Bustling scenes on the Bund area in Shanghai Photo: VCG

Shanghai, one of the most international metropolises in China, is making further efforts to make life easier for expats, trying to make both settlers and newcomers feel at home.

At the closing ceremony of the painting exhibition "Foreigners, But Not Outsiders" on Tuesday, Kong Fu'an, director-general of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, shared a handbook jointly released by the office and Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

The handbook, named International Services Shanghai: A Guide to Shanghai for Expats, offers expats useful information about public transportation, medical care, shopping venues and major international events scheduled to be held in the city.

Many expats said that the handbook has become their "second passport in Shanghai," Kong said in a speech he delivered at the Tuesday ceremony.

"The handbook is just a start," Kong said. Shanghai will offer a series of warmer services, including launching a new website and a social media account to help expatriates better integrate, he added.

Photo: Huang Lanlan/GT

Shanghai is one of the Chinese cities with the largest number of foreign nationals. Many expats in Shanghai have actively connected to the city's life in various ways that do not include their daily work or personal life, such as volunteering in the residential communities where they live.

The painting exhibition, titled "Foreigners, But Not Outsiders," showcased about 50 drawings by Shanghai artist Li Shoubai, which mainly focus on the efforts of expat volunteers and their friendship with Shanghai locals. "I drew these touching moments to show Shanghai's vitality and inclusiveness," Li told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The closing ceremony gathered dozens of expats who also appear in Li's drawings. At the ceremony, they discussed with excitement about the convenience of living in Shanghai and expressed their appreciation for the efforts of the handbook writers.

The handbook was written taking into consideration expats' suggestions. "We provided a lot of feedback on what should be included for newcomers from overseas, making suggestions from our expat perspective," said Justin O'Jack, chief representative of the University of Virginia China Office.

O'Jack said he and other expats who participated in the preparation process of the handbook felt very proud, as some of their suggestions were introduced in its final version. "We feel like Shanghai is our home even more now, and we want to contribute to it in any way that we can," he told the Global Times after the ceremony.

Having been in Shanghai for years, O'Jack witnessed the rapid development of the city, and its continuous improvement of facilities,  mentioning, among other things, the very fast and convenient online grocery shopping. 

"One day we were cooking, and my wife didn't have enough noodles, she typed in to order noodles online, and 10 minutes later, a guy was at the door with noodles," he recalled. "A friend of mine visiting from the US was just amazed."

Echoing O'Jack, Armenian violinist Astrid Poghosyan joked that some convenient aspects of life in Shanghai, such as digital payment, have "spoiled" expats like her who live in this city. "You forget that in the world there are places that don't function this way," she said at a sharing session of the ceremony. "It makes difficult in one sense to live somewhere else."

Poghosyan, whose Chinese name is Ma Xingxing, has been living in Shanghai for 14 years. There she learned Putonghua, and she can understand Shanghai dialect.

Poghosyan applauded the recently implemented policy that extends visa-free entry to travelers from six countries - France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia - for a stay of 15 days.

"This is a very good step forward," Poghosyan told the Global Times in fluent Putonghua. "As an expat living in Shanghai, I very much welcome people, not only from the six countries included in the policy but also from all over the world, to come to China, and take a closer look at real China."