Suzhounese (simplified Chinese: 苏州话; traditional Chinese: 蘇州話; pinyin: Sūzhōuhuà; Suzhounese: sou1 tseu1 ghe2 gho6 [səu˥.tsøʏ˥.ɦɛ˨˨˦.ɦo˨˧˩] 蘇州閒話), also known as the Suzhou dialect, is the variety of Chinese traditionally spoken in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, China. Suzhounese is a variety of Wu Chinese, and was traditionally considered the Wu Chinese prestige dialect. Suzhounese has a large vowel inventory and it is relatively conservative in initials by preserving voiced consonants from Middle Chinese.