Sitting at the mouth of the Yangtze River is this flatland of many rivers, canals and lakes with neighbors such as the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang from the northwest to the southwest. Shanghai weather is influenced by the subtropical maritime monsoon and the four distinct seasons through the year.
Owing to the influx of foreigners in 1800 when the Treaty of Nanking opened the city to international trade, Shanghai is the home of many religions with its long lines of Catholic, Protestant and other European Churches, mosques, synagogues as well as traditional Buddhist and other oriental temples.
The multiracial trait of Shanghai is also responsible for the development of technical centers which have been set up to study the differences between the local and world cuisines and find a common thread that suits everyone's taste. Meanwhile, those who find no substitute for the native taste of Shanghai can always go back to the city's traditional cuisine of vegetable and seafood ensembles soaked in thick stocks, rich sauces and sharp but natural flavors.
In the city streets, one will hear mostly Shanghainese which is part of the Wu group of Chinese languages but is not necessarily understandable to those who speak other Chinese dialects such as Mandarin, Cantonese or Minnan. While expats may find the most number of English speakers here than anywhere in China, Shanghainese remains to be the official tongue in this city.
Shanghai is made up of over ten major districts, namely: Changning, French Concession, Hongkou/Yangpu, Huangpu, Jing An, Luwan District/Xintiandi, Minhang, Pudong /Lujiazui, Putuo, Puxi, The Bund, Xuhui and Zhabei. A great number of housing areas can be found anywhere in these districts with the greater expat concentrations found in Puxi and Pudong.
It is not uncommon to hear expats in Shanghai raving about the city being a gem of a destination. Its famous landmarks are a combination of old and neoteric, such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, one of Asia's highest structures, and the city's oldest Catholic Church, Dongjiadu - both symbols of the marriage between modernity and the Shanghai heritage. In fact, since the mid 19th century, Shanghai has always prided itself for being Asia's Western and cultural center.
