Study in Shanghai

Most of what students need to know about daily life comes down to the city around the campus: its climate, how people get around, and what there is to do. The following sections describe Shanghai, where Donghua University is located.

Geography

Shanghai is located on the Yangtze Estuary of China's east coast, with the Yangtze River to the north, Hangzhou Bay to the south, and the East China Sea to the east. The land is formed by the Yangtze's natural deposition and modern land reclamation projects. It has sandy soil, and skyscrapers have to be built with deep concrete piles to avoid sinking into the soft ground. The provincial-level Municipality of Shanghai administers the estuary and many of its surrounding islands. It borders the provinces of Zhejiang to the south and Jiangsu to the west and north. The municipality's northernmost point is on Chongming Island, the second-largest island in mainland China after its expansion during the 20th century.

Shanghai is located on an alluvial plain and the vast majority of its 6,340.5-square-kilometre (2,448.1-square-mile) land area is flat, with an average elevation of four metres (13 feet). Tidal flat ecosystems exist around the estuary, but they have been reclaimed for agricultural purposes. The city's few hills, such as She Shan, lie to the southwest; its highest point is the peak of Dajinshan Island (103 metres or 338 feet) in Hangzhou Bay. Shanghai has rivers, canals, streams, and lakes, and it is known for its rich water resources as part of the Lake Tai drainage basin.

Downtown Shanghai is bisected by the Huangpu River, a man-made tributary of the Yangtze created by order of Lord Chunshen during the Warring States period. The historic centre of the city was located on the west bank of the Huangpu (Puxi), near the mouth of Suzhou Creek, connecting it with Lake Tai and the Grand Canal. The central financial district, Lujiazui, was established on the east bank of the Huangpu (Pudong). Along Shanghai's eastern shore, the destruction of local wetlands due to the construction of Pudong International Airport has been partially offset by the protection and expansion of a nearby shoal, Jiuduansha, as a nature preserve.

Climate

Shanghai has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with an average annual temperature of 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) for downtown areas and 16.2–17.2 °C (61.2–63.0 °F) for suburbs. The city experiences four distinct seasons. Winters are temperate to cold and damp—northwesterly winds from Siberia can cause nighttime temperatures to drop below freezing. Each year, there are an average of 4.7 days with snowfall and 1.6 days with snow cover. Summers are hot and humid, and occasional downpours or thunderstorms can be expected. On average, 21 days meet or exceed 35 °C (95 °F) annually. In summer and the beginning of autumn, the city is susceptible to typhoons.

The most pleasant seasons are generally spring, although changeable and often rainy, and autumn, which is usually sunny and dry. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 28% in June to 46% in August, the city receives 1,754 hours of bright sunshine annually. According to China's seasonal division standard, from 2001 to 2025, Shanghai enters spring on 9 March, summer on 15 May, autumn on 5 October, and winter on 4 December. The average temperature for the three weeks from 19 July to 8 August is above 30 °C (86.0 °F). Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −10.1 °C (13.8 °F) on 31 January 1977 (unofficial record of −12.1 °C (10.2 °F) was set on 19 January 1893) to 40.9 °C (105.6 °F) on 21 July 2017 and 13 July 2022 at a weather station in Xujiahui. It also has 32.1 °C (89.8 °F) as the highest ever daily minimum temperature at Xujiahui on 13 August 2010.

In 2025, the average temperature of Xujiahui was 19.43 °C (67.0 °F), which was 1.93 °C higher than the average from 1991 to 2020. The average daily high temperature is 23.66 °C (74.6 °F), and the average daily low temperature is 16.44 °C (61.6 °F).

Economy

The city is a global centre for finance and innovation, and a national centre for commerce, trade, and transportation, with the world's busiest container port—the Port of Shanghai. As of 2022, the Greater Shanghai metropolitan area, which includes Suzhou, Wuxi, Nantong, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Zhoushan, and Huzhou, was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (nominal) of nearly 13 trillion RMB ($1.9 trillion). As of 2020, the economy of Shanghai was estimated to be $1 trillion (PPP), ranking the most productive metro area of China and among the top ten largest metropolitan economies in the world. Shanghai's six largest industries—retail, finance, IT, real estate, machine manufacturing, and automotive manufacturing—comprise about half the city's GDP.

As of 2025, Shanghai had a GDP of CN¥5.67 trillion ($814 billion in nominal; $1.66 trillion in PPP) that makes up 4% of China's GDP, and a GDP per capita of CN¥228,280 (US$32,840 in nominal; US$66,944 in PPP). In 2022, the average annual disposable income of Shanghai's residents was CN¥79,610 (US$11,836) per capita, while the average annual salary of people employed in urban units in Shanghai was CN¥212,476 (US$31,589), making it one of the wealthiest cities in China, but also the most expensive city in mainland China to live in according to a 2023 study by the Economist Intelligence Unit. According to Julius Baer's Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report, Shanghai was the most expensive city in the world for living a luxurious lifestyle in 2021.

In 2023, the city's imports and exports reached CN¥7.73 trillion (US$1.07 trillion), accounting for 18.5% of the national total. In 2022, Shanghai was ranked fifth-highest in the number of billionaires by Forbes. Shanghai's nominal GDP was projected to reach US$1.3 trillion in 2035 (ranking first in China), making it one of the world's top 5 major cities in terms of GRP according to a study by Oxford Economics. As of August 2024, Shanghai ranked 4th in the world and 2nd in Greater China (after Beijing) by the largest number of the Fortune Global 500 companies.

Universities in Shanghai

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