MCLC: Shanghai laments loss of local dialect tv show

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Shanghai laments loss of local dialect tv show
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Source: Sinoshere blog, NYT (5/2/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/shanghai-laments-loss-of-tv-
show-in-local-dialect/

Shanghai Laments Loss of TV Show in Local Dialect
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

"Because DocuTV will soon start broadcasting on satellite, programs in
local dialect can’t go on and ‘Shanghai Dialect Talk’ will close. Thank
you everyone for your support! I’m grateful!"

That message <http://weibo.com/iambowengao> last Tuesday on the Sina Weibo
account of Gao Bowen <http://baike.baidu.com/subview/2505775/5247736.htm>
provoked an outcry among people in Shanghai. Mr. Gao is a television host
and performer of pingtan, a traditional Shanghai art form that includes
telling jokes and stories, singing and playing music, and the end of his
program stirred fears that the city’s unique language and traditions are
in peril.

Satellite television is broadcast nationally, and government regulations
bar the use of local dialects on national television. In January, the
State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television
issued a notice saying that all television and radio programs must use
Mandarin Chinese, the standard national language, and avoid local dialects
and foreign languages, China Daily reported
<http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-02/28/content_17313346.htm>.
This policy has its critics, who say that while the central government is
promoting what it calls "culture industries" at home and abroad, it is
discouraging China’s own rich array of regional dialects and customs out
of concern that strong local identities could challenge Beijing’s
authority.

"This is going to be such a pity for us," said Qi Jiayao, a call center
employee who has campaigned to spread the use of the Shanghai dialect,
which he says is under threat from the large influx of newcomers to the
city who don’t speak it as well as the erosion of traditional ways of
living. "Media plays a very crucial role in maintaining a language. If we
have programs in the local dialect, it’s something living among us all. In
order to keep a language alive it needs to be in the public sphere, not
just the private sphere."

Since Jan. 1, Mr. Gao, 44, had hosted "Shanghai Dialect Talk
<http://s.weibo.com/weibo/%25E9%2597%25B2%25E8%25AF%259D%25E4%25B8%258A%25E
6%25B5%25B7%25E6%25BB%25A9?topnav=1&wvr=5&b=1>," a prime-time
Monday-to-Friday, half-hour talk show on Shanghai Television. Images
<http://s.weibo.com/weibo/%25E9%2597%25B2%25E8%25AF%259D%25E4%25B8%258A%25E
6%25B5%25B7%25E6%25BB%25A9?topnav=1&wvr=5&b=1> on the show’s verified Sina
Weibo account showed traditional barbers, furniture, houses, musical
performances and early 20th-century dress. The show’s slogan: “Not just a
show! An attitude to life!”

Mr. Qi said the show was the latest of three in the Shanghai dialect to be
canceled since last fall. The other two were a news show and a
Mandarin-language television drama dubbed in Shanghainese but halted after
just a few of the 20 scheduled episodes.

In February, China Daily reported that the main character in a popular
television show about an elderly Shanghainese busybody "switched to using
broken Mandarin, rather than his signature colloquial and idiomatic
Shanghai dialect," to comply with state regulations.

DocuTV is a channel of Shanghai Television, which is part of the
state-owned Shanghai Media Group. On Friday, a spokeswoman for Shanghai
Television who gave her name as Ms. Chen confirmed that the show had been
dropped because DocuTV was applying to become a satellite channel.
"According to Chinese laws," she said, "you cannot use dialects on
satellite channels in order to make it easier for other people to
understand."

On the Sina Weibo account of the Shanghai Times newspaper, there was much
disappointment.

"Shanghai Dialect Talk is a really good program! These last years’ efforts
to push Mandarin in Shanghai have really been effective. Why do they need
to exterminate dialects!!!" wrote one commenter called Goldfish in the
Grass.

Another post began: ‘"pread this with grief and indignation!" It repeated
the news, then ended, "Online friends are expressing their discomfort and
anger at the ending of the show."

Several commenters drew comparisons with what they called a more
permissive situation in Guangdong Province, where they said tens of
millions of Cantonese speakers are able to watch television shows in their
dialect.

"This is like news of a death. I hope it proves to be just a rumor,"
another commenter wrote.

China has a "fantastic linguistic diversity," said Steve Hansen, the
Beijing-based co-founder of Phonemica <http://phonemica.net/>, a website
that aims to document and preserve hundreds of local languages and
dialects in China.

"In some ways Shanghainese is doing quite well in comparison to other
Sinitic languages," he said. "Shanghainese have a lot of pride in their
language and many make an effort to pass it on to the next generation."

Some parts of the government are trying to preserve local dialects, he
said. "Obviously there are policies like the broadcasting policy that take
away from the influence of local dialects. On the other hand, there is
certainly government-funded academic research for dialects. And for every
poster about the need to use Putonghua" — the Chinese word for standard
Mandarin — "we can find a high-level official talking about the need to
preserve mother tongues."

But over all, he said, regional languages are endangered, as are local
cultures.

"Much of the threat in China is the same as it is around the world," he
said. "People moving around, wanting their children to speak the language
of commerce and ‘progress.’ Even without any additional government
policies, this pressure would be tremendous."