MANDARIN SPEAKERS

Largely I avoid dealing with Mandarin-speaking Mainlanders these days, because I assume, and rightly, that they are mostly supercilious sneering snobs who despise the local settled population. As their behaviour far too often proves. And the evidence shows that of the mainland students over here, not an insubstantial number are keeping tabs on the local Cantonese students, at the behest of the consulate. Much like all foreigners visiting China are tracked and have security files.
It's just a fact of life.

So, have I ever visited Mainland China? No, nor do I wish to do so. Whenever I hear Mandarin my skin tightens and I turn grumbly. Whether it's "native" or "Hong Konger trying to communicate with a turd".

Corrupt officials, gangsters, thieves, and eunuchs, talk Mandarin.
As do all party members.

Basically, any Mandarin-speaking student at Stanford University or U.C. Berkeley who drives an expensive car paid for it because his well-connected relatives raped and robbed an entire village. Or several villages.
Same holds for many Taiwanese, btw.



Honest people go to City College or San Francisco State.
And frequently work their way through school.
English and Cantonese speakers.



Three Mandarin-speaking twenty somethings were in a local chachanteng the other day, loudly sneering at nearly all dishes on the menu. Which reflects Hong Kong food tastes, and one has to wonder why on earth they were there, seeing as they disapproved of everything the kitchen did.

This ain't effing Peking, folks. It's Chinatown, populated by hardworking people, who aren't stinking rich, many of whom are Toishanese, almost all of whom can speak Cantonese. They eat differently from the blasted north, and almost NO local restaurants offer mantou (饅頭) as a starch option. Noodles are usually fried, in soup, or braised with savoury meats.
Seldom just plain boiled.

Please speak English if you can't manage Cantonese.

The restaurant staff understand both languages.

斯文人講廣州話，聽唔明就翻鄉下。
[Google-Translate can't do this. Sorry.]

Nice folks don't use Putonghua.


Jerks.



AFTER WORD

This does not hold true for all Mandarin speakers. There are several among my circle of friends and acquaintances who are not only decent people, but splendid folks whom it is a sheer pleasure to know. And if you're familiar with the movies made in Shanghai and elsewhere up until the early fifties, you will undoubtedly realize that this is true for others as well.

So, to present a far more positive image of Mandarin speakers in general, here's a lovely tune from the age of running dogs and imperialists, absolutely chock-full of the bourgeois sensibilities of that time.


玫瑰玫瑰我愛你

[SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vv-tgoab0]

Sprightly, melodious, nightclub-ish.
And such a nice dulcet voice.
Excellent diction, too.
Very charming.
1940.


Yao Lee (姚莉 'yiu lei'), the artist who recorded the song above, was born in Shanghai in 1922. Her career spanned decades. She passed away in Hong Kong on July 19th. of this year.



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