Useful External Links

Rachel Gouk
Rachel Gouk’s food and drink blog is a very useful guide to restaurants and bars in Shanghai. Rachel also has a WeChat channel with more detailed content which you can find on WeChat.

SmartShanghai
SmartShanghai is a useful website for listings and what’s on information. 

That's Shanghai
That’s Shanghai is another listings site that is full of places to go and things to do.

Dining City
Dining City is a useful site for reviews and bookings for many of Shanghai's popular restaurants. Additionally, twice a year (usually in March and August) they run their restaurant week event with many restaurants offering special set menus for lunch and dinner at affordable prices. You do need to explore the menus on offer because the value for money element can vary tremendously.

Police registration is usually done by your hotel if you are just visiting for a short period of time. For those living here on a more permanent basis or staying with a friend, you're supposed to register at the police station assigned to the address where you're staying. If you're staying with a friend, they should know which police station to register with since it will be the same one they registered with. However, in Shanghai, this can be done conveniently online using the registration website.

VPNs are the only way to access many of the sites that are blocked in China including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google etc. If you have a foreign SIM card (including Hong Kong SIM cards) then you can also access those websites, although you may find it costly with roaming charges added on, depending on your package. Astrill is one of the most popular and most reliable VPN providers with expats. I have been using Astrill for many years.