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Flowers and “writing in improved Shanghai dialect”
The H.K. lady interrupted in， “Square dried bean curd”， I have already heard of it， what's the matter？ The schoolmate said， “Take all your hoodlym clothes out from your armoire and commode”. The H.K. lady asked the reason， and the schoolmate continued to say， “You do have scissors， right？ You need to cut them all in the face of those revolutionary teenagers”. The HK lady replied， “No， I don’t agree. I would have no clothes to wear then”.
Writing in Shanghai dialect is the most controversial part of Flowers. To make people who are not from Zhejiang or Jiangsu to understand this novel， Jin Yucheng has made several amendments， but we can still find the style and charm of Wu dialect in this version everywhere. The above paragraph， a dialogue happening under the Cultural Revolution， is extracted from chapter 9 of this novel. “Hoodlym”， “yakuza” and "matter” are all words in Wu dialect and Shanghai dialect.
Writing novels in Wu dialect， Jin Yucheng is certainly not the first one， but if we look back， the novel written in Wu dialect in the Republic of China， just as Jin Yucheng said， “They are usually of words in daily conversations， so many nonlocal readers cannot understand for there are some Foley words in them. The other one is Shanghai mandarin， mostly written words. To make these novels more popular， the Shanghai dialect must be improved. ”
As for the saying of Zheng Li that there are language expressions of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School （a school of literature） in Flowers， Jin Yucheng nodded on that and said that he did it on purpose. There are so many good points in the traditional Chinese language， and Jin hopes to pass them down. “This also goes in line with the modern concepts. The reason why people buy old chairs and desks is that they are at least decorative. Goods thought to be discarded in one time now have become useful.” Languages of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School in the Republic of China are often adopted in today’s storytelling in Suzhou dialect and they are often described as genteel. Because of this， some readers told Jin Yucheng that reading Flowers was like listening to an old man， since there was a sense of the Republic of China filled in lines.
The “improved” adaptation of Wu dialect in Jin Yucheng’s novel exactly met his expectation. According to Cheng Yongxin， it is impossible to discuss Flowers without the discussion of language， since it ushered in possibility for Wu dialect to appear in novels. Zhang Yesong， professor of the Department of Chinese， Fudan University， holds that， Flowers adopted a large amount of Shanghai dialects， but to its content， it is absolutely anything but merely a regional and dialectal novel. “It is a novel dealing with current history and contemporary life in recent decades. It deals， in the middle level， with our history and the life of Chinese people in recent decades. Its content is fairly broad， for it covers the life from the local area to the whole country， from the city to the village， and from China to the world.” Life of Shanghai in chat， small talk and dialogue
Po asked， “What do you mean？” Xuezhi smiled. Then， Po said， “I got it”. Xuezhi asked Po to elaborate. Po confirmed， “Here I go”. Xuezhi kept her eyes wildly open. Po continued， “I will say， I am Xuezhi’s boyfriend”. “Clever！ And drat”， said Xuezhi with a smile. Both of them smiled. Po muttered to himself， “It really doesn’t matter”.
Some of these readers who just begin to read Flowers may not get used to Jin Yucheng’s way of writing. There are plenty of paragraphs started with “A asked， or B said”， gathering a lot of dialogue bodies together. This kind of short sentences in dialogue style is another feature of this book， except for writing in dialects.
At the very beginning of writing this book， Jin Yucheng deliberately selected this way of writing， because in his mind， that was exactly how the traditional storytelling does. In the past， there were few punctuation marks， only one dot originally， and latter on， there were merely comma and period， yet people could still get the meaning. “Japan also has this sort of writers， writing in dialogues only. Is it because they are also oriental？ Something is running in their blood.”
Jin Yucheng said that， if all the dialogues are broken down， Flowers may be divided into five books. “Then， there are really some warm-hearted readers on the internet who divided it. They may think that ‘It is so closely connected that how I could read， why not divide it？’ Even now， these divided versions are still online. But to me， I cannot keep writing if I break them down， and if I write it with a new line， it turns into a play. Therefore， I connect them together， and in this way， it contains a function of narration.”
