Shanghainese people

Shanghainese
上海人
A Shanghainese man and woman on a wheel barrow, pre-1898.
Total population
approximately 20,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Mainland China14,000,000 people
 Hong Kongapproximately 75,000 - 250,000
 Japanapproximately 60,000
 TaiwanAs part of Waishengren population
 United Statesapproximately 250,000 - 300,000
 CanadaAs part of Chinese Canadian population
 AustraliaAs part of Chinese Australian population
 SingaporeAs part of Chinese Singaporean population
Languages
Shanghainese and other Taihu Wu dialects (parent tongues), Mandarin, Cantonese (by those residing in Hong Kong) and English (those who live in the Overseas Chinese diaspora population)
Religion
Predominantly Mahayana Buddhism and Chinese folk religions (including Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and others), with many non religious. Minority: Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Wuyue people, Ningbo people, other Han Chinese

Shanghainese people (Chinese: 上海人; pinyin: Shànghǎirén; Shanghainese: Zaanhe-nyin [zɑ̃̀hɛ́.ɲɪ̀ɲ]) are an ethnic group of Shanghai Hukou descent or people who have ancestral roots from Shanghai. Most Shanghainese are descended from immigrants from nearby provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. According to 1990 census, 85% of Shanghainese people trace their ancestry to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Only a minority are Shanghai natives, those with ancestral roots in Shanghai.

The Old City of Shanghai was a minor settlement until the later Qing Dynasty and many districts of the present municipality of Shanghai originally had separate identities, including separate but related dialects of Taihu Wu.[1] In recent decades, millions of Chinese have moved to the city, both as internal immigrants and as migrant workers. The 2010 Chinese census found 9 million of Shanghai's 23 million residents (almost 40%) were migrants without a Shanghai hukou, triple the number from the year 2000 census. These "New Shanghainese" (上海人) are generally distinguished from the Shanghainese proper as they usually refuse to learn the Shanghainese language and force local Shanghainese to speak Mandarin.[2] Comparisons can be made between the vast proportion of immigrants and immigrant-descendants that make up the population of Shanghai and that of New York City in the United States, historically a hub for immigrants to the country.

  1. ^ Tone, Sixth (September 5, 2016). "The Life and Death of Shanghainese". Sixth Tone. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  2. ^ "Revered and reviled, Shanghai dialect is making a comeback among youth". South China Morning Post. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 2019-07-22.