Hi everyone.

I recently got a job offer in Shanghai and I am trying to decide whether to take it or not.
If there are any Irish in Shanghai that could help with these questions it would be much appreciated.

1. What is the story with Skype, Google/ Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook?? Are they banned or not? I have seen conflicting reports so I would like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

2. How does banking between China and Republic of Cork work?? HSBC only has a branch in Dublin. Any advice for banking / transferring to AIB/BOI account?

3. Office is in Huangpu district. Any recommendations regarding accommodation in the area? Looking for one bedroom apartment with internet connection, nothing fancy, but decent however. What should I expect re. price??

4. Mobile Phones! I presume 3 will not work in China. Would iPhones work? Is it difficult to get a contract or should I go for "Pay as you Go"?


These are my main questions for the time being.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

1. Skype, Google, Gmail, Yahoo not blocked (Google stuff can be erratic but generally works). Facebook is blocked along with YouTube, Twitter and a bunch of other stuff. You can get a VPN to get around it.

Thank you jzzzzzzz. Much appreciated.

2. You can transfer between any banks, it's just easier and cheaper to go within the same bank (within HSBC for example). Even if you had a HSBC acct in Dublin, you could just transfer money online to wherever you wanted if you really wanted to use HSBC.

3. No idea, sorry.

4. Your phone will work here but you will be charged ridiculous amounts by your UK carrier. Best bet is to get a local sim card. The problem there becomes how you got your phone. A lot of UK phones are on contracts and are therefore locked to a specific carrier. Putting another sim card in won't work. If you bought your phone at full price then odds are it is unlocked and you'll be fine. iPhones work fine apart from the obvious internet restrictions (youtube/facebook/twitter etc) VPN fixes that.
You'd really need to ask 3 if your phone is locked to them or not.

Hunagpu around people's square i assume.. you can go all directions from there depending on your budget n preference

South - laoximen, lujiabang
East - pudong, century avenue, lujiazui
west - jing'an, luwan (south west)
North - Zhabei around suzhou creek ..

Budget .. can really vary a lot .. i ain't the expert in it ..

corcaigh wrote:3. Office is in Huangpu district. Any recommendations regarding accommodation in the area? Looking for one bedroom apartment with internet connection, nothing fancy, but decent however. What should I expect re. price??
These are my main questions for the time being.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

Thank you all for your advice. Very helpful. First pint on me if I get there...

Actually dude, I am 3/4 Irish, but by ancestry, but never been there.
WELCOME.
I can only comment on # 3.
I am involved in the rental business. My question is why get a place near Huangpu, when there are so many better places to live?
You can get better places at JingAn, and even Zhongshan Park. For 2 or 3 RMB on the metro, you will get a big change from your envionment at work, which is very important.
Think about it.

monalisalee wrote:I am involved in the rental business. My question is why get a place near Huangpu, when there are so many better places to live?
You can get better places at JingAn, and even Zhongshan Park. For 2 or 3 RMB on the metro, you will get a big change from your envionment at work, which is very important.
Think about it.

To answer your question Irish dudette, the only reason I asked about Huangpu is because that is the only area I know in Shanghai. I was told the office is in Huangpu and..that is basically all. I don't mind takin the tube but don't want to spend an hour commuting to work. I will have a look at the areas mentioned. Thank you for your advice.

Well I'm not Irish, but my Irish friends Gillian and Sarah sure love a night out, in fact most times it ends up with them not getting home until the sun has come up. Sure they'd love to have another irish along for the ride.

Transferring from your Chinese RMB account to my HSBC UK account can be a pain, but doable. You will need your tax slips (to prove you have paid tax), pay slips, passport, visa, work permit, contract. It then takes about an hour of form filling and signing (and I usually have to argue slightly at the start as my local branch of the China Construction Bank don't like doing it because it's a lot of work for them), it then takes about 4 working days to transfer. There are ways around it, I have given RMB to friends who have UK accounts, who will then transfer sterling from their UK account to my UK account. You can also give RMB to a Chinese friend, they then can transfer to your UK account without all the paperwork, at least that is what I've been told, never had to do that yet. There are many figures out there on how much you can transfer out, but I work on $50,000 a year max through official channels. You can also try getting a Chinese visa card, but this is not so easy.

