Wang Sisuo
lived in all continents but oneUpdated 3y
If you consider Shanghai only, is the living standard of Shanghai people equal to developed countries?
Originally Answered: If only consider Shanghai, is Shanghai people living standards equal to developed countries?
Just visited Shanghai. I and my colleagues from Australia all loved it so much that we could not help screaming in the street before we left.

However, this is not about the living standard and depends on what you include in the calculation of living standard. There are still a lot of really poor people in Shanghai. The inequality is high. A lot of small business people are struggling. People are still paid very low salaries. They live in tiny houses with poor interior hygiene and piping facilities.

However, the life is convenient here. You can get anything easily outside your house without having to drive. If convenience is counted as an element of development, few places in the world(probably Hong Kong and Tokyo) is comparable to Shanghai. It is funny that the Americans are proud that they have to drive to places to get little things. They must be too bored at home and could not wait to jump into the car.

Safety is another. So many people talk about it and there is no need to stress more. Just go wherever you like on foot in the evening, even if it is dark allies.

BUT, the people in Shanghai often have third world mentality. The rich people are yet to be able to show much empathy to the poorer people. This is because the business world is still a jungle. The winners consider themselves deserving it. If a country is more developed, there will usually be more reflection on this among the richer people. When the rich still trying to brag about their success, it is a developing country mentality. In this sense, the Americans are a developing country comparing to the Europeans and the Shanghainese are behind the Americans. Having said so, the Chinese used to have a whole system of trying to enourage modesty. But since they lost confidence in their own culture and fell in love with the USA, they picked up barbarism as “development”. The reality now is that the Shanghai mentality is not only behind the US，it is also behind their ancestors.