Preservation, not exclusion, was the purpose of Tom and Jerry in dialect, Zhang said.
"You've got Shanghainese kids who can't even speak Shanghai-nese," he complains. "I have friends who've moved to Shanghai and want to learn the language to better integrate into local society.
"Isn't watching TV easier than studying textbooks?" he said.
For now, Tom and Jerry will continue in Shanghainese on video, along with other versions in close to a dozen dialects.
Mandarin's influence reaches deep. Speaking the language well is considered a sign of good breeding and education. And because China has bound use of Mandarin so closely to the idea of national unity, promotion of other dialects can sometimes be seen as insulting if not traitorous. Even at an entertainment awards show in Shanghai, Chinese reporters drown out Hong Kong celebrities speaking in Cantonese with exasperated shouts of "speak Mandarin."
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