"Has the grain been filled?" is a playful way of asking, "Have you eaten?" Similarly, "Your hands are like excavators, with the strength of bears, wolves, and leopards "means "You have a strong grip."

These expressions, marked by grammatical quirks and vivid metaphors, are known as Nangyanwen or "Nan Chinese".

Nan, a type of baked flatbread, is a staple food for the Uygur, Kazakh, and some other ethnic groups in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Recently, Nangyanwen has gone viral across major Chinese social media platforms, with many people eager to imitate and learn these distinctive expressions.

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One of the key figures promoting this trend is Mardanjan Ruzi, a vlogger from Xinjiang.

Since February, he has released seven videos featuring the dialect, each garnering tens of millions of views.

He explains that Nangyanwen is a "hybrid" of Mandarin and Uygur ways of thinking — when Mandarin fails to precisely convey a thought, speakers borrow key elements from Uygur sentence structures, creating uniquely inverted phrases and imaginative metaphors.

"Nangyanwen is lively because it's deeply rooted in the daily lives of Xinjiang people," Ruzi said, recalling his early videos from 2022, when he referred to this style as "Xinjiang talk", before the term Nangyanwen was coined.

At the time, however, many people saw accented, locally flavored languages as "rustic" and felt embarrassed to speak them.

"Thanks to this online trend, 'Xinjiang talk' is now seen as humorous and fun, and Xinjiang people as warm and friendly. It encourages everyone to connect with us and learn our way of speaking," he said.

Ruzi believes that Nangyanwen has gained popularity across China because it's easy to pick up.

Unlike some dialects that require systematic study, Nangyanwen's appeal lies in having "a foundation in Mandarin with a regional twist". It mainly involves adjusting word order and adding distinctive vocabulary, making this form of "micro-innovation" more accessible to a wider audience.

In Ruzi's view, Nangyanwen acts as a bridge between pure Xinjiang dialect and Mandarin. By connecting the two, it allows Xinjiang's language and culture to be better preserved and shared.

Laughter in dialect

Around 3,200 kilometers away in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, the local dialect is facing a preservation crisis.

Wang Yue, 24, is tackling the issue in an unconventional way — through comedic videos.

In front of the camera, she wears a traditional Suzhou-style qipao and plays the role of a sarcastic teacher, delivering her lines entirely in the Suzhou dialect. She also adds absurd plot twists to her skits to keep her audience engaged.

"Formal teaching would be too boring," she said.

Her creative approach comes in response to a harsh reality: according to Jiangsu TV, only 2.2 percent of teenagers in Suzhou can speak the dialect fluently — among the lowest rates nationwide.

Wang's philosophy is simple: "use interest to combat extinction". She realized that many children in Suzhou no longer have opportunities to hear or speak the dialect in daily life. But through her videos, they discover how fun it can be, which encourages them to speak it more at home, discuss her videos with friends, or mimic her tone at school.

Wang said she's thrilled whenever parents send her videos of their kids imitating her in Suzhou dialect.

However, not all feedback is positive. Wang has faced what she calls "internal contempt".

"People from the old city criticize the suburban Suzhou dialect as 'pidgin', while rural residents mock the urban dialect as 'assimilated by outsiders'," she explained.

However, after reviewing many linguistic papers, Wang found that dialects are fluid, with tones and vocabulary changing over time and across regions.

"I don't think we should worry too much about accents; what matters more is passing the Suzhou dialect down," she said. "Dialects inherently have no specific standard. There is no such thing as 'authenticity'."

She also noted that instead of criticizing someone's dialect as "nonstandard", it's better to celebrate its uniqueness and focus on how to keep it alive in daily life.

Wang is not alone. In Suzhou, a group of young people is actively promoting the local dialect in creative ways.

"I've seen them use Suzhou dialect to dub movies, voice anime characters, and even rap," Wang said. "The more fun they have with it, the more interest it sparks in others."

Language as identity

While many dialects are gradually disappearing, Cantonese remains vibrant and widely used.

Yuan Xiaoting, from Shenzhen in Guangdong province, is a renowned language vlogger and educator who has been actively contributing to its preservation.

Yuan graduated with a degree in Spanish, won national English speaking competition awards, and worked as a translator in Latin America. Now, her focus has shifted to her native dialect — teaching Cantonese online.

According to Yuan, efforts to promote Cantonese have made steady progress in recent years.

"A few years ago, primary and secondary schools in Guangzhou and Shenzhen began incorporating Cantonese into their curricula. The Guangdong Provincial Language and Writing Committee has also taken major steps to preserve Cantonese materials," she explained. "We also owe a lot to Hong Kong's entertainment industry — its movies, TV dramas, music, and bands have helped transmit Cantonese across generations."

Three years ago, Yuan casually uploaded a video of herself singing a Cantonese adaptation of a popular song. To her surprise, she gained two million followers overnight. This experience made her realize the widespread interest in Cantonese.

"It felt like I had suddenly discovered my purpose, and I knew I could do more to promote the language," she recalled.

Yuan began creating a series of short videos to showcase the beauty of Cantonese.

She recited classical Chinese poetry in Cantonese, noting, "Sometimes it rhymes better than in Mandarin."

She also made videos correcting common pronunciation mistakes and exploring the cultural quirks of the region — such as why people in Guangdong avoid phone numbers with 167, or why Lululemon isn't a popular brand there.

Beyond short videos, Yuan developed a comprehensive course titled "Learn Cantonese from Scratch in 40 Days". Starting with basic grammar structures and the nuances of tones and pitches, the course gradually introduces practical exercises for everyday situations.

She even incorporates AI tools into her teaching, encouraging students to practice conversations with a virtual Cantonese-speaking partner on Doubao, a Chinese AI app.

The course currently has more than 30,000 students around the world.

In 2024, Yuan launched an international version of the course, taught entirely in English. She tailored the content to suit the thinking patterns and grammatical habits of non-native speakers, drawing on methods commonly used in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

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The deeper Yuan delves into Cantonese, the more she appreciates the sense of familiarity, belonging, and pride it brings.

"Language is closely tied to our identity. When you speak Cantonese, you can almost smell the aroma of rice noodle rolls and sampan congee," she said.

"After exploring Spanish and English, I've finally found my roots in Cantonese. Being a vlogger in my native language and promoting our dialect and culture feels like a unique mission — it truly means a lot to me," she added.