Anyone who&#8217;s been trawling through the China-related web this week will surely have stumbled across the<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911u/china-nine-nations"> &#8216;Nine Nations of China&#8217; </a>map that surfaced on <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/">Atlantic Monthly</a>. <a href="http://chovanec.wordpress.com/">Patrick Chovanec</a>, from Tsinghua University, posted his map amidst the inescapable excitement of Obama&#8217;s visit to China, reminding the US President that China is "a mosaic of several distinct regions, each with its own resources, dynamics, and historical character."...

       

What's lurking underneath Tiananmen Square? It ain't just rats. In 1969, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Mao commissioned the construction of an underground city, built right under Beijing. Fearing an imminent nuclear attack from the U.S.S.R, Dixia Cheng (地下城 the underground city) was meant to be a safeguard, designed to house 40% of the city's 7.5 million in case of catastrophe. It was meant to have apartments, stores, and even a skating rink: all the comforts of above-ground home. The nuclear bombs never came, but the remnants remain, a ghostly testament to what-could-have-been. Although part of it was...

"I think we're going to need to have chicken for Thanksgiving this year," our roommate told us, faces twisted in dismay. A Thanksgiving traditionalist, she had been adamant about cooking the meal at home for friends rather than head out to any of the many restaurant/take away options other people have outlined. "What? Why?" "Turkey's just too expensive! Everywhere I look - Cityshop, Carrefour, home delivery services - it's something like 400RMB for a measly 8 pounder. If I'm spending 400RMB on the part of the damn turkey I'm planning to eat, I won't have anything left for sides."...

A Shanghai-based English copywriter has discovered some hilarious Chinglish slogans, including a new one for Haibao that explains the Shanghai Expo mascot's consistently happy visage. Since we've previously determined that Haibao is a boy mascot, all we can think of say to his slogan is... "Really? So soon?"...

Stateless in Shanghai Cover Shanghai-born Dr. Liliane Willens will be speaking twice this weekend about her newly published book, Stateless in Shanghai at several venues around the city. But first, a word of explanation about what "stateless in Shanghai" really means: In the first half of the twentieth century, the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai contained the world's largest foreign population. They were, rather ironically, "stateless" persons: persons without citizenship in any country. Though most attention given to Shanghai's historical stateless population has been focused on 'stateless' Jewish refugees during WWII (ghettoized in Hongkou district by the Japanese), the longer-lasting...

If there's one thing that we at Shanghaiist would like to thank the <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/tags/netnanny">Net Nanny</a> for, it's that she's totally reunited Chinese microbloggers with the one big happy family that is Twitter again. You see, previously, everyone was distributed across a plethora of local microblogging services, but now with the <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2009/06/03/by_june_6_all_gfwed_web_services_wi.php">demise</a> of the two kingpins of the Chinese twitter clone world, <a href="http://www.fanfou.com/">Fanfou</a> and <a href="http://jiwai.de/">Jiwai</a>, everyone's just decided to collectively show the <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/tags/gfw">GFW</a> their middle finger by signing up for a <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/tags/vpn">VPN</a> and rejoining the conversation on Twitter....

Yet another jam-packed weekend hits Shanghai. In case you're looking for something to do that's not related to all the live music choices available this week, we present you with some sweet alternatives. Ranging from a wig party, to a pub crawl, to yet another new art exhibit, we're sure you'll find something to keep yourself occupied. Friday: Wig out at Dada, boogie nights at Bar Rouge Find the craziest wig you can (Taobao anyone?), and head over to Dada to show off your new 'do and impress the crowd. According to the organizers, "studies have shown that wanton...

Wow, that's a huge amount: 1.5 million people per day are getting innoculated with the swine flu vaccine. [AP]This year's Chinese Blogger Conference was held in an ancient cave in Lianzhou, Guangdon. Why? You'll have to watch this video to find out. [WSJ]A government report has said that China's Three Gorges Dam has doubled in cost and has been plagued with multiple problems. Here's a summary of them. [Al Jazeera (on Youtube)]Back in 1972, when the first U.S. press corps visited China, they got rashes from the toilet seats. This year's press corps got thirty-seven-inch flat-screen televisions and three-hundred-thread-count...

We were sent Silk Guides: Shanghai Eat & Drink Guide a couple weeks ago, but it took us a little while to get off our lazy butts and actually take a look inside... Which is a shame, because the guide, about a size that would fit handily into a purse if not really a pocket, is actually a pretty decent look at what restaurants you ought to try in the city right now. The guide is the creation of Gary Bowerman, Amy Fabris-Shi and Tina Kanagaratnam - three people who've lived in Shanghai for a combined 25 years and...

In Shanghaiist's Philanthropist feature, we highlight individuals and groups doing interesting things to make the world a little bit of a better place. This week we talk to one of the organizers of the third annual Rock for Roots & Shoots concert. Rock for Roots & Shoots is a charity concert benefitting the Million Dollar Tree Project.Where: Yuyintang, 1731 Yanan Xi Lu, near Kaixuan Lu. 延安西路1731号(凯旋路) 中山公园小白楼 When: Saturday, November 21, 6PM to late Cover: Donation of two trees, 50 RMBFeatured Bands: Boys Climbing Ropes, Resist Resist, Varde, Booji, Duck Fight Goose, Triple SmashRoots & Shoots Website Do-gooders can...