China help needed

Hi folks,
i hope you are not offended that I introduce myself directly with an thread......
But lets go down to buisness.
This summer, me and 4 other guys want to travel to china, shanghai to be exactly.
We want to stay for two weeks and our budget is around 500 - 700 € ( flight is already payed.
Now we are the first time in this part of the world ( we are all krauts from europe...) and what are mistakes we could avoid easily?
Is it a good idea to go there during august/ september?
Is there any way to communicate with people without english?
What whould you recommend? Soft sleeper or hard sleeper?
Is it worth traveling to beijng for a few days? ( Yes i know that its a tripp around 650 miles)
What are things to do in shanhai?
Whould you recommend a trip into the rural area?
So far guys
p.s. please be indulgent if i get the dimensions of this city wrong , I am from a city with 500,000 inhabitants....

You should find some tourist guides for Shanghai - maybe when you arrive. There are many websites with accommodation for you to choose - there is a huge range, but make sure you are not too far out of the city centre otherwise it will cost a lot of money. All of you won't fit into a taxi.

English/Chinese is best, but you will find many Europeans visiting.

There are many great places to see in and around the city, and a tour to Souzhou or similar will be worthwhile. Get's you out of the city.

A trip to Beijing is a must too. It will be very hot and humid at that time of year. It is a huge city with 21 million people - a few more than your home!!!

You could travel to Hangzhou too which is easy by bus or train from Shanghai. It has many sights to see - and is easy to get around.

The Lonely Planet guide to Shanghai would be very helpful. I'm sure there are other publications too.

Good luck.

Aussi Di pretty much hits the point. In shanghai there's pretty much just shopping malls after shopping malls, you'll get a culture shock probably. There's apparently a bar street that I'm planning to visit next week.

There's a lot of other cities around shanghai that's worth a visit, Suzhou, hangzhou, wuzhen. Also a trip to beijing would be worth it, there're a lot of historical sites and palaces over there and a distinctly different culture to shanghai.

PS. Dont eat or buy anything from the side of the road, you'll regret it!

Hi,

I'm Chinese. I'd never gone to Shanghai, but I'd like to give you some suggestions of travelling around China.

1.700 € (I think it equals to around 7000 RMB) is not enough at all, for you 5 guys to stay for 2 weeks - especially I think you definitely want to go to the places famous around the world where mostly the tickets are not cheap at all.

2.Even though I'd never been to Shanghai, I still recommand you spend some time of visiting other cities, at least the cities near Shanghai. Such as Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou.... Each city is different!

3.As I'm in Beijing now, if you have plan to go to Beijing, then I can give more suggestions and even spend some time to show you around for free - I'm just for practising my English.

You can send me email(see my profile) for questions directly. And if I don't know the answer, I can ask help from my friends living in Shanghai.

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For your questions in your post:
weather : I'm not sure, but I think there should be many rainy days.

communication : English is the best way to talk to Chineses, I'm afraid it's useless to most(not all) old Chinese people.

Beijing : Of course it worth a lot to visit! It's the capital of China!

Things to do : I don't know exactly.

rural area : Shaoxing!!! That's an very old city, and not so big.

population : In 2005, the population has got 19,000,000

hey.. iam a chinese ,too lol
my sister live in shanghai,but i never been to there .however i can give u some suggestion through asking my sister
1.500-700 pounds for 5 guys to stay there is definetely ... not enoough. where do u live? if u choose the hostels like imis,7 days this kinda business hostel ,it will cost around 150 rmb( equal to 15 pounds) per day per room(two ppl)
and shanghai is a high living standard city compare to other countries in china,so the accomdation, traffic fees,food is not that cheap(but still much cheaper than europe lah..heh)
2. august/september...yeah i think its good.its summer in china at tt time,good weather in shanghai ..so yes lol
3. many chinese ppl cant speak english...but shanghai is an international city!many foreighers live there ..so its okay to go there without translater and many young chinese ppl can speak english,if u got any problems u can ask the youths!
4. beijing...well its the capital..ive been there when i was 8,erm.... worth to go bah...u know the great wall,summer palace is there
5.yep! rural trip is worth!!! much more intersting than trip in the city.
6.things to do in shanghai..visit Xintiandi·Shanghai(but some places in xintiandi r realli EXPENSIVE.maybe one meal cost u at least 100pounds or 1000rmb there),the tv tower veri veri high...heh go to the bars at nite well,nothing speacial u can do in shanghai unfortunately @_@
BTW why u guys want to go shanghai? its just like a normal city in europe,usa... i suggest u guys go to tibet, guiling ,yu nan ,xi'an thses places..coz u can find a total different culture expriences in those places (they have more speacial feathers than normal city like shanghai)
okay finish answering lah hope these suggestions can help u .if u got any further qns ,send me a msg lol