Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Last week, a local senior citizen wrote a post on Sina Weibo, claiming that a staff member at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower asked him to speak Putonghua when he talked to her in Shanghai dialect.

"I don't understand Shanghai dialect," she said, according to the man's post. "Don't speak Shanghai dialect to me."

The post was later forwarded and criticized by Ao Junming, vice president of Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group Co Ltd, with a comment saying that speaking Shanghai dialect in this city is flaunting one's superiority.

It caused a heated debate between Shanghainese people and non-locals on Weibo and some online forums. "Since you don't understand Shanghai dialect, why do you choose to do service work in Shanghai?" a local insurance company executive surnamed Chen wrote in her post, asking the staffer to go back to her hometown.

While some supported Ao's criticism, a netizen with the screen name "niurenguichao" said on Weibo that the senior citizen was "narrow-minded."

Although Ao later made an apology for his post, on Weibo he was still reviled by hundreds of people, of which many called him an "YP" - a derogatory term for non-locals.

It seems that the conflict between Shanghai natives and non-locals has been around a long time. Early in 2009, a local radio host Kan Xiaojun once read a text message sent into his program by a listener. The message sender said he hated Shanghainese people and asked Kan not to speak Shanghai dialect on his program.

In response, Kan told the person to "roll his body into the shape of a ball and get out of the city." His words, heard by thousands of listeners, gave rise to a heated discussion.

Despite Ao's and Kan's inappropriate words, the feelings that Shanghainese people express in response to such cases are quite understandable. To natives of the city, Shanghai is a place where their families have lived for a long time.

Since people often have a sentimental attachment to their hometowns and mother tongues, it is ridiculous to criticize a local for speaking Shanghai dialect in his hometown.

As a modern and open city, every year people from all over the world come to Shanghai with different purposes. Various languages and dialects are used in this city, not just Putonghua, the official language of China.

However, even though the majority of locals do speak good Putonghua, some people, such as senior citizens, don't.

Therefore, though the dialect is not a necessity for non-locals wishing to get a job in this city, learning some basic words and sentences is favorable, particularly for those in service sector jobs.

As for the staff member at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, she has a duty to learn some Shanghai dialect. Or at the very least, she could have asked a Shanghai dialect-speaking colleague for help, rather than simply saying "don't speak Shanghai dialect to me."

On the other hand, it also seems there is some underlying prejudice against non-locals by Shanghai people. Such locals need to be more considerate, as language should be used to connect, not separate, people.

As a metropolis with more than 9 million non-locals, Shanghai belongs to not only those born here, but also those who have moved here and contributed to the city.