Shanghai dialect fights to survive in modern era

SHANGHAI: When Prof Qian Nairong published his dictionary of the Shanghai dialect in 2007, he was in some ways documenting a dying language.

The number of people speaking the rapid-fire dialect – a badge of identity for residents of China’s commercial capital of more than 20 million people – is shrinking.

As the government maintains a decades-old drive to promote Mandarin as the official language, banning dialects from media broadcasts and schools, many young people are unable to fluently speak the native Shanghai tongue.

An influx of migrants and the city’s drive to become more international have also combined to water down the local patois.

“A language is like a living thing, after it gets old, it must die,” said Qian, a retired professor of language studies at Shanghai University. “People born in the 1990s cannot really speak Shanghai dialect.”

Shanghai is not alone. The southern province of Guangdong has announced plans requiring broadcasters to get special permission to use Cantonese in programmes from March 1, causing a storm of controversy.

But there are signs that Shanghai’s residents will not give up on their language that easily.

Shanghai comedian Zhou Libo has helped revitalise interest in the dialect with his witty routines, which often mock outsiders.

“The weakening of dialects means the weakening of local culture. Why must our children speak (Mandarin) Chinese? Shanghai people who cannot speak the Shanghai dialect. What stupidity!” he said on a talk show.

City buses have recently introduced announcements in Shanghainese, and there are plans for the metro system to follow suit to cater to older people, especially those with no formal education, who do not understand Mandarin.

Not long after the Communist Party took power in 1949, it made Mandarin the official language to promote unity. — AFP