To works like this one with dialogues in majority， Zhang Yesong holds that it is in this kind of narration that a group of people tell decades of history of Shanghai. Shanghai does have changed a lot in these decades， and the whole life situation of these years has been built in words， offering a demonstration for people to imagine life of that time. “These dialogues provide a chance to elaborate life in Shanghai， and they combine divided segments in Shanghai in their daily life together. During this narration， either the author or the group of people within is actually reviewing and reflecting their life， as well as finding confirmation for their life. We live in this way， but if you think we are too vulgar， we do live a life filled with vigor； if you criticize that we care about only trifles， in fact， we also get evolved in some vast themes， such as international trade and cross-regional interaction. City residents have many friends living in countryside or some remote frontier areas. Their experiences are also brought back to change their friends and themselves as well， finally forming a part of their life. In particular history of this period， great changes happened in the politics， economy and literature of China. What influences did these changes have made on us？ Perhaps， some of them can never be interpreted by us， yet they are finally included through a middle level in which self-narration are permitted.” Profile of life or museums of Shanghai
“Two little girls lead Hu Sheng into the commodity section， in which melodious Bentan （a folk music of Shanghai） is broadcast on radio. It is the Matchmaker Yanyan sung by Ding Shier. Walking through a line of barber chairs， Hu Sheng gets to the second floor. Then， a door is opened； it is Yin Feng holding her litter daughter up to the third floor for nursing. On hearing the sound， Xiaomiao stands at the door immediately and says with caution， “What are you doing？ Get down， now. ”. The elder sister answers， “Here comes the guests”. The elder sister and Lan Lan have much faster hands； hardly when Xiaomao turns around， they open the kitchen cabinet， then take a stewed bean curd sheet in soy sauce and a sweet and sour spare rib respectively.”
Lane， Bentan and sweet and sour spare ribs， etc are all details capable of revealing life in Shanghai to the readers. That is the reason why Cheng Yongxin holds that Flowers sets up a museum of worldly wisdom， in connection with the south and cities.
“Flowers is a profile， through which we can see the life of Shanghai people.” Jin Yucheng specially stressed on that， this profile was neither about cheongsam nor life in the 1930s， for which were too superficial， and what he intended to embody was the life of Shanghai people， in which there were plenty of habits worthy of writing. “In the age of supplying food with definite quantity， some people criticize Shanghai， saying that ‘Grain coupon with a face value of half tael all over China is exclusive to Shanghai.’ People who say so must distain it， while as to Shanghai people， they must smile after hearing that， and that is due to their different living habits. People in north China usually buy youtiao （fried bread stick） in jin （half a kilometer）， while in Shanghai， a loaf of youtiao or a piece of cake costs a half tael of grain coupon， they can be sold in retails， including apples and chilies. It is a habit of Shanghai people to cut youtiao into small parts and eat them with soy sauce. A half tael of grain coupon can buy a bowl of small wontons， and it is such a nice thing to have one at two or three o’clock in the afternoon； but if a northern man goes into the shop for a half jin， the shop keeper needs to bring him ten bowls.”
