Hi everyone,

My husband moved to shanghai in Sep and i will be following him with my 2 years old son next spring. I guessed cost of living in China would be a lot cheaper than Seoul(i am in Seoul) but he said it is max 20% cheaper not more. I was quite surprised to hear that. Because labour seems very cheap.

I would like to hear opinions from people who lived there for a long time. In fact, i know accommodation wasn't cheap. but i thought because we are looking for exclusive ex pat area. apart from rent, what would you say about living cost in Shanghai?

that all depends on how you want to live here, really...

compared to seoul (lived there myself) you will find a lot of things cheaper here, such as imported food, restaurants, transportation/taxi etc.

also, a dmoestic helper (ayi) is a lot cheaper here than in seoul (should be possible to get an good ayi 5 days a week, 8 hours daily below RMB 2k.)

however, if you want to live the high life, especially the nightlife can be very expensive and if you really want to, you can spend well above RMB 1k for a dinner for 2... on the other hand, you can have a nice dinner for 1/10 of that.

More than any other large city I am aware of, there are options to live well as cheaply or as expensively as you want. It depends on your lifestyle choices. Although we can afford more, my wife and son and I live on regular monthly expenses less than US2000 a month ( basic food, rent, utilities, ayi, tranportation). We live well, eat well, and do not feel we are deprived. If we had to we could live well even cheaper. We have our favorite import items we buy. We live in building mostly rented by expats with a pool and workout room.

However, if you want to live in a villa ( single family home with a yard ), eat all the imported brands, have a car and driver that you pay for.. it could get expensive. Going out for drinks and high end dining will use up money very quickly.

The average household here in SHanghai lives on much less ( depending on who you talk to .. maybe 3000 or 4000 RMB a month or less for everything and they still save) .

kind of reminds me of the travel guides that came out in the 60's, the most popular with the students being Europe on $5 a day. No sooner did that guide come out that a high end executive guide was published named Europe on $500 per day and Europe never seems to have had the spread in costs for food or services to such an extent we see in Shanghai.

Short but sweet, as Talker said, it all depends how you want to live, however there are many things which a re very cheap, like domestic help and taxis............good luck

Shanghai is the most expensive city in China.... I think it is not very different than Seoul..

Shanghai can be very expensive but it really comes down to wether you are prepared to live local at times. To live the same standard of western living that i would expect to live at home then it is probably the same. This said with the dollar value change so dramatic of late, I guess we are doing ok. Up to you how you live. Can be just the same or can be an amazing experience by trying to spend some fo your hard earned cash on a great local meal for a few kuai here and there. And you don't have to get all your fruit and Vegies from City Shop. There are some much better options that are cheaper and add to the experience. Enjoy the experience and be adventurous and it won't have to cost as much.