This paper examines the dynamic interplaybetween language policy and local stakeholders in theprocess of dialect planning in the city of Shanghai, in thecontext of social tensions surrounding the decline ofShanghai dialect in mainland China. A process-orientedLanguage Management Theory (LMT) model is adopted asthe analytical framework to reveal the interactive facet ofmicro language planning. Drawing on in-depth interviewsand document analysis, the paper analyzes and interpretsten key players’ perceptions and experiences in relation tothe ‘saving Shanghai dialect’ movement. Qualitative dataanalysis demonstrates five stages in the dialect planningprocess and reveals how individuals’ agency, when strug-gling and striving for local language rights, exert bottom-up influence upon language policy-making. The findingsalso unravel the social political duality between macrostructure and individual agency. The paper ends with adiscussion on the need to negotiate the individual agency ina more interactive and democratic dialog with predefinedpolicy constraints. This study may have implications formultilingual/multidialectal contexts in other geographicallocations where linguistic diversity in the local contexts isencountering shifts in language use and language changes.Besides, this study may also enrich applicability of theLMT framework which reveals the interactive and dynamicprocess by unbundling individual responses and influenceson language planning

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• Saving Shanghai Dialect: A Case for Bottom-Up LanguagePlanning in China