Why did you move to SH ?

My reply is more addressed to Shanghai specifically rather than another country,

When I came to China, I came to a small town/village in China which is considered a district of a city ... even though it is an hour away and no urban communities between. It had 250,000 people. Which sounds large. In China, though it is a small town, perhaps barely a town. When I look back and compare this town of 250,000 to my hometown of 2,000 I can see the parallels. This town had only a few supermarkets. It had no bars (except for KTVs), and the town center was about 2 blocks by 2 blocks. It had one or two decent hotels and the only fast food was Dicos and some odd Jack-in-the-box/pop-eye mix logo one. Drive 10 minutes and you were in the farming area or industrial area. The taxis started at 7 rmb and you could drive maximum in the whole town for 15 rmb. No trains. No city buses. Few people in the town were actually from the town.

My next city was larger, about 1.8 million people, a second tier city in China. What gave it power is that it was on the High-speed rail route. This city had hotels, some bars, as well as hot spring or two. The taxis were 1 yuan more, but the maximum drive would be about 30-40 rmb. It did have a train station, and local buses. It also had a KFC, two actually; about 800 meters apart. There were more chances to get out and explore and cheaper traveling in a faster time.

Then come Shanghai. The town I live in is one of many in my district. It has a large mall, another slightly lesser one, and some big Chinese malls. It has taxis which start at 12-14 rmb. Shanghai has multiple railway stations catering to high speed trains, has even more slow train stations. It has local buses, buses to other districts, and fast buses to skip through most bus stops if you want to travel say from Huangpu to Pudong. Shanghai has many fast food restaurants , more English speaking people, if a bit limited in understanding or how broadly they can speak. I wouldn't leave SHanghai for HongKong, Beijing, Shenzhen or anywhere else in China or bordering.

To enjoy different kinds of lifestyles. And most important, my boyfriend lives there.