1 bdr half decent place in Huangpu, I'd say about 5000rmb a month. If you want a place in a nice modern expat complex with facilities, then they tend to be at least 2 bdr places (better return on money).

Huangpu doesn't have many green spaces from what I know. of course People's square is there, but this gets busy with locals and tourists. Best advice I can give is find out exactly where your office is, then find out which is the nearest metro stop and find a place either within walking distance of your office, or on the same metro line. Also get your company to agree to put you up in a hotel for the 1st month, gives you time to have a look around before signing a tenancy agreement, and be prepared for rental agents nodding at you saying "yes, we understand your requirements" and then showing you completely unsuitable places for the 1st 2 days until the light comes on, when they finally start to listen to you.

Good luck with making your decision, I'm off out tonight for a curry in Huangpu, then hopefully beers, Jagermeister and live music at Beedee's (also Huangpu), yipee.

Actually, one week is normally enough time to get a rental sorted.

John. (Not dudess) Ha Ha.

Get in Touch with Le Ceile http://www.lecheileshanghai.com/ as they hold several events in the different Irish pubs. I know there is a GAA crowd and also the Irish Chamber of Commerce meet once a month and there are drinks at the Shanghai Centre. It will get you to meet some Irish abroad and they can point you in the right direction when you need to ask for something. I dont live in SHanghai I just travel there for work. You will love it! Are you a new college Graduate to a coprporate transfer?

In any case, as you're moving from People's Republic to another, and from anothern "real capital" to another, the transition should be relatively seemless.

corcaigh wrote: 1. What is the story with Skype, Google/ Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook?? Are they banned or not? I have seen conflicting reports so I would like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

2. How does banking between China and Republic of Cork work?? HSBC only has a branch in Dublin. Any advice for banking / transferring to AIB/BOI account?

3. Office is in Huangpu district. Any recommendations regarding accommodation in the area? Looking for one bedroom apartment with internet connection, nothing fancy, but decent however. What should I expect re. price??

4. Mobile Phones! I presume 3 will not work in China. Would iPhones work? Is it difficult to get a contract or should I go for "Pay as you Go"?

1. Facebook's blocked, but after the 3 week cold turkey, you'll probably get over it. Failing that, get a VPN service if you want to keep using it. Also, internet connection speeds are a little slow here, so sometimes it might be difficult to use the video on Skype.

2. Bank xfers back home are easy. Big banks like ICBC and Bank of China make it little hassle to send cash home. But, as a foreigner, the amount you can send home each month and year is capped, but you can get around this by bringing a Chinese friend with you and they can send it under their name to get around the cap. Plus, credit cards and bank cards from back home with Cirrus work on most of the machines here, albeit costing an usurious fee in the process. Pretty much all bank machines have an English language option, too.

3. Metro and public transport is so good here that you can live well outside Huangpu and still get to work no bother. Huangpu's going to be a little pricier, anyway, so you'd best avoid it. When you go househunting - and your work will probably help you with this - bring along a local of Chinese work colleague to help with "negotiations".

4. 'Pay as you go'... aahhhhh, I haven't heard that old one in a long time. Yeah, you can get pretty much all phones like that here, and phones are cheaper here than in paddyville, so don't be going buying an expensive one before you come here. Half the craic is getting a phone for yourself over here that you like.

One of the other posters commented about getting in touch with Le Ceile to hook up with Irish people over here. I'd say that's 50/50. I've met as many Irish gombeens here as sound people, so take it easy. Make friends from all around the place; it adds to the variety.