Chinese language that is spoken in Hunan province. The two major varieties of Xiang are New Xiang and Old Xiang. New Xiang, which is spoken predominantly around Changsha, the capital of Hunan, has been strongly influenced by Mandarin Chinese. Old Xiang, which is spoken in other areas of the province, including Shuangfeng, is similar in several respects to the Wu language. Old Xiang has a greater number of different initial consonants than does any other major Chinese language. Xiang uses five tones to distinguish meaning between words or word elements that have the same series of consonants and vowels.
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