Shanghaiist

Threesday: How globalized Shanghai remains Chinese

Jessica Lau — 2009-11-26T15:30:00+08:00

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. And this week it's our three favorite things that have remained iconic Chinese, even as Shanghai gradually accrues the skyline of the globalized city that the World Expo expects it to become.

1. Haidilao:
Even though our very own Eric Hu will be evaluating a series of hot pot restaurants for the winter season, we need to give the restaurant chain, Haidilao (海底捞火锅), a shout out for having captured the Chinese entrepreneurship in restaurant service form (even if veers very far from our Western/foregin standards of what is considered “appropriate"). If the patron has not made a reservation, Haidilao offers a variety of free services in their waiting rooms; aside from the comfortable sofas and chairs, diners may partake in shoe polishing, manicures, Wi-Fi, and even watch repair. There is a playground for kids, as well as chessboards, cards, and newspapers. And that's before actual dining has even occurred. After viewing the elaborate display of available sauces, we knew we were sold.

2. The Marriage Market:
Each Saturday in People's Square, every elderly citizen that is not hellbent on killing you on a transport vehicle in this city is located inside this park instead. A swarm of parents (of every age, really) with children of marrying age engage in "modern" match-making activities such as pinning a cardboard information pinned onto a piece of shrubbery or a standing plastic bag. This resumé includes their offspring's best attributes: height, age, hometown, occupation, monthly salary, whether they own a house or not, perhaps an occasional photo. Aside from hovering family members, other points of interest include strings of personals wrapped around trees, matchmakers that will work for a fee, as well as rosters of every applicant in the market. It's like the parent-controlled version of Match.com.

3. The People:
It's a cop-out answer, but there is something to be said about the vibrancy of the people of this amazing city that want to make Shanghai into a global metropolis. And yes, we relish in its Chineseness, as well as all of the discrepancies of it being entirely unlike New York, London, or any other world city. We are all about the plethora of milk tea chains that decorate each road (the best being CoCo, with the highest rating on dianping.com), the almost-legendary avocado lady that offers her namesake and other imported produce at wonderfully low prices (¥10 an avocado, without bargaining? Only at 274 Wulumuqi Zhong Lu, 乌鲁木齐中路274号), the ironically endearing and utterly filthy dive bars that we tiredly emerge from as daylight breaks (such as long-time favorite C's on 685 Dingxi Lu 定西路685号), and the aggressive shopping in floors upon floors and malls upon malls of miscellaneous items that verge onto what we would term "crap" (everything cheap at 168 Qipu Lu, 七浦路168号). These are the things we think of fondly and endearingly of each time we leave; these will be the things we come back for.

Chinese jails are shocking, but not in the way you would think

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-26T11:45:00+08:00

Usually when we wax on the topic of Chinese jails, we invariably chat about beatings, places to detain dissidents and "innocent" games of cat & mouse turning into something more sinister. We don't usually think of basketball courts, East-West fusion architecture or greenery.

But if these pictures compiled by Chinasmack are any indication, at least some jails in China aren't terrible places to be. For instance, Jiansu Province Yancheng Prison boasts an Olympics-sized running track, luxury offices, six new outdoors basketball courts and potted plants by every cell door. Meanwhile, Guangdong Province Qingyuan Prison's front door screams modern Chinese glamor and the inside has trees and carefully-trimmed shrubs a plenty.

Interestingly enough, there doesn't seem to be any people in these luxury criminal compounds. And, netizens helpfully point out, when people do fill these spaces (if they ever), the chances of them not being officials and white collar criminals is pretty nonexistent. As one said jokingly (kinda), here's how the prison budget meeting probably went:

“Right now we have some funding. Should we use it to build schools or to improve the conditions in jail?” “Everyone think whether you’re going to spend any more time in school in the future…now we vote.”

Note: Even more interesting, it looks like the original MOP thread on these Chinese jails was deleted, making Chinasmack the only place to go for pictures. Hmmmm...

