I already know about the Hakka, Hoklo and Cantonese, but what are the others?

Are the Hoklo the Min-speakers, or just the southern Min-speakers? If the latter, what ethnic subgroup are the other Min-speakers?
What Han subgoup(s) are native Mandarin-speakers?

EDIT: Also does anyone have any books/websites as sources?

The han subgroups are generally groups which are categorized according to their respective chinese dialect such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Shanghainese, Gan, Wuhan dialect, Sichuan dialect, Mandarin etc.

Chinese language is generally divided into 7 major groups. 6 dialect groups are from the south while only Mandarin is from the north. However, you can even subdivide the major linguistic groups into sub-dialect groups. For instance, Hokkien (Minnan), Teochew, Fuchow, Putian etc are all classified under "Min" group.

Under "Mandarin", you can subdivide it into Beijing Mandarin, Nanjing Mandarin, Sichuan dialect, Shandong dialect etc.

For info about chinese Language groups, refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language

The various dialect groups (han-sub group) are what has caused cultural differences in different regions of China. There is also differences in culture between north and south due to different dialects spoken. That means to say regional culture in China was developed due to the different dialects spoken in a particular region.



Strictly speaking, the standard Mandarin is currently based on Beijing accent. Thus, beijing chinese are considered to be 'native Mandarin speakers". However, the northerners generally speak Mandarin but with varying northern dialect tones.

There are now also many southern chinese who speak Mandarin at home and are considered to be native Mandarin speakers. Their mandarin are considered to be 'less standard' as compared to Beijing standard.

That is true (I'm a native English-speaker, but I'm not English). That's not what I meant though.

Is the Chinese southwest (not Tibet, southwestern China proper), Mandarin-speaking due to adoption of the language, or due to Mandarin-speaking migration like in Manchuria?

They are primarily immigrants because many died due to plague (like over half of them) and then I believe the Qing committed ethnic cleansing down there...so many of the Chinese there today have been there less than 400 years and came from the North...(Mandarin speaking areas).


There are also minority groups though in the highland areas.

You can see that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Map_of_...anguages-en.svg

These folks do have a "sub-dialect" of Mandarin that is distinct from Beijing Mandarin or Nanjing Mandarin. WHat makes it distinct besides accents I'm not sure...

Han subgroups? Well there are Nice Han, tall Han, round face Han, false Han (those are Koreans), short Han, yellowish-brown Han, white Han...fat Han...Han that speak Mandarin and everyone else...am I missing anyone? That was easy.

Hoklo (Heluo) is simply one of the sub-branches of the southern Min speakers. The southern Min (often called "Min-nan/Hokkien/Taiwanese") have several sub-branches including Helao 鹤佬话, Fulau 福佬话、Heluo 河洛话、Fuijian (Hokkien) 福建话、Lihua 黎话、Haihua 海话 etc (note that I've used Mandarin transliteration).

Amongst overseas, the Southern Min-speakers are often called "Hokkien".

There are also Northern Min and Eastern Min which are very different.