Chongqing, nicknamed as mountain city, is one of the megacities in China.
Since its establishment as a municipality, this city witnessed record-breaking fast development in terms of economy, infrastructure, culture, and so on.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Chongqing is so popular that it has the most labels in China nowadays, such as the city of fog, the city of hot pot, the city of bridges, or cyberpunk, etc.
No matter how fast the changes may occur to this city, there’s always something that make people identify with its true self.
Chongqing dialect is one of these things.
It is the most widely used branch of Southwestern Mandarin, with about 90 million speakers. In narrow definition, it only includes the language spoken by the people of nine central districts.
The musical cadence of Chongqing dialect makes Chongqing dwellers instantly recognizable. The tone pattern of Chongqing dialect is one of the best collocation models with high and low, straight and turning pitches.
The flowing rhythm and unique tones work like a special bond that makes homies feel more than familiar and close.
There’s an old Chinese saying: if you have a friend afar who knows your heart, distance cannot keep you two apart.
And the same goes: if you have a friend afar who knows your dialect, distance cannot keep you two apart.
Chongqingers may end up everywhere in the world for travelling, business, or education, and so on. But across oceans and continents, young or old, they can identify each other immediately as long as they strike a conversation with their counterparts or overheard a subtle nearby talk.
For example, there’s hardly any distinction between the consonant l and n in the dialect. Chongqingers may mispronounce look as nook, or snoopy as sloopy, which may cause confusion for non-Chongqingers, but enable homies to recognize their origins.
As the native accent slips away, a sort of intimacy is established.
It’s truly amazing how dialect takes one home and groups folks together.
I remember when I went to Beijing, the capital city of China, to attend university. I had a part-time job as a cellphone salesman in a mall and I managed to become the number one salesman of the month.
The trick was simple.
Besides doing whatever I needed to do as a competent seller, I turned to speak Chongqing dialect when I recognized some of my customers hidden tones in their mandarin.
At that moment, the sharing of mother tone immediately revoked a fresh yet old trust among us. The dialect is the homesickness and home.
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