THE Shanghainese like to describe themselves as ''smart but not sophisticated'' (jingming bu gaoming). Smart in the sense of being good at business and making money but woefully lacking in the kind of cultural sophistication usually associated with other major cities.
It is an image the municipal government is keenly aware of and is anxious to change.
If Shanghai is to regain its place as a modern, international city then, officials say, residents really will have to expand their cultural horizons and develop other interests besides just lining their wallets.
At the moment, Shanghai's ''cultural activities'' seem largely confined to shopping, singing karaoke and consuming huge amounts of XO in glitzy and outrageously expensive night clubs.
The city's economic boom of the last two years has tended to exacerbate the image of Shanghainese as cash-crazed hedonists, concerned only with making money and spending money in more or less equal proportions.
Shanghai residents say such unbridled conspicuous consumption is perfectly understandable because, ''when the people have been starving for 40 years, you should not expect them to have very good manners when they finally get to the banquet table''. But officials at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences claim that beneath the money-grabbing facade, there is rich and highly sophisticated culture which the government is hoping to bring more to the surface.