CMR China Property & Relocation Services extends our most sincere welcome to you and your family on your assignment to Shanghai.
Leaving your home can difficult for all members of the family but we are here to ensure that the transition from home to Shanghai is as smoothly as possible, ensuring that you and your family are settling-in well, ready to enjoy what Shanghai and China have to offer of adventures and experiences.
Shanghai is today China’s most dynamic city, the driving force in an economical development unforeseen in history. The city has experienced a yearly growth rate of more than 10% in the past 20 years and the development of the city’s infrastructure is taking place at a speed that is breath-taking. Skyscrapers are popping up everywhere, new roads, tunnels and subways routes are being opened on a yearly basis, even the newest train technology has been introduced to Shanghai with the new Maglev train from Pudong airport to Longyang Station.
You may be happy that know that the days, only a few years ago though, where no foreign products and daily groceries, not to say foreign supermarkets, could be found here, are gone. Carrefour, Wal-Mart, Metro, Lotus Supermarkets are all present in today’s Shanghai, making the transition from home so much easier than before. Today foreign branded cereal products, clothes, toiletries, perfumes, drinks, snacks, wine, beer and alcohol are easily obtained.
The medical services in Shanghai are continuously being improved. New foreign clinic and hospitals with foreign doctors and English speaking staff are setting up their operations in the city, leaving another major concern behind. The best known are World-Link, Shanghai United Family Hospital and Shanghai East International Hospital.
Many new international schools have opened up their doors within the past few years, providing excellent educational facilities for the children, giving them a good opportunity to experience different cultures and languages. Shanghai can today offer your children a high standard education from pre-school through high-school at some of the best international schools found anywhere.
In other words, Shanghai is at the beginning of the new century a cosmopolitan city that has almost everything you are used to from back home, plus so many new things that can enrich your stay in Shanghai and make this experience one of the best in a life-time. We are here to constantly assist you and help you with any daily problems you may encounter – and do our best to make sure you are enjoying your time here.
Sincerely,
Morten Wincent
Founder and CEO,
CMR China Property & Relocation Services
The City
Location: At the mouth of the mighty Yangzte River, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Area: 6200 square km but the core is only around 220 square km and housing more than 8 million people, making Shanghai one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Population: Around 20 million including the suburban areas in the municipality.
Climate: Shanghai lies in the belt of North Asia monsoon climate and has four distinct seasons. Summers are very hot and humid while winters can be freezing cold and wet. The best time of the year is in October and November that offer clear blue skies and moderate temperatures.
Economy: Shanghai is the economic powerhouse of China. With a growth of more than 10% in recent years, it is by far the largest economic area in China ahead of Guangzhou and Beijing which cannot match the modernity of Shanghai. Foreign investors do complain that investment costs have risen over the past years but with preferential investment and tax policies in the various development zones, most foreign enterprises still can find major financial incitements to place their investment in Shanghai.
Industry: Shanghai is the most developed city in China and boasts of the most modern production facilities and best skilled labor force in the country. Most of the top-500 multinational companies have a presence here at least, if not one of their main production facilities. The industry here includes semiconductors, cars, specialized dies, lathes, electronic assembly equipment, watches, cameras, computers, radios, glassware, leather goods etc. The city has a well-established chemical and petrochemical industry that provides the foundation for production of plastics, synthetic fibres and other products. The textile industry is also significant.
Agriculture: Shanghai municipality has more than 333,000 hectares of farm land. Crops grown here include rice, wheat, cotton oil-bearing seeds and vegetables. Mushrooms, garlic, rabbit hair, frozen fowl, live pigs, chickens, frozen vegetables, whitebait and crab-fry sells well on the overseas markets.
