Footprints Recruiting

Teaching and Living in Shanghai - China's Most Cosmopolitan City on the Mainland

Shanghai offers teachers pretty much everything. Some have said that Shanghai is not the real China as it is so cosmopolitan but the history of Shanghai actually goes back some 700 or so years. Oddly though, there are only a few ancient Chinese landmarks. The city has been very focussed on the growth and development of all of China.

Shanghai became the center of trade and commerce in China as a result of the strategic location on the Yangtze River. Shanghai is divided into 16 districts and 3 counties.

Shanghai is easily the most expensive city in mainland China to live and work in. If your school provides you with housing you are miles ahead of the game but make sure you are close to the school and in a desirable area.

Shanghai is striving to be known to the world as a trading and economic hub and has invested significantly in creating modern architectural landmarks.

Food in Shanghai

Chinese cuisine ranks as one of the best in the world and in that, Shanghai cuisine ranks as one of the best in China. Shanghai is renowned for famous restaurants and famous chefs well-known for cooking dishes of Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Anhui and Fujian---eight celebrated styles of Chinese food.

If Chinese food is not what you're after, Shanghai boasts some of the best Western chefs and 5 star restaurants as well as numerous Western chains. For those vegetarians in our midst, fear not, Shanghai has offerings for you as well.
 

Places to See and Things to Do in Shanghai

• The Bund
  • The powerful waterfront presence of Shanghai that mixes colonial style structures with modern glitz that has become the symbol of Shanghai is the Bund. This 4km stretch is nicknamed the contemporary world expo of architecture. No visit to Shanghai is complete without a cruise on the Huangpu River and a visit to the Bund.
• The People's Square
  • Also known as the city's green lung, the People's Square is located in the very center of the city. A garden park flanked on all sides by glass and super structures that make up the skyscape of Shanghai. The People's Square is 80,000 square meters.
• Jin Mao Tower
  • stands 88 stories up and offers exceptional views of Shanghai. The inside of the building is an elaborate spiral of successive floors and is really and truly a remarkable building. Admission is about 50 RMB. The Grand Hyatt hotel is located in the Jin Mao Tower offering 555 rooms in the top 38 floors of this building.
• Orient Pearl Broadcasting and Television Tower
  • sits across the Yangtze from the Bund. It's unique shape and and view vantage points make it a must stop on most tourists lists. The tower has three observatory levels, the highest is 350 meters and is called the Space Module. The whole building looks space like with its towering columns and spheres. There is also a revolving restaurant for those who are interested in seeing Shanghai and having a great meal.
• Shanghai Aquarium
  • is touted to be one of the best ocean aquariums in the world. It covers a total of 22,400 square meters and boasts marine creatures from all over the world. The aquarium is actually divided into 8 time zones and has more than 300 species and a total of more than 14,000 fish. The 120 meter long under sea tunnel offers visits a unique encounter with the underwater world.
• The Pedestrian Mall of Nanjing Road
  • The Pedestrian Mall of Nanjing Road is known as China's premier shopping street. It is definitely a place to see during the day and then again at night. The neon will dazzle you and the multitude of shops and people and products will be sure to impress. Be aware of potential scams and massage peddlers who are trying to get you into clubs that cost a fortune for drinks.
  • Nanjing Road is the busiest shopping center in Shanghai. A total of 350 stores line both sides of this five-kilometer-long street which accommodates one million customers and visitors every day. Some of the city's largest stores are situated here, not to mention the various specialty shops and entertainment facilities. Visitors to Nanjing Road are also in for a gourmet treat in the street's sixty or so restaurants offering various Chinese culinary styles.
• Shanghai Museum
  • The Shanghai Museum offers a collection of over 120,00 precious works of art. The museum is located in the Peoples Square in the center of the city and is worth a peak.
• Shanghai Grand Theater
  • The Shanghai Grand Theater is also located at the People's Square in the heart of Shanghai. This magnificent building represents Eastern and Western flavours and is a treat for the eyes. Definitely a place to take in a performance if you get the chance.
• Grand View Garden
