Jenny Wu/Shanghai Daily news

Gerhard Lubken's life in Shanghai started with a stop in one of the city's coffee bars seven years ago when he began chatting up an attractive Chinese woman.
The encounter encouraged Lubken to relocate from Japan to Shanghai so he could be closer to the woman he had quickly fallen in love with. The German has been living in Asia since he moved to Taiwan at the age of 25.
Over the past five years, he has married that attractive woman, had two kids and watched the city go through a series of dramatic changes spurred by a soaring economy.
"Shanghai is really dynamic and everything here keeps changing," Lubken said in his office, which overlooks a corner of newly constructed buildings near the Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei District.
"Here, people have the motivation to work hard," continued Lubken, now the director of TUV Rheinland (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a consulting company that documents the safety and quality of products, systems and services.
Despite a peaceful and well-off life in his developed European homeland, Lubken chose to leave it and discover Asia. After landing a job with TUV Rheinland Group he applied for a position in the company's Taiwan office.
At the time, Taiwan's economy was growing as quickly as the mainland's economy is growing today.
The German engineer said he didn't feel any nostalgia for life in his homeland.
"I want to go overseas where the surroundings are quite different from our own," Lubken said.
His hard work and open mind won him another position in Japan several years later during which he met his wife, Sun Xianrong, who encouraged him to pick up and move one more time to Shanghai.
Like many foreigners who arrive in the city for the first time, Lubken was impressed with Shanghai's vigor.
"People around me are working very hard, they push me to do more than just the daily routine," Lubken said.
As the city's economy has grown, so has Lubken's company. Its local staff has grown from 80 when he arrived to 350. And it will continue to grow, as the company plans to have 800 local employees in the near future.
He loves shopping, visiting Shanghai Wild Animal Park with his family and playing soccer with his 2-year-old Robert and 5-year-old Selix.
But he also enjoys living in and learning about different parts of the world, which could push him and his family to leave the city. His wife also loves travel and learning about new parts of the world, and they hope their children will bring the same curiosity to the world when they grow up.
Lubken said the only possible reason for him to stop moving is retirement, which is still a few years off.
When he does finally retire, he says he will fill his days with some of his favorite hobbies, such as cycling.
He loves riding bikes around the town, usually 150 kilometers a time, to enjoy a relaxed weekend in the city.