Experiencing working and living in China

Working and living in China... My experience may be different from the others. But basically these are the things to look out for: Accommodation, Transportation and Company.

I had many problems with the landlord, like 发票issue (Apparently, it is a common practice among renting not to issue 发票... a way to evade tax?) and number of people staying in the house. But anyway, it is the past. Usually, I aim to spend less than 50RMB a day and spend more during the weekend. In addition, I signed up with pfingo and skype to call back home free as long as I have internet connection... but trust me, internet connection in China is quite unreliable. I had difficulties trying to check emails to go on msn. My friends on msn were all asking me, "How come you always go online and offline"...

If you want to travel around in Shanghai, try http://www.ddmap.com. They give good guide on the bus transportation system. But, unlike Singapore, if you can go from A to B with bus C, you might not be able to return with bus C anymore. So do plan carefully before you travel! It is relatively cheap to travel in bus.. but it is very packed. If you want, you can travel by cabs but you need to know how to "snatch". MRT is good also but there was once when it broke down because someone kicked the door due to frustration of being packed. It is convenient if you buy the 交通卡 from the MRT station. But you can only refund it at 衡山路 (at least near my place).

Company... different company has different policy. It is important to get on good terms with them so that you can ask favor from them easier next time. But in general, it is very important to know how to speak and write Chinese. I was usually tasked to do translation from English to Chinese and vice versa. Your Chinese will definitely improve by working in Shanghai. You might want to use 金山词霸 or http://www.iciba.com as your favorite tool.

Most people in Shanghai speak Shanghainese.. but it is ok to speak English or Chinese (Putonghua). Shanghainese, to me, sounds like Japanese. So far I only know how to say
"Thank you" - Shayah nong
"Eat Rice" - Che' ve le
"End of Work" - Ho Be le
"Good Bye" - Zhai Hui
The tone is quite difficult to pick up though. Anyway, half of the people in Shanghai are foreigners, speaking Putonghua is sufficient.