As the saying goes, "I would rather listen to people in Suzhou quarreling than people in Ningbo talking." It means that although they are both Wu dialects, Suzhou dialect is "soft and waxy" and sounds good even if they quarrel; Ningbo dialect is "hard as stone" , even having a good conversation feels like a quarrel. People also call this feature "hard as stone."

Suzhou dialect is famous for its soft and glutinous language, which is where the so-called Wu Nong Ruanyu (Nongzuorenjie) comes from. Both Kunqu Opera and Pingtan are written in Suzhou dialect, and it is popular throughout the Taihu dialect of Wu.

People in Suzhou eat less salt, so they are mild-tempered and take Wu Nong’s soft words. Ningbo Yue people eat a lot of salt, have a loud voice, and have a bad temper. Therefore, there is a famous saying in Shanghai: Ning Ting People in Suzhou quarrel and don't listen to people in Ningbo.

Extended information:

Characteristics of Suzhou people:

1. Speaking is like singing, and quarreling is like opera

When northerners quarrel, they want to fight , they shouted "I'll give you two slaps!". When people in Suzhou quarreled and wanted to fight, they said, "Are you going to slap me twice (sound: niguang)?"

2. Speak in Suzhou dialect Convert at will

Suzhou people usually use Suzhou dialect when talking to friends at home. However, now that there are more friends from other places, they will change to more standardized Mandarin when they go outside.

3. A true foodie?

When the Suzhou scholar Jin Shengtan cried at the temple, his last words before leaving were the recipes of "Eat pickles and soybeans together, they taste like walnuts." , I really pay attention to what I eat and don’t make do with it. I eat seasonal things throughout the year. Take meat as an example. Sauce meat in spring, steamed pork in summer, braised pork in autumn, and soy sauce recipe in winter.

4. Do Suzhou people pay attention to health?

Suzhou people eat relatively lightly, and relatively few smoke and drink alcohol. The average life expectancy of Suzhou residents last year was 82.74 years, of which 80.33 years were for men. Years old, women are 85.14 years old, continuing to maintain the average level of developed countries and regions in the world.