Subspecies chabarovi sometimes subsumed in ussuriensis. In Japan, proposed subspecies sitchitoensis (described from Hachijo, in Izu Is) synonymized with minor; tokumii, from Kanzaki-machi (Kanzaki-gun area, in north-eastern Saga Prefecture), in south-western Kyushu, synonymized with minor.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
sinica (Linnaeus, 1766) - Central, eastern and south-eastern China and north-eastern and central Vietnam (eastern Tonkin and central and southern Annam).
ussuriensis Hartert, 1903 - North-eastern China (south-eastern Inner Mongolia east to southern Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Hebei), Korea and south-eastern Russia (southern Ussuriland).
kawarahiba (Temminck, 1836) - Eastern Russia (north-central Okhotsk coast and Kamchatka), Sakhalin I, Kuril Is, and northern Japan (north-eastern Hokkaido). Non-breeding also south to south-eastern China.
minor (Temminck & Schlegel, 1848) - Extreme southern Korea (Cheju-do I) and Japan (southern Hokkaido south to Kyushu, including Tsushima I and Izu Is).
kittlitzi (Seebohm, 1890) - Ogasawara-shoto (Bonin Is) and Iwo Is.
chabarowi Stegmann, 1929 - Russian Far East (Amurland) and north-eastern China (eastern Inner Mongolia and northern Heilongjiang).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet