Why "Shanghainese"? A Century of Evolution inthe Shanghai Dialect

Together, we will revisit over a century of audiovisual and textual materials on Shanghainese — from missionary records of the language over 170 years ago, to poems about Yangjingbang published in the Shen Bao newspaper, and even the dialectal exchanges in Seventy-Two Tenants. Through these sources, we will trace the evolution of the city’s dialect.

We will walk through the temporal corridor of Shanghainese, experiencing firsthand how language flows, interacts, and merges over time. How have geography, economy, and migration shaped it? And how has the “Shanghainese” we speak, hear, and carry in our hearts been molded by these waves of change?