Shanghai advise please!

[MuffinTumMum]

Would appreciate your thoughts on move to shanghai. Currently live in HK so not such a drastic step? I love HK and am loathe to move but might not have much of a choice. Have looked at British international school online. Any body got experience of it? Child friendly places to live ( primary aged boys)? What do you love/ hate about it? Did you have to immerse in mandarin to get by day to day?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts. We will be doing a look see within a month if it all goes ahead.
Cheers!

Shameless bump! No shanghai mums out there???!!

Despite the name, I am not in Shanghai but have several friends there and live only 1.5 hours away by train.
Shopping - there is Next, Marks and Spencer, Shanghai Tang and City Shop for imported food. Used to be some decent bookshops (Chater House) but they seem to have disappeared, but I don't live in Shanghai so there may be others.
My friends' children are at Dulwich which has a good reputation, but long waiting lists. Headteacher at my children's school recommended Dulwich over BISS.
Depending on your housing allowance you may be forced to live quite a way from the school. I think the children I know have to travel 45 mins by bus to Dulwich.
Good Points:
Shanghai airport is probably much cheaper to fly out from than HK.
Good restaurants and cafes
Western shops for larger sizes ie size 12!
high speed rail link to Beijing, Nanjing etc.
Great sightseeing - bund, pearl tower, aquarium, french concession
easy to get to Suzhou and Hangzhou

Negatives:
can take a long time to get anywhere as the traffic is horrendous
for mainland China it's expensive - housing allowances eg at 40K per month in Shangahi compared to 25K in Nanjing.
Bloody hot in summer

You don't need to speak a lot of mandarin to get by and locals also speak Shanghainese.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply!

I live in Beijing rather than Shanghai so can't advise on areas to live etc but my 2 young children go to the British International school here and I'm really happy with it and the children are doing really well there. I know the Shanghai school is run by the same company as the Beijing one so I would imagine it's very similar. Hope this helps.

Hi MuffinTumMum - only just saw your post! I'm in Shanghai - have been here 4 years (and one year a few hours outside Shanghai before that... wonder if it's where SHdiva is??)

I love it here - not as good as HK for shopping and ease of life but there are many advantages eg ayis over helpers (you don't have to have them live in... is a bonus for me!). Rents are high (but you get more for your money than HK from what I hear) and you get more choice - anything from massive villas to tiny apartments depending on where you are going to be.

Where you live will depend on where you/your DH will be working and which schools you like but there are many areas and housing options that aren't too far from the schools.

The schools are all excellent from what I've heard (mine goes to one but he's only 2.8 so can't really judge the older years!)

The best thing you can do is have a look at Shanghaimamas.org - a community website with several thousand members who will answer your every question!

or feel free to PM me if you've got any questions I can help with.

Shangers

Many thanks shangers. Watch this space for a pm in the next couple of weeks if all progresses!

Cheers x