fields of human life and history, such as Sinology, linguistics, ethnology, anthropology, archaeology, historical geography, economics, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, human geography, demography, historical geography, etc.