Expats to test their Shanghai dialect skills at Changning fest

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Expatriates with a gift for languages are being invited to take part in a Shanghai dialect contest that will feature Huju Opera, Shanghai dialect songs, Shanghai farce and storytelling — all part of the annual Changning District cultural festival, officials said yesterday.

The light-hearted event that will also include participants from outside Shanghai, will be held later this month, Zhang Yongzhen, director of the Changning Bureau of Culture, said yesterday.

The finals of the event will be held in October.

“The aim is to preserve and promote the fast-fading dialect and the competition is a casual and entertaining way to encourage people to learn and speak it,” Zhang told a press conference yesterday.

More information on the festival can be had at the www.cnfolk.org or on phone at 5217-8212.

Foreign contestants will be in a special category. They don’t have to be veteran speakers or performers. New learners are especially welcome. Winners will get to appear in local TV and radio programs.

“Shanghai dialect, which has a unique cultural value, is now declining,” says Professor Zhong Fulan of East China Normal University, and director of the Shanghai Folk Culture Society.

“There is an urgent need to protect and promote the dialect of cultural richness and diversity among the younger generation.”

The Changning Folk Culture Center also plans to promote the local Huju Opera, which originated in the regions around the Huangpu River. As a folk opera it enjoyed its heyday in the 1920s and 30s.

Its subjects were often topical and the costumes modern.

The two-month cultural festival gets under way on September 23. It will include an international magic contest and a global dancing competition with participants coming from as far as the United States, Russia, Israel and Brazil.

The festival is free for all.

Meanwhile, a 11-day beer festival is being held at the Shanghai Yangtze Hotel in the district.

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