Just thought I should post this as a warning to anyone thinking of traveling to china for the first time.
I live and work in Japan. China eastern airways are doing some good deals to Japan from the UK including stop overs so I thought why not have a week in Shanghai.
In all honesty I cannot speak for the rest of China but Shanghai beats all the other asian countries hands down when it comes to scamming. I met so many european tourists who had been scammed and I was even almost caught out by one of them.

One, Students in groups of two or three will come up to you and say hi and want to practice their English telling you they are from out of town. Then they will ask you to join them as they try out the local teas. scam priced varied from the three tourists i spoke to but they ended up paying anything from 15 to 30 British pounds for about 8 tiny cups of scented water.

Two, Art students tell you they have an exhibition and want you to look at their pictures. Once you get up to their studio which is normally up in an office block they will show you an assortment of prints and then become quite aggressive if you refuse to buy them.

Three, Probably aimed more at guys but normally you will be approached by two girls who want to chat to you and share a cup of tea, At first I thought they were on the game but after chatting to two American guys who had been caught out it seems as if its similar to the tea drinking scams but with a much higher mark up.

Four, This is the one I almost got caught in. Usual fake watch seller takes you down side street and into shop without windows and just a door which is closed after you enter. You then get the normal hard sell starting of at a high price and lots of space to haggle but if you refuse its hard to get out of the door as several women block it. I pulled a small note out of my pocket and said I would have to get to an ATM to buy the watches after I had made out I weakened and wanted them. I then walked out with the hawker girl and kept going once i hit the street.

Apart from the scammers, who are everywhere All I can say is the city has nothing going for it other than the riverfront called the Bund. The air is polluted and the shopping is more expensive than Ginza in Tokyo and with far less choice.
And in one weeks stay I saw three fights in the street between locals plus a scammer girl who went into a massive temper tantrum after the two tourists she tried it on snatched their money back and walked off.
Tips for Shanghai, learn to say "Niet tavarich niet English" The hawkers don`t try it on with Russian for some reason.
The Chinese Government really need to sort this out for the Olympics as there will be a lot of green tourists arriving next year