Since writing my last post on this thread I've spoken to Lucy, and what she told me really shocked me.
here goes .... she says there are 56 different peoples in china, each with there own language. The family of Han is the largest of those families and 90% of the people of China are from that family. The 55 other families make up the other 10%.
Now i think that what OILER has said above may account for what i think are the main Languages of China, and what Lucy was saying is that there are 56 dialects.. all derived from the main Languages (at least he knew how to spell ''Fukienese'') His is also stating 5 Main languages, where i thought only 4, i bow to his superior knowledge. I know for a fact that he is right about Fukienese being spoken by the Chinese in the Philippines....
Lucy also said that even though Mandarin is the main language of China there are many that don't know it too well, they tend to stick to there own dialect. .... So this just gets more confusing, the deeper you dig and look into it. For me, i think i know enough now, any more, and I'll know less than when this thread started!! hahaha!!
David.....