China's regional differences

Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo recites some of the regional differences in China on his personal weblog:

The Shanghainese are philistines, and this they’ll gladly own:
Commercial instincts permeate them to the very bone.
Their pride in Shanghai’s petit bourgeois ethos is immense
But what they lack in culture, they make up in common sense.

Regional differences that are eroding, I should add. In one way I always preferred Beijing over Shanghai. In Beijing you could at least understand a part of the conversations in the elevators, on the markets. In Shanghai Shanghainese was the standard. That is now changes quickly, I note on the street. Also in Shanghai, just like in Shenzhen, Putonghua is fast becoming the new standard.