Although I18n* is a technical term, it came to mind when thinking about all of the cultures living together in Shanghai.  I recently heard that 300,000 foreigners live in Shanghai.  This is nearly three times the number I had heard in the past, but regardless of whether the number is 100,000 or 300,000, a lot of foreigners (expatriates) live in Shanghai. 

According to www.shanghaiexpat.com and our experiences, expats in Shanghai come from all over the globe, span the range of demographics, and while many are here for business, the majority are seeking experience. Foreigners, according to government work permit statistics, come from 112 different countries and regions. Of them, Japan accounts for 33.7 percent, and United States citizens make up 11.5 percent and Republic of Korea citizens account for 8.7 percent. To me it really feels like there is a higher percentage of Europeans than Americans.  Students and interns seeking a cross cultural indoctrination, small business entrepreneurs opening a niche to fill a perceived demand, and returning overseas Chinese who have studied and worked abroad for many years returning to participate the phenomena of a rapidly changing China are all here contributing to the cultural mix. To become a “world-class” city, it is a stated intention of Shanghai city planners to increase the number of expatriates living in Shanghai significantly. (From Shanghaiexpat.com, June 8, 2006.) 

What all of this means to us is that if you are in a typical “expat” or “laowai” (which means foreigner in Mandarin) part of town you may overhear one conversation in Chinese, another in English, yet another in German or Spanish or Dutch.  I often find myself playing, “name that language” trying to figure out what language a particular family or group of individuals is speaking.  Just last night at Claudia’s going away, hot pot dinner, we had English by all, German by Claudia, Patrik and their friends, Spanish with Hernan Gutierrez who is visiting and will eventually be moving here (our friend from Mexico) and Chinese with the waitresses.  Whenever I realize I am involved in such an “international” conversation, I feel very fortunate to be having such an experience.  Very few cities can offer the internationalization that Shanghai can. 

Since we were on the topic of statistics earlier, another startling statistic about China is that there are over 100 cities with over one million inhabitants.  Oh and a bunch of us just learned this week of the city named Chongqing on the Yangtze River that has a population over 21 million. Only in China could there be cities like that you didn’t even realize existed.  No wonder all of the foreign companies are investing in this Chinese market.  The growth potential is absolutely unprecedented. 

On a personal note, we leave for Germany/Italy tomorrow evening and cannot wait!  We will be flying into Munich, taking a train to Passau where Claudia studies and spending a day there exploring the city.  Then, we head to Genoa to witness a leg of the Giro d’ Italia Bicycle Race (a dream for me…I am a huge cycling fan!) followed by a couple of days in the Cinque Terre, then onto Rapallo for my friend Jonas’ black tie wedding.  We promise a full report and of course pictures upon our return!

* From wikipedia, Internationalization and localization[1] are means of adapting products such as publications, hardware or software for non-native environments, especially other nations and cultures.