Culture
Language
Most Shanghai residents are descendants of immigrants from both the adjacent provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They moved to Shanghai in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The people from these regions, in general speak Wu Chinese. In the past decades, many migrants from other areas of China moved to Shanghai to work. They often cannot speak the local language; hence, Mandarin is used as a lingua franca.
The vernacular language is Shanghainese which is a dialect of Wu Chinese, while the official language nationwide is Mandarin. The modern Shanghainese language is based on the Suzhou dialect of Wu which is the prestige dialect spoken within the Chinese city of Shanghai prior to the modern expansion of the city. The prevalence of Mandarin fluency is generally higher for those born after 1949 than those born before. However, the English fluency is higher for people who received their secondary and tertiary education before 1949 than those who did so after 1949 and before the 1990s.
Cinema
Shanghai was the birthplace of Chinese cinema and theater. China’s first film, The Difficult Couple (难夫难妻, Nanfu Nanqi, 1913) and the country’s first fictional feature film, An Orphan Rescues His Grandfather (孤儿救祖记, Gu’er Jiu Zuji, 1923) were both produced in Shanghai. These two films were so influential that Shanghai became the center of Chinese film-making.
Arts
The Shanghai School was an important Chinese school of traditional arts during the Qing Dynasty and the 20th century. Traditional Chinese art were developed into the modern style of Chinese painting under the masters from this school. The most well-know figures from this school are Qi Baishi, Ren Xiong, Ren Yi, Zhao and Zhiqian, just to name a few.The Songjiang School was a small painting school during the Ming Dynasty. It is commonly considered as a further development of the Wumen School in the then-cultural center of the region, Suzhou.
The Huating School was another art school during the middle to late Ming Dynasty which boasted achievements were in traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy and poetry.
Fashion
Cheongsam is one of the cultural artifacts of Shanghai. It is a modernization of the traditional Manchurian qipao. The traditional qipao was designed to conceal the figure and be worn regardless of age which differs from the cheongsam. The cheongsam went along well with the western overcoat and scarf. This portrayed a unique East Asian modernity, epitomizing the Shanghainese population in general. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too.In the recent times, Shanghai have gotten its own fashion week called Shanghai Fashion Week. It is held twice every year, in April and October. Shanghai Fashion Week is a major business and culture event of national class hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Government. It aims to build up an international and professional platform, gathering all top design talents of Asia.
Famous Shanghainese
Shěn Diànxiá (沈殿霞) or Lydia Sum is the late famous Hong Kong comedian born in Shanghai. She is famous for her signature dark rimmed spectacles & bouffant hairstyle. In Hong Kong, she is also known as 'Fei Fei' or 开心果 (lit. happy fruit) . In Canada, the Vancouver City Council has dedicated June 1 as "Fei Fei Day" to commemorate her active contributions in local charities.
Yao Ming (姚明)was a professional basketball player from the local Shanghai Sharks before playing for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in US. He has since retired from basketball.
Nora Sun was a Chinese American diplomat, businesswoman and granddaughter of Republic Of China Founder Sun Yat Sen. She was born in Shanghai before moving to Taiwan at an early age. At 17, she became the youngest person on the island to become a flight attendant. Then, she moved to the United States, where she married and raised three children. At 40, she enrolled into the University of Arizona and her career in the US diplomatic service began seven years later. She served as trade consul in places like Guangzhou and Paris.In 2011, she was met with a car accident which left her in a month-long battle for her life before passing away at the Shin Kong Memorial Hospital at the age of 72.
Zhōu Xuán (周璇) was a very famous singer and actress during the late 1930 to 1940. She was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu in 1918 (some sources say 1920). She was separated from her biological parents and was adopted by a Shanghai couple.
She joined Li Jinhui's Ming Yue 明月 (Bright Moon) Society, a Shanghai musical company in 1931. She was dubbed the “Golden Voice” for her exceptional singing talents and was one of the 7 Great Singing Stars during that era. Her biggest hits were "Nighttime Shanghai," "When Will My Gentleman Return," "Songstress at the Ends of the Earth," "Daughter of a Fishing Family," "A Lovely Morning," "Song of Four Seasons" and "Smiling Forever." Some of these became title songs of major motion pictures. Her music genre is shídàiqǔ, a fusion of Chinese folk and European jazz which originated in Shanghai in the 1920.
Despite her successful career, she developed depression and later died of encephalitis in Shanghai on 22 September 1957.
