Results tagged “aroundshanghai”

• Somebody from ABC News has offered up her ways to see Shanghai on a "shoestring." Classic offenders Yu Yuan, Xintiandi and Nanjing Road are there, but what do you think of her other ideas? [ABC News]
• Roots & Shoots have told us that the Linkin Park concert did a little more good than just rockin' out the populace. 7RMB from tickets sold in Shanghai and Macau were donated to the charity's Million Tree Project - resulting in 6,597 trees to be planted next April.
• Zhang Ziyi was hanging out in our fair city yesterday to help launch the Omega 2009 Constellation watch collection at SOGO. She got the opportunity to "delve deeply into her fascination with watchmaking." Zhang! We never knew you loved to tinker! [Vialuxe]

• Ex-Shanghaiist contributor Abe Deyo is quoted to prove why Shanghai bands were silly to wig out over Pepsi's Battle of the Bands contest. [Voxrock]
• Jake Newby then calls the Pepsi English blog out, noting that it was surprising that something all about the Battle of the Bands contest didn't bother reporting on the massive Guangdong stage accident. [Kungfuology]
• Local maritime authorities are restricting the transport of dangerous freight on the Huangpu River to prevent accidents during the Shanghai World Expo. [Xinhua]
• According to this New York Times entry, you can get a first-class ticket between Los Angeles and Shanghai for less than $3,500 USD. WHAT! [NY Times]

• Shanghai has decided to stop on-board aircraft passenger temperature checks, to the dismay of budding photographers hoping to document the bizarre hazard suit teams. [Shanghai Daily]
• Mudwrestling at Martini Bar? Those are two things we thought never would really mix, but it somehow happened. [SmartShanghai]
• What a load of bull. Shanghai's planning on building a bigger version of Wall St.'s charging bull statue to be placed on the waterfront. It'll mark the tail end of China's Year of the Ox and... we guess, be auspicious somehow. [The Age]

• James Fallows puts the spotlight on a writer currently quarantined in Shanghai, who is experiencing a nightmare of helpless frustration in the face of such illogical preventative measures (current Shanghaiist editors hope they won't be facing something similar on entry). [The Atlantic]
• Schools around Shanghai are now being ordered to equip computers with the Green Dam software, effectively guaranteeing that they'll be infected by malware. [Shanghai Daily]
• China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines might be merging soon, which means that over 50% of air travel in the city will soon be under one company. [Bloomberg]

• The BBC has a great picture slide show of the “spouse market” in Zhongshan People's Park, where worried parents put their kids' resumes up in hopes of finding them their significant others. [BBC]
• Being the good neighbors that we are, Shanghai has donated 50,000 face masks to our Japanese “sister city,” Osaka. Did anyone even know Osaka was our sister city? [Xinhua]
• The USA Pavilion just got their fourth sponsor - YUM Brands (the guys behind Taco Bell and KFC). That means they're probably only $50-some million away from their fund raising goals now! [LA Times]

• Despite not having discovered any swine flu in the city, Shanghai's taking measures to prevent it. [Shanghai Daily]
• That's Shanghai takes a look at the city during World War II, specifically a little German right-wing group you may have heard of once or twice. [Urbanatomy]
• It's now almost a year to the start of the Expo, and Dongtan - the fabled eco-suburb-city of Shanghai - still lies in a rut. Following the footsteps of the Christian Science Monitor, Yale Environmental 360 and several other news organizations, the Guardian now has its own take on the matter. [The Guardian UK]

• One of the more intriguing art/food destinations has just opened up: The Factory (at 1933), which is billing itself as a lab of sorts for Shanghai's young artists and will have a weekly-changing reasonably affordable menu. [Urbanatomy]
• Uh oh, apparently cellphone eavesdropping tools are being sold around town that could let you listen in on someone's every call, as well as send and receive their text messages. Talk about frightening! [Sinosplice]
• Ford's Asia Pacific VP, John Parker, tells BBC why he's "cautiously optimistic" about the car market in China at the Shanghai Auto Show. [BBC]

