Wu dialect has a long history of more than 3,000 years since the Zhou Dynasty. In China, it is distributed in Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, southern Anhui, northeastern Jiangxi and the northwest corner of Fujian (Pucheng), with a population of more than 90 million. Wu dialect is a branch of Sino-Tibetan language family and one of the seven dialects of Chinese.
The pronunciation of Wu dialect has a good correspondence with the standard rhyme of ancient Chinese, such as Qieyun and Guang Yun. In terms of initial consonants, Wu dialect inherited the 36-character framework system of Tang and Song Dynasties, and its most important feature is to retain all voiced sounds. Initial consonants can be divided into four categories: all-clear, sub-clear, all-voiced and sub-voiced, and some areas retain the sharp group sound differentiation.
In terms of tone, Wu dialect has an entering rhyme, inheriting the neat four tones and eight tones in the Middle Ages, and the four tones are divided into yin and yang because of the opposition of initials.
Wu dialect division:
Wu dialect is divided into six pieces: Taihu piece, Taizhou piece, Jinqu piece, Shangli piece, Oujiang piece and Xuanzhou piece, with Taihu piece being the largest.
Wu dialect is rooted in wuyue's hometown, connected with the blood of Wu and Yue culture, and has a long human history. Wu dialect is an ancient local language in the south of the Yangtze River, which has witnessed the language and culture of poetry and painting in the south of the Yangtze River.
Wu dialect is the mother tongue of Wuyue people, which is the cultural attribute and homesickness of Wuyue people's "unchanged local accent". Wuyu District has long been the economic and cultural core of China. Today, more than 100 cities constitute the Wuyu urban agglomeration, Jiangnan cultural circle and Shanghai metropolitan area headed by Shanghai. Wu dialect is also the carrier of traditional folk arts such as Wu Ge, Yue Opera and Pingtan. Wu dialect has also been sung by scholars of past dynasties, saying that "Wu Sheng is intoxicating".