For 28-year-old Tao Yuan, Shanghai is no longer the city that he had dreamed of years ago.

"Prices keep going up, raising the cost of living further and further. I think it is harder to live in the city now," said Tao, who hails from Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province.

After studying in one of Shanghai's universities for four years, he chose to make the city his home and took up a job in an engineering company.

"Although my salary is fairly good, everything has become more expensive." He earns about 6,000 yuan ($879) a month, he said, and spends more than one-third of it on transportation and food.

"The same amount now fetches you fewer things or the same things in lower quantities. Life is not easy," he said.

Tao said he and his girlfriend were considering moving to another city or his hometown where they could lead a better life at a lower cost.

Shanghai seems to have become a more expensive place to live even for people who were born and brought up here.

"Prices have risen very high. I earn only 1,600 yuan a month. And although my wife and I always find ways to save some money, it is still hard to survive," said a 54-year-old office worker surnamed Gu.

His wife works in the same building, and together they make about 3,000 yuan a month.

"Prices of cooking oil, vegetables and some other food items are still on the rise. I really don't know what to eat," Gu said.

According to the Shanghai statistics bureau, the average pay of an employee in Shanghai was 3,292 yuan a month last year, 13.8 percent more than 2007. But even after that increase, more than 500,000 people depend on the government's monthly subsistence allowance.

"Apparently, ordinary people's salary has not increased proportionately with the rising prices. My salary is three times the city's average, but I still feel a lot of pressure. The prices are quite unacceptable, but you can't stop buying daily necessities. I used to go shopping at least once a week, but now I don't do that frequently," said a 35-year-old woman surnamed Su, who works for a business organization.