Old Xiang

Old Xiang, also known as Lou-Shao, is a conservative Xiang Chinese language. It is spoken in the central areas of Hunan where it has been to some extent isolated from the neighboring Chinese languages, Southwestern Mandarin and Gan languages, and it retains the voiced plosives of Middle Chinese, which are otherwise only preserved in Wu languages like Shanghainese. See Shuangfeng dialect for details. Mao Zedong was a speaker of Old Xiang with his native Shaoshan dialect.

Dialects and regions

The Shuangfeng dialect is representative.
Laba Miao is an Old Xiang dialect spoken by the Laba Miao people of western Guizhou. In Guizhou, it is spoken in Qinglong County 晴隆县, Pu'an County 普安县, Liuzhi County 六枝县, Shuicheng County, 水城县, and Panzhou 盘州.
Matanghua is a variety of Old Xiang that is spoken in Matang Ethnic Miao Township, Suining County, Hunan.