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Shanghai is a fairly safe city and violent crime is rare. However, the ever-increasing divide between the haves and have-nots has created its fair share of problems. Petty crimes like pickpocketing and bike theft are common, and sexual harassment occasionally occurs on crowded public transport. Pay extra caution before the Chinese New Year in Jan or Feb depending on lunar calendar, as thieves may be more active in looking for new year money.
BEWARE pick-pockets groups on the main shopping streets. These groups are usually two or more gypsy-women carrying babies. This sight is extremely common on Nanjing West and East road during rush hours.
Beware of taxi scams - ride inside illegal taxi to a distant direction. First you agree on price e.g. ¥300 for a taxi shared with someone else from Hongqiao Airport to Suzhou then after some short taxi ride they ask to get out and group of people say that you need to pay agreed money right now. Then you get transferred to a shared bus where other people cheated like yourself sitting and waiting when the bus will depart, then the bus finally gets to destination.
The notorious tea house scam scams, long practiced in Beijing, is unfortunately spreading to Shanghai as well. Be cautious if over friendly strangers, who probably dress well, speak fluent English, and look innocent like a student, who invite you to art gallery, tea shop or karaoke - you're unlikely to be physically harmed, but they will leave you to foot a large bill. In this case, you should call 110 emergency hotline. The con artists may tell you that calling the police does not work and claim to have connections with police, but the police in China tend to be helpful in these cases, especially when innocent foreigners are involved. These scams can be found around People's Square near the entrances/exits of the museums and art galleries.
Another trend is a temple scam which is happening in various big cities and also Tibet. Tour guides may ask you to make a wish and burn an incense which ends up costing a hundred to more than a thousand. Another trick is to ask you how much you want to "donate". After you said ¥10, they will tell you that ¥10 is for 1 day blessing but the monk has already turned an incense to bless you for 1 year, so you need to pay 365 x 10 yuan. This scam has caused significant backlash because of blasphemy. No legitimate temples in China ever charge followers in this way.
Male travellers may attract attention from female sex workers at nightspots. Around Old Town and Science Museum in Pudong, hawkers are sometimes also eager to sell. Saying bu4 yao4 le "don't want" may help. Also be cautious of people who approach and offer to polish your shoes. Make sure both of you agree on the price before anything is put on your shoes. The same rule also applies to the commercial photographers at the Bund area. They will offer to take your picture with the scenic background and sometimes with costumes for ¥50, but once you have contracted their services, several cohorts will arrive to "assist" the photographer. They may force you to buy all the snapshots and try to gather crowds to increase pressure.
Don't rush into or out of Shanghai metro trains in the last moment. Despite the safety barriers on the platform, the train doors sometimes close before all passengers have boarded; people squeezed between closing doors is a common sight. Apparently, the fail safe that is supposed to block trains from running with open doors isn't stone-proof: Only recently July 2010, a woman died after being smashed against the safety barriers as she was hanging half out of closed doors of a train of line 2 leaving Zhongshan Park Station.
By Chinese law, foreigners are required to show their passports when requested, but this is rarely enforced. Most hotels will help you keep the passport in the safe.
Beware of fake note scams. After paying at a restaurant or shop with a legitimate note, the vendor will bring you back a fake note and claim that you just paid with it. Always note the serial number of the note you pay with, especially with larger notes.
shopping tips
If you're after a new cellphone, go to the Shanghai Railway Station. You can find good deals on secondhand phones as well as new phones (the selection is a mixed bag; you'll find Chinese off-brands mixed with reliable big-name brands as well as cutting-edge Japanese phones; if you live in North or South America be careful about buying the off-brand phones as most do not support the necessary frequencies for use there. Also, in the secondhand section of the market some of the phones are of dubious origin; CDMA phones may have their ESNs blacklisted in their home countries, but for GSM/3G phones the only issue is an ethical one. Be careful about prices that are too good to be true.
Also, for small discounts at various restaurants and hotels as well as 50% off tickets to certain attractions Shanghai World Financial Center observation deck, Happy Valley, Science and Technology Museum, among others try to find a branch of Woori Bank to sign up for the Shanghai Tourist Card. All Chinese banks issue this as a credit card, preventing non-Chinese visitors from signing up by virtue of requiring proof of income in China, but Woori is a Korean bank and caters to Koreans including Korean tourists, and thus offers it as a debit card, allowing anyone to sign up for it with just a passport. Sign-up including account creation takes approximately half an hour and the card is immediately issued upon account creation. Branches are located near Metro Line 2 Century Ave. station address is 1600 Century Ave. Pos-Plaza 1-2F and Metro Line 9 Hechuan Rd. station address is 188 South Huijin Rd: ask for directions to Bank of China; once you get there, turn right and keep walking until you see it. However, a hotel address may not be acceptable and there may be a handling fee for accounts canceled within a month of opening. An incidental advantage of the Woori Bank Shanghai Tourist Card is that the account allows unlimited free withdrawals at any ATM in China. Thus it will be more convenient to put all your money in the card and withdraw from ATMs only as necessary. If planning to visit two or more of the attractions that half-price tickets are offered for, the time spent is well worth the discount maximum two discounted tickets purchased per card, offer lasts until end of World Expo.
In addition, Travelex offers a Shanghai Tourist Card Cash Passport IN JAPAN ONLY. If transiting through there, getting the Cash Passport version is easier and quicker, and offers all the benefits of the Woori Bank version except for free ATM withdrawals.
In Hong Kong, AEON Credit offers the Shanghai Travel Prepaid card instead. Same as the Travelex card except initial currency is Hong Kong dollars and a 1.1% fee is charged during the Hong Kong dollar->yuan conversion process.
contact
Shanghai's area code for landlines is 21, adding a "0" at the beginning if calling outside of the city.
etiquette
"Me first" is how many visitors describe mainland Chinese. A lot of things that would be extremely rude in the western world are considered normal here: queue-jumping, crowding, pushing, spitting and even littering is status quo; about the only thing that will cause them to pause is a policeman wielding a large ticket book.
Pushing in the metro is normal, especially at the chaotic People's Square Station. Just dig in and push; don't feel sorry. However, compared to public transport in other Chinese cities, the Shanghainese are better at letting people alight first and the mad rush for empty seats is not quite so bad - your behaviour should follow the situation: if the station is crowded then pushing is acceptable, but if not then you are more likely to be looked upon as an 'uncivilised foreigner'. Also, outside of busy times you should stand to the right on escalators to allow people to pass.
Note that Shanghai Metro drivers will close the train doors and depart when the schedule says so, even if people are still boarding. When you hear the 'door closing' alarm usually a series of beeps stand back from the doors particularly on the old Line 1 and 2 trains as the doors close very quickly and may not re-open if blocked.
Crowding aka no queue is another problem you're likely to encounter. Whether at a ticket booth, at a busy fast food counter, or even at the grocery store, everyone jockeys for position by crowding around a staff member say, to recharge their jiaotong card, and will do whatever possible to get in first, and get out. If at all possible, avoid the situation in the first place by finding a quiet ticket counter and recharging early Alternatively, head over to one of the white terminals and recharge directly from a UnionPay card.