Mid level job hunting in Shanghai

I'm a management consultant, and have been looking for a job in Shanghai. I'm still with my UK firm, and hope that our Shanghai office will have a good offering for me. In the meantime, I have cast my net wide to find out more about the market. My experience should be most relevant to those people who:-
- don't want local pay but aren't quite top senior executives
- do jobs that aren't generally advertised for (i.e. not accountants or SAP consultants, but people with fluffier harder to describe jobs)

I have many observations and opinions on my job hunt experience. They centre around:-
- Language requirement (my mandarin is currently very minimal)
- Lifestyle (asian long hours / committment expectations)
- Culture (leadership / trust / will your boss back you up to the hilt? / sponsorship / who takes credit? / culture of management or leadership? )
- Salary (range of low to high)
- Travel (% travel, will I really only be able to come home for 1 weekend in 3? class and safety of travel? mandarin speaking countries?)
- Geography (am I prepared to be based out of Hong Kong, or even London if the right job comes along?)
- Timing (should I start work asap? or spend longer learning Mandarin first?)
- Development (how will my employer develop me or help me to develop?)

I don't think I'll diarise my job hunt - I think it's a bit sensitive. But if you have questions to ask, please send them in.