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Shanghai is a horrible place to live IMO. It is growing fast, and did a lot of good things, but overall, quality of life is quite bad.
Unless you make good money ($60k or above). An ex-manager of mine, who is an American from California moved to Shanghai 10 years ago and doesn't even consider moving back to the States, because according to her, it is unthinkable to return and live a quiet, suburban life doing household chores everyday, with nothing but the kid's soccer practice or tonight's dinner on her mind. They bought an apartment and plan to stay there long term. Another finance executive I know who is semi-retired, stayed there for more than 10 years, making frequent trips elsewhere in Asia, also has no plan to return to North America, where he finds boring. With money, one can have a great life there - better than Toronto for sure, because they don't lead an average Shanghainese life.
But of course both of them are wealthy and would be upper middle class even put in NYC. For the average folks, it is not a great place to live for sure. Congestion, long commute, work stress, long queues everywhere (hospitals, banks, public services).
But of course both of them are wealthy and would be upper middle class even put in NYC. For the average folks, it is not a great place to live for sure. Congestion, long commute, work stress, long queues everywhere (hospitals, banks, public services).
Couldn't the same argument be made for most world class big cities? London, NYC, Paris, HK etc. If you don't have money, lifestyle is not that great. But cities like these have such a big wealthy class, they form a big contingent in the core that gets all the limelight. Even Toronto, as a mid-sized city on a global scale, is trending in this direction in some ways. For average joes, perhaps mega cities with sky high costs of living and congestion may not be the best quality of life.
Couldn't the same argument be made for almost most world class big cities? London, NYC, Paris, HK etc.
Very true but on a different level.
You can make median income in NYC yet have a decent life. However, with a median income, you will struggle in Shanghai, where a modest 800sf apartment in a not so central area will cost $400k. And median income in Shanghai is nowhere near that in NYC. Don't you hear the Chinese shop like there is no tomorrow in HK or Los Angeles? They do so because they think it is cheap (not necessarily luxury products).
Plus the lack of a decent social safety net and all sort of outright discrimination (gender, age) don't really help. In many job descriptions, they can explicitly require the candidate to be male and above 5'8'', or female and good-looking.
I think your previous post about Queens NY + Chicago hit the nail on the head.
Thanks, that was obviously my more serious post.
I think the Chicago comparison is apt in terms of Great Lakes location, age and stature as a city.
As for Queens, quite similar ethnic composition with lots of nationalities not found elsewhere in North America, developed around the same time (mostly in the 20th century), and mix of SFHs and high rise apartments clusters. The urban form of Queens ranges from almost Manhattan type areas in the west to postwar suburbia in the east.
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