Obama who? Shanghai's town hall has another star

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-26T10:45:00+08:00

For all of you who actually watched President Obama's town hall last week, did you notice this woman? Because instead of paying attention to questions like "Can you use chopsticks" and Obama's thoughts on why he can't use twitter (his thumbs are too clumsy), a certain cameraman was starstruck by this Chinese beauty taking off her coat.

As is the way with the Chinese internet, as soon as the gif of her taking off her bright red coat to reveal a classically stylish all-black dress suit made it onto the forums, she became an internet sensation, with people calling her the "beauty in black beside Obama" and instigating a human flesh search.

Then, after her personal details were revealed - her name is Wang Zifei (王紫菲) and she's currently studying business at Jiaotong University, came the comments that she was way too calm and collected, the camera angles were way too flattering, and why was there a camera guy focusing on just her anyway (Ed note: because camera people can be pervs too?). Perhaps this random beauty was actually using the Obama town hall to build up hype for herself.

Not so, she insisted in a blogpost (helpfully translated by China Hush) on Monday:

Two days after I attended dialogues town hall meeting with President Obama, my classmate came to my dorm and said to me “You are popular on the internet!” and searched for “woman in black behind Obama” on the internet for me. Once I saw all the news on varies sites then found out about this incident. There were also many talks on the forums, I was upset at some negative comments but I did not reply because I was really busy at the time. But misleading news was increasing by the hours, I felt my individual power could not slow down the speed of rumors spreading on the internet, even if I explain, it would not help, so I took the ignoring approach. Recently there were many text messages and phone calls regarding this, I always tell my friends to “not to reveal anything online, after awhile the rumors will die down.” But my silence let to even more speculations. After talking with Sina staff members, I think it is a good solution to sincerely speak with you through this platform.

1. self-hype?

Some media speculated that it is not possible that I am a student because of to my manners, however I am making an announcement here that I am a current student at Jiao Tong University. I don’t have natural born self-esteem, but I am constantly developing my self-esteem. I could not deny the fact my quality had to do with my family and my well-trained childhood. I first played violent on stage when I was 6, after I acted in plays, hosted shows, was an image ambassador and was interviewed many times, therefore I am not a stranger of cameras and would not feel nervous in front of the cameras… everyone knows the security was very strict during U.S. president’s visit. Except for the reporters, no one could bring cameras in, even students could not bring cameras in, how could I self-hype? Also I did not want to be popular because of this. People who have a brain would know this, entertainment news is like drinking tea, first time is like washing tea leafs, no one really cares. Maybe 2nd or 3rd time it will have the sweet taste, but in the end it gets weaker and weaker. After a few washes, who would remember me? What can I leave behind for people? Before I shoot films just out of my interest and personal favorite, but at the same time I wanted to be rebellious, because generally people have misconceptions about highly educated women. I hope to change people’s view through my actions. But i never wanted to go into entertainment circle, therefore I rejected many TV stations’ offers and contracts. I feel business management is a long term path for me, therefore I study hard, my gaokao (college entrance exam) was the normal exam, not the kind for entertainers.

2. Why did i sit there?

There were nine universities participated in the meeting, each school was assigned to fixed seats. I was sitting at one of the seats for Jiao Tong University without any special arrangements. There were some people had even better views than me, why were they accused of hyping? As for my posture was professional, I knew that this meeting would be broadcasted live worldwide via the internet, I not only represented my own image, but the image of our school and our country, of course I could not relax!

3. Why did I take off my coat?

Because it was an important meeting, I wore a dress to show respect. I chose to wear a black shirt so I don’t stick out, but you know how Shanghai’s weather is like. I remember it was raining and a bit cold in the morning, so I wore a coat. After i entered the meeting room I took off my coat, at that time Obama was not in the room yet. In fact the temperature was not very high in the room, I really wanted to keep wearing my coat, but if I really wore the red coat, people are going to say I want to be famous like crazy?

