Chinese Life & Chinese Marriage For a Foreigner in Shanghai
Living in Shanghai offers an amazing experience that shall remain deep in the memory. This article serves as a guide to those wishing to visit Shanghai or other parts of China for the first time and are unsure as to what they can expect from such a visit.
Shanghai serves as a great city for a foreigner to live and breathe China, but without feeling too isolated. It is set up for western tastes to cater for the needs of both the thousands of foreigners who live in the city, but also many of the Chinese residents who have started to appreciate the same luxuries themselves.
China is an expanding, developing country, more than any other in fact, and Shanghai best represents the rise of rich young Chinese who are driving the economy skyward. With the added bonus of foreign investment from tourism and foreign business the city has become quite an expensive place to live, indeed at the same level as the likes of London and Paris in its central areas. The huge push of China’s population also adds pressure to the overheating economy and demand for land and accommodation. Companies in China can greatly benefit from the huge pool of labor, and foreign companies are now starting to get a wider choice of English-speaking Chinese workers, who are learning the language from an earlier age.
Life or travel outside of Shanghai and other big cities can be a much harder experience with few signs offered in anything other than Chinese and few local people able to communicate. For this an interpreter or some basic Chinese skills is advisable for those wishing to visit the more remote areas of this huge country.
Some of the best places to visit outside of the big cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou include the western independent provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang, plus the southern region of Yunnan.
Many foreigners seek to marry Chinese in China during their stay and require a lot of paperwork to do so. Different provinces have different requirements and Chinese blogs are normally the best way to find out what is required from those who have already been successful. Obtaining passports for Chinese nationals can also be a tiring effort and the advice applies to this process too. Whenever entering Chinese bureaucracy it is strongly advised to make use of local friends or family to communicate and negotiate over applications for certificates and even the odd bribe has certainly been known to speed things up.
Overall, a short trip or longer working period in China is well recommended to foreigners who are wishing to experience some interesting culture and friendly people.
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You can read more about my experiences as a foreigner living in Shanghai, and visiting other parts of China in my Chinese Life blog. I also wrote a specific post about my Chinese marriage & wedding in Hami, Xinjiang. |
By Tom Gurney
