WHEN Hu Bin, who was born and bred in Beijing, decided to move to Shanghai, most of his friends were worried about how he would manage - how could a man from the North get along with Shanghai man?

　　To prepare himself fully for the transition, Hu read a book by the renowned scholar Yang Dongping about the two cities several times.

　　"I wanted to have a deep understanding about Shanghai man before I came to this city," said Hu who now lives here with his Shanghai wife. "I confess I took some precautions against them as most northern people think Shanghai men are a difficultsgroupsto get along with."

　　Now the term "Shanghai man" has almost mythic overtones meaning a man who is "shrewd, smart, careful, well-dressed, sympathetic to women - and stingy".

　　"If someone said to me: 'You are really a typical Shanghai man', I wouldn't feel completely happy," said Li Ping, a local man. "Though I am happy to be a Shanghai man, the term makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

　　Search in Google for the term "Shanghai man" and 325,000 results jump out. So "Shanghai man" is a well-known term which seems to indicate not asgroupsof men defined by region but asgroupsdefined by certain characteristics.

　　It seems that most Chinese like to talk about Shanghai man and most have some criticisms to make of the species.

　　"When I heard northern people talking about Shanghai man, their tone sounds sneering and it seems they liked to laugh at Shanghai man," Li said.

　　However, whenever Shanghai man is criticized, it also cannot be denied that he also has lots of advantages that no one can compete with. It also makes the term "Shanghai man" more difficult to explain.

　　"They are smart and rational in their jobs. I have seen many successful Shanghai men working in Beijing. In the northern cities, the smart and hardworking Shanghai man can easily be a giant among minnows," Hu said.

　　Thus, most Shanghai men are proud of their origins even though they have to put up with a lot of gossip. They feel at home in Shanghai.