Ervis Micukaj, lives in Shanghai
Updated Sat
I have been living in Shanghai since September 2013 and below I will share my positive and not so great experiences here from a foreign perspective.
1、Ease of living: Shanghai is great! You can get everywhere easily, shops are open 24 hours and the shopping malls have long hours, a lot of people speak English compared to the rest of the country, you can buy things online, you can go everywhere.
2、Superb transportation: metro, taxi, buses, shared bikes, didi or Uber (the first owns the second in China), e-bikes (you need to own one), 2 airports, 5 train stations (the first 5 that come to my mind are Central station, HongQiao, SongJiang, South, West), illegal black cars (if you are brave or desperate or no alternative available). I feel Shanghai has one of the best transportation systems in the world and it is great to move around.
译文来源：Quora中文网 http:///514.html
自从2013年9月以来，我就一直住在上海，我会从外国人的角度分享我在这儿正能量以及不那么棒的经历：
1、生活安逸：上海真好！去哪都方便，商店24小时营业，大商场营业时间长，比起其中国其他城市，说英语的人很多。你能在网上购物，能去任何地方。
2、一流的交通：地铁、出租、公交、共享单车、滴滴和优步，电动自行车，2个机场、5个火车站（我首先想到的5个车站是上海站、虹桥站、松江站、南站、西站）、非法黑车（如果你有勇气或别无他选）。我认为上海的交通系统是世界最好的交通系统之一，四通八达。
3、Smartphones: you can do everything (almost) with your smartphone in Shanghai. Just download WeChat (Tencent) and Alipay (Alibaba), connect them to your bank cards and start enjoying it. You can pay everywhere with them, you can order taxis, read the most recent news, pay the bills, order taxis/vans/buses, order food and get delivered it everywhere you want, buy holiday trips, etc. There are so many things available you can do by just accessing these 2 apps and all their affiliates.
4、Food: the different provinces of China, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Singaporean, American, English, Russian, Spanish, Argentinian, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, etc. Salty, sweet, sour, spicy, barbecue, soups, fried, seasoned, etc. The food options are so different and varied that you can get lost and the prices are overwhelming. You can find everything based on how much you want to pay. 3 Michelin stars to the street food. You pick your choice.
3、智能手机：在上海用手机，什么事情都能做。只要下载微信和支付宝，绑定你的银行卡，然后就可以用了。可以用来付钱，预定出租，阅读最新的新闻，支付账单，预定出租/货车/公交，订餐并送到你想要的地方，购买假期旅行，等等。想做什么，你只需要打开这两个APP。
4、食物：中国不同省份的菜，还有各国的菜，意大利、法国、日本、韩国、新加坡、美国、英国、俄罗斯、西班牙、阿根廷、泰国、印度尼西亚、马来等。咸、甜、酸、辣、烧烤、汤、油炸、调味等。食物选择多样，你可能会迷失，价格便宜。想吃什么就点什么
5、Coffee culture: coffee is growing by leaps and bounds in Shanghai. Before it was only the big chains (Starbucks, Costa, Pacific, Dunkin and so on), but now there are plenty of small and private coffee shops that offer great coffee and awesome experiences. They are located everywhere in Shanghai (from the top shopping malls, to the small alleys typical of Shanghai). The prices are somewhat pricey (5/7 Euro/USD for a coffee is weird for me as an Italian), but the variety and the quality can make up a bit for the price you pay. Or you can skip the pricey ones and go to the small shops.
5、咖啡文化：上海的咖啡文化发展迅猛。此前只有大型连锁店（比如星巴克、咖世家、太平洋、唐恩都乐等），现在有很多小的私人咖啡店，提供很棒的品尝咖啡的体验。它们分布在上海的各个地方(从顶级的购物中心到上海的小胡同)。价格有点贵（作为意大利人，一杯咖啡5~7美元或欧元有点贵）。但品种和质量能弥补价格，去小咖啡屋吧。
6、English: a lot of foreigners come to Shanghai because it is easier to communicate with the locals and there are also a lot of international businesses. So it has become a positive circle for the internationals and the Chinese alike. But get out of the main areas (HuaiHai rd, Nanjing W/E rd, LJZ, University areas, some areas around the international schools and the big companies or tech parks) and you will feel a lot like being outside of Shanghai because no one speaks English there. Some districts have only Chinese so if you want to improve your Mandarin / Shanghainese skills (and save a lot of money) consider living in certain suburbs (Minhang and SongJiang have plenty of cheap estates).
7、Clean and safe: Shanghai is very safe (police is everywhere and cameras as well) and there a lot of cleaners who will sweep the city over and over.
8、Skyscrapers: this is a personal favorite, because you can go to almost all of them and the view can be awesome (when there is no smog).
