1.
Chinese language
–
Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty
2.
Pinyin
–
Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
3.
Shanghainese
–
The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, Hu language or Hu dialect, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, in English, Shanghainese sometimes refers to all Wu languages, variants and dialects, although they are only partially intelligible with one another. Shanghainese proper is a language of Taihu Wu, it contains vocabulary and expressions from the entire Taihu Wu area of southern Jiangsu. With nearly 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is also the largest single form of Wu Chinese and it serves as the lingua franca of the entire Yangtze River Delta region. Shanghainese is rich in vowels and in consonants, like other Taihu Wu dialects, Shanghainese has voiced initials. Neither Cantonese nor Mandarin has voiced initial stops or affricates, the Shanghainese tonal system is also significantly different from other Chinese varieties, sharing more similarities with the Japanese pitch accent. Shanghainese has two level tonal contrasts, while Cantonese and Mandarin are typical of contour tonal languages, Shanghai did not become a regional center of commerce until it was opened to foreign investment during the late Qing dynasty. Consequently, languages and dialects spoken around Shanghai had long been subordinate to those spoken around Jiaxing, in the late 19th century, most vocabulary of the Shanghai region had been a hybrid between Southern Jiangsu and Ningbonese. It underwent sustained growth that reached a hiatus in the 1930s during the Republican era, after 1949, the government imposed Mandarin as the official language of the whole nation of China. The dominance and influence of Shanghainese began to wane slightly, especially since Chinese economic reform began in 1978, Shanghai became home to a great number of migrants from all over the country. Due to the prominence of Mandarin, learning Shanghainese was no longer necessary for migrants. However, Shanghainese remained a vital part of the citys culture. In the 1990s, it was common for local radio. In 1995, the TV series Sinful Debt featured extensive Shanghainese dialogues, the Shanghainese TV series Lao Niang Jiu was broadcast from 1995 to 2007 and received tremendous popularity among Shanghainese residents. Shanghainese programming has since declined, over concerns of regionalist/localist accusations. From 1992 onward, Shanghainese use was discouraged in schools, in addition, Shanghais emergence as a cosmopolitan global city consolidated the status of Mandarin as the standard language of business and services, at the expense of the local language. Since 2005, new movements have emerged to protect Shanghainese from fading away, Shanghais former party boss Chen Liangyu, a native Shanghainese himself, reportedly supported her proposal. There have been talks of re-integrating Shanghainese into pre-kindergarten education, because children are unable to speak any Shanghainese
4.
Nanjing
–
Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capitals of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century CE to 1949. When being the capital of a state, for instance, the ROC, Nanjing is particularly known as Jinling or Ginling and the old name has been used since the Warring States period in Zhou Dynasty. Located in Yangtze River Delta area and the center of east China and it has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honour of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award and National Civilized City. Nanjing boasts many high-quality universities and research institutes, with the number of universities listed in 100 National Key Universities ranking third, the ratio of college students to total population ranks No.1 among large cities nationwide. Nanjing is one of the three Chinese top research centers according to Nature Index, Key cultural facilities include Nanjing Library, Nanjing Museum and Art Museum. Archaeological discovery shows that Nanjing Man lived in more than 500 thousand years ago, zun, a kind of wine vessel, was found to exist in Beiyinyangying culture of Nanjing in about 5000 years ago. According to a legend quoted by an artist in Ming dynasty, Chen Yi, Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, later in 473 BCE, the State of Yue conquered Wu and constructed the fort of Yuecheng on the outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate. In 333 BCE, after eliminating the State of Yue, the State of Chu built Jinling Yi in the part of present-day Nanjing. It was renamed Moling during reign of Qin Shi Huang, since then, the city experienced destruction and renewal many times. Nanjing was later the city of Danyang Prefecture, and had been the capital city of Yangzhou for about 400 years from late Han to early Tang. This city would soon play a role in the following centuries. Shortly after the unification of the region, the Western Jin dynasty collapsed, First the rebellions by eight Jin princes for the throne and later rebellions and invasion from Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples that destroyed the rule of the Jin dynasty in the north. Its the first time that the capital of the moved to southern part. During the period of North–South division, Nanjing remained the capital of the Southern dynasties for more than two and a half centuries, during this time, Nanjing was the international hub of East Asia. Based on historical documents, the city had 280,000 registered households, assuming an average Nanjing household had about 5.1 people at that time, the city had more than 1.4 million residents. As the old capital of China, many legendary stories happened here, residents in Nanjing all have the warmest affection for this city. Throughout glory and darkness in past centuries, Nanjing becomes a low-key city, GDP growth rate significantly exceeds the average rate in China for decades, which also maintain a fast developing model. Possibly the best preserved of them is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu, the period of division ended when the Sui Dynasty reunified China and almost destroyed the entire city, turning it into a small town
5.
