Kunming dialect

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Here's a small taste of Kunming dialect 昆明话 from local native speakers, with translation of a few sentences into Putonghua and English.

http://en.kunming.cn/node_16685.htm

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Zero interest? It even has Pinyin.

[xiaocai]

I just could not find any playable audio clips on the webpage. Are there supposed to be any?

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The main link above (http://en.kunming.cn/node_16685.htm) has five phrases along the left side of the page. It looks like the first picture attached below.

Clicking on any one of those phrases opens a new page with an imbedded "player" and the text written out in Chinese and English. It looks like the second picture attached below.

I agree it's kind of a clumsy format, and it seems the project was never carried beyond its beginning stages. Maybe it will be expanded in the future. It was done clearly, and I'd like to have more.

In the streets and on the busses of Kunming, dialogue like this often whizzes by.

[gato]

Kunming dialect is very close to Mandarin. To me, it sounds like Mandarin spoken with a kind of a Sichuanese accent. It's probably because Kunming was settled by mostly northerners.

See this:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/yunnan/kunming/

]However, the majority of residents of Kunming were descended from backward barbarian tribes until the arrival of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In order to counterbalance the population, the government organized a great number of Han immigrants and soldiers to go to the Dian region. In 1382, the local government started to reconstruct Kunming City, a newly built wall was built around the city. It was just the preliminary layout of the current Kunming City. Apart from that, a number of villages around Kunming City were also built for the soldiers to live in. Nowadays, these villages are some of the featured tourist destinations in the suburbs.

The Unsteady Development in the Qing Dynasty

When the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) of the Manchu captured the imperial throne, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty escaped to Kunming and continued his kingship, existing in name only. In 1659, Wu Sangui - a general and then a rebel of the Qing Dynasty, overcame Kunming and governed the whole of Yunnan atrociously. Even to the 1910's, due to the corruption of the later Qing Dynasty, Kunming was inevitably occupied by foreign invaders. During these periods, Kunming's economy suffered grievously.

In December 1949, Kunming City was liberated peacefully and confirmed as the capital of Yunnan Province. Now, it is a beautiful tourist destination, being full of the exotic flavors of southwest China.

[xiaocai]

For some reason I just could not get the plugin to work on my browser. Well I have been to Kunming many times so I'd say I am pretty familiar with the local dialect. I also picked up some Kungminghua along the way. Since all the southwest dialects are similar to each other I dare to say that my accent is actually not to bad.

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Interesting article, @gato.

[gato]

Yeah, that explains why the Kunming dialect is so similar to Mandarin, whereas the dialect / language in the rest of Yunnan is nothing like Mandarin.

[Mugi]

Kunming dialect is very close to Mandarin

... in the same way that New York dialect is very close to English ... ;)

[gato]

Close enough for New Yaawwkers.