 With the increasing popularity of Chinese language and great development of China’s economy, more and more foreigners come to China for business, trade, education, travel, etc. And Shanghai, as the international metropolis in China, is the principal city which lots of foreigners preferred because of its prosperity and glory. Then where to live in Shanghai seems to be the topic of common concern.
According to some statistics, there are over 10,000 foreigners studying or working in Shanghai. It’s quite a quotidian thing to meet foreigners everywhere in the downtown of Shanghai. People have already accustomed to live in such a metropolis with multi-culture and people of different nationalities. Then where do foreigners usually live and which places are good choices for settlers or short-dwellers in Shanghai? Here are some places where foreigners prefer to live: Xuhui, Changning, Jin’an, and Putuo districts, etc. Because all these are very glorious and busy places with a lot of famed stores and busy streets locate there. For example, Xujiahui in Xuhui district, it is one of the central business areas in Shanghai. And besides its bustling business, there are also many beautiful and classical houses there which were built in the early years of last century. The Tianshan road and Gubei area in Changning district and Cangyang road in Putuo district are also good choices. A lot of foreigners have settled there and many of them have accustomed to being neighbors with local people. Recently a lot of foreigners choose to live in Pudong . The main reason is they work for big corporations located in Waigaoqiao or Jinqiao developing area. Very far away from downtown as it is, there are also supermarkets, restaurants, bars, starbucks coffee, etc, all the modern “civilized” life style requires. Plus it’s less crowed and polluted. So if you want to rent an apartment or plan to have a permanent residence in Shanghai, you can choose such places for the reason of convenience, prosperity and safety. Of course the price may be a lit bit high. Actually about renting, here are also some nice places: Yangpu, Hongkou, Luwan, Huangpu etc. All these districts are the downtown lots of the city. And in Shanghai, the apartments are usually divided into three types: Newly built apartments, old apartments and service apartments. Well, the rent of the newly built apartments is usually expensive. Besides the convenience and safety, the high price of houses in Shanghai is also one of the reasons. Old apartments are much cheaper; 2000RMB is enough to rent one. And the services apartment which is fully equipped, e.g. satellite TV, usually takes 6000RMB a month. Of course, some old service apartment will be cheaper. Usually it is the cheap rent, convenient transportation and especially the dense local culture that will attract foreigners to choose to live in. And apart from that, I know that lots of foreigners enjoy night life under the influences of culture and custom. It is said that Pudong is not a good choice to live if a person like night life, because you will be immersed in the quietness and dreariness of the dark night. So anyone wants to have night life might as well not take Pudond as a choice. Besides all I mentioned above, there are also some links may be helpful: http://shanghai.asiaxpat.com http://www.smartshanghai.com http://www.shanghaiexpat.com http://www.newportchina.com/xhdistrict.php On these websites, there is much information about living in Shanghai, so it’s also a good choice to have a visit to such places before making a choice. Hope all these will be helpful, and all of you enjoy the life in Shanghai. |
