I love both cities.

Not quite sure how many generations of my family have been in Shanghai; we don’t have relatives from other parts of China, which makes me feel like the aboriginal.

Melbourne is the second home where I have been living for more than 14 years.

Shanghai is financial centre the most expensive city in China; people come from all over the country to seek the fortune, which is full of competition.

Similarly, my neighbors, colleagues, friends and classmates are from all over the world to pursue a dream in Melbourne.

In Shanghai, a native English speaker will completely lost no matter how excellent his Mandarin Chinese is. 

What are the locals talking about? It’s very unlikely for him to understand Shanghai Dialect.

Conversely, in Melbourne, if you master English very well, it’s not difficult to understand Aussies, as most of them only speak one language-English, but locals have no idea if new immigrants talk to each other with first language.

In Melbourne, I feel free talking with family on public transport if there is no Asian, no one knows Shanghai dialect.

“Do you reckon the person “he or she”, who dresses skirt with long hair, looks like a man?”

“You see, this guy has been biting fingernails at least 30min, Yum!!!”

No worries, no one can tell our language.

In Melbourne, if one works in an Aussie run company, English is a must; in Shanghai, Mandarin is the official language.

The stereotype exists everywhere, in Melbourne, the majority are warm and kind, the small percentage is bias to newcomers especially Asians.

I remembered one Aussie colleague said: “I hate driving in box hill, those Chinese drivers are so bad, and I don’t think they should drive at all.”

If one never practices, how can her driving skill get improved? Just be more patient; nobody is born to be a genius.

Once the Aussie lady imitated the accent of a Chinese client after hung up the phone.

After a couple of years, she was made redundant, surprisingly, I found all the Aussie colleagues considered her as very rude and mean, everyone was so happy about her leaving.

The other colleague, a very nice Aussie young man taught me basic accounting with so much tolerance for my first job in Australia.

Sometimes he got angry as he tried to buy first home with girl friend, every time he went to the auction, there were full of Chinese, who offered the highest price, then he could hardly get his dreamed house.

In Melbourne, some people regard Chinese as rich. I’ve heard stories about burglars broke into the houses of Chinese businessmen as some of them tend to keep cash at home rather than in the bank.

Normally, I won’t have cash more than AUD200 (1000CNY). If it is acceptable, credit card payment would be my first choice.

In Melbourne, most Chinese restaurants prefer cash, if pay by Visa card, there’ surcharge; whereas the majority western restaurants, there’s no fee for Visa or Master card, however, 2-3% surcharge will be added on American Express.

In Shanghai, I don’t have a credit card and with 0 balance in Wechat wallet which makes me like an old farmer from countryside to the city.

If go shopping in the city, I will have to take a pile of RMB, it’s so easy to use up 10,000CNY(AUD2000) within a few hours.

A few bottles of Estee Lauder could be CNY5000 (AUD1000); a pair of pants cost 1200CNY (AUD240); two cardigan sweaters 3000 CNY (AUD600) (it depends on the shops and brand,there are cheap ones);

Having hot pot with 5 will spend at least CNY600(AUD120).

A shopping cart full of groceries will be 1000CNY (AUD200).

Therefore, in Shanghai, a 100-yuan note (AUD20) is like a piece of paper, you can never expect how much value it brings.

Now you may understand why young girls wanna marry a rich man because it’s very difficult for them to pay for the nice dresses, restaurants or cosmetics with the salary they earn, 4000CNY(AUD800) to 8000CNY per month for a Uni graduate is expected.

In Shanghai, the sky-high housing price compared with the average salary, the majority young people can’t afford to buy a toilet.

Most likely, a Shanghai Mum will not satisfied with son-in-law who has no ability to buy an apartment before the couples get married.

In Melbourne 2017, the minimum wage per hour is AUD 18.29, casual rate is $22.86/hour before tax, therefore,a Uni graduate can earn AUD36,000 (180,000CNY) to AUD70,000(350,000CNY) per year before tax for a full time position.

In Shanghai, it is full of rich people who owns several apartments or earns 1 million CNY(200,000AUD) a year; 

In Melbourne, the percentage of high income earners (say200,000AUD a year) is small, and they need to pay a large amount of tax.

In Shanghai, there are lots restaurants with nice food from all over the world cooked by professional chefs.

The labor in Shanghai is cheaper than Melbourne, a wealthy person can afford to have a housekeep to do cooking, cleaning and taking care of child.

One of my classmates who already got PR in Australia, but has to give up the residency so that she can run family business in China.

And also she’s not used to the life in Australia as she has difficulty to handle the chores.

In Shanghai, she can focus on work after having a baby.

In Melbourne, ladies have to be very independent and learn how to fix things, it’s too expensive to pay for someone to do it.

In Shanghai, just a phone call, a professional will come to fix the toilet when it’s leaking or paint the apartment, which is very convenient.