Shanghainese vs. Mandarin

Shanghai has been under increasing pressure from the Mainland government to promote Mandarin more aggressively.

Kathy, a Shanghai native, told this reporter that she could notice a gradual shift toward Mandarin, "Shanghainese used to be the language spoken at home, but it depends on the family. It's changing a bit," she said.

In Shanghai, many people speak Shanghainese

A senior official the in Shanghai government, Sun Xiaoxian, said, "It can be hard to change old habits in a short time."

A prominent Shanghai writer, Ye Xin, felt that Shanghainese was quickly disappearing. He lamented this trend, and said, "There is already evidence showing that Shanghai dialect is on a quick trend of declining. A proper protection of it is very necessary."

The Mainland government took matters into its own hands when it passed a series of laws in 2001 mandating that public officials speak Mandarin not Shanghainese. Another law came in 2004 when the government decreed that dialects (namely Shanghainese) should no longer be broadcast. And with Shanghai scheduled to host the World Expo in 2010, the Mainland government has called upon Shanghai people to improve their Mandarin proficiency by that time or face stiff fines.

Regardless of the pace of its decline, it seems clear that Shanghainese is making way for Mandarin.

What does this have to do with Cantonese?

There are many parallels between Shanghainese and Cantonese - both are regional dialects in China's most prominent cities, both are deeply rooted in their respective cities, and both are being threatened by the encroachments of Mandarin. The difference between the two - Shanghainese is losing the battle and Cantonese is winning it.

A viewpoint in The Standard takes the perspective that Hong Kong will not be pressured to adopt Mandarin like Shanghai was.

Hong Kong is still set apart from the Mainland. Photo by Nick Westra

The viewpoint also could have mentioned that Hong Kong is indirectly protected by the "one country, two systems" idea , in which it is generally understood that the Mainland government will not interfere with Hong Kong's internal affairs.

Finally, Cantonese is a language for an entire region of people - it is the main tongue of the Guangdong region - whereas Shanghainese, is only spoken within the limits of Shanghai itself.

It would be much more difficult for the Mainland government to pursue a campaign to call upon the entire region of Guangdong to change its language policy.

It seems unlikely that the Mainland government would aggressively promote Mandarin in Hong Kong like it has in Shanghai.

Photo of Shanghai street courtesy of Ben

A Hong Konger's perspective on what Shanghainese means to Cantonese

I conducted a brief interview with a native Hong Konger to substantiate on what the example of Shanghainese means for Cantonese.

Ms. Lam visits Shanghai for work and has had a chance to observe the role of Shanghainese in the city.

As the interview reveals, she finds some similarities between Shanghainese and Cantonese, but later comes to the conclusion that both on a linguistic level and on account of Shanghai politics, Shanghainese is more closely oriented to Mandarin than Cantonese.

In this way, she insists that while it is proper for Shanghai people to learn Mandarin, the same arguments cannot be applied to Hong Kong people.

She notes, however, that as Hong Kong integrates more with the Mainland, Hong Kong people will likely learn Mandarin for some of the same reasons being told to Shanghai people.

I included the salient details of her interview below.

What is Shanghainese?

There are many major Chinese dialects other than Cantonese - namely Wu, Min, Hakka, Xiang, and Gan. This article focuses on the Wu dialect, and more specifically, Shanghainese - a vernacular of the Wu dialect.

Today 14 million people speak Shanghainese in the greater metropolitan city of Shanghai (18,670,000 people) As the map on the right suggests, Shanghai is the focal point of the Wu dialect, which has an estimated 60 million - 90 million speakers.

State of Shanghainese today

Deeply rooted in the city of Shanghai, Shanghainese has been passed down through generations of the city's inhabitants. Times are changing, however, as the city's population has skyrocketed in the past 30 years, largely on the back of immigrants.

Migrant laborers have difficulty adjusting to Shanghainese

Kathy feels that the migrants are alienated by the language divide, and recognized that the Mainland government is trying to resolve that. "Most of the immigrants can't speak [Shanghainese], and they feel isolated from local culture. I think the government kind of noticed that this is harmful to social harmony," she said.

Because Shanghai's economy is heavily reliant on the infusions of labor that these migrants provide, the Mainland government has taken a special interest in promoting Mandarin as the main language in Shanghai.

Perhaps also, because Shanghai is one of China's most prominent cities, the Mainland government wishes to bring it into the fold with Mandarin as an example to the rest of the country - and maybe even Hong Kong? Hong Kong's The Standard runs an interesting story, comparing Shanghainese to Cantonese in this regard.

If you are interested in learning more about Shanghai's migrant laborer issue, please take a look at this free video from the Washington Post.

Shanghainese is part of the Wu dialect. Creative Commons

Shanghainese is spoken throughout the city of Shanghai - in households, at work, on television and radio. China Daily (a state-run, English language newspaper based in Beijing) notes that while 70% of Shanghainese people can speak Mandarin, only 30% do so on a regular basis. The assumption then, is that the majority of the remainder speak Shanghainese.

Kathy said, however, that these numbers may be inflated because in her opinion "presently about 50% of the residents in Shanghai can't speak Shanghainese."

In various blogs and forums, foreigners have generally agreed that Shanghainese is not as important for work as it is for integrating into the city . One person wrote that he will not learn the language fluently, but just enough to "understand what is going on around me." Finally, someone noted that while Shanghainese is prevalent within the city's greater region, it is almost non-existent outside of it.

From this sampling of opinions, it seems that Shanghainese is a very prominent, localized language. While it does not seem essential to learn the language in order to survive and function, it seems that one would be somewhat of an outsider without at least understanding some key words and phrases.

While all public services and announcements in Shanghai are conducted in Mandarin, they are often repeated in Shanghainese too. I copied in an audio link below to a weather report given in Shanghainese.

Photo of migrant laborer courtesy of Ben

A brief transcript of an interview with a native Shanghainese

It is important to have the opinion of a native Shanghainese in this discussion, and so I had a conversation with Kathy Wang about some of the major issues. Her comments have appeared throughout this article, but I have included a more complete transcript of our conversation for your reference.

If you would like to read the opinions of more native Shanghainese, please follow the links at the bottom of this page. There are many possible links, but I just included a sampling of the ones that I found most insightful.

Ques 1. Do most Shanghai people want to learn Mandarin?

For my generation, [we grew up with Mandarin]. Mandarin was used as official teaching language at schools. Although some local teachers' [have a] strong Shanghainese accent. For my parents' generation, I wouldn't say they want to [learn Mandarin], but now it seems they have to because presently about 50% of the residents in Shanghai can't speak Shanghainese...For [the] younger generation - those who are in elementary schools and secondary schools - most of their teachers do not speak Shanghainese.

National flags draping from Shanghai windows reflect a growing change

Ques 2. Do most people in Shanghai speak Shanghainese at home or Mandarin?

Shanghainese used to be the language spoken at home, but it depends on the family. It's changing a bit. Like my nephew [in secondary school], both of her parents speak Shanghainese to her, but she replies in Mandarin. She even talked in Mandarin with her grandmother since elementary school, [even though] she can understand Shanghainese for sure.

Ques 3. Do you think Shanghainese will still be a popular language in 30 years?

Yes, absolutely. It will become world cultural heritage in 30 years. I am kidding...No, I don't think it will be [as popular then]. Less and less people in Shanghai are using this language anymore. You can imagine [that] 50% of your co-workers won't speak it at all...But, I also think that people will still be able to choose whatever language they want to speak.

Ques 4. Are people in Shanghai angry that the government has banned Shanghainese from television and other media, insisting that the language must be Mandarin?

I don't really know if the government banned it from TV. I think the government just stopped promoting it because most of the immigrants can't speak [Shanghainese], and they feel isolated from local culture. I think the government kind noticed that this is harmful to social harmony...But in some local TV channels, there are still some sit-coms totally voiced in Shanghainese.

Additional links to forums and blogs of native Shanghainese about Shanghainese/Mandarin

Forum for Shanghainese speakers in Shanghai

Blog about difficulty of learning Shanghainese

Shanghai native advising whether someone should learn Shanghainese

Forum of foreigner deciding whether it is useful to learn Shanghainese or Mandarin

Forum about whether Mandarin is the most important language in Shanghai

RSS Feed for relevent news about Shanghainese

Photo of Shanghai building with red flags courtesy of Raumkatze

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