• Wealthy people in high-rises are publicly protesting Shanghai Film Group President Ren Zhonglun's plans to build more high-rises. Good on them? [Shanghai Scrap]
• Shanghai-based Nial O'Connor talks about his new comic “Jing Squared” (晶²), which will be available in mid-2009 and is designed specifically for viewing on mobile phones. [56minusone]
• A man reflects on his days as a 22-year-old student in Shanghai during the 1989 student movement. [Fool's Mountain]

• How much did it cost Chinese online gaming giant Shanda to turn the Jinmao tower into a huge game advertisement? $50,000. Phew! [Interfax China]
• One Shanghai resident finds the real reason to train for the Great Wall Marathon: it helps you get your wallet back from pickpockets. [China Travel.net]
• Speaking of marathons, the 2009 women's international road cycling race will be starting up this Friday in Shanghai. The five day race will cover 400km and is the first to be held in Asia. [Xinhua]

• Shall we go for a jaunt in the cemetery, check out celebrity graves and catch a flick? [Shanghai Daily] "Though young people are less fearful than their parents, going to the cemetery is still a grave undertaking, not a walk in the park. So it was a break with tradition when parklike Fushouyuan Cemetery in suburban Qingpu District applied late last year for scenic-site status from the city's tourism commission. Fushouyuan (literally Happiness Longevity Garden) says the process is underway and is making big plans to attract visitors throughout the year... That a cemetery could become a tourist attraction - and investors plan a cinema and a museum - is a sign that China's funereal (meaning sad) culture could slowly be lightening up."
• Enter the bunker of sound - 0093 [Urbanatomy Shanghai] Lisa Movius checks out 0093 - also called Ling Ling - a former bomb shelter turned rehearsal rooms where Shanghai's young bands have begun practicing their music. More than just a place to play, 0093 has become the glue that holds the Shanghai music scene together.
• Man falls onto Metro Line 2 track, killed by passing train [Oriental Morning Post] On Wednesday morning, a man suddenly fell onto the tracks at the Loushanguan Road station and was hit by an oncoming train. He was taken off the tracks immediately afterwards, but had died on impact, according to medical personnel. They could not find any documents on him. The Metro Line 2 train was delayed for 7 minutes.
• Shanghai’s Extreme Expo Makeover [All Roads Lead To China] "Well, you knew it was coming, and if you have been in Shanghai for the last 8 months you will already begun to see the signs of the 2010 Shanghai face lift. Extreme Makeover style. It is a process that will spare few neighborhoods, look for lots of buildings encased in green construction packaging, and the last line of the Shanghai Daily article City to clean up for Expo really says it all: 'Old residential areas, wet markets and small streets are the key targets'."

• In a Beijing-inspired move to reduce traffic, Shanghai civil servants will not be allowed to drive their cars on certain days of the week, decided according to their cars' license plate numbers.
• This Tuesday, government officials declared that more than RMB 4 billion will be invested in a move to improve Pudong New Area, the site for the 2010 World Expo. Among other measures, 200 square meters in 25 old neighborhoods will be "reconstructed", ie., torn down and replaced with skyscrapers.
• In a crackdown this Thursday cabbies who refused to drive customers to destinations in the Lujiazui area were named and shamed, as well as fined and cut off from work for 15 days. Some taxi drivers have avoided driving in this area since the distances are considered too short or because traffic is slow.

• Those of you who want to buy a cheap DVD of the Olympic opening ceremony had better hurry up as the Shanghai Culture Inspection Team is planning a crackdown on pirated versions of this show. No worries though, the official DVD of the ceremony will still be available RMB 55.
• Just as school is about to start Shanghai has been listed as the most expensive city for university and college students in mainland China. According to the China News Agency's, a university student in Shanghai needs to spend about RMB1000 on food and housing each month. In the cheapest city for students, Chongqing, just RMB500 would suffice each month!
• As anyone living here will have noticed, a storm with heavy thunder and rain — the worst in 100 years — hit Shanghai on Monday the 25th. No casualties have been reported, but over 60 of the city's streets were flooded.

Photo by Ryan Pollack

Photo from ?lifemage?

By Benjamin Cohen

By Benjamin Cohen