4. My attitude of comments

Although some individual comments from netizens hurt me, but I can understand. Maybe it was criticisms to certain social phenomena through me, but I became an innocent victim. And some of the influential people on the internet, made comments without any investigation, actually claimed that I was a female official conducting self-hype. How did Chinese Youth became female officials? Did you even read the title? You should know that you are the leaders of public opinion, does such an irresponsible move in the end hurt other people or damage your own credibility?

To destroy a person only takes one sentence, but to develop a person takes more than thousands of words, please have mercy~

Mystery has been solved, we no longer have to bother guessing, my recent study and life have been disturbed and hoping to quickly restore back to normal. I like small animals because they are cute and simple. Hope that after all this I can continue to be simple self. Presenting you with a small kangaroo photo, I wish you happy, all the best~

And as for the gif that launched a hundred thousand speculations? Here it is:

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Barbie Spa: For the cosmopolitan plastic beauty in you

Christine Tan — 2009-11-23T13:30:00+08:00

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The overwhelming pinkness aside, we're going to throw this thought out there: Shanghai's ginormous Barbie store is actually pretty cool. After a few hours spent meandering through doll city (though our experience was not as intense as CNNGo's self-challenge) we decided that the awesome Barbie Spa is our favorite feature of the place. Yes, that's right - we are encouraging you to head on over to 550 Huai Hai Road to get beautified, Barbie-style.

But first: it’s no secret that the world’s only flagship Barbie store isn’t doing so hot at the moment. Sales targets haven’t been met, and each time we visit it feels like Barbie ghost town instead of Barbie metropolis. Since its March opening, we wondered whether a store devoted to the very non-Chinese plastic beauty should even try to up its appeal in this country.

Barbie fan Zhang Teng Mei, 24, from Tianjin was amused at our concern over the possibility of pink-infused doll-shaped cultural imperialism taking over the country (or at least downtown Shanghai). She loves the Barbie concept because it represents a fashionable, cosmopolitan lifestyle that could be lived in any major world city: “I don’t want to be blonde or blue-eyed or American, I want to be young and attractive and travel the world!”

Nowhere in the Barbie store shouts this lifestyle louder than the Barbie Spa. “I wasn’t designed to do house work” Barbie reminds us from one wall. “Turn on the Barbie glam!” she chirps from another.

Surprisingly, the spa area isn’t operating on pink-overload like the rest of the store. Bright, white, and spacious, it’s the perfect place to go into a state of Barbie relaxation and zen. We’ve gotten our hair and nails done there on several occasions and have always been treated like plastic royalty, from complete meticulousness over our cuticles to ensuring that each strand of hair is perfectly curled and in place.

If we are this happy over basic hair and nail services, how awesome would the more complicated treatments be? Flipping through the “Barbie Spa Menu”, we noted a few services that adventurous readers could perhaps try out (and tell us about):

Wonder Luxe facial, 90 minutes, RMB 680. Yes, it's a really pricey facial. But that's because it "hydrates, lifts, firms and smoothes the skin with protein rich Caviar". That kinda sounds delicious, except in reality the gunky goop on your face will never remind you of yummy fish eggs.
Shanghai Surprise body scrub, 60 minutes, RMB 380. Aside from the usual exfoliation of dead and dry skin cells, it also "encourages free flow of chi throughout the body". We could always do with more flowy chi.
Oh So Sweet body wrap, 60 minutes, RMB 580. Maybe we just like all the treatments that remind us of food. This one is described as a "Hot Chocolate Body Treat" that "stimulates circulation, helps breakdown fat deposits, improves skin tone and elasticity". Oh, and of course you will be covered head to toe in (inedible) chocolate.
Barbie Bust Firming, 45 minutes, RMB 380. Um. It consists of "a soothing peeling, a lymph drainage using aroma essence and highly concentrated active ampoules". We're not quite sure what goes on in this treatment, but Barbie certainly does have some perky assets we wouldn't mind having too.
Gentlemen's Facial, 75 minutes, RMB 280. This one is for you guys, a special treat just for the male complexion. Don't scoff - Ken was pretty plastic perfect too.
If individual services are way too pricey, consider the spa's monthly specials. Until November 30, the Barbie Escape Spa Package gives you a number of treatments (including facial and body scrub) for RMB 488, down from RMB 880.
...and last but not least: Barbie Face Painting, 15 minutes, RMB 38. Why not?

