Walks Introduction

A city lives in the memories of its people. No matter what changes on the outside its identity and history is always felt and kept alive through the stories and sounds of its people. These walks are precious memories not only for the person speaking but also for the city of Shanghai.

The memories captured were delicately edited, if at all, in order to bring the true sound of Shanghai to your ears. All of the streets sounds, summer sounds, and chance moments that only could have been seen once in a lifetime.

Initially, understanding the language is not necessary. The sound of speech is as much a part of the sound of a city as the content of the stories themselves. The understanding of the stories is only half the experience.

This project also encourages you to listen to your own surroundings in a more subjective sense. To take off your headphones on the subway, roll down your window, turn of the lights... and just listen.

These sounds belong to the city and the people of Shanghai. I believe that using a traditional copyright would be theft. Therefore, all audio is available for free Mp3 download under a BY-NC-ND Creative Commons license.

All of the ‘walkers’ were born between the years of 1978 and 1985 in Shanghai and are able to speak the Shanghainese dialect. Because of their age group, their memories of their adolescence would have been focused during the major development of Shanghai during the 1990s showing just how much this city has gone through within a quarter of a lifetime.

Please enjoy the sound of Shanghai via the links on the left.

Basic Common Terms:

‘Lu’ = 路 = ‘Road’

‘Jie’ = 街 = ‘Street’ (Pronounced ‘Jeeyeah’)

‘Bei’ = 北 = ‘North’ (Pronounced ‘Bay’)

‘Nan’ = 南 = ‘South’

‘Dong’ = 东 = ‘East’

‘Xi’ = 西 = ‘West’ (Pronounced ‘Shee’)

‘Zhong’ = 中 =‘Middle’ or ‘Center’ (Pronounced Jong (‘J’ as in Jail))

‘Wang’= 往 = ‘To Go’ (In a direction)

‘Zuo’ = 左 =‘Left (Pronounced Zoo-wuo (‘wuo’ as in war or quark))

‘You’= 右 =‘Right’ (Pronounced ‘Yo’)