Shanghai District - Minhang - good or bad?

Hi everyone,

I appear to have gotten the unlucky end of the stick with a school placement in Shanghai. There are 4 locations for my school, 3 in the city centre and one on the outskirts in Minhang District in Xin Zhuang. 

I am wondering if anyone knows anything about this area or what it is like to live out there...Wikipedia's blurb is not so friendly (at all), but I am hoping it is out of date:

"Xinzhuang, formerly the county town of Shanghai county (not to be confused with the city itself), is now called 'Xiangxia' (countryside) of Minhang District,Shanghai, China . It is a wrecked ghetto area, mainly housing residents who cannot afford to live in 'Laominhang' (Old Minhang), namely Jiangchuan Community, the southern community in Minhang District."

Please tell me about this area and whether I should get an apartment more centrally located and commute a bit to work.

thanks

Steph

The Shanghai-based semi-wife says Xinzhuang is now a very crowded area, but well-connected to transportation. It's near the South Railway Station and a major Metro hub. It's AT LEAST 20 minutes by Metro to downtown, if you're lucky. It seems to currently be a rather trendy and rapidly-going area, adding to the crowding and traffic.

For balancing between Minhang and downtown, she recommends Xujiahui district...although it has terrible traffic problems and can be pricey. Xujiahui is really convenient to many of the best shopping, restaurant, and entertainment districts in Shanghai, though.

Thanks for the wonderfully speedy advice Raoul! 

I've emailed the boss and tried to get myself switched to a more central xuhui campus, but he says that can't happen.  I guess I will scout out the area when I arrive next week and see whether its a better idea to live near where I work, and commute downtown in the evenings for nightlife, or else live downtown and commute to work daily.  I'll have to try riding that subway route a few times and see if its something I could hack twice daily for a year from somewhere like xujiahui...

It can't be all that bad living a bit further out, especially if you say its a rather trendy area at the moment. Though I do want to take evening mandarin classes and I think a lot of those are more central, no?

That Wiki could sure use some updating....

Though I do want to take evening mandarin classes and I think a lot of those are more central, no?

The evening Mandarin classes will be easy anywhere. Just ask one of your colleagues, and teachers will pop out of the woodwork at you.  They'll come to your house or wherever you want the classes to be.

Ahhh very cool indeed

Yeah...I'd go so far as to recommend you work with a private tutor instead of formal classes. Classes can be better organized and more motivating, true, but the price difference is HUGE.

It's often nice if the tutor is of whichever gender you not interested in gettin' naked with; distractions have been known to occur.

Pretty much all of the people I consider truly fluent in Chinese (and this doesn't include me! ) took UNIVERSITY Chinese classes, in China. Of course, this was supplemented by other study, life experience, and so on. These courses often require a costly demand in time and money, but they do seem to work.

Thanks for the tips Raoul,

How much do you think formal classes would put me out, as compared to private ones? I also like the sound of the occasional Skype lesson at 50 RMB/hr.. excellent rate!

Im hoping to progress towards some level of proficiency while in China, with fluency as a sort of long-time goal.  I've got one year of university-level Mandarin classes under the belt already, so that should be a good leg up...taking a few language books with me, etc..

Now all I have to do is hope that I can cajole the local Shanghainese to speak to me not in Shanghainese, not in English, but Putonghua

and yeah, I'll take your advice on tutor selection..the bf wouldn't be too happy if distractions hindered my progress

Tutors in my neck of the woods come between 30-50Y per hour.  I think this would be pretty much standard across China. If your institution has foreign students studying Chinese, then you will be able to find some teachers who are more than happy to add a bit to their incomes.

Don't get sucked into 'language exchange' - it generally ends up in you speaking way more English than Chinese. 

Don't get sucked into 'language exchange' - it generally ends up in you speaking way more English than Chinese. 

Although this works great if you speak more Chinese than they do English.

Language Exchange CAN work if you structure the sessions so as to make sure BOTH languages are getting equal time, and avoid the abuses Lotus refers to. It's not easy, and you do need to stay aware...

Anything based on Skype only works if you're getting a good data throughput rate...not always a given on Skype...especially on Chinese networks.

Don't know current class rates in Shanghai, but I'll see if I can find out...

The boss has just informed me that people from my school have found a few apartments in the XinZhuang area that I can look at and choose between when I arrive.. 

Apparently the ones they've found are in the price range of 4500/mo for 90 sq m 2 bedroom apartment. Does this sound about right for the money? I've not heard any word back yet on the particular amenities of the unit.

Sounds very cheap for somewhere like ShangHai. I would question the quality of the apartment.

I would not.
Decent housing CAN be had at reasonable prices in Shanghai, even in the most central districts, but it takes a bit of luck and digging to find it.

My last apartment in Shanghai was to die for, and it was 3000 per month. Prices have changed since I lived there, but not by THAT much.

Maybe start a thread on how much apartments are by district in the library, or maybe somewhere where people look?

Excellent Idea!
It's done...