上海對外籍人士還會繼續保持吸引力嗎

Living in Shanghai is like living in China — only less so. In many ways, it is the least Chinese of cities: English is widely (if often badly) spoken in many shops, restaurants and residential areas patronised by expatriates.

在上海生活感覺像是在中國生活——只是沒那麼像。在很多方面，上海都是最不像中國的城市：外國人出入的很多商店、餐廳和小區普遍說英語（儘管往往說得很糟糕）。

But Shanghai taxi drivers famously do not speak English (or understand the English names of even the most famous city hotels) and finding an English speaker outside expat areas can be tough. Overall, Shanghai packs a mean punch in terms of culture shock for anyone who is not Chinese — but less so than anywhere else on the mainland.

但是，上海的出租車司機以不會說英語（甚至聽不懂該市最有名的酒店的英文名）而聞名，而在外籍人士聚集區以外很難找到說英語的人。總體上，在文化衝擊方面，上海給境外人士一種不友好的碰撞感——但比內地其他地方要好些。

Exotic but not completely alien, modern but with a taste of the ancient, Shanghai attracts people from around the world who want to cash in on China’s economic boom — but without stepping too far outside their comfort zone. And that remains true today, despite theChinese economic slowdown that has given stock markets around the world jitters.

有異國情調但又不是完全不可理解，現代但又帶有古韻，上海吸引着來自世界各地的人，他們想要在中國經濟繁榮中分一杯羹——但又不想走出自己的舒適區太遠。如今，儘管中國經濟增長放緩給全球股市帶來恐慌，但是上海的吸引力依舊。

Despite Beijing’s recent announcement that GDP growth could fall as low as 6.5 per cent next year, down from double digits as recently as 2010, there is little sign of a big exodus of expatriates from the mainland. In truth, China’s economy has been slowing steadily for several years as it matures, but for ambitious expatriate managers, it remains an important place to build a career.

儘管中國政府最近宣佈明年的國內生產總值(GDP)增速可能降至6.5%（2010年時GDP增速仍達到兩位數），但沒有什麼跡象顯示大批外籍人士離開內地。事實上，隨着經濟日益成熟，中國經濟增長逐漸放緩已有好幾年，但是對於雄心勃勃的外籍經理人來說，中國仍然是成就事業的重要舞臺。

InterNations, the global expat community, says China ranks third behind only the US and Malta, in its “job and career” rankings of expatriate life in 64 foreign countries. A remarkably low 3 per cent of expats surveyed in China said they regarded the state of the local economy negatively — compared with an average of 21 per cent who hold that view in other countries, InterNations said in its 2015 rankings released last month. But when it comes to “feeling welcome”, China sits at 61 out of 64 countries.

全球外籍僱員社區InterNations稱，在其針對常駐64個國家的外籍僱員所作的“就業與職業發展”排行中，中國位列第三，僅次於美國和馬耳他。InterNations在其10月份公佈的2015年排名中表示，在接受調查的駐華外籍人士中，僅有3%的人稱其對當地經濟狀態持負面觀點——相比之下，其他國家持負面觀點的外籍人士比例平均爲21%。但是，在“感覺受歡迎程度”這一項上，中國在64個國家中排在第61位。

Still, there is no shortage of expats coming to Shanghai for work, local headhunters say, and figures for the number of residence permits issued to foreigners in Shanghai fell only slightly between 2013 and 2014 and remain 70 per cent up on a decade ago, at about 170,000.

話雖如此，當地獵頭表示，上海並不缺少來此工作的外籍人士，同時從2013年至2014年，上海發放給外籍人士的居住證僅略有減少，但仍比10年前高出70%，爲17萬左右。

But local relocation companies, international schools and long-time expat business people say they see a marked change in the kind of expatriates who are moving to Shanghai. Fewer are coming on lavish corporate packages (as companies save money by localising senior positions) and more are coming on their own.

但是，當地的國際搬家公司、國際學校、以及長期在滬生活的外籍商界人士稱，如今來到上海的外籍人士類型出現了顯著變化。帶着牛氣的全套公司待遇來上海的人減少了（企業爲了省錢從當地挑選高級職位人選），而自帶行李到上海打拼的外國人增加了。

Overall, foreign resident numbers fell 3 per cent last year, but relocation company numbers and international school enrolment suggest a much steeper decline in executives heading to Shanghai on full expat packages. The headmaster of one of the leading Shanghai international schools says he sees a marked change in the racial composition of the school’s students, with many more Asian children and fewer Europeans, to the point where the school has had to offer English as a second language support to preschoolers for the first time.

總體而言，去年常駐的外籍人士數量減少3%，但從國際搬家公司和國際學校的數字看，帶着全套待遇來上海的高管人數的降幅遠高於此。上海一所領先的國際學校的校長稱，他發現該校學生的族裔構成出現了明顯變化，亞洲的孩子越來越多，而歐洲孩子越來越少，以至於該校不得不首次向學齡前兒童提供英語作爲第二語言的輔導課程。

At a recent meeting sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, several managers of multinational corporations said that most executive positions in their corporations had been switched to local terms in recent years.

上海美國商會(American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai)最近贊助舉辦的一個會議上，多名跨國公司的經理表示，其所在公司近年多數高管職位都轉向本地尋找。

“The number of expatriates hasn’t fallen, but the composition of the expat population has changed. Many more expats are actually returning Chinese, and the western expat on a two-three-year contract is much scarcer than before,” says one expat service provider.

“外籍人士的數量沒有減少，但是其構成發生了變化。更多外籍人士實際上是返回故鄉的華裔，而拿到兩、三年合同的西方外籍人士比過去少多了，”一家外籍人士服務提供商稱。

Lawyers, who work on visa matters, say that although overall residence permit numbers have not fallen sharply, the statistics could be inflated by expats who were previously in the country illegally, but regularised their status after a recent crackdown.

經手簽證事務的律師們表示，儘管向外籍人士發放的居住證數量總體並未急劇減少，但一些之前在中國非法居留、但在最近的整治行動後“轉正”的外籍人士可能推高了統計數字。

Still, Shanghai’s reputation as a place to live is far from stellar. Shanghai did not even make it into the top 100 of the world’s most liveable cities, according to 2015 rankings from Mercer, the employment consultants.

儘管如此，按照宜居城市的標準來衡量，上海的聲譽遠非一流。根據就業諮詢公司美世(Mercer)公佈的2015年排行榜，上海甚至未能躋身前100座全球最宜居城市之列。

Many expats complain about traffic and pollution, food safety and internet speed. The stampede at the 2014 New Year’s Eve celebrations in which 36 people were trampled to death on the Shanghai Bund was a sombre reminder of the city’s crowds and chaos — and a lack of public civility that is extreme even by global megacity standards.

很多外籍人士抱怨這裏的交通、污染、食品安全和網速。發生在2014年新年夜、造成36人死亡的上海外灘踩踏事件，不留情面地向世人提醒這座城市的擁擠和混亂，以及即使按照全球超大城市的標準衡量也極差的公共文明。