MORE than eight out of 10 foreigners living in Shanghai like the city, according to a survey.

Of the 237 expats polled by Shanghai Normal University, 86 percent said they liked the city, while 46 percent said they would like to settle down here.

The availability of jobs and the “diverse cultural environment” were given as the main attractions.

The things respondents said they liked least were the traffic congestion and bad-mannered locals.

The survey also polled 195 Shanghai natives and 292 Chinese from outside the city.

Of those, 60 percent of the natives and 42 percent of the out-of-towners claimed they were fluent in English.

However, 75 percent of the foreigners polled said it was “hard” or “impossible” to communicate in English with the locals.