Yangyu dialect (),, also known as Qinjiang dialect (), is a Mandarin "dialect island", spoken in the villages of Yangyu and Qinjiang, located in Changle, Fujian. It is considered to be derived from the Beijing Mandarin spoken by the local descendants of Han Chinese Bannermen serving the Qing Empire. It received some influence from the neighboring Eastern Min varieties of Changle, for example in its phonology.
History In 1729, during the seventh year of the reign of Yongzheng, the Qing government built a castle in the Yangyu area of Changle County in response to frequent uprisings along the Fujian coast. This was situated at the confluence of three key tributaries of the Min River (), namely the Wulong River, Majiang River and Qinjiang River. The Bannermen and their families that were stationed there came mostly from the area near Beijing and established the Qinjiang Village (commonly known as ) there. Due to the unique status of these military families, as well as the ethnic and class tensions, they had limited interaction with the local population and did not intermarry, thus retaining the Mandarin dialect that they had spoken.
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