Most people in Puxi, will tend to work in or around those area’s.
I’ve found places in Shanghai for as cheap as 1000rmb a month that liveable, so its totally possible to find something budget friendly in downtown.

The 1000RMB place was on Julu road, near Ruijin lu, paid rent for 1 year. Got my builder to empty it out, repaint for few hundred rmb / 2 days work. Even had a courtyard…
Was a great little place until they demolished it

You want to be using the web to do the research, not go to agents.
There are a number of good websites that just do apt stuff.

http://shanghai.anjuke.com
http://rent.online.sh.cn

You can find suitable places fairly, easily, and just visit the ones that are in budget.

Learn the Chinese for the area you’ll be in.
The main foreign friendly area’s (in Puxi) are:

?? = Jing an (portman through to changshou road)
?? = Xu Hui (huai hai rd / french concession)
?? = Chang Ning (zhong shan park)
?? = Hong Qiao

And search for those.

Rental is ??

The websites are fairly easy to use now. They used to be absolutely horrible, but they’ve improved dramatically over the last year or so.

Here are some quick instructions for using Anjuke

Anjuke, you would click ?? (rent) – http://shanghai.anjuke.com/v2/rent/

?? is area (see the ones listed above)
?? is monthly rental – choose your price range
?? is how many rooms (leave that at the default, price is more important)
?? is buildout – this goes from ?? (bare concrete), through to standard (aka hovel), through to ??? (ok/fair) and ???? (acceptable/ probably tacky).

Most places have pictures, (but don’t assume they’re correct).
Also check to see if the listing says ???? – that means they’re renting a room

These were my tips for someone else recently who was asking the same questions:

(For Changning area)
No problems to find a nice apt for less than 3000RMB for that area furnished. Prices online in Chinese sites range from 2300 – 3000 for 60 sq/m around that area.
You won’t really find unfurnished apt’s here in China.

Electricity is expensive here – if you leave the a/c on – eg in summer months its a necessity, expect bills of 500rmb upwards.
Water, gas is cheap 7 floors has a lift)
eg ?26?/?15? – this means that its the 15th floor out of 26floors.

You can use google translate on the pages that you look at in order to give you a little more info, but pretty much all the info you need is easy to see – eg m2, price..

Another important point not mentioned at all is that you should exercise caution.

If the landlord is an asshole, don’t bother, even if its a nice apt.
The ideal landlord is one you don’t see until the rent is due.

Also small repairs are usually better off getting organized by yourself, rather than the landlord. Workmen are cheap here, and spending 50-100rmb for fixing a leaking tap is less hassle than having the landlord do it. If it will cost > that then use the landlord…

Another hugely important thing is to make sure that you don’t get ripped off.

Buy a cheap disposable camera, take pictures of the state of the place when you move in. Have the landlord sign these – it will cost you less than 50rmb.

When it comes to moving out, you won’t have any arguments over who scratched this, broke that etc.

I’ve moved into places where the furniture dated back to before I was born, and it was crappy then, and worse condition now, so be prepared, and record everything so that when you move out, they don’t steal your deposit by claiming you broke stuff that was already falling apart.

Also important is to make sure that the landlord is allowed to rent the place out. Make sure that the name on the rental contract matches the name on the Landlords ID.

I’ve had a few friends who have had to move for various reasons related to that. Also make sure that the landlord can give you a fapiao for the rental, as this 95% guarantee’s that the apt is legal to rent.

Ask for a discount if you don’t need a fapiao.

Lawrence.