One or two miles? I have had commutes like that when I have had Company housing. I usually end up living 5 to 20 miles from work. Once you are in Shanghai try looking for a nicer and less expensive place to live that is farther away from work but near a bus or train commute line. That way you can get in a good bike ride or use public transit when the weather is very bad or the bike is broken. The best commute I have found had 13 miles of Multi User Path and 7 miles of bike lanes. When you are that far from work there can be a million ways to go. One path I could take went through the old main parking lot of the original Disneyland in southern California.