Modern Southwestern Mandarin was formed by the waves of immigrants brought to the regions during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because of the comparatively recent move, such dialects show more similarity to modern Standard Mandarin than to other varieties of Chinese like Cantonese or Hokkien. For example, like most Southern Chinese dialects, Southwestern Mandarin does not possess the retroflex consonants (zh, ch, sh, r) of Standard Mandarin, but most varieties of it also fail to retain the checked tone that all southern dialects have.
Modern Southwestern Mandarin emerged as a result of the large-scale immigration to the region during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As a consequence, this dialect shares more characteristics with modern Standard Mandarin than with other Chinese languages like Cantonese or Hokkien. For example, comparable to most Southern Chinese dialects, Southwestern Mandarin does not feature the retroflex consonants (zh, ch, sh, r) found in Standard Mandarin, but it also lacks the checked tone typical of all southern dialects.