Just wanted to pass on a tip to anyone moving to Shanghai.

We did not realize until very recently that few (none?) of the homes in Shanghai are fitted with smoke alarms / carbon monoxide detectors. We asked our landlord for some, but none ever materialized. Searched on our own and couldn't find any on the local market either.

So when packing, buy a few smoke alarms / carbon monoxide detectors to bring over. We recently bought some on a trip overseas and they are pretty cheap; run on 9V batteries so voltage does not matter. Hope this helps!

VERY GOOD ADVICE!!!!!!

I've had serious CO problems in my home, and know of at least one other incident with high CO levels in the past couple of months in another home. Most homes (like mine) have gas water heaters, and many (like mine) have gas heaters for radiators. Given the low skill levels of the installers and lack of landlord maintenance, it is very easy for something to go wrong and have those appliances leak CO. And in the winter with the windows closed there is no ventilation, so it can get bad real fast.

They sell CO detectors at B&Q as well as some other "home" stores, but many of them require plug in instead of battery-op.

Smoke Detectors i cant recall, but still, good tip.