Jin Yucheng regards Cheng Yongxi’s saying of “museum” as an appreciation. He is fond of writing social life like this， because novels require a lot of interesting contents. “Western novels elaborate details very clearly， for example， DISCOVERY channel， in which many documentary films are very informative. They introduce to you from the perspective of technology and knowledge carefully， even including each of the screws. I speak highly of this rigorous way， and I myself like it very much， so it is possible that my works are influenced by it. Western writers prefer this kind of authenticity， and it is a good way to increase its value of reading by adding much information to make it alive. As Lao She said， people who are to write a novel should know “both the silks and satins of the upper class and the onions and garlic of ordinary life”， and be able to make innovations constantly to show he richness of life. Why not let readers love it？ I write down all the things I know.” “Flowers filled in the blank of the contemporary novels in southern cities. Compared Wang Shuo’s new Beijing-style novels which are mostly to break and tear things down， the Flowers， as a representative of the southern city novels， is mostly to build and set things up.” According to Cheng Yongxin， the museum built by Jin Yucheng can be divided into two periods or two parts， one is the 1960s-70s， and the other is 1980s-90s. “Wondering in this museum， you can enjoy so many daily life and social activities featured with distinctive characteristics of that time， such as， going on a tour， having a dinner， watching a movie， talking about business， and so on. After many years， when people want to learn about Shanghai in 20th century， they will read Flowers， just as we can feel Paris of that time in the novels of Balzac. It is exactly because of that， Flowers becomes a book that cannot be overlooked， and a commemoration of an age of turbulence， which is of great significance to Chinese.”
New style of Shanghai Literature
“Only a small desk with a mirror is moved to Yanqing Road. It can be used to make account as well as to dress and make up. Once， Taotao woke up in the middle night alone. He thought he was alone， but as the light on， shadow of Xiao Qing appeared. Taotao said to her， “You scared me， what are you writing？” Xiao Qing replied， “Something in my mind”. Taotao said again， “Normal ladies usually won’t do such things”. Xiao Qing smiled and locked her notebook into the drawer. She was almost transparent in the light， as she went to him.”
“The whole novel is almost composed of chats， small talks and dialogues. It extends the “incongruity” and the complexity of life in cities. The cautious taunts and aggressive caricatures were the then Shanghai fashions. It also restores the map of life， worldly wisdom of Shanghai， even though they are filled with trifling， lowliness， common customs and material desires.”
Above is what Cheng Depei said when he made comments on Flowers and this also triggers out the saying that Flowers is a representative of new Shanghai literature. When searching traditions in Flowers， Cheng Depei mentioned Flowers of Shanghai， and he even said that “The next one may be A Dream in Red Mansions if we continue to rank the list”. Cheng Yongxin regards this kind of saying as a very high approval for Flowers. There are two things in this novel； one is the connection with its regional culture， and the other is its significance to traditions. These two points convinced Cheng Yongxin to regard Flowers as a new representative work for Shanghai literature. Reviewer Huang Ping believes that， important changes have happened to the description way of Shanghai literature during the last century. Started from the epic writing in Midnight of Mao Dun， the way of writing evolves from the “legend” of Eileen Chang to the present “storytelling” of Jin Yucheng. He said that， the love and any other aspects of life of heroes in Flowers are no longer meaningful for readers. Life is like river water. All are to be flowed over slowly， and this is exactly the situation of the modern people.
After Zhou Libo’s Shanghai Style Small Talk attracted widespread attention in 2006， Zheng Li believed that it may also motivate the development of Shanghai literature. Shanghai creative community is always calling for a work that can really embody the features of Shanghai， when people still anchor their hopes on writers like Wang Anyi and Chen Cun， here suddenly comes Jin Yucheng. Shanghai described by Jin Yucheng completely differs from that of Wang Anyi. “What the works of Wang Anyi， such as Everlasting Regret， built was a Shanghai of her own， while Jin Yucheng approached a closer way with grass roots. It is like what he said in his postscript that he would like to be a “story teller”， to put away his pride and to collect gossip and slang of the towns and alleys， through which he presents us the human relationships and social affairs in the 1960s and 1990s respectively. If you want to learn about Shanghai in these two periods， then reading Flowers is a necessity.”
Jin Yucheng cares little about classifying himself into “Shanghai school”， since as he said he was never bothered by this question in his writing process. However， he did know that this novel was based on Shanghai and he was glad that so many Shanghai readers loved it， so did those northern readers. Despite this novel’s name， Flowers， one’s life is impossible to always be a flower. “There are so many people coming to this world from generation to generation， with only a century to live at most and they are all pathetic in their final days， just like a withered flower. To stay calm is the only thing they can do.”