As Shanghai gets chillier, hibernating in the warm Barbie Spa wrapped up in chocolate doesn't sound like a bad idea. Spa manager Michelle Hu expects winter to bring in more customers: "Although visitor numbers have been low, things should pick up during the Christmas season." We also agree with her that there's just too little local publicity focusing on the Barbie Spa, since what news there is usually concerns the overwhelming 6-floor megastore as a whole.

On the other hand, international publicity seems to be working. We bumped into Jackie Liew, 55, from Singapore who came to the Barbie store after a phone call from her sister in Australia. "My sister lives in Sydney, she called me when she knew I was coming to Shanghai, told me she saw something on TV about a big Barbie store," laughed Jackie, who was attracted to the spa and ended up pampering herself with a pedicure. "I have to call her to tell her I'm actually here!"

With news traveling globally and visitor numbers slowly picking up, perhaps there's hope for a more vibrant Barbie Megastore, and subsequently the Barbie Spa. Until then, we will be the frequent customers swimming in chocolate, smeared with caviar, and our feet dunked in a green tea essence bath.

Week Around the Ists

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-23T09:00:00+08:00

Gothamist was saddened after seeing why Sad Panda is so so sad.
DCist caught up with the dapper gents and ladies who took to the streets in high style for the D.C. Tweed Ride.
Torontoist Googled its city. Googled it hard.
Seattlest sputtered in disbelief at a grassroots campaign in favor of a proposal to dig the world's largest open-pit mine.
LAist wondered if the city's drivers are ready to go Dutch--as in be taxed based on miles driven instead of the current taxes levied on roads and new car purchases.
Bostonist interviewed Russell Ferguson of So You Think You Can Dance.
Shanghaiist rounded up all the news you'd ever need to read about Obama's town hall in their fair city.
Phillyist wondered if all the fun was on its way out of town.
Chicagoist focused on Oprah Winfrey's announcement that she plans on ending her show in 2011--which resulted in Mayor Daley blaming the media--causing Chicagoist to reflect on the Oprah of yesteryear.
SFist yearned for a McRib sandwich comeback.
Londonist mapped every London location that Sherlock Holmes visited. So now you know.

Follow Team Shanghaiist on Twitter

Kenneth Tan — 2009-11-20T21:43:05+08:00

If there's one thing that we at Shanghaiist would like to thank the Net Nanny 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 demise of the two kingpins of the Chinese twitter clone world, Fanfou and Jiwai, everyone's just decided to collectively show the GFW their middle finger by signing up for a damn VPN and rejoining the conversation on Twitter. Now Chinese microbloggers and their foreign counterparts are finally talking directly to each other, while news and stories and translations of anything remotely China-related are spreading faster than you can say H1N1! So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you Net Nanny!

But we digress! What we meant to tell you in this quick update is that now you can follow Shanghaiist's super awesome team — yes, all of them — with one click of a single button. Here's where you will find us:
http://twitter.com/shanghaiist/team

And, oh, if you love us, won't you please click on the 'Retweet' button you see on the top left corner of this post.

Nuclear fallout Beijing: Mao's underground city

Esther Young — 2009-11-20T15:30:00+08:00

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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 opened as a tourist attraction, most of Dixia Cheng is officially unused (and officially forgotten) -- and no one is even sure how far these underground caverns go.

