Expat Life in Shanghai: What Americans Get Wrong About Living in China: S1E4

Send us Fan MailWhen Shannon Martin moved to Shanghai in 2012, everyday life in China immediately gave her a long list of things to notice: official red stamps, bicycles, relentless commerce, noise, laundry hanging everywhere, and an abundance of extremely cute things.Nearly six years later, Shannon revisits one of the first blog posts she wrote about living in China and asks which of those early observations still hold up, what has changed, and what once felt strange but eventually became normal.What happens to our observations about a place once we’ve lived there long enough?Many of the things that caught Shannon’s attention during her first few months in Shanghai still existed six years later, but often in very different forms. Paperwork became more digital, private bicycles gave way to bike-sharing systems, mobile payments transformed shopping and bargaining, car horns became less common and laundry became less visible in some neighborhoods.The culture hadn’t simply disappeared or stayed the same. It kept evolving around her.In this episodeShannon’s first impressions of living in Shanghai in 2012Why official red stamps and paperwork were such a visible part of life in ChinaHow digital payments and electronic receipts changed everyday bureaucracyWhat happened to Shanghai’s bicycles after bike-sharing arrivedHow electric scooters and delivery drivers changed the city’s streetsWhen Shanghai became noticeably quieter after restrictions on car hornsBargaining, shopping, and the feeling of “winning” a negotiationHow mobile payments changed traditional bargaining strategiesWhy laundry hanging outside became less visible in parts of ShanghaiUnexpected similarities Shannon noticed between Spain and ChinaPersonal space and how ideas about politeness change across culturesWhy Shannon stopped blogging regularly even though she still valued long-form reflectionDownsizing, living abroad, and how our relationship with possessions changesBooks and travel writing that helped Shannon understand ChinaWhat outsiders often misunderstand about everyday life in modern ChinaHow quickly Shanghai changed during Shannon’s six years thereWhy she wishes she had studied more ChineseThe difference between experiencing Shanghai during the first year and after living there for yearsWho this episode is forThis episode is for people interested in living in Shanghai, moving to China, culture shock, expat life, long-term travel, digital life in China, cultural differences, and how our understanding of a place changes after the novelty of the first year wears off.About ShannonShannon Martin is originally from the United States and had been living in Shanghai for almost six years when we recorded this conversation. Before moving to China, Shannon and her husband left Florida and began traveling while she worked location independently. They spent time living in Spain before eventually deciding to move to Shanghai.Shannon started her travel blog, Two Who Travel, as a way to document their travels, observations, and experiences for friends and family. One of her early Shanghai posts captured six things that seemed especially noticeable during her first months in China: official red stamps, bikes, commerce, noise, laundry, and cuteness.In this episode, she revisits those observations years later.What changed in Shanghai between 2012 and 2018?One of the most interesting things about Shannon’s original post is that very little had completely disappeared. Instead, the form of everyday life had changed.Official paperwork and red stamps still mattered, but more processes were becoming electronic. Receipts could be issued digitally. Payments increasingly happened through phones rather than cash or cards.Bicycles were still everywhere, but bike-sharing companies had transformed what the streets looked like. Even noise changed. Shannon had once written that Shanghai’s constant car horns seemed impossible to control. Years later, regulations and significant fines had dramatically reduced them.Looking back showed her how quickly a city can change while still remaining recognizably itself.What happened to all the bikes in China?In Shannon’s original 2012 post, bicycles and scooters were everywhere. She even considered buying a bike herself but never did. Within a few years, bike-sharing companies such as Mobike and Ofo appeared across Shanghai, making it possible to use shared bicycles instead of owning one.At the same time, scooters became even more visible as food delivery services expanded. The quiet electric scooters created another challenge: pedestrians often couldn’t hear them approaching. Both Steph and Shannon remember having to develop a kind of instinct for scooters moving quickly along sidewalks.Sometimes technological improvements solve one problem while creating another.What do Spain and China have in common?At first glance, Spain and China may seem like very different places. After living in both, Shannon noticed some surprising similarities. Family relationships can play a central role in both cultures. Group belonging and social relationships can also feel especially important.She noticed similarities in outdoor public life too: walking, exercising outside, people gathering in parks, and outdoor exercise equipment used particularly by older residents. There were also similarities around laundry, noise, and personal space. Those comparisons are one of the recurring lessons of living in several countries.Places that seem completely different from the outside can sometimes feel unexpectedly familiar once you live inside them.What does living abroad do to our relationship with our material things?Before moving abroad, Shannon and her husband gradually reduced the possessions they had left behind in the United States. Like many people who start living internationally, they discovered that objects that once seemed essential often became much less important after months without them.Steph had experienced something similar when she moved across the United States years earlier. She shipped several large boxes of possessions to herself months after moving, only to discover that she barely wanted anything inside them anymore. Living abroad can create distance not only from a home country, but also from the possessions that once represented home.For Shannon, photographs increasingly became enough to preserve many memories that she once kept through physical objects.What books helped Shannon understand China?Shannon has always used books as a way to understand the places where she lives and travels. She recommends Peter Hessler’s writing about China, including River Town and Country Driving, as useful ways to explore the country through long-form observation. She also mentions Stateless in Shanghai, a memoir that offered her an unusual perspective on Shanghai’s history and the experience of a person born in China to non-Chinese parents. When traveling somewhere new, Shannon often looks for books, memoirs, podcasts, and authors connected to that place. Reading while physically being somewhere creates a different relationship with the story.You can look up from the page and realize that the history you’re reading happened in the place around you.What do outsiders misunderstand about modern China?When Steph asks what people who haven’t visited China misunderstand most, Shannon’s immediate answer is simple: Everything. She especially points to everyday safety and the gap between international perceptions of China and ordinary daily life.Visitors often arrive with ideas shaped by political news, government coverage, and isolated headlines. Then they encounter a daily reality filled with mobile payments, delivery services, cafes, public transportation, busy neighborhoods, and ordinary human routines that don’t fit neatly into those expectations.That doesn’t mean the political or social issues people hear about aren’t real. The problem is that they’re incomplete.Understanding a country through headlines alone is very different from understanding what it feels like to buy groceries, commute, find an apartment, meet friends, solve a broken door lock, or walk home late at📬 Traveling abroad long-term? Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422💰Need a global bank account: I use Wise for multiple currencies https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107📸 Instagram reels from my past and present life abroad: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/🎥 Daily video clips from my life abroad: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew🎙️Start your own podcast. The podcast host I recommend most often is Buzzsprout. 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