You are all invited to join us Thursday night at Sasha's for the first Shanghaiist Happy Hour in a long, long time (nine months, to be exact). We think we have come up with a plan to avoid a similarly long gap between alcohol-related gatherings — the first Thursday of every month, we'll have a Shanghaiist Happy Hour featuring half-price drinks (and perhaps other special and great things) at Sasha's. And, as usual, these "happy... [continue]

Yesterday, we learned that our friend (and ex-Shanghaiist contributor) Brad Ferguson had been fired from his role as manager of Windows Underground. We asked him some questions about the recent developments and he agreed to let us publish them "as long as it doesn't make me look like an asshole. I still don't think I did anything wrong, but maybe it looks different to other people." So, what happened last night at Windows Underground? My... [continue]

All hail the fun killers. In their infinite wisdom (idiots) the powers that be have deemed live music to be threat to national security and two casualties are Yuyintang and Windows Underground. The folk scheduled for tonight at YYT has been moved to Dream Factory and everything else is up in the air until after the Olympics. Super VC won't be able to play at Windows tonight and STD are trying to find a location... [continue]

Remember that post a few weeks back about the growing obesity problem in China? Well let's temporarily store that in a deep, dark place as we rejoice the latest and most concrete indicator yet that Krispy Kreme, our favorite of all decadent donut shops, is finally bringing its fatty treasures to the Mainland. By coincidence, Tudou's Marc van der Chijs came across a job ad in last Thursday's Shanghai Daily looking for senior executives to... [continue]

If you were born in the Year of the Rat, then this year is your ben ming nian (本命年) — the year when lots of inauspicious things will happen to you. Watch this episode of Sexy Beijing to learn what you must do to ward off all the bad luck and evil spirits.... [continue]

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Shanghaiist:Witopia.net - Can't stand the Great Fire Wall anymore? Sign up for your own VPN now.China Trackers - Walk the streets of Shanghai with your iPod!Go Kunming - Your one stop resource for news, events, travel, business and lifestyle in Kunming. Advertise on Shanghaiist and reach 300,000 unique readers each month at rates that are cheaper than any of the English-language... [continue]

Although it sounds like a particularly weird chapter of "Journey To The West", we are assured that this Pig with the face of a Monkey is a real animal. Born to freaked out farmers in the small town of Fengzhang, the freaky swine has shot to the top of the tourist attractions in Shanxi Province.... [continue]

And so the “will-it-ever-be-built” Shanghai Disneyland saga continues, tediously dragging as long as Celine Dion's love for you. This hasn’t stopped residents in the village of Jinjia. According to the Wall Street Journal, good ol’ Chinese opportunism has prevailed, as seen in the latest money grab proliferating in Jinjia village in Pudong. Residents strongly believe that they will be the property target for a Shanghai Disneyland, and many have taken to building faux businesses on... [continue]

As part of the city's preparation for the Olympics, Shanghai has enlisted 2200 blood donors, who are to be ready to be called in at any time of day during the Games to donate their blood for free. Okay, so we know that sports can be a little rough. But, seriously, will the Olympic football preliminaries be that violent? Is this precaution necessary because the organizers fear that the noble art of football hooliganism will... [continue]

Hilarious sh*t once again from our favourite news network — nearly, but not as good as this other report. And for those of you that aren't aware yet, The Onion is a satire website, ie., it is NOT meant to be taken seriously.... [continue]

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/olympics/Video_Sneak_preview_of_Beijing_Olympics_opening_ceremony'; Much to the dismay of some Chinese YouTube commenters, a Korean news team sneaked into Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium and videotaped rehearsals of the much-hyped Zhang Yimou-orchestrated opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. One Twitter user commented that the whole thing "looks somewhat fascist. Confascisism?" What do you think? UPDATE: The original two videos we embedded were removed by YouTube. We have replaced them with three more. Via Danwei... [continue]

View Larger Map Remember when Google's English-language map of Shanghai was, save for some groovy satellite pics, pretty much blank? Remember that? You should. It was like a week ago. Anyway, thanks to a tip on our Contribute Page, we learn that the map has gotten a makeover. To do this, looks like Google has teamed with MapABC, that same firm that does Google's Chinese maps and the same firm City Weekend is experimenting with... [continue]

US-based Golf Digest magazine has released its annual list of what it considers to be the China's top ten golf courses. According to the magazine's editors, if you're looking for China's best courses, forget Shanghai, Beijing or Shenzhen – go west to the laid-back city of Kunming. Sheshan Golf Club was the only Shanghai course on Golf Digest's list, coming in at third best. Kunming, capital of southwestern China's Yunnan province took three of the... [continue]

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/olympics/Report_Beijing_bars_told_to_ban_black_people_during_Olympic';In a couple of weeks Beijing will turn into a party town and Sanlitun is predicted to be the epicenter of the Olympic night events. The South China Morning Post has however reported that the bar owners in the area were asked to refuse service to black patrons. The article reports: Bar owners near the Workers' Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign... [continue]

Any kid on the playground knows that if the boys get together and make an exclusive club, sooner or later the girls are going to try to join — or at least beat the guys at their own game. The ageless dynamic is playing itself out right now in the high-profile world of Chinese hacking, a career that brings its more successful members money, power and something akin to super-stardom in the eyes of normal... [continue]

Local officials are still trying to strike the proper balance between transparency and the traditional Chinese methods of information dissemination (or lack thereof) which we have all become so familiar with — namely, "monitoring," "controlling" and "blocking." If the government had been open about the details of the "unusual death" of the girl in Weng'an on June 22nd, could it have prevented the destructive mass protests nearly a week later? That is the question... [continue]

Yao Ming made his return to competition Thursday night, in China's Stankovic Cup game against Serbia, played in Hangzhou. Yao, recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, did not start and played only about 12 minutes. He scored 11 points in his first pre-Olympic tuneup, and China won 96-72. Yao shot 7-of-10 from the free throw line and grabbed four rebounds. Center Wang Zhizhi was China's top scorer with 18 points. The first Chinese... [continue]

By Sue Anne Tay For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan. They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause: Account name: Red Cross Society of China 开户单位：中国红十字会总会 For... [continue]

By Kenneth Tan, Dan Washburn, Pete Chorba, and Derek Sandhaus digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Huge_earthquake_jolts_Sichuan_tremors_felt_across_China'; A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province, some 92km northwest of Chengdu. The earthquake took place at 14:48 Beijing Time and tremors were felt (by our MSN friends) as far as Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing. This picture on the right shows the aftermath of the IT department of the Sichuan Bureau of the Xinhua... [continue]

Several photos have been circulating around on the Internet like wild fire over the last two days. They are supposedly of a couple who committed suicide together at the Grand Gateway (港汇广场) at Xujiahui on Wednesday, 7 May some time around 2.30 pm in the afternoon. The incident has set online forums abuzz (WARNING: THESE LINKS CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES), but we haven't found any reports in the news yet (let us know if you find... [continue]