Renting apartment in Shanghai

[volkanska]

Hi guys,

After 2 months, I will be coming to Shanghai together with my wife to study Chinese for 3 months. I have registered to a private school which is located in the People's square. Now the next thing I have to do is arrange my accomodation. I am planning to rent an apartment but since I don't know Shanghai well, so I can't decide which part of the city should I live. Definately I musn't be so far from People's square, but on the other hand, metro is everywhere. Can you guys suggest me where should I hire my apartment, considering the school in People's square?

As I check from the renting webpage, the options seem like: People's square, Jing'an, Xujiahui, Xintiandi etc...

[shuoshuo]

Renting around People's Square can be quite expensive.  If you want to budget a bit, select the vicinity of a subway station that you are most comfortable with.  For example, Line 2 station goes to People's Square (amongst others) so you can select an area close to Line 2.  It takes about 2 minutes to get from one stop to another, so that should give you an idea of the commute you will have to deal with whenever you want to attend your classes.

[volkanska]

Can I find an apartment around 1.000 USD/Mo.? Or do you think is it better to deal with a 3 hotel?

[volkanska]

How about Jing'an area? As I see many apartments for rent in that area

[shuoshuo]

Yes, it's possible to rent an apartment for around USD 1K.  I will also be apartment-hunting soon, I think Jing'an area is great (lots of foreigners in the vicinity). Soufun.com is a good site to check available apartments (although it's a Chinese site).