6、英语：很多外国人到上海来，和当地人交流方便，也有很多国际企业。成为了国际和中国的一个积极的圈子。但出了主要地区（淮海路、南京步行路、陆家嘴、高校区、一些国际学校和大公司或科技园区），你会感觉身处上海之外，因为那儿没人会说英语。一些地区只会说中文，所以如果你想提高普通话或上海话水平（并省钱），可以考虑住在某些郊区（闵行和松江有很多便宜房子）。
7、清洁和安全：上海很安全（到处有警察和摄像头），清洁工会一遍遍打扫着这座城市。
8、摩天大楼：这是我个人最喜欢的，几乎所有的大楼都能上去，风景绝佳（没有雾的时候）。
9、Change! Shanghai is changing all the time, you will never know what would come into your life when you wake up the next day, maybe a new cellphone app, maybe a new convenient service, even a new construction, metro... (During my first 12 months I stayed in the same apartment, but the street to the closest metro stop changed 3/4 of the shops). If a shop does not work, within 6 months it will be scrapped and a new entrant will be ready to propose something different.
10、Mix. Shanghai is a mix. No doubt, you will see a lot of high-rise building there, but meanwhile you still can find many historical buildings, telling the history of shanghai and showing you the authentic of Shanghai
9、变化！上海每天都在变化，你不知道第二天醒来的时候，你的生活会发生什么改变，或许是新的手机APP，或许是新的便捷服务，甚至一个新建筑，地铁。如果一家商店不营业了，6个月内就会被废弃，新入驻商家将提供不同的东西。
10、千姿百态。上海是个多样化城市，鳞次栉比的高楼大厦，可以看到不少历史建筑，讲述着上海的历史，展示上海的真实。
Disadvantages:
1、Smog: a lot during the winter. Hopefully there will be more and more big international events to increase the clean days.
2、Queue: get ready for some people to jump the queue
3、Food safety: you can never be safe about food in China, because some bad apples will try to circumvent the rules to make more money (like in every country, but here things get amplified way more due to the large amount of people) (things are improving lately)
4、Smoking: smoking everywhere. March 2017 should be a turning point with more restrictive rules / laws, but as usual it is all about the application and enforcement of them. Hopefully they will do.
Update: the change was big at the beginning of March, but it has slowly worn out and now you can still find people smoking in places where they should not. Way better than 2 months ago, but way to go.
缺点：
1、雾霾：冬天雾霾严重。希望举办更多大型国际项目，这样清洁日就会增加。
2、排队：有人会插队。
3、食品安全：你绝不会对中国食物有安全感，有些人规避法规，非法牟利。（像每个国家一样，但这里人更多，所以事情更多）（最近有所好转）
4、吸烟：到处有吸烟的。2017年3月出台了更多禁烟法，本应该成为一个转折点，但法规的应用和执行都照旧，希望执行力度加大起来。
5、Rising cost of real estate: it is abused by some companies and it pushes all the other prices up. They are trying to cool the effects a bit with some rules (some months ago locals were divorcing to buy more houses for example), but still not enough.
6、Manners: 3 years ago it was bad (and some friends tell me it was even worse before) and now it is improving. Some locals will spit, burp, cut their nails everywhere. Slow change here.
5、房价上涨
6、礼仪：3年前很糟(有些朋友告诉我以前的情况更糟)，现在情况有所改善。一些当地人随地吐痰、打嗝、剪指甲。这方面的改变很慢。
7、Taxi drivers: a lot of times they can be scary due to they way they drive and it is hard to get them to stop for you in certain hours of the day Why?
They might get more incentives by picking callers via phone or via app for example. It is not rare to have him/her skipping you while you are waving at them because they have a “better” request)
Some taxi drivers don't stop because they are close to the end of their shift. So drivers late for shifting will be fined (from Lin Lyu)
Some drivers do not want (too far from recurring customers) or cannot go to certain parts of the city (according to their licenses).
7、出租车司机：很多时候他们开车的方式很可怕，很难在某个特定时间为你停下来，为什么？
他们可能在手机或APP上得到了更多奖励，你向他们挥手他们却不鸟你的情况并不少。
一些司机不停车是因为换班的时候到了，换车迟到会被罚款。
一些司机不愿意，担心回来空跑，或者执照的原因，有些地方去不了
8、Pedestrian crossing: It is not very safe because most of the drivers will not stop and wait for you to pass, but things are changing slowly.
9、Not very “Chinese Chinese” culture: Shanghai is part of China, the growth and life there are typical of China - fast and open minded. But unlike Beijing, there is not much traditional culture going on. You would see more European style architectures, operas, galleries than in other Chinese cities (from Chris Zhang ).
10、Motorbikes and motor-scooters (or e-bikes): The only rule that they have is that there are no rules. Be careful crossing streets even when you have a green light! (thanks to Gary Bischoff )
8、人行道：不太安全，很多司机不会停下来等行人通过，但情况正慢慢改变。
9、不是很“中国”的中国文化：上海是中国的一部分，发展和生活是中国典型，快速且思想开放。但不像北京，这里没太多传统文化。你会看到更多欧式的建筑、歌剧院、美术馆。
10、摩托车和电动车：他们唯一的规则就是没有规则。即使绿灯，你过街时也要小心。
