EVERYONE who comes to Shanghai will quickly notice Shanghai dialect-a

type of speech which differs considerably from Mandarin in pronunciation and vocabulary. Evolving into a signature of the city, Shanghai dialect has also fostered such influential cultural byproducts as Huju opera or Huajixi opera (Shanghai comedy) over the 800 years since it came into being. But recently, a debate over the importance of protecting Shanghai dialect has been ignited by a proposal made by a deputy of the Shanghai Municipal People¡¯s Congress. As a Shanghai native, Li Ming, head of the Shanghai Siway and Sideway business law firm, worried about declining use of Shanghai dialect in Shanghai today. He said ever fewer young Shanghainese were able to speak Shanghai dialect. ¡°Not only is Shanghai dialect being forgotten, the local cultural tradition of Shanghai is also being jeopardized as Shanghai dialect becomes less popular among natives,?he said, pointing out that most young natives are rather unfamiliar with many local operas, such as Huju opera or Huajixi opera.

After Li¡¯s words were published in newspapers, an opposing voice was soon heard. On January 27, 2005, the China Youth Daily released an article written by Bo Yong in response to Li¡¯s ideas: ¡°I¡¯m afraid that the government¡¯s nationwide policies for promoting Mandarin will face many difficulties if large numbers of people support Li¡¯s idea. And I¡¯m also afraid that if all the deputies of the National People¡¯s Congress from different parts of China hold such views, it could become difficult for people in our country to communicate with each other.?

The debate has continued for quite a few days without reaching a conclusion. Yet in the everyday lives of young Shanghai natives, the issue being debated is not even a question. Furthermore, newcomers and youngsters in the city have found their own way of assimilating the dialect: www.shanghaining.com, a website dedicated to promoting Shanghai dialect, has attracted a substantial audience in Shanghai.

Web of language

The website was created by Chen Leiqing and his friends in July 2003. Chen emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 11. ¡°Sometimes, I really feel that life is boring and dull abroad. At first, I created this website just for fun,?Chen said. ¡°I invented this name, Shanghaining (the pronunciation of this word is close to ¡®Shanghai natives?in the Shanghai dialect). After discussing the idea with my friends and partner, we decided to develop this website into a device that promotes the most up-to-date local cultural activities in Shanghai.?

After the website was founded by Chen and his friends, he tried to find some partners living in Shanghai to help him. ¡°Every year I spend several months in Shanghai. During these days, I found many friends and some of them inspired me. At first, I couldn¡¯t type Chinese while chatting with my friends online. But those youngsters preferred chatting with me in Shanghai dialect. Gradually I began to learn how to type Shanghai dialect when chatting. Then I thought maybe our website could collect these unique words and expressions. Now when you open our website, a pop-up page will remind you to contribute a word or an expression of Shanghai dialect for us. Everyday we receive more than 200 words and expressions, some of them are even disappearing phrases. After excluding some repeated words, we have accumulated a large Shanghai dialect vocabulary. Through this collection, we have learnt about many disappearing and newly invented words.?

Alongside the word-collecting, people prefer to use Shanghai dialect when they are chatting in the forum of this website, and all the texts on the website are written in Shanghai dialect.

Shanghai rap

Music also helps Chen and his friends with their work. When he stays in Shanghai, he gets to meet local amateur hip-hop and rap bands. These bands also write and perform their songs in Shanghai dialect. ¡°These bands gain additional popularity from young people. They think it¡¯s cool that people can sing a song in the dialect. Their enthusiasm for Shanghai rap encourages us. Since some members of the bands are my friends, I have invited them to put on shows for members of our website. We have organized several parties in some bars and all of them have been wonderful.?

Chen has reviewed such nights on his website. The interest of young fans in the bands has also attracted the attention of record companies. According to Chen, Hei Bang (Black Stick), a local Shanghai rap band has signed a contract with EMI.

Since it was set up, 6,000 members have registered on the website. The number of unregistered people who just browse the site is even greater, according to Chen. ¡°In America, the New Yorker is a great magazine which provides people with the most cutting-edge thoughts and ideas. Here in Shanghai, a city with a similar temperament to New York in certain respects, we hope our site can provide people with similar things. Nevertheless, these things will be marked by characteristics that only belong to Shanghai.?Chen smiled about the ambitions he shared with his friends.

Tolerant attitude

Yet such a website, with its strong local colouring, will definitely exclude people who do not know Shanghai dialect. ¡°I confess that the older generations of Shanghai natives were exclusionists. And because of this, Shanghai dialect was once a symbol for exclusive attitudes. But now, youngsters have changed this exclusionism into a tolerant attitude because they find other places in China have also developed dramatically, so the obvious economic and cultural differences between Shanghai and other places have vanished.?

Chen also said that no one feels uneasy on the website, even though they may not understand everything written on the site. ¡°We do not force people who come to our site to accept everything. It¡¯s just a platform where certain groups of people who speak the same words and hold similar ideas can communicate with each other. In daily life, when I greet a stranger, my first option is Mandarin because I don¡¯t know whether he can understand Shanghai dialect or not.?

Far from leading to misunderstandings, Chen noted that every time they hold a party, many foreigners actively join in and even show great eagerness to learn Shanghai dialect, ¡°Now we are even planning to set up Shanghai dialect training classes for foreigners and Chinese who do not know Shanghai dialect.?

On March 5, Chen will leave for Los Angeles again. ¡°But I will be back soon and try to stay in Shanghai as long as possible. I will devote myself to this project over the coming years,¡±said Chen.

As a student of computer science, he has worked in a company in Silicon Valley for several years. ¡°My parents sometime think that my website has already distracted me from my major, but I love this.?He also added that most members of the site are youngsters. ¡°They also love this site, and things they find on the site. So it¡¯s obvious that these young people have not forgotten the dialect and have great interest in it. You can take it that our generation has inherited the Shanghai dialect, but in an evolving way, by developing our own cultures, such as Shanghai rap.?