SHANGHAI, Jan. 1 -- Shanghai's government on Monday unveiled a new online portal providing expat services, introducing the beta version of its English website (english.shanghai.gov.cn) alongside accounts on social media including Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and WeChat, to better serve the city's large and growing international population.

The portal aims to become a user-friendly one-stop hub with multilingual information, resources, and services for foreigners traveling to Shanghai or residing in the metropolis.

The goal is to provide authoritative information and interactive services in areas such as business and job-seeking, in addition to studying, traveling and shopping in Shanghai. Offline events will also be organized to help expats integrate into life in Shanghai.

More than 100 expats were invited in advance as volunteers for the trial version of the portal. "The website is beyond my expectation, because I did not imagine that we will have all this information on one website, including information that helps people studying here, living here and working here," said Edwin Roberto Montealegre Carvajal, an international student from Costa Rica attending the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

"To do business is the most important function for me," said Natacha Extier, founder of Blue Vision, who added that the portal is useful because it enables people to gain access to legal and financial experts.

The portal will later be made available in eight other languages, namely Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic.