Huiyu Panwen. Shanghaihua Culture

Author: Qian Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-11-02
Features: The Shanghai dialect complex of "Shanghai natives who grew up outside Shanghai" is hard for locals to imagine. Practicing Shanghai dialect while living away from Shanghai is a pleasure, even a bit of a pride—"The accent remains unchanged, yet the hair has turned gray." Everything has been assimilated by the local customs and culture, but the mother tongue accompanies me throughout my life, reminding me where my "roots" are and where my "source" lies. How wonderful is that! Can the Shanghai dialect complex of "Shanghai natives who grew up outside Shanghai" be understood by their hometown elders? As a Shanghai native who has been away from Shanghai for nearly three decades, the Shanghai dialect complex often lingers in my thoughts. After leaving East China Normal University and settling down in Jinhua, I teach Mandarin—Putonghua—in school, using it to lecture and converse. This isn’t because my enthusiasm for promoting Putonghua has gone too far, but rather out of practical need—my husband and I speak different mother tongues, and neither of my daughters can speak either of them. Thus, Putonghua naturally becomes the language of communication between my husband and me, between me and my daughters, and between my husband and my daughters. However, there are three situations where I can’t help but speak Shanghai dialect. The first is when my daughters point out that the moment I get excited, my Shanghai dialect comes out, often mixing it with Putonghua in a "very enthusiastic" way. The second is when I encounter fellow Shanghai natives or people who frequently travel to Shanghai for work, or when I receive calls from my older brother or old classmates, and I speak Shanghai dialect with great pleasure. The first two situations are probably shared by most Shanghai natives who have settled outside Shanghai and married non-Shanghai natives. The third situation, however, I wonder if I can find many "like-minded companions" in the vast sea of people. That is whenever I’m in a particularly good or bad mood, I’ll pull out Professor Qian Nairong’s Shanghai Dialect and Colloquialisms from my bookshelf and recite it, speaking with great enthusiasm. Phrases like "Little ball, small basket, Malan flowers opening twenty-one"; "Long-legged heron hammering nails, hammering and hammering but not getting in"; "Originally wanted to count ten thousand times, but now there’s no time"—as I speak, I seem to plunge into the circle of childhood friends who jumped rope together in the alley, the excitement and satisfaction of which are truly indescribable in words. Strangely, when I discussed this "odd habit" with old friends upon returning to Shanghai, they didn’t mock me but instead asked where they could buy Professor Qian’s book. When they heard it was discovered by chance in a small bookstore in Haijing in 1992 and is now hard to find, they expressed great regret. They haven’t left Shanghai yet, but they said that songs like "Little ball, small basket" are the ballads of our generation, and the "little rascals" of today don’t sing them much anymore, so it’s necessary to "review" them. I wonder if, if Professor Qian were to hear this, he would be interested in republishing this book, which aims to reflect the contemporary state of Shanghai dialect, to satisfy the complex of Shanghai dialect among people like me, "Shanghai natives who grew up outside Shanghai," as well as the nostalgia of Shanghai middle-aged and elderly residents. The Shanghai dialect complex of "Shanghai natives who grew up outside Shanghai" is hard for locals to imagine. Practicing Shanghai dialect while living away from Shanghai is a pleasure, even a bit of a pride—"The accent remains unchanged, yet the hair has turned gray." Everything has been assimilated by the local customs and culture, but the mother tongue accompanies me throughout my life, reminding me where my "roots" are and where my "source" lies. How wonderful is that! Can the Shanghai dialect complex of "Shanghai natives who grew up outside Shanghai" be understood by their hometown elders? This article was published in Xinmin Evening News on November 3, 1998, page 21.