Source: CCTV.com

09-28-2006 08:14

There are various collectors, and Today let's hear the story of a "dialect" collector.The Beijing resident Wei Linhai said there are so many messeges carried in local dialect that we can't afford to lose them in the mist of time.

A bookworm since childhood, Wei Linhai used to be crowned " No.1 Book Collector" of Beijing. And in reading he found himself most allured to dialects which reflect people's habits, characters and migration process in a particular area. It gave rise to his idea of making a compilation of Beijing dialect, which he hears and says for dozens of years.

The neighborhood Wei Linhai is living became his first source of exploration. The region was an imperial rice production center in the Qing Dynasty.As offsprings of the imperial employees, the inhabitants now still keep many of the old sayings in their daily conversation.

Another is her own chest of memory which he has been digging into diligently. He can't remember how many times at night he got up immediately when a word occurred to him.

Wei also frequently visits experts and scholar's homes to figure out each word's origins.

Wei's goal is making his collection a book. Two previous books about Beijing dialects were published in the 1990's, each including less than ten thousand expressions. And in Wei's collection there are already over 14.000.

 

Editor:Lu Yuying