Pre-departure: Shanghai

Huangpu River

Differences in Culture/Language:

As I prepare to study abroad at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China, primarily for the study of economics, I am anxious to observe the cultural differences that has made Shanghai one of the fastest growing cities in the world.  I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and moved to Washington, DC about 4 years ago.  Though DC is a crowded city, its population (around 600,000) is dwarfed by Shanghai's astounding 24 million people.  I do not know much Mandarin, but I will have to learn fast because East China Normal University is a language intensive International school where my roommate is required to only speak in Mandarin.  Mandarin seems difficult enough, yet the more I research Shanghai the more I realize Shanghainese is a beast all its own.  A quiz from the New York Times, 'How Y'all, Youse and You Guys Talk' informed me that my vocabulary is almost perfectly representative of my hometown, Pittsburgh(Map pictured below).  I am comforted, knowing that my Pittsburgh friends would be proud, but also the slightest bit worried that I am going to have to learn two sets of dialects simultaneously while in China.  Shanghainese is apparently very similar to Mandarin, but due to my lack of experience in the language I am weary of differences in vocabulary.  Thats only the language.  I am also going to try my best to absorb all that historic China has to offer, while gaining as much knowledge pertaining to the massive, modern, and mysterious Chinese economy as possible.

The US has stereotypes in China, and I probably won't hear many of them due to my language deficiency.  However, I hope to do my best entering China to alleviate all of my previous misconceptions about China altogether, positive or negative.