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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Nonghao: An intangible heirloom
By Ni Tao |
February 19, 2009, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHAT'S wrong with speaking Shanghainese in Pudong? It's a question that has been boggling my mind of late.
The answer, to some, is self-evident. As a dialect, Shanghainese is too informal for office work. Hence, it is out of place to speak it in the gleaming financial hub of Lujiazui.
I partially agree with this view, but there's something about it that I cannot quite accept.
First, do we have to stick to speaking the alternatives - Mandarin Chinese and English - all the time while in Pudong, even between natives and during breaks?
Second, to paraphrase a bizarre theory spun by a local newspaper columnist, Shanghainese is so notoriously backward a dialect that only the most benighted indigenous folks are willing to speak it.
This is simply a rant against what the author calls the typical "ugliness" of Shanghainese' traits: conceit, snobbishness, shallowness, obsession with "petty bourgeois" and exotic satisfactions, a sense of superiority - or more precisely, delusion of superiority - and worst of all, contempt for provincial Chinese.
I make no attempt to gloss over the problems listed here, they do exist. To some extent, these are the very culprits that taint the otherwise polished image of Shanghai.
The author also implies that most "New Shanghainese" - generally referring to those hailing from outside the city and working in high-end industries - are the real elites at the top of the pecking order.
Their diligence and open-mindedness dovetail with the Zeitgeist underlying the city's dynamism, whereas the insular mentality of the "Old Shanghainese," complacent and epicurean, only hobbles Shanghai's rise as an international metropolis.
Pride and prejudice
This comparison, regardless of hints of intrinsic reason, will only undermine the integration of a new group commendable for its vigor, while slamming the seemingly pampered natives.
That, however, should not constrain us from acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: Shanghai was not known for its hospitality.
Emily Honig noted in "Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai, 1850-1980" that as guest workers, Subeiren (people from northern Jiangsu Province) had to endure all kinds of prejudice and mistreatment by locals.
Despite this cultural disparagement of new settlers, Shanghai is still regarded as a city where opportunities abound, enabling many to realize their dreams.
The recent experimental reform of the permanent residence system, or hukou, in Shanghai, attests to the city's open and inclusive policies.
That some "New Shanghainese" feel they don't quite belong or are still perceived as outsiders is understandable.
What they should do is be more patient, delve deeper into the local heritage, explore for themselves both its merits and demerits before hastily denouncing anything Shanghai as patronizing and decadent. An attack on Shanghainese or Shanghainese dialect is beyond the pale.
For one thing, dialect, as a showcase of tradition, is what makes a regional culture distinctive and flourishing.
Picture a scene in which everyone speaks with the same cadenced Mandarin Chinese - no fun can be derived from such stilted conversations.
For another, speaking dialect is often the last stand against relentless modernization.
People who feel insecure as they are caught up in urban sprawl and rapid change find in their language of childhood a safe haven in the concrete jungle and towering skyscrapers that make no sense to them.
Bulldozed old houses and tumble-down longtang (lanes) fuel a certain nostalgia for the bygone days when demographic shift was modest and one could greet strangers with a cordial nonghao (hello).
No one knows how much longer Shanghainese can hold out against the onslaught of other dominant languages, but it should be guarded as intangible heirloom.
The answer, to some, is self-evident. As a dialect, Shanghainese is too informal for office work. Hence, it is out of place to speak it in the gleaming financial hub of Lujiazui.
I partially agree with this view, but there's something about it that I cannot quite accept.
First, do we have to stick to speaking the alternatives - Mandarin Chinese and English - all the time while in Pudong, even between natives and during breaks?
Second, to paraphrase a bizarre theory spun by a local newspaper columnist, Shanghainese is so notoriously backward a dialect that only the most benighted indigenous folks are willing to speak it.
This is simply a rant against what the author calls the typical "ugliness" of Shanghainese' traits: conceit, snobbishness, shallowness, obsession with "petty bourgeois" and exotic satisfactions, a sense of superiority - or more precisely, delusion of superiority - and worst of all, contempt for provincial Chinese.
I make no attempt to gloss over the problems listed here, they do exist. To some extent, these are the very culprits that taint the otherwise polished image of Shanghai.
The author also implies that most "New Shanghainese" - generally referring to those hailing from outside the city and working in high-end industries - are the real elites at the top of the pecking order.
Their diligence and open-mindedness dovetail with the Zeitgeist underlying the city's dynamism, whereas the insular mentality of the "Old Shanghainese," complacent and epicurean, only hobbles Shanghai's rise as an international metropolis.
Pride and prejudice
This comparison, regardless of hints of intrinsic reason, will only undermine the integration of a new group commendable for its vigor, while slamming the seemingly pampered natives.
That, however, should not constrain us from acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: Shanghai was not known for its hospitality.
Emily Honig noted in "Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai, 1850-1980" that as guest workers, Subeiren (people from northern Jiangsu Province) had to endure all kinds of prejudice and mistreatment by locals.
Despite this cultural disparagement of new settlers, Shanghai is still regarded as a city where opportunities abound, enabling many to realize their dreams.
The recent experimental reform of the permanent residence system, or hukou, in Shanghai, attests to the city's open and inclusive policies.
That some "New Shanghainese" feel they don't quite belong or are still perceived as outsiders is understandable.
What they should do is be more patient, delve deeper into the local heritage, explore for themselves both its merits and demerits before hastily denouncing anything Shanghai as patronizing and decadent. An attack on Shanghainese or Shanghainese dialect is beyond the pale.
For one thing, dialect, as a showcase of tradition, is what makes a regional culture distinctive and flourishing.
Picture a scene in which everyone speaks with the same cadenced Mandarin Chinese - no fun can be derived from such stilted conversations.
For another, speaking dialect is often the last stand against relentless modernization.
People who feel insecure as they are caught up in urban sprawl and rapid change find in their language of childhood a safe haven in the concrete jungle and towering skyscrapers that make no sense to them.
Bulldozed old houses and tumble-down longtang (lanes) fuel a certain nostalgia for the bygone days when demographic shift was modest and one could greet strangers with a cordial nonghao (hello).
No one knows how much longer Shanghainese can hold out against the onslaught of other dominant languages, but it should be guarded as intangible heirloom.
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