More and more parents in Shanghai have found that their children
are forgetting how to use Shanghai dialect to express themselves,
according to a report in the city's Jiefang Daily on July
11, and some have begun forcing them to speak it at home.
Language experts have urged that the dialect be preserved
alongside Putonghua (also known as Mandarin), the nation's
common tongue that has been systematically promoted over the past
hundred years as a unifying language.
Professor Sun Xun of Shanghai Normal University
said a dialect is not only a linguistic tool, but is also like a
person's "birthmark" and part of their local identity and feeling
of belonging.
Professor Zhou Zhenhe, from Shanghai's Fudan
University, said dialects carry and preserve local culture.
Experts recommended that TV and radio stations set up channels
and programs using Shanghai dialect, and that schools offer
selective courses taught in it.
The promotion of Putonghua, and the large number of
non-Shanghainese settling down in the city, has meant that the
local dialect has lost its previous high social status, according
to the report.
The experts said Shanghai dialect could be protected and
inherited while maintaining high standards of Putonghua
and a multicultural environment in the city.
(China.org.cn by Unisumoon July 20, 2005)