The H.K. lady interrupted in， “Square dried bean curd”， I have already heard of it， what's the matter？ The schoolmate said， “Take all your hoodlym clothes out from your armoire and commode”. The H.K. lady asked the reason， and the schoolmate continued to say， “You do have scissors， right？ You need to cut them all in the face of those revolutionary teenagers”. The HK lady replied， “No， I don’t agree. I would have no clothes to wear then”.
Writing in Shanghai dialect is the most controversial part of Flowers. To make people who are not from Zhejiang or Jiangsu to understand this novel， Jin Yucheng has made several amendments， but we can still find the style and charm of Wu dialect in this version everywhere. The above paragraph， a dialogue happening under the Cultural Revolution， is extracted from chapter 9 of this novel. “Hoodlym”， “yakuza” and "matter” are all words in Wu dialect and Shanghai dialect.
Writing novels in Wu dialect， Jin Yucheng is certainly not the first one， but if we look back， the novel written in Wu dialect in the Republic of China， just as Jin Yucheng said， “They are usually of words in daily conversations， so many nonlocal readers cannot understand for there are some Foley words in them. The other one is Shanghai mandarin， mostly written words. To make these novels more popular， the Shanghai dialect must be improved. ”
As for the saying of Zheng Li that there are language expressions of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School （a school of literature） in Flowers， Jin Yucheng nodded on that and said that he did it on purpose. There are so many good points in the traditional Chinese language， and Jin hopes to pass them down. “This also goes in line with the modern concepts. The reason why people buy old chairs and desks is that they are at least decorative. Goods thought to be discarded in one time now have become useful.” Languages of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School in the Republic of China are often adopted in today’s storytelling in Suzhou dialect and they are often described as genteel. Because of this， some readers told Jin Yucheng that reading Flowers was like listening to an old man， since there was a sense of the Republic of China filled in lines.
The “improved” adaptation of Wu dialect in Jin Yucheng’s novel exactly met his expectation. According to Cheng Yongxin， it is impossible to discuss Flowers without the discussion of language， since it ushered in possibility for Wu dialect to appear in novels. Zhang Yesong， professor of the Department of Chinese， Fudan University， holds that， Flowers adopted a large amount of Shanghai dialects， but to its content， it is absolutely anything but merely a regional and dialectal novel. “It is a novel dealing with current history and contemporary life in recent decades. It deals， in the middle level， with our history and the life of Chinese people in recent decades. Its content is fairly broad， for it covers the life from the local area to the whole country， from the city to the village， and from China to the world.” Life of Shanghai in chat， small talk and dialogue
Po asked， “What do you mean？” Xuezhi smiled. Then， Po said， “I got it”. Xuezhi asked Po to elaborate. Po confirmed， “Here I go”. Xuezhi kept her eyes wildly open. Po continued， “I will say， I am Xuezhi’s boyfriend”. “Clever！ And drat”， said Xuezhi with a smile. Both of them smiled. Po muttered to himself， “It really doesn’t matter”.
Some of these readers who just begin to read Flowers may not get used to Jin Yucheng’s way of writing. There are plenty of paragraphs started with “A asked， or B said”， gathering a lot of dialogue bodies together. This kind of short sentences in dialogue style is another feature of this book， except for writing in dialects.
At the very beginning of writing this book， Jin Yucheng deliberately selected this way of writing， because in his mind， that was exactly how the traditional storytelling does. In the past， there were few punctuation marks， only one dot originally， and latter on， there were merely comma and period， yet people could still get the meaning. “Japan also has this sort of writers， writing in dialogues only. Is it because they are also oriental？ Something is running in their blood.”
Jin Yucheng said that， if all the dialogues are broken down， Flowers may be divided into five books. “Then， there are really some warm-hearted readers on the internet who divided it. They may think that ‘It is so closely connected that how I could read， why not divide it？’ Even now， these divided versions are still online. But to me， I cannot keep writing if I break them down， and if I write it with a new line， it turns into a play. Therefore， I connect them together， and in this way， it contains a function of narration.”