It hasn't prevented some enterprising individuals from illegally using the largely hand-dug structures (for storage, extra space, hide and seek).

Viceland visited the less-visible parts of the Beijing underground, complete with Communist propaganda, with vaguely creepy results.

P.S. Here's a little factoid: The material used to build the tunnels? Beijing's ancient city walls, dismantled during the Cultural Revolution.

"Haibao is coming"

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-20T13:45:00+08:00

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?"

China: Nine nations in one?

Marta Cooper — 2009-11-20T12:45:00+08:00

Anyone who’s been trawling through the China-related web this week will surely have stumbled across the ‘Nine Nations of China’ map that surfaced on Atlantic Monthly. Patrick Chovanec, from Tsinghua University, posted his map amidst the inescapable excitement of Obama’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."

The regions Chovanec feels China could be divided into:

The Frontier, made up of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet represented the mysterious desert-filled and mountainous bulk China’s land, inhabited by only 6% of its population.
South of that lies the Shangri-La region of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, a so-called paradise on earth consisting of kaleidoscopic forests, diverse ethnicities and, sadly, a front-door for illicit drugs, as it borders Burma’s Golden Triangle.
China's Back Door, meanwhile, holds on to Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, and Hainan for its lush jungles and economic successes
... whilst the neatly tucked-away Refuge on Sichuan, Chongqing remains an area with little investment but substantial brain drain.
The Crossroads, covering Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan, remain China’s transport and communications hub, neighbored by
The Straits of Fujian and Taiwan.
Up along the eastern coast is the likely Metropolis of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, followed by...
The Yellow Land, or China’s political heart (Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi),
And finally, the elusive northeastern wilderness of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang. A.k.a. The Rust Belt.

As blogger Jeremiah Jenne pointed out, the idea is hardly earth shattering; not only due to the wonderful Wikipedia age of enlightenment, but also thanks to the efforts of an anthropologist by the name of Skinner, who produced a similar map in 1977, and whom Chovanec failed to cite. Jenne shows here just how similar the ‘Nine Nations’ and ‘Nine Subregions’ of China are. Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn and Shanghai Scrap’s Adam Minter also responded with a gentle reminder that Chovanec could have cited his predecessor. Chovanec responded later to note that the regional descriptions were his own and that he had cited Skinner, but the citations were edited out by The Atlantic under space considerations.

Attribution/citation grappling aside, both Chovanec and Jenne’s (and even Skinner's) basic argument is that we still tend to view China as one giant power, irrespective of the obvious diversities within its borders. However, Dan of China Law Blog, took a slightly different view:

"My problem I see with this map is that it is exactly that. A map. And as a map, it distinguishes among regions geographically and that is not how I view many aspects of China. Just by way of an example, I see Beijing having commonalities with Shanghai just because they are two powerful and relatively sophisticated big cities."

Which leads us to an interesting question - this One China can definitely be carved up into various divisions in order to understand it better, but what divisions could or should be in the final map?

(Picture from http://granitestudio.org/2009/11/17/nine-nations-or-nine-macroregions)

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62 year old Guangzhou man is New York City's Sad Panda

Kenneth Tan — 2009-11-19T22:23:10+08:00

Since around March this year, a sad-looking panda has been spotted roaming the streets of New York City — on the subway, in Times Square, at various parks and around Wall Street's bull statue. Over the next few months, the Sad Panda has intrigued and fascinated New Yorkers — his short disappearance on Wall Street led a few concerned individuals to put up a missing notice, and his great makeover as Spongebob Squarepants did not go unnoticed. Turns out this Sad Panda is a 62 year old man from Guangzhou, Chen Jialing, who has now lived in the United States for many years. He confides in journalism student Michelle Tay the story of how he became Sad Panda after being forced to leave his former restaurant job. Read all about Sad Panda on Gothamist here, here, here, here, here, here and here Can't see the above video? Time to whip out your credit card and buy yourself a VPN!

