Just as xiaoerjing says, we do exist within the 吴语 region of China, which generally can be defined as an area encompassing Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhuo, Wuxi, and, you know, east, west, south and north somewhat. Or so.
I have heard that Yan Cheng, in 苏北 has three local dialects, one of which is related, at least, to Wu. That’s all I’m trying to say. Shanghai language (hua, in the vernacular) is most similar to Ningbohua, and also to Wuxihua, oddly. Uh, oddly, geographically. Oddly.
Down south, well, Xiao Xing is still within the Hangzhou region, and Hangzhouhua is a distinct flavor of Wuyu, but past that, I don’t really know.
And Wenzhou Hua, on past Taizhou (Zhejiang Taizhou, you know, please do distinguish the Zhejiang and Jiangsu Taizhou cities), just leads one down to the unique linguistic areas of Fujian, and to some extent, Jiangxi.
What I want to know is, what the heck is going on in Subei? Linguistically, that area is fascinating because of the lack of a regional standard dialect. I do wish I knew more about that area, but professionally I am exploring southern regions (Jiangxi) instead.
[edit]…and when will we build a linguistic map of China to account for many of the distinctions?[/edit]