Thirteen subspecies have been described, but only three are widely recognised, these differing largely in the colour of their underparts. The subspecies Passer cinnamomea rutilans breeds in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and southeastern and central China. The subspecies intensior, described in 1922 by Walter Rothschild from Yunnan, breeds in southwest China and parts of India, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. In a large part of Sichuan intensior intergrades with P. c. rutilans, and a number of subspecies names have been proposed for the intergrades. The nominate subspecies cinnamomeus, described by Gould from the northwestern Himalayas, breeds from northern Arunachal Pradesh to Nuristan in Afghanistan.