What is shanghai like?

Answer 1

Shanghai is like a Neon Butterfly.Its a huge question and what Shanghai is like depends a lot on a person's point of view. In a nutshell, it is a very large, rapidly changing, diverse city. There is already a lot of fast facts on this wiki so I won't go into the that. Just search on Shanghai.

A few things that might not come in the fact pages are..

Most people here live in hi-rise apartments. Single family homes are for rich people and very expensive.

Shanghai has a history of dealing with foreigners ( non Chinese ) so there is a distinct quality about the city and its foreign influence that can be found no where else in China. It comes out in architecture most obviously, but also in the way the Shanghainese deal with people from other countries.

Shanghai also has the most foreigners ( non-Chinese ) of anywhere in China living in the city. Japanese, Americans, Europeans, Canadians, Indians, people from just about every country in the world. It is a very international environment.

Right now - 2007 - a lot of Shanghai is about money. You have ayis (househelpers) playing the Stock Market.. you have real estate zooming up in value so quickly.. you have a lot of people right now doubling and tripling their money very quickly. One guy told me that almost all the luxury cars you are see on the road were bought with real estate money. It won't always be like this, but its happening a lot right now.

Driving is crazy here. I love to drive but I won't drive here. Once you are in traffic is rude and crude and eveyone for themself.

I love the tree lined streets, the great choice of restaurants, the neon at night, the inexpensive living ( in spite of the above comments.. there are still good deals to be had ). Day to day activity is discussed online at shanghaiexpat dot com.

Answer 2

Shanghai is a large, international city with excellent restaurants, cultural events, and people. Like most large cities, there are constantly interesting events in which you can take part. Public transportoration is clean, well marked, and easy to use.