In principle, Hangzhou dialect refers to a small dialect of Wu dialect in Taihu Lake. Hangzhou dialect is not widely used, mainly distributed in and around the old city of Hangzhou. It has the general characteristics of Wu dialect, completely retaining the voiced initials and entering tones in the Middle Ages, and retaining more words in ancient Chinese.
The distribution area of Hangzhou dialect is roughly east to Tiesha River, south to Qiantang River, west to Wuyun Mountain, meijiawu to Gudang, and north to Chen Gong Bridge. In addition, workers in Qianshui and Fenshui counties of Zhejiang Province and along zhejiang-jiangxi railway (mainly Shangrao Railway New Village) and reform-through-labour farms also speak Hangzhou dialect. Hangzhou is the largest city in Zhejiang Province, but Hangzhou dialect is one of the smallest dialect points in Zhejiang Wu dialect, and the population whose mother tongue is Hangzhou dialect ranges from1.20,000 to1.50,000. The old city of Hangzhou belongs to a small piece of Taihu Lake in Wuyu dialect. See local dialect entries for Wu dialect in all districts and counties outside the old city.