Xiang ( 湘语 ) is spoken by over 36 million people in China, primarily in Hunan ( 湖南 ) province, and also in over 20 counties in Sichuan, and parts of Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. Many scholars divide Xiang into two distinct varieties: Old Xiang ( 老湘语 ), which is spoken in the southern parts of the Xiang-speaking area, and New Xiang ( 新湘语 ), which can be heard in the northern Xiang-speaking area and is significantly closer to Mandarin due to the influence of Mandarin.

Linguistically, Xiang is between Mandarin and Wu Chinese and marginally intelligible with them. The written form is standard Chinese.

Xiang can be divided into two dialects:

• Changsha ( 长沙 ) the representative of New Xiang
• Shuangfeng ( 双峰 ) the representative of Old Xiang