Huīzhōu

Huizhou, or Hui, is the Sinitic speech of the Xin'an River basin, centered on the old Huizhou Prefecture of southern Anhui and spilling into northern Zhejiang and northeastern Jiangxi.

It grew from the Chinese of Central Plains settlers who absorbed the language of the native Shanyue people, and shares its ancient Jiangdong roots with Wu and Min. Its varieties differ from township to township and are often mutually unintelligible.

Under the Ming, 1368 to 1644, and the Qing, Jianghuai speakers settled in the region, while Huizhou merchants grew rich across the empire, above all in Yangzhou, and sponsored operas sung in the home dialect. The speech of She County and later Tunxi served as the local standard, and Hui is written in Chinese characters.