Emergency numbers
| Police Hotline Telephone Problem Local Directory Assistance Time Fire Alarm Ambulance Hotline Weather Tourist Hotline Hongqiao Airport Pudong Airport Railway Inquiry Electricity Gas |
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Although neighbouring cities like Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou are figured often in the chronicles of ancient China, Shanghai is very rarely mentioned. It undoubtedly formed part of the Kingdom of Wu (B.C. 513), a great feudal state that embraced the modern province of Jiangsu, in which Shanghai is situated, but the connection is not recorded.
The earliest reference to what is now Shanghai is placed at approximately B.C. 200, when it was called "liu-tuh" and known as a fishing station. From that remote date until A.D. 1280, when it acquired the name of Shanghai ("Above the Sea"), there is a marked hiatus in the historical record.
In 1554 Shanghai attained the status of a "Walled Town." The wall is stated to have been from three to four miles long and twenty-three feet in height, with six gates and twenty arrow towers. Its principal purpose was to ward off attacks by Japanese pirates, who at that period frequently raided and pillaged the coastal towns of China. The last remnants of the wall disappeared after the Revolution in 1911.
The Shanghai of the 16th century was notable in another way. It was the birthplace of Lu Tsih and Wang Ke, two of China's greatest writers, and Hsu Kwang-ch'i, friend and pupil of Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionary.
There is nothing of outstanding importance to relate about Shanghai from the dawn of the 17th century down to 1842, when after the First Opium war ended in 1842, the defeated Chinese Empire agreed to open five Treaty Ports to foreign trade and residents and Shanghai was one of them.
Britain was the first country to open a concession in Shanghai and France was the second. The International Settlement and the Japanese also followed suit. As a result, the city turned part European and was divided into different country areas, having their own language, laws and regulations according to the rights of extra-territoriality ceded to the foreigners.
Shanghai has been called the Paris of the East, and the Pearl of the Orient. The city was a splendid cosmopolitan center with a multitude of nationalities, trade, fashion, and exchange with the rest of the world. It was also a city where gamblers, sailors, gangsters, coolies and prostitutes gathered in the 1930s. In 1937, when the Japanese occupied Shanghai, most of the Westerners fled, and they only return after almost 50 years.
Today Shanghai is again China’s most cosmopolitan city and also the largest city in the People’s Republic of China. The city and its immediate surroundings officially have more than 20 million people. However, a lot of people from the countryside stay in Shanghai without registration, making it hard to say how big the population actually is.
‘Lu’ is probably one of the first words (along with Ni Hao – meaning ‘Hello’) you will be familiar with as it means ‘street’. You will also notice that most the streets names end with W, E, S, N, meaning West, East, South and North.
The Chinese characters for these are:
West - Xi (西)
East – Dong (东)
South – Nan (南)
North – Bei (北)
It’s a good idea to remember these characters as you use them as a compass for directions if you get lost in one of the small back-alleys. Most streets signs have the Chinese names in pinyin (the Romanized system of the Chinese characters), so that for instance 南 京 西 路 will also be printed as Hengshan Rd on the street signs, making it easier for foreigners to navigate.
Shanghai’s municipality covers a substantial area but the core of the city is relatively small. Broadly Shanghai is divided into 2 main areas, Pudong (east of the Huangpu River) and Puxi (west of the Huangpu River).The main attractions of Shanghai are located on the Puxi side. This is where you will find the Bund, major shopping streets, the foreign concessions areas, restaurants, sights and nightclubs.
There are 4 main areas of particular interest in Shanghai; the Bund from Suzhou Creek to the Shanghai Passenger Terminal, Nan Jing East Rd, which is home to the longest pedestrian walk in China and many, many shopping malls. This is the most famous shopping street in China and always crowded and packed with people, browsing the malls, shopping centres and stores as liberalism is being introduced to the people.
The French concession area, of which Huai Hai Rd is the most famous street in the area and where the shopping malls and shops are located. However as the French concession spreads over a large part of the Central/Western part of Shanghai, it’s recommended that you ‘get lost’ in the small cozy streets and enjoy the architecture and peacefulness of this particular area of Shanghai.
