When people talk about Shanghai Culture, one say is often quoted: 海纳百川, which means "The ocean absorbs the flows of hundreds of rivers", because it characterizes the culture of Shanghai so well. The unique culture of Shanghai is the result of being affected by a lot of different cultures, including cultures of different areas of China, cultures of other Asian countries, and western cultures.
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The geographical location of Shanghai is an importang reason why Shanghai has been affected by so many different cultures. Looking at the latitude, Shanghai is in the middle of China. And Shanghai is right at the end of an important river - Yangtze River(长江). The river runs a lot way from Tibet and through a lot of areas with different cultures. The unique location of Shanghai has made it possible for the cultures from both North China and South China, which are so diverse, and also the cultures from the areas up the Yangtze River, to meet and merge with each other, and then evolve.
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The location of Shanghai also made the history of Shanghai quite interesting. In the years when ships was the best way to travel overseas, Shanghai was the perfect spot for a base in the eyes of foreigners. It is the first place to get to from the sea, and from Shanghai can easily go along the Yangtze River to go deeper into China. For about 100 years between 1840 and 1949, numerous foreigners from Europe, America, Japan, India had lived in Shanghai. They affected and changed the culture of Shanghai in a lot of ways. The buildings on the Bund is quite an evidence how much the changes were. Even in Shanghai accent, some words were from English and have been used ever since. For example, in "混枪势", "枪势" actually was got from "Chance". And another example, "嘎三壶" was got from "Gossip".
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So this is the unique ocean style culture of Shanghai, the result of merging and evolving of a lot of diverse cultures. People in Shanghai can enjoy Chinese traditional dramas a lot, as well as western movies and muics very much. The new buildings in Shanghai are usually in mixed styles combining Chinese traditional elements and concept with western style. Traditional Chinese arts are still popular in Shanghai, while western arts attract as much attention. People from most countries in the world should be able to find something common and familiar to where they are from, but none of them would think Shanghai is very much silimar to another place.
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Overall, the ocean style culture has made Shanghai full of diversities and easy for all kinds of people to adapt to!