from Xinhua:

Survey shows locals still prefer their own dialect 11/2/2005 9:12

A recent survey has found residents in China’s largest city, Shanghai, prefer speaking their own dialect even though most speak fluent mandarin (putonghua).
Compared with people from other parts of China, Shanghaiers speak more often in their local dialect at home, office, supermarkets and doctor’s consulting rooms, according to the national survey on the popularity of mandarin, conducted by the State Language Commission of China.
Mandarin, known in China as “putonghua” or “common tongue,” was made the standard pronunciation of Chinese language more than 50 years ago.
The survey found only 35 percent of Shanghaiers speak mandarin in the office, while the national average use of mandarin at workplaces is 42 percent. About 12 percent of Shanghai’s residents speak mandarin at home, opposed to 18 percent nationwide.
Results of the survey have surprised many Chinese linguists because Shanghai has long been considered a “melting pot” and about 35 percent of its population have moved in Shanghai from other parts of the country.
“Drivers and conductors on Shanghai buses all speak the local dialect, though posters are seen everywhere reminding the residents to speak mandarin,” said He Xin, a public servant who’s been in Shanghai for seven years. “You’d be an outsider if you speak mandarin among a group of local Shanghaiers.”
But he said Shanghaiers are generally friendly and don’t discriminate against people from other parts of China.
In fact, some local newspapers have started to discuss how the Shanghaiers should make sure their future generation still speak their “mother tongue” now that schools have been told to teach mandarin only.
The unique Shanghai dialect is very different from mandarin and many other Chinese dialects. It was for a time a symbol of Shanghaiers’ localism and superiority over people from the rest of the country.