Before you flyChoosing an area by commute and school
Choosing an area by commute and school
Shanghai is not chosen by district. A family is locked by the school bus first, then the office door, then the airport, then the spouse’s daily life.
- 01
Name the school, the campus, and which month the year starts. Without a school, talk about a singles corridor.
- 02
The bus comes before a river view, a downstairs café, or a hospital radius.
- 03
Japanese, Korean, German and French families are locked to a national curriculum — not “an international school will do”.
- 04
Japanese primary: Hongqiao campus / Gubei. Senior high: Pudong campus. Do not sign three years in Gubei and then move.
- 05
Korean school is in Huacao; daily life is often Hongquan Road. Ask both. Kitchen extraction is a hard constraint.
- 06
DSS and LFS share Eurocampus sites in Qingpu and Yangpu. A Former French Concession house does not cancel the campus run.
Housing Six corridors on this site are organised by commute, not by district. Gubei is not Huacao is not Hongquan Road.
Official sources
Before you fly
- What ¥12,000, ¥20,000 and ¥35,000 rent¥12,000, ¥20,000 and ¥35,000 are conversation bands for an HR housing allowance. They are not a promise of what is listed this week.
- Agency fees and deposit termsThe cash pit in week one is not the rent itself. It is the stack on signing day. Put the numbers in the contract, not in WeChat.
- How to read an English listingEnglish listing boards are an index, not a verification. Freshness is often a paid refresh. Photographs are often not taken by the agency that posted them.
- The cost slots, not a price tableHeadquarters approves a housing allowance. The family spends housing plus school plus insurance plus an ayi plus utilities plus food. Talking only about “what ¥20,000 rents” misses the bill that breaks a villa household.
- The housing brief to settle before viewingsA shortlist only works after the employer and assignee agree on the campus, door-to-door commute, lease party, reimbursement, accommodation registration, furnishing, signing-day cash and who may approve a trade-off.
Each guide gives the official process with source links and effective dates, plus the pitfalls we have recorded from real cases. Anything requiring a licence is referred to registered providers only.
Live near what you love.
Tell us the school, the dates, and the corridor you are looking at.