The Historical Evolution of Changshu Dialect

Strictly speaking, Changshu dialect belongs to Suzhou dialect in a broad sense.

Traditionally, Suzhou dialect only refers to Wuxian (formerly Guo County) dialect, and in a narrow sense, it only refers to the dialect prevailing in Suzhou city, that is, "Essence".

Historically, Changshu has been under the jurisdiction of Suzhou (including Huiji County in Qin and Han Dynasties, Wu Jun County and Pingjiang House in Song Dynasty, etc.). ), so the relationship between changshu dialect and Suzhou dialect is the deepest.

To understand the authentic Changshu dialect, we must first look at the history of Changshu in ancient and modern times.

Changshu County before the Tang Dynasty was not in Yushan Town. In the seventh year of Tang Wude (624), Changshu County moved to Haiyucheng (now Yushan Town) and was transferred to Wu Jun.

During Zhenyuan period of Yuan Dynasty (1295), Changshu County was promoted to Changshu House and transferred to Pingjiang Road.

In the second year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1369), it was reduced to a county and transferred to Suzhou.

In the fourth year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (1726), Zhaowen County was located in the east of Changshu County, where two counties ruled one city.

19 1 1 The Revolution of 1911 broke out and Changshu and Zhaowen counties merged into Changshu County.

1April 27, 949, Changshu was liberated.

In May of the same year, Changshu City was established as the county seat, and the county and city offices were co-located.

195 1 year Changshu was assigned to Suzhou District, Sunan Administrative Region.

In June, 1954, 1 1, Changshu was promoted to a municipality directly under the Central Government of Jiangsu Province.

1958 Changshu withdrew from the market and remained unified as Changshu County.

1In March, 983, the county was withdrawn to establish the city, and Changshu City was located in the county.

The development of modern Changshu dialect should start from the division of two counties in Qing Dynasty. Changshu and Zhaowen counties are bounded by Qinchuan, with Changshu County on one side and Zhaowen County on the other.

The development of Changshu dialect is slowly evolving in a small scope within the ring road.

Changshu County and Zhaowen County are also called Xixiang and Dongxiang.

Dongxiang is high and Xixiang is low. Therefore, in the era of agricultural economy, the low-lying Xixiang is far more developed than the high-lying Dongxiang, where cotton and other crops are planted, because rice and rape with high value are planted here.

Dialect differentiation between Dongxiang and Xixiang is becoming more and more obvious.

At that time, Dongxiang women were proud to eat white rice and speak Xixiang dialect.

19 1 1 After the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, Changshu was reunified as a county, but the economic gap between Dongxiang and Xixiang was still quite large, and economic imbalance led to population mobility.

After the merger, the flow of people promoted the gradual integration of dialects, from the original great difference to the small difference.

After liberation, the dialect structure of Changshu dialect has not changed much. After the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, with the development of economy, the flow of people in Changshu has increased. Outsiders come to Changshu and Changshu people go to other places. Dongxiang's economic development has far surpassed Xixiang's, with rich media.

With more and more dialects and Putonghua, more and more forms and evolution, Changshu dialect has also developed rapidly.

It has become more diversified, with more new words, more words influenced by foreign countries, and old words that are not used are slowly disappearing.

Changshu dialect is the new changshu dialect. As long as Changshu people can understand changshu dialect, it is changshu dialect.

There is no fixed dialect, just like there is no fixed Yushan.

Why care if this is Dongxiang dialect or Xixiang dialect, rural dialect or urban dialect? They are all branches of the ancient Changshu dialect.

People living in Changshu are all Changshu people-old Changshu people and new Changshu people. Naturally, they all talk about changshu dialect.