Whenever I hear such comments, I always defend Shanghainese angrily. Yes, Shanghainese, where are you stingy?
Colleague is a stout Shandong man. He hastily cited a series of examples: when entertaining guests, everything is a side dish, and he is a big eater. He ate it in three bites, which made him afraid to eat at all, fearing that it would be too ugly; When persuading wine and food, I talked and ate, but I didn't move my hand and didn't know how to help people. When a family divides snacks, they will count them, and everyone can clearly distinguish several packages of dried duck gizzards, several packages of beef jerky and several packages of pork breast. ...
I smiled. I don't know which one this is, but it left such a deep impression on my colleagues.
I quickly explained: well, it's not stingy, it's affordable.
When you treat, put things on a small plate because you want to make room on the table for more dishes. You can safely eat this plate. You don't have to ask, the host will definitely take another plate out of the kitchen. Similarly, it is the small and exquisite plate.
When eating, I won't take the initiative to help you, because I'm afraid that something you don't like will be caught, which will embarrass you. Don't worry, as long as you praise a little, a dish is delicious, and he will definitely move it to your face with it, so that you can pick it up conveniently.
As for the distribution of snacks, every family is not like this. I'm afraid it was original by this family. However, I can understand that the parents of that family must want to help their children develop a fair attitude.
After listening to my explanation, my friend did not laugh. He smiled and said, "You can really explain, but I still think the food in the big bowl is good and enjoyable."
I don't know if he said "plate" as "basin" intentionally or unintentionally, but judging from his size, I believe he can digest it without hesitation if he is given a pot of braised pork.
The advantage of Shanghainese is not extravagance and waste. For example, eat as much as you can. Not only ordinary citizens' families, but also some famous local restaurants in Shanghai.
The "rare" restaurant famous for its ribs and rice cakes is one such example. All the snacks in the store, including its signature snack "Rib Rice Cake", are put in small white plates the size of a palm.
Just looking at these small white plates is enough to see the benefits of authentic Shanghai snacks. That's right. Use as many tableware as you have. If you use a huge plate to hold such two rice cakes and a ribs, it is really a bit overqualified. After all, we ate ribs rice cakes instead of "plates". No matter how fancy the dishes are, if the rice cakes and ribs taste like chewing wax, we will put the cart before the horse, just like buying a gift and returning pearls.
I once saw a western restaurant with a huge and beautiful white porcelain plate. Its edges are thick and there is only a small space for things. When I served it, I found that there was only a small lump of mashed potatoes in it. I can't help thinking, is this interesting? Such a big ostentation and extravagance, just to eat so many mashed potatoes. In contrast, I appreciate the small ribs rice cake, which is genuine and cheap. I want to swallow it all, hehe, I can't eat it all at once. Therefore, I appreciate that kind of affordable arrangement more.
Food, clothing, housing and transportation are the most basic conditions for a person to live in the world. Shanghai people's concept of benefiting the people has penetrated into all aspects, and benefiting the people has become one of the basic conditions for Shanghai people to live in the world.
We talked about "food" just now, so let's look at "clothes".
Yes, Shanghai is a fashionable metropolis. Here, you can see almost any famous brand fashion shop in the world. However, where is the best clothing store in Shanghai? I'm afraid it's not a famous shop in Huaihai Road and Nanjing Road, but a semi-wholesale and retail clothing market like Qipu Road Clothing Market and Textile Market.
Compared with expensive brand clothing, more local residents in Shanghai still value benefits more. This shopping concept, which has penetrated into the marrow of Shanghainese, has imperceptibly influenced generations of Shanghainese and even many new Shanghainese.
Yes, why brand-name clothes are so expensive, just to sell a trademark. Who can tell me for sure that a bag with a small crocodile is better than a bag without a small crocodile? I don't think so. In that case, why should Shanghainese who can afford it pay several times or even dozens of times for that small trademark?
In those ordinary clothing stores, you can buy goods with better quality and even more fashionable styles than brand-name goods. In that case, why bother with brand issues?
Of course, there are still many Shanghainese who go to those cheap shops in order to find some famous brands or fakes. Of course, I don't agree with this, but it is undeniable that some Shanghainese do buy some cheap parallel imports with the idea of good quality and low price. This is indeed a misunderstanding in the philosophy of interests.
Real interests are real interests, not selling dog meat with a sheep's head, nor pretending to be Li Kui jy with Gui Li.
Of course, "housing" is not a problem. Although house prices are soaring at present, buying a house is always the first choice for Shanghainese who have more money in their hands.
