After my session in Tokyo I will head directly to China and Shanghai for the coming years. Fun in a way but Shanghai have never been my favorite city. Is there anyone who now any nice area of Shanghai to live in with children? Maybe even some tips of nice places in Shanghai. I need places to run of my frustration, that is my top priority;-) Tokyo is wonderful in that sense since there are a lot of nice parks to run in with actually decent air quality. Hangzhou where I usually stay in China is a very nice place to run in but the air quality is horrible. Shanghai is similar, whenever I try to run there it is a nightmare.

Q: $$=?

The air quality in Shanghai hasn't been too bad of late. I can only think of, perhaps one day when I thought it was particularly bad. That might even have been fog. Whereas when I was in Xi'an almost every day was a polluted mess.

As for places to stay - I really don't know what to suggest - I don't have kids, and I wasn't really living there for a huge period of time. I just made do with a place near the uni.

Generally though the house quality is shoddy, and not worth the price people are charging (at least, for buying, rent isn't too bad). In Xujiahui where I was a decent apartment was going from 6500-15,000元／月 (the former being in a 2 year old tower block, the latter in a shorter more upmarket block). Also note that people here often don't seem to keep houses in great condition, they don't age well.

If you're wanting an actual house though, I don't know about the cost of them. But you'd have to live further out. I'd say it's probably more interesting and convenient to live around the line 1/2 french concessiony bit. Then again, if you're working in Pudong, perhaps that's not so great for you. The transportation's good, but as with every city is packed during rush hour... As you no doubt know.

Hi Mandarinboy, generally, Pudong near Century Park mitght be a good area for you, you can jog in Century park, air is better than in Puxi, for the kids is more covenient. However, I think you have to decide on school for the kids first, than where to you work and after this, look for a location, which is not too far away. I am living just opposite of Yu garden in the middle of the city, as I love to be in the middle of the city. I'm living in shanghai since long time, need any info, give me your e-mail and we can communicate directly.

I have been in Beijing for 4 years and a few times in Shanghai. If you consider Hangzhou bad already, then I suggest you better find a good gym and jog on the machine. Certainly not great depending on what you like but certainly healthier than outside.

Regarding choice of appartment you better initially check out with different agencies and see what you can get and what the pricelevel is and if the surrounding suits you. If you don't move all your stuff at once a temporary stay in one of the service appartments might be a good alternative so you can make your choice wisely especially if you want to stay a while.

Good luck,
Alex

Thanks for the suggestions and information. I have been living some years in Beijing too and back then the air where really horrible. Nowadays i usually check the pollution meter on the US embassy. Their readings are probably more trustworthy than the official Chinese that never are on any alarming levels. I get used to the pollution but to say it is good in Shanghai, well compared to what I am used with it is far off, maybe I am just picky. I go as expatriate so that is an fixed agreement that roughly gives med 115% of my base salary from back home + pension benefits + 300 square meter house + car + bonus + the kids schools fees etc. No problems with that part. They even ship in a few hours Chinese training every week plus some travels. @roland, we are checking out Pudong area since we have some friends moving there shortly. Yu garden I will check out as well, sounds nice. I never bring any stuff with me besides clothes and computers so we will look for a furnished one. We will have our kids in state run schools. They are surprisingly good. Where thinking about an international school but we have tried that before and it is a little to much shielded of from reality. My oldest one is already attending one school in Hangzhou and that works great. She learn much faster than she did in Sweden. They are actually the reason we do this. I prefer to stay in Tokyo but this gives them a better education. Maybe I finally can get my Chinese to work fluently as well....

Here are some compounds as a reference: Shimao in Pudong/Lujiazui - big appartments, some have nice view on the Huangpu river and modestly priced, Shimao in Pudong/Jinqiao - big and close to Carrefour & Century Park, Lakeville (phase I - III) close to Xintiandi (www.shuionland.com). All of them are typical expat compounds, rent 20.000 to 50.000 RMB per month. Today I am living at "Sun Wonderland" 太阳都市花园, it's more than 10 years old, quality is so-so,but it's a typical middle class Chinese compound with only a few foreigners, appartment is 150 m2 and costs 7.000 RMB,fully furnished, the neighborhood is also typical Chinese, I can buy my noodles / dumplings / xiaolongbao there, walking distance to Huaihai Lu and Xintiandi, Yu garden just opposite. I feel much more happier here than before in the typical expat compounds, where my company paid 5.000 USD per month. And you need to speak Chinese here, because nobody of the compound management and staff speaks a single word of English. So it depends very much, what kind of lifestyle and environment you are looking for. So best is, to spend a few days here, walk around and have a look at the different districts, then make up your mind about where you want to live, afterwards, you can look for the appartment, because you can easily find all kind of appartments / houses everywhere.
Feel free to contact me: bernshaus@internationalwoodsuppliers.com

Roland

If you want inner city serviced apartments, one close to 华山绿地 might be good for a jog. Put this in Google maps: 31.206103,121.432797

I lived in 中山公园 for a while which is a good spot, further out on 长宁路 there are apartments at 31.219513,121.401758 which is out of the hustle but not too far, if that's your thing.

Out of the city on Puxi side - there are expat compounds such as www.src.com.cn which will take 45 mins to get into town.

One of those situations where cheaper apartments won't put any more cash in your pocket, nice problem to have.

Thanks you all for all those very useful tips! I will go there shortly and choose where to live. For now I go to Shanghai every weekend but only land at the airport and take the buss directly to Hangzhou. Now I will take the time to visit all those places you have suggested.