Jiangsu
–
Jiangsu, formerly romanized as Kiangsu, is an eastern-central coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. It is one of the provinces in manufacturing electronics and apparel items. Jiangsu is the third smallest, but the fifth most populous, Jiangsu has the second-highest GDP of Chinese provinces, after Guangdong. Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, Jiangsu has a coastline of over 1,000 kilometres along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze River passes through the southern part of the province. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Jiangsu has been an economic and commercial center. Cities such as Yangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai are all major Chinese economic hubs, since the initiation of economic reforms in 1990, Jiangsu has become a focal point for economic development. It is widely regarded as Chinas most developed province measured by its Human Development Index, Jiangsu is home to many of the worlds leading exporters of electronic equipment, chemicals and textiles. It has also been Chinas largest recipient of foreign investment since 2006. Its 2014 nominal GDP was more than 1 trillion US dollars and its name is a compound of the first elements of the names of the two cities of Jiangning and Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is 苏, the character of its name. The state of Wu was subjugated in 473 BC by the state of Yue, Yue was in turn subjugated by the powerful state of Chu from the west in 333 BC. Eventually the state of Qin swept away all the other states, during the Three Kingdoms period, southern Jiangsu became the base of the Eastern Wu whose capital, Jiankang, is modern Nanjing. When nomadic invasions overran northern China in the 4th century, the court of the Jin Dynasty moved to Jiankang. Cities in southern and central Jiangsu swelled with the influx of migrants from the north, Jiankang remained as the capital for four successive Southern Dynasties and became the largest commercial and cultural center in China. The Tang Dynasty relied on southern Jiangsu for annual deliveries of grain and it was during the Song Dynasty, which saw the development of a wealthy mercantile class and emergent market economy in China, that south Jiangsu emerged as a center of trade. From then onwards, south Jiangsu, especially cities like Suzhou or Yangzhou, would be synonymous with opulence. Today south Jiangsu remains one of the richest parts of China, the Mongols took control of China in the thirteenth century. The Ming Dynasty, which was established in 1368 after driving out the Mongols who had occupied China, following a coup by Zhu Di, however, the capital was moved to Beijing, far to the north
6.
Huangpu District, Shanghai
–
Huangpu District, makes up the eastern part of Shanghais traditional urban core and is today the most central of Shanghais 18 districts. The Huangpu District is one of the most densely populated districts in the world. The Huangpu District is located in central Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China on the bank of Huangpu River, after which the district is named. It is opposite to Pudong and is bounded by Suzhou Creek to the north, todays Huangpu District is sometimes referred to as new Huangpu to distinguish it from the pre-merger Huangpu District which existed before 2000. In 2000, the pre-merger Huangpu and Nanshi districts were combined to form a new district, in June 2011, the existing Huangpu District was combined with Luwan District to form a further new district, again called Huangpu. As a result of merger, it currently has an area of 20.43 square kilometres and 678,670 inhabitants. Of the three districts that make up todays Huangpu, the pre-merger Huangpu District is located to the north, bounded by Suzhou Creek in the north. South of the per-merger Huangpu District was Nanshi District, bounded by the Huangpu River to the east, west of Nanshi District was Luwan District, bounded by the Huangpu River to the south. Each of these have a history and character. The former Nanshi District, literally southern city, was the core of Shanghai. It included the old, walled city as well as the nearby docklands on both sides of the Huangpu River, Shanghai County was established at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. A city wall was built to repel the Wokou, and this Ming Dynasty wall defined the extent of urban Shanghai for the few centuries. In 1842, the north of the old city was established as the British concession in Shanghai. At the time, the concession was referred to by locals as the city while the walled Chinese city was the southern city. From this reference was derived the name Nanshi. Upon the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II, in 1945, after the Republic of China government took control, the old city was divided into the Third District and the Fourth District. In 1959 these were merged to form Nanshi District, the pre-merger Huangpu District was largely located in the former Shanghai International Settlement. In the later part of the 19th century and the early 20th century, the International Settlement was handed back to the Chinese government in 1943
7.
The Bund
–
The documentary released by CCTV, directed by Zhou Bing. The Bund or Waitan is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, the area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The area along the faces the modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui in the Pudong District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road and it is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in the area, the word bund means an embankment or an embanked quay. The word comes from the Persian word band, through Hindustani, meaning an embankment, mumbais Apollo Bunder and city names like Bandar Abbas and Banda Aceh share the same etymology. In these Chinese port cities, the English term came to mean, especially, in English, Bund is pronounced to rhyme with fund. There are numerous sites in India, China, and Japan that are called bunds, however, The Bund, without qualification to location, usually refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai and it was initially a British settlement, later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. Magnificent commercial buildings in the Beaux Arts style sprung up in the years around the turn of the 20th century as the Bund developed into a financial center of east Asia. Directly to the south, and just northeast of the old walled city, by the 1940s, the Bund housed the headquarters of many, if not most, of the major financial institutions operating in China, including the big four national banks in the Republic of China era. However, with the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war, many of the institutions were moved out gradually in the 1950s. The statues of figures and foreign worthies which had dotted the riverside were also removed. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the thawing of economic policy in the Peoples Republic of China, government institutions were moved out in favour of financial institutions, while hotels resumed trading as such. The Bunds revitalization began in 1986 with a new promenade by the Dutch Architect Paulus Snoeren and has changed the streetscape of the Bund. In the 1990s, Zhongshan Road, the road on which the Bund is centred, was widened to ten lanes, as a result, most of the parkland which had existed along the road disappeared. Also in this period, the ferry connecting the Bund and Pudong. A number of pleasure cruises still operate from some nearby wharves, in its expanded form, the term Bund was used to refer to areas south of the Yanan Road, and a stretch of riverfront north of the Suzhou River
8.
People's Square
–
Peoples Square is a large public square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. It is south of Nanjing Road and north of Huaihai Road, Peoples Square is the site of Shanghais municipal government headquarters building and is used as the standard reference point for measurement of distance in the Shanghai municipality. Prior to 1949 and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China, the Shanghai Metros Peoples Square Subway Station is an interchange among the subways Line 1, Line 2, and Line 8. Several bus stops also ring the north and south sides of the square, Peoples Park Apr.2007 Sept.2007 Oct.2007 Jan.2008 YouTube videos
9.
Jing'an District
–
Jingan District, is one of the central districts of Shanghai. It has an area of 37 km², the district borders the Hongkou District to the east, Huangpu District to the east and south, Putuo District to the west, Baoshan District to the north and Changning District to the west. On 4 November 2015, Zhabei District merged with Jingan District bringing Shanghai down to 15 districts and one county. Jingan District was named after Jingan Temple, an ancient traditional Chinese Buddhist temple, todays temple is a new replica of the old one, located in the southern part of the district. An Art Deco dancehall is just across the street, around the neighborhood are bar streets, although some areas develop, Jingan Park, located opposite to the temple, is quite popular among locals, it used to be a graveyard for foreigners in the old Shanghai. Historically, the part of the district, what used to be Zhabei, has been highly populated with working class residents. Development in the part of the district has been rapid. West Nanjing Road is one of Shanghais premier shopping districts, and is home to five-star hotels, key landmarks on West Nanjing Road include the Shanghai Exhibition Centre and the Shanghai Centre. The southern part of the district is one of Shanghais key central business and it contains numerous large office buildings, hotels, and many shopping venues at the street level. The district comprises a prominent portion of the Shanghai skyline, the district is also known for having many high-rise residential buildings. The northern part of the used to be the place of agglomeration of traditional industries such as flavor factory. In the last decade, the municipality decided to move the old industry out in order to space for more promising ones such as the hi-tech. It has attracted foreign companies to build offices, apartments. It is also where the Shanghai Multimedia Valley is located to attract media, major companies located in Zhabei include TÜV Rheinland, Royal Philips Electronics and Shanghai Bell Alcatel Business Systems Co. China Resources Beverage, the distributor of Cestbon water, has its east China regional office on the floor of the Huanzhi International Building in the district. Daning Lingshi Park, the biggest green area in the area, is surrounded by a series of cultural facilities such as the Zhabei Stadium. The Shanghai University, Yanchang Campus is also located near the Daning Lingshi Park, Jingan District travel guide from Wikivoyage Jingan District website Jingan District website Zhabei District travel guide from Wikivoyage Shanghai Zhabei Government Portal Shanghai Circus World
