Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

The Xinmin Evening News reported recently that renowned Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-wai, has contacted Shanghai writer Jin Yucheng with ideas on adapting the latter's novel Blossoms into a film and a television series.

Blossoms was one of the most popular novels in China in 2013. Painting a vivid picture of life in Shanghai from the 1960s to the 1990s, the novel was written in "modified" Shanghai dialect - that is, in a way that makes the language more understandable to non-natives.

According to reports, although a deal between the director and the author has not been finalized yet, Wong has expressed his desire to use Shanghai dialect dialogue and Putonghua subtitles in his productions.

Shanghai was once a dominant cultural force on the Chinese mainland. In the 1930s, when Shanghai was occupied by Japanese invaders, many influential writers residing in the city's foreign concessions created what became known as Lone Island Literature.

Prior to this, Shanghai was also the epicenter of the New Culture Movement, which eventually gave rise to modern Chinese literature. With time though, Shanghai's influence over Chinese culture at large has faded somewhat.

The culture of Shanghai, including the Shanghai dialect, has given up a great deal of ground over the past few decades to Cantonese culture as well as books and films produced in Beijing.

It is true that the appeal of Shanghai dialect, a language which most Chinese people can't understand, is literally getting lost in translation. Shanghainese stand-up comedian Zhou Libo, who was once the darling of Shanghai audiences with his shows in the Shanghai dialect, lost his popularity shortly after he began to host TV programs in Putonghua.

Most of his jokes were only effective in Shanghai dialect, a shortfall which has placed him in poor stead with Putonghua-speaking viewers. Similarly, other TV programs in Shanghai dialect are only accessible to local people in Shanghai.

But many people with Shanghai roots have already begun efforts to revive Shanghai culture.

Wong, who was born in Shanghai, has produced several films related to the city. And his intended adaptation of Blossoms could be considered another attempt to bring the local culture to wider attention.

The time may be ripe for such a revival, especially after the recent success of Apart Together, a Shanghai-dialect film which hit theaters nationwide last year after being nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.

Of course, with subtitles one does not have to be a fluent speaker of Shanghai dialect to enjoy a film in this language. After all, Chinese audiences have had little trouble in the past when it came to connecting with Hollywood movies and South Korean soap operas, despite not being fluent in English or Korean.

Certainly people will be entertained even more if they know the language, but a work like Blossoms can still be enjoyed if it presents an appealing story with universal significance.