Better Write it Down

A word on Chinese: I learned very little Chinese while staying in Shanghai, but I’ll tell you what I picked up. Chinese, the written language, is understood by almost everyone in the country. The characters, originally pictorial representations, are so abstracted that most no longer signify specific concepts, although there are some exceptions. Specifically, ni hao, the Mandarin greeting, actually means “you good.” Hao, a character made of the symbol for woman and the symbol for child, signifies “good.” Cantonese (spoken in the South, in Hong Kong, Macao, etc.) and Mandarin (spoken in Shanghai and points north like Beijing) are variations on pronunciation of the written language, but have evolved so that they have almost no common ground. In addition, Shanghainese-speakers cannot understand many other Mandarin dialects, and often do not bother to try. My only sister is now speaking in Shanghainese slang. Another one bites the dust.
The evolution of “cheers”-ing shows how the culture is changing. While the common term is “gambei,” this literally means bottoms up—obligating one to drink the whole thing in one gulp. As wine bars and upscale cafés emerge, people are starting to realize that maybe this is not an ideal practice. The new term sounds something like “tschoo-ae,” which does not bind you to a specific amount. Since we were here ostensibly for corporate visits, I think we arrived right on time.