After all, the interest rate on bank deposits is too low; Investing in stocks and funds is too risky; Buying jewelry and jade, but afraid of being fooled ... Well, the only thing that can appreciate safely is really buying a house. Therefore, buying a house is always the favorite of affordable Shanghainese.
Speaking of buying a house, it will naturally remind people of buying a car. Many girls regard having a house and a car as one of the requirements for choosing a spouse. Of course, this is not worth advocating. After all, love should be based on "love", which means loving "people" rather than "things". People should be the foundation, otherwise they will become money worshippers. What kind of good people like money worshippers?
Having a house and a car is just a dream. There are many ordinary citizens who have no houses or cars. Sometimes, when you buy a house, you can't afford a car, but you can't afford a house. What should you do at this time? When you can't have your cake and eat it, the first choice for an affordable Shanghai girl is definitely not a car, but a house.
How nice this house is. Whether you look at it or not, the house is there and won't drive away by itself. If there are no conditions at home, you can buy a house and live by yourself. If there are conditions at home and there are spare houses, you can rent them out. The monthly rent is a lot of income.
As for the car, what can it bring us? I can only worry about the rise of international oil prices all day, feel the change in my pocket and see how much gasoline I can feed this "iron horse".
Therefore, Shanghainese who don't have a car choose subway, bus and bicycle as the main means of transportation when they need to go out for a walk.
The subway is definitely a must for long-distance passers-by. Convenient and fast, there will be no traffic jam. Of course, the subway fare in Shanghai is more expensive than that in other cities, and the starting fee is three yuan. Therefore, affordable Shanghainese have come up with a series of ways to save money.
Of course, I am absolutely opposed to fare evasion. In fact, truly educated Shanghainese will not fare evasion. We should save money, but we should also save money in a reasonable and legal way. This is the real benefit.
So, after the subway introduced one-day tickets and three-day tickets, smart Shanghainese came up with a good way to use these tickets. First of all, if you want to take the subway many times in one day, you must buy a one-day ticket. But Shanghainese will calculate whether the ticket price of this day really exceeds the price of a one-day ticket.
Smart Shanghainese also figured out how to skillfully use the one-day ticket or three-day ticket of office workers to take five working days off. Its specific skill is nothing more than playing time difference, taking the bus on the first morning night and taking the bus early on the last night. Moreover, some enthusiastic netizens have calculated how much it costs for passengers to go to work every day. Only in this way can we save money. This method was published in the morning paper. Affordable Shanghainese recognize this way of saving money.
Buses are also a good means of transportation. Because within two hours, if two cars are connected, the second car can pay one yuan less. Buses in Shanghai are generally at a uniform price: two. So, if you save a dollar, it's half price. As a result, many Shanghainese go out to do business and wonder if they can catch up with the transfer discount.
Bicycle, needless to say, is recognized as an environmentally friendly and economical means of transportation in the world. Such a good thing should of course be advocated. So in many corners of this city, there are bicycles that can be rented at will, which is convenient for borrowing.
Shanghai people's concept of material interests was not formed overnight, nor was it built in one day. It is deeply rooted in every tiny corner of life. Only by truly integrating into this society and identifying with Shanghai culture can we truly appreciate this concept of material interests that goes deep into the bone marrow.
Not only in daily life, but also in employment and marriage, Shanghainese attach great importance to the principle of material interests.
The first is employment. Most Shanghainese still like to have a stable work unit. So civil servants have become their first choice. It is not surprising that dozens or even hundreds of people compete for a position every year when the civil service exam comes. Its grand occasion really goes far beyond the college entrance examination.
Yes, doing business well, of course, everyone is happy, but doing business is risky. What if you lose money? Therefore, affordable and secure Shanghainese will still choose more secure jobs.
Now it's our turn to get married. The number of leftover women in Shanghai is amazing enough. All walks of life, for this matter, can be said to be indifferent, not concerned. As a result, various forms of affordable blind date conferences followed.
No, there was a blind date meeting on the Expo stage the other day. Thousands of leftover men and women and their parents poured into the scene, posting resumes everywhere, with hunger and thirst in their eyes.
Why are there so many leftover women? In the final analysis, the concept of interest is at work. Since it is affordable, it is natural to find someone better than yourself. Therefore, the phenomenon of neither high nor low is everywhere. This view of marriage is also a by-product of Shanghai people's view of material interests.