To works like this one with dialogues in majority， Zhang Yesong holds that it is in this kind of narration that a group of people tell decades of history of Shanghai. Shanghai does have changed a lot in these decades， and the whole life situation of these years has been built in words， offering a demonstration for people to imagine life of that time. “These dialogues provide a chance to elaborate life in Shanghai， and they combine divided segments in Shanghai in their daily life together. During this narration， either the author or the group of people within is actually reviewing and reflecting their life， as well as finding confirmation for their life. We live in this way， but if you think we are too vulgar， we do live a life filled with vigor； if you criticize that we care about only trifles， in fact， we also get evolved in some vast themes， such as international trade and cross-regional interaction. City residents have many friends living in countryside or some remote frontier areas. Their experiences are also brought back to change their friends and themselves as well， finally forming a part of their life. In particular history of this period， great changes happened in the politics， economy and literature of China. What influences did these changes have made on us？ Perhaps， some of them can never be interpreted by us， yet they are finally included through a middle level in which self-narration are permitted.” Profile of life or museums of Shanghai
“Two little girls lead Hu Sheng into the commodity section， in which melodious Bentan （a folk music of Shanghai） is broadcast on radio. It is the Matchmaker Yanyan sung by Ding Shier. Walking through a line of barber chairs， Hu Sheng gets to the second floor. Then， a door is opened； it is Yin Feng holding her litter daughter up to the third floor for nursing. On hearing the sound， Xiaomiao stands at the door immediately and says with caution， “What are you doing？ Get down， now. ”. The elder sister answers， “Here comes the guests”. The elder sister and Lan Lan have much faster hands； hardly when Xiaomao turns around， they open the kitchen cabinet， then take a stewed bean curd sheet in soy sauce and a sweet and sour spare rib respectively.”
Lane， Bentan and sweet and sour spare ribs， etc are all details capable of revealing life in Shanghai to the readers. That is the reason why Cheng Yongxin holds that Flowers sets up a museum of worldly wisdom， in connection with the south and cities.
“Flowers is a profile， through which we can see the life of Shanghai people.” Jin Yucheng specially stressed on that， this profile was neither about cheongsam nor life in the 1930s， for which were too superficial， and what he intended to embody was the life of Shanghai people， in which there were plenty of habits worthy of writing. “In the age of supplying food with definite quantity， some people criticize Shanghai， saying that ‘Grain coupon with a face value of half tael all over China is exclusive to Shanghai.’ People who say so must distain it， while as to Shanghai people， they must smile after hearing that， and that is due to their different living habits. People in north China usually buy youtiao （fried bread stick） in jin （half a kilometer）， while in Shanghai， a loaf of youtiao or a piece of cake costs a half tael of grain coupon， they can be sold in retails， including apples and chilies. It is a habit of Shanghai people to cut youtiao into small parts and eat them with soy sauce. A half tael of grain coupon can buy a bowl of small wontons， and it is such a nice thing to have one at two or three o’clock in the afternoon； but if a northern man goes into the shop for a half jin， the shop keeper needs to bring him ten bowls.”
