Expat costs
Observation and experience have led to the belief that for foreign residents the average cost of living in Shanghai is about the same as for similar living conditions in the cities of the United States. The old days of a free and easy Orient are gone. The cost of food is now at its highest mark on record. The shortage of foreign accommodations has forced rents to a high point. Servants, popularly supposed to be very inexpensive, are cheaper than domestic help in America, but wages are steadily increasing and this, together with the necessity of maintaining several to do the work of one American servant, makes this item one of importance to the householder.
unless otherwise indicated