1. InterNations worldwide
2. »
3. Guides
4. »
5. China Expats
6. »
7. Shanghai Expats
8. »
9. Shanghai Guide
10. »
11. Working in Shanghai

Shanghai at a Glance

Working in Shanghai

The Oriental Pearl Tower is one of the tallest TV towers in Asia.

The city’s economic boom is slightly ironic, given its more recent past as a hotbed of Maoist ideology. During the “Cultural Revolution”, hundreds of thousands of locals working in Shanghai were forcibly removed to toil in remote rural areas. Nowadays, however, the city seems to have returned to its roots as a trading port and international hub of commerce and finance in East Asia.

Working in Shanghai: Economic Development

In the early 20^th century, thousands of lǎowài (foreigners) were working in Shanghai’s numerous concessions, extraterritorial areas controlled by colonial powers. Today, Shanghai is the spearhead of China’s rapidly growing and expanding economy. Once again, the “Gateway to the World” is attracting numerous foreigners, who consider working in Shanghai in order to move their career forward or to immerse themselves in Chinese culture.

Indeed, Shanghai’s status as a boomtown is becoming so powerful that in 2010, Hong Kong, its biggest rival, begun working on an updated image campaign to promote its reputation as a financial center that focuses on international asset management and offshore trading. As one can see from this example of “location branding”, Hong Kong appears to be concerned enough with Shanghai’s development to consider the expense and effort well worth it.

Working in Shanghai: Local Economy

The traditional industries, where many laborers are still working in Shanghai, include, for instance, ship building, steel treatment, and vehicle manufacturing. However, founders, investors, executives, and employees working in Shanghai attach more and more importance to future growth areas, such as financial services, IT, and microelectronics.

The entire district of Pudong, where lots of expatriates are currently employed, was declared a Special Economic Region in 1993. Both the Lùjiāzuǐ Finance and Trade Zone and the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park are located in Pudong – a popular destination for foreigners working in Shanghai.

One aspect of working in Shanghai and its economy has remained a constant over the course of centuries: the port. It became one of China’s most important harbors under the early Qing Dynasty in the late 1600s. Shanghai is now China’s largest comprehensive port as well as the biggest container port worldwide. The fast movement of goods and the resulting abundance of commerce is another great reason for working in Shanghai.

Working in Shanghai: Finding a Job

Many expatriates working in Shanghai are asked to move overseas by their employers. Apart from characteristic expat assignments in multi-national businesses and foreign-invested enterprises (FIE’s), the numerous consulates in the city also employ lots of foreign staff from the respective mother country. Should you be a “self-made expatriate” who thinks about working in Shanghai after changing employers, becoming an English teacher is by no means your only option.

If you don’t have a personal expat network in China yet, which could help you with working in Shanghai by word-of-mouth advertising, there are other useful strategies for job hunting and working in Shanghai.

In addition to commercial online marketplaces such as ChinaHR.com or JobChinaNet, the websites of many Chambers of Industry and Commerce based in Shanghai have their own classifieds sections with local job offers. They often advertise jobs that require some experience with doing business in your home country, interest in the Chinese market, some knowledge of Mandarin (more on that below), and specific sets of hard skills.