Previously on Shanghaiist
How one Chinese mingong lives in Singapore's swanky Orchard Road district

Barbie Megastore proves to be tough sell

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-19T14:00:00+08:00

Despite getting a ton of press when it first opened back in March, it looks like the Barbie Megastore on Huai Hai Road just hasn't been as popular as Mattel had hoped. The six-floor retailing monolith has been unable to make any of its "astronomical" sales targets.

According to Bloomberg, the store replaced its general manager, Laura Lai, with Mattel "retail specialist" Dann Murphy earlier this month, before revising its sales targets for the third time in its short life span. Overall, the sales target has dropped between 65% to 70% of original expectations.

Reasons include:

“Every retail store operates at a loss when it opens, but they’ve been open long enough that it should be working by now,” said Paul French, founder of Shanghai-based market research company Access Asia. “They overestimated their brand recognition in China. I just think the concept is wrong.”

and

“The restaurant hasn’t carved out its own separate identity,” said Murphy in a Nov. 16 interview in Shanghai. “Sometimes customers don’t even know the restaurant is there. So they get to the sixth floor and are like, ‘Where am I?’”

Speaking of the restaurant, we reviewed it a few months after it opened and found it to be generally satisfactory American fare.

Having not been fans of the color pink or Ms. Barbara growing up (we spent most of our time begging for LEGOS), we don't really know what to say about how the Barbie megastore can up its appeal in a country of dark haired, dark eyed younglings. Heck, and based on that twisting gut feeling we got when our little sister first wistfully told us how she would love to have been born a blond, we don't really even know if we want it to.

A list of 50 blogs about China

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-18T18:30:00+08:00

We're always on the lookout for lists of blogs to read and this site has done us the favor of aggregating 50 of the best blogs about China. We're on it (of course), but so are some of our perennial favorites (ChinaSMACK, Imagethief, Far West China), as well as a couple we hadn't heard of but mean to add to our own RSS feeds (China Movie Database Blog... what?!). Check it out.

Google Translate: Now with Pinyin

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-18T13:00:00+08:00

Useful new feature alert: Google's Translate service now displays Pinyin results when translating into Chinese characters - which makes it that much easier for us to figure out what the heck a word is after we've changed it over from English. If you want to use the feature, hit "Show romanization" once the translation comes up. Thanks Google!

Happy first Shanghai Alleycat bike race

Elaine Chow — 2009-11-16T17:00:00+08:00

Photo by Stephen Yang

Remember that fun little bike race we told you about a couple weeks ago? The Shanghai Alleycat? It happened this weekend and, happily, seemed to be a great success! Check out the winners and various links to picture galleries on the People's Bike website. Good going, guys. Hopefully, by next year, we'll actually be comfortable enough bike riders to join in on the festivities.

Pencil This In: November 16 - 20

Edna Zhou — 2009-11-16T14:00:00+08:00

Tired of the same old same old every day? Then class it up this week by attending a clean energy workshop hosted by JUCCCE, a photography exhibition at Dada, and not just one, but two quiz nights held to raise money for charity.

Monday: Nobody But You

In the Shanghai International Arts Festival's final week, the Shanghai Modern Theatre presents the comedy Nobody But You. In a beauty-and-the-brain formula that sounds suspiciously close to The Big Bang Theory, two roommates and software engineers living in Shanghai meet two hot girls in a class. Despite their high IQs, the boys are suddenly found clueless and hilarity ensues.

Begins 7:30 PM. Shanghai Theatre Academy, 630 Huashan Lu near Wulumuqi Bei Lu (华山路630号近乌鲁木齐北路) ¥100-120

Tuesday: JUCCCE Green Idea Lab, SCAA Quiz Night

JUCCCE, the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, is presenting a workshop and mixer called the Idea Lab to promote collaboration and the greening of China. First, globally-recognized clean energy leaders will present their work, then they will lead smaller group sessions to brainstorm working solutions to green business challenges. A networking mixer will be held afterwards; all proceeds support JUCCCE programs.

