People gather at C's bar for painting their feeling out on walls. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Within one year, she learned to speak fluent Chinese from chatting with other volunteers and residents in the neighborhood.

"I've enjoyed being greeted by the local residents passing by my bar in the past year as I have turned from a foreign stranger to a friend," Williams says.

For local residents who were born and grew up in the city, their feelings and attitude toward newcomers have also changed.

Zhong Qin, a 60-year-old retired nurse, spoke Shanghai dialect in her childhood and barely spoke Mandarin.

"Now I have to speak Mandarin every day to chat with people living nearby, most of them come from different places," says Zhong, who recently started learning English in order to communicate with her German daughter-in-law.

Zhong says the anti-outsider attitude of old Shanghai has totally disappeared, and the city is now more tolerant and friendly to people coming from everywhere.

As a city with a booming economy, Shanghai attracts talents from a range of industries.

"Shanghai is an attractive city full of opportunities for outsiders. It offers enough freedom for people from other cities and countries to make their dream come true and blend into the local culture," says Yu Hai, a sociology professor at Fudan University.

"However, certain adjustments should be made to improve the social welfare of new arrivals, who feel insecure about being different. The city should not only attract talented professionals, but also welcome low-paid laborers."