Admittedly, I’m not a world traveller. I just don’t care for all the hassles of travel so I don’t have much insight on the subject. As a parent, I’m worried beyond distraction that my DS will be spending Spring semester in a Communist country. I couldn’t find much info on CC about Shanghai so I’m posting here for moral support and any advice. Thanks in advance
What in particular worries you about your son being in China? Knowing this might help people respond to your fears.
He’ll be totally fine. One of my kids spent a couple months China as a 16 year old. Shanghai is quite modern. For a communist country, China is pretty capitalistic these days. Technology makes it easy to keep in touch.
Maybe you should arrange a trip to go visit him while the is there!
Thanks dos! I am REALLY trying to keep him pumped up and not let my anxiety come through in the phone. Rosered, like I said, I’m not a world traveller so the whole enchilada seems overwhelming to me: cell phone coverage, health ins coverage, time diff, emergencies, his health condition, prison! Haha jk but not really 
I was just in Beijing and couldn’t believe how organized, clean and modern most of the city is. Shanghai – far more Western, modern, sophisticated and developed than Beijing – will amaze your son, in a good way. There are far more worrysome places around the globe than this showcase of China’s capitalism and urbanism. Your son will do great, OP!
Thank you Kat! This is major comforting. Anything we should look out for? Avoid? He’ll be with USAC so not too worried about safety but don’t want him to fall prey to any scammers targeting college kids.
One of mine lives and works in Asia. Pops over to Shanghai every once in a while after falling in live with the food! Very modern city. Many Western visitors and employees as well. Some Cantonese and the ability to recognize important signs (for mine, that’s recognizing the favorite dishes on a menu) is helpful, but many English speaking visitors have none of that background. I’m sure your S’s school has things well in hand for advice and instruction.
Of course, the obvious - obey the laws and don’t hop into any protests. Avoid any contact with drug activity. My kid (who would like to show me Shanghai, we just haven’t managed to schedule that) says to be very careful of the traffic and the motorbikes on the sidewalk. He was advised to cross the street with an elderly person if possible! Apparently, drivers are more considerate of slow elderly.
You might read some of Tripadvisor forum on Shanghai. It will give you a picture from a tourist stand point.
If you aren’t already aware, China blocks many websites including Google, so no Gmail. Skype worked for us as did Facetime. Have him download a VPN site before arriving in China. He can log in through that and access the blocked websites since it appears that the computer is located outside China. Or, so I’m told. I am not a techy, I defer to anyone who is!
ack Momo! I wasn’t aware of that but that’s the kind of stuff that has me anxious. : / I will look into that. Also, their cuisine has me a bit unnerved. DS is a meat and potatoes kid and doesn’t venture much foodwise. My friend said he went out looking for breakfast in China one day and all he could find was duckneck soup. He tends to run lean and does a lot of cardio and gym time, I’m worried he’ll lose weight and get sick. Ugh, I’m getting cold duckfeet…
When in Shanghai, mine uses China Mobile sim card for cell phone in an Iphone purchased in the US. He did make sure the phone bought from Apple was the same as sold in Asia. That was a couple years ago, I believe all the locked, unlocked protocols have changed and I think using a US purchased phone is easier these days. We found Apple store employees very knowledgable, avcurrate and helpful when mine was considering all the ins and outs of communicating. Now when he visits, we have to do the reverse and find a US SIM.
There is a lot of soup in China! I must admit to searching out Western style restaurants when I’m by myself in Asia. But, most people think I’m crazy, most Western travellers I meet have found the food great with lots of good restaurant options. Mine loves the noodle dishes and even I find these places he takes me yummy. There is McD’s in Shanghai!
The food is great by all reports - different from an American meat and potatoes diet but he’ll adjust just fine as long as he’s open to trying new stuff. I think I could live on the dumplings and noodle dishes alone.
My younger daughter spent a semester in Vietnam. The food was a bit of an adjustment; if I am remembering correctly, people typically had noodle soup for breakfast every day. “Western” food, when available, was a big treat for her and her classmates. The main means of transportation in Vietnam is motorbike, and so she had to temporarily give up her habit of walking to get to places. The Communist government was a nonissue for daily life for her, although it definitely was interesting academically.
My daughter lived a year and a half in Shanghai and a month in Beijing and a month in Nanjing. She had a blast. Food was great and cheap (as long as it wasn’t a Western restaurant), people were helpful and friendly and it was easy to get around. We went over and visited and were blown away as to how easy it was to travel around without speaking any Chinese. As for it being Communist- the upside is it is very safe. My daughter never worried about her safety there. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. I can always ask my dd for you. Your son is going to have an awesome experience and for you, Skype is your friend.
Oh, breakfast food- dumplings or my favorite street food was green onion pancakes- yum!
I just noticed a big Ooops in my post #6. Cantonese is not likely to do much good in Shanghai, but a bit of Mandarin will be golden! I am currently packing for Hong Kong where Cantonese is spoken, leaving in a couple days. Guess too much of that is on my mind!
Food in Shanghai (and most of China) is delicious. There’s a lot less food that’s supposed to be “weird” by Western standards than you might think. It’s highly unlikely that he’s going to be randomly served cat or dog, for example. Those foods are hard to find in China, IMO. Tripe might be the thing he sees most that we tend to eat very little of, and heads are left on fish. There might be chicken feet, duck feet, but no one will expect him to eat this if he doesn’t want to.
There’s also a very strong vegetarian tradition, if he just wants to avoid dealing with meat there. Buddhist tradition has created a wide array of vege foods that are amazing–many of which imitate meat. He just needs to tell people that he is vegetarian and they will respect this.
As others have pointed out, he can get his feet under him by eating noodles, dumplings and dumpling soups. And then venture into other foods. Virtually any food that’s served hot, like freshly cooked in front of you, will be healthy and delicious. Despite how modern it all looks, I still do not drink beverages with ice cubes in them but opt for the hot tea, as I know the water has been boiled. Even bottled water can be tricky in my opinion unless you see that it’s firmly sealed by a factory. And even then . . . I just use the boiled water that’s (usually) provided in every hotel room to brush teeth, drink, etc. Chinese use the omnipresent boiled water to wash their chopsticks before eating with them. This ensures that they are sterile.
The communism part, mostly he won’t notice it. People will seem to talk freely, act freely, etc, and China is pretty amazing at keeping the repressive stuff behind the scenes. You can almost forget that the regime has its human rights issues, on a day to day basis. Shanghai people tend to be hip, trendy, smart, and savvy, to generalize. It’s like China’s NYC while Beijing is more like Washington DC–more staid, more predictable, more government. He should have fun.
@Momofadult I envy all of you world travelers. I am just not that adventurous I guess. I understand there are dozens of regional dialects. He will be studying Elementary Chinese which I don’t really understand given that there are so many dialects? In any event, I’m encouraged by all your posts, thank you for all your responses!
They have one universal dialect, called Mandarin. He’s probably learning that. Also, reading Chinese crosses all dialects.
Dusty very helpful post. Lots to consider there. DS is very naive and even though he’s lived on his own at school, he’s never been to a big metropolis, I hope he doesn’t get overwhelmed I don’t want to have to go get him lol. Ugh…