2-6 PM. 2/F, Three on the Bund, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu near Guangdong Lu (中山东一路3号2楼近广东路) ¥250 per person, or ¥500 for groups of three; includes canapés and drinks. RSVP to info@on-the-bund.com

Quiz for a cause as Cuvee hosts a special quiz night to benefit Second Chance Animal Aid, a non-profit organization protecting and improving the welfare of companion animals. Registration is 200 RMB per team table, and up to four people may sit at a table. In addition to the registration fees, five percent of the night's food and beverage totals will be donated to SCAA. Canines are welcome, and there will also be a raffle held to win a weekend stay for two at the Crowne Plaza in Chengdu. Do it for the kitties.

7:15-11:15 PM. Cuvee Wine Lounge, 528 Kangding Lu near Xikang Lu 康定路528号近西康路) RSVP to paw.james@gmail.com

Wednesday: Shanghai Photographer Night

Yo-Yo Ma's recital at the Grand Theatre might be sold out, but you can still get a taste of art on Wednesday night at Dada's inaugural Shanghai Photographer Night. This cocktail party cum exhibit will showcase four extremely different photographers and their takes on Shanghai: Charlie Xia's "Urban Geometry" captures city nightlife, Patrick Wack's "I Build Shanghai" explores the people and ideas behind the World Expo, Francois Trezin peeks into "Grandma's Drawer", and Tang Ting exposes contemporary youth culture with "Delicate". The photos will be projected onto a screen as a slideshow, and music selected by each artist will accompany the works.

Begins 8 PM. Dada, 115 Xingfu Lu between Fahuazhen and Pingwu Lu (幸福路115号近华山和法华镇路) No cover

Thursday: An Evening with DaShan, Charity World Trivia Night, Face vs. Guanxi

The Chinese love him, the expats love to make fun of him, and now you get to meet him. That's right, you get to meet Da Shan, sometimes known as Canadian actor Mark Rowswell. He'll be at Mesa presenting a talk on his last two decades in China, including his work as Canada's commissioner general to the Expo and his experience and views regarding the cultural struggles between China and the West.

Begins 7 PM, talk at 7:30. The Mix, 1/F, Mesa, 748 Julu Lu near Fumin Lu (巨鹿路748号近富民路) ¥50, RSVP by Nov. 18 to fcc.sfcc@gmail.com

Time to quiz for the cause, round two, as Rotaract Club Shanghai and Hilton Shanghai host World Trivia Night 2009. Along with the quiz, the evening will include dinner, raffles and auctions with 100% of proceeds going to various local charities like Shanghai Sunrise and ORBIS.

Drinks at 6:30, dinner and quiz begin at 7:30. Hilton Shanghai, 250 Huashan Lu near Changshu Lu (华山路250号近常熟路) ¥388 per person

Entrepreneur and author Sam Goodman will be speaking to members of BEAN Shanghai about the dos and don'ts of doing business in China. He'll explain what he thinks is more important in China, face or guanxi, and share stories from his latest book, "Where East Eats West: The Street Smarts Guide to Business in China."

7-9 PM. Cotton's, 294 Xinhua Lu near Fanyu Lu (新华路294号近番禺路) No cover

Friday: Zuloo SMACK

It seems like lately, Friday nights are comedy nights. This week, improv troupe Zuloo SMACK is bringing their show to new places, both figuratively and literally. Armed with razor-sharp wit and live audience participation, they'll be letting loose at Bali Bistro to present a show that is "unrehearsed, uncensored, and uncalled for." Just the way we like it.

Begins 9 PM. Bali Bistro, Wanhangdu Lu near Beijing Xi Lu (万航渡路75号近北京西路)

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