Jin Yucheng regards Cheng Yongxi’s saying of “museum” as an appreciation. He is fond of writing social life like this， because novels require a lot of interesting contents. “Western novels elaborate details very clearly， for example， DISCOVERY channel， in which many documentary films are very informative. They introduce to you from the perspective of technology and knowledge carefully， even including each of the screws. I speak highly of this rigorous way， and I myself like it very much， so it is possible that my works are influenced by it. Western writers prefer this kind of authenticity， and it is a good way to increase its value of reading by adding much information to make it alive. As Lao She said， people who are to write a novel should know “both the silks and satins of the upper class and the onions and garlic of ordinary life”， and be able to make innovations constantly to show he richness of life. Why not let readers love it？ I write down all the things I know.” “Flowers filled in the blank of the contemporary novels in southern cities. Compared Wang Shuo’s new Beijing-style novels which are mostly to break and tear things down， the Flowers， as a representative of the southern city novels， is mostly to build and set things up.” According to Cheng Yongxin， the museum built by Jin Yucheng can be divided into two periods or two parts， one is the 1960s-70s， and the other is 1980s-90s. “Wondering in this museum， you can enjoy so many daily life and social activities featured with distinctive characteristics of that time， such as， going on a tour， having a dinner， watching a movie， talking about business， and so on. After many years， when people want to learn about Shanghai in 20th century， they will read Flowers， just as we can feel Paris of that time in the novels of Balzac. It is exactly because of that， Flowers becomes a book that cannot be overlooked， and a commemoration of an age of turbulence， which is of great significance to Chinese.”
New style of Shanghai Literature
“Only a small desk with a mirror is moved to Yanqing Road. It can be used to make account as well as to dress and make up. Once， Taotao woke up in the middle night alone. He thought he was alone， but as the light on， shadow of Xiao Qing appeared. Taotao said to her， “You scared me， what are you writing？” Xiao Qing replied， “Something in my mind”. Taotao said again， “Normal ladies usually won’t do such things”. Xiao Qing smiled and locked her notebook into the drawer. She was almost transparent in the light， as she went to him.”
“The whole novel is almost composed of chats， small talks and dialogues. It extends the “incongruity” and the complexity of life in cities. The cautious taunts and aggressive caricatures were the then Shanghai fashions. It also restores the map of life， worldly wisdom of Shanghai， even though they are filled with trifling， lowliness， common customs and material desires.”
Above is what Cheng Depei said when he made comments on Flowers and this also triggers out the saying that Flowers is a representative of new Shanghai literature. When searching traditions in Flowers， Cheng Depei mentioned Flowers of Shanghai， and he even said that “The next one may be A Dream in Red Mansions if we continue to rank the list”. Cheng Yongxin regards this kind of saying as a very high approval for Flowers. There are two things in this novel； one is the connection with its regional culture， and the other is its significance to traditions. These two points convinced Cheng Yongxin to regard Flowers as a new representative work for Shanghai literature. Reviewer Huang Ping believes that， important changes have happened to the description way of Shanghai literature during the last century. Started from the epic writing in Midnight of Mao Dun， the way of writing evolves from the “legend” of Eileen Chang to the present “storytelling” of Jin Yucheng. He said that， the love and any other aspects of life of heroes in Flowers are no longer meaningful for readers. Life is like river water. All are to be flowed over slowly， and this is exactly the situation of the modern people.
After Zhou Libo’s Shanghai Style Small Talk attracted widespread attention in 2006， Zheng Li believed that it may also motivate the development of Shanghai literature. Shanghai creative community is always calling for a work that can really embody the features of Shanghai， when people still anchor their hopes on writers like Wang Anyi and Chen Cun， here suddenly comes Jin Yucheng. Shanghai described by Jin Yucheng completely differs from that of Wang Anyi. “What the works of Wang Anyi， such as Everlasting Regret， built was a Shanghai of her own， while Jin Yucheng approached a closer way with grass roots. It is like what he said in his postscript that he would like to be a “story teller”， to put away his pride and to collect gossip and slang of the towns and alleys， through which he presents us the human relationships and social affairs in the 1960s and 1990s respectively. If you want to learn about Shanghai in these two periods， then reading Flowers is a necessity.”
Jin Yucheng cares little about classifying himself into “Shanghai school”， since as he said he was never bothered by this question in his writing process. However， he did know that this novel was based on Shanghai and he was glad that so many Shanghai readers loved it， so did those northern readers. Despite this novel’s name， Flowers， one’s life is impossible to always be a flower. “There are so many people coming to this world from generation to generation， with only a century to live at most and they are all pathetic in their final days， just like a withered flower. To stay calm is the only thing they can do.”