Safety First: Raising a Family in Shanghai

By Casey Hall, 2013-10
Air fit for chewing, pigs in the river, plastic in the milk, rat meat, fake meat, cancer-causing meat, bird flu – the almost daily horror stories of product safety scandals, pollution and contagions are enough to scare anyone away. Talk set out to discover just how much of a risk it is to have and raise kids in Shanghai, and asked Shanghai expats what it is that makes them stay, or leave, for good.
 
The fact is, you are here now, and there is probably a good reason why you decided to uproot yourself and your family from your home country and make a go of it in China.
 
This reason may be financial, entrepreneurial or lifestyle-related but in spite of the many advantages Shanghai living has to offer, 2013 has brought doubts for many expat families.
 
This said, even with increasing safety concerns, the number of expats in this town continues to grow. At the end of 2012, there were 173,000 of us living in Shanghai and that number is only expected to increase in 2013, even as the Chinese economy slows and record high levels of PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter that can enter the lungs and bloodstream, making it dangerous to human health) fill the air we breathe.
 
So what makes us – particularly those of us with families and young children to consider – come to and stay in Shanghai, in spite of the inherent risks?
 
As a mother of three, a six-year veteran of Shanghai, as well as Department Chair of Family Medicine and Assistant Chief Medical Officer at Shanghai United Family Hospital, Dr. Eunice Chen is uniquely placed to offer an opinion on the risk versus reward of raising a family in Shanghai.
 
Chen first came to Shanghai following a business opportunity that had arisen for her husband. At the time, she admits she wasn’t particularly concerned about pollution and food and product safety, and was more focused on the opportunity living in China would present for her children, at that time six months, 3 years old and 11 years old, to grow up speaking Mandarin and being immersed in Chinese culture.
 
It wasn’t long before risks she hadn’t previously considered made themselves apparent.
 
“Once you are here, you face inherent risks. You see them on the news, you hear stories from patients and colleagues. I’ve been here long enough that I have lived through melamine in the milk, through rising air pollution, through pigs in the water. These are constant reminders that we live in a country plagued with quality control issues,” Chen told Talk. 
 
Despite all this, Chen obviously believes China is a safe place to raise a family, otherwise she wouldn’t have three children here herself. She makes the point that, though there are certainly risks associated with living in China, there are also risks, though they are often different in nature, of raising children in her native United States.
 
“Compared to the US, violent crime is much lower in China. My children are not constantly in harm’s way and I feel safe walking the street at any time of the day or night. At home (in the States), I am looking over my shoulder and locking doors,” she added. 
 
Emily Minor has also lived in China for six years, and along with her husband, Jon, has had both of her children, 2 year old Jackson and his baby sister, Julianna (who was born a mere 24 hours after the family’s Talk photo shoot for this story), in an international hospital in Shanghai.
 
Like Chen, Minor believes raising children in Shanghai is a balancing act. Her family takes precautions including having air purifiers in the house, as well as washing and peeling fruit and vegetables thoroughly.
 
This said, she also believes that particularly cautious parents may find it difficult to go along with some activities that are considered “normal” for kids growing up in Shanghai.
 
“I feel like we are pretty relaxed in our parenting style. We don't carry hand sanitizer everywhere. I let my toddler run around without worrying too much that he will fall and scrape his knees and our whole family rides on the scooter,” Minor said.
 
“If you are the type of parent who wouldn't dream of letting your kid in a car without being in a car seat, or can't imagine feeding them food that isn't organic, perhaps Shanghai isn't a good fit for you.”
 
Johnna Alborn and her husband lived in Shanghai for a decade, and their three children had spent most of their lives in the city until the family decided to return to their home country of New Zealand.
 
Alborn is quick to point out there were numerous reasons for the move, including a change to her husband’s work situation, though living in a tiny town in New Zealand’s South Island with a population of only a few hundred people has undeniable environmental benefits.
 
“By returning to New Zealand, we were returning to our extended families, and to an environment that is clean, where food is fresh and there are endless opportunities for our children to spend time outdoors,” Alborn explained.
 
According to Chen, the biggest concern for parents in Shanghai is the effect of air pollution on children under the age of five; with the still developing lungs of babies and toddlers making them more susceptible to pneumonia, bronchial infections and stubborn coughs.
 
This is an experience backed up by Minor and Alborn’s experiences, with both of them having babies suffer from pneumonia in Shanghai.
 
The good news, according to the research cited by Chen, is that children raised in polluted environments will show few discernible long-term effects a few years after moving back to a country with cleaner air.
 
“Children born and raised in China who are exposed to this polluted environment at an early age, may have their peak lung capacity stunted compared to children raised in clean air, but whether that makes a real difference to that child’s quality of life is hard to say,” Chen said.
 
“But if you do return home to a country with clean air, your lungs do detoxify. It’s the same with smokers who quit smoking and after ten years, their risks of disease are the same as non-smokers.”
 
In terms of what families can do to lessen the environmental risk factors of living in Shanghai, there is very little an individual can do to limit a problem as far-reaching as China’s air pollution, but there are things families can do around the house to make their indoor environments as healthy as any in the West. James Westwood works with Pureliving China; an environmental consulting firm that can test and assess indoor spaces for air and water quality and, perhaps most importantly, gives people the tools to improve their indoor environment.
 
In terms of indoor air quality, Westwood recommends Shanghai-based families invest in an air purifier. Interestingly, he also says he would rather see people buying several mid-range air purifiers to put in bedrooms and the main living room, rather than one, super-expensive, high-end model.
 
“If you are only going to buy one air purifier, if you have kids, put it in the kids’ bedrooms because they have younger, more developing lungs, and the bedroom is where you spend eight hours a day. Mid range air purifiers (in the RMB 4,000-RMB 5,000 range) will take your air quality well within the US EPA and WHO recommendations and that’s good enough for me,” he said.
 
Another major concern, in Shanghai particularly, is humidity, which breeds mould, leading to air quality problems. A simple way to measure the level of moisture in the air is with a hygrometer (cheap ones can be bought locally from RMB 50). If you find your humidity levels are a problem, dehumidifiers are also widely available for a relatively small investment.
 
Westwood’s other main tip for keeping the nasty pollutants from Shanghai’s outdoors at bay is the simplest of all, and is a solution already practiced extensively around Asia – taking your shoes off at the door.
 
“In Shanghai, many compounds are built on former industrial sites so the ground actually has high levels
of lead. This is something that can be tracked in on the bottom of shoes as the lead in particular is found
in particulate matter. It’s easy to keep it out of the house with a good welcome mat and by taking your shoes off at the door,” he explained.
 
At the end of the day, all of the parents and experts we spoke to agree on one thing – while there are inherent
risks to raising a family here, these risks are balanced by some really great rewards.
 
Even though her family left and thrived, Johnna Alborn is still unequivocal about her love for Shanghai,
and says she would never discourage anyone from living in a city that has given her family “so much”. “If you make good choices about where you buy your food, what type of air-conditioning systems you use, air purifying systems, etcetera, I don't think Shanghai is any worse than any other large city in the world,” Alborn said.
 
“If you chose to live in Shanghai, then just make informed decisions about how you eat and live your life to make it as healthy as possible.”
 
Web: www.ufh.com.cn; www.purelivingchina.com