Lanyin Mandarin

Lan–Yin Mandarin (Lanyin) (simplified Chinese: 兰银官话; traditional Chinese: 蘭銀官話; pinyin: Lán–Yín Guānhuà) is a branch of Mandarin Chinese traditionally spoken throughout Gansu province and in the northern part of Ningxia. In recent decades it has expanded into northern Xinjiang.^[1] It has also been grouped together with Central Plains Mandarin (Chinese: 中原官话).^[2] The name is a compound of the capitals of the two former provinces where it dominates, Lanzhou and Yinchuan, which are also two of its principal subdialects.

Lan–Yin Mandarin
蘭銀官話 兰银官话 لًاءٍ قُوًاخُوَا
Region	Gansu, northern Ningxia, part of northern Xinjiang
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Lan–Yin Mandarin
Writing system	Chinese characters Xiao'erjing
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	lyiu
Glottolog	xibe1241
Linguasphere	79-AAA-bg
[image reference needed]

Among Chinese Muslims, it was sometimes written in the Arabic alphabet instead of Chinese characters.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, speaks the Xining dialect as his first language: he has said that his first language was "a broken Xining language which was (a dialect of) the Chinese language", a form of Central Plains Mandarin, and his family speak neither Amdo Tibetan nor Lhasa Tibetan.^[3][4][5]

Major Subdialects

• Lanzhou dialect [zh] (simplified Chinese: 兰州话; traditional Chinese: 蘭州話)
• Urumqi dialect [zh] (simplified Chinese: 乌鲁木齐话; traditional Chinese: 烏魯木齊話)
• Yinchuan dialect (simplified Chinese: 银川话; traditional Chinese: 銀川話)