China Dream or Local Language in Cosmopolitan Shanghai: State Policies and Place-bound Identity

• In Event: 095 - Section on Community and Urban Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Culture and Place Identity

Abstract

The image of Shanghai as a glittering global metropolis contrasts with the everyday alienation and marginalization felt by many “native” Shanghainese. While the city has experienced extensive development starting in the 1990s, millions of Shanghainese have faced geographical displacement, a massive influx of internal migrants and a shifting social stratification. My study on the endangerment of the Shanghai dialect critically examines the joint impact of three sets of state policies, namely language, urban redevelopment, and internal migration; how each in its own way suppresses the expression of a Shanghainese identity, and subjects locals to a top-down nationalist agenda. My research suggests a sharp shift in spoken language in the merely one generation, revealing the breadth and strength of China’s state power, yet also how the Shanghai dialect preservation movement demonstrates a tension between a supposedly ‘shared-by-all’ ‘China Dream’ and a rising regionalism. Furthermore, it engages broadly with debates about state-led global-city making process, and sheds light on the consequences of state-led globalization and modernization.

Author

• Fang Xu, City University of New York-Graduate Center