[quote=“The China Daily”]To face up to the challenges posed by neighbours, Shanghai has recently formulated many favourable policies to attract talented people to work here.
As of 1999, Shanghai gave the green light to all professionals at or above bachelor degree level, wishing to settle in the city with permanent residential status as long as they could find a job here.[/quote]
chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-01-11/
Anyone know anything about this ?
That probably means Chinese citizens who often require a special working permit for each location right?
That is my read of that also. Shanghai is trying to attract higher educated residents and keep out the less educated. Standard PRC social engineering.
Let’s hope Taiwan will feel the need to compete and do even better than that. Won’t it be nice if major cities across East Asia start competing madly to attract foreign “talent” with offers of long-term residence and more.
A friend of mine in Shanghai still doesn’t have permanent residency (despite having more than a bachelor’s degree) yet, and it is not likely coming soon. Despite the incredible accuracy of the China Daily, this story is too good to be true.
You mean those “Record Harvest” stories aren’t true either ?! :shock: 
The Renmin Ribao is a bit like USA Today, lots of upbeat news. During the droughts in the northeast a couple of years ago, Xinhua was trumpeting the advantages of letting the fields lie fallow for a couple of years. Too bad they didn’t mention the record dust crops.
A little off-topic, but one can do worse than settle in Shanghai. Although a night out could well end in bankruptcy, I find it a city well-suited for just about anything–especially, though, for ogling.
Omni?
Details! I demand Details!
Shanghai is actually a pretty good city, so Xinhua would basically have to coin new superlatives to accurately describe Shanghai these days.
My guess, however, is that Shanghai is trying to make it easy for the major multinational corporations to move over from Hong Kong and put regional headquarters there. Individuals or people working for smaller consulting and other companies probably don’t get permanent residency without a struggle.
Guess they are looking on the bright side. Like a headline from years ago about a plane crash in which over a hundred people were killed. Something like, “Miracle: 37 survive.”
I tend to agree that the news should not always be so terrible – the dangers of everyday life get blown out of proportion because it is usually the “exceptions to the rule” that get the most coverage. The shameless cheerleading alternates between being annoying and amusing to me.
The relentless happy stuff is probably a bit better than the continuous depressing stuff that goes along the lines of the [insert despised country name here] newspaper headline: “Cessna Crashes In Cemetary: Death Toll Over 1,000 and Climbing”
In another couple of years I imagine that quite a few people here will be living in Shanghai or elsewhere in China. I really don’t see that much of a future for Taiwan.
I think it was in one of Bill Bryson’s books where he wrote about one of his colleagues writing a headline something like this: “Earthquake in Chile, not many killed.”
[quote=“Alleycat”]A little off-topic, but one can do worse than settle in Shanghai. Although a night out could well end in bankruptcy, I find it a city well-suited for just about anything–especially, though, for ogling.
Omni?[/quote]
Welcome back, Alleycat. We’ve missed you.
I’ve never been to Shanghai, but I’d love to go and check it out. I’ve heard so many good things about those Shanghai gals that the mere mention of the place is enough to get me drooling.
How about a few more details on the ogling scene there now, Alley. Are they prancing around in nano-skirts and thrilling the eye with plunging necklines, acres of bare midriff, and free-bouncing boobs? And are foreigners still getting the come-on wherever they go, or is the foreign population so large now that the girls are getting picky and demanding something special to attract their interest?
Pure poetry. 
Have some guanxi.
oh, yes, there are many fine sights in Shanghai. You can even go to the tourist attractions if you get bored.
Particularly interesting is the way xiaojies ride their bikes wearing very short skirts… on one occasion I saw a stunning girl girl cycling and just as she passed her skirt lifted revealing stockings, suspenders… 
Of course being a polite person I didn’t stare.
Another thing is that Shanghainese people tend to be tall so the girls look very elegant.
Hex, has the missus been pushing you to move to Shanghai so that she can be near her folks, or is she glad to be far away from there?