You’ve definitely heard of Chinese, the most widely spoken native language in the world. You may know that Chinese has many regional “dialects”, unique sublanguages that share the same writing system but are spoken very differently, to the point where they often considered separate languages. And if you had to name one of these varieties of Chinese, Mandarin, the official language of China, may be the first one that comes to mind. Cantonese, the main spoken language of Hong Kong and its famous action movies and Cantopop songs, is another dialect you are probably familiar with. But Mandarin and Cantonese are just two of the most prominent among the hundreds or possibly even thousands of regional Chinese dialects (Norris, 2020), and unfortunately, many of these dialects are slowly fading due to a variety of complex factors, such as the government promotion of Mandarin, as well as discrimination surrounding many of these dialects (GoEast, n.d.). This article will discuss two of these lesser-known dialects, their significance in history and culture, as well as the importance of their preservation.

First of these dialects is Taishanese, or Hoisan-wa if you prefer the native pronunciation. Sometimes called “Toisanese” based on the Cantonese pronunciation, Taishanese is mainly spoken in the county of Taishan in Guangdong, China (Wikitravel, n.d.), as well as in many Chinatowns in America (The Mercury News, 2007). A member of the Siyi sub-branch of the Yue branch of Chinese languages (Liang, n.d.), Taishanese is closely related to, but not fully mutually intelligible with its more widespread sister language Cantonese. Though the small county of Taishan may seem insignificant compared to the neighboring metropolises of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, Taishan and the Taishanese dialect have historically played a major role in Chinese immigration to China due to Taishan’s role as a port city. 

During the 19th century, a large number of Taishanese immigrants travelled overseas in search of new opportunities, to the point that over 200,000 people, a quarter of the city’s population, resided abroad by 1901. (Debutts, 2017). Over 60% of said immigrants ended up residing in North America (Debutts, 2017), where Taishanese became widely spoken in Chinatowns across the US (Li, 1997). In fact, a majority of the 20,000 Chinese labourers who worked on building the first transcontinental railroad were from Taishan, many of whom died during the long and grueling process (Purves, 2019). Even today, Taishanese remains a lingua franca many American Chinese communities today, though Mandarin is slowly taking its place (Mair, 2022). Taishanese has thus been very influential in shaping Chinese-American history and culture, making it a unique and historically significant language among the Chinese diaspora as well as in its native Taishan.

A major issue with the preservation of Taishanese is that, unlike Cantonese, which is at least taught in schools in Guangdong and Hong Kong (GoEast, n.d.), Taishanese has very little official recognition or pop-culture influence, something which is often worsened by negative stereotypes accusing the dialect as being a vulgar “peasant’s speech” (The Mercury News, 2007). There is no Taishanese opera, poetry, or any form of traditional literature to keep the language alive (The Mercury News, 2007), and many speakers often consider themselves as just Cantonese due to Taishanese’s historical ties to the region and language (Mair, 2022), showing the lack of a linguistic identity among speakers. Currently, resources for learning Taishanese are scarce, though there is a significant amount of Taishanese-related content on social media sites such as YouTube. Currently, no sources provide an exact number of Taishanese speakers.

The next dialect we will discuss is Shanghainese, called Zaon-he ghe-gho natively. Shanghainese is mainly spoken in the municipal city of Shanghai, China, as well as surrounding regions (He & Yu, 2016). With 14 million speakers, Shanghainese belongs to the Wu branch of Chinese dialects, which are sometimes all collectively referred to as Shanghainese (He & Yu, 2016). Shanghainese has a rich and deep cultural heritage, being the language of Shanghainese Opera (English.eastday.com, 2005), as well as being the origin of much of Japanese’s go-on readings of kanji (He & Yu, 2016), causing it’s pronunciation to resemble Japanese. Shanghainese is also phonologically and phonemically very unique among Chinese dialects. Most notably, Shanghainese only has two tones in contrast to Mandarin’s four and Cantonese’s six (He & Yu, 2016). Additionally, Shanghainese has an larger phonemic inventory, and retains many archaic characteristics of Middle Chinese (the ancestor to most modern Chinese dialects) that Mandarin and Cantonese do not have, such as the voiced initials b, d, and g (An Introduction to Shanghainese, n.d.). 

Shanghainese has also played a significant role in history, especially during the Qing dynasty and the 19th century, where Shanghai became a major hub of trade and foreign influence in China (Mcgibney, n.d.). However, by no means is Shanghainese a young language, as its roots can be traced back to the ancient Wu kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period over 1800 years ago (GoEast, n.d.). Shanghainese’s impact on pop culture is also significant, as the 20th century saw the solidifying of its status as the prestige dialect of Shanghai, leading to its widespread usage in theatre, film, and other cultural realms (GoEast, n.d.). Shanghainese’s rich cultural connotations and impact on local culture is seldom matched by that of other dialects. However, Shanghainese still faces significant challenges as Mandarin is further standardised as the official language of China. 

Compared to Taishanese, preservation attempts of Shanghainese have been much more extensive due to its greater cultural significance. Shanghainese has a much more standardised pinyin, as well as a lasting presence in cinema and pop-culture (GoEast, n.d.). Shanghainese also has dedicated radio channels, as well as many activism groups and even politicians backing its official use (Mcgibney, n.d.). Still, Shanghainese faces many challenges as its usage rates continue to drop, especially among the younger generations of Shanghai, where interviews have revealed that the number of under-18 Shanghainese speakers has dropped below 26% (Mcgibney, n.d.). 

To conclude, China’s wide variety of dialects have helped shape its profound culture and history, making the preservation of mentioned dialects necessary for maintaining the diversity of China’s unique cultural heritage. As Mandarin continues to dominate the cultural, economic, and political landscape of China, the future of these fading dialects remains uncertain, but their impact on China’s history, culture, and regional identity has certainly been intangible. 

Below are some sources you can use to learn more about these unique and fascinating dialects:

• Sources for Taishanese

  • https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-GF4yme7f3MoKe4GwaDCSTQWeKf0tI86

  • https://youtu.be/_mvmh_WPOo8?si=pEmmZC-axO8M04U0

  • https://youtu.be/5ufgEKTLYMw?si=AyEuTy7nr2HlHAe3 

• Sources for Shanghainese

  • https://youtu.be/aGbIjLD9IIE?si=0TrzvW1-1pJfJlyJ 

  • https://wu-chinese.com/zanhei/consonant.html 

  • https://shanghaidictionary.com/

  • https://youtu.be/wpPWbRD28fE?si=1vfCR0_EkF0Lfl6z

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaUt3gTwwzU 

  • Or go bother Candy Zang in 10G

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