Shanghai Media in English - Finding Info

With an official population of over 58,000 expat foreigners - mostly English speaking - there is a built-in market in Shanghai for English language publications. These mags, mostly distributed freely, are a good way to find out what is going on any particular week in Shanghai. Each has its own flavor and the particular focus here is to give an idea of what to look for to help you guide your way around Shanghai - be it as a visitor or as a foreign resident. The Shanghai web has also made great strides in the past year - so there is no lack of sources to find the piece of info you want about Shanghai.

Update - Dec2001- Things have changed - as they always do. Chinanow and Shanghai Talk have gone away. Shanghai-ed has returned. Take a look at the updated links page and the new resource page in features.

Websites about Shanghai are proliferating. Most are bringing out the standard travel/ entertainment/resource listings. The folks that have been around the longest - like Shanghai Guide have massed a pretty spectacular array of content. You can see a pretty comprehensive list of Shanghai web sites content in our links section. Here are a few of my favorites and why.

For the best lists of where to go and what to do, That's Shanghai has assembled some pretty good lists. They have an attractive site and it is kept up to date.

For getting my offbeat questions actually answered, the newbie ExpatShanghai experience has been very good. They really try to offer a real service to expats. Not too many people are willing to take on this monumental task of answering expat questions and then being willing to be the intermediary, and all this for free.

For Business news I like ChinaBiz.

For classifieds and travel content, Expat Shanghai is the place to go. For the largest database of pictures of Shanghai's scene, you need to visit Shanghai Guide. Some of these websites are spin-offs of English language magazines.

There is a lot to choose from in the mag scene. You will see a few stacks at most places expats or people with money in general turn up. When I first arrived here 15 months ago, I saw one English language magazine. Over the year, several English language mags have come out, mostly going after the travel, nightlife, resources, and entertainment. Editorial content varies widely. I say all this, because if you plan a trip, keep an eye out for some of them. They will really help get you oriented.

Feature-wise, my favorite again is Shanghai Talk. Interesting writing with an offbeat flare. Quo goes after the folks with a bent for the arts. Very stylish, slick format, though publication is inconsistent and content may be a hit or a miss. That's Shanghai, MetroZine, City Weekend and Shanghai Travel all periodically find themselves on the coffee table in our lobby. That's Shanghai and MetroZine battle it out for the best listings. I have recently answered some questions from our online visitors. These had to do with expat medical services here, day trips, cable channels - that kind of thing. I had a recent copy of each magazine by my side. That's Shanghai had the answers to a few of the questions - the ones I could not answer there I found in MetroZine or City Weekend. Shanghai Travel is a government agency publication for tourists - though it has had some very interesting articles about Shanghai's development and features on interesting things to do.

For news you can visit the hotels for Hong Kong's South China Post or Shanghai Daily. The web is still my favorite place to find this kind of stuff.

English is the language of business and the government is taking steps to make Shanghai a truly international city. Taxi drivers, just recently, have to know 100 phrases in English. Many government websites and news on the web have an English version. But most of all, for the people in the local job market, if you speak some English you will get a better job. It is nice to know you can get around using English if you have to, though I still feel a sense of obligation to learn Chinese. It really does make things easier for an expat.

Note: Things are somewhat different now from when I wrote this over a year ago. Things are changing rapidly. Check out the latest set of links in the weblinks section of the site for a more updated selection.