Central Shanghai - This area includes the Old International Settlement and the French Concession area. Most of city’s shops, restaurants, high-quality residences are located here.Central Shanghai is split into 4 districts; Jing’An, Huangpu, Luwan and Xuhui.
Jing’An District – Forms the central of Shanghai; this is where old and new meet. The name comes from the Jing’ An Temple which newly renovated is located on Nan Jing West Rd. The other famous Jade Buddha Temple is also located in Jing’An and both are definitely worth visits and still very active places for Buddhists in Shanghai to pray and pay respect to their ancestors.
Plaza 66 is one of the newest high-rises in Shanghai and the contradiction to the 750 years old Jing’An Temple, with its 66 floor rising high in the sky. The first five floor of this magnificent building is a high-end shopping mall with all the famous world-known brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Hugo Boss etc.
Huangpu District – The Bund is most famous place in Huangpu district with a fantastic view over Pudong but the area also includes Nan Jing East Rd and goes to the Nanpu Bridge in south and includes Yu Garden (pictured on the left) as well. Yu Garden is center of the Old Chinese City and a must-see in Shanghai. The area has been developed for tourism and may have lost of its traditional character and charm but still gives the outsider the impression of old Shanghai was about. You can also take a stroll down the nearby Old Street of Shanghai, where a number of shops have sprung to cater the growing number of tourists.
People’s Square is for many people the center of Shanghai. It’s home to the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Grand Theatre, the City Hall and City Urban Planning Museum, where you can get a glimpse of the past, present and future of Shanghai.
Luwan District – Placed directly south of People’s Square is Luwan district. This is also where the main and most prestigious part of the French concession is located. All the streets are lined with shading trees imported from France more than a century ago. The old house of Sun Yatsen (pictured on the left side) is located on Si Nan Rd, which is one the more peaceful and beautiful streets of Luwan.
Xuhui District – This area has the lowest density in downtown Shanghai and home to a number of cultural institutions such the Shanghai Library, JiaoTong University, the Botanical Garden and Shanghai Stadium. The area has from old days been a traditional upper-class living area and that continues today. The north part of the French concession is located in Xuhui and new luxurious apartment complexes are being here in the shades of the old trees and ‘concessional’ ambience.
Western Shanghai. Consists of Hong Qiao and Gubei area and is obviously located in the western part of the city. Many of the first foreign residential areas are located in Hong Qiao including Windsor Place and Park, Le Chateau, Xi Jiao Guesthouse to mention a few of the more well-known. Shanghai Zoo is also here though there are talks about moving this to a more proper place, so the valuable land can be used to more profitable developments such as new housing.
Gubei is located in the beginning of Western Shanghai and just south/east of Hong Qiao. It’s a smaller area with many apartment complexes housing mostly Taiwanese, Japanese and Hong Kongnese. This is clearly reflected in the number of Far East restaurants in the area. Most European or Americans will become familiar with the place because the biggest Carrefour outlet in Shanghai is located here!
Pudong – By far the biggest district in Shanghai. Previously Pudong was considered a special development zone and was administered as such. However, Pudong now has it’s government and is being handled as a ‘normal’ district. The area is huge compared to other districts in Shanghai and covers more than 500 square km (in comparison Luwan is 8 square km and Huangpu even less than 5 square km). Pudong houses a number of special zones such as Wai Gao Qiao Free Trade Zone and Zhangjiang Technology Park.
In the north eastern part of Pudong is Jin Qiao Export Processing Zone, which? through preferential policies has attracted a number international investors such GM, HP, Sharp, Siemens, Delphi to mention a few.
This investment boom in the area has had a spill-over effect into the residential area as many of the new compounds are being built in Jin Qiao, close to work places for many expatriates.
Green Villas, Green Court (pictured on the left), ShiMao Lakeside and Royal Garden are just a few of them and with these came also the international schools and kindergartens, shopping and leisure facilities so that the area today is the best residential area in Pudong, particularly for those with children.