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At least four Chinese dialects are spoken in Zigong City: the Zigong dialect, the Rongxian dialect, Hakka and the Minjiang dialect. A majority of people in Zigong speak the Zigong dialect. However, most people in Rongxian, a county of Zigong City, speak the Rongxian dialect, whose pronunciation is quite different from that of the Zigong dialect. Besides, owing to a great number of Hakka immigrants in history, a small number of Hakka people in certain towns also remain to speak Hakka. Also, the Minjiang dialect is spoken in a few remote towns or villages bordering Luzhou, Leshan and Yibin.
History
The Zigong dialect differs from other branches of Sichuanese Mandarin. The modern Zigong dialect was formed rather recently in a great wave of immigration after the Qing dynasty.[citation needed]
Immigrants played a crucial role in the formation of the new Zigong dialect. Zigong has long been known as the "Salt Capital" for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture. In ancient China, salt was regarded as the energy for body and valued even more highly than gold. Therefore, salt trading was always the most profitable business and salt merchants were the wealthiest people. Hence many merchants, mainly from Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Guangdong, flooded into Zigong, bringing their Chinese varieties with them.
Phonology
There are four phonemic tones in the Zigong dialect: dark level tone, light level tone, rising tone, and departing tone. The four tones all have different pitches vis a vis Mandarin. The ancient checked tone of Chinese has been redistributed entirely into the departing tone.
