1) Areas that were once predominantly Wu Chinese-speaking (Chuzhou 滁州 during the Wei-Jin period and Yangzhou during the Sui-Tang dynasties) are now Jianghuai Mandarin-speaking. Chuzhou Wu was supplanted by an early Jianghuai Mandarin during the Southern Song period. Xuancheng Wu itself is currently being replaced by Jianghuai Mandarin and facing extinction. Nanjing itself also had a majority Wu-speaking population, with a dwindling minority who still speak Wu, particularly confined to areas outside of the city proper itself. So the Wu-speaking domain used to be much larger in the past, it could have occupied much of Anhui province as well as at least 60% of Jiangsu province.
隋代揚州經濟文化崛起，隋煬帝也曾經在揚州學習吳語。
滁州內部方言大致上屬於江淮官話的不同口音。歷史上早期方言為吳語，東晉後逐漸與中原口音差距變小，至南宋時候已經完全演化為江淮話。
2) Growth of Jianghuai Mandarin often coincided with devastating events that affected the Wu-speaking domain. (The enforcement of the Queue Order is said to have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in a series of massacres throughout southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang due to the non-compliance of the locals; the Taiping rebellion has also had devastating effects on the Wu-speaking population) From a native-speaking population that was once about 20% of the entire Chinese population during the late Ming-early Qing period, to approximately 14% on the onset of the Taiping rebellion, to approximately 5-7% today (if looking at the Ethnologue estimated population of approximately 77 million, though I think the actual number of speakers has sharply decreased to approx. 40-55 million competent speakers) and decreasing. A portion of southern Anhui and northwestern Zhejiang was heavily depopulated during the Taiping period until it was repopulated by northern Chinese migrants from Hubei and Henan. A result of the Taiping rebellion was the sharp decline of Suzhou dialect as the prestige dialect of Wu Chinese, only to be replaced by Shanghainese as the prestige Wu dialect.
清初吳語繼續發展，吳語人口佔全中國的20%，當時白話小說《豆棚閒話》真實記錄了當時的吳語口語。
清末太平天國爆發，對江南地區造成嚴重影響，吳地經濟基礎、勞動資源遭受前所未有的打擊，吳語人口銳減。吳語的代表曾經是蘇州話，太平天國後，隨著蘇州的衰落和上海的崛起，漸有人把上海話當作代表。總之，吳語的影響力一直在吳地，故名吳語。
強令官民剃髮易服的舉措引起漢人的普遍不滿，激起了漢族各階層人士的反對，導致了長期的政局不穩以至生靈塗炭。[20]「及有剃頭之舉，民皆憤怒，或見我人泣而言曰，我以何罪獨為此剃頭乎？」[21]為了保持本民族的文化，許多人因此反抗滿清，或者寧願一死[13]。不僅原先準備降清的人立即改弦易轍，連已經歸附的州縣百姓也紛紛揭竿而起，樹幟反清，由此引起的反抗以至於大規模的武裝鬥爭幾乎遍及全國。[22]清政府對此進行了嚴厲的鎮壓。清兵在江南的屠殺，多因剃髮易服而起。[23]
在常熟，「清兵見未剃髮者便殺……名曰『捉剃頭』」。常熟人民組織鄉兵，推崇禎信陽州知州、弘光兵部郎中嚴栻為首領，保衛地方，抵抗清軍，並尊奉活動在崇明島的明義陽王，一直戰鬥到九月份才被清兵的屠戮鎮壓下去。[24]
因為薙髮令的頒布，南直隸常州府江陰縣告示曰：「豈意薙髮一令，大拂人心，是以鄉城耆老，誓死不從。」江陰人民以「頭可斷、發絕不可剃」的口號對抗清朝「留頭部留髮、留髮不留頭」的口號，由陳明遇、閻應元領導軍民抵抗，死守城池八十一日，閻應元最後留下辭世詩：「八十日帶髮效忠，表太祖十七朝人物。十萬人同心殺賊，留大明三百里江山。」[17]順治二年八月二十日，江陰城破，清兵屠城三日。
嘉定人民以「為我保此髮膚」的口號，抵抗清兵二十餘日。嘉定總兵吳志葵趁人民不滿時佔據縣城抗清，導致李成棟下令屠城，為嘉定三屠第一屠之原因[13]。
剃髮令傳到金壇，抗令者三四百人聚會，清鎮江知府從別處運來拒不剃髮者的首級威脅民人，聲言「一人不剃髮全家斬，一家不剃全村斬」。於是人民揭竿而起反抗，二十日後方被鎮壓。[25]
吳江因為不肯剃髮殺縣令，遭屠城。[26]
順治二年七月，田仰指剃髮為名在通州如皋海門起兵，活動在蘇北和長江三角洲。
Though the above quote is true that there were massacres during the enforcement of the Queue Order by Dorgon, the figures given (a outrageously large death toll of 8-9 million in Jiaxing alone!) are dubious, but could be possible due to the relative population density. Through this theory, resistance to the Queue Order was the strongest in the Wu-speaking areas.吳越人性格外柔內剛，為人謙和，注重禮節，但是在一些戰爭中又表現出英勇的氣節：例如明末的「反清復明」抗清運動中，江陰、嘉興人民英勇抗清，與城俱亡，亦使得清統一全國的戰爭在江南遇到阻礙。嘉興地區付出了700萬人大屠殺的代價（大屠殺前嘉興全府擁有850萬到900萬人口)，使得吳語出現巨大的丟失。
3) Evidence of Wu-speaking enclaves in Jianghuai-Mandarin speaking domains. A particular case of interest is some dialects of Guangde County in southern Anhui and some Wu-speaking enclaves in the area between the Huai river and the Yangtze.
4) The negative stereotypes that Wu-speakers have towards Jianghuai Mandarin speakers, as shown here: http://www.chinahist...-for-nishishei/ This is closely paralleled with the situation of the stereotypes that Greeks (including Greek Cypriots) have towards Pontian Greeks. Pontian Greeks and Jianghuai Mandarin speakers have both been stereotyped as stupid or imbecilic by both Greeks and Wu-speakers, respectively. This is just an analogy. Although the quoted thread states that there was just bad blood between 'southern' Wu-speaking Jiangnanese and 'northern' Jianghuai Mandarin speakers, I believe that there was something more historically linked that could lead to this stereotype, which is why I made a comparison with Pontian Greeks who suffered through some similar ordeals. There are still Wu-speakers living in areas north of the Yangtze.
5) Jianghuai Mandarin itself has a Wu substratum on top of that. There are some Jianghuai Mandarin speakers who firmly believe that their language is not Wu Chinese, despite many similarities. Some Jianghuai dialects still preserve some MC voiced initials to a degree, particularly Hefei dialect in one of its registers.
This is just a theory, and do take this with a grain of salt. (Though I may fear that certain Sinophobic individuals may twist this around and use this to serve their own agenda)
Edited by bloodmerchant, 27 April 2011 - 06:10 PM.