  • The Grand View Garden, situated by the Dingshan Lade in Qingpu County, is an eighth-hectare affair with a total floor-space of more than 8,000 square meters. The scenery in the garden is patterned after the settings in A Dream of Red Mansions, a novel by the Qing-dynasty author Cao Xuqing. The magnitude of imperial palaces are blended in perfect harmony with the graceful and elegant style of south Chinese.
• Huangpu River
  • The Huagnpu River originates in the Taihu Lade and extends to the Yangtze estuary at Woosung for 110 kilometers from the Dingshan Lade and 83 kilometers from Mishi Ferry. The river flows through downtown Shanghai for a distance of 39 kilometers, it widens as much as to 400 meters. The city operates a daily cruise which features all the major landmarks of this harbor city on a sixty-kilometer round trip from the Bund to the estuary at Woosung.
• Yangpu and Nanpu Bridges
  • The 7,658-meter-long Yangpu Bridge and 8,346-meter-long Nanpu Bridge were built to connect downtown Shanghai with the Pudong New Development Zone. Both are double cable-stayed suspension bridges with a long span. Both furnish pedestrian walks, and elevators for sightseers.
• Yuyuan Garden Situated
  • On Yuyuan Road in downtown Shanghai, the Yuyuan Garden was first built in 1559, or the thirty-eighty year of the Jiangqing Reign of the Ming Dynasty. The entire garden is laid out in a fastidious fashion, the buildings spaced providently, the courtyards mutually containing, and large structures put together ingeniously to camouflage a rather cramped space. With a typical south Chinese landscaping style that dates back to the Ming Qing dynasties, the Yuyuan is marked for an "extraordinary beauty that is unrivaled south of the Yangtze River".
• Temple of Jade Buddha
  • The Temple of Fade Buddha, situated at the intersection of Anyuan and Jiangning roads in Putuo District, is a well-preserved monastery of Zen Buddhism in Shanghai. It was built in 1882, and is known in the world for its jade statue of the Buddha, which is enshrined on the second floor of the abbot's pavilion. The statue, which measures 1.9 meters tall and 1.34 meters wide, is fashioned out of a single piece of jade. The Buddha, sitting cross-legged with a serene and calm look on his face, is portrayed in a way very pleasing to the eye.
• Sun Yat-Sen's Residence
  • Sun Yat-Sen and his wife Soong Ching-ling lived in this building at 7 Xiangshan Road from 1918 to the end of 1924. Downstairs are the parlor and dining room, and upstairs are the bedrooms and sitting rooms. The furniture is arranged according to Soong Ching-ling's recollections, and most of the objects on display are originals.
• Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
  • The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall offers visitors a firsthand look at what Shanghai is going to look like. This is a fabulous exhibition hall is much more entertaining than the name and worth a couple hours of your time.
• Shanghai Xintiandi
  • The Shanghai Xintiandi is a great place for you to relax, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea or a glass on wine. It carries with it the old flare and features a mix of historic and cultural legacies as well as state of the art modern architecture. Open air cafes and quaint sidewalk cafes make this a popular destination for the who's who in Shanghai and offer a great sense of comfort for many of the expats in the city.
• Shanghai Tourist Festival
  • Time: September 21-27
    Venue: Shanghai Municipality
    What's on : Large-scale colorful float parade, concerts in the open, Sino-foreign exchanges in tea-related culture, international symposium on tourism, cultural and art show at the Red Chamber. Tourists can also choose to participate in the Program titled " Be a Shanghai Citizen for One Day", root-seeking tour of Shanghai, night cruise on the Huangpu River, etc. Shopping and tasting food are yet another important part of the festival. 

Useful Contacts in Shanghai

• Area code: 021
• Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport: 62683659
• Shanghai Tourist Hotline: 62520000
• Tourist Complaints: 64393615
• Shanghai Railway Station: 63179090
• Port Passenger Station: 63261261
• Shanghai Post Office: 63252070
• Shanghai Branch, Bank of China: 73291979
• Local Telephone Inquiry:114
• International Telephone Inquiry: 116
• Alarm Report: 110
• Fire Alarm: 119
• Ambulance: 120
• Weather Forecast: 121
• Hospitals
  • East China Hospital: 62483180
  • Huashan Hospital: 62489999
  • Zhongshan Hospital: 64041990
  • Ruijin Hospital: 54370045
  • Shanghai No.1 People's Hospital 63240090
  • Shuguang Hospital :63261650
  • Emergency Center: 63244010
     

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites