Shao–Jiang or Shaojiang Min () is a

Min Chinese Min (; BUC: ''Mìng-ngṳ̄'') is a broad group of Sinitic languages spoken by about 30 million people in Fujian province as well as by the descendants of Min speaking colonists on Leizhou peninsula and Hainan, or assimilated natives of Chaosh ...

language centered on Western

Nanping Nanping (), historically known as Yanping (), is a third-tier prefecture-level city in northwestern Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. It borders Ningde to the east, Sanming to the south, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi to t ...

in Northwest

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

, specifically in the Nanping counties of Guangze, Shaowu, and Western Shunchang and the Northern Sanming county of

Jiangle Jiangle County () is a county of western Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Sanming City. Administrative divisions Towns: *Guyong (), Wan'an (), Gaotang Gaotang County () is a county of northwestern ...

. Shao-Jiang developed from

Northern Min Northern Min () is a group of mutually intelligible Min varieties spoken in Nanping prefecture of northwestern Fujian. Classification and distribution Early classifications of varieties of Chinese, such as those of Li Fang-Kuei in 1937 and ...

(Min Bei), and was deeply influenced by

Gan Chinese Gan, Gann or Kan is a group of Sinitic languages spoken natively by many people in the Jiangxi province of China, as well as significant populations in surrounding regions such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Gan is a member of the S ...

and

Hakka Chinese Hakka (, , ) forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people throughout Southern China and Taiwan and throughout the diaspora areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around th ...

. The classification of Shao-Jiang is disputed. It is frequently classified as a dialect of Northern Min, but sometimes it is excluded from Min and classified as Gan Chinese instead. But it is mutually intelligible with neither other Northern Min nor other Gan. Actually it is a collection of dialects which have limited mutual intelligibility instead of a language. Some Chinese scholars call it Min-Gan dialects (), Min-Gan transition dialects () or Min-Hakka-Gan transition dialects ().

References

Min Shaojiang dialect classification
at ''Glossika'' {{Chinese language Northern Min Nanping Fujian