That's it. Affordability is a double-edged sword. It can make Shanghainese more and more intelligent, but on the other hand, it can also make some Shanghainese more bourgeois.
As a Shanghainese, how to sublate and inherit the practical philosophy handed down from generation to generation needs serious study.
However, on the other hand, although affordable is an old tradition that has been passed down by Shanghainese for many years, affordable does not mean old-fashioned, and affordable can also be fashionable.
For example, DIY, which is popular now, is the concrete embodiment of the concept of fashion and affordable.
Are all kinds of handicrafts such as cross stitch and satin weave beautiful? Beautiful and fashionable girls, most of them like it. But if you want to buy a finished product, the price is really expensive, so that these pockets are not rich, and even girls who are still at school can only reluctantly give up what they want.
Since you can't afford it, buy some semi-finished products or raw materials to do it yourself. Although it took a lot of effort, the price was really much cheaper. Moreover, if you give it to others, you can also show your whimsy and ingenuity. If it's for a sweetheart, what you make with your own hands is the true feelings.
Shanghainese, with their inclusive and unique Shanghai-style culture, can easily accept foreign cultures, even foreign cultures. With their unique minds, they integrated various cultures and ideas and formed their own distinctive cultures.
This warm and harmonious habit of Shanghainese has spread from thousands of households, from the dribs and drabs of life, from the top of the Yangtze River estuary and from the historical process of Shanghai's century-old urban development, forming a unique cultural tone of Shanghai.
In this inclusive Shanghai culture, there is a basic principle problem, that is, the affordable philosophy of Shanghainese.
This philosophy of interest is inherent in Shanghainese, revealed in Shanghainese bones, and is the essential feature of Shanghainese.
Imagine, if there is no principle of material interests, how can Shanghainese carry out their "takenism" so thoroughly and integrate cultures from all over the country and around the world to make use of it? Shanghainese actively absorbed various cultures from all directions, and rationally utilized and evolved them, forming a Shanghai-style culture with Shanghai characteristics.
Therefore, the principle of material interests is the foundation of Shanghai culture.
Some friends from other places will misunderstand Shanghainese. In addition to understanding the benefits of Shanghai people's "stingy" or "stingy", some friends will imagine Shanghai as a colorful world, where everyone is enjoying life and living a luxurious life.
In fact, this is also a kind of prejudice. I'm afraid this idea has a lot to do with TV plays in the Republic of China. In TV series, there are luxurious ladies, ladies, gigolo and playboy everywhere ... Tall buildings stand, handsome men and beautiful women sit in bars, listening to jazz and blues, drinking wine and coffee. On the stage, the well-dressed artist sang the well-known "Shanghai Night" in a lazy voice.
Yes, this is indeed Shanghai, but not Shanghai now. It is an exaggerated silhouette of Shanghai in stories and film and television dramas. This kind of drunken life is not unique to Shanghai, but exists in every big city.
But Shanghai doesn't stop there. From these films and TV plays, we only see a past, old-fashioned, luxurious, exquisite, decadent and enjoyable Shanghai, while ignoring that Shanghai is a fashionable metropolis in China.
When the dawn has not crossed the earth, the sanitation workers in a hurry have already started to work. The milkman delivers milk and the postman delivers the morning paper. These busy figures are also Shanghai.
Under the neon-lit night, fashionable white-collar female employees in residential alleys are reluctant to buy new shoes and let cobblers repair the worn heels of high heels. This is also Shanghai.
Under the dim desk lamp, students lie prone on their desks to solve math problems regardless of mosquito bites. In another corner of the city, his teacher is also fanning the cattail leaf fan, driving away mosquitoes and correcting students' homework. This is also Shanghai.
Yes, all this is also Shanghai, but everyone didn't see it. Perhaps, the economical Shanghainese are more willing to show the dazzling side of the streamer to everyone.
However, who would have thought that Shanghai would be the real Shanghai without gorgeous dance skirts and heavy ink and oil paints? She is an ordinary and simple housewife, but occasionally she wears a dazzling necklace at parties.
Therefore, for Shanghainese, they are rational and realistic, they are obsessed with their own unique and affordable culture, and they use rationality and intelligence to deal with complex things. This is the unique philosophy of life and existence of Shanghainese.
So, when he talks endlessly about which store is having a discount, please don't dislike his verbosity, he just cares about you. This is a warm citizen city, and Shanghainese are such ordinary citizens. Daily necessities, parents and their parents' faults are the major events they care about.
This is my idea of Shanghainese, affordable Shanghainese, lovely Shanghainese.