Frontmatter -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of tables, diagrams and illustrations -- Chapter 1. Defining terminology -- Chapter 2. Languages of China -- Chapter 3. The language policy of the People's Republic of China regarding the dialects of Chinese -- Chapter 4. Chinese historical phonetics -- Chapter 5. Classifications of Chinese dialects -- Chapter 6. The classification of Chinese dialects according to The Language Atlas of China -- Chapter 7. Guidelines for field research of Chinese dialects -- Chapter 8. Analysis of The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects -- Chapter 9. Information gathered from The Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects -- Chapter 10. Summary and conclusions -- Backmatter