Avoid 'attacks of bad elements,' enjoy the World Cup with us

The World Cup is still a little more than a week away, so that means you still have some time to enter Shanghaiist's World Cup Challenge. Signing up is free and easy. All you have to do is go to this page and follow the instructions. Once you have chosen your own username and password, you can join our group -- it's called "Shanghaiist" and the password is "shanghai" (we like to keep things simple). The way you play is also simple: You pick what team you think will win each match, and the person who gets the most correct is the big winner.

Right now all the winner gets is a stylish Shanghaiist T-shirt. But we think it would be cool if some local businesses threw some prizes into the pot, as well. Would be an easy way to build some guanxi -- and a cheap way to get your business' name mentioned on this website several times over the next month. Interested? Email us at info at shanghaiist.com.

If you are lucky enough to be headed to Germany for the World Cup, stop everything and read the Chinese government's latest manual, Instructions on Safety of Watching World Cup and Tourism. It's bound to be a collector's item with gems like these:

The foreign ministry urged football fans to hurry back to their hotels after games and not to tarry in places with large numbers of football fans, the Beijing News said.

''Improve safety awareness... avoid 'football hooligans' and after games, please leave the venues as soon as possible,'' the statement said.

''Avoid lingering in places where football fans congregate -- especially areas with bars. If (an incident) occurs, please follow police instructions and leave.'' The foreign ministry also reminded Chinese fans to stay away from deserted streets at night and to travel in groups ''to avoid the attacks of bad elements''.

Thankfully, the manual didn't say anything about not participating in online World Cup pools. So join ours now.

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