What is the origin of Shanghainese?

Shanghai is an immigrant city. By Shanghainese, we usually mean people born in Shanghai whose parents or grandparents moved to Shanghai from other places before. This is the part of Shanghainese that we all often talk about. This is a narrow sense of Shanghainese. Shanghainese in a broad sense refers to people who live in Shanghai. In addition to the old immigrants mentioned just now, this includes locals and new immigrants. A small number of Shanghainese are called locals. Their ancestral home is from Shanghai, and they are really born and raised in Shanghai. These locals generally live in the suburbs of Shanghai, and many of them are farmers. In the early days of Shanghai's urban development in the early 20th century, they did not play a huge role. However, with the development of society, many local people are doing well in all walks of life, which is an indispensable part of Shanghai's development. In addition, a large number of Shanghainese can be called new immigrants. People who were born in other places and moved to Shanghai for various reasons. The composition of these people is more complicated. There are professionals from all walks of life, overseas immigrants, educated youth children and so on.

Let's talk about this narrow sense of Shanghainese-Shanghai old immigrants. The original composition of these people is actually the same as that of new immigrants now. At the beginning of the last century, all kinds of people gathered in Shanghai, mixed with good and evil people, with great differences in cultural knowledge and wealth. Northern Jiangsu, that is, people who came from Jiangsu after crossing the area north of the Yangtze River, are mostly refugees who fled the country and have relatively poor cultural quality. Many of them came to Shanghai by boat and gathered along the Suzhou River, with poor quality of life and little culture. Gradually, these refugees moved from the ship to the land and lived in some shanty towns along the Suzhou River in Huangpu River. Where shanty towns are relatively concentrated, the former Heather District and other places are more famous. Slightly better than shanty towns, there is a famous Shikumen building. It's a bit like a quadrangle. Its function is designed for a family to live in. However, due to the shortage of housing, it is often the big house owner who rents the house to the second landlord, and the second landlord rents the house to the third landlord. The result is a room full of families who don't know each other. Due to the lack of residential functions, the relationship between neighborhoods is particularly subtle. On the one hand, many families have no privacy, on the other hand, they have to haggle over their daily livelihood and neighbors. Such a realistic environment has created a situation, that is, people who don't care are those who are eliminated. This is a typical representative of Shanghai civilians. In addition, there are several distinctive architectural types, such as old-fashioned alleys. This is an old-fashioned alley. There is another kind, called the new alley, which is more spacious in design than the old alley. This type of house is relatively concentrated in the concession, and most employees of general companies or small enterprises live in this kind of house. It was probably a middle-class house at that time. The Concession also concentrated a group of intellectuals, such as Lu Xun, who moved several residences. What lives better is the garden house. These old houses are generally private houses of extended families. No matter what kind of house, after liberation, especially after the Cultural Revolution, it has become a state of 72 tenants sharing. Most of the owners have left, and the original house was occupied by a large number of civilians. In this living environment, it is inevitable to run into each other. It may be that fierce competition and narrow living space have caused the exclusion, narrowness and geographical discrimination of old Shanghainese. With the improvement of housing conditions and the popularization of education, these habits have become less and less. With the popularization of education and opening to the outside world, it seems to be a fashion that a large number of intellectuals among the old immigrants choose to study, work and settle abroad. At the same time, a large number of new immigrants poured into Shanghai. In the face of most Shanghainese who are used to the old Shanghai civilians, new immigrants feel pressure and are not recognized. Perhaps the most typical difference is that Shanghai dialect is difficult to understand. In fact, Shanghai dialect has different usages in different classes. Although most Shanghainese dialects are common, some words have different expressions in different regions. Even the descendants of old immigrants may not understand the local dialect. In addition, there are many foreigners from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who speak wuyue dialect, which sounds similar to people in the north, but a Shanghainese may not understand what they are saying at all. However, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Shanghainese born in 1980s and 1990s are very used to speaking Mandarin, although they are typical descendants of old immigrants.

Let's talk about the real old Shanghai-locals. For a long time, in the eyes of the old immigrants, the locals were typical country people. Most local people from agricultural backgrounds still maintain the simple habits of villagers. However, with the changes of the times, local people began to step onto the historical stage. Among my friends, there are many well-educated and well-bred locals. Some of them are in business, others are still farming, but most of them live a rich life. There are also many young people starting to enter the high-tech field. Most of the local people I contact are simple and pragmatic. Although they are also called Shanghainese, they don't have the bad habits that old immigrants often have. Therefore, it can be said that these Shanghai immigrants left us with the impression of haggling over every ounce, being stingy and being too exclusive. I used to escape from the countryside, and now I still call others country people. . . Pathetic! )

Finally, talk about new immigrants. This complex group is an important pillar of Shanghai's development. There are some very special people called the children of educated youth. Their parents are descendants of old immigrants. Under the special political background, they were sent to some remote places as educated youth. And their children inherit their parents' wishes and hope to return to their hometown. In addition, highly educated graduates from mainland universities often want to work in Shanghai. Shanghai local colleges and universities recruit a large number of international students, and few international students are willing to go back to their hometown after graduation. After returning from studying abroad, it is almost no longer a big advantage in Shanghai, which makes the competition for survival in Shanghai more intense. The influx of talents from all over the world has also caused some specific problems, such as housing problems, practical work ability problems and environmental adaptation problems. But this is also the vitality of a city. Just like our parents, new immigrants have brought vitality to Shanghai today. In addition, there are some social problems. Open cities are inevitably mixed, and the crime rate of foreigners is relatively high. Because of the instability of life, people in a foreign land sometimes do things that they can't do in their hometown anyway.

I have made a detailed classification of the sources of Shanghainese, aiming to let everyone have a more comprehensive understanding of Shanghainese through my elaboration. I can't write anything very academic, because I don't study the development history of Shanghai. Having said that, we don't want to distinguish good people from bad people by classification. Because no matter where we come from, as long as we are rooted in Shanghai, after a few years, we are all Shanghainese.