Jinxiang dialect is a Taihu Wu

Taihu Wu dialects

Taihu Wu dialects , or Northern Wu dialects , are a group of Wu dialects spoken over much of southern part of Jiangsu province, including Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, the southern part of Nantong, Jingjiang and Danyang; the municipality of Shanghai; and the northern part of Zhejiang province, including...

 dialect, or a Northern Wu dialect, spoken in Cangnan county of Wenzhou

Wenzhou

Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....

 prefecture-level city. It is considered to be a Taihu Wu linguistic exclave within the mostly Min Nan

Min Nan

The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....

 speaking part of Southern Zhejiang.

Modern Jinxiang dialect is descended from the speech of soldiers from Northern Zhejiang who settled during the Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 due to Wokou

Wokou

Wokou , which literally translates as "Japanese pirates" in English, were pirates of varying origins who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards...

 pirate raids, during the reign of Jiajing Emperor

Jiajing Emperor

The Jiajing Emperor was the 11th Ming Dynasty Emperor of China who ruled from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin...

. These soldiers were sent to Jinxiang in order to protect the town from raids by the Wokou. The majority of Jinxiang natives today are descended from those soldiers who served under Qi Jiguang

Qi Jiguang

Qi Jiguang was a Chinese military general and national hero during the Ming Dynasty. He was best remembered for his courage and leadership in the fight against Japanese pirates along the east coast of China, as well as his reinforcement work on the Great Wall of China.-Early life:Qi Jiguang was...

.

Isolated from the other Taihu Wu speaking regions, surrounded by Min Nan

Min Nan

The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....

 speaking areas, Jinxiang dialect has some degree of influence from Zhenan Min

Zhenan Min

Zhenan Min , is a variety of Min Nan Chinese spoken in the Wenzhou region of the southern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The Zhenan Min people had settled in areas such as Cangnan County, Pingyang County, Yuhuan County and Dongtou County from Fujian Province as early as the Tang dynasty period and...

. It has also some influence from Mandarin Chinese.